Forums

How to Play Mouse-Less WGT with Your Fingers (on the iPad)

• Faterson 2,902 Posts

  Thu, Aug 26 2010 3:37 AM

  For details and screenshots, see here:

  http://www.wgtls.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2877     

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sat, Aug 28 2010 11:52 AM

  Interesting Faterson, you get your mouse-less PC finally!  I found several videos about it on YouTube  Here is one:

  YouTube video review

  Are you not concerned about the lag between what is seen on the computer and what eventually is seen on the iPad screen?

• Faterson 2,902 Posts

  Sat, Aug 28 2010 8:20 PM

  I hope there'll be no "eventually" about it, but that it's gonna be "immediately" instead.    The lag in the video demonstration is pretty bad, but as you perhaps noticed, this was always related to opening a new window, etc.

  So yes, I'm pretty sure there'll be some lag when it comes to displaying the course details. The important thing is for there to be no lag for the shot meter. When the guy was typing something into a Word document over the iPad, the letters appeared in the window instantly. I suppose (or hope) that the moving shot meter is a pretty trivial matter, in terms of graphics, to transfer from one screen to another, so I trust there'll be no game-disruptive lag for it or the related click.

  Also, the guy said that the presence or lack of lag depends on the quality of Internet connection used. I'm on a very fast optical line, which could perhaps help.

  (Anyway, buying LogMeIn for $30 is definitely a good investment for any iPad owner, even if the software should disappoint for WGT gameplay. Will update the WGTLS thread as soon as I actually try playing this game on the iPad.)

  Now, the ideal way for WGT.com to resolve all this would be to move away from Flash altogether, and convert the game to something like HTML5, if that is possible at all, so that it can run natively on a mobile device such as the iPad. Flash is an awful technology, anyway, soon to be outdated, and I've always hated Flash-infested web sites. On the iPad, you can't even log in to these forums or reply to your PMs/Wall posts, because even the log-in window in these forums is Flash-embedded, and so it's nowhere to be found on the iPad, even though the forum posts, profile pages, tournament data, etc., all display properly.

  If YouTube was successful in moving away from Flash completely, why not WGT.com?

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sun, Aug 29 2010 6:58 AM

  Faterson:

  If YouTube was successful in moving away from Flash completely, why not WGT.com?

  Is there a YouTube non-flash Beta or something?  I still see Flash based videos on YouTube, like the demo in my first post.

• Faterson 2,902 Posts

  Sun, Aug 29 2010 7:42 AM

  I don't think YouTube videos are Flash-based any longer, Andy. I watched the LogMeIn demonstration you linked to on the iPad, which wouldn't work if that was a Flash video. All YouTube videos work perfectly on the iPad or the iPhone, which means YouTube is now converting all videos uploaded to their site into non-Flash formats.

  A funny aside: I heard that one of the "porn tube" sites likewise decided to move away from Flash after the iPad went on sale. They said, "We just can't afford to lose all those potential customers on the iPad!"

  I only wish WGT.com followed the porn site's example in this particular regard, LOL!  

• VanHalenLover 1,422 Posts

  Sun, Aug 29 2010 1:31 PM

  YouTube is testing html5 and offering this format  currently, yet still offers flash-based playback (some of which is browser-specifically forced). It has benefits for mobile applications but is still not going to replace flash anytime soon.

  http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html

   

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Sun, Aug 29 2010 7:13 PM

  Faterson:

  I don't think YouTube videos are Flash-based any longer, Andy. I watched the LogMeIn demonstration you linked to on the iPad, which wouldn't work if that was a Flash video. All YouTube videos work perfectly on the iPad or the iPhone, which means YouTube is now converting all videos uploaded to their site into non-Flash formats.

  You had me thinking I was nuts so I checked, right clicked and.....yep Flash on my browser/computer.

  

   

  Thanks for that added info VHL.

• Faterson 2,902 Posts

  Sun, Sep 19 2010 5:40 PM

  It was a nice dream but it just doesn't work.   The meter sinks the attempt to play WGT golf on the iPad; it's just too sensitive a thingy to be transferred remotely with the needed precision. Everything else about the game loads pretty decently. Yes, there are (slight) lags and jerks when the graphics load, but nothing that would be a show-stopper. The meter is, however.

  Here's me launching Chrome on the iPad via LogMeIn
  (you can click the screenshots for full sizes):

   

  Here's me launching the closest-to-the-hole challenge at Wolf Creek. So far so good:

  

  You can swing your club and measure the strength of your shot pretty OK (although there's some lag in adjusting it into the desired position). However, as soon as you let go, the shot meter goes haywire... It usually splits (!) into two parts, a lower and an upper part, so it looks like you have 2 shot meters running at the same time. When you complain about "skippy meter" next time, guys, try to imagine playing the game with a split meter,  like this one:

  

  So that was it, as far as playing WGT on the iPad goes (and iPhone, too; I tried that minuscule version as well, and again, it was playable just fine, except for the split meter). At least one thing can be accomplished easily on the iPad/iPhone using LogMeIn: you can log in to your WGT profile page, reply to your PMs, write Wall posts or forum posts.

  Too bad the game itself is unplayable on iOS for now; I find that, because of this, I've been playing more chess (on Chess.com) than golf lately.    I'm sometimes so tired, like this whole weekend, that all I can do is slump in a chair or lie on a sofa; the iPad there is an ideal companion; and playing WGT golf would be, too, except that it can't be done. Chess works beautifully in that relaxing environment, and WGT would as well, if only it left Flash behind.

• Faterson 2,902 Posts

  Sat, Nov 20 2010 6:25 AM

  Update... WGT golf does work on the iPad using Air Display! But the app costs 10 $ or 8 €, not 59p. Anyway, that's pretty cheap because it converts your iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch into another Windows/Mac monitor that you could use all the time not just for WGT golf, but anything you want. Now the bad news: although the game is playable on the iPad via Air Display (unlike via LogMeIn), the shot meter is extremely laggy and unpredictable. No real precision is possible, so playing like this would be an exercise in mental harakiri. But, just for the fun of it, why not? My first shot at Bali Hai landed in water, drowning my expensive GI-SD ball; but, it didn't hurt this time; I almost screamed with delight I was able to make the shot at all, using only my fingers. (Although the Windows mouse can be used on the iPad in this mode as well, of course.) On hole 4 at Bali Hai, I was finally able to play a decent shot on the iPad, putting the ball onto the green from almost 200 yards. So, there you have it!
  
  I'm posting details on how I got this to work, in the original "WGT on iPad thread". But here's some photographic proof; bad reflection on the iPad screen there, but it's definitely Bali Hai, and it's playable. (I apologize I haven't dusted my desk in a long time; life is too short for certain chores.)