Mouse Acceleration - Killing gaming on my Mac.

[slugg]

I cannot stand mouse acceleration when using a mouse. On a trackpad, it feels fine. But on a mouse, it makes me want to punch a baby.

I refuse to play a single game on my Mac that requires a mouse unless there's a good way to disable mouse acceleration. USB Overdrive screws up my touchpad settings and costs money to get rid of the utterly intrusive nag screen.

As an aside, I also find it damn near impossible to draw anything in graphics programs using my mouse. Anything that requires dragging forces me to do it really slowly, thus wasting my time.

I don't understand how for so many years, Apple still continues to leave out such a basic option from its operating system. Can anyone offer any advice?

 

[TheStu]

I must be the only person that isn't bothered by the acceleration, I can game on my Mac just fine.

What OS are you using? Have you tried SteerMouse?

 

[slugg]

10.6.4

SteerMouse does not remove mouse acceleration.

 

[MJinZ]

I cannot stand mouse acceleration when using a mouse. On a trackpad, it feels fine. But on a mouse, it makes me want to punch a baby.

I refuse to play a single game on my Mac that requires a mouse unless there's a good way to disable mouse acceleration. USB Overdrive screws up my touchpad settings and costs money to get rid of the utterly intrusive nag screen.

As an aside, I also find it damn near impossible to draw anything in graphics programs using my mouse. Anything that requires dragging forces me to do it really slowly, thus wasting my time.

I don't understand how for so many years, Apple still continues to leave out such a basic option from its operating system. Can anyone offer any advice?

LOLOLOL @ OSX.

Sorry, I just had to do that since I already tell everyone that mousing algorithms blows donkey balls on OS X, and probably #1 reason I got rid of mine.

Bootcamp to XP, but have fun with the lower performance and driver issues.

I grow weary of warning you over snide & unhelpful remarks in this forum. If this happens any more you won't be making any more remarks - of that I am sure.

-ViRGE

 

[slugg]

LOLOLOL @ OSX.

Sorry, I just had to do that since I already tell everyone that mousing algorithms blows donkey balls on OS X, and probably #1 reason I got rid of mine.

Bootcamp to XP, but have fun with the lower performance and driver issues.

Constructive.

 

[MJinZ]

Constructive.

It's just funny when everyone tells me "what? Mouse is fine on Mac", and I have to look them in the eye and assume they are brain damaged neophytes.

Lots of things about Macs make absolutely no sense and/or are so vastly inferior to everything else that it makes me wonder sometimes what Steve Jobs actually does for a living. Wait, I forgot that he is an interior decorator.

 

[Tegeril]

Mousing on the Mac is definitely optimized for tasks other than gaming. The deceleration effect when moving slowly that allows pixel perfect mouse movements and the acceleration that overcompensates when you move the mouse even a little fast are very challenging to work with in most games requiring a mouse beyond a point and click adventure game.

I haven't found a solution that I prefer, and thus try to do all my gaming on my PC. Sorry

 

[ViRGE]

Does USB Overdrive cancel out mouse acceleration?

 

[slugg]

Does USB Overdrive cancel out mouse acceleration?

It claims to do so. I haven't played any games yet, so I uninstalled USB Overdrive. When you evaluate it, you get a really, REALLY annoying nag screen. When I'm ready to game, I'll try it out again.

Unfortunately, USB Overdrive is not free. Kind of an overkill program for the sole purpose of disabling mouse acceleration. It's such a simple feature - I don't understand why Apple won't add the option to turn it off.

 

[Nothinman]

I don't understand why Apple won't add the option to turn it off.

Because Apple knows better than you, obviously.

 

[dawks]

I have this problem too.. the default acceleration curve drives me nuts. I've tried a number of mice and drivers, and a few tools that let you 'modify' the curve. The only thing that seems to help is using a Microsoft Mouse with Microsoft drivers. I crank the mouse pointer speed to max, and it uses a more Windows like curve (the max speed is still a little slow for me though). If I try a different non MSFT mouse, OS/X won't use the MSFT drivers, and switches back to its crappy curve.

Any suggestions to fix this would be great. I tried that Overdrive but the nag screen was too much, and I didnt notice a difference.

I don't understand why Apple won't add the option to turn it off.

I wouldn't say that you'd want to turn it off, just modify the curve. Acceleration is almost a requirement for large (>20") screens.

 

[Paperlantern]

Because Apple knows better than you, obviously.

It's the same reason why Quicktime will recheck options that you previously unchecked after updating, Apple knows you really need those options checked, it's not their fault you're stupid and don't know what you need as far as options, they do the best they can to keep everything set the way it SHOULD be.

 

[slugg]

I wouldn't say that you'd want to turn it off, just modify the curve. Acceleration is almost a requirement for large (>20") screens.

Oh no, I definitely would say that I want to turn it OFF. I don't WANT an acceleration curve. I want a perfectly linear response. I know exactly what I want.

And if I later get a huge screen, I should have the option of turning the acceleration back on.

 

[sourceninja]

I've never noticed it when playing games. Im not a big FPS player though and I do have a 24 inch display.

 

[Paperlantern]

Oh no, I definitely would say that I want to turn it OFF. I don't WANT an acceleration curve. I want a perfectly linear response. I know exactly what I want.

And if I later get a huge screen, I should have the option of turning the acceleration back on.

I agree here. Back in the day when I played FPSs diligently, I had a very specific set up i used. I had (still have actually) a Logitech mx518 gaming mouse, and I would hack windows to up the 125hz default to 500hz on the mouse refresh. It was an AMAZING difference, you could tell the difference immediately. I had screen shots of where all the sliders were in both windows and the setpoint software, as well as a config file to execute for mouse settings (as well as video settings and other binds). Yeah, gamers dont mess around, with this much precision, you CANT have the OS speeding the mouse up while FPS gaming, you absolutely have to have a completely linear response. A couple of pixels could mean the difference literally between life and death. It's no joke.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

If you wanted to play games on a serious level you chose the wrong platform.

 

[Paperlantern]

If you wanted to play games on a serious level you chose the wrong platform.

You can still play... uhm... WoW on a serious level on a Mac, and maybe a handful of other games. however, for the most part, this statement is absolutely true. Hardcore Gaming and Mac just don't end up in the same sentence 99.999% of the time.

 

[slugg]

You can still play... uhm... WoW on a serious level on a Mac, and maybe a handful of other games. however, for the most part, this statement is absolutely true. Hardcore Gaming and Mac just don't end up in the same sentence 99.999% of the time.

Fully agree. Still, doesn't mean that OS X shouldn't be gaming friendly. If anything, Apple put more effort toward making its platform attractive to more people. How many resources would it take to add support in the preference pane? Seriously?

I even looked into coding one myself, but it looks like Apple removed any useful mouse-related API's in Snow Leopard. So in other words, disabling mouse acceleration would be a hack-job: literally. I don't know enough about OS X to take it any further at this point.

Out of curiosity... how much interest would you guys have in said hack? If there's a lot of interest, I may look into making it for the sake of learning. It'd be free, of course. I don't care enough to look into it just for me, though.

 

[KeypoX]

Can't kill something that isnt alive to begin with. I never noticed but after the crappy graphics and performance i didnt play on mac for long.