Flipper lag theory

[Jeff Strong]

I use HDMI to hook up to my PC monitor with no lag either. I used to get maybe a slight bit of lag on my TV with the same cable, but I haven't tried playing on my TV since before any of the patches.

 

[smbhax]

Here's an attempt to state the problem in a concrete, reproducible manner--although results may depend upon your playing style. This is what I have tried and reproduced in The Pinball Arcade version 2.05.



***THESE STEPS REQUIRE CHANGING YOUR DISPLAY RESOLUTION; ONLY ATTEMPT TO FOLLOW THEM IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, AS INCORRECT SETTINGS MAY LEAVE YOUR PS3 UNABLE TO DISPLAY CORRECTLY TO YOUR DISPLAY DEVICE***



1) Running at 1080p, start a game of Creature from the Black Lagoon.
2) Get the ball on your right flipper.
3) Shoot for the left loop (KISS).
--> A regularly timed press of the flipper button--pressing the button to make the desired shot just as you would on a real version of Creature in a real life arcade--will activate the flipper a fraction of a second late, sending the ball in the vicinity of the left slingshot--even under it for an unintended "alley pass"--instead of up the left loop. This is "flipper lag."

4) Exit The Pinball Arcade.
5) (Note: this may not be possible or a good idea on some displays. I'm just saying what I do on mine.) In the PS3 XMB Display Settings, uncheck the 1080p, 1080i, and 720p screen resolution boxes, then complete the display setup wizard; this will set your PS3 display to 480p, a fairly low resolution. (Note: the EU version of the game will not run in 480p, so users with that version would have to leave the 720p box checked.)
6) Run The Pinball Arcade and start a game of Creature from the Black Lagoon.
7) Get the ball on the right flipper and shoot for the left loop (KISS) again.
--> A regularly timed shot will send the ball up the left loop, as intended, because "flipper lag" is less prominent when running the game at lower resolutions.

If you didn't notice a difference in how the ball came off the flipper between steps 3 and 7, try this further comparison:

8) While running the game at the lower resolution, practice that right-flipper-to-KISS shot for a while, until you feel like you have the timing down.
9) Exit The Pinball Arcade.
10) In the PS3 XMB's Display Settings, ***if you had them checked originally***, re-check the resolution display options all the way up to 1080p, then complete the Display Settings wizard. Your PS3 should be back to running at the higher resolution.
11) Run The Pinball Arcade, start a game of Creature from the Black Lagoon, and try the right-flipper-to-KISS shot again.
--> If you are timing the shot as you were when you were playing at the lower resolution, you should find that it is shooting late, and hitting below the left loop entrance--either into or under the slingshot.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

This thread should close. It's NO LONGER THEORY BUT FACT! FS has said thier engine guy is "working on it, but not quiet there." So case closed and thats what you get when you build on an XBOX and try to translate it to everything else. Something is bound to get lost in translation.

 

[smbhax]

Oh but you've got to leave us our conspiracy theories.

 

[Jeff Strong]

This thread should close. It's NO LONGER THEORY BUT FACT! FS has said thier engine guy is "working on it, but not quiet there." So case closed and thats what you get when you build on an XBOX and try to translate it to everything else. Something is bound to get lost in translation.

Read the OP again. He wasn't call the lag itself a theory, but he was sharing his theory on what might be causing it.

Apparently it's not an easy fix, or they would've eradicated it long ago, and I would think any and all feedback we can provide would be helpful, so there's no need to close this thread. I guess the good news is that it seems with almost every update, someone says that their lag problem was fixed or improved, so at least the number of people still experiencing it is shrinking.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

OK I can see that and to add I did try 720p and my table selection was faster and 2 people I've recommend this to with PS3's said LAG. Maybe I just adapted it into my gaming. Only time I get lag is after a 12'ver I think MY THEORY is the strongest yet! LOST IN TRANSLATION....but if it's so is it no longer a THEORY?

 

[smbhax]

There's also a delay when rotating through letters with the flippers in DMD "add your name" high score entry. Does that happen on other platforms?

 

[Kaoru]

I have no idea if anyone else guessed, mentioned or experienced it before (I didn't check these lag-threads until now because I never ran into this problem)... but anyway, a few days ago I bought an old PS3-controller in a second hand shop so I'd have an additional one for when friends are over... and when trying it out I finally had the notorious lag issue myself. But only with the old controller, which was probably made when the PS3 first hit the shelves. With the controller that came with the console that I bought early this year the game still plays totally fine.

 

[ROTTEN]

Read the OP again. He wasn't call the lag itself a theory, but he was sharing his theory on what might be causing it.

Apparently it's not an easy fix, or they would've eradicated it long ago, and I would think any and all feedback we can provide would be helpful, so there's no need to close this thread. I guess the good news is that it seems with almost every update, someone says that their lag problem was fixed or improved, so at least the number of people still experiencing it is shrinking.

It is definitely not an easy fix. Big time game developers such as DICE (Battlefield 3) are unable to fix input lag issues on the PS3.

There are countless games that suffer from input lag on the PS3 that have never been fixed. It seems if a game has input lag on release, it will always have input lag and can only be slightly improved. I have never seen input lag completely eliminated on the PS3 and I highly doubt FS will be able to eliminate it completely.

That being said, I certainly hope they improve it

 

[brakel]

I have no idea if anyone else guessed, mentioned or experienced it before (I didn't check these lag-threads until now because I never ran into this problem)... but anyway, a few days ago I bought an old PS3-controller in a second hand shop so I'd have an additional one for when friends are over... and when trying it out I finally had the notorious lag issue myself. But only with the old controller, which was probably made when the PS3 first hit the shelves. With the controller that came with the console that I bought early this year the game still plays totally fine.

There is some kind of connection there. I reported on this a couple of months ago but we have a problem when a new controller is added to the mix. But the problem is only in TPA. There is something strange going on with how FS handles the PS3 controllers. I hope they can figure it out!

 

[Mark W**a]

There's also a delay when rotating through letters with the flippers in DMD "add your name" high score entry. Does that happen on other platforms?

Yes. Minor pet peeve of mine on Xbox.

 

[smooverr]

For those experiencing lag...try this!

So I'm in the group that gets lag in this game. And for me it's severely exacerbated by the fact that I also have the 360 version (all tables on both) and it plays absolutely perfectly (lag wise anyways)...

I have been playing with game mode enabled and 720p settings and I was able to adjust to the lag and start getting some high scores again (even beating my old xbox ones). But the one thing I couldn't adjust to was the awful, AWFUL graphics at 720p vs 1080p. So I started tinkering and came up with an alternative.

I switched back to 1080p and went into Video Settings on the console. I switched 1080p 24Hz Output (HDMI) to off. I have it set to On for blu ray playback. Now before you say "That has no effect on games" I realize that. But for some reason I got the same level of flipper performance with this option off and no loss in visual fidelity. So just to make sure I wasn't crazy I had my friend test it out at his house (with me there) and it was the same effect. It seemed to actually feel better than with 720p on. (I also tried it with Automatic enabled but it still felt a bit laggy)

This may or may not work for you guys but i thought I'd share. Let me know if this helps. I imagine you could combine it with 720p for even better results but I like how it looks at 1080p.

Cheers!

 

[bavelb]

nope, doesnt help here.

 

[Urbanshenkie]

Placebo effect to bad

I always used that setting

http://m.joystiq.com/2007/10/14/a-quick-fix-for-improving-your-framerates/

 

[iCub]

Zero difference here. This setting is purely for Blurays that are encoded at 24fps. TPA outputs at 60fps. Thanks for sharing the theory though; I am willing to try anything new that might help (except perhaps standing on my head wearing pink wellingtons and singing "It's A Long Way to Tiparary" while playing).

 

[smooverr]

Plasebo effect to bad

I always used that setting

http://m.joystiq.com/2007/10/14/a-quick-fix-for-improving-your-framerates/

I can promise you it isn't a placebo. I'm not saying the lag is totally gone, it's about the same as with 720p enabled but without the crappy Rez

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

try 480i even faster

 

[smooverr]

try 480i even faster

Lol if I have to do that I'll just go back to 360 and wait for the updates ;P

 

[bavelb]

Out of all the fixes posted the only one that actually has a 100% succes rate (afaik) is to hook your ps3 up to a pc monitor.

 

[ROTTEN]

Out of all the fixes posted the only one that actually has a 100% succes rate (afaik) is to hook your ps3 up to a pc monitor.

Completely unacceptable!! FarSight ...... let's get this **** fixed please ffs.