Win98SE, USB Wheel Mouse, and Gaming

[Larry]

Okay...I'm not sure how I'm even going to start asking about this one, but hopefully you guys can help me out.

I'm an avid Quake and Rogue Spear fan, and I'm having some troubles with my mouse. You see, I used to have a 3-button mouse (serial), which I used to play these games, and have my settings configured so that I need to be able to use at least 2 of my buttons simultaneously. More precisely, I use my left button to shoot, my middle button to strafe left, and my right mouse button to strafe right. For a non gamer, I'm sorry; these terms might sound a bit wierd . Anywho, as you can see, I'd want to have the ability to strafe left and right while shooting, thus the need for pressing more than 1 mouse button at a time. At the time, I was using a Logitech Trackman Marble (no wheel). Recently, I switched to a USB mouse (Trackman Marble + (with a scroll wheel thingy)...Since then, I have not been able to use my left and middle button at once. When I press my left button while the middle button is held down, the comptuer responds as if the left button stops the middle button before it activates. So, in a game, I cannot strafe left and shoot at the same time. I can either strafe left, or I can shoot. The wierd thing is, this only happens with the wheel button. I can strafe right while shooting simultaneously (holding down both the right and left mouse button).

ANyway, if there is anyone out there who knows of some kind of fix for this, I thank you in advance!!!

Best,

Larry

[Wombat]

If you're using the MS drivers, it's pretty easy to tell them to handle the mouse as a simple 3rd button.

On the other hand, I'd be very suspicious that this is just from a limited design in the mouse's chipset.

[Larry]

How would you tell it to handle it as a 3rd button? It detects my mouse as a HID-compatible device...

Best,

Larry

[xortam]

BTW, I just saw this HID acronym used when I recently updated my Logitech MouseWare drivers. What is HID? Hardware Input Device or something? What is its meaning/significance?

[birdy]

could it be that when you use the wheel as a button, you are effectively pressing two buttons at once? Forwards and backwards at the same time?

This is just a shot in the dark and anyone who knows better is welcome toshoot me down in flames, but it seems to me that when you press the wheel down, rather than activating a genuine 3rd button, you are actually pressing forwards/backwards simultaneously which is interpreted by the software as a third button press.

seems logical (ish)

[HedsSpaz]

HID
Human Interface Device

[Larry]

Hmmm...interesting idea birdy...I've been around on other message boards asking the same question, but nobody really knows if it's really considered as pressing two buttons. That would royaly suck though..hhehehe

I wish they had a Trackman Marble USB without the damn wheel...ARGH!!!!

Best,

Larry

[Beezer]

I don't have your model of mouse, but I do have a Logitech Wheel. One problem that I have/had with mine was that I could not get the thumb button to work as an alt fire/zoom (in UT). I would click it and hold it to zoom, but it would only register one click no matter how long I held it.

The work around I use is to find the Logitech button software and disable it prior to launching your game. In my case, I do a [ctrl][alt][del] to bring up the Task List. I click on EM_EXEC (logitech software) and choose "end task". Then I launch the game, and all my buttons on the mouse work fine (including the wheel). You just have to be sure to close em_exec before you define your mouse buttons in the game when you initially set it up.

[fds]

Check the settings in MouseWare.

I once used a 3-button Logitech PS/2 mouse (now a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, USB) and the Logitech drivers by default set the middle button to simulate double-clicking with the left.

That and I believe after some version Logitech's mouseware just refused to treat the middle button as a middle button click so I had to reinstall a previous release.

[muppet]

try the logitech site, they have a game.whl patch for my trackman marble, this helps when playing halflife etc. it negates the need for killing the em_exec file.
you could also configure the mouse differently logitech have version 9.0 (i think) drivers they allow all wierd combinations of buton allocation

[muppet]

try the logitech site, they have a game.whl patch for my trackman marble, this helps when playing halflife etc. it negates the need for killing the em_exec file.
you could also configure the mouse differently logitech have version 9.0 (i think) drivers they allow all wierd combinations of button allocation

[Pace]

Larry: Er, not really answering the question but offering a sidestep (sic ) - Why not use two keys to strafe left and right?

I use W/S for fwd/back and A/D for left/right but the arrow keys are used by some of my friends. This lets me use the wheel up/down to cycle weapons and mouse 2 for zoom and mouse 3 for any other features (secondary fire/use item).

And, incidentally, this means that I rarely press mouse 3 at the same time as mouse 1. The only problem is if you've got a keyboard which can't handle 3 keys at a time (I've come accross a few).

Paul.

[Larry]

Yeah, I've tried that, but I'm not sure why, but it feel rather unatural that way...I've used my mouse buttons to strafe left and right for a long, long time. But you're right, that might be the best way to go...

Best,

Larry

[xortam]

BTW, I finally got around to looking up the significance of the term HID. It seems this is generally used to define the Human Interface Devices device class within the USB spec.