In the recent update, I've been getting weird CPU hiccups within Vendetta while playing. It's not really lag or anything. My connection is fine. It's just that sometimes I see a frame freeze for a second and then skip ahead. It happens at random times, and sometimes the sound will loop when it does this. Has anyone else experienced CPU lag with the latest update?

It's like a CPU task is gradually lagging behind and trying to catch up or sync with the game once in a while. It happens with Vendetta running only. I have no other programs running in the background to take up any unnecessary CPU resources. I'm using the OS X client of Vendetta, with version 10.2.5 (most recent).

I've never had this problem before. At least not before 3.2. It may have been in 3.2... maybe, but I don't remember it ever being this noticeable. It's not severe to the point where it makes Vendetta unplayable, but it does land my enemy or a bot an unfair hit or two.

Did it happen with vendetta 3.2.2 and os X.2.4?
I think 10.2.5 broke something.

I think OS X 10.2.5 was out before Vendetta 3.2. I may be wrong. It just feels like I've had OS X 10.2.5 for quite a while now. I wish I had been paying more attention to see whether it happened between 3.2.0 and 3.2.1. But honestly, I haven't noticed it until now. And as I said, it happens at random times, not in specific parts of the game. Well... actually it MAY be when a "new" sound comes up when I first start the game up, as if it hasn't been cached yet. Like when I blow up a bot or player for the first time in the game (or everytime I shoot a new weapon for the first time), it may lag behind for a second or two, as if it's caching the sound. Would reducing the mixahead value fix this?

I'd also like to report that colliding into a Valkyrie ship or Marauder causes FPS rates to drop for a second or two (the same effect as spawning into a special ship). This may be because the ship goes through the model a little before bouncing back out. This problem doesn't occur with any other ship. It's probably just a clipping problem.

Yes, the first time an explosion occurs, it loads the sound, effect data, textures, and meshes. Explosions aren't precached for some inexplicable reason. This causes a "hiccup" the first time you see it, but you should only see this once every time you run the game. You may also experience small loading "hiccups" the first time someone warps in with a ship you haven't seen yet since running the game.

Marauders and Valkyries have more complicated collision hulls, so it may be taking extra CPU time to resolve collisions. Not a bug, per se, but undesirably complex collision resolution.

Thanks for the quick response. What you're saying sounds just about right. I trust that these will be optimized for the future.

=)