Invisible Mouse Pointer?

[Slamdance_Kozmopolis]

Mouse pointer will not show up on menus or map. Is this a possible conflict with HOTAS? Or some setting I'm missing?

[CBJ]

It shouldn't have anything to do with HOTAS. Does the mouse cursor come back if you get up out of your chair (in-game I mean!) and sit down again?

[Slamdance_Kozmopolis]

No, I have never seen the mouse pointer in the game at all. It disappears after the start screen. I can use the mouse or HOTAS to move/look around/steer, but when I access any of the maps or menus there's no visible pointer. I know it there because when I move the mouse it will highlight parts of the map, but I just cannot see the mouse pointer itself.

I do see a white dot on the HUD when steering, but never see an actual pointer for menus or maps...

[CBJ]

That's even stranger. Have you tried verifying your game cache via the Steam client, to make sure nothing's missing? And just to check your HOTAS hypothesis, does the mouse pointer show up if you start the game without that plugged into your PC?

[FaterW]

If you are on Windows 10 try looking at Mouse settings -> Additional mouse options -> Pointer options tab. I had the Hide pointer while typing option turned on and that caused an invisible cursor (probably in multiple games now, not just this one). Turning it off solved the problem for me.

[RustyAllan]

Thanks for the tip, FaterW.
I had to disable both "Hide pointer while typing" and "Display pointer trails".
This is moderately annoying since I'll need to re-enable them when not playing X4 and disable them before starting X4 since disabling while it's running doesn't help.

[CBJ]

An interesting solution, and not one I'd have thought of looking at. Thanks for posting!

[DollopOfCrazy]

Disabling "Hide pointer while typing" and "Display pointer trails" also did the trick for me! Thanks

[Slamdance_Kozmopolis]

So, I tried all suggestions, verified local files, launched game without HOTAS plugged in, and checked my mouse settings in windows... no luck.

When I launch the game the mouse pointer turns into a blue triangle. Then the egosoft logo and loading screen comes up and it disappears. From the start menu, there's no visible pointer and I need to use the keyboard to load/start new game. From there I can use mouse to look around, etc. When I open the map, there's no visible pointer, but I can use the mouse wheel to zoom in/out and if I move the mouse around, I can get random things to highlight, but I cannot see the pointer.

I thought it might have been a setting I accidentally changed while trying to set up the HOTAS... So, I tried to reset everthing to default--no help. Then I uninstalled/reinstalled but that didn't work either.

I'll take another look at my mouse settings, but I don't think that's it....

[Slamdance_Kozmopolis]

HOLY NONSENSE!!!!

It was the POINTER TAILS that messed me up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks a ton guys!

Now I have to go back and set up my HOTAS again, but at least I can play now!!!

o7

[King_Phader]

Yeah that is nuts how it was the pointer trails for myself as well! Thanks for "pointing" that out Rusty!

[ramattis]

If anyone uses a program called f.lux and the the above suggestions don't help, try unchecking the "software mouse cursor when needed" box in f.lux's options. That fixed it for me.

[Katocz991]

Hello, I tried everything you advised and it does not work. the cursor will play in the game just before the video is loaded. It is not already on the map and in the menu. I use only keyboard and mouse. I have windows 10. I play at 4k and I have the resolution at ultra.
Playing without a cursor is very difficult
do not you have any more advice?

[Shadow VanDark]

The mouse cursor issue is a weird one for me.

A few times when it did happen:
* Randomly in the game (during the first few hours after changing systems)
* When I changed anti-aliasing settings

Things which may or may not had something to do with it reappearing a few times:
* Checking game integrity on steam (I have done that after playing around with the mouse cursor settings) - it did reappear but only worked once for me, so probably a coincidence
* Disabling the option in flux (see 2 posts above me - thanks ramattis!)

Things which did work for me every time I tried:
* Changing from full-screen in to windowed mode (it will vanish again once you go back into full-screen though)

If you go back from windowed mode into full-screen, the cursor is gone again though. So you either have to bite into the sour apple and play in windowed mode, or hope that one of the other solutions above will help when you start it up in full-screen mode. For now, the flux option did the trick for me. Will update when it happens again despite that

[Katocz991]

window work good thx