P5: WinXP SP3 + Counter Strike 1.6 / Condition Zero (FPS) mouse problem

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by DominikH, Dec 27, 2009.

  1. DominikH

    DominikH Bit poster

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    I upgraded to P5 1 month ago. Since then I am having trouble playing Counter Strike.

    Using P4 (Parallels 4), everything worked fine:
    - Using the CTRL key, my model ducked properly
    - 'Aiming' with the mouse (mouse-look) worked perfectly and precicely!

    After upgrading to P5:
    - CTRL will be accepted AFTER pressing another key
    - Using the mouse look for aiming end up in a mess, no precice aiming:
    - moving the mouse very slow: first doesn't move at all, then skipping several pixels, so no way to aim the spot I want to aim at
    - moving mouse faster: I was never able to perform 360 degrees turnarounds with one fast mouse movement!!!!!!!!!!

    So it is not possible to play neither Counter Strike 1.6 nor Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (the ONLY GAMES I play and why I bought Parallells (cause CrossOver Office sucks on FrameRate Issues).

    As I am browsing now for several weeks without finding ANY working solution, I wonder if I can get back my money for the upgrade and will use P4 again.

    Found and tried solutions:
    - reinstall parallels tools -> no change in misbehaviour
    - reinstall complete guest os -> same... no change
    - set smart mouse to OFF -> no change
    - also setting guest Windows' mouse hardware acceleration to none -> no change


    Used hard- and software:
    - host os: OS X 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard)
    - host mac: 15" MacBook Pro (late 2008, unibody, NVidia Geforce 9400 M + 9600 M GT)
    - guest os: Windows XP Professional - Service Pack 2 (also tried with SP3!!!)
    - used mouse: Logitec MX 518 (no Logitec Driver Package installed in neither host nor guest OS)


    I never played other games using Parallels (neither 4 nor 5), so I do not have any other references.
    If you have any hint for me, either in fixing that really annoying issue or refund the upgrade, please write me.


    Please excuse my non perfect english... I'm a german native speaker.
     
  2. Your claims about PD4 seems strange to me. Key action engines in PD4 and PD5 are essintially the same. If Ctrl is a part of any KeyAction then it will be delayed.

    Though in PD5 the situation could be improved. There is a special option in virtual machine configuration 'Options' -> 'Services' -> 'Optimize modifier keys for games' which should solve your problem with Ctrl key.

    For mouse sensitivity you should check the configuration inside CounterStrike itself or in guest Windows using Control Panel.

    Hope this helps.
     
  3. TamásK

    TamásK Bit poster

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    Same here

    I have the same problem with the mouse. If you move the mouse slowly, the crosshair also moves slowly, but if you move the mouse slightly faster, the crosshair moves waay too much. It's like there is some weird high mouse acceleration set.

    I already have the mouse sensitivity at minimum in CS, but that didnt help.

    I tried turning off SmartMouse (so the VM window would capture the mouse),
    tried disabling mouse acceleration in the guest windows xp and
    tried connecting the mouse directly to the VM (via the devices menu)

    None of these helped.
    Any ideas/more mouse settings I could try?
     
  4. The problem is in the mouse acceleration in MacOS host which is too high by default. Parallels Desktop forwards mouse moves exactly like they appear in the Mac.

    My suggestion for this is the same. Set in virtual machine configuration 'Options' -> 'Services' -> 'Optimize modifier keys for games' check. This slowdowns host acceleration.
     
  5. TamásK

    TamásK Bit poster

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    Yes, i also tried that, but it didn't seem to affect the mouse in any way.

    Since then, i've found an ugly workaround:
    - installed parallels tools
    - made a copy of the "C:\Program Files\Parallels Tools\Drivers" directory (or something similar)
    - uninstalled parallels tools
    - next time when windows starts up, it finds some devices, one of them is the virtual video adapter
    - told windows to look for the driver in the backup copy i made previously

    This way i could install the driver for the video adapter, without the other stuff which could interfere with the mouse.
    The mouse in the game works perfectly now, but of course I dont have mouse integration.
     
  6. This sounds bad.

    First of all host settings of acceleration are completely ignored with 'Optimize mouse for games is set'. We have tested the acceleration level with Counter Strike and it was worked fine in our lab.

    OK. Lets try to understand the situation. Could you please specify the following:

    - are you talking about counter strike 1.6 / Condition Zero? Could you please specify exact version including the build number to help us to reproduce the problem locally. The best possible option if you'll provide us a source where we can get it.
    - could you make a problem report and share its number when you have a problem?
    - which mouse you are using with you Mac? Could you specify exact model
    - are you playing in windowed mode or in full screen inside guest?
    - in which mode you are running Parallels desktop? In windowed one or in coherence?

    Thank you in advance
     
  7. Shaddam IV

    Shaddam IV Forum Maven

    Messages:
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    Dear Denis V. Lunev, what is the setting "'Optimize mouse for games" that you are referring to? Parallels 5 - at least the version I am running - doesn't have that. I can turn the Smart Mouse on and off (I have to have it on for games otherwise I won't see the mouse cursor - but I'd love to be able to turn it off as the cursor animations are quite jerky when Smart Mouse is on) but I can't see a setting "Optimise mouse for games". Where is that?

    Thanks for clarifying!
     
  8. ChanceI

    ChanceI Bit poster

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    Counter-strike mouse problem

    I am also experiencing the described mouse issue when trying to play counter-strike 1.6 using parallels 5. I have tried a few different mice and activated the gaming configuration but to no avail. I am playing full screen inside the guest and running parallels in full screen with the mouse integrated. The tracking seems fine until the game play begins. Please help!
     
  9. Sorry for mistype. I have told about one and the same options in posts #6 and #4 in this thread. This is a checkbox in VM configuration.

    'Virtual Machine' -> 'Configuration' -> 'Options' -> 'Services' -> 'Optimize key modifier for games'

    Please see screenshot attached.

    This checkbox does 2 things:
    - it allows to Ctrl, Shift, Cmd and Win keys to be sent instantly at the moment of pressing to VM. By default if the key pressed is a part of any defined Key Action its sending is delayed
    - Secondly this option forces low mouse acceleration. We have an opinion that too high acceleration in MacOS was the reason of mouse jumps inside Counter Strike

    Anyway, if this option does not help, please help us answering my questions from post #6 above in this thread.

    Thank you in advance, we will try to do our best with this problem.
     

    Attached Files:

  10. TamásK

    TamásK Bit poster

    Messages:
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    Just to double-check it, i've re-installed parallels tools, checked the "Optimize modifier keys for games" option, rebooted the VM, but it's pretty much the same.
    I've tried two different releases of counter-strike so far, the steam release that i've purchased, and a non-steam "release" from piratebay, which works without steam. Both are v1.6 and have the same problem.

    And to answer your questions:
    - Using Counter-Strike 1.6, the 2 releases i've tried give the following info for the version console command:
    The steam version (this is the one you can buy at steampowered.com):
    Non-steam version:
    - Problem report: I couldn't find where to create one for Parallels Desktop 5. Do you have an URL for that?
    - Mouse: Logitech LS1
    - Full screen mode in guest, at 1440x900.
    - Running parallels in full screen mode, also at 1440x900, the native resolution of my monitor.
     
  11. NicklasJ

    NicklasJ Bit poster

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    Have you got any solutions to the problem with the sensivity? It's so annoying, it's not even worth playing with these troubles parallels make :(
    I'm using win7 + P5..
     
  12. Mr. Grue

    Mr. Grue Bit poster

    Messages:
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    Over-sensitive mouse

    With WinXP+P5, I'm seeing the over-sensitive mouse problem in the game "Arcanum".

    On the main menu screen, the smallest step I seem to be able to move my mouse is about 80 pixels, making it impossible to click on several of the options. (Sometimes, one of the options I'm unable to click on is "Exit Game". This is a very annoying situation.)

    I've tried changing the Mac mouse sensitivity, the Windows mouse sensitivity, the Parallels Smart Mouse state, toggling the "Optimize modifier keys for games" switch... all to no avail.

    This seems to be a problem across many games.

    - grue
     
  13. Mr. Grue

    Mr. Grue Bit poster

    Messages:
    6
    Mouse sensitivity, cont.

    Following up to my own post mere moments ago...

    I should also mention that Arcanum has a "-window" flag. When I run in "-window" mode, I get the super-sensitive mouse problem. If I run in full-screen mode, if the mouse shows up at all (it doesn't always), then it moves extremely slowly, like it's not nearly sensitive enough.

    - grue
     
  14. ParaChris

    ParaChris Bit poster

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    i'm also receiving weird mouse behavior in newly installed P5 with WinXP on Snow Leo Host
    besides Half-Life 1.5 and corresponding Counter-Strike, Quake 3 and !StarCraft! are also affected. In StarCraft there interestingly is a difference between the battle.net interface (mouse behaves normally smooth) and ingame (essentially same choppy mouse behaviour with weird accelerations)

    more interestingly - and in contrast to others in this thread - i eliminated mouse accel in OS X using SteerMouse and OS X Drivers for my Razer DeathAdder

    smartmouse on/off and optimize modifier keys for games doesnt affect the problem

    should i try turing smartmouse off and installing the windows driver for my mouse?
     
  15. Shaddam IV

    Shaddam IV Forum Maven

    Messages:
    623
    If you use a windows driver for your mouse you need to bind a (USB) mouse directly to the VM. In order to use the Mac mouse, you'll need the Parallels mouse driver. I agree, though, that that driver could use some improvement. Mouse synchronisation and behaviour is just about the only thing I like better in Fusion 3 than in Parallels (Parallels wins in all other respects for sure.)
     
  16. ParaChris

    ParaChris Bit poster

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    i'm also using this workaround now. luckily winxp is so small, so i copied my vm container file before i changed it. now i can use crystal for msoffice and stuff. for 3d games i switch vm's.
     
  17. HenryIsBack

    HenryIsBack Bit poster

    Messages:
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    Mouse Fix

    i think i found the problem. Don't have to uninstall parallels tools.

    Just follow these steps

    Step 1:
    Download Unlocker at http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/#download

    Step 2:
    Install Unlocker

    Step 3:
    Go Program Files/Parallels/Parallels Tools

    Step 4:
    Right Click prl_wmouse_watcher.dll
    Click Unlocker
    Unlock Process

    Step 5:
    Delete prl_wmouse_watcher.dll

    Once delete, game will be smooth

    Hope it works

    Henry
     
  18. LuK

    LuK Bit poster

    Messages:
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    Mouse problem in Counter Strike

    I have the same problem, that has been described here earlier. My mouse does not work properly in CS when moved faster than super slow. A demo of Paralles 4 worked fine. Looking forward to your help.
     
  19. MilanD

    MilanD Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Similar problem here with P6 in Full Screen Mode and CS 1.6 with an Intelli 3.0 Mouse on i5 2.53 MBP:

    When in-game I can only move my mouse slowly. If I go fast with my mouse, it kind of "bounces back", as if I were hitting some kind of "wall" with my mouse. Any idea on how to fix this, since the tips in this thread did not help?
     
  20. Could you pls turn on verbose logging (Parallels Desktop -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Use detailed log messages), start Counter Strike, face your issue and after that create a problem report (Help -> Report a problem). Post the number here.

    Also, could you please describe the case in more details.

    Thank you in advance.
     

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