System-Wide Fix for Gaming Mouse Fluidity in Windows 8.1

Posted Dec 10, 2013 by

You have upgraded to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8, and noticed bad performance from your gaming mouse? More input lag and worse fluidity, even when dragging windows around on the desktop, not just in video games?

You’re not alone.

There is now a system-wide solution. Follow KB 2908279 Instructions, install the hotfix (skip that step if already installed), and then add c:\windows\explorer.exe to your registry in Step #4. Although Explorer is not a game executable, this solution enables the high report rate (e.g. 1000Hz) system-wide from your gaming mouse in all your applications. This fixes all fluidity including window dragging, scrollbar dragging, etc.

UPDATE: Microsoft has modified the page.
You may have the Microsft update already installed. A better step by step:
www.howtogeek.com/175722/how-to-fix-mouse-lag-in-pc-games-on-windows-8.1/
Instead of C:\Program Files (x86)\Game\Engine.exe, enter C:\Windows\Explorer.exe

With this fix, your mouse will perform as well as it did under Windows 7 and Windows 8.
NOTE: If anyone from Microsoft is reading this, see Comments for scientific explanations why 1000Hz is better for window-dragging/scrolling, even on a 60Hz or 120Hz monitor.
Also, see the new Blur Busters Mouse Guide.

About Mark Rejhon

Also known as Chief Blur Buster. Founder of Blur Busters. Inventor of TestUFO. Read more about him on the About Mark page.

21 Comments For “System-Wide Fix for Gaming Mouse Fluidity in Windows 8.1”

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sort by:   newest | oldest | most liked
trackback
Pingback
[Sammelthread] Battlefield 4 - Seite 1423
10 years 1 month ago
dreamss
Member
dreamss

ok.. made a working .reg that adds a context right click menu to exe files that adds them to the mouse fix list http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/6591/bt6b.png

download http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html and copy exes to c:\windows\
save this as mousefixcontext.reg and run it
right click on .exe and click on apply mouse fix

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Fixmouselag]
@=”Apply Mouse Lag Fix”
“NoWorkingDirectory”=””

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\Fixmouselag\command]
@=”\”C:\\Windows\\nircmd.exe\” elevate cmd /c REG ADD \”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\AppCompatFlags\\Layers\” /v \”%1\” /d NoDTToDITMouseBatch /f && Rundll32 apphelp.dll,ShimFlushCache “

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
colbycheese89
Member
colbycheese89

Could you tell me or write a more detailed step by step on how to do this. This seems really useful but I cant seem to get it to work. Please and Thank You.

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 23 days ago
Mark Rejhon
Author
Mark Rejhon

Good tip! Thanks.

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
dreamss
Member
dreamss

u know… i dont get this stutter…

this is my mouse pooling before patch http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3463/fetc.png

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
Mark Rejhon
Author
Mark Rejhon

It’s apparent in this test for me:
— Close all games and other apps. Drag a window back and forth, with lots of text in the window. Microstuttering in the window dragging.
— Open a game or a 1000Hz-fixed app (including the mouse tester). Now drag the same text window around. Microstuttering stops.

The 1000Hz measurement utilities doesn’t predict lack of Windows 8.1 mouse microstutters with a 1000Hz mouses, as those apps may be whitelisted. The mouse microstutters are very noticeable in LightBoost mode (which allows me to read text CRT-style, while dragging a window); I can’t read text while dragging a window in unpatched Windows 8.1.

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
dreamss
Member
dreamss

http://donewmouseaccel.blogspot.com/2010/03/markc-windows-7-mouse-acceleration-fix.html comes with a nice utility that tells you the poll rate of your mouse movement, its a great debug tool

also i highly suggest people enable hpet and disable dynamic ticks on desktops for maximun perfomance, i bet u see lag due the poor default interrupt rate and variable interupt also

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
Neo
Member
Neo

How fast could mouse i/o polling get?

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
Mark Rejhon
Author
Mark Rejhon

There’s plenty of room to go faster, there’s no technological reason why we can’t go to 10KHz someday theoretically, but points of diminishing returns are already here today at 1000Hz.

1000Hz is really good for fewer temporal-aliasing effects between the timing of the frames, and the timing of mouse positions. That’s why a 1000Hz mouse is really good for variable frame rates (VSYNC OFF), GSYNC, high refresh rates, strobe backlights.

When turning at 2000 pixels/second on-screen panning motion in a first-person shooter game:
— For a 125Hz mouse, two consecutive mouse coordinates would be 16 pixels apart (2000 / 125 = 16).
— For a 1000Hz mouse, two consecutive mouse coordinates would be ideally 2 pixels apart (2000 / 1000 = 2).

That means during math rounding errors, a frame may be stuttery by +/- 16 pixels with a 125Hz mouse during turning one-screen-width-per-second (on a typical 1920×1080 monitor). Meaning, if the mouse position rounded-off to the wrong frame, the positioning of objects in that specific frames may be “off by 16 pixels”. That creates potentially stuttery motion. However, at 1000Hz, the error becomes only 2 pixels.

That’s why you get super-silky smooth 180 degree flicks (preferably if the mouse has an accurate sensor, you use low in-game sensitivity, and high hardware mouse sensitivity), where you flick the mouse and turn 180 degrees in a first person shooter game.

We’re already really at the point-of-diminishing returns for mice at the moment. However, if we go to high-refresh-rate 4K, I think a doubling to 2000Hz would be a good idea, since the difference between a 500Hz mouse and a 1000Hz mouse will be more amplified for a 4K 120Hz display, since you’ve doubled the mouse-position math roundoff inaccuracies. (e.g. a 180 degree flick can go faster than 4000 pixels per second on-screen panning motion. That leads to mouse positioning errors of +/- 4 pixels for a ‘perfect 1000Hz sensor’ that rounds off to the wrong refresh. And sensors are actually far less perfect than that. In this case, the most sensitive competitive players may begin to notice the limitations of 1000Hz.

As it stands now, most people can’t tell apart a 500Hz mouse and a 1000Hz mouse (I can; but just barely). But the difference will be easier to tell when people are playing at 120fps on a 4K 120Hz display (within 10 years), and we’ll have more room for humans to be able to tell apart a 1000Hz mouse and a theoretical future 2000Hz mouse. I don’t think the world is ready yet for a 2000Hz mouse, however. But it will be useful in the high-framerate 4K era. Especially when 180 degree flicks (in 1/2 second) can go 10,000 on-screen pixels per second. At this screen panning speed, a 1000Hz math rounding error is now as massive as 10 pixels. So, truly, this shows possible human-perceptible limits of a 1000Hz mouse.

A 125Hz mouse actually often works better with Quake Live, because it’s in sync with its internal locked framerate, and some players prefer configuring a 125Hz rate, in fact! However, when you play variable frame rates, odd frame rates, fluctuating frame rates, VSYNC OFF, GSYNC, or anything that produces math aliasing (round-off errors) between the mouse polling and the frame rate, it’s known a very good 1000Hz mouse with an accurate sensor, performs far better in these situations. Motion at all random frame rates have less stutters caused by this issue.

And a pro competitive gamer (who tried dozens of mice) have wisely told me, a good 500Hz mouse (poor sensor) blows away a bad 1000Hz mouse (good sensor). So sensor accuracy is a big factor.

Scientifically, I’m interested in seeing scientific tests of multi-KHz mouse polling (e.g. 1000Hz versus an experimental 5000Hz mice), to see if they actually work better for any realistic worst-case situations of today’s limited equipment (no 4K 120Hz).

Like0Vote Down 
10 years 4 months ago
wpDiscuz

Recent Content

Blur Buster Forums

Blur Busters Forums

TestUFO Motion Tests

TestUFO Motion Tests