Asus ROG PG279Q UNSTOPPABLE/ALL GAMES microstuttering!

[Chief Blur Buster]

By golly -- you are right. That looks like smooth keyboard and choppy mouse operation. (Is this right, CyclopsPewPew?)

Got silky perfect smooth keyboard strafing? But crappy mouseturn microstutters?

Then...

Magic Recipe for Minimizing Mouseturn Microstuttering
1. Make sure mouse has modern accurate high-DPI sensor
2. Control Panel -- Perfectly centered slider for "Select a pointer speed".
3. Mouse Vendor App -- Set DPI very high (not max) and turn Acceleration OFF
4. Game Menus -- very low sensitivity, usually near minimum
5. Mouse pad -- get something high rated. eSports quality mousepads work great.
6. Mouse feet -- clean or replace if old
Mouseturns becomes as silky smooth as keyboard strafe left/right.

There are many vendor specific variations, but these are quick wins. Install vendor mouse drivers, raise mouse DPI in your mouse utility (e.g. Razer Synapse or Logitech etc), lower in-game mouse sensitivity to near-minimum. Also, use the best smooth-tracking mousepad rather than desk surface. And clean your mouse feet well (or even buy new mouse feet if your mousefeet are scratched/worn).

Your mouse pointer will be WAY WAY WAY too fast in Windows Desktop (for most) but will be much smoother in-game (mouse turns as smooth as keyboard strafe). Use approximately half the maximum DPI the mouse supports. This is a user preference, but this greatly smooths mouse microstuttering. That's the proper way to have smooth operation in games; jack up the control panel DPI to maximum native mouse DPI (you don't want to go too high because top end of DPI range is often interpolated/jittery), and jack down game sensitivity to near minimum. Disable 100% of acceleration (both mouse and game).

This will be mouse dependant, as some people prefer lower DPI for other reasons -- but low DPI is terrible - TERRIBLE - for game microstuttering during mouseturns. Hate microstutter? Use high DPI mouse + too fast mousepointer in Windows + ultralow sensitivity in game menu + pro eSports mousepad + good clean mousefeet. 99% of mouse microstutter fixed.

The sweet spot DPI will vary from mouse to mouse, but usually it'll be too high for Windows, you'll know when your mouse pointer behaves like a rocket in Windows - where for an unaccelerated mouse, it will single-pixel-move flawlessly if you barely tap the mouse gently -- yet pointer still rocket too fast when you move the mouse normally. Basically the sweet spot where DPI is maxed out while still single pixel moving on bare movements (acceleration disabled, 1:1 linear mode) but pointer simply rockets with small mouse movements -- without needing to use acceleration. If you can achieve such a sweet accurate high DPI operation, you've got the necessary mouse to eliminate mouseturn microstutters. If your mouse is capable of 6400dpi, try beginning with testing a 3200dpi setting.

Test ability to single-pixel at Desktop for a too-fast mouse arrow; this can be done by barely tapping the top of the mouse; which vibrates it a bit -- to allow it to singlepixel step during high DPI. If it never singlepixels at the Desktop during high DPI settings and way-too-fast, then you've got to fix that first (even as far as getting a replacement mouse) since you need high-and-accurate DPI for eliminating mouse microstutters for mouseturns in games. If your mouse cannot do that (multi-pixel-jumping of mousearrow during Windows Desktop during high DPI operation) you're getting crap high DPI and/or incorrectly adjusted Windows mouse sensitivity (use the mouse vendor software instead, reset Windows "Select a pointer speed" to CENTRE (don't go low or high there), and instead switch to mouse vendor software to raise DPI and switch to game menus to lower sensitivity. If this fails, then buy a new mouse capable of accurate high-DPI operation.

Sure, the pros say max DPI is bad, and they're right for many brands. Some mice manage miraculously good high DPI at maxed-out DPI.
But not all mice. Sweet spots even at 50% or 75% lower setting (e.g. 1600dpi or 3200dpi on a 6400dpi mouse) is still very high DPI relatively speaking compared to a cheap mouse running default mouse driver. You can get very accurate high-DPI operation, so you gotta take care of your DPI capability of your mouse if you want to say bye-bye to mouseturn microstutters. That cheap Dell mouse at your office is running at only 600dpi -- or less. So you know your eSports mouse at its 25% DPI setting (1600dpi) still races circles around that garden variety office mouse. It's still "high DPI", just not maxed out. That said, more DPI the merrier for fixing mouseturn microstutters -- until the DPI becomes inaccurate/interpolated. And you MUST use a high-DPI-friendly mousepad -- ESSENTIAL.

Fortunately most mouse-profile software (e.g. Razer Synapse) can automatically switch to high DPI whenever a game is running (or steam.exe) and automatically switch to low DPI when back to Windows. That's why installing the mouse manufacturer software is often good instead of using default Windows drivers. Or use DPI-change buttons on the mouse, if the mouse has buttons to change DPI.

Everyone has preferences for DPI (feel, lag, etc)..... but for fixing mouseturn microstuttering -- especially for VRR/ULMB -- the magic recipe works best.

[CyclopsPewPew]

Chief, thanks for your help. I've made some changes and set my DPI for nearly 75% of total DPI available, and lowered my in-game settings to their bare minimum. With that, I've turned off all acceleration options, both in-game and through Logitech's Gaming Software. Last order of business, I've just purchased a high-DPI preferred mouse pad from Amazon and will have this on for testing on Friday.

I see a small difference with the current settings changed, and I'm not a fan of the "your mouse speed will have to be a rocketship on the desktop, but everything will be better in-game" solution, but if this new mouse pad does the trick, I'll live with it.

I also believe I'm having a combination of this mouse stuttering issue paired with a Nvidia shimmering/graphics flickering issue that is also nearly unsolvable per review of most forum topics on the issue. That's why everything is just a pixelated blur when I turn my camera. I also believe this mouse stuttering dilemma to be something that will become a larger problem when the general population begins using high-end gaming rigs. It sounds like it's an issue that's never really been addressed by Nvidia, Windows, or the monitor manufacturers, and it's a "here's some custom solutions we have that may help" strategy for anyone unfortunate enough to have it. I hope this becomes more noticed and appreciated in the future.

[RealNC]

For what it's worth, 800 DPI on the mouse is enough already. Unless you have a 4K display, where you need about 1200 DPI.

If you use crazy DPI values, some mouse sensors might start producing garbage, which could result in pixel skipping.

So, try the default DPI of your mouse. Most gaming mice have 800 DPI as their default/native setting.

Last but not least, try CS:GO. There's a free version available now if you don't have the game. It will allow to play local games against bots. Set your mouse to 800 DPI, make sure raw input is enabled in the game settings, and set the in-game mouse sensitivity to 1.0 (it will be too low, but will confirm if you have an issue with your mouse.) Start a game with bots and see if the pixel skipping is there.

[Chief Blur Buster]

800dpi is still a rocket compared to your everyday office mouse.

For blur reduction (ULMB) where microstutter is amplified, you may do better with 1200dpi or 1600dpi if you have a newer 6400dpi mouse. That said, 800dpi is a good place to begin, but you may still get further improvements with higher.

Your mileage will vary, but blur reduction at 1080p (especially <1ms MPRT such as LightBoost 10% or short pulsewidths in ULMB) is more demanding on high-DPI than not using blur-reduction.

[CyclopsPewPew]

Hey Chief and NC, thank you for your help.

After weeks of thorough troubleshooting, this problem has been officially identified as mouse pixel skipping due to Windows 10 Sensitivity/DPI Sensitivity/In-game Sensitivity not lining up exactly as it should. Thank you for helping me narrow this down and remove hardware from the equation.

Chief, I purchased a high-DPI hard mouse pad -- wow, what a difference. The mouse glides around on this thing like it's ice skating. Although this helps, it does not remove the software related problems with DPI scaling sensitivity in games.

For anyone else having a unstoppable, constant microstuttering occurrence in ALL games, no matter the amount of changes, fixes, magic wands you wave around, this is nearly 100% solvable by playing a game that has a MOUSE SMOOTHING option in it.

I've downloaded a few triple-A titles to test different in-game settings options for higher-end systems that may help with this issue, and upon review, by sliding the mouse smoothing bar from 0 to 100, the mouse became INSTANTLY buttery smooth. Like, drooling smooth. All stuttering and movement problems disappeared. So, whatever programming goes into the "mouth smoothing" control that's provided in only a handful of select newer titles is the salvation for most, if not all, DPI-related mouse pixel skipping issues on a monitor like mine.

Unfortunately, very few games offer this setting. Now, bare in mind, some games have a "Check this box for mouse smoothing" -- which is great, but, who knows what that default setting is put at. For example, in ESO or PlanetSide 2, there is a checkbox for this option. I barely noticed a difference. If anything, it may have given me 10% smoothing. Having the option to drag that to 100% full mouse smoothing, to its max, boom... issue resolved.

Let me know what you guys think about this. NC, Chief, if you have additional information on how mouse smoothing works, why we don't always see the option for it, etcetera, please fill me in. I also know you can go into game config files sometimes and manually edit core values of certain in-game settings. Maybe in some games that don't allow the option for smoothing, or games that don't give you full control, I wonder if I can get into those and set a value to 100. Again, thanks for the help.

[RealNC]

Mouse smoothing interpolates mouse input by buffering previous input. The higher the setting, the more it buffers. This adds input lag. It also makes the mouse less responsive.

I suspect you need a new mouse. Have you tried a different mouse at all?

[CyclopsPewPew]

Tried multiple mice, yeah. I’ve got mouse smoothing maxed out in-game with 6/11 Windows 10 sensitivity and 3200 DPI. I can flick the mouse around in The Divisin on Ultra settings with zero input lag now. To be honest, after discovering mouse smoothing in the Division and maxing it out, I’ve never experienced something so smooth and accurate in the other plethora of games I’ve tried thus far. So whatever interpolate buffering this setting does, I hope it becomes more readily available and controllable (0-100%) in the future.

[RealNC]

Well, I don't have this issue. I'm using 800dpi with a G502.

I can't explain why your mouse is skipping.

What rate does this detect for you:

https://zowie.benq.com/en/support/mouse ... ecker.html

[CyclopsPewPew]

I'm at work now, but as soon as I get home, I'll test that link out. 800 DPI? I see a lot of people use 400-800 is the sweet spot, but with regular 6/11 Windows sensitivity, 400-800 literally does not move my mouse at all. I had to bring it up to nearly 3200 for smooth, normal movement on the desktop. If set to 800, I'd have to throw my mouse across the desk for it to move from one corner of the desktop to the other. Maybe there's an underlying issue here? Keep in mind, this issue is the same for any mouse I use. I've tried three Logitech mice. Most recently, the high-end Proteus model. At 800 DPI, too slow of movements to use the mouse.

[RealNC]

That is not normal. Especially at 1080p. I'm on 1440p, and at 800dpi and 6/11 sensitivity, the distance required to move the mouse across the width of the screen is about same as the width of my palm, excluding my thumb. Which also happens to be about the same width as the width of a standard keyboard numpad.

If I use 3200dpi and 6/11, then the mouse is uncontrollable. A single inch of movement will cross the entire screen.

Don't you have access to another PC? At work maybe? Surely they don't behave the same.

Maybe something is messed up software-wise in your Windows installation. Can it be that you did some tweak in the past you forgot about? Like the "MarkC Mouse Fix" that was popular some years ago?