Gaming twitchy cursor: solutions?

[skylerj]

I asked this question over at the nintendo support forms but didn't get any decent respose, so I was hoping you guys have any thoughts:

When I'm at the will channels, setup, and wii sports area (all the software that comes with the wii), my cursor twitches (or maybe I should use the word jumpy). A few other points about this problem:
- Doesn't happen in-game. The various control cursors in zelda, for example, are pinpoint and silky smooth. This only happens in the channels/options/mii area.
- Twitchyness is especially noticeable when I twist the remote (ie make the cursor's "finger" point down).
- Sensitivity modification does not help. In fact, makes it worse if nothing else.
- Resynching the remote does not help
- Nothing is amiss when I test my remote with the tester thing, the one with the blinking white dots. Those blinking white dots blink steadily and DO NOT get jumpy when I move it around and twist my remote.
- Problem goes away if I get closer to the tv/sensor bar, directly in the center. Though I think I'm well within range at the distances where I'm having issues, and the in-game cursors don't seem to have any problem at those distances.

Does anybody else have this problem? Did you manage to solve it?

 

[shaunj66]

Sounds like you're going to have to move your sofa closer to the sensor bar, or move the sensor bar closer to your sofa. Heheh.

Seriously though, I've seen some videos of the Wii cursor moving around and it does appear to be a bit jumpy. You might have to live with it.

Have you tried new batteries in the wiimote?

 

[Lily]

I don't consider it to be a problem, quite frankly. It's not like that in-game, so it's fine.

Edit: I should clarify - I too notice this, but I don't feel it's a problem. Perhaps a future Wii firmware update will solve it.

 

[bryehn]

mine twitches a bit, just figured it was all the coffee I drink...

 

[fischju_original]

you are either too close, too far away, or something is blocking the sensor bar a little (it does transmit 180 degrees anyway, you might be too low)

 

[KKajun]

It twitches in the Wii Menu/Channels for me too, no matter how close/far I am from the TV.

 

[SilverAnalyst]

I'd rather it twitch in the menus and not in the games than the other way around!

 

[goomba]

I had the same problem. I believe it's due to electromagnetic interference that causes the Wii remote to lose the signal of the 'sensor bar' for fractions of a second. There is a solution, though:

In the Wii settings, go to sensor bar and change 'sensitivity' to 5. This doesn't make the cursor move across the screen quicker. Rather, it just makes the Wii remote more sensitive to the IR beams coming from the 'sensor bar' so it doesn't drop the signal as easily.

I know you say that you tried changing the sensitivity already, but change it to 5 for the hell of it and play around with the menu a little. If you notice a positive difference, then problem solved.

The reason Nintendo gave an option to change the sensitivity at all is that there may be other infrared devices in your house that interfere with the signal if you set the sensitivity too high. If there is, you will see more than two white dots on the 'sensitivity' screen and you'll have to turn it down until there are only two. If you don't have this problem (as most shouldn't) feel free to crank it up all they way.

If you're positive this isn't the problem, make sure there aren't any reflective surfaces around where you game that might screw with the signal.

The cursor works fine in Zelda because it's done differently than in the menu. The menu tracks your motion exactly, while Zelda just captures your average change in motion over a short time and moves to that position, eliminating any 'jumpiness'.

Happy gaming.

 

[BvG]

Maybe there's some unknown infrared source in your room? Cellphone, TV remote, hidden solarium?

 

[yatzr]

make sure the front of your sensor bar is actually hanging over the edge of whatever it's sitting on.

my friend said he had the same problem. It doesn't have anything to do with interference though as he checked for that (pitch black room with everything else turned off). I almost wonder if the sensor bar emits a different signal in the menu than in game. I don't think he's found a fix for it yet either.

 

[Kyoji]

Hah, the sensor bar is just 10 IR LED's-5 on either side-that the Wii-mote uses to triangulate its position in space. Nothing more.

 

[legendofphil]

It could be that some of the LED's aren't working (ie, DOA), but there isn't an easy way to test it.
In theory all you need is 2 LEDs at either side, plus saying if the bar is above or below the screen.

 

[Sevael]

I had the same problem.

In the Wii settings, go to sensor bar and change 'sensitivity' to 5. This doesn't make the cursor move across the screen quicker. Rather, it just makes the Wii remote more sensitive to the IR beams coming from the 'sensor bar' so it doesn't drop the signal as easily.

I know you say that you tried changing the sensitivity already, but change it to 5 for the hell of it and play around with the menu a little. If you notice a positive difference, then problem solved.

I also had this exact issue, and I had done the same as the above-quoted message to fix mine.

The sensitivity has two settings, once for the cursor speed and one for the Sensor Bar. The part where it asks you to set it so that the dots line up and blink evenly is the one for the Sensor Bar. Previously I had just moved it to the lowest setting at which they seemed to be blinking evenly, but the cursor did a lot of rapid jumping around on all the Wii menus. I later went back in and set it to the highest (5) and the jumping completely went away. The actually speed sensitivity of the cursor is the same as before (because I didn't change the first part of the sensitivity settings), but now there is absolutely no jumping.

Try it out.

 

[science]

I had the same problem when sitting on my couch, which has a coffee table between the sensor bar and it. It doesn't jump when I sit on my chair footstool which has a clear path between it and the TV.

 

[shtonkalot]

It could be that some of the LED's aren't working (ie, DOA), but there isn't an easy way to test it.
In theory all you need is 2 LEDs at either side, plus saying if the bar is above or below the screen.

You can test IR LEDs by using a digital camera. You don't even need to take a picture, the cameras sensor should pick up the IR light and display it on the LCD of the camera.
I've tested many remotes like this in the past and it has always worked well for me.

As I don't have a wii yet I can't confirm it will work on the sensor bar, I'll be damn surprised if it doesn't though.

 

[neojei]

I had a similar problem, then my mom closed the windows, and it started working smoothly. I remembered something about direct light affecting demo kiosks at the Nintendo World store, I'm guessing thats what happened to mine. Make sure there isn't any direct strong light on it.

 

[Sevael]

You can test IR LEDs by using a digital camera. You don't even need to take a picture, the cameras sensor should pick up the IR light and display it on the LCD of the camera.
I've tested many remotes like this in the past and it has always worked well for me.
As I don't have a wii yet I can't confirm it will work on the sensor bar, I'll be damn surprised if it doesn't though.

I can confirm that this does indeed work for the Wii Sensor Bar.

 

[fischju_original]

you dont need the sensor bar if a window is open and the sun is coming in right (i've done it)

 

[skylerj]

The cursor works fine in Zelda because it's done differently than in the menu. The menu tracks your motion exactly, while Zelda just captures your average change in motion over a short time and moves to that position, eliminating any 'jumpiness'.

That's funny that you mention that, I came to the same conclusion about the zelda cursor and figured that the wii menu cursor is jumpy because it's cursor software doesn't average out my motions. A few minutes later, I go to pause my zelda game by hitting the home button, which doesn't bring you diretly to the home menu, but dims the game screen you're at and gives you a wii control panel with that wii menu "hand," the same one that is usually jumpy. Only it wasn't jumpy! Also, on the same note, I later did some more testing at that blinking white dot thing. That thing doesn't appear to average out your motions like zelda, it's just 1 to 1 movement. But it's not jumpy.

What a frustrating problem! I wish I could just say "the wii's motion sensing glitches out at certain distances" and call it a day, but I can't. All the evidence points to the cursor software particular to the wii menu.

I will say that I did follow the advise of upping the sensitivity of the cursor and leaving it there for awhile, and it improved things.....I guess. Still not up to where I wish it could be. But I'll keep on playing with it and let you guys know. Thanks for all of your responses.


One last note: don't let my complaint fool you, the wii is awesome. I'm just compulsive when it come to getting my electronic gizmos to work as perfectly as possible.

 

[SilverAnalyst]

One last note: don't let my complaint fool you, the wii is awesome. I'm just compulsive when it come to getting my electronic gizmos to work as perfectly as possible.

Don't worry, I'm the same. I can't wait to get my wii and adore it. But I'll want it to run as smoothly as it can.