If you are a gamer, then you know that your mouse is one of the most important pieces of equipment that you own. A good mouse will make you more accurate and give you more control of your character in the game.
For many years, a lot of you have been using the same old cheap, basic mouse. But that’s no longer good enough. The days of a cheap mouse are over.
In this article, we’ll show you how to make your mouse better for gaming.
How To Make Your Mouse Better For Gaming
Here are some of the simple tweaks that you can use to improve your gaming.
Windows Settings
Whether you have a gaming mouse or a normal mouse, you will be able to change some of the settings within Windows itself to help optimize your mouse for gaming.
Let’s go through each of the settings you can change within Windows itself, and what they do.
Pointer Speed
Pointer Speed is the speed of the mouse, measured in pixels per second. This is measured by the number of pixels the mouse moves in a second.
The higher the number, the faster the mouse.
You can change this setting by going to:
Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options
From here, you can change the pointer speed from 1 to 2000 pixels per second.
This is an excellent setting to change, as it will make your mouse more responsive, and give you better control of your character in games.
Mouse Acceleration
Labeled in Windows as ‘Enhance Pointer Precision’, this needs to be turned off.
The reasons why you should disable mouse acceleration are covered in-depth here.
In a nutshell, mouse acceleration controls the speed at which your mouse will move in relation to your hand’s movements.
The faster you move your mouse, the faster the cursor will move across the screen.
Obviously, this is bad for gaming as it makes your mouse movements unpredictable.
Mouse Software Settings
If you have a gaming mouse, chances are that it comes with its own software that you can use to adjust some settings.
Angle Snapping
Turn this off.
As covered in one of our recent articles, Angle Snapping makes it so you can move your mouse in perfectly straight lines.
You don’t want this feature enabled as it will make precision aiming more difficult.
Setting your macro key
A good majority of gaming mice (and some office mice) come with a few extra buttons that you can freely customize.
Mouse software such as Razers Synapse will allow you easily set macros on these buttons, and make complex inputs as easy as clicking a button.
Mouse DPI
Also found in the software is your DPI settings.
This is an extremely important setting to have, as it is one of the most important settings you can change on your mouse.
What is DPI?
If you don’t know what DPI is, don’t worry. It’s a lot less complicated than it sounds.
The most important thing you need to know is that the higher the DPI, the more sensitive your mouse will be.
DPI stands for dots ‘Dots Per Inch’, and it is a measurement of how sensitive your mouse is.
The higher the DPI, the more sensitive the mouse is.
The more sensitive your mouse is, the less accurate you can be.
For example, a mouse with a DPI of 400 is much more sensitive than a mouse with a DPI of 200.
Is Faster or Slower DPI Better?
Having a high DPI can be beneficial if you need to move your mouse quickly (such as running & gunning in FPS games), however, when it comes to sniping (and other situations where you need precision accuracy) a lower DPI is recommended.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference, so just the DPI settings to something that feels comfortable to use.
If your mouse does not come with software to change this, it may come with DPI buttons on the mouse itself.
You can change your DPI by simply clicking on the DPI button until you get to the setting that you want.
In-game Settings
Another thing that you should take your time adjusting is the mouse settings menu in your game.
Most games these days allow you to change the mouse settings and I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with what each option does.
In-game Sensitivity
Most mouse menus in games offer an option to change your mouse sensitivity.
The higher your sensitivity, the faster your aim will be.
Once again, this all comes down to personal preference.
Raw Input
The ‘Raw Input’ option is something you will probably want to turn on as it can reduce any input lag you may experience.
Usually, the input signals from your mouse go through the operating system, then into your game.
Having Raw Input enabled will allow your mouse to send its signals directly to the game, thus minimizing the time it takes to register the inputs.
In-game Mouse Acceleration
Again, keep this turned off. It will only end up with your character moving further than you intended.
Polling Rate
Always a hot topic, I will try my best to explain this as simply as possible.
What is polling rate?
The polling rate is how often your mouse is checking to see if you have moved your mouse.
This is usually measured in Hz (hertz).
125Hz is around the standard for standard office mice, while modern gaming mice can have around 1000Hz.
If you have the option to increase your polling rate, then do so.
Wire Management
One thing that wireless mice have over wired ones is the fact that they don’t have to put up with cable drag.
Since your wired mouse will be attached to your PC with, well, a wire, it may sometimes have to fight against the pull of the cable.
One way around this is to purchase a mouse bungee.
A mouse bungee is a little device that holds up your mouse cable in a way that won’t pull your mouse in a certain direction and offers you full movement without feeling restricted.
Before I bought mine, every time I wanted to look up in a game, the mouse’s wire would ‘bunch up’ and push against my mouse.
If I let go of it, you could actually see the wire push the mouse along the mouse pad.
Mouse Pads
Get a decent mouse pad.
Whether it is a hard mouse pad or a soft one, I recommend that you buy one.
With a good mouse pad, your mouse will be able to track correctly.
The better the tracking, the better you can aim.
Depending on what DPI you like to play with, you should check the size of the pad you are buying.
If you play with a low DPI, you will need extra room to move when compared to someone who plays with a higher DPI.
Whatever sized pad you go for, just make sure it will fit on your desk perfectly flat.
Closing Words
In conclusion, I want to say that, as a gamer myself, I am always trying to make my mouse better. I would love to hear from other gamers who have made their own improvements to the gaming mouse. Please share your insights in the comments section.