Thread: Mouse Sensitivity

Definitive guide to finding your mouse sensitivity time! EVERY player should do this on any fps game that uses a mouse.

Mouse sensitivity depends on 4 things: Windows sensitivity and mouse acceleration. Game resolution. In game sensitivity. Mouse DPI. Change any of these, and your sensitivity will change. I'm going to assume that you already have everything but your ingame sensitivity to how you want it, and you have turned off mouse acceleration.

First off, you should note that the lower your sensitivity is, the more accurate you are going to be. So what you need to do is zero in on a sensitivty that is a perfect mix of very low and accurate sensitivity, and economy of motion so that you can aim fast enough to be effective.

How to zero in on your sensitivity.

Go into a bright map and spawn in game. Find a smallish, square room. Stand in the middle of it and don't move!, and use your gun to make a mark at EXACTLY the middle of the walls on each side of you, and in front and back. So you should have now 8 points of reference! The four marks on the wall that you made, and the 4 corners of the room.

Next set your sensitivity to 0.1
Yes, this is retardedly low and not playable on most rigs. Doesnt matter. Do your best to do a few 180 degree turns between the marks on your left and right. Forward back, left right, then go from middle to left, middle to right a few times.

Next set your sensitivity to 20
Again, this is now going to be too high to be playable. Good! Do the same as before, try to flick between points on the walls in a progression that will remain the same each time you do it.

Then set your sensitivity to 0.15 and then do the flicks, then 19 and do them. Basically on the low sensitivity side, you add 0.05 each time, and on the high side, subtract 1 sensitivity. Do this until your high end comes down far enough that you can subtract 0.5 and then 0.05 and then, zero in on the mouse sensitivity that is perfect for your hand on your rig. Keep bouncing between too low and too high and you will find your "natural" sensitivity.

Decide how much you are willing to move your arm/wrist while playing. You will find that the perfect sensitivity will do a perfect 180 degree turn after a full movement of your arm/wrist for whatever sensitivity. The less you move your arm/wrist, the higher your sensitivity is. You will comfortably be able to flick between 90 degree turns accurately and consistently. And you should also be better with 45 degree turns (from a mark on the wall to a corner in this test).

This method works the same way coaches in sports fix poor technique on throws, poor stick handling or whatever. You overexaggerate a movement to switch off your muscle memory of it, and then you can find out what you should be doing. Everybody is different and asking for someone elses sensitivity is a sure way to make sure you never find yours. Don't ask Usain Bolt what shoe size he wears to be a better runner right? So take the time to go through the full range of sensitivities until you find yours. It will take maybe an hour or so of play to get used to the new sensitivity fully, but I promise you that you will have better aim almost immediately.

-----My personal zero made me go on a 1200 resolution, 800 dpi no accel, setup. From sensitivity 4 to sensitivity 1.085
Yes I go it down to the third decimal place, and I can tell the difference when the sens is that low.

I use 1000dpi and 2.8 speed in game. It's enough to do a 180 with a flick of your wrist.

Originally Posted by Veovis

Originally Posted by mitch

My personal zero made me go on a 1200 resolution, 800 dpi no accel, setup.

What do you mean by 1200 resolution?

He might have meant that he uses a 1280x720 screen resolution.

Originally Posted by Veovis

Originally Posted by mitch

My personal zero made me go on a 1200 resolution, 800 dpi no accel, setup.

What do you mean by 1200 resolution?

Originally Posted by mitch

From sensitivity 4 to sensitivity 1.085
Yes I go it down to the third decimal place, and I can tell the difference when the sens is that low.

I would love to set up an objective test where you blindly try out two cfg's, one with sens 1.08 and one with sens 1.09. I am not a betting man, but I'd put a large sum of money on you not being able to (consistently) pick which was which, based on feel alone.

lol! no it would not be 100% of the time every single mouse movement that I could tell between .08 & 9. But I HAVE tried .07 and .09 and other stuff to fiddle around and finetune my aim and CAN tell the difference. I found I was comfortable in between .08 and 9 so I did .085! Not every flick or shot no. But I can tell over the course of a round easily, or trying to make multiple flick shots. With a sensitivity as low as mine, you can tell the difference on little changes easier than someone with say default 3 sens. Come 1 v 1 me sometime prove that my aim works!

yeah it was 1280x720, just didnt remember it exactly while I was typing that out.

@Relik - Sensitivity is all preference for sure, and being a little bit faster is cool, but you will never be as accurate with higher sensitivity, it's all about tradeoffs, and to me, I much prefer having a perfect 180, a little slower and being more accurate at enemies in front of me, than beign able to spin in circles super quick, but be less consistent with the rest of my shots. I should rename my last post to say "The definitive guide to finding your most accurate mouse sensitivity"

@triggerdudebrahguy! - Stock sens is 3. Carried over from original halflife and quake engine ect... basically 3x 400dpi mouse inputs which was standard when valve and IDsoftware used sens 3 in their games.

If you guys doubt me at all, I dare you to take 15 minutes and follow my method, zero your sensitivity by going higher and lower until you land on what is best for you, not what you arbitrarily use. I guarantee that after adjusting to the new sensitivity, you will have a better shot. Give it a try! Afterwards, play for a bit and tell me how it goes!

Originally Posted by Veovis

I don't think the resolution is relevant to sensitivity at all.

Unless the resolution changes your Field of View number.