Windows 8.1 mouse lag reportedly renders some PC games “close-to unplayable”

Windows 8.1

Go home, computerised pointing device. You’re drunk.

You might remember that Windows 8.1 rolled out yesterday. In doing so, however, it knocked over a vase and pulled the cover from the DPI framework, sending its contents crashing to earth with an almighty crash and souring its relationship with the mouse.

More: Check our guide to the best PC games.

Redditors report that the major system update has introduced insurmountable lag to games including Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Metro: Last Light and STALKER: Call of Pripyat.

The issue appears to lie with Windows 8.1’s new DPI framework for multiple monitors, which has interfered with usual communication between the mouse and the OS. Games that don’t read raw mouse data, like those above, have developed a sluggishness not exactly conducive to hacking in Deux Ex, for instance.

One user said that the polling rate of their mouse – i.e. how often it reports back to your PC – had fallen from 1000hz to 125hz.

A purported fix has been put forward over on Reddit, though it doesn’t seem to work for everyone. It goes like this:

  1. Right click the EXE of the game in question
  2. Go to properties
  3. Go to the compatibility tab
  4. Tick the box marked ‘run this program in compatibility mode for’ and select ‘Windows 8’
  5. Tick ‘disable scaling on high DPI settings’
  6. Tick ‘run this program as an administrator’

Let us know if you’re affected, what games you’re struggling with, and if the above solves the issue for you. Can’t hurt to put our heads and hurts together, can it?