I really feel for you guys/gals... I really do.
I used to have SEVERE meter problems, i.e. speed-ups, jerky thangs, skippity doo-dahs, etc... (just check some of my old posts about it). But for the last coupla months, or so, I've not had ANY problems. They've disappeared. Entirely. Forever, I hope.
Along with my meter problems, I had generally jerky graphics during gameplay, i.e. ballflight-path skips, balls rolling on greens stuttering, "grid-dots" moving erratically, and slow-loading when changing views... (sometimes I still have slight problems with these things).
However (and I'm sorry for this), I can't put my finger on what I've changed that has had the greatest effect towards my improved meter and graphics. I've not changed any hardware and at this point, am afraid to even update my video drivers. (Maybe it was the last update that "cured" everything for me).
I usually (even when NOT experiencing problems) keep ALL my system's drivers/programs upgraded and I DO NOT ADVOCATE FOREGOING UPDATES, but I'd suffered for sooo long with sub-par video performance here at WGT... and since I've found relief from my everyday head-banging... that I made my own decision to "hold-off" on any related changes to my own system's graphics.
Some of the plethora of things I DID DO that almost certainly have had an impact:
I keep my Adobe FlashPlayer up-to-date.
Along with this, I clear my Flash Cache regularly (to keep-up with WGT's programming/data changes).
I use SRWARE's Iron Browser.
I've found it works best with my setup. I've used Google's Chrome with similar success, but the "stripped-down" Iron seems best for me. And I use it exclusively for WGT - Gameclient, Forums, Messages, Friend's Activity, etc...
During Gameplay and general WGT "Iron-browsing", I utilize a single core from my multi-core(Quad) processor.
I've setup a desktop shortcut that switches my system's core affinity to a single core when I choose to run my Iron Browser. (The browser then utilizes that single core to process the Flash-intensive WGT Game and related pages. - The widely-accepted theory being that Flash runs better through one core. I don't totally understand the "techie-ness" behind this... but it seems to have made a difference for me.)
I've downloaded and installed "Leatrix Latency Fix".
It was a simple file download/install that has DEFINITELY helped speed-up my loading times. Initial loads at game-starts, camera-view changes, etc... are lightning-quick. I noticed an immediate improvement with my load issues after installing this.
I periodically clear-out my browser's temp files and cookies.
Simple enough thing to do. Sometimes before, sometimes after playing, I clear them using the options in Iron's browser. This helps to allow "fresh stuff" to update/populate the browser's stored WGT files, reducing any delays/conflicts between newer and older ones.
I've "MAXED-OUT" ALL THE QUALITY COMPONENTS OF MY SYSTEM'S VIDEO SETTINGS, as well as, ALL OF MY WGT GAME SETTINGS.
This is one of the last things I tried doing. Whether or not it was a coincidence, it seemed to have made a difference. I set ALL my video card's quality components to FULL QUALITY as well as activated ALL the "quality stuff" in the game settings, i.e. "BEST" video quality, Flag Animation, Avatar Motion, etc...
I have no clue WHY this could've worked to help my meter/graphics.
Is having all of these set so graphically-intensive "forcing" my system's video capabilities to, sort of, "focus" my computer's resources on the game? IDK
Links and further info about ALL this stuff has been offered many times throughout these forums, so if anyone's interested in any of it, it would behoove them to do the searches and read-up on each one's (+)'s and (-)'s, as everyone has their own opinions as to whether or not doing any of this matters.
Oh... I tried GameBooster, and it seemed to help a bit in the past, but I haven't been using it since my problems cleared up. It just doesn't seem necessary with my current setup.
Right now, I can't think of anything else... other than offering my system's specs for reference:
System:
OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Studio 540
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz, 2336 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.1.3, 8/25/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 6.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 4.39 GB
Total Virtual Memory 12.1 GB
Available Virtual Memory 9.53 GB
Page File Space 6.29 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Display:
Name ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series
Adapter Type ATI display adapter (0x9598), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series
Adapter RAM 256.00 MB (268,435,456 bytes)
Installed Drivers aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
INF File oem87.inf (ati2mtag_RV630 section)
Color Table Entries 4294967296
Resolution 1440 x 900 x 59 hertz
Bits/Pixel 32
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atikmpag.sys (8.14.1.6210, 299.00 KB (306,176 bytes), 1/26/2011 5:13 PM)
Couple other things...
I use McAfee VirusScan - never allow that to run/update during gameplay.
I only have one window open in the browser (The Gameclient window) while playing.
I haven't found it necessary to stop my "running widgets" (on my desktop - weather, calendar, cpu meter, etc...).
If my "Physical Memory Usage" (checked in Task Manager or with widget) gets above 50% before starting play, I reboot my system to lower it, first. Usually it's running around 25-35% before playing.
Sorry for the long post, but I hope some of this helps.
GL
:^)