The SteelSeries software utilities partnering their peripherals have long been the bread and butter of the manufacturer, going so far as to roll in exotic functionality where and when it made sense. In this instance however they’re keeping it nice and simple, while laying the foundation of an updated unified desktop application.
Dubbed SteelSeries GG*, the desktop app collects the functionality of their Engine peripheral configuration utility alongside a game settings optimiser and broader social features. Included among the latter banner is ‘Moments’, a simple gameplay capture and editing suite that enables you to share your highlights in seconds. Accessing social features requires a (free) SteelSeries account.
Upon selecting the Engine tab you’re presented with a list of Gear (i.e. SteelSeries products) connected to the PC, Apps that interact with these devices in some way through the Engine SDK (such as displaying Game State information or VOIP activity), and your library of games for pre-configured settings including suggested keybinds. Apps and the game Library aren’t particularly relevant for the PRIME mouse series, and will be much more rewarding in conjunction with feature-rich SteelSeries keyboards and devices with broader lighting functionality.
With an array of configured profiles set up you can quickly select the device profile in the drop-down menu. Clicking each device brings up a separate configuration window.
This is the PRIME+ configuration page. Some may call it streamlined but spartan might be another accurate descriptor; the page has only what it absolutely needs and nothing more.
A top-down view of the mouse is central to the window, with each button individually labelled to prevent any confusion. The small icon next to B3 indicates that the mouse wheel is illuminated; clicking on it brings up the lighting configuration window.
The Actions pane binds the buttons to a default function, keystroke, macro, or ancillary utility such as application launching. A quick macro recorder can get you started with more exotic keystroke combinations, but there’s nothing here that you wouldn’t expect to see on competing products.
Just below Actions is a button to launch the Macro Editor. This tool (popping up as another separate window) lets you record a sequence of keypresses or create a string of text that will be parsed near instantaneously. Key Press, Lift and individual timings are all stored, and can be individually edited. Delays can also be set to a fixed duration rather than as typed. Once created, a Macro can be assigned to any button.
Next is the OLED screen default graphic, a feature that’s exclusive to the PRIME+. The graphic selected is displayed on the OLED as a sort of ‘home screen’, and can be edited as a monochrome 96px x 24px bitmap. An image in the correct size can be used instead if preferred, and the software will automatically convert it to monochrome (with dithering if desired). This is a really nice way of uniquely personalising your PRIME+ separate to the RGB mouse wheel, and is a nice call-back to classic SteelSeries mice of the past.
Just below that is the Mouse Wheel Brightness slider, and if you click on the small icon next to B3 on the mouse image you’ll bring up the Illumination configuration window. The single lighting zone doesn’t allow for any of the more extravagant lighting schemes you’ll be able to create with additional SteelSeries peripherals, but you can still create something fancy.
ColorShift cycles through customisable spectra bands defined by colour tags. Five different presets are joined by a selection of up to 4 other recently created bands, each of which can be selected.
Steady is a fixed RGB colour.
Multi Color Breathe cycles through multiple colours, pulsing on, then off, then on. Three presets are joined by four recently created effects. Multi-color Breathe effects can be recreated in Colorshift with a little more hoops jumped through.
Steady is a fixed RGB colour.
Multi Color Breathe cycles through multiple colours, pulsing on, then off, then on. Three presets are joined by four recently created effects. Multi-color Breathe effects can be recreated in Colorshift with a little more hoops jumped through.
The tool is a little clunky because you can’t delete a colour tag once placed, but performs adequately. The image of the mouse doesn’t reflect the colour ‘Live’, just the first colour tag, and so it would be helpful if the tag next to B3 was larger and hence able to reflect the lighting effect more clearly.
To the right of the window is the mouse sensitivity level configuration pane. Up to five sensitivity levels can be defined in CPI and stored on the mouse, with CPI ranging from 50 to 18000. Note that CPI level can be selected via the software, a button assigned to the CPI Toggle function, or the button on the base of the PRIME and PRIME+. On the PRIME+ the OLED screen will display the current CPI level and raw value when this button is pushed, and then proceed to cycle through the levels on each subsequent press.
It is not, so far as we’re aware, possible to set X and Y axis CPI independently through Engine.
The Acceleration/Deceleration pane modifies the mouse pointer dynamics. It will only take effect when moving the mouse quickly or slowly, and serves to slow down or speed up the pointer respectively. It has no impact when the mouse is travelling in a standard speed band. As with all mouse acceleration it’s generally wisest to disable it entirely when gaming.
Angle Snapping is where the mouse sensor interprets slight deviations off horizontal and vertical as continuation along a straight line, which is very much against the ideal of 1-to-1 tracking. The PRIME series not only allows the user to selectively enable, but also determine how aggressive it will be. That’s very rare, particularly on a gaming mouse, and may be exceptionally useful in certain niche cases.
Polling Rate determines the USB polling rate, and can be handy for compatibility with older UEFI BIOSes.
Finally, the Lift-Off Distance pane is exclusive to the PRIME+ and lets you enable or disable the integrated lift-off sensor. Once enabled, a slider determines the height threshold below which the sensor will pick up movement across the mousing surface; once above that height all main sensor readings will be rejected.
Overall, the Engine configuration utility does what it needs to do and little more. It’s easy to parse, and trivial to set up Macros and other advanced features that would otherwise have users running for the FAQ webpage. By the same token the UI is a little unpolished, lacking some very straightforward visual indicators for configurable aspects such as the current lighting profile, and more generally could do with just increasing the font size and overall UI clarity.
The RGB lighting on the PRIME and PRIME+ is vibrant in moderate and low late conditions, without being distracting under better office lighting. It has a decent set of configuration options despite being a single lighting zone, and can also double as an active profile indicator when the software is set up to switch profiles based on the currently active game. Functional, without being ostentatious.
*We used the latest version of SteelSeries GG during testing, v4.0.0
