The Golf Club Patch Details, Could Arrive on September 22nd (Xbox One)

[Steve_OS]

A patch for The Golf Club has been submitted to Microsoft for the Xbox One. HB Studios is hoping that it arrives on September 22nd, but the process could get pushed another week.

They are planning to submit the PlayStation 4 patch to Sony next week.

Below are the details for the Xbox One patch.

Extensive Network Interfacing Improvements

• Improving speed when connecting to servers and stopping time outs.
• Prevent bootflow network disconnect message from advancing to main.

Several Memory Leak Issues

• Improved stability.
• Improved frame rate.
• Course Saving error after a few hours of play – fixed.
• Fixed crash that could occur if the user stayed on a certain screens for an extended period of time.

Latest Xbox One SDK implemented

• This fixed issues with blocky Terrain Editing within course designer.

Improved Performance

• Optimisations, to improve frame rate.

Turn Based Multi-Player

• Sped up, so users are now not waiting 10 seconds between shots.
• Fixed multiple issues where it would get sometimes get stuck mid round.

Greg Norman Course Designer

• Fixed bunker issues around the green.
• A couple of low frequency crash bugs fixed.
• Fixed issue with Carousel menu sometimes not showing the correct state, and improved flow going back and forward.
• Links theme fixed so heavy rough wasn’t thought of as water.

Tours and Tournament Flow changes

• Fixed multiple issues with the flow that were causing issues with restarting a tour.
• Pop up implemented on Network fail requests.
• Allow advance through tour cards.

Animation

• Fixed a hard lock on female, left handed animation.
• Fixed a couple of animation transitions.

Physics

• Fixed spin decay bug that resulted in crazy behavior when the ball hit the pin.
• Added a cup physics material.
• Fixed tap in issue with putting.

Audio

• FMod Thread affinity fix.
• Also improved frame rate of the game.

Achievements

• Fix for Grand Opening challenge (Was not being awarded).
• Fix for Lucky Number 7 Achievement (Broken when hitting water, and added test for at or above par as-per description).

Front End/Minor Fixes

• Replay bug, where ball would sometimes not replay correctly.
• Fixed issue where putting details would be hidden behind players heads.
• The ‘Auto Add Friends’ option in Game Settings will be respected again.
• The in-game scorecard will resize to fit the longest name.
• Improved the quality of the filters on the Select Rivals screen.
• Fixed the disappearing of the scorecard title text when displaying the screen for a while.
• Removed the time and date on the message center (Unity doesn’t support System Clock on Xbox One).
• Fixed the inconsistent displaying of the message center on various screens.
• Remove unneeded texts on course detail screen during offline mode.
• Fixed issue where Player edit screen becomes too dark to see the player when the background course time is evening.
• Fixed the flag marker for left handed mode.
• Fixed the longest hole out display at end of round showing spurious figure when user did not sink anything from off the green.
• Increased the limit for the length of the list when fetching data from database, so select course, tour and create course lists display correct number for certain filters.
• Username Truncations issues.
• Fixed scorecard and overview yardage discrepancies.
• Fixed scorecard color issue when in tours.
• Fixed scout camera positioning issues.

Stat Fixes

• A collection of fixes to the statistics and telemetry including the average score always stating E.

[OnlookerDelay]

I had posted my thoughts on this in the Golf Club general discussion thread, but I'll move them here since this is more appropriate for them:

From the looks of the information contained in this article, it looks like they've made more sweeping fixes and improvements to the XB1 version than most of us would have imagined. The biggest impression I got from reading it was how much the point of "improved frame rate" was emphasized. I agree that it's the area that's in the most need for attention on both console versions of The Golf Club, but as an owner of each, I can easily say that it needs shoring up more with the XB1 version. Improved frame rate is cited as a benefit from changes and fixes in three separate bullets in the blog that are being treated by the patch:

1.) Several Memory Leak Issues

Improved stability.

Improved frame rate.

Course Saving error after a few hours of play – fixed.

Fixed crash that could occur if the user stayed on a certain screens for an extended period of time.


2.) Improved Performance

Optimisations, to improve frame rate.


3.) Audio

FMod Thread affinity fix.

Also improved frame rate of the game.

I think HBS is trying to emphasize that they understand the need for frame rate improvement in the XB1 version and I'm relieved to see that they are putting such a high priority on it. Regarding bullet #3, as a game coding layman, can someone explain to me how one improves the frame rate of a game via a change to the audio? I'n not saying it can't happen, I'm just trying to expand my understanding of the relationship between the two. I'm also unsure or what is meant by an "FMod Thread Affinity"?

One final note I'd like to add here is that I'd recalled that some 'graphics enhancement' would be seen in the XB1 version thanks to the new SDK that Microsoft has put in their hands. The only improvement item listed in the patch blog relating to the new SDK was "This fixed issues with blocky Terrain Editing within course designer." I was hoping that what this might have also meant in terms of graphics enhancement was the implementation of some degree of antialiasing, or perhaps and increase in the level of anisotropic filtering? Maybe it's there and the blog simply didn't mention it?

Nonetheless, I think we're going to have a much more stable and playable game once this patch is applied to the XB1 version of The Golf Club!

[rolltide1017]

I hope most of these improvements make it to the PS4 soon as well.

[greenegt]

I love HB Studios.

[krispykeith]

Love the game, love hb studios, disappointed there is no mention of graphical improvement outside of frame rates.

[Klocker]

Quote: Originally Posted by krispykeith

Love the game, love hb studios, disappointed there is no mention of graphical improvement outside of frame rates.

For Xbox one users there is this at least...

Quote:

Graphically we’re still working on improvements, but with the size of the area in view we really are putting a lot of pressure on the GPU. We can’t dictate what the player is seeing because, with the course editor, people could create anything. So to keep the frame rate high, we’ve needed to drop to 720p. We will continue to work on this though and slowly push to 900p and above. It’ll just take a bit of time.

[OnlookerDelay]

Quote: Originally Posted by krispykeith

Love the game, love hb studios, disappointed there is no mention of graphical improvement outside of frame rates.

The Executive Producer made the following comment in the official forum about the XBox One version patch when questioned about what you've brought up above:

"We have made small graphical improvements but we felt fps was more important at this stage so concentrated on that."

What that says to me there have been some improvements to the graphics in addition to frame rate improvements. The blog doesn't mention what those 'graphical improvements' are. I tried to get him to expound on that in the thread following his comment, but so far, no reply.

Does anyone have any ideas outside of antialiasing or anisotropic filtering that he could be talking about here? We already know a resolution increase won't be part of it...

[HustlinOwl]

http://thegolfclubgame.com/2014/09/1...ubmitted-sony/

Quote:

Today the patch for the PlayStation 4 version of The Golf Club was submitted to Sony. It should be through the submission process within 10 working days and then it will be up to Sony when it is made available. Next on the schedule is a quick update for the PC version to ensure that it is up to date with the consoles and then it will be the first update which will be across all platforms in, hopefully, mid-October. Here’s what is in this PS4 update: Extensive Network Interfacing Improvements Improving speed when connecting to servers and stopping time outs Several Memory Leak IssuesImproved stability Improved frame rate Fixed crash that could occur if the user stayed on the main menu for an extended period of time. Improved Performance Optimisations, to improve frame rate Turn Based Multi-Player Sped up, so users are now not waiting 10 seconds between shots Fixed multiple issues where it would sometimes get stuck mid round Greg Norman Course Designer A couple of low frequency crash bugs fixed Fixed issue with Carousel menu sometimes not showing the correct state, and improved flow going back and forward Links theme fixed so heavy rough wasn’t thought of as water Tours and Tournament Flow changes Fixed multiple issues with the flow that was causing issues with restarting a tour Pop up implemented on Network fail requests Allow advance through tour cards Animation Fixed a hard lock on female, left handed animation Fixed a couple of animation transitions Physics Fixed spin decay bug that resulted in crazy behavior when the ball hit the pin. Added a cup physics material Fixed Tap in issue with Putts Audio FMod Thread affinity fix Streamed audio optimised, so not to cause the odd frame rate issue Achievements Fix for Lucky Number 7 Achievement (Broken when hitting water, and added test for at or above par as-per description) Front End/Minor Fixes Replay bug, where ball would sometimes not always do what it did in the actual shot Fixed issue where putting details would be hidden behind players heads The ‘Auto Add Friends’ option in GameSettings will now work. The in-game scorecard will resize to fit the longest name. Improved the quality of the filters on the Select Rivals screen. Fix the disappearing of the scorecard title text when displaying the screen for a while. Removed the time and date on the message center (Unity didn’t support System Clock) Fix the inconsistent displaying of the message center on various screens. Remove unneeded texts on course detail screen during offline mode Fix the issue Player edit screen becomes too dark to see the player when the background course is in evening Fix up the flag marker for left handed mode Fix the longest hole out displaying number when user did not sink any from the green. Increased the limit for the length of the list when fetching data from database, so select course/tour/ and create course lists display correct number for certain filters Username Truncations issues Fixed scorecard and overview yardage discrepancy’s Fixed scorecard color issue when in tours. Fixed scout camera positioning issues Various statistical / telemetry fixes.