@wheresmycar
Again, you are missing the point. Saying “I can’t aim at 1600 DPI” is a meaningless statement. Each game has its own sensitivity settings which act as a multiplier for your mouse DPI. As such, in any taken game, you adjust said settings accordingly - there is no difference between 4 at 800 and 2 at 1600. They are both the same effective DPI or eDPI for short. If you don’t adjust and just blindly switch mouse DPI without touching the ingame setting to equalize eDPI - no shit it will feel wonky. But even that metric is only usable when comparing within one game. The one true metric that is consistent between games and engines and DPI and mice and whatever is cm/360. Without knowing what your preference for that one is (your rotation, essentially) it’s impossible to equalize sensitivities between games and DPIs. If I know I want 35cm/360 I can get that every day any day on any mouse and any DPI in any game I would care to play, either just using an online calculator for popular titles or just with a goddamn ruler for something obscure.
Blimey, what just happened? Thought we were two blokes chilling under a tree, cold drinks in hand, talking DPI on the same wavelength. Out of the blue, you steamrolled it. For the record, no claim was made suggesting DPI alone dictates game performance or precision - that would be absolute bonkers and I certainly didn't explicitly suggest "I can’t aim at 1600 DPI" or made any reference of such being an absolute (real-world gaming). Come on now, I’ve been in those die-hard FPS trenches for 15+ years deep and it’s definitely not my first time plugging in a mouse. I’ve probably changed more mousepads thann some people change their underwear. Of course we religiously tailor in-game sensitivities and theres a whole bunch of them. Precision is hardly achieved by DPI-accident, thats just the basics for real-world gaming.
We were specifically talking DPI, and its far from meaningless. You set your desktop DPI first and thats the setting you ‘usually’ carry into games. The multitude of in-game sensitivities are secondary. This isn't a strict rule, but it is the method most commonly used. Point is, If I’m not comfortable at 1600, messing with individual game settings just becomes ‘more’ of a chore, worse if I can't even make it to in-game settings menu with a jumping rabbit of a cursor at the usual pace.
Also, lets not pretend desktop DPI and in-game configs live in separate universes. While technically independent, people running 1600+ on desktop are more 'likely' to carry that high sensitivity feel into their in-game settings. For someone like me who sticks with ~800 DPI, i'm more 'likely' to calibrate in-game settings to match that lower overall sensitivity profile.
Honestly, I didn’t think any of that needed explaining and I might have just skipped it. But, that terrifying
“goddamn ruler for something obscure” forced my hand. Sounded less like a tool and more like a cursed ancient weapon ready to spank my obscured cheek muffins all the way into next Wednesday.
This is useful for carrying settings forward from game to game, its the combined result of DPI and in-game settings, not a method for determining your primary DPI setting which is what the thread was about.
As we're on the topic - since switching to 1440p, I’ve been using the shorter side of a credit card for the 360 ref (ruler no longer needed). A nice added convenience as I'm hardly without the cards. It's surprisingly accurate too (discovered by chance) or 1-2mm off depending on game variables which I’m fine with. I don’t treat cm/360 as an absolute universal setting between games but its great for locking in a quick baseline setting. With that out of the way + a few other adjustments, i'm usually too eager to jump in the newly installed game and get cracking. The rest of those finer tweaks are made on the fly. Once I’m locked into a games flow and in full spray mode, that fast paced ~45/~90 deg OCD kicks in with quick flicks and tight angles occasionally throwing things off and messing with the baseline. Same game, same setup, one session I’m smooth sailing and the next its begging for a slight -/+ nudge. Theres no one-size-fits-all(games) method just refined sensitivity chasing whatever feels right... but no doubt cm/360 is the best approach to get the ball rolling.
