Troubles in Tarterus

[Scarlet Shocker]

 

 

My gaming weekend has been blighted, and I have walked through hell... almost in a literal sense.

 

My Razer Orbweaver didn't so much die as become unglued - something I've noticed with a few Razer products. The adhesive that holds rubber to plastic turns to slime, stops holding stuff in place and instead becomes an annoyingly sticky goop that allows stuff to slide all over and gets your hand/finger/other anatomical parts* tacky and unpleasant to the feel.

 

So against my will (the Orbweaver worked well mechanically) I decided it was necessary to replace it with a Tarterus - whcih at face value was closer to my much beloved and late lamented Belkin Nostromo n52 (and other razer variants therafter.)

 

It duly arrived on Friday and so I spent time plugging, connecting, fixing, and then... oh look at this. Razer Synapse (remember him, the sad sap who fell afoul of Crey Industries? With a name like Synapse you know this tale's never going to end well.) the accompanying software has "evolved."

I say evolved because the 2nd iteration, Synapse 2.0 seems to have gone extinct, to be replaced by Synapse 3.xx.xx.xxxxx.xx.xx.xx or something. (More on this later) So install Synapse 3 we do and it immediately updates. Oh and then it changes to "Beta" or some such.

 

We give it a brief road test with a few rounds of stompy robot death but that was unfruitful, given that the control schema for MWO is really directions and a few weapons buttons and my Naga mostly did the shooting.

 

Then to Paragon and the first thing I noticed was that the 6 key on every single device (keyboard included) stopped working. So 123457890. I'm sure it won't take you genius people more than a moment to realise that when you have two trays minimum running powers through 1-0 that suddenly becomes a significant impediement.

 

Test, update software, test again, update software - again? - and so on

 

At some point, chat broke. I couldn't communicate with team members in chat.

 

Uninstall software, disconnect Tarterus, reboot. Everything works fine. Reconnect Tarterus, reboot, everything works fine. Install Synapse 3... well it's actually a completely different Synapse. Beta now. Number 6 goes AWOL. It declined to function. I argued with it. Its response was unequivocal: "I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!"**

Uninstall, reinstall, connect, disconnect, push, file, stamp, cajole, update software.

 

Finally we got something functioning. Imperfect but functioning. 6 came back to work, but 4 decided it was on a work to rule and only functioned after some considerable pushing.

 

Another software update. AH HA! wE s3EM t0 b3 w3Rk1ng. s0R2 of.

 

This morning there was yet another update. It seems Razer are doing stuff behind the scenes. I've had many different versions of their Synapse on my PC now.

 

At the last test, we seemed to be performing as expected. But I'm sitting here, baited breath waiting for some other strange hellish issue to raise its head.

 

Not sure who else of you here uses such devices. But if you do, I hope you have better luck than I did in this instance!

 

 

_{*get your mind out of the gutter!
**if you didn't see that coming you haven't been paying attention}

 

 

[catsi563]

sounds like you need an actual mouse instead of these tech monstrosities.  itll probably play smoother doesnt require as many updates and wont argue with you as long as you feed it cheese 

[Scarlet Shocker]

19 minutes ago, catsi563 said:

sounds like you need an actual mouse instead of these tech monstrosities.  itll probably play smoother doesnt require as many updates and wont argue with you as long as you feed it cheese 

 

I have an actual mouse. A Razer Naga - but it's the new software that seems to be the issue more than the physical hardware

[cranebump]

Am I the only sap who just clicks buttons with a cheap ass mouse? (Please let it be TRUE!):-)

[Ghost]

49 minutes ago, cranebump said:

Am I the only sap who just clicks buttons with a cheap ass mouse? (Please let it be TRUE!):-)

I have a wired, 2-button mouse with a wheel.  May have cost $7.99 through Amazon.

🙂

 

[cranebump]

46 minutes ago, Ghost said:

I have a wired, 2-button mouse with a wheel.  May have cost $7.99 through Amazon.

🙂

 

Dream killer:-)

[LKN-351]

6 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

I have an actual mouse. A Razer Naga - but it's the new software that seems to be the issue more than the physical hardware

 

I have a naga also and I wholeheartedly unequivocally agree the software is the downside. I uninstalled it and Windows boots faster and generally runs so much smoother.

The only downside is that I can't have colours I choose on my keyboard and mouse. The bigger downside is I can only use two of the three swappable side pieces for the Naga mouse and it seems there is no alternative way to make it work.

 

Although, my right arrow key has retired recently.

Edited April 30 by LKN-351

[Techwright]

I used to have Razor mice, back when ball mice were still a thing.  To this day they were the most durable mice I had. One, the Boomslang, lasted about 5 years of constant gaming.  After Razor sold, however, I got one new Razor mouse (Copperhead?) it lasted 1 year, and that was it for me and Razor.  Sad, 'cause I really loved them. 

 

I'm hard on mice, even gaming mice, so I don't go for the elite ones with a crazy number of buttons on them and a hefty price tag.  If I can get two years from a gaming mouse these days, I'm content.  In fact, I'm probably going to replace my Logitech gaming mouse soon, as it's started doing occasional funky things in the game.  It's been close to two years. I had a couple of Corsairs before it, but they only lasted about 6 months each.  I decided not to waste more money on Corsair.

[Scarlet Shocker]

4 hours ago, LKN-351 said:

 

I have a naga also and I wholeheartedly unequivocally agree the software is the downside. I uninstalled it and Windows boots faster and generally runs so much smoother.

The only downside is that I can't have colours I choose on my keyboard and mouse. The bigger downside is I can only use two of the three swappable side pieces for the Naga mouse and it seems there is no alternative way to make it work.

 

Although, my right arrow key has retired recently.

 

I would seriously advise you to disable the software in start up. It doesn't take long to run up if you need to actually use it.

 

The physical products seem pretty good but as many have remarked, the software is a PoS

 

 

[Greycat]

Eh. My big thing with mice is either the cord (though they're gettting better at strain relief) or the right mouse button. So I bought some spares and am starting to just replace the internal button when it starts not behaving.

[Snarky]

Same thing happened to my old Tarterus.  So, because it is me….first i ignored it.  That worked for…a time.  Then i peeled the damn thing off and superglued it back in place.  This was not pretty, not fun, and not precise.  After weeks of random smear still drooling and dried superglue  particles migrating the thing settled into a cohesive slab.  
 

good luck 🤪

[LKN-351]

1 hour ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

I would seriously advise you to disable the software in start up. It doesn't take long to run up if you need to actually use it.

 

The physical products seem pretty good but as many have remarked, the software is a PoS

 

 

 

I did disable it in startup lol I completely uninstalled it. I did that months ago and I don't regret it lol

[Ukase]

21 hours ago, cranebump said:

Am I the only sap who just clicks buttons with a cheap ass mouse? (Please let it be TRUE!):-)

Nope. I mean, all you need is to click doors, contacts and glowies. No need for anything fancy. 

[High_Beam]

Me.

 

[biostem]

TBH, I dabbled with specialized gaming mice in the past, but my current outlook is to buy a decent, but inexpensive "standard mouse", use it until it breaks or I get bored, then replace it.  You can get some pretty decent ones on amazon or ebay for like $5, but if you've got time to spare, you can even find some on aliexpress for under $2.

[Troo]

On 4/29/2024 at 11:38 AM, Scarlet Shocker said:

I have an actual mouse. A Razer Naga - but it's the new software that seems to be the issue more than the physical hardware

 

I try to never install device software. If it doesn't work out of the box or with an updated driver, then it's next device. It's rare I really have to install software for a device to work.

 

Sure I can't change the colors of my current keyboard's backlit.. but at least I can dim it.

 

The software that came with the keyboard is basically bloatware that wants to update itself and basically run advertisements. No thanks.

 

 

Edited May 1 by Troo

[Skyhawke]

Shout out to anybody else that uses a trackball!

 

 

 

[Frostbiter]

2 minutes ago, Skyhawke said:

Shout out to anybody else that uses a trackball!

 

 

 

 

Logitech M570 FTW!

[Maelwys]

On 5/1/2024 at 2:11 AM, High_Beam said:

Me.

 

100%.

I used to buy gaming mice, but the poor build quality and bloatware has long since put me off.

And realistically I don't actually ask for much from a mouse: (i) A wire, so that it doesn't require endless charging/battery swaps (ii) A scroll wheel, because I like to read forums and this isn't 1992 any more (iii) A shoulder button or two, because games have binds and occasionally my right thumb gets bored (iv) Adjustable DPI so that I can choose to move my cursor in a large circle on the screen without the need for a desk the length of a football pitch. 

I'm perfectly content with a sub-£20 Logitech job. My current model is a Logitech G203 LIGHTSYNC, and the very first thing I did was turn the stupid rainbow disco lights OFF. Thankfully that setting is in firmware, so the control utility software only needed to infect my PC for 20mins or so before it got the boot. The performance of the actual mouse itself is just as good as any of my old Razors; and I don't miss the extra buttons because I have a Keyboard *and* a Joypad for that sort of thing.



Incidentally, 99.9% of the time I'm holding a joypad in CoH (occasionally my right hand moves to the mouse or keyboard numpad). The controls bind remarkably well to joypads (including my trusty old collection of Dual Shock IIs) and I find Analogue sticks are much easier for fine movement control and jumping around than WSAD or a Mouse. Left stick = move, Right stick = look, DPad = targetting, Other Buttons = Activate Powers on Tray #1. Extra Powers and Teammate-targeting controls are bound to the keyboard numpad. So the Mouse is mostly relegated to necessary GUI interaction and clicking on glowies.

I can play with regular keyboard + mouse, but it feels a bit like trying to drive a car with my feet.
 

Edited May 3 by Maelwys

[lemming]

With me, I try to find the largest mouse available.   Large hands, so a lot of mice tend to be small and cramp my hand.   I have similar complaints about a lot of cameras.