Like a lot of other folk, I too, have had aiming problems, both with the new ghost ball, and the previously reliable outline ball. I`ve no idea why the old outline ball should be causing such problems, but I think that with the ghost ball, the problem could lie in the fact that it`s a bit hard to discern the exact edge of the ghost ball. The edge seems to be a bit on the "fuzzy" side, but that might just be an eyesight problem on my part :)

everyone who says they have started missing more shots then before are right,i was dreadful even with the old aimer,but it makes no difference now because i cant open the game up,the coffee cup comes up,then stops and it saye error in the corner.anyway back to the topic i was missing simple shots and it was doing my head in and others were to.

Frankly, too many good players reporting aiming issues for this to be just imagination. Again, my guess is the anti-aliasing (a technique used to smooth diagonal or curved lines), which may give people bad perception of where the precise edge of both balls as well as the aimer is.

A small gap or overlap between aimer and target ball has massive impact on the resulting angle, and could easily be the source of these problems.

OK, for me to check this I'm going to need a proper report of 1 shot which goes awry. If you are having a problem try the following test.

1) Use the ghost cursor
2) Try potting a ball along each cushions from an angle of 45 degrees (thinnish cut). Line up cursor like so (and use backspin to avoid possibility of a double kiss):

3) Try playing number 2 to east, west, south, north
4) Try a shot at 45 degrees from the black spot
5) Try playing number 4 to northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest
6) If you miss a shot you think should go in, describe which shot, which game, and a screenshot to check your table size
7) Feel free to try other cuts. The underlying game logic is the same for each shot, so we should always be able to reproduce the same result for the same shot.

Just lost another game - there is something seriously wrong here.

Balls that I correctly aimed are missing by miles - the damn cue ball is actually swerving away from target balls.

This is making the game unplayable - good shots are ruined along with any enjoyment in the game.

I`ll be interested to see the response from Nick`s suggestion, although to be honest, I personally don`t have an issue with the game logic. In my case, the problem isn`t a "wrong" angle, it`s due to not being certain of the exact point of contact between the ghost ball and the object ball. As janmb has said, even a small gap can have a significant effect, especially with long distance shots. I suspect that most of the potting problems arise from that issue. At least we now have an excuse when we get thrashed though! lol :)

I'm just ging to take a break till the problem is fixed...Thats what alot of people are probaly doing

Bit of R and R from The FP haha

One thing that might help, and facilitate better testing, would be a ghost ball option that is less ghostly. Even highlighting the ball outline, a bit like the old cursor could a nice trick.

OK, I've added a new shot cursor which is less translucent (options, game), straightened the cue (was 2 pixels off-centre), fixed the reported bug where there was no limit checking in PM windows, and toned down the fonts a touch for the default color scheme.

Son of ghost cursor is good.

The new high opacity cursor is a big improvement, thanks for the change Nick. The only downside is, I now have no excuses when I get beat lol

Much easier to use for sure

Not a prob really but i think it shud be centre too. Also, dunno if anyone else has noticed this, but the colour of the strip is almost the same as the purple (Should of sed blue) ball so you cant that ball very well when its on the strip.

I much prefered the Start / Stop Playing button in the centre of the table and im still going to the right side to rack!! LOL






Oh and is it my PC or has the orange font wen we type gone dull?

Edited cos i sed wrong colour lol

Edited at 17:20 Wed 18/03/09 (GMT)

So do I!

The buttons were moved off the table for 2 reasons:
1) All the buttons controlling the current game are grouped together at the top.
2) The table area is simplified as to just have the game, this means that the animation complexity is reduced and therefore better optimized for people on slower machines.

I agree the start button should be made more obvious though.

Well, your the man to sort it Nick lol :)

While your there..lighten the colour strip and just move it to the centre...oh gone on do it while ur bored

I'm actually in love with this high opacity ghost cursor

I may make the high opacity the default then if it's easier to see and use.

Personally I'm finding it a dream to use, I'm making cut shots like I used to, and I'm having no trouble at all with shots I previously was, nice one Nick

I think it's easier to use as well. Good addition Nick.

Great, I guess the shading on the last ball made it overly hard to use. I'll swap the 2 around so the high opacity cursor is default.