I’d like to suggest an (in my opinion) better way of handling mouse input in windowed mode in RetroArch. I’m using Windows, but I’m assuming it currently behaves the same on other desktop operating systems as well.
When you run a core like DOSBox-Pure or PUAE 2021 in windowed mode, you have two mouse pointers on screen, that awkward thing…
- Yes, I know about F11 to grab the mouse pointer.
- Yes, I know about Scroll Lock to go into game focus mode.
Instead of the two mouse pointers, it would be better that if you move your pointer over the RetroArch window (active or inactive), then - and only then - you are moving the pointer in-game. And you’re aslo using the mouse sensitivity you have in Windows while doing this.
If the pointer moves outside the boundaries of the RetroArch window, the in-game cursor is just left there at the edge of the window and your regular Windows cursor appears on screen. Clicking on something then inactivates RetroArch.
If you move back over RetroArch you start moving the in-game pointer again. It immediately jumps to the location you enter the window. Clicking directly interacts with RetroArch, even if RetroArch was inactive, just like any other inactive window in Windows would do. (No initial click to activate the window.)
This is exactly how standalone DOSBox works btw (with autolock set to false).
If this behavior seems totally alien to everybody else, how about adding it as an option (default off) under Settings > Input, or maybe Settings > Video > Windowed Mode.