Mana Games

[CC]

Is there any way to improve the visual aspect of the game play, so that shots like this aren't seen:


The picture was taken at the moment that the opponent hit the ball, although you never see him hit it, and actually the ball should have hit the ground before he could have hit it, anyway. The racket is far too high to return this shot. I've had a really hard time beating this opponent (Novak Djokovic). Actually, I haven't beaten him yet, and I have probably reloaded this match more than 10 times because I keep losing to him (and then replaying). It seems that he returns shots that should be impossible to return, and maybe I feel that way because of what I see on the screen, such as this example. I know that I have posted something like this before, and it was mentioned there is some difficulty in changing this because of predictions about strike placement and timing and such. I just wanted to ask again.

Thanks!

[manutoo]

Hello,

the strike animation is always the same, whatever the height of the ball is.
On the shot u posted, it seems the player is able to strike the ball before it'll touch the ground...

[CC]

Manutoo,

I don't think that I understand you correctly, because I have seen many strikes of low balls where the racket swings low to strike the ball, and I have seen higher balls returned differently. Certainly the slice animation is not the same as non-slice. In the replay from which the image was taken, there was no low swing that I can remember right now. I think that the player quickly ran over, just as the ball was about to hit the ground, and swung, but I don't think that the normal low to high animation was displayed. I think that it was a truncated animation, and it was such that the strike happened when the racket was in the right vertical plane too high (so had there been the normal animation, maybe the strike would have looked right). I don't think that I am imagining this. I will try to look for it again. Had it been the same animation as I see when say returning serve, or returning drop shots, then I would have thought nothing strange about it, except maybe the timing.

[manutoo]

2 things :
- so, there are 2 animations : 1 for slice & dropshot, and 1 for all other strikes ; both of this animations are fixed and don't change depending of the height of the ball
- when the player reaches the ball at the last hundredth of second, it's possible the animation system is "surprised" and planned the player to not touch the ball, and thus starts the animation in a rush, skipping the beginning...

[CC]

OK. That last bit of information would probably explain it. Is there a way to fix it? Oh, it is no big deal. It is just confusing when playing when you see a shot returned like that which looks impossible. It may not be worth the trouble of adjusting, though. That could probably be pretty difficult. I can't imagine how you program all of this as it is; it is probably very complicated and uses a lot of math I guess.

[btaylor]

CC...I wrote in the Bug Report about a situation whereby the the CPU is coming to the net and I hit a strong topspin return kind of to his feet and he pops the ball up in the air about 6 to 8 feet and it lands very close to the net on my side (sort of like a very high weird dropshot) The problem occurs when I'm trying to react and quickly move my player into position to counter this weird shot (it SHOULD be an easy put-away) However, my player slows way, way, way down as I near the ball (kind of like a strange paralysis sets in) and I virtually always lose the point. (No matter how I push the controls, whether I use mtrun or not) It's not so bad when it happens on a 30-love, 30-15, 40-love or 40-15 point, but when it's 30-40 against you or when it's break point against the CPU it can get pretty darn aggravating to lose the game over it In TE06 I wrote to Manu about when the human player hits a net-cord and the ball dribbles over and bounces twice for what should be a lucky winner for you yet the CPU swings after the ball has bounced a second time, then hits an impossible illegal winner. Kudos to Manu for fixing that bug for TE09 I don't know if anyone else has seen my afore-mentioned situation. If so, no one else has inquired about it yet that I know of and I read the posts almost every day (maybe it only happens to me?) and Manu has not gotten around yet to responding to me about my perceived Bug Report. I know that from Manu's previous explanations about YOUR situation (and yes, I asked about it too) that I simply MUST watch the CPU player like a hawk and not take for granted that I've hit what should be a sure winner in groundstroke rallys, not only against Master or Incredible but even at some of the lower levels, and ESPECIALLY when volleying. So even though Manu is able to work his magic on most of the bugs I guess some are just too much for even him at least so far

[CC]

btaylor:

I've seen that odd shot, also. Actually, I have mistakenly used it once. I was at the net involved in a volley ralley, and I meant to hit a soft passing shot to my right to pass the opponent who was front of me but a little to my left. The shot would have passed fine, but I instead hit a mix between a drop shot and a lob. I guess that it was just a normal lob, but since I was at the net, it looked odd because it was a very minimal lob. Since it was a lob, though, the opponent was able to run to it and return it, but I think that I won the point on the next exchange.

I think that I've encountered the situation that you described. Sometimes, my player will run to return a drop shot, but instead of swinging once and returning it, he stutter-swings, and he never hits the ball. It's like dreams that I have had where I have been in a fight and tried to throw a punch, but my punch was like it was in slow motion and was like I was punching underwater or through a gel -- just very jerky and slow. Sometimes, I think that my player takes a least three of these types of swings, yet never strikes the ball. It's annoying, because it seems that I approached the shot in time and should have been able to return it.

[Togtdyalttai]

I've actually used that shot in online play. It hasn't happened quite as often lately, but it still happens sometimes when I come to net. I know it's very difficult to return, and so I try not to use it if I can help it.

[btaylor]

When you get a short pop-up shot like that from your opponent you should be able to quickly swoop in and positively CRUSH the ball for a winner instead of moving forward helplessly in SLOW-MOTION and then losing the point every time This has just GOT to be a bug in the gameplay.

[manutoo]

It's strange, this slow motion bug was corrected long time ago (in November ?), and since then I never experienced it...
Does it happen only when ur opponent does a drop shot ? And not when u rush the net for another reason ?

[CC]

I don't remember exactly when it happens. It has happened recently in World Tour and online play, but I don't remember the details. However, it is always (I am pretty sure) after I have had to run to the ball. I don't think that it ever happens if I am already in position and don't have to move much.

[btaylor]

Manu...Like I explained before, it usually happens when the CPU player is coming to net (perhaps serve & volley) and I hit a strong dipping topspin shot at him...THEN he pulls out this strange sort of combination volley/lob/dropshot which I usually am able to react to in time but then my player moves forward in slow-motion and stutter-swings at the ball (like CC stated) and I usually lose the point...