andyson:Birdwell, since the avatar swing animation happens AFTER the meter run, after we click, and after the server determines the outcome and sends it to the client, I don't see how its possible for the faster swing animation to improve the meter performance.
yes, but something has changed. Let me explain what I'm seeing....
I mostly play this game in my shop (I am a carpenter and sculptor) I also write and produce music. Before a few days ago, those 2 things happened in the same place - my somewhat damp philly basement.. lol. After all the rain of late, and just getting frustrated on having to clean sawdust for hours before I wanted work on some music, I decided to move all my equipment to our bedroom. This includes the computer i used to play this game on - which is very a robust, perfectly maintained machine that rarely had a hiccup with this game.
The router is in my shop, so this is the only place for me to get a hardwired connection. I set up an older desktop and spent a few hours yesterday and yesterday evening tweaking it. All i need it to do down here is run some CAD stuff - no problem - and play this game (well not that I need it to.. but you know what I mean!)
AMD Barton core Athlon 2200+, 1 gig of RAM.
stock this runs just a tick under the required processor speed for this game. Overclocked a little, and this system just barely meets the minimum requirements.
I played a number of the weeklys just to test out this rig. Game was definitely playable, but I had to wait a few seconds after interacting with anything on the screen, or changing views, as the CPU usage would spike. And the meter was not great, but if I waited long enough, CPU useage would get under control and I could take a shot. Not easy to get a rhytem going when you have to watch the performance meter all the time.
Today, after the update, this machine is having a much easier time. CPU usage only spikes to 100% when changing views - before it would spike when moving the aim marker, or in the backswing - not anymore. In my backswing the CPU now spikes up to about 60-70% and quicky recovers - I'm not having to wait so long before releasing the club.
before the update, the CPU was hovering around 91-92% when displaying the putting grid. Now it is at 85-87% and much much smoother.
I think that the changes to the avatar animation may have just been a small part of some optimizations they made - possibly due to all the problems they had over the weekend.
A wild guess, yes, but one that is based on what I'm seeing.