Step 3 - Advanced Tuning
In this section, we will cover more advanced settings such as setting up DPI, Advanced Keybinds/Mapping, and how to use GPC to work with MK including tips & tricks while using the Apex Legends Game Profile.
With keybinds the controller button you mapped a keyboard or mouse key to can be used as a keybind. We have included advanced keybinds in our Apex Legends: MK Master (Season 14) GamePack. All that is required is to have a button mapped to a key and once the key is held or pressed the bind will be output accordingly. For example, most games require that in order to sprint that LS / L3 is held down. If the W key is bound to LS / L3 and held then LS/L3 will be output so you will sprint as you would when normally holding LS / L3.
There may be scenarios when playing a game where you would benefit from having an additional set of binds and sensitivity. The new mouse and keyboard engine allows for just that. As an example when starting a match and deploying or redeploying sensitivity is a bit less responsive than normal. You are able to set up to four auxiliary profiles which can be enabled by toggling it or holding a key. When an auxiliary profile is active the mapping, tuning, translator and ballistic curve associated with that aux profile will be active.
In this guide, we will show you how to set up the first auxiliary profile. If you wish to set up more than one simply repeat this process. Start off by clicking "AUX 1" on the upper left of M&K Settings. From here you will need to click "Enable Activation" and then set either a key or mouse button to use as the way to activate the AUX 1 profile in any one of the 5 activation boxes. For the purpose of this guide, "Tab" will be used as it is a very easy key to reach without any effort. As previously covered in the Mouse & Keyboard guide double click one of the five activation boxes which will then show listening. Afterwards simply tap the "Tab" key and the bind is now set.
Lastly, you are able to set a delay for when an auxiliary profile is activated and deactivated. By default, these are both set to 0 so the changes are instant. Though if you find the change to an auxiliary profile instantly jarring or would like to have a profile only be active when fully aimed down sights simply drag the activation slider to a value that is comfortable to you.
To set any settings such as mapping buttons or setting Tuning, Translator, Ballistic Curve or Secondary Binds simply follow the same process as covered in Step 2. A set of secondary binds can be assigned to each profile. This allows you to use two keys to perform the same action such as dual movement or making tap strafing easier. Once complete remember to export your profile so you can go back and make changes in the future and then finalize the layout so the changes are saved to your Zen.
Several tricks can be done with clever use of auxiliary profiles which require no gpc script usage. One such example is instant build resets in Battle Royale. To do this set the activation of an auxiliary profile to the key you set for your edit button. In this example, we set the "Left Shift" key as the edit bind for LS / L3 in the HIP Profile. Next set a bind to toggle an auxiliary profile, this will be "Left Shift" for the AUX 1 profile. Finally, we set "Left Shift" as your reset button RB / R1 in this example and for your confirm button LS / L3 in the AUX 1 profile. This will allow you to instantly reset a build with a simple press of a button rather than needing to press several buttons. A gpc example of this can be seen below.
In the Aim Settings portion of the M&K Settings tab, you are able to create and customize settings that directly influence how your mouse reacts in a game. This section consists of three sections which are Tuning, Translator, and Ballistic Curve. Any profile downloaded from the Game Profiles section directly above Aim Settings can also be customized. Though the Translator and Ballistic Curve will be locked. Both of these can be unlocked those settings for these two sections will be set to M&K default settings.
Tuning is responsible for how your mouse impacts camera movement based on five separate factors (Sensitivity, X/Y Axis Ratio, Boost, Smoothness, and InvertY-Axis). Setting this section properly will allow you to get a feel tailored to your expectations. You have the ability to have quick snappy movements when not aiming down sights, track enemies perfectly when aiming down sights, use an Auxiliary profile to counter the sluggish feel when deploying, and more.
This is the responsiveness of your mouse. The higher the value the more sensitive your mouse will feel. Lower values will make your mouse less sensitive. The sensitivity of a mouse will determine how much you physically need to move your mouse to move the in-game camera. When setting this it is advised to go into a training area or low-stress environment and test your sensitivity by tracking any targets or using your mouse to trace around objects at various ranges.
Once you are able to comfortably do this at close, medium, and far ranges you are set. Do not worry about having an extremely fast sensitivity. If this is set to high you may skip over your target. When sensitivity is too low you may not be able to go from target to target fast enough. In addition to this is sensitivity is set very low you may find that breaking out of an enemies Aim Assist is difficult. Sensitivity should feel very smooth and if you are playing using Aim Assist in-game it should only slow down your aim slightly but not prevent you from easily moving your aim off a target.
This setting is tied into everything within tuning. Increasing things will increase the Y ratio for everything within the aim settings. A higher value will affect the Y-Axis movement greater while a lower value will do the opposite. While your wrist is at rest you naturally a ability to move your mouse side to side (X-Axis) easier. While the movement for the Y-Axis or up and down movement can take more effort. Snapping to a target higher or lower than you are or countering recoil can sometimes be difficult due to this.
Setting a value higher than 1.00 can help greatly with this. When adjusting this setting it is recommended to increment this by +/- 0.01 at a time as this setting can greatly impact how Y-Axis movement reacts compared to the X-Axis.
This allows users to adjust the translator settings when a user-generated Game Profile is not loaded. This is ideal when using a profile downloaded from the Game Profiles section in the M&K Settings tab of Zen Studio. This is due to the Translator settings not being unlocked when using this type of profile. Setting this a positive value will add to Deadzone Compensation, while a negative value will do the opposite.
Enabling this will result in a game’s camera being pointed downwards when the mouse is pushed up, and the game’s camera being pointed upwards when the mouse is pulled down.
Just like the mapping section, mouse settings (Aim Settings) for Tuning, Translator and Ballistic Curve values can be copied and pasted onto each associated section. What is actually copied is a text code that can be shared with other users or stored in a text file for later use...
Game-specific settings that can be adjusted to better improve mouse response within each different game. These are only adjustable if a user-generated profile is loaded. When using a profile from Game Profiles these settings are not visible and are not able to be adjusted beyond using the Boost option in the Tuning section.
Below are settings related to the in-game deadzone (Deadzone Compensation and Deadzone Shape). These while similar will impact how movement with a mouse will start, scale and feel as a whole. A benefit to using a mouse and keyboard to game using Zen is not only can you customize the feel of movement with a mouse but when using a mouse this eliminates all stick drift. This is a common issue across controllers that happens over time as the analog sticks wear out. The stick drift of a controller can be seen in Zen Studio by opening up Device Monitor and then looking at the output box for boxes 9 and 10. When not touching the right stick at all using a controller you are almost certain to see a value that is not 0.
When stick drift is present this will take away from your accuracy when playing and can cause unintentional movement whether your aim is in motion or it is not. With Zen, you now have total control to customize your aim with no need to worry about deadzone or drift issues that would otherwise negatively impact your game!
This relates to the amount of movement it takes for the mouse movement to be read and therefore output. The higher the deadzone compensation value the less amount of mouse movement it will take to move the camera in-game. The mouse will feel more responsive when higher values are used within deadzone compensation. It is recommended to match this value to the value of your in-game deadzone for an optimal experience. In simpler terms, this value is the minimum value that is output from your Zen to the platform you are playing on. When set above your in-game deadzone this can lead to quicker movement and values less than your in-game opposite will take longer for your aim to move in-game. When setting this value you should have steady and smooth camera movement in-game so as to not prevent you from making fine aim adjustments.
Sets the shape of the deadzone to either circle, square, or COD (Call of Duty specific deadzone). This will affect how far your mouse will need to move physically in a given direction to reach its maximum output which in turn affects your mouse sensitivity output. You will want to make the deadzone shape in your MK profile for the game you are playing to ensure the best possible experience. To find out the shape your game is using click "Circle Test" while in-game. Then from here change the Deadzone Shape until your in-game camera makes a circular shape.
What is Deadzone? Deadzone is the amount your analog stick can move before it’s recognized in game. The bigger the deadzone the more the stick needs to move before it moves the in-game camera, registers its maximum output and plays a factor in the value given when a stick is output in a diagonal direction. A low deadzone is more responsive, a subtle touch will result in an input, on the flip side, if your controller is a little worn or the sticks are a little loose it could lead to drift. Larger deadzones trade off slower responsiveness to avoid accidental inputs and will scale to maximum speed much quicker.
The maximum value that can be reached by the mouse in any given direction.
Each of these auxiliary translators can inherit either the translator from the HIP or ADS layout. All auxiliary profiles do not need to have either all matching HIP or ADS translators and can be mixed and matched.
This will use the HIP layout translator settings for the auxiliary profile you are using. Only one set of Translator settings can be used per auxiliary profile. This means that the Deadzone Shape, Deadzone Compensation and Analog Stickize settings will be active while the selected auxiliary profile is in use. Depending on what the profile is intended for you may benefit more from using the HIP Translator settings. For instance, if playing either Apex Legends or Warzone the HIP Translator is usually more responsive to allow for easier large movements such as doing a 180 degree turn. This more responsive movement would also benefit when deploying as this action is very slow normally requiring you to move your mouse alot to move while deploying. Using a more responsive translator would allow you to move while deploying much easier and require you to move you mouse phyiscally much less.
This will use the ADS layout translator settings for the auxiliary profile you are using. Only one set of Translator settings can be used per auxiliary profile. This means that the Deadzone Shape, Deadzone Compensation and Analog Stickize settings will be active while the selected auxiliary profile is in use. Depending on what the profile is intended for you may benefit more from using the ADS Translator settings. For instance, ADS settings are normally a bit less responsive or slower to allow for fine aiming and easier tracking. You may be playing a game such as Apex Legends or Warzone and want a certain customized feel when using sniper rifles so movement is a bit slower to track better than when using other weapons and allow you hit long range shots with ease.
Makes mouse movements more precise by scaling values at predefined input values. The x-axis represents input values and the y-axis represents what the output values should be when those input values are detected. The curve is only editable if a user is using a custom profile. A Ballistic Curve can also allow you to have up to 21 different points. Each point will af5fect how sensitive your mouse and output movement are. Here are a few examples to demonstrate what specific types of ballistic curves would do.
If the ballistic curve has a linear line starting from (0,0) and going to (100,100) then the output is directly proportional to the input.
If there is a linear line starting from (0,0) that goes to (100,50) then this means that the output of the y axis (vertical movement) will be half of the input value.
If the user wanted to be precise at lower movements (such as sniping and micro-adjusting) but also have the ability to quickly flick the mouse then they could use a curve with four points (0,0), (50,25), (55,55), and (100,100). This would mean that every input read below 50 would be halved, and every input read above 55 would output a linear value.
- Sliders: The horizontal slider is used to go to a point along the x-axis. The vertical slider is used to adjust the Y-Value at the corresponding horizontal slider’s position. Points can also be added by holding the left mouse button down within the ballistic curve and then moving the mouse either up to increase the value, or down to decrease it.
- Reset: Restores the ballistic curve that was last saved to the device.
- Remove: Removes the currently selected point. Points can also be removed within the points list by clicking the red “X” button, or by right-clicking the desired point within the curve itself.
- Default: Sets the ballistic curve to the default linear line represented by the two points (0,0) and (100,100).
- Copy/Paste: Just like the mapping section, ballistic curve values can be copied and pasted onto the ballistic curves located in the other layouts. What is actually copied is a text code that can be shared with other users or stored in a text file for later use.
- +/-: These buttons are used to increase the Y-Axis value by 1. The Y-Axis value in correlation to the horizontal slider’s position is displayed in between the + and - buttons.
This is used to save the settings to the Cronus Zen. Settings will be applied to the Cronus Zen whenever they are adjusted however the settings will not be saved until the Finalize button has been clicked. The user’s previous settings will be applied to the device if you disconnect the device before clicking Finalize. The finalize button will “flash” if any of the layout’s settings/mappings have changed and those changes have not yet been finalized. After finalizing your settings you can get straight to gaming.
You can bind one button to a key or multiple buttons to one key. You may also use a MK script from famed MK scripters such as GL0ZZ3N or use one from the GPC Library that is designed for the Mouse & Keyboard. Here are a few examples of keybinds for GPC.
Tip: If using a script it's recommended to use get_keyboard instead of get_val.
get_keyboard checks if a chosen keyboard key is held down regardless of the bind set in M&K Settings while get_val checks if a chosen button is held down.
With scripts you can make even more advanced keybinds than a simple one-button bind, you can have multiple binds to one key for example:
Here is an example from LegitCloudzzz. This will swap the left and right analog stick outputs, allowing you to loot a deathbox in Apex with your mouse, which is normally not possible through the M&K Settings tab.