Why do games have mouse acceleration?

[futurefields]

I've never heard anybody say "boy that mouse acceleration, they nailed it"

somebody please enlighten me

 

[motsm]

Because the input is programmed for a controller, which often works best with acceleration on the analog sticks. The studio is then too lazy to properly remove it when they port the game to PC.

 

[mmntech]

Posting in a futurefields thread.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+turn+off+mouse+acceleration+in+games

 

[shortylickens]

most games let you turn it off, some way.

For example, in Oblivion, Fallout 3, and New Vegas, you should have to add a line to your .ini file and set it to 0.

 

[KeithP]

Posting in a futurefields thread.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+turn+off+mouse+acceleration+in+games

He didn't ask how to turn it off, he asked why the feature is present. Those seem like two different questions to me.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Why+do+people+have+such+a+hard+time+understanding+simple+questions?

-KeithP

 

[Raduque]

It's there because it irritates you.

 

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[bystander36]

I'd guess, in at least some cases, it is because the dev's thought it was more realistic, or just had the feel they desired to have in their game. They aren't like some of you, who are obsessed with getting a competitive edge, and the thought of acceleration is some huge F word. To them, it is just a tool they can use to give the gamer a feel they think is appropriate.

 

[BFG10K]

Mouse acceleration never bothered me. I'm far more affected by multi-GPU input lag which many claim to not notice.

 

[bystander36]

I dislike both. Latency causes me motion/simulator sickness. Acceleration can feel like lag, which can have an adverse affect on me.

 

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[bystander36]

Your answer is just an example of my 2nd point. To a hard core or competitive gamer, acceleration is "absurd", but there really isn't anything wrong with it in a game like The Witcher 2 or Skyrim and might be something someone would think would be good. After all, when you move, you accelerate, do not instantly reach full speed. Of course your hand already does that, but that isn't to say a dev might not do it on purpose.

I know that you can't comprehend it, but that doesn't mean others wouldn't think it was a good idea.

It's also possible that even if it wasn't a console port, they just used existing tools that used acceleration.

 

[bystander36]

Let me ask you, Oubadah, why do you think acceleration is present in a non-console port?

The truth is, in a PC exclusive, all they would have to do is use the mouse drivers to have perfect mouse movement. They have all the calls needed to track the mouse with 0 additional acceleration (if a mouse has it, the game would have it. If not, it wouldn't have any). They either purposefully added acceleration, or decided to use existing mouse code that did things the way consoles do it.

 

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[Rakehellion]

You have the standard case of the half-baked console port, in which the devs were too incompetent and/or lazy to remove acceleration for mouse input, but there are some more unique cases that really leave you scratching your head. Eg:

- Far Cry 3: The devs went to the trouble of providing a menu option to disable positive acceleration, yet they leave negative acceleration always on. Are they stupid?

- The Witcher: Has some of the worst acceleration of any game, positively reeking of console port, yet it's a PC exclusive title. What's the excuse there?

The Witcher 1 & 2 are both on consoles.

 

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[SPBHM]

yes, Witcher 1 is a PC exclusive, Witcher 2 was a pc exclusive for around a year (and they had to do some work mainly to get the performance good enough on the Xbox 360), but considering how controls worked and how it was a DX9 game (when DX11 was already being used for many games) I think they made the game with Xbox 360 port in mind since day 1.

I'm also puzzled by how so many games can get mouse controls so wrong, horrible latency and such... I love when the mouse movement just feels super smooth, like on the late 90's FPS (such as Half life, quake 3)

 

[shortylickens]

I heard Dark Souls was awesome. Bought it.
Controls were so bad I gave up in a couple hours.
Wish I could sell back Steam games.

 

[bystander36]

Your criteria is evolving. First it was "competitive" gamers, and now it has expanded to include "hard core" gamers, whatever that is supposed to mean.

My criteria has not changed. I've only tried to use different words to explain the same thing.

You seem to already "know" why they do it, and just want others to tell you what you "know". I was just trying to give you a possible window into dev's mind. One you should be capable of understanding, even if you don't agree with it.

I do believe in most cases, it is likely them just using existing tools for the mouse, which likely evolved around consoles. I do believe there are dev's out there that have done it on purpose. Look at some of the UI choices dev's decided on. They don't often make much sense, especially on a sequel of a wildly successful game.