# Mouse cursor flashing/disappearing in games



## Mingan (Oct 15, 2006)

Ive been playing CS:S for about a year or two now, and ever since I got it, when I enter the game, the mouse cursor is invisible, and only is viewable if I move the mouse, and even then, it flashes when it is moved. This also occurs in BF2, and the demos of Medieval II: Total War, and BF2142. Anyonw know how to fix this?

-Mingan


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Hi, welcome to TSF

What mouse are you using? See if there's an updated driver for it.

I had the same problem in fullscreen games using a Logitech mouse with old drivers. Also, check in the games settings to see if there's an option to choose hardware or software controlled mouse.

Are you using the standard pointers or third party? (Control Panel > Mouse > Pointers)

Have you got the latest graphics drivers and DirectX?


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## Mingan (Oct 15, 2006)

im using the stock mouse that came with my dell, with the stock cursor. where would I look about updating mouse drivers? (and yes, in WoW, unless I enable the hardware cursor option, the mouse flashes there, but it works fine once I enable that option...have been unable to find that on these other games)

EDIT: ran the mouse driver update wizard (my drivers look like they havent been updated since 2001, which is when I got the computer im pretty sure =P) and it said that it could not find any newer drivers.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

See if *Driver Detective* can find the latest correct driver for your Dell mouse.

Or enter your *Service Tag number* into the *Dell support site*.

Do you have a more up to date mouse you could try?


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## Mingan (Oct 15, 2006)

I ran the driver detective, and it said I needed to update the drivers, but since I am not a member, would not let me download them. Also, since the mouse is old, the service tag has long since peeled off and I do not know where it is. Also, i might be able to find another mouse...


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## Cellus (Aug 31, 2006)

This can sometimes occur if the option for "Hardware Mouse" is enabled (sometimes even disabled) in the game. Toggle the option and see if this helps. Unless you need the exact detection of, and have, a laser mouse or high-quality optical mouse, toggling the option should not adversely affect performance. Considering you're using the stock mouse from Dell, there should be little if any difference unless your system is already under heavy stress from running the game. See if this helps.


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## Mingan (Oct 15, 2006)

Thats the problem though, many of these games do not have the hardware mouse option in their graphical options interface, so I cannot enable it that way. If there is another way to enable it, that would surely fix my problem. When I get some free time, ill go back to the games and check the options again just to make sure it dosent have that option.


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## larebz (Jul 30, 2007)

i'm so sorry for bringing this thread back from so long but it is unanswered and is the 2nd page i got from google when searching for 'flashing mouse games' so i think it's only relevant that it gets an answer.

So anyway i had this problem but it turns out that all it was is because i had *'Display pointer trails'* turned on in *Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options*, hope this will help anyone else with this problem in future.


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## connelo (May 24, 2009)

larebz said:


> i'm so sorry for bringing this thread back from so long but it is unanswered and is the 2nd page i got from google when searching for 'flashing mouse games' so i think it's only relevant that it gets an answer.
> 
> So anyway i had this problem but it turns out that all it was is because i had *'Display pointer trails'* turned on in *Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options*, hope this will help anyone else with this problem in future.


This worked like a charm! Thank you so much, ive had this problem for a long time and now i can finally enjoy my games. Thanks again man!


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## larebz (Jul 30, 2007)

glad i could help, i knew at least someone would be having the same problem!


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## T-Dog (Jul 31, 2009)

larebz said:


> i'm so sorry for bringing this thread back from so long but it is unanswered and is the 2nd page i got from google when searching for 'flashing mouse games' so i think it's only relevant that it gets an answer.
> 
> So anyway i had this problem but it turns out that all it was is because i had *'Display pointer trails'* turned on in *Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options*, hope this will help anyone else with this problem in future.


That was just great advice! I'd spent hours trying to find out how to stop this flashing cursor! It was unbelievably irritating. Thank you very much for this, you're a star. :smile: :wave:


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## mikeness (Aug 5, 2011)

thanx *heaps* man! ive been trying to figure that out for ages!


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