31 replies to this topic

[Raynz]

I'm about ready to give up on ever being good at this game. I don't know if it's just that I can't dial in my mouse control well enough or if I'm just bad. Watching people in spectator they all seem nice and smooth with their targeting, but no matter what I do my targeting is all over the place. I can barely hit with lasers, and I'm currently running a streak commando that I take forever to lock on with because I can't keep the reticule on my target.

So, what I'm trying to say with my bellyaching, is what can I do to get better? How do I make my mouse control as seemingly precise as it is for other players?

[nungunz]

What hardware are you uising (computer, mouse, etc?). Sounds like you might need to dial back the mouse sensitivity a bit.

[Flapdrol]

you can change sensitivity in the user.cfg file (in the mwo directory)

put this in:
i_mouse_smooth = 0
i_mouse_accel=0
cl_sensitivity = 0.25

that will disable mouse acceleration and make the mouse 4 times slower, you can use other numbers at sensitivity too of course

Edited by Flapdrol, 01 December 2012 - 05:16 AM.

[Ragor]

#1 what are your fps? (press F9 to get them displayed)
-> with a too low framerate you'll have difficulties hitting anything

#2 do you have issues coordinating leg control (wasd keys) and torso control (mouse)?

#3 make sure your mousepad is clean and your mouse works as intended.


In general:
A nice practise is always to focus something in your field of view.
For example a simple rock.
Then constantly keep moving and changing direction (wasd keys) while you keep your reticule on that rock (using your mouse).
Maybe this helps you to get used to constantly adjusting your sights to get a constant aim.

Edit:
Sidenote:
I use a very fast mouse (~1cm movement = lower left corner to upper right corner of my screen) with 2000dpi but only using direct input. Any kind of mouse smoothing or mosue acceleration kills all accuracy for me.
But I'm used to this since many years, it's an old Q3 legacy.

Edited by Ragor, 01 December 2012 - 05:25 AM.

[Fiachdubh]

I hate mouse control, always used a joystick but since this game seems to refuse to recognise my old Saitek Gold 3D I have had no choice. It took me around a hundred matches before I could actually use the mouse proficiently, found it really hard to adjust but you've just got to put in the hours of playing and one day you will suddenly realise you can pilot and target with the mouse.

Edited by Fiachdubh, 01 December 2012 - 05:23 AM.

[beniliusbob]

My friend gave me this advice:

"Aim with the mouse. Stop adjusting with your torso!"

The exclamation is not for you; my friend was yelling at me at the time.

The point is that it's very easy to play MWO like other FPS games where adjusting your aim by strafing is second nature. However, in MWO, a tap on the A or D key will rotate you several degrees, so you "jerk" your aim. On the other hand, you can "slide" your mouse gently over the target. If you practice "sliding" your mouse and actively NOT rotating your torso while firing, you might find you get the hang of it and end up hitting more often. It worked for me.

Do check your frame rate, though. I was having graphics problems at first that also made it nearly impossible to hit things.

[DerelictTomcat]

Being an aging gamer I can tell you as we get older our aim is no longer the same as these young-ins.

Past that I'm right there with you I couldn't paint a laser on a target to save my mechwarrior life. Things I have done to play MWO beyond building my new system was mainly to control the dang thing.

After playing around with a config file to get a decent amount of control from my joystick I quickly saw this was not going to work well at least for me in MWO. So I went out and bought a Razar Nostromo and started using the mouse to actuate the torso twist and aim. Of course I ended up where you are now.

I turned off all mouse acceleration in windows (I use 7 64 currently) which helped. I then bought a logitec G300 which has programmable buttons and allows you to set and step through different DPI's on the mouse. I now use 2500dpi to fly around the screen and at the start of a match I hit one button and switch down to around 400 dpi for a much slower yet also much smoother aiming experience.

Even with this I'm not a great player but I have started scoring a few kills per match so I am getting better.

[Bloody Moon]

As others said before practice is the key word here.

Having decent fps, a good gaming mouse or adjusting the sensitivity settings can make a big difference, sure, but in the end it always comes down to having enough practice. This varies from player to player, it would probably hundreds or thousands of games for a rookie to handle their mech's movements like a reflex and obviously it would take much less down to a few dozen games for a hardcore FPS veteran.

So don't give up, you'll get there eventually!

Edited by Bloody Moon, 01 December 2012 - 05:36 AM.

[RFMarine]

maybe his ping is high?

[Taizan]

Check if you have mouse acceleration activated (in your Windows mouse settings). Turn it off if this is the case.

[p4r4g0n]

If you've tried dialing down the mouse sensitivity all the way and it still hasn't helped, have you tried using a medium, heavy or assault?

Lights tend to be twitchy cos they move so fast and after watching some really good light pilots via spectator mode, it was pretty obvious to me that I could never match them. No longer have the reflexes for it.

[Sen]

You can also adjust mouse sensitivity in Control panel in Windows, and if you have an expensive flashy gaming mouse those tend to come with dpi/sensitivity adjustments.

Also, heavy/assaults do not suffer from this as much as they're much bulkier. I know cash wise this advice probably doesn't help you at the moment, but it's true.

At the end of the day, practice practice practice

[DerelictTomcat]

Sen, on 01 December 2012 - 06:19 AM, said:

if you have an expensive flashy gaming mouse those tend to come with dpi/sensitivity adjustments.

My G300 was $32 to the door. Hardly expensive for many. http://www.amazon.co...8/dp/B005EWB3AU

[Raynz]

Well, I have an AMD FX-4100 Quad 3.6GHz proc, with 8GB ram, and a nVidia 660Ti graphics card. I get 60 fps easy when I'm not looking at mechs (V-Sync is on), but when mechs are in view it drops down to around 20 fps. This is all with High settings using the ingame Options menu. My latency usually sits around 100ms or so.

My mouse is a Logitech G9 gaming mouse that does indeed have on the fly DPI control. And I have indeed started using it. It hasn't seemed to really help. And I did indeed go in to adjust my user.cfg settings. I have the sensitivity set to 0.35 right now. Mouse acceleration is turned off in my Logitech control panel. I use the lower DPI setting while I'm in game, but then I run into feeling like I can't move my reticule fast enough to stay on target. I guess maybe I'm just stuck on thinking I shouldn't have to move my mouse so much to aim, so I just need to stick with the lower DPI setting and get used to it?

Also, for reference, I've been running the Commando-2D I think it is? The one with 3 missile, 1 energy hardpoints. Loadout is 3 SSRM and 1 MLAS. I have also just switched over to the 3 energy 1 missile hardpoint variant as I've maxed out Basic skills on the 2D. With this variant I'm running 3 MPLAS. What I feel like I've experienced is watching other people play with my same or similar loadout doing far more damage than me much more quickly. IE, I'll see another Commando with 3 SSRM take me out in just like 3 or 4 volleys, whereas I'll do the same and not even strip off any armor.

I also really wanted to try using my Logitech 3D Pro joystick, but couldn't get it to work properly either. Although it seems even if I did get it working, my aiming woes would be even worse.

[DerelictTomcat]

Right before open beta I tried getting my old Logitech 3D Pro working and was fairly successful. I never did dial in the exact sensitivity readings in the .cfg file before giving up and going to mouse and KB alternative. I'll post it here if it might help someone.

cl_joystick_gain = 10
cl_joystick_sensitivity = 0.55
cl_joystick_throttle_range = 0
cl_joystick_invert_throttle = 1
cl_joystick_invert_pitch = 1
cl_joystick_invert_yaw = 0
cl_joystick_invert_turn = 0
cl_joystick_deadzone = 0.5

I know with my g300 mouse you can adjust the steps in dpi in the software. Maybe as low as possible is too slow. I have over 100 games in and I'm really just getting this down and scoring some kills myself.

The question is are you having fun?

[Hansh0tfirst]

Raynz, on 01 December 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

...I get 60 fps easy when I'm not looking at mechs (V-Sync is on), but when mechs are in view it drops down to around 20 fps. This is all with High settings using the ingame Options menu.

Yeah, there's your problem. I like pretty graphics as much as the next guy, but 20fps just ain't gonna cut it unless: a) you've got the reflexes of Spiderman, or b) you rely entirely on SSRMs and AFK opponents.

Drop your settings to low. Yes, low. Also, disable V-Sync. If necessary, lower your resolution as well. Your goal should be to achieve a minimum of +40fps under the absolute worst of conditions. You should see a remarkable change in your effectiveness at that point. If not, then you can start questioning whether or not you're a "bad".

P.S.: If you'd like to use a joystick, I'd recommend using it exclusively for throttle and leg turning. Heck, just using it for the throttle alone should be very helpful, especially in a light mech. Use the mouse for torso/arm pitch and yaw.

Edited by Hansh0tfirst, 01 December 2012 - 03:15 PM.

[Raynz]

Aye, I tried using the joystick for throttle and leg-turning, but it was too much effort. Using the x-axis as throttle meant I had to keep the joystick pushed forward all the time to keep full throttle, and trying to use y-axis for leg turning made keeping track of my leg position much worse. Once I've got the money I'm thinking about getting a joystick that includes a true throttle, instead of the dinky little lever my Extreme3D Pro uses. This especially holds true for once Star Citizen comes out and I'll have a major reason to have a good HOTAS setup.

And, I'll go ahead and drop my graphics settings, though I'm honestly unsure of why V-Sync being on/off would have an affect.

[Hansh0tfirst]

I had similar issues too, initially. It felt counter-intuitive to have to hold the throttle in place, and between the tension and long-throw of a standard joystick I got fatigued easily. Then for the heck of it I tried an XBOX 360 controller. It's lightweight, can be comfortably held and manipulated with one hand, and the short-throw of the analog sticks are very responsive (I just use the one stick, mind you, on the left side for throttle/leg-turning, and the shoulder button for pickling targets). If you have one laying around the house you might want to give it a shot. Once you get accustomed to it, there's no going back to WASD.

Oh and I'm totally with you on Star Citizen! W00t!

[Hammerhai]

It seems that the real pros in FPS gaming rarely go beyond 1800 to 2000 dpi. So those of you struggling: Set it about there and then tweak to satisfaction. I would leave user.cfg stone cold last as nobody I know even knows precisely what those values do and how they scale.

And yay for star citizen. Braben also wants to make a new game based on Elite called Elite: Dangerous. It is currently on kickstarter for funding, afaik. Give it a looksee on the Net and support it if its' worth it.


Ok, if it scales like flapdrol says then of course it is easy. 0.25 for quarter sensitivity, done and dusted.

Edited by Hammerhai, 02 December 2012 - 10:54 AM.

[DerelictTomcat]

Hammerhai, on 02 December 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

I would leave user.cfg stone cold last as nobody I know even knows precisely what those values do and how they scale.

Don't get confused the user.cfg file I posted is a known fix. http://mwomercs.com/...joystick-users/