A GPU-accelerated visual effects overlay for Windows that creates stunning cursor effects in real-time.
MouseEffects is a modular, plugin-based application that renders beautiful visual effects following your mouse cursor. Built with DirectX 11 for maximum performance, it runs as a transparent overlay on top of all your windows.
- GPU-Accelerated Rendering - Smooth 60+ FPS effects using DirectX 11
- Plugin Architecture - Easily extensible with custom effects
- Screen Capture Integration - Effects can interact with screen content
- Multi-GPU Support - Works with hybrid graphics (Intel + NVIDIA/AMD)
- Low Resource Usage - Optimized rendering pipeline
- System Tray Integration - Runs quietly in the background
- Auto-Updates - Automatic updates via GitHub Releases (Velopack)
- Modern UI Theming - Light, Dark, or System theme with ModernWPF
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| Particle Trail | Colorful particles that follow your cursor with physics simulation |
| Laser Work | Directional lasers shooting from cursor with collision detection |
| Screen Distortion | Real-time lens/ripple distortion effect |
| Color Blindness | CVD simulation & correction with 17 filter types (Machado/Strict algorithms), zone layouts, and comparison view |
| Color Blindness NG | Next-gen CVD plugin with per-zone configuration, 4 correction algorithms (LUT, Daltonization, Hue Rotation, CIELAB), custom presets, interactive visual controls (gradient editor, color spectrum preview, blend mode swatches, CIELAB axis control), Circle/Rectangle cursor-following modes, Simulation-Guided Correction, and Re-simulation mode |
| Radial Dithering | Bayer-pattern dithering effect around cursor |
| Tile Vibration | Vibrating tiles that capture and display screen content |
| Water Ripple | Expanding water ripples on click with realistic wave interference |
| Zoom | Magnifying lens effect with circle or rectangle shape and hotkey support |
| Firework | Stunning firework explosions with rockets, trails, and secondary explosions |
| Space Invaders | Defend against neon invaders with rockets - includes scoring and leaderboard |
| ASCIIZer | Renders screen as ASCII art with 6 filter modes: ASCII Art Classic (luminance-to-character mapping), Matrix Rain (falling green characters), Dot Matrix (LED display simulation), Typewriter (mechanical typewriter with ink variations and wear effects), Braille (Unicode patterns with 2x4 dot grids), and Edge ASCII (Sobel edge detection with directional characters). Includes post-processing effects: scanlines, CRT curvature, vignette, chromatic aberration, noise, flicker, and phosphor glow. Supports fullscreen, circle, and rectangle cursor-following layouts |
The easiest way to install MouseEffects with automatic updates:
- Download
MouseEffects-win-Setup.exefrom Releases - Run the installer - no administrator rights required
- The app installs to your user profile and updates automatically
Features:
- No admin rights needed
- Automatic background updates
- Delta updates (only downloads changes)
- Silent or notify update modes
For a no-install portable version:
- Download
MouseEffects-{version}-win-full.nupkgfrom Releases - Rename to
.zipand extract to any folder - Run
MouseEffects.App.exe
See the Building from Source guide.
- Launch MouseEffects from the Start menu
- The app starts minimized to the system tray
- Right-click the tray icon to access settings
- Enable/disable effects and adjust their parameters
- Effects render immediately on your screen
- OS: Windows 10 (1803+) or Windows 11
- Graphics: DirectX 11 compatible GPU
- Runtime: .NET 8.0 (included in MSIX package)
Comprehensive documentation is available in the Wiki:
- Features Overview
- Auto-Updates
- Plugin Reference
- Architecture Guide
- Building from Source
- MSIX Packaging
- Velopack Packaging
- Certificate Management
- Creating Custom Plugins
- Screen Capture Plugins
- ColorBlindnessNG User Guide (English)
- ColorBlindnessNG User Guide (French)
MouseEffects/
├── .github/
│ └── workflows/ # GitHub Actions CI/CD
│ └── release.yml # Automated release workflow
├── src/ # Core application
│ ├── MouseEffects.Core/ # Interfaces and base classes
│ ├── MouseEffects.DirectX/ # DirectX 11 rendering
│ ├── MouseEffects.Input/ # Mouse input handling
│ ├── MouseEffects.Overlay/ # Overlay window management
│ ├── MouseEffects.Plugins/ # Plugin loading system
│ └── MouseEffects.App/ # Main application
├── plugins/ # Built-in effect plugins
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ParticleTrail/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.LaserWork/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ScreenDistortion/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ColorBlindness/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.ColorBlindnessNG/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.RadialDithering/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.TileVibration/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.WaterRipple/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Zoom/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Firework/
│ ├── MouseEffects.Effects.Invaders/
│ └── MouseEffects.Effects.ASCIIZer/
├── packaging/ # MSIX packaging files
└── Wiki/ # Documentation
Contributions are welcome! Please read the Architecture Guide to understand the codebase structure before submitting pull requests.
MouseEffects has a powerful plugin system. See the plugin development guides:
- Basic Plugin Development - Create effects without screen capture
- Screen Capture Plugins - Create effects that transform screen content
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- Vortice.Windows - .NET bindings for DirectX
- SharpGen.Runtime - COM interop generation
- Velopack - Modern installer and auto-update framework
- ModernWpf - Fluent Design theme for WPF
If you find MouseEffects useful, consider supporting its development:
Your support helps keep this project alive and enables new features!
❤️ Made with love and Claude.ai ❤️