Mouse lag in video games since upgrading to Windows 8.1

Anonymous
2013-10-31T03:24:23+00:00

Since I’ve upgraded to Windows 8.1, when playing some games the mouse doesn’t behave right. It lags, or the pointer jumps back and forth, or I can’t click fast.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Gaming

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Anonymous
2013-10-31T03:29:40+00:00

Updated (11/8)

We want to thank our gaming community for the detailed feedback many of you have provided on these issues.  We have released some fixes and workarounds that will allow you to get back to your gaming.

The “mouse lag” issue is actually several different issues that could vary based on the game, input methods used, etc.

The three following issues are addressed by a fix we have provided in **KB 2908279**:

  1. Mouse jitters (jumps forward and back) as you move it through a game – This occurs in some games because Windows 8.1 introduced changes to mouse input processing for low latency interaction scenarios and this causes some games to respond differently to mouse input than in previous releases of Windows.
  2. Mouse movement is not to scale even after acceleration is turned off – If you have turned off acceleration to make the distance on the screen match the distance you move the mouse, that may not work correctly anymore.
  3. Measured mouse Polling Rate has a lower reporting frequency than expected – If you have a gaming mouse that has a high frequency, when you test it, you may find it is reporting a lower frequency than you expect. Note: if you previously encountered issues with measuring the polling rate you will need to follow the instructions in **KB 2908279** to ensure that, not only the patch is installed, but also the app used to measure the polling rate has an appropriate registry entry to enable the fix for that specific executable.

We have also included workarounds here for the following issues:

  1. Mouse may not be able to reach all areas of the game window – This may occur with games that do not use DirectX, when run in window mode. See **KB 2907016** for the workaround.
  2. Can’t left-click with an integrated pointing device immediately after pressing a key – This is a setting for touchpads, like those used on laptops, to make typing easier. You can work around this by changing the mouse delay to zero, but this may make typing more difficult. For instructions to change the setting, see **KB 2907018**.

Some users have also reported success in older games and apps by turning on compatibility mode. To try that:

  1. Right-click the game’s icon.
  2. Select Properties.
  3. Select the Compatibility tab.
  4. Select the version of Windows for which you want to run the game in compatibility mode.
  5. If you want to apply the settings for that program to all accounts on the PC, click Change settings for all users. You might be asked for an administrator password or to confirm your choice.
  6. When you're done, tap click OK.

When we have more information from our investigations, we will update this post. Thank you very much for your patience.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T13:56:40+00:00

    This still doesn't fix pooling rate repoted in windows 8.1. It is maxed at 200Hz and my Rat 7 mouse, which is capable of 1000Hz, now is no different than 2dollar mouse... And it didn't cost 2$... And all the gaming mouses out there are of no use... please fix this as early as possible.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T10:06:55+00:00

    Maybe it's possible to apply this fix to explorer.exe, or some other background process so it's always active without having to worry about any other games in the future?

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-09T00:50:31+00:00

    Since I’ve upgraded to Windows 8.1, when playing some games the mouse doesn’t behave right. It lags, or the pointer jumps back and forth, or I can’t click fast.

    We have issued a fix to address most of the “mouse lag” issues associated with gaming in Windows 8.1, which vary based on the game, input methods used, etc. More details on the issue and available resolutions are available via KB 2908279, and affected customers can go to the Microsoft Download Center to install the update

    I think Mark craness has pretty convincingly proven that this is an error with windows, not really the games themselves. He is the guy that has fixed the mouseissues with previous versions of windows. Will there be a real fix later on?

    I do appreciate that you released this rather quickly but it won´t convince me to update to 8.1. I´d rather see a real fix that fixes whatever issues 8.1 has.

    This is the post of Mark  Craness (see op). http://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/1oor43/windows\_81\_warning\_for\_gamers\_issues\_with/

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-11-08T22:15:16+00:00

    Since I’ve upgraded to Windows 8.1, when playing some games the mouse doesn’t behave right. It lags, or the pointer jumps back and forth, or I can’t click fast.

    We have issued a fix to address most of the “mouse lag” issues associated with gaming in Windows 8.1, which vary based on the game, input methods used, etc. More details on the issue and available resolutions are available via KB 2908279, and affected customers can go to the Microsoft Download Center to install the update

    Thanks for the "solution" but you really should allow us to automatically apply this fix to every game/application. I don't want to have to edit registry every time I run into a problem with mouse movements. 

    Mouse movement problems can make a game unplayable. There's probably a lot of older games that also have mouse problems with Windows 8.1. Anyone that wants to play any of these older games are going to have to edit the registry. Many people already have a hard of enough of a time installing the latest drivers and now you expect them to edit the registry? That makes no sense to me

    I don't care about the "performance of the computer battery", I have a gaming desktop. Most PC gamers are going to be on a desktop so battery life isn't going to be a problem. I don't see why this is forced on everyone when not everyone needs it. I think this should at least be an option.

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