G'day,

Just wondering if there is anyway of picking fov? For example it is generally accepted to set your FPS to double, tripple (or whatever) your monitors refresh rate is, is there any such 'rule of thumb' for FOV?

Also I would like to ask about DPI for mice. I have a Razer Deathadder, which I was running at 500hz at 1800DPI. Recently I have changed this to 1000hz and 3500DPI. My question really is, do I need to have such a high DPI? What are the benefits and weaknesses of having said high DPI?

I did just stumble across vid_wideaspect and set it too 1, as I do have a wide screen LCD/LED monitor. This changed my FOV automatically and seems to really 'fix' the problem I was having, which was not being able to chose a FOV that seemingly functions ok (mouse felt good and I could see well enough with out 'fish eye distortion'). Before I was changing resolution and FOV trying to find a good balance and was unable too. But if anyone has some further input that would be much appreciated!

I read, and concur with articles saying lower DPI is better for fast FPS games. Personally I use a Logitech G400 mouse with 1000hz and 800DPI. If you have REALLY high DPI you can see it skipping pixels and dno.. It probably doesn't make the world of difference with something in the middle, but SUPER high is not recommended imo.

vid_wideaspect mainly recalculates your screen proportions (vid_conwidth / vid_conheight), that's the greatest change it does .. FOV is changed only slightly

higher fovs mean that the center of your screen ends up a bit squished and too small. the actual fov you use should depend on how comfortable you are with the distortions. the fov value is the horizontal fov, which means that widescreen-correct fovs result in you seeing less vertically, but if you have a widescreen monitor you at least don't have the extra distortion. too high a fov will mean you cannot see stuff around your crosshair as easily (it'll be smaller), so the value you _can_ use is somewhat related to the display pixel density/count, but even then you may find the distortion disorienting.

regarding DPI, your mouse will be polled at some rate specific to your hardware. If your mouse moves 256 'dots' between polls, the value will be wrapped (worst case), clamped (middle case), or clipped+delayed till next poll(best case). Exact behaviour depends upon the mouse itself. So if you ever move your 3500DPI mouse more than 256/3500 inches in 1/1000th of a second, your dpi is too high or your rate is too low.
That's just at the hardware level.
Of course you can't actually exceed 1000hz, and your system might sometimes poll updates if you have other devices on that particular usb bus/controller. Your operating system may have additional restrictions, or mouse acceleration or smoothing or other mangling of data depending on the speed of the mouse.
Other than that, higher dpi just means you can use a lower sensitivity and its only that which lets you aim slightly more precisely. You could instead just move the mouse a bit more.

Changing any of this means you'll need to move your mouse different amounts in order to be facing any given pixel on the screen instead, which will hinder flinch shots slightly, even if the new values are otherwise superior.
Just go for whatever values you feel you can play with.

I would say it depends what you play. In duels you are basically supposed to always know where the opponent is, so you can't be surprised from outside of your field of vision (FOV). You are also supposed to have timings of items so you don't need to see when they are there, you are supposed to know it. Also aim is very important in duels and imo smaller FOV helps especially with LG.

On the other hand in 4on4 it's impossible to keep up with everything, so you need to SEE it. Enemies could be lurking where you least expect, you can't keep up when someone has picked up an item so you just need to see it when it spawns etc. Aim is less crucial in 4on4 because there are so many other elements of gameplay. So I would recommend rather big FOV for 4on4.

As to DPI, I still can't say for sure if there is ANY difference between 900 and 1800 DPI of my original Death Adder... I see no reason not to keep the Hz at max, although you probably can't notice a difference between 500 and 1000.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I didn't realise that using vid_wideaspect 1 was also dependent on fov. I was using FOV 108 and was experimenting with lower values (as I have poor eyesight). Sheer chance had me on FOV 100 when I turned on vid_wideaspect and it changed my FOV to 110.blah blah blah and the resizing of the console width and height makes my quake look and feel a lot better, that is just my personal opinion. In Australia Quakeworld is pretty much dead, so there is not many (if any) team games being played and it is mostly duels, although blAze does make valid points about the need of FOV's in both arts. I feel my FOV of 100 that has been changed to FOV 110.blah blah with vid_wideaspect 1 covers both realms well enough.

I did try as Paradoks suggested to use a lower DPI, I tried 900 DPI with 1000hertz (fairly stable on my computer) but as Spike thoughtfully pointed out, it meant I had to change the way I use the mouse. I use basically the 'claw' grip, so all my moving is done most of the time by my fingers and a little by my arm, therefor I have always used a very high sensitivity, which using the lower DPI and doubling my sensitivity in game (from 1.8 @ 1000hz and 1800DPI to 3.6@1000hz and 900 DPI) it still felt a little weird to me (slightly slow, the mouse felt a little sluggish), and on the desktop it felt like I was dragging a brick around!!! Although the precision was as blAze commented, basically the same, although I do notice a slight difference between 1000hz and 500hz, 1000hz seems just that little bit more responsive. But I do not have the original Death Adder, I have the new Death Adder Black Edition, no idea on any of the difference between the models.

So basically after some experimentation using information you kind people have provided, I will stick with 1800DPI but at 1000hz instead of 500. The 'slight' changes made by vid_wideaspect 1 as JohnNy_cz mentioned, to me personally, make playing a lot easier as I can see a wider field of vision. Albeit it is more compacted together visually (what an oxy moron that is). Which ultimately makes it a lot easier for a person with eye sight problems like me to fight distance battles.

For anyone else looking into the same or a similar problem, I did just find this

http://www.quakeworld.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3473

which really explains why vid_wideaspect 1 helped me on resolution 640x480 and 1024x768.

I am now using 1440 x 900 (the highest my monitor will do still in the 75hz range) and vid_wideaspect 0 with FOV 110 and this looks like normal 4:3 ratio and there isn't a weird 'fish eye' perspective!

Thanks again to everyone for their time and replies, your information was much appreciated!

After playing for a few days I have actually changed my mind, 1000hz @ 900 DPI does feel a lot better and more consistent then 1000hz @ 1800 DPI. The mouse seemed to skip every now and then at 1800DPI where as now it is rock solid. Thanks again everyone for the replies and help! My quakeworld is certainly improving because of this forum! I have been an average player for 10 years and I am looking to FINALLY progress to a higher skill level, which hopefully all this help will help me achieve that. Still a long way to go though.