How to Fix Mouse Lag in Games on Windows 8.1

As I’ve reported to you a couple of days ago, some of the users who migrated to Windows 8.1 experience a small mouse lag in games.

While no workaround was available at that time, it turns out that all issues can be fixed by applying a series of changes to the game executable file.

As gHacks.net is reporting, the mouse lag was experienced in games not using Raw Input or DirectInput for correctly reading mouse movements, as Microsoft has implemented some modifications in the DPI framework available in Windows 8.1.

In order to fix the mouse lag in Windows 8.1, you need to locate the game executable file, right-click it and hit the “Properties” option. Go over to the “Compatibility” tab, check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select “Windows 8” from the drop-down menu.

Additionally, enable the “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings” at the bottom of the screen, hit “Apply” and close the window.

That should be it. In case you’re still experiencing mouse lag in games, make sure you also have the latest drivers available for your mouse and all Windows updates are installed.

Microsoft has already provided a number of fixes supposed to improve mouse performance in the operating system, so if you’re running a fully up-to-date Windows install, everything should be running smoothly if no other bug exists in your drivers.