Some gamers have had the issue of mouse movement inducing lag. This is not a particularly common issue for games in general, but as you will notice, some of the fixes for this issue will be universal for fixing lag in-game.
Other solutions to the issue will have to do with specific mouse problems. So, how does one fix in-game lag when moving the mouse cursor?
There are various possibilities to consider if your mouse movements cause your games to lag, but the first thing you should try is updating your mouse drivers, as faulty drivers can cause your mouse to act erratically. The second thing you should do is lower the mouse detection refresh rate in your mouse software, as too high refresh rates can cause your mouse movements to be laggy.
As you can tell by the paragraph above, lag-inducing mouse movements are a somewhat complicated issue due to the number of possibilities. If you want to delve deeper into the topic, keep reading.
Turn off Scaling in Windows
You’re probably familiar with the scaling feature that Windows has. It lets you adjust the size of apps and text which can be helpful if you think the objects on your screen are too big or too small.
However, this setting has been found to sometimes be disruptive and cause lag when moving your mouse in-game. That’s why you should disable the feature for the purpose of the issue at hand.
So, how do you do this? Well, it’s quite easy to do. First, go into the Windows settings menu by pressing the Windows key + I at the same time.
After this, select System. When you’ve entered this menu, disable any non-default scaling by choosing 100% under Change the size of text, apps, and other items.
After you’ve done this, try starting a game that has previously lagged when moving your mouse to see if the fix worked. If it did not solve your issue, I recommend turning the scaling up again to its previous setting.
If you don’t want to change this setting for some reason or another, there’s an alternative way to do it. This involves going into the place on your computer where you have installed the game and finding the .exe-file.
After you’ve done this, right-click it and select Properties. In the Compatibility tab of this new window, click on Change high DPI settings. In the drop-down menu under Override high DPI scaling behavior, set the behavior to Application.
Turn Down the Graphics Settings
This might seem like an obvious solution, but it’s a possible solution nonetheless. Modern games demand a lot out of your computer, and if your PC can’t handle a particular game at higher quality settings, it’s wise to turn them down.
Some users, however, only have lag issues when moving their mouse and not when moving an in-game camera with the keyboard keys, and this is indicative of issues that aren’t related to your game’s settings.
If this also applies to you, then you probably don’t have to turn down the in-game settings, although I would still recommend it just to be thorough in troubleshooting your issue.
Turn Off or On Mouse Acceleration
Some users have reported that their issue was resolved when they switched on/off mouse acceleration settings on their computer. This can be done either through brand-specific mouse software installed on the computer or through the Windows mouse settings menu.
Mouse acceleration is a setting that is meant to enhance your mouse precision, but honestly, it does the opposite for the most part anyway. It changes where your mouse pointer goes depending on the speed of your mouse movements.
I can’t tell you how to disable mouse acceleration by going into your mouse software since I don’t know what specific software you have on your computer, however, if you want to do it through Windows, follow the steps below.
- Type “mouse” into the Windows search bar
- Select Mouse options
- In the new menu, select Pointer options
- Uncheck Enhance pointer precision
Lower Mouse Detection Refresh Rate
I previously mentioned that many computer users have some sort of custom software for their mouse. If you do, you can check what your mouse detection refresh rate is. If the refresh rate is high, say a thousand or more, try lowering it.
It seems like this option can cause games to lag when moving your mouse around. Lower it to around 200 instead and see if that fixes your issue. It’s hard to properly illustrate how to do this since it depends on your software, but examples of such software are Logitech G-Hub or Razor Synapse.
Most modern gaming mouses have some sort of software like this so if you don’t know the specific program for your mouse, I would recommend Googling it to find out.
Update the Mouse Drivers
Gaming mouses have drivers that make them operate in a correct manner. If you have faulty or otherwise outdated drivers, this can cause all sorts of issues for you.
That’s why you should update or reinstall the drivers if you haven’t done so in a while. Some gaming mouses allow you to do this through their software, but if you don’t have any mouse-specific software on your computer, you can also do this through the device manager.
- Type device manager into the Windows search bar and click Device Manager
- After entering the device manager, you will be shown a list of devices. Double-click Mice and other pointing devices
- Right-click the top alternative and select Update driver
- Select Automatically search for drivers
If Windows finds any update, that’s good. This means that your mouse drivers were outdated and needed an update. If Windows lets you know that you already have the latest drivers, Google your mouse and find drivers through the mouse manufacturer instead. Windows isn’t always up to speed.
Lower the DPI of Your Mouse
Users have reported that lowering their DPI on the mouse has fixed the lagging issue for them. I can’t attest to why this is, but you should certainly try it as it’s a potentially easy fix that can be reverted quickly if it doesn’t work.
If your mouse has a bunch of DPI settings, there’s probably a switch somewhere on the mouse that you can click on that toggles DPI profiles.
If you can’t find such a button, check your mouse software for DPI options. If you can’t find either of the two things, your mouse probably doesn’t have different DPI profiles and you can ignore this solution.
Check Your Computer For Malware
Malware can infect your computer and make your mouse induce lag in games. For example, some gamers have had problems with a program called stij.exe which was running in the background and causing programs to lag.
Malware like this can be installed with bloatware and add-ons to programs you install, and it’s not easy noticing that they’re there in the first place.
Go into the task manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete and then selecting Task manager. After that, click the Users tab and see if you can spot any suspicious that are run using another user profile. Also, make sure to scan the active processes list for any programs that you don’t recognize.
If you have any antivirus software installed on your computer, run a scan to make sure that there aren’t any malware programs active on your computer.
Get LatencyMon
LatencyMon is a very useful software, as it checks kernel timer latencies and then spots ISR and DPC execution times. That was a bit wordy, I know, but basically, it can help you see if there are certain system faults that make your mouse cause games to lag.
For example, one user downloaded the program and saw that there was an error with a .dll-file called Sysport.dll. From here, he managed to download a working version of the file and the issue was thereby fixed.
LatencyMon is not a program for casual users, so I would advise you to check a YouTube tutorial, such as this one, on how to use it before going ahead and downloading the program.
Turn off In-game Overlays
In-game overlays such as the Discord overlay, Nvidia overlay, and Steam overlay are good utilities for the most part, but they can cause an array of problems including lag. You should try disabling these.
Most users don’t know that they have some sort of overlay running, but both AMD and Nvidia have overlays that are enabled by default if you have their gaming software installed on your computer.
It’s completely possible that these overlays can cause your mouse to act erratic, and in my opinion, in-game overlays are an expendable resource anyway.