FPS - Mouse+Keyboard or Pad?

Kippered

Kippered

Kippered

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Joined
10 Aug 2011
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368
Evening,

As the title suggests. What is your opinion on which to use for FPS games?

I bought a xbox controller a while back for Crysis 2 but soon changed back to mouse when i found it far to sensitive for snipping etc. I'd end up spraying bullets everywhere but the target.

When i play FPS on xbox this isn't an issue :confused:

I jumped into BF3 on launch day for a couple of hours but felt the sensitivity was way to high for mouse so had to drop it right down.

In general what do people use contols wise and how high is the sensitivity?

Makes me feel like I'm losing any skills i used to have when i can't even control using high sensitivity.

Or is high sensitivity something you need to get used to?
 
I wouldn't say it's better, but having only come back to pc gaming in the past year or so I've become very used to the feel of a pad in the time spent away from it.

If the pad support is done right (which it usually is these days) I tend to default to a controller. Bulletstorm, Crysis 2, Portal 2 and Rage are a few recent examples.
 
wedgie said:
I wouldn't say it's better, but having only come back to pc gaming in the past year or so I've become very used to the feel of a pad in the time spent away from it.

If the pad support is done right (which it usually is these days) I tend to default to a controller. Bulletstorm, Crysis 2, Portal 2 and Rage are a few recent examples.
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You should employ someone to slap your hand whenever you reach for the controller in an FPS! Once you use M+K for a bit and get used to the more advanced (:p) control system you won't look back.
 
gropingmantis said:
You should employ someone to slap your hand whenever you reach for the controller in an FPS! Once you use M+K for a bit and get used to the more advanced (:p) control system you won't look back.
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It's not so much that I'm not used to M+K, more that I've become too used to the feel of a controller. Was very much the opposite until the 360 came out, but it just so happened that games started to nail pad controls around the time I stopped bothering with pc gaming.

I'd still advocate M+K controls as being an advantage to pc gaming as much today as I ever did, but in general I just prefer the smooth feel of a controller. It probably helps that I don't play to anywhere near the level that the extra accuracy afforded by M+K becomes esssential.
 
Far more like the constructive replies I had hoped for rather than the flame fest suggested.

Keep in mind i don't actually use a pad, I swapped back to m+k after failing with it a few months back.

I only started PC FPS this year after xboxing previously hence my clear mistake in suggesting pads for this format.
 
Kippered said:
I jumped into BF3 on launch day for a couple of hours but felt the sensitivity was way to high for mouse so had to drop it right down.

In general what do people use contols wise and how high is the sensitivity?

Makes me feel like I'm losing any skills i used to have when i can't even control using high sensitivity.

Or is high sensitivity something you need to get used to?
Click to expand...

Changing sensitivity is just standard practice for PC games because it will vary so much from game to game. If you feel sens is too high the solution is very simple - lower it!

Admittedly there are some shockingly bad games like Mass Effect 2 that don't allow you to change the sens via menu, or where you can't lower it enough, but there will always be workarounds (such as modifying config, or lowering sens in Windows).

Mouse may also feel like higher sens because the way the interface works it is much easier to do flick shots (e.g. spin 180) than on a controller where you will experience a smoother, more linear movement.

Perhaps a good analogy would be to think about how you use a computer normally for desktop use; lets say your mouse cursor is in the top right of the screen and you want to move it down to the bottom left (default Start button position). You will have learnt how to very quickly position the cursor there with a flick of the wrist, most likely you won't actually be tracking the cursor all the way there. Now try and do the same thing with a pad, it will feel cumbersome by comparison.
 
i haven't used a k+m on a pc game since CS:S. i prefer relaxing with my 360 controller on my PC than on my xbox or PS3.

downside is some games have awful awful controller support. homefront being an example (and BF3 apparently being another). crysis was done right. very convenient.

in the end, i don't play online as i can't be bothered anymore. might change if a game is good enough but MW killed it for me.

p.s, will be replaying AA and playing AC on the 18th with a controller on my PC :D
 
it's a game, not a competition - unless you're playing it online.

sounds like the k+m "warriors" have forgotten that people play these games for a little thing called "fun". shocking that i'd do what's best for me even though it offends the fps purists
 
tomos said:
it's a game, not a competition - unless you're playing it online.

sounds like the k+m "warriors" have forgotten that people play these games for a little thing called "fun". shocking that i'd do what's best for me even though it offends the fps purists
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If your idea of "fun" is doing worse than you would normally do at a game with the correct controller try playing need for speed with a joystick, I hear its loads of "fun" :P

Consoles use joypads for FPS games because the is no alternative, you don't have to suffer than handicap on a PC.
 
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I miss the days of using a force feedback sidewinder joystick to play Mechwarrior 4 in all honesty. Sub-optimal but amazing fun. :p
 
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