Gauging interest - Software to find your perfect mouse sensetivity

[Linkex]

One of the issues I've always had with FPS games is never being sure that the sensitivity is right - Is it too high, is it to low, is it consistent between different games? Recently I discovered a method for finding your "ideal" sensitivity. Its effective, but long and arduous and involves lots of going into the console to change settings. Its also subjective, because it involves comparing two sensitivities and deciding which "feels" more accurate.

I decided to have a bash at automating it to see if I can cure the subjective portion and its come along nicely so far - I've gotten to the point where its starting to work in a rough and ready kind of way, although properly ugly at this stage The idea occurs to me that if I prettied it up a bit, it might be of interest to others. Perhaps they might even be persuaded to part with a couple of quid for it. So, the question is, do I tidy it up and put it on greenlight? It costs £75 to submit stuff, and unless it gets enough votes to go on sale, its money down the drain, and I don't know if anyone would be interested enough to vote for it.

So I thought I would come here and get the game playing publics opinion. If there was a piece of software that let you find your 'perfect' (or close to) mouse sensitivity, would you use it? Would you vote for it on greenlight? Would you consider paying for it?

 

[Linkex]

I have a piece of software with my TT esports mouse.

It has a graph where every axis can be changed to suit my needs. I can set anything and it displays my settings. Even pops up over my game if i change the dpi on the mouse. It lets me set profiles of different sensitivity, and i can switch through them with one mouse button press.

I can see it being appealing to people who game, but regular users, not so much.
Im not sure on the number of mice that provide software like this, but its worth considering beforehand.

I had considered this, but as far as I know, they only provide tools to let you adjust your mouse sensitivity manually, they don't offer any tools that actually help you find what the correct sensitivity is for you? Please feel free to correct me if that's incorrect?

 

[Linkex]

No. There is no such thing as ideal mouse sensitivity. It is all down to user preference at the end of the day.

I think I've explained this wrong. Its not trying to make your mouse and sensitivity match some pre-defined speed so that everyone's mouse is exactly the same - as you say, thats going to vary from person to person.

The idea of this is that it lets you find your ideal sensitivity. Think of it like this: you load up the software and start aiming at targets. Every so often the mouse sensitivity changes a little bit and the software measures if you get less or more accurate. It then changes based on the results and keeps doing this until it find the sensitivity you are most accurate at - this being "your" ideal sensitivity. (BTW, that's not how this works, but it should explain it better). You would then use this information to set up your various games to this ideal sensitivity.

Basically, the problem it is trying to solve is finding what is most effective for the user and getting it set consistently between your games.

 

[Linkex]

Why not put a 'trial' or 'limited' version out? See what people think of it, it's hard to tell if it's something useful without trying it first.

Because its not fit for public consumption - it works for me and thats about it. I will need to create custom art assets, menus, instructions - it will need a lot of work. I don't want to invest the time in something no one is interested in.

The problem is it only does one thing - finds your perfect sensitivity. Until it pumps that final result out, it hasn't really done anything for the user, and after it has, you don't need it any more. It means that either the demo does nothing, or has the full functionality.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys, its all good stuff, please keep it coming

 

[Linkex]

I think the software will just tell you what is best for you. Such as 800dpi or whatever and then you can change your mouse sensitivity to that in your mouse software.

I'm sure this will divide opinion, so I'm not saying I'm right, or this is best, just its what I believe.

I hold the view that you should always run your mouse at the maximum resolution, and then use the in game sensitivity settings - this way your mouse gets maximum accuracy on how you are moving it.

 

[Linkex]

I must say, if it is a one time use sort of thing, i wouldn't pay much for it to be fair.

I personally wouldn't pay much more than £1 say just to have it measured, i would install the software, use it once and forget about it. I think more features would need to be included to make it worth paying for.

I suspect a lot of people would hold this view - if I did sell it on steam, it would be priced (Assuming I have any control over it) accordingly.

Saying that, I may look at adding a feature where it can detect installed games and automatically change their settings to match the sensitivity it finds for you, which might add some value.

 

[Linkex]

you leave your mouse at the same settings windows wise always !

then change your ingame mouse sensitivity . dont get the problem. adjusting your actual mouse settings to game is wrong . you adjust your game to the mouse settings .

I'm definitely going to have to work on my description (I think it needs a video demonstration) as again, this is not what it does - Your correct that you don't change your windows settings, and indeed it doesn't touch them. The only thing the software changes is its own sensitivity, just like you can change it manually in any other game. Potentially in the future it may generate config files for other games if the user wants it to, but it would not make changes to Windows settings.

 

[Linkex]

I can see how sensitivity affects accuracy, but high accuracy isn't achieved from shooting static targets.

Agreed, thats why the targets move Bear in mind its trying to judge your ability to track a target moving in variable speed and direction, and which sensitivity allows you to do that the best.

LGS already does that, but you still have to experiment with dpi and in game sensitivity until you find what suits you. But once you do it saves it to the game profile and loads your dpi setting, macros, button assignments etc when you load the game.

edit - Also how does your solution differ from this?
http://ragial.com/mouse/

LGS lets you change your settings (As do many mouse applications) with a great degree of accuracy - but but its still up to the user to determine what those settings should be.

I fully accept that its my **** poor describing skills at work here, but people do not seem to be grasping what the app actually does. I'll try another way of explaining it.

Imagine you load up counter strike (Or any FPS game) and join a server with your friend. Your friend proceeds to run around, duck behind cover and generally try and make themselves difficult to hit for 1 minute. Your job is to keep your cross-hair on their face as best you can. You then make a note of how much of that minute your cross-hair was on their head (Estimated). You then adjust your sensitivity up or down a bit and do it again. If you kept your cross-hair on their head for more of the minute, then you again change the sensitivity in the same direction. If you were worse, you change it the other way. You keep repeating until you find the sensitivity you get the best "Cross hair on face" time with. This is then your best sensitivity. You make a note of this and use the same sensitivity in all FPS games. You do this by measuring with a ruler how far you move the mouse to turn 360 - you then use this measurement to set the sensitivity of your other games.

The only difference between this and my app are:
You use my game rather than counter-strike or whatever
Rather than a friends head, you have an AI target trying not to get hit
You don't have to estimate how accurate you are being, the game records it for you
You don't have to stop and adjust your sensitivity every minute - the game does it automatically.
(Maybe) You can export sensitivity settings to your games directly, rather than having to use a ruler to measure your mouse movement.

Hope that makes more sense - but let me know if anything is still unclear. Like I say, I think a video explanation would be better, will look at making one if I do go for greenlight.

 

[Linkex]

Don't take offence to this, but it sounds like a load of baloney.

No-one has an "ideal" sensitivity, it is completely subjective and compliments the play style of each individual. And saying they should use the same sensitivity for every game is absolute madness. If someone were to use my sensitivity from Counter-Strike in something a lot more twitch-based, say Unreal Tournament, then they wouldn't even turn around a corner let alone trace someone.

By all means, play around with sensitivity - I used to spend a lot more time than I care to remember "tweaking" my sensitivity when I used to play in leagues - but you are always going to do / be better by sticking with a sensitivity and seeing if you get on with it. If it doesn't feel natural, adjust, and repeat.

This isn't something one should have to expect to pay for, and from my grasping of your descriptions, it won't save any time either...

Just my two cents though...

No offence taken, I asked for opinions, can't expect them to all be what I want to hear Appreciate the input