Two mouses on one computer?

[Nate]

Hi, I'd like to make a split screen game for my friend and I to play in class. My game relies on the use of the mouse to point the player in the right direction to shoot. Is there any way that you guys would know of to hook two mouses up on one computer so that one can operate the first split screen and one can operate the second? Any help or thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[ViceVersa]

no, youd probably be better off using the number pad for the right player, and making the mouse cut off at the left side of the screen for the left player.

 

[Ethanicus]

That's impossible, so no.

 

[Yal]

Yeah, even if you plug in two mice, they both influence the same pointer. This is impossible because of how OSes work, basically.

 

[Ethanicus]

Yeah, even if you plug in two mice, they both influence the same pointer. This is impossible because of how OSes work, basically.

Actually I think nothing happens.

 

[Kenjiro]

Yes, you can. But you require a DLL to do this. No other way around it

 

[Yal]

Actually I think nothing happens.

Just look at a laptop with a touchpad and an USB mouse - they both count as mice in the Device Manager, and if you try moving the mouse around while dragging your finger on the touchpad both actions will influence the cursor position. (I guess it could be hardware-dependent, though... my laptop had an option to disable the trackpad when another mouse-type device was plugged in)

 

[TheSnidr]

Just look at a laptop with a touchpad and an USB mouse - they both count as mice in the Device Manager, and if you try moving the mouse around while dragging your finger on the touchpad both actions will influence the cursor position. (I guess it could be hardware-dependent, though... my laptop had an option to disable the trackpad when another mouse-type device was plugged in)

Could make a nice basis for a tug-of-war kind of game!

 

[dphsw]

Actually I think nothing happens.

Oh, certainly they do both work. I have two mice plugged in all the time - one which you hold vertically and one which you hold the normal way, since it helps my RSI to be able to change positions now and again. Sometimes the pointer starts drifting because the other mouse is lodged up on a wire and is shaking about a bit above the table.

This is impossible because of how OSes work, basically.

Not all OSes - this is the way it is on Windows, but on Amiga games it was quite common to have two-player modes with two mice. I don't know if there are any modern ones that allow it though.

Analogue joypads can be used as a reasonably accurate pointing device though (in fact I did try using a program, AutoHotKey that allowed the use of a joystick to control the mouse pointer as another attempt to combat RSI at one point), so maybe you could use that as an option.

 

[DividingByZero]

No - OS limitation, as others have said. You will have to devise another means of control.