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Tired of losing my credits due to software issues

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Wed, Mar 23 2016 9:46 PM

  So you know, I wrote code for 15 years and managed software development for another 15years. 

  Flash is a platform that runs inside browsers.  Play Station 4 is a platform that runs in your Family Room.  Both need software to run. 

  Flash needs .swf files to display or animate anything.  WGT writes its programs in ActionScript3 (similar to C++)  The Adobe AS3 tools generate the .swf files.  When you open your game client the server downloads about 120 files to your computer.  Many of them are .swf files so the game client can display stuff. 

  The server can then sit back and wait for you to do something.  It occasionally will send a friends list update and every 10 seconds it asks the game client "Are you still there?"  During game play (in the game client) the main purpose of the server is to calculate the result of your shot in response to a message from the game client with shot info (what club, what power, how close to the ding, etc.)  The server then sends a message to your computer with the shot result. The server has the physics engine to calculate the result.  The server also supplies all the images needed to show the course.

  Back to the game client.  The .swf files (which were downloaded to your computer and saved in your cache) then use the shot result message to animate the shot on your computer screen. Our computers do much more work than the servers.

  Try this:

  - Close all browser windows but one.

  - Clear your browser cache

  - Type about:cache in the address bar of your browser (there is a colon between the words about & cache)

  -If you have a Firefox browser it will show a summary:  at this point I show about a dozen disk entries using only 300kb.

  -If you use chrome browser you get a list of the files in your cache.  I show a few.

  -Now keeping that tab/window with the cache display open, open the game client in a separate window or tab.

  -once the game client is loaded log in...then go back to the tab/window with the cache display and refresh it.

  -I now see 139 cache files on disk using 9600+ kb!  Many .swf files in there too.  The game downloaded 126 files!

  -I went back to the game client and started a stroke play game on Chambers.  After arriving on the 1st tee I went back and refreshed the cache display window.

  -I now had 223 cache files on disk using 15931kb and 69 different .swf files

  Lots of stuff is downloaded to our computer, many program (.swf) files.

  The programs running on the game client do lots of work.  Watch your CPU usage with the putting grid on screen.  Lots of work to animate all those dots.

  garyk49:

  WGT is a browser based program/software, that requires no download on our part.  Without the internet working it will not work.  We download nothing, other then cookies.  The program is stored on their servers.  The game client is just a link to a page within the program stored on a server, not our computer.

  That is so wrong Gary.

• garyk49 2,330 Posts

  Thu, Mar 24 2016 6:21 AM

  andyson:

   

  garyk49:

  WGT is a browser based program/software, that requires no download on our part.  Without the internet working it will not work.  We download nothing, other then cookies.  The program is stored on their servers.  The game client is just a link to a page within the program stored on a server, not our computer.

  That is so wrong Gary.

  Now I fully understand what you are saying.  I never thought of cookies, cache, and temps as downloaded program files.  You dont uninstall them you just delete them.  You have to unintall a program/piece of software to get rid of it from your computer.

• dedBuNNy 1,919 Posts

  Sat, Mar 26 2016 7:41 AM

  I love it when people talk about Flash/AS, touting their 'cv' and working knowledge, then actually get it totally all wrong. 

  First of all AS3 has no relationship in functionality to C++... no idea where that's coming from, like, at all.

  I'm not sure you quite understand Flash development, your explanation of what .swf files are for is, well, basic and a little off the mark.

  Physics engine? There is no physics engine being utilized in this game, good lord that's about the most obvious thing in the game.

  You assertion that 'our machines' perform so much of the workload when it comes to playing this game and running all the Flash assets is nonsense. If that were the case then my development computer would play this game as smooth as silk, in fact it doesn't.

  My T61 Lenovo laptop plays this game without a hitch, none, and it's the model with the Intel 965 chipset and a 1.8ghz c2d both of which are on the low-end for the model.

  All of the 'issues' with disconnects, Flash error codes, dead windows, time-out errors etc in MP are 100% on WGT's end. Nothing to do with anyone's computer. WGT is simply running into the wall it knew was looming. It's not going to get better, it's going to get to the point where the game is unplayable, AS rounds especially.

  If the original developers of this game wanted to ensure longevity, they never should have used Flash as a platform with respect to player interaction asset delivery.

  Someone pointed out that clearing browser caches too often puts a strain on WGT servers. Well if that were true, following that logic players could actually launch a ddos style attack by simply having a few thousand players clear their caches in quick succession.

  If that were indeed the case then WGT is in far far worse shape than any of us thought.

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Mon, Mar 28 2016 11:35 AM

  dedBuNNy:

  First of all AS3 has no relationship in functionality to C++... no idea where that's coming from, like, at all.

  I said similar to C++.  As AS3 supports Object Oriented programming as does C++.  , but one needs to consider the audience and keep things simple.

  dedBuNNy:

  I'm not sure you quite understand Flash development, your explanation of what .swf files are for is, well, basic and a little off the mark.

  Basic was intended, omissions necessary to keep things simple.

  dedBuNNy:

  Physics engine? There is no physics engine being utilized in this game, good lord that's about the most obvious thing in the game.

    Really?  How would they determine ball flight and ball bounces off fairway, sand, rock, wood, etc.?  There is a physics engine in the game.  The game's creator, YuChiang Cheng, even said so: "It's a fully functional physics engine as advanced as any console game out there, says Cheng."

  dedBuNNy:

  You assertion that 'our machines' perform so much of the workload when it comes to playing this game and running all the Flash assets is nonsense.

    So where's all the work done if not on our machine?  Where are the animations done? The course images loaded and rendered? The sound effects?

  dedBuNNy:

  All of the 'issues' with disconnects, Flash error codes, dead windows, time-out errors etc in MP are 100% on WGT's end. Nothing to do with anyone's computer.

  I thinks so too!

   

• Win1Soon 385 Posts

  Mon, Mar 28 2016 1:11 PM

  Dead on Andy....