USB Mouse + F.E.A.R. = Lag

Although the issue has been discussed on F.E.A.R.’s forum for over a year, a new c|net news article brings up the problem of USB mice and keyboards causing severe framerate drops in the game, even on powerful PCs. The article claims a drop from 150 frames per second to devastatingly low framerates around 13 fps. Simply plugging in a non-USB mouse or keyboard solves the problem. Among the brands tested, Logitech and Saitek caused large performance hits while Creative’s mouse and keyboard (specifically the ones bundled with Velocity Micro PCs) were less lag-inducing, but still caused slight problems.

The issue might only involve certain PCs, as the ones tested were Maingear and Falcon Northwest products, and other desktops have failed to show the drop in frame rate in earlier tests. The cause of the issue is still unknown, but c|net plans on asking F.E.A.R. developer Sierra in person at this week’s E3 and graphics card manufacturer Nvidia is already looking into the issue. Logitech hopes a SetPoint update will fix the problem.