Minimizing Driver Footprint

Hardware & Tech Questions
1

Greetings Mudspikers,

I encountered some issues some time ago that got me thinking about the number of different drivers for my assortment of HOTAS and other hardware. To give a quick example, I have a Corsair keyboard paired with a Steelseries mouse. Both have their own drivers and software that provide access to their full features.

I’ve decided to reduce my driver and software footprint by getting hardware in the same family. That said, my Steelseries mouse started acting up, and I found an old Corsair mouse in my technology box. There is nothing wrong with it. I got the Steelseries because it was a little bigger, and I felt it was better for shooters. I digress. I’ve adapted to the Corsair and I don’t miss the Steelseries. The good news is I was able to uninstall the Steelseries software. Anyway, I’m slowly switching over to Winwing architecture. Right now I’m running TM, Winwing, HP, and Turtlebeach hardware for simming.I’ve noticed that some games do not like having too many things attached to my PC. For example, when I run MW5, I have to turn off some of my devices otherwise the mech spins in circles. :sweat_smile:

Anyway, to get to the point, I’m wondering if there’s such a thing as too many drivers, or if reducing the number of different drivers will actually provide any real benefits.

Thoughts???

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In my experience, not really in terms of gameplay other than the issue you cite with many Unreal engine games being incredibly poorly behaved and assuming all controllers are gamepads.

Even if you don’t have the device plugged in, the driver doesn’t do much other than get loaded so it’s not generally a problem. Maybe your computer starts a bit slower? I think you’d have trouble measuring the difference for most drivers.

Steel series software, however, isn’t just a driver - it’s an app that runs in the background. Again, it doesn’t use too many resources, but it does use some. And you want to be sure you trust the software, because it’s got access to the driver level through its driver, and it’s always running so it’s a possible attack vector for malware or spyware.

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Thanks. I suspected as much, but your information is definitely insightful. As for games, I’m guessing it comes down to programming. Interestingly, I have a really good Steelseries controller, but I can barely use it because characters in my fighting games bunny hop between inputs. I’ve scoured the Net and have yet to find a solution. Fortunately, I rarely play fighters or shooters. It still sux having them and not being able to play.

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