Laggy mouse cursor on secondary computer

[RB98]

Good Evening,

I am attempting to use Multiplicity to control my laptop(Dell XPS 11 I believe) from my desktop which is custom built. Whenever I move the mouse cursor onto my laptop's screen it lags to the point of being unusable. My desktop is on a wired Ethernet connection while my laptop connects over WiFi on the 5Ghz band. The laptop does not have Ethernet capability. I checked the ping times between the two and the ping is less than a milisecond.

Pinging [Redacted] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from [Redacted]: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from [Redacted]: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from [Redacted]: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from [Redacted]: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for [Redacted]:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

What could be causing this lag? I would really like to use this software as I could see it being extremly useful as I work with lots of different computers. Can anyone help?

[MagnumPCI]

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

While Ethernet is always the preferred medium, if either PC is under a heavy workload, performance will also suffer.

If at all possible, and you have access to USB to Ethernet, I would encourage testing with it.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

[RB98]

I do not currently have access to USB to Ethernet but if I can borrow a converter from one of my friends I will. I do not believe the computer is under heavy workload as no programs were running other than Windows 10 and Multiplicity.

[Caffan]

I solved my lag problem by disabling the fake mouse support in the settings on the secondary. It went from unusable to almost perfect as soon as I unticked it.

[MagnumPCI]

Originally posted by Caffan:

I solved my lag problem by disabling the fake mouse support in the settings on the secondary. It went from unusable to almost perfect as soon as I unticked it.

Interesting if not a bit puzzling - would not have expected the lag or disabling it to fix anything.

In any event, very glad to hear it is now working for you, Caffan.

----------------
Sean Drohan
Stardock Customer Service Manager

[DerGrioEnHousen]

Originally posted by Caffan:

I solved my lag problem by disabling the fake mouse support in the settings on the secondary. It went from unusable to almost perfect as soon as I unticked it.

This fixed me almost IMMEDIATELY. Thank you for documenting this here.

[MagnumPCI]

Originally posted by DerGrioEnHousen:

Originally posted by Caffan:

I solved my lag problem by disabling the fake mouse support in the settings on the secondary. It went from unusable to almost perfect as soon as I unticked it.

This fixed me almost IMMEDIATELY. Thank you for documenting this here.

What is still odd to me is that option is off by default; meaning, one would have to enable it manually.

Is there a reason you once needed it but then did not?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

[Яhythmic]

I just wanted to add that I also experienced the same issue as described above. I recently got a new monitor that could support two video sources, so I consolidated two workspaces into one and was planning on using Multiplicity to handle the KM aspect of the secondary system.

This issue became apparent when I removed my USB mouse dongle from the second system and had to turn on the Multiplicity option for a fake pointer, which resulted in a great deal of latency in mouse movements. This was not the case when the USB mouse dongle was plugged in and the fake pointer option was turned off.

Annoyed with the lag I then connected my USB mouse dongle back into the secondary system and started using the wireless mouse instead of relying on Multiplicity, but still had the fake pointer option enabled, and my mouse cursor was still experiencing lag. It wasn't till I turned off the fake pointer option where things went back to normal. It seems like there may be a bug somewhere within that feature.

For now I plan on installing a "virtual mouse" in place of the physical one so that I can still have a pointer when my mouse is not connected, but without lag.

[update]
Looks like this is the same issue that was documented in the official forums back in 2017; https://forums.stardock.com/482689/Fake-pointer-mode-not-working-great-with-Creators-update



[UPDATE w/ FIX]
Here is a link to a couple of actual solutions if you need a mouse cursor on a headless system:
https://support.parsec.app/hc/en-us/articles/115002683491-Running-Parsec-On-A-Headless-Gaming-PC-Or-A-Server

Pretty much you can either
a) install a driver to make Windows think that there is a mouse installed or
b) enable "Mouse keys" from the Window's Mouse Accessibility settings. This solution is probably the best option for most people.

[Bio Pox]

Can confirm turning the option on works well to fix Desyncs and crashes, even if you have a mouse plugged in. No clue why.

[MagnumPCI]

Originally posted by Bio Pox:

Can confirm turning the option on works well to fix Desyncs and crashes, even if you have a mouse plugged in. No clue why.

I am going to make sure to update the following Stardock support article from this feedback:

https://support.stardock.com/space/SHC/1287815231/Mouse+Cursor+Lags+on+Secondary

Thank you,
Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager