Optical mouse/gaming results are awful!

[stultus]

Hi, I just bought a Logitech Mouseman Optical (the one with the blue LED) and fired up Counter-strike to see how much better it was going to be. To my huge surprise, it is much worse than my Logitech Mouseman non-optical! I had read here that anybody who was using a ball'd version mouse was just denying that optical is the better, more modern thing that everybod will eventually go to.

I was expecting some problems with lifting my mouse up to move it on the mousepad - this was not a problem at all.

However, moving the mouse quickly over a large distance (to turn 180 in a game, low mouse sensitivity) caused my character to "vibrate." Only when the average speed of the mouse was slower did it begin to track. Otherwise, in heated firefights, I was left jiggling back and forth not being able to track the enemy whilst I was gunned down.

I was really expecting better. Am I doing something wrong? This works great in Windows, but not in gaming. I tried using the mouse on my desktop, on a pad of graph paper, and on a Ratzpad. Same results. Is this common? I guess I will have to have both mice plugged in and just use the ball one for gaming and the optical for everything else. I am really disappointed.

 

[Wingznut]

I've had my best success by using a generic, solid dark-blue mouse pad.

 

[ganesha]

yes, I had problems too till I switched to a cheapie cloth Gateway mousepad I got from work.

 

[SuperFreaky]

I use a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical now, and it works alot better than my old Logitech Mouseman (non - optical) did. Do you have it plugged in the USB port? or PS/2?

 

[Zucchini]

gaming is ok with thye optical, .. there is a learning curve, so beware. Also, use a decently fast sensitivity.. very slow settings will really screw you. Logitech i feel optical 4 button wheel mouse is 35bux at office depot can you say kick ass?

it took me a while to get used to the optical.. now i dont think about it

 

[fishingeek]

I had this problem with the Explorer. I found that if I slowed down the spped in the Control panel, it fixed it. Hope this helps.

 

[stultus]

So far, the best results are on my 3M Precision Mousing Surface (by far). But it still can't hold a candle to roller-mice spinning frantically in-game.

I currently have both of them plugged in USB and am switching between the both of them to try them out.

Low sensitivity results in me getting gobs of kills after I got used to it... I don't see increasing sensitivty as a good move. This is supposed to make life easier, not mroe difficult!

I will give it a fair chance and try to learn the learning curve If anyone else has any suggestions, shout out!

 

[vash]

I am a user of both types of mice. Currently, I have a MS optical connect via USB and a Logitech non-optical connected on a Win2k machine without any "special" driver software installed for either mice. The optical is for 2D and the non-optical is for 3d FPS games where speed is key.

My problem is exactly what your problem is -- the "flick". When playing CS (I'm getting 1.1 right now..), there are plenty of fast paced firefights where sometimes you have to turn 180 degrees quickly. With the non-optical, its a quick "flick" of the mouse and I'm happy, but when I do that with the optical, I'm dead. Fast.

I didn't think this would be a problem and I would change my gameplay (and mouse sensitivity higher) for this specific mouse, but I realized that I use the "flick" very often and in every FPS game. Thus, I ditched the optical for all FPS games and stick with non-optical for my FPS needs. I can't wait for a 2000dpi mouse (othen than the $100 boomslang) with a ball to come out, then I'd ditch both my mice for just one.

 

[Zucchini]

I guess i learned to use high sensitivity .. it is kind of an advantage.. large turns like turning 180 are more controlled. As for the learning curve, toss your ball mouse,... it will fuxor your efforts to use your optical. I've owned like 4 logitech ball mice b4 i went optical.. quite a change and now from optical to ifeel optical

oh yea, everglides work pretty well with opticals I guess i'm just used to the smooth feeling.

 

[stultus]

Hey Vash, what sensitivity are you using in CS? (How about those slow 1.1 downloads... geesh) I'm using it at .6

High sensitivity makes it difficult to track/get head shot when you are in a 1v1 fight, run out of ammo, switch to pistol, etc. I used to wonder how in the world people could make a kill by hitting me multiple times with a deagle - but now I can do it. Maybe another good thread (in off-topic or whatever) is to see how many people use high sensitivty vs low.

I think I will stick with mice with balls There's a definite "cool" factor associated with optical mice, but they just don't perform how I want.

 

[Playmaker]

Wow, these results are the opposite of what I expected. I always heard that rumor about ball mice being better for FPS, especially CS which is what I play most. Well, I recently went to a LAN party last weekend that had 18 people. Most of them are former members of a clan that was ranked top 3 thru their entire stay in OGL open CS ladder until they quit w/ clans. There were over 10 MS optical intellimouse and 1 logitech high-end optical, not sure on the model. They all used high sensitivity too, and said they gradually increased sensitivity as they got better, and it results in better playing. These are just results I've seen, but these guys are far and away the best CS players I've played w/ before, so that must mean something. I think I'm going to probably get a MS intellimouse explorer, which btw is 2000dpi.

 

[MGMorden]

Personally I love my Logitech optical. I've only played Q3 a few times w/ it, but had no trouble at all doing that.

 

[vash]

I typically play with a sensitivity around 3-4 (I think mine is currently at 3.25). With the low sensitivity, I am quite used to aiming for the headshots in a firefight, but going much higher than 4 is just too fast for me. I am a typical sniper and I like to have a low sensitivity so I can track my prety easier, that's why I tend to have that setting a bit lower. FPS games would be much cooler if there seperate sensitivity adjustments in both non-zoomed and zoomed rifle modes. If that were possible, I would probably have a higher sensitivty in my FPS games for non-zoomed applications and a much lower sensitivity in zoomed modes.

Lastly, I've d/led 1.1 twice from two different sites to have file corruptions. However, I'm on a third now and the file size is larger and I'm hoping that fixes my problems.

 

[Playmaker]

Don't worry, you're not missing much w/ that d/l. 1.1 will take some getting used, and they didn't really fix the awp, so it's still the same old 1 shot kill n00b gun that's ruining the game BTW, my sensitivity is 6.something. I used to awp, but I don't do that anymore, so I don't need low sensitivity for that.

 

[Zucchini]

well it depends on how you play. A higher sensitivity allows for faster aiming..especially for area affect weapons like rockets or whatever. No time to get a head shot because your dead from a rocket.

 

[JonathanOtter]

A suggestion--

If you hate the AWP, come onto Yiffy Foxies! A server that has the AWP justly BANNED.

I'm an admin on there-- It's a very light-hearted server, where the admins don't like jerks and dickheads, and they are admin_gag'ed. ;o)

Comeon someday. If you're a racist jerk, don't.

cs.scritch.com OR
(tfc sucks, buuuut)tfc.scritch.com

Fast. ^_^ Friendly. Fun.

 

[Playmaker]

Maybe I'll check that server out sometime. Right now I play on a local server and ping 20s-30s, so I like it a lot. AWP really isn't that bad, most people aren't very good and can't move around w/ it, so strafing w/ AK can kill them in 3-4 bullets, try it, it's easy with a bit of practice.