Mouse Problems in Games

About SheepShaver, a PPC Mac emulator for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux that can run System 7.5.3 to MacOS 9.0.4.

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JKEnayat
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Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I am trying to play the game: Star Trek: Deep Space 9: The Fallen, through sheep shaver. It runs OK, but the biggest problem is that the mouse doesn't respond at all whatsoever. Thankfully, the main menu doesn't require the mouse, but the options do, so I can't reassign keys to play without the mouse. Any suggestions?
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adespoton
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by adespoton »

What host platform are you on? What version of SheepShaver are you running? What guest OS are you running? What ROM are you using? What settings are in your config (JIT on/off, etc)? Oh, and what sort of physical mouse are you using? This last shouldn't be an issue, but there are reported issues with certain kinds of devices moving the virtual mouse.
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24bit
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by 24bit »

I recall this did better things a bit in SheepShaver: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/themouse2b-11
Not sure about the games in question. :(
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I am on a Mac PowerPC running OSX Leopard. I am running OS9 in a virtual machine. I don't know which version of SS I am using, but I know it is not one of the newer versions. The new ones don't work on my PPC.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Do you run SheepShaver in window mode or in full-screen mode? The mouse cursor behavior is different between the two. I do not know if it makes a difference for this game, but you could try.
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I have tried it in both windowed and full screen. Neither works. :sad:
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adespoton
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by adespoton »

If you're on Leopard PPC, I take it the game doesn't run properly in Classic?
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

Well, when I click on it in Leopard it says "Classic mode no longer supported" and in sheepshaver, it opens the game and I can play it, but, of course, the mouse doesn't work whilst playing.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

JKEnayat wrote:Well, when I click on it in Leopard it says "Classic mode no longer supported"
Indeed, the last version of Mac OS X to support Classic on PPC was 10.4 "Tiger".
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

So, any more ideas?
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adespoton
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by adespoton »

Downgrade to Tiger?
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I can't. I have too much stuff that requires leopard.
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24bit
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by 24bit »

Separate Partition for Tiger?
With GPT HDDs DiskUtility can acquire a bit for 10.4 on the fly.
JKEnayat
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I have no idea how to do that.
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Or install Tiger on an external drive.
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by Bon_Glung »

24bit wrote:I recall this did better things a bit in SheepShaver: http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/themouse2b-11
Not sure about the games in question. :(
Thank you so much for this. I was missing right-click SO MUCH!
iMac 21.5-inch, Late 2009, 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB RAM. OS X 10.12.6
JKEnayat
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I don't even own Tiger, and I don't want to buy it just to play this game. :sad: Any ideas why the mouse isn't working? Something I have to change in settings?
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

There are no specific settings for SheepShaver that affect mouse behavior.

- Does the mouse cursor work OK in SheepShaver outside the game?
- Have you tried SheepShaver in both window mode and full-screen mode?
- Which refresh rate have you set in SheepShaver preferences?
- Which (hardware) mouse do you use? Do you use any mouse-related software in the host system?
JKEnayat
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

My mouse cursor does work outside of the game. I have tried both windowed and full-screen mode. I am currently not at my computer so I will have to check the refresh rate. I do not think that the mouse installed any software when I first plugged it in.
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I currently have it set at 30 (I forgot the unit). Would it be better to set higher or lower?
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

The setting will probably not affect the issue you experience, but on an older PPC Mac host I would keep it at 30Hz.

(I would advise the highest settings "60Hz" or "Dynamic" on a modern fast Intel Mac host for smoother cursor movements, but on PPC it will make SheepShaver try to use all of your CPU.)
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

I played around with it, and it doesn't seem to matter what I set it to, from 5Hz to 60Hz, the mouse still does not work whilst playing the game. :sad:
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

Is there a way I can set my mouse CPU priority higher or something?
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adespoton
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by adespoton »

based on the problems you're describing, it sounds like the game may not use Apple's standard mouse interface; the result of course is that changing your sampling isn't going to make a difference. Without firing up macsbug (heh, that's not going to be easy) or if you can read ppc hex in ResEdit or Resourcerer, and looking to see how the game's getting the mouse coordinates, I'm not quite sure what to suggest.

HOWEVER, one thing you might want to try is enabling mousekeys and using your keyboard to move the mouse (after all, you know your keyboard works in the game).

Actually, if someone wants to learn BII/SS coding, writing an option for sending mouse movements as if they were mouse keys numberpad signals might be useful for getting around the mouse issues we experience in some software.
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Re: Mouse Problems in Games

Post by JKEnayat »

Sorry for the late reply. I can move the mouse around with my keyboard, but still it doesn't work in game. Just like without keyboard commands, I can move the mouse in and out of the game window (the cursor turns invisible when inside) but the in game cursor doesn't move. I can see it on the upper left corner of the game, but it won't budge. Something is blocking the game from reading the real mouse's coordinates...
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