Mouse pointer not "grabbing" objects in full screen

Hi there,

I'm new here :)

I thought these times are good to come back to flight simming after about 15 years of absence.

Back then I spent quite some time with the various incarnations of Falcon 4.0 and the PMDG 737 in FS-X.

So I got myself a i9-9900k, 64GB RAM, a Radeon Rx 5700 Xt (8GB) and a coulple Samsung EVO 970 SSDs. Added a TrackIR5 and a TM Warthog. Rudder is still my good old TM RCS plugded into the base of my old Cougar until I get something modern with toebrakes.

Got DCS World 2.5.5 and bought a couple of the discounted modules and currently "learning to fly" again, mostly in the P-51D Mustang module over Normandy.

So far so good. That rig runs DCS with most graphics options on 2560x1440 close to 60fps most of the time.

Two things bother me though and I have a hard time understanding/debugging them:

When I run DCS in windowed mode all is good. I see the mouse pointer and it changes to these green icons when I point at something clickable in the cockpit. Clicking with the mouse turns switched, rotates knobs. All good.

As soon as I run DCS in full-screen mode (which seems to have slightly better fps), I still see the mouse pointer, but it doesn't change into these green icons anymore when I hoover over a switch. And clicking the mouse doesn't turn any switches anymore.

I tried ALT-Enter to get out and back into full-screen. Doesn't work.

I'm using the latest Radeon drivers.

Has anyone seen something like this before?

I've researched old threads here and there seem to be many users with issues in full screen mode. I saw some who don't have any mouspointer at all. But none with mousepointer, but a useless one.

Oh, and the second issue:

I can't remember how many times I have setup the controls for the P-51 in DCS to my Warthog. Sometimes they stick, sometimes they are gone with the next start of DCS.

Here I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong, but I cannot figure it out.

How are you guys setting up your Warthogs? Only in DCS or do you use TM Target software to make the Warthog send only keyboard commands?

Any suggestions or thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Emacs

Welcome!

A couple of things, with your rig, you should bever be getting anything but 60fps. I get a rock solid frame limited 58fps in 4K, and that is with everything pretty much set to max. (I don't need or use MSAA or PD in 4K.)

Can I ask, are you running DCS at your monitor's native res? I.e., is it a 1440p screen?

Regarding controls not sticking, I have no clue on that. Never seen that happen. My controls - including the TM Warthog - are just configured in DCS. They have alsways stuck fine for me. I don't use Target at all.

Hi imacken,

My monitor is actually a 4K Dell.

I did set the resolution in Windows to 2560x1440 to help with gaming.

The machine has been build and is used mostly as a hackintosh for photo and video editing. I installed Windows 10 64bit Home edition on the second SSD - for gaming and mostly for DCS.

Cheers,

Robin

^ If he just clicked "high" preset after installing DCS, he's got MSAA on by default, so I'm not surprised by sub-60 fps dips.

@Emacs, first things first - everything related to how your game is set up is generally stored in C:\Users\[yourusername]\Saved Games\DCS (or DCS.OpenBeta). Controls are stored in \Config\Input\ sub-folder, divided further into individual aircraft and controllers folders. Unless they're set to read-only (though in normally configured Windows they absolutely shouldn't), control setups should be saved and stick there for good. You might want to check what happens over there after exiting DCS.

No idea about pointer issue, although If it's related to full screen and resolutions, I would also suggest checking If you run the game at native screen res., if "scale GUI" in system options doesn't interfere somehow (although that should affect menus only, at least in theory) etc.

EDIT - just read your reply after sending mine. So it's 2k gaming on 4k monitor. That might be the culprit, but I don't know if it's possible to solve easily.

Hi imacken,

 

My monitor is actually a 4K Dell.

I did set the resolution in Windows to 2560x1440 to help with gaming.

 

The machine has been build and is used mostly as a hackintosh for photo and video editing. I installed Windows 10 64bit Home edition on the second SSD - for gaming and mostly for DCS.

 

Cheers,

 

Robin

Thanks Robin,

Can you please try setting Windows desktop and DCS to 4K res. Do you see the same issue in full screen?

Wow - thank you both !

That was already a great hint :)

I'm running DCS now in the native 4k 3840x2160 resolution. MSAA and SSAA to off.

In windowed mode fps were mostly around 50.

Then I tested full-screen and the mouse does work as expected ! And it is a pretty solid 60 fps now.

I say I'm a pretty happy camper now! Even manage to land the Mustang pretty well by now - well, most of the time.

@imaken: one question: you said "I don't need or use MSAA or PD in 4K" - I fully agree with MSAA. But what is PD?

Btw. I have AF at 16 and VSync on. The Vsync limits my fps to my monitors refresh rate and as I have no gaming monitor, 60 fps is what it is.

@Art-J: thanks for the directory information too! C:\Users\emacs\Saved Games\DCS\Config\Input\ is there and writable for my user.

But I think I found a possible explanation too. In that .\DCS\Config\Input I have two folders for the P-51.

I have:

Config\Input\P-51D-30-NA

Config\Input\P-51D

Config\Input\TF-51D

I know the TF-51D is the free included trainer variant. I don't fly that.

The P-51D contains files which are older. Around the time I purchased the Mustang module.

The P51D-30-NA contains files dating from yesterday. I have no idea when or why this directory was created.

But I guess, the config I'm looking for is in the P-51D folder.

I will check that.

Cheers,

Emacs

Glad you got it working! Ignore my reference to PD, that is a VR thing!