[PiG]

Heya guys and girls of SC2SEA!

I've been to dozens and dozens of competitive LANS and seen a lot of people play far below their potential because they are oblivious about many of the most important settings you MUST check whenever you set up on a new PC. I've even been at international events such as IeSF in Korea where many of the players couldn't navigate the Korean windows and just played with sub-optimal settings. Letting yourself get handicapped like that is just silly, so I decided to write a simple checklist of the most vital things that must be changed every time you get on a new PC.

1. Windows Mouse settings:

Search "mouse" in windows and open the menu. Open the "Pointer Options" tab and de-select the box "enhance pointer precision". Also adjust the "select pointer precision bar" to 6/11. The number 1 reason people screw up at LAN is leaving mouse sensitivity on at LAN, this completely destroys their mouse accuracy if they aren't used to it.

Note from T.O.P: "Monitor resolution needs to be consistent if you want the mouse speed to be the same" - most events will use the most common 1920x1080 monitors, so if your one at home is different remember to toy with your mouse settings by going into game and pretending to split workers vs banelings for a minute on each sensitivity. You should be able to get it to be very similar to your home settings, though if you're a progamer just buy a standard monitor!

2. Windows Keyboard settings:

Search "Keyboard" in windows and open the menu. Adjust the "repeat delay" and "repeat rate" bars to the Shortest and Fastest options possible. This means when you're holding down 'Z' to que up 50 zerglings you don't need to wait 5 seconds for it to register!

3. Test your sound!

Depending on the setup this can be fixed 1/100 ways just fiddle around ingame and in windows sound settings and get an admin to help if you can't figure it out. Just make sure you get this sorted before you get fully settled in-case you need to change PCs.

4. INGAME Settings

The most important part is to mirror your setup at home with these.

If you're a real badass like me (giant nerd), you will print out your settings for the Gameplay and Sound tabs as there are too many options to remember them all. Likewise in Graphics and controls, memorise or print-out your settings and ensure they reflect your home setup so that you are as comfortable as can be.

5. Tablecloths

Get rid of any annoying table-cloths that screw up your mousepad surface by peeling them back from the table to make a flat space for your mousepad.

6. Monitor height

The top of your monitor should be roughly in line with your eyes. If it's lower than ask around for a small box to raise your monitor up. If it's too tall, see if you can stack chairs to give yourself a higher seat or find and adjustable chair. Sometimes events will even have adjustable monitors which makes this problem easy

7. Allied Colours - ON

I usually take this setting being on for granted, but recently at a LAN it was left off and my opponent was coloured "white" on Polar Night. I ended up missing a probe that went right past my lings and took big damage from a zealot pressure! I realised that maybe trying to spot white dots on snow maps wasn't the smartest idea :P.

So always leave your colour settings on "color units green, yellow or red based on hostility" using the button next to the minimap!



Hopefully this guide will make you more comfortable your next time competing at a LAN! Now you just need to worry about playing your best and not getting cheesed! Gl hf!