Flick stick, aim stick, and gyro mouse inputs all rely on REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION to provide useful values that can be shared between games and with other players. Furthermore, if REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION is set incorrectly, flick stick flicks will not correspond to the direction you press the stick at all.

Every game requires a unique REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value in order for these other settings to work correctly. This actually really simplifies sharing configuration files, because once one person has calculated an accurate REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value for a given game, they can share it with anyone else for the same game. GyroWiki has a database of games and their corresponding REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION (as well as other settings unique to that game). You can use this to avoid having to calculate this value in games you want to play with JoyShockMapper, or if a game isn't in that database, you can help other players by calculating its REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION yourself and contributing it to GyroWiki!

For 3D games where the mouse directly controls the camera, REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION is a multiplier to turn a given angle in degrees into a mouse input that turns the camera the same angle in-game.

For 2D games where the mouse directly controls an on-screen cursor, REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION is a multiplier to turn a given fraction of a full turn into a mouse input that moves the same fraction of the full width of the screen (at 1920x1080 resolution in games where resolution affects cursor speed relative to the size of the screen).

Prerequisites

Before we get into how to accurately calculate a good REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value for a given game, we first need to address two other things that can affect mouse sensitivity:

• In-game mouse settings
• Windows mouse settings

Even if REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION is set correctly, your in-game mouse settings will change how the camera or cursor responds to mouse movements:

• If you are playing with mouse acceleration enabled (a setting only a few games have, and they will usually have it disabled by default), you’ll need to disable it in-game for JoyShockMapper to work accurately.
• Most games have a mouse sensitivity setting, which is a simple multiplier for the mouse input. JoyShockMapper can't see this value, so you need to tell it what that value is so it can cancel it out. You can do this by setting IN_GAME_SENS to the game’s mouse sensitivity.
  For example, for playing with keyboard and mouse, my Quake Champions mouse sensitivity is 1.8. So in my Quake Champions config files for JoyShockMapper, or whenever I use someone else’s config file, I include the line: IN_GAME_SENS = 1.8 so that JoyShockMapper knows to cancel it out.

There’s one other factor that some games need to deal with. Windows mouse settings:

• In your Windows mouse settings, there’s an “Enhance pointer precision” option that JoyShockMapper can’t accurately account for. Most gamers play with this option disabled, and it’s preferable for using JoyShockMapper that you disable it, too.
• Windows’ pointer speed setting will also often affect the way the mouse behaves in game, but JoyShockMapper can detect Windows’ pointer speed setting and account for it. This is done with the simple command: COUNTER_OS_MOUSE_SPEED.
  The only complication is that some games aren’t affected by Windows’ pointer speed settings. Many modern shooters use “raw input” to ignore Windows’ settings so the user is free to use “Enhance pointer precision” and whatever sensitivity settings they want in the operating system without it affecting the game. If you’ve used COUNTER_OS_MOUSE_SPEED and realised you shouldn’t have, the command IGNORE_OS_MOUSE_SPEED restores default behaviour, which is good for games that use raw input.

In summary, when preparing to share a configuration file for others to use, please consider whether COUNTER_OS_MOUSE_SPEED should be included. When using someone else’s configuration file, please remember to set the file’s IN_GAME_SENS to whatever your in-game mouse sensitivity is.

Once you've done this, you're ready to calculate your game's REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value.

Calculating the real world calibration in a 3D game

For 3D games where the mouse directly controls the camera, the most accurate way to calculate a good REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value is to enable flick stick along with a first-guess REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value like so:

RIGHT_STICK_MODE = FLICK
REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION = 40

Now, in-game, use your mouse to fix your aimer precisely on a small target in front of you. Press your right stick forward, and rotate it until you've completed a full turn, releasing the stick once your aimer is in the same position it started before you pressed the stick.

JoyShockMapper remembers the last flick stick flick and rotation you did, so now you can simply enter the following command:

CALCULATE_REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION

This tells JoyShockMapper that your last flick and rotation was exactly one full in-game turn, and that you'd like to know what REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value you should have. JoyShockMapper will respond with something like, "Recommended REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION: 151.5" (for example). Now you can verify that everything worked correctly by changing your REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION setting like so:

REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION = 151.5 (or whatever value JoyShockMapper gave you).

Now check in-game if this value works by completing a flick stick rotation again. The angle you turn in-game should match the angle you turned the stick.

If you want to be even more precise, you can do more than one turn. If, for example, you complete 10 turns in a row without releasing the stick in order to average out any imprecision at the point of releasing the stick, you can add the number of turns after the CALCULATE_REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION command:

CALCULATE_REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION 10

You can do this with non-integer turns, as well, such as 0.5 for a half turn.

Calculating the real world calibration in a 2D game

For 2D games where the mouse directly controls an on-screen cursor, flick stick doesn't have a practical use in general gameplay, but it's still the most useful way to calculate your REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value. Again, make sure your IN_GAME_SENS and COUNTER_OS_MOUSE_SPEED are set as needed, and then we'll start by enabling flick stick alongside a first guess at the REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION.

RIGHT_STICK_MODE = FLICK
REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION = 1

Notice that this time, our first guess REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value is 1 instead of 40. 2D cursor games tend to have a much lower REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION value than 3D camera games, and it's better to underestimate your first guess than overestimate, so you can complete more stick turns and get a more accurate result.

For 2D cursor games, one full rotation of the flick stick should move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. Unlike with 3D camera games, the edges of the screen clamp the mouse position, and will interfere with the results if we try to go through them. When calibrating 3D camera games, it's OK if we overshoot our rotation, because we can still move the stick back the way it came until we precisely land on our target, and it'll work fine. But when calibrating 2D cursor games, overshooting in either direction means that some stick input goes through JoyShockMapper, but the corresponding mouse input is ignored in-game.

So, start by manually moving the mouse to the left edge of the screen, then press your right stick forward but slightly to the right, so as to avoid accidentally going slightly to the left (and pressing against the left of the screen). Now rotate the stick clockwise until you barely touch the other side of the screen, and then release the right stick. As before, you can now ask JoyShockMapper for a good REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION as follows:

CALCULATE_REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION

JoyShockMapper will then give you your recommended REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION. It might be something like: "Recommended REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION: 5.3759".

You don't have to tell JoyShockMapper whether you're calibrating for a 2D game or a 3D game. Flick stick and other settings rely on a REAL_WORLD_CALIBRATION calculated this way for 3D games, but there's no direct translation between the way 3D games work (in angles and rotational velocity) to the way 2D games work (across a 2D plane), so calibrating 2D cursor games as described is simply convention.

With such a calibrated 2D game, you can choose your GYRO_SENS or other settings by thinking about how much you want to turn your controller to move across the whole screen. A GYRO_SENS of 1 would require a complete rotation of the controller to move from one side of the screen to the other, which is quite unreasonable! But a GYRO_SENS of 8 means you only have to turn the controller one eighth of a complete rotation (45 degrees) to move from one side of the other, which is probably quite reasonable.