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Can a mouse cause an FPS drop?

O

optiondelete

n00b
Joined
Jul 27, 2011
Messages
14
Hello.

I have a baffling problem.

I decided to load up Borderlands to give it another go. I have not played it since I upgraded my motherboard and GPU (see current specs below).

I have a Sidewinder X8, and it works pretty well for all of my games, but in borderlands, as soon as I touch the mouse (even in the main menu) the FPS drops from 60 to about 2-15.

I thought perhaps it was my mouse drivers, so I plugged in my Apple mouse... voila! The problem went away!
However, as you all may know, playing a shooter with an Apple mouse is quite daft, indeed, as I can't simultaneously use the right and left mouse buttons...
I figured that if my microsoft mouse was at fault, then I'd plug in my Logitech G5 and lo and behold... the problem resurfaced. Keep in mind... I have tried every USB port in my system as well.
Also, I can move around perfectly, using just my keyboard or with an Xbox controller without issue.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why a Logitech G5 and a Sidewinder X8 would both cause Borderlands to drop in FPS, where the Apple mouse works flawlessly. The only thing I can think of, is that both the Sidewinder and the G5 have select-able DPI, where the Apple mouse lacks this function.

Also, for clarity... I have tried disabling mouse smoothing in the config file. I have also run the gamut in terms of reinstalling the game, physx, directX, various drivers, disabling UAC, running in admin mode, etc...

It is possible that I overlooked something, but I am dumbfounded. After wasting too many hours (to no avail) searching online for a possible solution, I have but two options left... 1) Ask the [H] for help. 2) Play Borderlands with a controller.
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3742-63-mouse-movement-skyrockets-utilization-issue

Get the DPC Latency Checker and see what it tells you.

This thread suggests turning off dynamic shadows, though the game doesn't look nearly as good without them.

This thread suggests doing a clean install of your video card drivers.

Seems to be a common but not universal problem going back to 2009 with no clear answer.

Edit: this thread also has some interesting suggestions, like playing Borderlands directly from the .exe rather than through Steam, but still the end result seemed to be frustration.
 
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evilsofa said:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3742-63-mouse-movement-skyrockets-utilization-issue

Get the DPC Latency Checker and see what it tells you.

This thread suggests turning off dynamic shadows, though the game doesn't look nearly as good without them.

This thread suggests doing a clean install of your video card drivers.

Seems to be a common but not universal problem going back to 2009 with no clear answer.

Edit: this thread also has some interesting suggestions, like playing Borderlands directly from the .exe rather than through Steam, but still the end result seemed to be frustration.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply!
I checked out the DPC Latency Checker... I don't really see anything worth noting.
I already tried a clean driver install with no change in problem. And the Dynamic Shadows option makes no difference.

What could possibly be the mechanical/driver difference between my Apple Mouse and my two "gaming" mice that would cause the problem? My Apple mouse works fine, but not really a good solution. :confused:
 
It's probably the polling rate. The X8 and G5 both default to 500 Hz. The Apple is 125 Hz.

As for why the polling rate is causing problems, I can't say.
 
I see from reviews that the Sidewinder X8 can be operated either wired or wireless; the wired polling rate is 1000 while the wireless polling rate is 500. One review mentioned that wireless may add a little bit of lag.

I found a method by which you may be able to set the polling rate for any mouse to whatever you want, and the thread mentions the X8 running at 125:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106653

Thread also mentions a possibly outdated "USB Mouse Rate Switcher" that worked in XP.

Edit: further googling finds this, which looks like a better method for changing polling rate in Win7 64-bit:

http://vexed.ca/article/mouse-optmization-1000hz-mouse-polling-on-64-bit-systems/

Edit: that link is now dead. Here's the waybackmachine archive of it:

http://web.archive.org/web/20120126...zation-1000hz-mouse-polling-on-64-bit-systems

And, if I haven't been clear, I'm suggesting setting the polling rate for your X8 (or G5) to 125.
 
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The last time I heard about a problem like this was back when IRQs had to be manually set so that they wouldn't conflict, and if it shared the same IRQ as a multimedia device the result would be what you're experiencing. In other words... I feel really old now.

My only thoughts are to check for an update to Borderlands or newer software for your mouse.

Also, I did find this link which suggests turning mouse smoothing and vsync off.
http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=82561

Best of luck to you.
 
I can confirm that the DPI of the mouse will cause stuttering / framerate drops in game.

When I use my Logitech G5 (2000DPI), I get bad stuttering / framerate drops when I move my mouse, either in menu or in game. When I plug in my Logitech LX3 Plus (1000DPI) or a cheap optical mouse, the game runs smooth as silk.

Even though my G5 mouse can drop the DPI, it's done through software, and seems to still affect the game at lower settings.

Note that this problem only seems to affect some Nvidia users. Hope that helps.
 
most mice you can change the polling rate through the software. never had a mouse that i lost fps i know i would change it out at that moment if it was true for sure
 
Changing the polling rate of the mouse through the software does not affect the performance drop in Borderlands. It seems to be tied to the hardware polling rate. I've had several friends test this over several systems and it's 100% consistent.
 
FEAR has the same problem with the Logitech G9. Its a bug in the game and you have to go into device manager and disable all the USB HID devices IIRC. I can't remember exactly what the fix was as its been a while but it was something like that. May not be your problem but it might point you in the right direction.
 
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