Anyone else prefer acceleration?

I've been gaming for years, pretty hardcore.
I always used acceleration, I tried unsuccessfully several times in the past to turn it off but it never worked.

I had taken a long hiatus from shooters over the past year or two and primarily played WOW, league of legends and click style games where aim was not of paramount importance.

I came back to the FPS genre with Tribes Ascend but something felt off, my aim was terrible. At first I blamed my 'new' mouse since I had picked it up during my hiatus, I'd never used it for FPS and thought it just had inadequate tracking, or something. I went through all the fixes I found in advice threads and finally removed acceleration.

Turns out Tribes Ascend has a built-in code via the Unreal engine that sacrifices mouse tracking for PC performance, because they assume that everyone has bad PCs are are casual type willing to give up in game performance for smoother FPS or something.

Well afterwards I left acceleration off for several months, and just recently I picked up BF3, over the past 3 weeks or so I've racked up 100 hours but still my aim never felt 'right.' I realized the issue I was having was at high sensitivities I couldn't aim and at low sensitivities I couldn't make the quick turns I needed. I'm not big on sweeping arm movements, especially as I have a very small mouse area (standard 8x9.5" pad is all I have room for).

I went back and turned it back on, and it feels so right. I'm just so accustomed to making quick twitches to turn and smooth slow movements for aiming, and running high sensitivity so my spectrum of possible speeds is so much more diverse.

I just can't ascribe to the idea that it's -impossible- to train yourself to be used to acceleration.

Hate it with passion! Even the one most mice have by default due to crappy sensor. G400, Deathadder, MX5xx...I prefer true 1:1 tracking.

^ this

I used mouse acceleration for years and did pretty well in online shooters but always fell short of the elite players. A while ago I decided to stop using mouse acceleration, decrease my sensitivity dramatically, and get a huge mousepad. It took forever to get used to these changes, but ultimately, my performance in shooters improved significantly.

But I do understand your predicament. If you turn off mouse acceleration, you'll probably have to use a low sensitivity, which then means you'll probably need a larger mousepad. Eventually you'll learn to make large movements with your arm and small movements with your wrist. It's much more effective than just using your wrist for everything.

Some of the sickest fucks in Quake use a bit of acceleration. Use what you want.

Personally I don't like it but I use a very low sensitivity. Across my QCK+ is about 270 degrees in game.

I play with mouse acceleration, and it just so happens the game I play is Tribes Ascend.

It's a little different, you won't really hit a target behind you with one sweeping motion for instance, it's going to be a fast twitch, and then as you get close to target you reduce the speed of the mouse greatly and 'guide' it in. I'm used to that and I prefer it.

I just put it on the lowest setting. It's just not accurate at all without it.

Just think about this one.
No one in this world can make 100% sure that they move their hand from point A to point B with an exact same movement. Exact same movement means that you need to match the accelleration of your hand, the exact place where you reach max speed has to be the same, and so on.
Now having someone that can accurately move their mouse to the exact same spot on the mousepad, and having the ingame cursor be on the same ingame object is something that most players can do accurately. Now you can think for yourself. You play with accelleration and wait for visual confirmation of your crosshair and readjust until point B reached, or simply move your hand with an instant movement, directly in point B of the mousepad, and be sure that a good sensor will result in the exact same ingame spot.

But, you don't need to be 100% sure; with enough practice, you know what to expect with acceleration on.

I'm not saying it's better or worse, it's going to be different for everyone. What's going to play a big part in whether it works or not for someone that can adapt to it is the way it's implemented. If there's inconsistent lag or other factors that cause (cursor) movement issues of course acceleration is going to be very hard to control.

cerbul said:

Just think about this one.
No one in this world can make 100% sure that they move their hand from point A to point B with an exact same movement. Exact same movement means that you need to match the accelleration of your hand, the exact place where you reach max speed has to be the same, and so on.
Now having someone that can accurately move their mouse to the exact same spot on the mousepad, and having the ingame cursor be on the same ingame object is something that most players can do accurately. Now you can think for yourself. You play with accelleration and wait for visual confirmation of your crosshair and readjust until point B reached, or simply move your hand with an instant movement, directly in point B of the mousepad, and be sure that a good sensor will result in the exact same ingame spot.

Click to expand...

This is the same argument I always see for it, the "If someone's behind you and you have to 180 to shoot then" argument. It's an oversimplification slanted in favor of their no-accel.

First off it assumes that it's 180 all the time, not 175 or 200, there are no absolutes in a game, so no matter what your tracking is, you're still turning, visually confirming, then adjusting, because your target could be ducking, standing, strafing left or right, on a box etc. Furthermore if a target is behind you that's a TACTICAL FAILURE.

It also assumes that one cannot get used to making movements based on both distance and speed.

It also ignores the benefits of acceleration, the fact that someone running a higher dpi both has to travel less distance with their arm to cover the same turn, and can slow down for smooth, precise accuracy.

Also consider recoil. When using a gun with heavy recoil someone with low DPI and no accel has to move their hand both farther and faster to counter it. A person using accel need only do one or the other.

I use mouse acceleration. I've always liked the feel of the movement. It feel like I can do both precise and fast pretty well. I'm not the best at shooters, but I do ok (1.41KDR and 600SPM in BF3). I used accel back in the TF (orignal) days too and I was REALLY good at that.

I think it comes down to what feels right to you, I don't think there's an objectively better choice. Also probably comes down to play style. If you are a hardcore sniper, I could see it being worse, but if you mix it up, as I tend to, then there is use to it.

The place where actually does matter to make precise instant moves is when your target is in the middle 3/3 square of your screen, the rest of the time you will move and adjust anyway. And for turning 180 degrees doesn't matter, since in a competitive environment you will be dead in 95% of those situations.

As I was in a competitive environment, very competitive rather, I am asking the community to think about it deeper, and about the implications of having half of it playing with acceleration, and its effects in the market of computer mice. Some people only care to not have more competition. Instead I would suggest to think about how many mice out there have a poor sensors, how many are not suitable for lifting off the mouse pad(be it to poor grip materials or the shape itself), how many are not suitable for palm grip, how half the companies out there try to manipulate the world towards middle finger on scrollwheel and pinky lift off and so many other examples of not coming with an fps competitive mouse, instead taking care of creating a mouse that is for everyone and for everything.

So just think that quite a few years passed since the first mouse appeared on the market, and only today we started to have companies that actually started to "accept" that some people need to lift off the mouse off the mousepad, just to make their way on the market. So ye, think twice please before you are signing on the paper where its written "we don't care about people that lift off the mouse, so don't make a mouse for them".

I do not think anyone who knew what they were talking about said you cannot get used to acceleration. The problem with acceleration is the opposite, it just takes a long time to master it for a couple reasons.

So the answer is , if you are a total noob, acceleration is good because you do not react based on twitch movement, you look at the xhair / mouse and aim. Acceleration helps you as it should. If you are a pro, who packs in 40 hour weeks and is one of the best in the world, well once again you play so much you could master anything ,even if they made the mouse do zig zag acceleration you would still be amazing.

Acceleration is bad for the the normal people who are in the middle, we have twitch reaction but we don't play enough to master it. So for us if we take a week off the game coming back to something that reacts based on defined movements and not combined movements and speed is better.

^ this x2

cerbul said:

The place where actually does matter to make precise instant moves is when your target is in the middle 3/3 square of your screen, the rest of the time you will move and adjust anyway. And for turning 180 degrees doesn't matter, since in a competitive environment you will be dead in 95% of those situations.

As I was in a competitive environment, very competitive rather, I am asking the community to think about it deeper, and about the implications of having half of it playing with acceleration, and its effects in the market of computer mice. Some people only care to not have more competition. Instead I would suggest to think about how many mice out there have a poor sensors, how many are not suitable for lifting off the mouse pad(be it to poor grip materials or the shape itself), how many are not suitable for palm grip, how half the companies out there try to manipulate the world towards middle finger on scrollwheel and pinky lift off and so many other examples of not coming with an fps competitive mouse, instead taking care of creating a mouse that is for everyone and for everything.

So just think that quite a few years passed since the first mouse appeared on the market, and only today we started to have companies that actually started to "accept" that some people need to lift off the mouse off the mousepad, just to make their way on the market. So ye, think twice please before you are signing on the paper where its written "we don't care about people that lift off the mouse, so don't make a mouse for them".

Click to expand...

Ah well now you've nailed down a mouse-market issue, the fact that when creating a mouse there is so many different preferences that you can't make a one size fits all mouse, at least not easily or affordably.
As there are many preferences in the style of mouse. Some people like 3 fingers on top, some 2 with 2 on the side. Some people rely on having good lift-off control and others using super-high dpi could set that aside (though really it should be considered an inconvenience to EVERY user).

Then you have the grip variations, palm, claw, fingertip, and the sub variations, like wrist resting on mouse pad vs. no contact with hand at all vs. pinky on pad etc. Some people prefer contact for stability and control others do not.

This is why we see things like the RAT and also why I myself bought the rat, I haven't tried enough mice to know what I like, I've always used big palm grip mice - MX518, deathadder, intellimouse back in the day, some clunky memorex thing they no longer make etc. I wanted to try other grip styles - but without the feeling of being committed to it by my purchase.

So the issue comes that a mouse for the minority of preferences, things like a big mouse with zero hand-to-pad contact, is simply not as profitable as a one-size-fits all. That's why there's so many of these weird ambidextrous mice with side buttons on both sides but only one side is active at a time etc.

Things like accel, DPI, etc. should all be fully customizable in the software, it's amazing how few if any mice have built in accel adjustment, some have pre-set DPIs with no way to adjust them, and prediction with no toggle, really mind blowing that things that should be able to be toggled in a setting are not optional.

I think the real culprit in mice is the OS makers not the mice makers them self, they are the ones who could lead, get those settings into a universal place. Heck even make a wizard that guides your through a process of normalizing your mouse speed on different machines. If anyone has ever used a mac you would notice they have terribly aggressive mouse accel. In fact I think alot of people who think the mice / track pads on macs are more accurate are just seeing the harsher mouse accel. Last I checked you could not even turn it off on a mac. Then there is the whole windows BS where you need a registry edit. Sadly as touch screens become more common we can expect this will not get any better. If good settings were available in the OS, then game makers would not need to keep reinventing the wheel and mouse makers would be forced to focus on ergonomics and hardware as the main differential.

sylon said:

Ah well now you've nailed down a mouse-market issue, the fact that when creating a mouse there is so many different preferences that you can't make a one size fits all mouse, at least not easily or affordably.
As there are many preferences in the style of mouse. Some people like 3 fingers on top, some 2 with 2 on the side. Some people rely on having good lift-off control and others using super-high dpi could set that aside (though really it should be considered an inconvenience to EVERY user).

Then you have the grip variations, palm, claw, fingertip, and the sub variations, like wrist resting on mouse pad vs. no contact with hand at all vs. pinky on pad etc. Some people prefer contact for stability and control others do not.

This is why we see things like the RAT and also why I myself bought the rat, I haven't tried enough mice to know what I like, I've always used big palm grip mice - MX518, deathadder, intellimouse back in the day, some clunky memorex thing they no longer make etc. I wanted to try other grip styles - but without the feeling of being committed to it by my purchase.

So the issue comes that a mouse for the minority of preferences, things like a big mouse with zero hand-to-pad contact, is simply not as profitable as a one-size-fits all. That's why there's so many of these weird ambidextrous mice with side buttons on both sides but only one side is active at a time etc.

Things like accel, DPI, etc. should all be fully customizable in the software, it's amazing how few if any mice have built in accel adjustment, some have pre-set DPIs with no way to adjust them, and prediction with no toggle, really mind blowing that things that should be able to be toggled in a setting are not optional.

Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this - if the physical size and shape fit my hand better, I'll be more accurate. I've been using a rat 7 for a few months now, and minecraft has never been more enjoyable I haven't used acceleration for a couple of years.

acceleration is needed when you play RTS or "FAST" FPS.
I have played serveral FPS shooters where acceleration is not needed like counterstrike. However it depends on the game!

koek said:

acceleration is needed when you play RTS or "FAST" FPS.
I have played serveral FPS shooters where acceleration is not needed like counterstrike. However it depends on the game!

Click to expand...

I'm a masters level StarCraft player and I would never ever use mouse acceleration. I don't use acceleration and can't stand acceleration in any of the other games I play either.

Even if you preferred mouse acceleration I would think it would be the least helpful in an RTS because you just have one screen worth of space you are working with. There isn't as much extreme in range like there would if you were spinning around then making minuscule adjustments in aim like an FPS.

Instead of turning mouse acceleration on when I need more speed I just turn up my mouse sensitivity. If you have a high DPI mouse you should be able to get pixel perfect accuracy without needing to use mouse acceleration.

If you have a 1920x1080 resolution screen and a 2000 DPI mouse you don't even need to move your mouse 1 inch to traverse your entire screen with your sensitivity at 1. And you have the ability to be accurate per pixel.

If you don't have enough dexterity to be able to move your mouse at the minuscule amounts required to be that accurate then mouse acceleration could be beneficial to you. But you are making a sacrifice to how fast you can make the precise movements by enabling it because you traverse more pixels depending on speed.

In the end I would use whichever you are most comfortable with, but at least try playing with no acceleration because it is possible to be more accurate and faster without it.

sharknice said:

I'm a masters level StarCraft player and I would never ever use mouse acceleration. I don't use acceleration and can't stand acceleration in any of the other games I play either.

Even if you preferred mouse acceleration I would think it would be the least helpful in an RTS because you just have one screen worth of space you are working with. There isn't as much extreme in range like there would if you were spinning around then making minuscule adjustments in aim like an FPS.

Instead of turning mouse acceleration on when I need more speed I just turn up my mouse sensitivity. If you have a high DPI mouse you should be able to get pixel perfect accuracy without needing to use mouse acceleration.

If you have a 1920x1080 resolution screen and a 2000 DPI mouse you don't even need to move your mouse 1 inch to traverse your entire screen with your sensitivity at 1. And you have the ability to be accurate per pixel.

If you don't have enough dexterity to be able to move your mouse at the minuscule amounts required to be that accurate then mouse acceleration could be beneficial to you. But you are making a sacrifice to how fast you can make the precise movements by enabling it because you traverse more pixels depending on speed.

In the end I would use whichever you are most comfortable with, but at least try playing with no acceleration because it is possible to be more accurate and faster without it.

Click to expand...

I can't agree more with this. The fact that all games other then FPS have no need to lift off the mouse, making it viable, due to pixel precision to NEVER lift off your mouse, obviously if you don't have very small sensitivity, will never make it viable to use acceleration, and that is not because is better the other way, but because is not needed.

If you do play FPS, the biggest problem with not using accell is that you are getting into a situation where when you try to aim at someone far far away, and his head is 1 pixel, you must be precise enough to aim that pixel, Having a too big sensitivity will make it harder to aim, is actually the exact same feeling that you would have a huge sensitivity in windows, and you try to close a window pressing on "X". The solution to this is to lower the sensitivity so that it becomes comfortable to aim at a pixel. But this will result into not being able to turn 180 degrees fast enough, which has created a new era of requirements:
- large mouse pads
- huge tracking speeds for the mouse
- high friction for those that prefer it, so that they can stop their mice faster after a huge swipe.
- custom pads that allow for faster movements or more control, depending on what you need.

The one thing I tried when I was playing with accell long time ago, was to find a solution so that when you move your mouse with extremely fast movements, to not apply accell, in other words to have a sort of "remove accell on fast swipes". This was however impossible at that time, and I doubt is possible at this time as well. However, this kind of "solution" will make a faster move shorter on the screen then an accellerated move, without pulling the mouse like a maniac. This will result in a sort of "slow" turning 180 degrees, due to the requirement, to make an accellerated movement. This can be slower then instantly swiping your mouse 2 times to turn 180 degrees, obviously, assuming that you have an easy to lift off mouse, and that the mouse has the correct weight for this, or you are comfortable enough with such movements.

After getting my RAT7 I had to turn off accel, why would accel feel so good on one mouse and not on another? Bot use PTEs of different models.

sylon said:

I've been gaming for years, pretty hardcore.
I always used acceleration, I tried unsuccessfully several times in the past to turn it off but it never worked.

I had taken a long hiatus from shooters over the past year or two and primarily played WOW, league of legends and click style games where aim was not of paramount importance.

I came back to the FPS genre with Tribes Ascend but something felt off, my aim was terrible. At first I blamed my 'new' mouse since I had picked it up during my hiatus, I'd never used it for FPS and thought it just had inadequate tracking, or something. I went through all the fixes I found in advice threads and finally removed acceleration.

Turns out Tribes Ascend has a built-in code via the Unreal engine that sacrifices mouse tracking for PC performance, because they assume that everyone has bad PCs are are casual type willing to give up in game performance for smoother FPS or something.

Well afterwards I left acceleration off for several months, and just recently I picked up BF3, over the past 3 weeks or so I've racked up 100 hours but still my aim never felt 'right.' I realized the issue I was having was at high sensitivities I couldn't aim and at low sensitivities I couldn't make the quick turns I needed. I'm not big on sweeping arm movements, especially as I have a very small mouse area (standard 8x9.5" pad is all I have room for).

I went back and turned it back on, and it feels so right. I'm just so accustomed to making quick twitches to turn and smooth slow movements for aiming, and running high sensitivity so my spectrum of possible speeds is so much more diverse.

I just can't ascribe to the idea that it's -impossible- to train yourself to be used to acceleration.

Click to expand...

I feel exactly the same and I'm really glad you wrote it. I play with acceleration since 98 - i didn't have a clue back then, just started playing that way and continued with acceleration from logitech's mouseware drivers on "low" setting.

Time has passed and it really became a second nature without even noticing. Then i started reading all those "acceleration is your worst enemy" threads all over the internet and couldn't understand a thing.

Now when I know how stuff works, everything's much clearer and IMO acceleration gives you best of both worlds: precision and speed at the same time, while keeping very good ergonomics and not being forced to move your hand a lot.

Acceleration takes a lot of time to get used to and has it's own problems: its hardware and software specific, so it's very hard to get used to different acceleration curve when you are forced to change it. I still have that logitech mouseware acceleration (low) in my blood and have a big problem with it: now the've changed it and use a different curve which i din't really like.

I tried playing without acceleration, but i just cannot do it after all these years.

Which mouse do you use? Acceleration settings? Windows settings? Any third party hardware/software slutions?

Thanx.

i think acceleration can be good in RTS games, but not in FPS

Its a suggestive preference thing.

I can't stand not using acceleration. I don't just use a computer for gaming, I also use it daily as my job (I am a CAD technologist). Doing CAD work without acceleration is painful.

Switching between acceleration and non acceleration is just wacky. So I stick with acceleration.

But then again I am also not a hardcore FPS advocate. Nor a twitch gamer.