BUFULO's dashboard

I see the same thing & often the same people. What I can't tell is if they are restarting every game or what else they may be doing. It does seem like they win the online lottery more than I do by far. I don't understand how it can be consistently good for some & very random, but mostly bad, for others, like me. Maybe instead of stars & flames, there should be device & software version info displayed! – bufulo, on August 02, 2009 17:02

If Tapulous takes advantage of the new graphics functionality on the newer devices, I think the stutters could be a thing of the past. There would be backwards-compatibility issues though.

Yup. I don't think the lag/stutter is a huge deal because you adapt. I MUCH prefer the smoother display on the iPod Touch 2nd Gen or 3GS though. It's rare to get the stutters/lag on 3GS or iPod Touch 2nd Gen, but it does happen sometimes even if you restart every song.

I've never had it just start lagging in the middle of a song on any device or any version of the OS or TTR. It always stutters right from the start if it's going to do it. This doesn't include the stuttering that happens most of the time during a tap & hold. Oh, that also assumes you have as many background tasks as possible disabled. Turning off Push notifications, Auto Brightness, use Airplane mode, etc., or it will stutter when those services are active. The 3GS is a little less affected by background processes than the Touch. I bet the next iPod Touch will be VERY smooth. – bufulo, on August 02, 2009 07:52

Usually 3GS, so 3.0 is my only option. I don't have access to the beta releases. I've just had to drastically cut back on online play & only play easier songs. Usually that & restarting every game is OK. I've dropped from well over 2500 points to 2350 or so though. It's OK as long as I don't lose my 3 stars... for now... I'll probably stop playing online if my score goes any lower. – bufulo, on August 02, 2009 07:25

Zanadeath, are you able to play Girls of Prey online without any misses? I can normally FC that song but since 3.0 I can't even come close. It ALWAYS drops taps at least once, usually 3-4 times on that particular song with online play. I don't think the dropped taps are doubles either but I'd have to check for sure. I hate even trying that song online because it's guaranteed I'll lose 21 points! – bufulo, on August 02, 2009 06:55

I have a collection of these silly toys now - original iPhone, iPod Touch 2nd G, & iPhone 3GS. Got a GREAT deal on the iPod Touch. I pretty much only play with the 3GS lately because the display frame rate is as good or maybe slightly better than the iPod Touch & it fits my big hands better.

With OS 3.0, the iPod Touch has terrible issues with arrows. It was so bad that I couldn't play it. I'd have to dig up my other comments regarding the missed taps to be sure, but I think it was an issue, just not as bad as the 3GS. The phone usually misses 3-4 taps per game but the arrows behave better.

I was able to play quite a few games online Thursday with no missed taps at all & gained about half my points back. Then I tried again Saturday morning & it was dropping like crazy, setting me back even further than I was in about 20 minutes. I see the dropped taps both on & offline & very random in both cases - definitely worse online & almost always worse if I don't restart TTR with each game. – bufulo, on August 02, 2009 06:48

The behavior is definitely illogical, even bizarre sometimes. I'm an embedded systems firmware engineer, so I know enough to be dangerous but I'm not very familiar with this particular platform.

I don't think there is one "bug" responsible for all this behavior - probably MANY & probably both Tapulous & Apple. If the developers focus on why restarting each game generally reduces the issues so much, they'll probably find a major culprit.

I doubt a new version of TTR will come out before OS 3.1. I suspect there are issues with the software that force Tapulous to tweak each version to a specific version of the OS - not good.

PS. I definitely see improved tap recognition with a full charge. I get far more green taps & fewer missed doubles when the battery is topped off. I haven't played enough plugged in because the cord bugs me. – bufulo, on August 01, 2009 17:35

I got halfway back to where I was the other day with a few lucky games where it only dropped taps once per game. This morning all those points were lost in about half an hour as every single game dropped 3-4 taps!

SO frustrating! – bufulo, on August 01, 2009 16:58

Reinstalling made no difference for me. I saw the same behavior with older versions of TTR on a 3GS too. I didn't even attempt to install an older version of the OS & doubt it would go anyway.

I do agree with the "gets worse with time" comment. This has been the case which each version of TTR I've tried. This is one reason I suspect a memory management issue, maybe fragmentation or something like that. I'm not familiar enough with Apple OS to really make an educated guess, just wild ones.

I do think there is a relationship to battery charge - the closer to full, the less frequently the double taps are dropped. On the other hand, the shakes seem to work best on a slightly depleted or nearly fully depleted battery. I can't make any sense out of that one, but I think it may be true. I've been wondering if current supply is an issue since TTR probably hits the devices with pretty high power demands due to pretty much all hardware (except the compass & maybe GPS/location services?) being active at the same time. Just thinking out loud though. Running off USB power doesn't eliminate the issue, but does hold the battery charge high, probably at the expense of some supply noise though.

Another thought that came to mind is the new display coating, but I think that's less likely. I do occassionally notice trouble with the device recognizing touches outside of TTR.

I think one of the best clues is that all these issues occur less frequently if you restart TTR each time you play. Unfortunately even this does not eliminate the problems.

I'm used to debugging these issues with lots of expensive gear & instrumentation, but I don't think the guys at Tapulous have as many options. Not fun!

PS. Another developer claimed 3.1 made a big difference in performance. Your report makes me totally skeptical this is an OS issue. I do think OS changes messed up the arrows, but I think the other issues are old & just being better exposed with the new device. – bufulo, on July 31, 2009 05:44

I caught onto that right away, but one thing I didn't realize was that you still had to hit the tappers correctly during the "grace period" to get full points.

It's also funny how the tap count goes up with every tap during that time but your score stays the same. Seems like it should go down like usual, just not lose Revenge. – bufulo, on July 29, 2009 02:45

Yeah, that does happen SOMETIMES, but rarely & restarting each game does seem to reduce the frequency of all the current performance issues. Lag isn't as serious as the dropped taps though, at least not on the faster devices.

The new iPhone has twice the RAM &, in my experience, has more than twice as much free (according to iStat), yet it still has the same performance issues - maybe more. – bufulo, on July 29, 2009 02:19

Duh... :) It's not that for me, but I'm not sure enough about the freebie to claim I was positive it happened. I think it did, but I'm not positive. – bufulo, on July 29, 2009 02:09

I only notice lag occassionally online & never for any obvious reason - entirely random.

The biggest problem for me right now is the dropped taps when 2 are hit at the same time. It seems worse online, but happens in offline play as well.

Right now playing online is more like a lottery than a game of skill! If you are lucky enough to not have a dropped tap or arrow, you'll usually win. If not, kiss those 21 points goodbye. I got thru 1 song out of 6 or 7 today without a dropped tap! It does seem to be getting worse, but I can't really prove it.

I'm nearly 300 points down from my high, so you're doing great by comparison!

Thanks but I guess I can't use it anyway. Even though it is free, Apple puts something in the file to restrict it's use to you. iTunes tells me it is only authorized to LoganChan or something like that.

I was just messing around with some of the old versions of TTR on various versions of Apple OS to be sure everything I've complained about was accurate & to see if I notice any other unexpected behavior. Mostly a waste of time! – bufulo, on July 28, 2009 07:45

As long as you don't lose 21 points hey? I'm really beginning to hate that number! – bufulo, on July 28, 2009 04:44

So YOU'RE that phantom I've played online! I saw something similar happen this afternoon where it showed 1 player under the Room name but there was never a player in there except me when I actually entered. I suppose people enter & exit quickly, but I did it a few times myself in the same room (Utter Insanity actually) & that phantom was never listed! It's been you all along! :)

This begs the real question of where is the memory going? Where is the memory leak - Apple OS, TTR, or both?

There is no doubt TTR performs best when restarted every single game! :) – bufulo, on July 28, 2009 04:25

I submitted changes to my post at the same time you replied! Said pretty much the same thing though.

Given the number of download failures I & others have seen & reported, it has to be something going on in the OS or application. Maybe you'll have to do your check each time a song is loaded to find the root cause!

Does it have something to do with the fact that songs are not stored as normal files on the device? Is fragmentation a possible performance issue?

PS. Oh, I just remembered that some songs are only around temporarily as well. – bufulo, on July 28, 2009 04:18