Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (R6) is a particularly fast game, requiring fast hardware and reliable internet connections. Despite being an intriguing game, players have reported experiencing glitches while playing the Rainbow Six Siege game. 

One of the common problems known to afflict this online game is the mouse input lag issue. This issue may be triggered by different things, ranging from misconfigured mouse, and graphics settings to outdated drivers and hardware incompatibility. 

Depending on the cause, different methods may be used to fix the mouse lag problem in Rainbow Six. Throughout this guide, you will learn some of the most effective solutions for this issue. 

Different things can cause the mouse input to lag in the Rainbow Six Siege online game, including corrupted temporary files, and misconfigured settings. To fix the problem, you may download the Nvidia inspector, add your R6 profile to it, and then enable the FastSync and Triple Buffering options. 

If your hardware is somewhat inferior, limiting the FPS rate for the game and configuring mouse settings can resolve the mouse lag issue. Clearing temporary files, disabling full-screen optimization, updating device drivers, and changing CPU priority are other solutions that can fix the mouse lag problem. 

How to Troubleshoot and Fix the Mouse Lag Issue in Rainbow Six Siege 

If this is your very first time playing the R6 game, check whether your hardware meets the minimum requirements for the game.

If not, you are likely to encounter lag issues when playing the game. Despite being a comparatively old game—first released in 2015—R6 is a rather demanding game.

For the game to run smoothly on your computer, the hardware needs to meet the following requirements: 

• Operating System – The game can run on 64-bit Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 operating systems.
• Memory – Requires at least 61 GB of internal hard disk space and a minimum of 6GB RAM.
• Video Card – You need to have either the AMD Radeon HD5770 (1024 MB VRAM) or Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 video card on your computer. 
• Controllers – Supports the X-Input game controller 
• Sound Card: Any DirectX Compatible Sound Card with the latest drivers installed. 

If your computer does not meet these requirements, you need to upgrade the hardware before attempting to play the R6 game. If your hardware meets the minimum requirements, you should consider closing or uninstalling MSI Afterburner, SLI and Crossfire from your computer. 

These programs are known to conflict with the Rainbow Six game, resulting in the mouse lag problem. Again, you should ensure that the PC is not overlooked as this can also lead to problems. If none of these appears to be the problem, you can use the following methods to resolve the lag problem in R6:

Method 1: Update your Device Drivers 

Having confirmed that your hardware meets the minimum requirements for Rainbow Six Siege game, you now need to ensure that all the drivers are up-to-date. Outdated or corrupted graphics and network drivers can lead to the Rainbow Six mouse lag issue. 

If you need to update the graphics or network drivers on your PC, here is how you should go about it: 

How to Update Graphics Drivers 

To update the graphics driver in your computer, log into the computer as the administrator then press the Windows + R keys combination to open a Run dialog box. Next, type devmgmt.msc into the dialog box and then press the Enter key to execute the command. 

On the Device Manager window that opens, click on the ‘Display adapters’ category to expand it. Now find your graphics card on the list of displayed devices. Right-click on the graphics card and select Properties. Now you need to navigate to the Driver tab on the Properties window. 

Click on the ‘Update Driver’ button then select the ‘Search automatically for updated driver software’ option when prompted to do so. The system will automatically search for the latest compatible drivers and download them. Follow the on-screen prompts to finalize the update process. 

How to Update the Network Adapter in Windows 10 

Press the Windows key on the keyboard to launch the Start Menu. Enter Device Manager into the search bar at the bottom of the Start menu and press Enter to run the search. Select Device Manger—the first entry—on the search results to open it. 

On the Device Manger window, click on the ‘Network adapters’ category to expand it. Choose your network adapter from the drop-down menu that just appeared, right-click on it, and select the ‘Update Driver Software’ option from the context menu. 

Next, select the ‘Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software’ option when prompted to do so. Now follow the on-screen prompts by the Installation Wizard to complete the process. Once you are done installing the updates, restart the computer for the changes to take effect. 

Method 2: Disable Fullscreen Optimization 

Though beneficial at times, the Fullscreen Optimization feature on the Rainbow Six game can affect the refresh rate (FPS) on your display. This may, in turn, lead to the mouse lag Rainbow six problem. In such a case, you need to disable this feature to eliminate the lag. 

The following steps will help you accomplish this:

Step 1: Navigate to the installation folder for the Rainbow Six Siege game on your computer. If you are not sure where yours is installed, launch the game on the Desktop then press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys simultaneously. Next, navigate to the Details tab in the Task Manager window that just opened. 

Select the .exe file for the Rainbow Six Siege game from the list of running processes, right-click on it, and then select ‘Open file location’ from the context menu. This operation will take you to the current installation folder from the R6 game on your computer. 

Step 2: Find the Rainbow Six Siege.exe file in the installation folder (it should be named Rainbow Six by default. Right-click on this file and select Properties from the context menu. 

Step 3: Now navigate to the Compatibility tab on the Properties window. And check the box adjacent to the ‘Disable Fullscreen Optimization’ option. You should also check the checkbox adjacent to the ‘Run this program as an administrator’ option. 

When done, click on the OK button to save the changes, then close the window. You may now launch the R6 Siege game to check whether the mouse lag issue has been fixed. 

Method 3: Reconfigure Graphics Settings 

If not configured correctly, the graphics settings on your PC can lead to display issues  and possibly the mouse input lag problem on R6. Windows 10 allows you to customize graphical performance settings for each app on the computer. This capability will come handy for devices that have both integrated and dedicated graphics chips. 

With this option, you can configure the graphics settings for the R6 game to improve the FPS rate and resolve the mouse lag issue. In this regard, you should consider restricting the less demanding apps to the low-power integrated processor. 

The following steps will help you configure the graphics settings for the Rainbow Six Siege game accordingly:

Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your Desktop (from the Start Menu) then select the System category. Now select Display from the left pane and then click on the ‘Graphics Settings’ link towards the bottom of the right pane. 

This operation will display all the app-specific graphics performance settings you have configured. If you are yet to add any app-specific configuration, this list will be empty. 

Step 2: To register a new preference for the R6 game, you will be required to select whether it is a ‘Classic’ or ‘Universal’ app. Classic apps are the traditional Windows desktop applications, while Universal apps are the ones installed from the Microsoft Store. 

As such, the Rainbow Six is a Universal app.

Step 3:  When you select the Universal app option, you will be presented with a drop-down menu that lists all the Microsoft Store apps currently installed in your computer. Just select the game from this list. If you can’t find the Rainbow six game on this list, click on the ‘Add’ button and follow on-screen prompts to add it. 

Step 4: Having selected the R6 game from the drop-down menu, click on the Options button that comes up. By default, all applications are configured to use the ‘System default’ performance settings. The options button allows you to assign specific settings to the application. 

Since Rainbow six is a demanding app, it is advisable to configure it to use High-performance graphics settings. You may assign either power-saving or default graphics settings for the less demanding applications. 

If your gaming PC happens to have multiple GPUs, assigning the high-performance settings automatically allocates the dedicated graphics card to the game. This can help reduce the mouse input lag issue on Rainbow Six. Other graphics settings you need to configure include: 

Texture Quality: Medium or Low—especially if you have low FPS rate 

Texture Filtering: Linear

Step 5: Set the unnecessary graphics settings to Low to fix the Rainbow Six mouse lag problem. Some of the settings you should set to low include LOD Quality, Shading Quality, Shadow Quality, and Reflection Quality. If you set the Shadow Quality setting to either Low or Off, you will not be able to see shadows on the game.

If you wish to see shadows in R6, set this option to Medium. Going higher than this is likely to slow the game and cause the mouse lag issue. 

Step 6: Set some graphics settings to Off in order to reduce the frame rate. Some of the features you can set to Off include Ambient Occlusion, Lens Effects, Zoom-In Depth of Field, Multisample Anti-Aliasing, and Post-Process Anti-Aliasing. 

Method 4: Limit the FPS for Rainbow Six Siege 

The Rainbow Six Siege game features a built-in frames per second (FPS) cap feature that may be used to regulate in-game refresh rate. When used properly, this feature can improve game performance significantly, hence resolve the R6 mouse lag problem. 

The built-in FPS cap feature may be accessed using the GameSettings.ini—usually located in the game folder, under the ‘My Games’ folder. To find the setting files for the Rainbow Six Siege game, navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\. Now select ‘Rainbow Six Siege’. 

This should display a string of random codes, which is your ID. The GameSettings.ini file should be located in this folder. Having located the setting file, the following steps will help you cap in-game FPS rate in R6: 

Step 1: Open the GameSettings.ini setting file and locate the [DISPLAY] entry. 

Step 2: Now you need to set the FPS limit for the game at 60. To do this, you need to add the following lines just below the [DISPLAY] entry: 

FPSLimit => Limit the game’s fps. Minimum of 30fps. Anything below will disable the fps limit.

Brightness=75.000000

FPSLimit=60

Once done, close the file and launch the Rainbow Six Siege game to check whether the mouse lag problem has been resolved. 

Method 5: Change CPU Priority to High 

A considerable number of famers have been able to fix the Rainbow Six Siege lag problem by just changing COU priority for the game to High. To make this change, you first need to launch the Rainbow Six Siege game on your Desktop. 

While the game is running, press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys simultaneously to launch the Task Manager. Navigate to the Details tab on the Task Manager window and select the Rainbow Six: Siege.exe. process. Now you need to right-click on the Siege.exe file the mouse over the ‘Set priority’ option on the context menu, and select High. 

At this point, you may get a prompt asking your to grant permission. If you do, just confirm the change to proceed. If this does not appear to fix the mouse lag issue, right-click on the .exe file in the Task Manager and select the ‘Set Affinity’ option instead. You should then uncheck the box adjacent to CPU 0 and click OK. 

Method 6: Repair Visual C++ Redistributable Packages

Corrupted, outdated, or missing Visual C++ Redistributable Packages can also lead to the Rainbow Six Siege mouse lagging problem. Having been programmed using the C++ language, the R6 game relies heavily on these packages to run smoothly. 

If this happens to be the problem in your case, repairing the C++ Redistributable Packages should fix the mouse lagging issue on the Rainbow Six Siege game. The following procedure will help you accomplish this: 

Step 1: Open the ‘Programs and Features’ folder on your computer by navigating to Start > Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.

Step 2:  Select ‘C++ Redistributable’ from the list of programs displayed on the Programs and Features folder. Right-click on ‘C++ Redistributable’ and select Change from the context menu. 

Step 3: From the Microsoft C++ Redistributable Setup window that just opened, click on the Repair button. Now you should allow the system enough time to automatically find, and download the latest compatible packages to repair Visual C++ Redistributable Packages. 

Once completed, close the window and restart the computer for the changes to take effect. Alternatively, you should navigate to the official website and download the latest compatible packages. You should then uninstall the current Visual C++ Redistributable Packages installation from your computer before installing the new one manually. 

Method 7: Disable In-game Overlay for Both Uplay and Steam 

Though rare, the Rainbow Six Siege mouse lagging issue may be triggered by overlay conflicts. As such, you should consider disabling this feature on both Uplay and Steam as well. To do this, launch Uplay on your Desktop then click on the gear icon—located at the top-right corner of the window. 

Next, click on Settings and navigate to the General tab on the Settings window. Uncheck the box adjacent to ‘Enable in-game overlay for supported games’. Now launch Steam on your computer and navigate to Settings. 

Select the In-Game tab on the Settings window and uncheck the ‘Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game’ option. Close the windows and launch Rainbow Six Siege to check whether the lag issue has been fixed. 

Method 8: Delete Temporary Files 

Mouse input may be lagging on the Rainbow Six Siege game simply because of insufficient storage space. In such a case, freeing the temporary files can free up considerable disk space, and possibly fix the problem. Many programs are designed to store temporary files on the hard drive. 

With time, these files may accumulate and take up a lot of space unnecessarily. To delete temp files on your computer: 

Step 1:Open a Run Dialog Box 

In Windows 10, you can open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R keys simultaneously. In Windows 8.1, you need to tap-and-hold or right-click on the Start button and then select Run from the context menu. The easiest way to open the Run dialog box in Windows 8.0 is from the Apps screen. 

Step 2: Execute The %Temp% Command 

Type %temp% into the Run dialog box you opened in step 1 and then press the Enter key to execute the command. This command is one of the environment variables in Windows OS. Running this command should open default storage location for temporary files on your computer.

Usually, temporary files are stored in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp in Windows. 

Step 3: Delete Temp Files 

After you have opened the storage location for temporary files, press the Ctrl + A keys at the same time to select all the saved temporary files. Next, right click on the selections and select Delete from the context menu. Alternatively, you could just press the Delete key on your keyboard to delete the selected files. 

Depending on the OS you are running, and how it is configured, you may be asked whether you would like to Delete Multiple Items. If prompted, just click on the Yes button to proceed. Should you get a ‘File in Use or Folder In Use’ warning prompt, select Skip. 

Final Verdict 

The Rainbow Six Siege mouse lag problem is often caused by misconfigured settings. However, it may also be as a result of insufficient disk space, corrupted/outdated Visual C++ Redistributable Packages or Fullscreen Optimization settings. 

If your mouse is lagging in-game, you should check whether your system meets the minimum hardware requirements for the game. Next, ensure that the Network and video drivers on your computer are up-to-date. Regardless of the cause, this guide will help you fix the mouse lag issue in the Rainbow Six Siege game.

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