Mouse Sensitivity and FPS games

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WasntMe

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I recently got the Alienware TactX Mouse that has sensitivity (dpi) adjustment right on the mouse. I always played at the default sensitivity in games but recently decided to switch while played BFBC2. I switched from the highest setting to the lowest while sniping one day and found it to be amazing! Much easier to target.

I had a guy sneak up on me, I pulled my pistol and got a headshot, then another on a guy right behind him. Seems adjusting my sensitivity lower really helped my game.

What sensitivity (hyper fast, slow, medium, default) do you prefer?
 
When I first started playing CS:S I used my G5 at the max DPI setting and sensitivity 2.0, every month I increased the in the game sensitivity by .5. Now I play with the max DPI setting and have settled around 6.0 sensitivity. I loving scouting in the game and playing with a super fast reaction time I can snipe people left and right all day. I can't count how many times I hear people run up behind and I just turn to no scope head shot them and they can't believe it.

Playing on a lower speed makes aiming a lot easier but it also slows down your reaction time which in the long run can get you killed against faster, higher skilled opponents.

Every game is different though, I remember when I started playing Bioshock I had turn down the sensitivity on my mouse because at the max DPI is wasn't smooth at all. Same thing with Borderlands or APB.
 
on my mx518 I always had it set it 800dpi and windows 3 with no mouse smoothing ingame or out. CS sensitivity I wanna say 1.8-2.0
 
I always use that highest dpi setting in fps game, and tune down the in-game sensitivity if needed too. But I've never gone with higher than default in-game sensitivity

I prefer faster sensitivity. I also like to ensure that I can turn around 180degree without too much mouse movement, and try to avoid having to lift up the mouse when making large movement
 
most pro gamers play at 800dpi. In game sens is personal preference. Some like lower sens too aim easier, just makes it harder to track. Depends if you are one to like flick shots or not. Its all personal preference
 
High sensitivity is typical ok for people who use non-scoping weapons but when you switch from scoped to non-scoped constantly lower sensitivity gives you a wider space to realign your aim on the fly where as high-sensitivity which allows you to jump from varies spots on your screen quickly or flip 180 hampers you when scoped because small movements on your mouse jumps your scope view all over the place. This is why pros typically play low sensitivity. I'm not saying you can't be an FPS king and use high-sensitivity, it's just not common in Pro play.

There's an FPS guide floating around the net, video and PDF, that explains this in better detail.
 
Usually for single player FPSs, I go with the max DPI (5700) on my Logitech G9x & default sensitivity in game (if the accuracy lacks, I'll change it).
 
personal preference as mentioned and it also depends on how you hold the mouse, I have a claw grip and I hardly move the mouse, cut the smallest mouse pad out there in half and I’m fine with it. so high sensitivity is a must for me.
 
Its a trade-off, you want to be able to respond quickly but not so quickly that you miss and lose the advantage.

Generally speaking you want the most accurate hardware reading of your input possible, that means max DPI your mouse can do. There is diminishing returns for crazy-high DPIs, depends on your resolution. Then adjust drivers+windows for 1:1 pixel precision, then set the game to whatever is comfortable.

I tend towards the 'hyper fast' feel. For accurate aiming when sniping I sort of squeeze my thumb into my hand, which gives control for tight aiming. Relax the thumb and its back to fast.
 
I usually play at 2000 DPI (maximum setting on my G5) and default ingame sensitivity.

Ritorix said:
Then adjust drivers+windows for 1:1 pixel precision, then set the game to whatever is comfortable.
Click to expand...

How do you know you're getting "1:1 pixel precision"?
 
Bisectors Fore said:
How do you know you're getting "1:1 pixel precision"?
Click to expand...

Turn off 'enhanced pointer precision', which does some funky math to the mouse input. Then set the windows and drivers mouse speeds to (at least for Logitech setpoint) 50%.
 
Ritorix said:
Turn off 'enhanced pointer precision', which does some funky math to the mouse input. Then set the windows and drivers mouse speeds to (at least for Logitech setpoint) 50%.
Click to expand...

I'll have to try this out & see how it works for me.
 
Adam.C said:
most pro gamers play at 800dpi. In game sens is personal preference. Some like lower sens too aim easier, just makes it harder to track. Depends if you are one to like flick shots or not. Its all personal preference
Click to expand...

It's 400dpi; Most pro CS players use older Microsoft mice.

I use 400dpi with a sensitivity of 2.6 in Source engine games. I stick with a sensitivity because of muscle memory.
 
from i seen many elite gamers tend to have slightly lower than average sensitivity with binds to automatically adjust sensitivity when scoping in
 
IME 3.0 (400DPI?) and around a sensitivity of "1" in games. I set whatever the game takes so that my entire 17" mouse pad results in a 360* turn.
 
~40cm/360 in slow games ~ 30cm in faster paced ones, that's about 3.0 sens with a 400dpi mouse and 4.5sens accordingly in source engine games in my setup, keep in mind that EVERYTHING affects sensitivity ( monitor refresh rate, OS mouse settings, etc ) so posting sensitivity values instead of cm/360 is pointless, especially if you are have mouse acceleration enabled. (like most ppl sadly )
 
There is a little equation you can do if you buy a new mouse, to keep the same feel as the old mouse. Like if you went from an old 400DPI mouse to a fancy 5000DPI mouse, you can do that while keeping the same overall feel. This assumes you use 1:1 settings already and just need to adjust the game sens.

(old DPI * old sensitivity) / new DPI = new sensitivity

For example, if I used a 5 sensitivity in QuakeLive with a 400DPI mouse, and I bought a new 5000 DPI mouse, we plug it all in:

(400* 5) / 5000 = .4

My new sensitivity would be 0.4 and it would feel the same, besides any input smoothness from the higher DPI.
 
Ritorix said:
Turn off 'enhanced pointer precision', which does some funky math to the mouse input. Then set the windows and drivers mouse speeds to (at least for Logitech setpoint) 50%.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll check this out.
 
I remember back when some mouse reviews counted the number of times a person would spin when moving the mouse, with the assumption that more was better. that was dumb as hell logic.

ultimately the answer is to find the highest dpi settings that allow you to track targets accurately.

I have often wished that games would include a dpi trainer, the purpose of which is to spin and shoot a target repeatedly as fast as possible. if you are overshooting the target regularly the dpi should go down, undershooting, it should go up. Of course this has to be done per game at current game resolution. There is no way to standardize this, especially in terms of other latency.
 
jiminator said:
I have often wished that games would include a dpi trainer, the purpose of which is to spin and shoot a target repeatedly as fast as possible. if you are overshooting the target regularly the dpi should go down, undershooting, it should go up. Of course this has to be done per game at current game resolution. There is no way to standardize this, especially in terms of other latency.
Click to expand...

Just load up a large number of dumb bots in Counter Strike and do shootout.
 
Bop said:
It's 400dpi; Most pro CS players use older Microsoft mice.

I use 400dpi with a sensitivity of 2.6 in Source engine games. I stick with a sensitivity because of muscle memory.
Click to expand...

Yea I guess I was speaking more from my Quake background. Not a CS player. And yea the plain old IME is what lots of guys use. Im still using my trusty old G5. Works great
 
Generally you want your sensitivity as low as possible and any mouse acceleration off.
 
With a standard MS mouse for me, raising the bar of sensitivity in game makes the cursor jump a clump of pixles at a time for me.
 
I used to play at max dpi and slightly lowered sensitivity for my fps games. Now I'm at max with default for the most part. Love my mx518 though!
 
Ritorix said:
Turn off 'enhanced pointer precision', which does some funky math to the mouse input. Then set the windows and drivers mouse speeds to (at least for Logitech setpoint) 50%.
Click to expand...

Cool. I'll try it out. :cool:

Edit: Looks like I was already using those exact settings. I guess I'm just that 1337 ;)
 
Last edited:
WasntMe said:
I recently got the Alienware TactX Mouse that has sensitivity (dpi) adjustment right on the mouse. I always played at the default sensitivity in games but recently decided to switch while played BFBC2. I switched from the highest setting to the lowest while sniping one day and found it to be amazing! Much easier to target.

I had a guy sneak up on me, I pulled my pistol and got a headshot, then another on a guy right behind him. Seems adjusting my sensitivity lower really helped my game.

What sensitivity (hyper fast, slow, medium, default) do you prefer?
Click to expand...


depends for me.. i have 5 settings on my lachesis.. 4000 dpi 3200 dpi 2500 dpi 1800 dpi and 900 dpi.. i use them for various things.. when im doing up close stuff i use a higher dpi setting.. when im doing long range sniping i use 1800 or 900 dpi usually.. and if im running around with a full on machine gun i use 4000 dpi.. and i also have windows mouse acceleration turned off..
 
Umm I think I'm one of the few people with high mouse sensitivity in-game. My Windows 7 setting is right at the center of the slider, my G5 is at 2000dpi (or whatever the highest is), and all of my Source games are at 9.3. It's crazy fast, I think I can do a 360 turn in TF2 with about 3cm of space. I don't snipe and I've been a Quake player so I bank on fast reflex.
 
I have mine set at either 15 or 20 for Source games. IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 with default Windows sensitivity. :eek:
 
For games like BC2 (true PC games), I play at 1600DPI on my Microsoft g5. In a game like RE5 (console ports), I drop it down to 800DPI.

I navigate my desktop at 1600DPI.
 
I use 3200 on my g9. Anything lower and i start to notice skips on pixals. Since my resolution is 1920x1080.
 
Theres actually a little tool that can prove if you are getting 1:1 precision. The 'mark c windows 7 accel fix', which fixes older games like CS/Q1/Unreal1 that force mouse accel despite your settings, includes a mouse movement recorder. There are similar fixes for XP and Vista.

With windows set to middle setting, the mouse movement is same as pointer movement:


With windows jacked up to maximum speed:


The mousemovement column is based on your driver input, so if you increase/decrease speed or change accel via drivers it wont show up in this tool.
 
Adam.C said:
Yea I guess I was speaking more from my Quake background. Not a CS player. And yea the plain old IME is what lots of guys use. Im still using my trusty old G5. Works great
Click to expand...

Has a lot to do with the gameplay style I would say. Looking at the top players from early netquake and early QW, most were using very high sensitivity. Back then it was mostly about rockets, LG, and shotty - very short fights, flick shooting, and no real extended tracking of targets. As smooth movement and tracking aim were required more and more you tended to see the sensitivities drop and more mouse accel start to creep in to compensate. And ya... the MS explorer3.0 and the MS WMO are/were the most commonly used among the top players from CS and Quake respectively. Both 400dpi mice.
 
I switch on the fly. I play @ 4000dpi while im running, hip firing, using assault rifle type weaponry. When I scope in for the snipe, I switch down to 750dpi for the extra accuracy
 
i was under the impression that reported dpi can be quite inconsistent as well...your math might be quite a bit less rigorous than you might think...
 
I use mark C for windows 7 too, along with -noforcemparms -noforcemspd -noforcemaccel in source/goldsource games, i always used mousefixes in windows XP also, my favorite one is cheese mouse fix because you can make it work with any monitor refresh rate.

Btw Dpi conversions are not that complicated in my experience, for example 35cm/360 = 4.0 sens - 400dpi = 2.0 - 800dpi = 1.0 sens - 1600 dpi
 
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