Have you ever played a first-person shooter game and found that your crosshair was constantly moving off target, no matter how carefully you tried to aim? This is because of mouse acceleration, which is a setting that increases or decreases the speed of the cursor based on how fast you move the mouse. Many gamers find this setting helpful for getting accurate shots on targets, while others find it disruptive and prefer to play with mouse acceleration turned off. Another common setting that affects mouse movement is angle snapping. Let’s take a look at what angle snapping is and how it can be used.
When playing games that involve mouse control, you will probably notice that your cursor sometimes moves too far to the right or left on its own. This is caused by an auto-correcting mechanism in some mice called “Angle Snapping”. It helps maintain straight movements when drawing angles on the screen. Depending on how much Angle Snapping is applied it can be either very helpful or very annoying; I find low levels of Angle Snapping acceptable since it makes small adjustments for me automatically and require little effort, but anything higher than 10% (or below -10%) starts getting really frustrating to play with. So if your gamepads feel like they’re fighting you when doing things like lining up a shot, try turning down Angle Sn
Some mice come with Angle Snapping off by default while others have it turned up to full strength (this is true for the Steelseries Ikari Optical and the Steelseries Kana). To change this setting you will need to go into your mouse software (usually found in Control Panel > Mouse) and look through all of the buttons on your mouse, especially those that are not actual mouse buttons like side buttons or far thumb-left/right clickers. At least one button should say something like “Angle Snapping” followed by a number; set this number between -100% and 100% for different effects. You can also turn Angle Snapping completely off if you want, I wouldn’t recommend doing so
Snapping is a term used in reference to moving diagonally on the X-Y axis. Moving your cursor at an angle other than 90 or -90 degrees should result in snapping or “correcting” your movement back to 90 degrees. That 180 degree range should be smooth, not have any bumps or jumps. The first thing many people notice about their mouse is that it does not have this type of smooth motion. Most gamers are aware that their aim will improve with Angle Snapping, though they may not know why it improves their aim! This issue where the mouse drifts out of alignment
