Graphics & Animation Issues When Utilizing Our Web-Based Game (Unity Player)

Introduction:

Hello racing fans! Our 3D graphics require Unity. Unity is one of the fastest-growing 3D web players on the Internet. Though Unity offers a beautiful 3D experience, it does require significant resources from your computer. Older computers may have an issue running Unity. If you're having a problem running any of our 3D Unity pages, before attempting any fixes, some simple tests might help you determine your computer's overall ability to run Unity. First, visit our page with the smallest Unity animation - www.horseracegame.com/community/leader_board/stats. This page requires the least amount of resources and should run smoothly on over 90% of all computers. If you're having a problem with this page, more than likely, you will not be able to view our other Unity pages in the game. To further verify that the problem may be with your computer and its limitations, Unity itself has a full page of live demos. We suggest visiting this page - http://unity3d.com/gallery/demos/live-demos. Scroll to the bottom of the page and randomly click on some Unity samples. Do they load for you? Do they load smoothly? If the demos load slowly or don't run smoothly, the problem is more likely with your computer and its capability than it is with our Unity pages. Even with that said, you may still want to try the suggestions below to help with Unity performance. You can also run a Google search on how to enhance Unity-driven games on your specific computer. The solution could be as simple as updating your graphic drivers or changing the browser you are using.

First, some simple suggestions on how to maximize your 3D experience when playing our or any Unity game.

• In some instances, a recent Microsoft update (Nov. 26, 2012) caused a problem with some players' machines when Microsoft tried to update their graphic drivers. If you were able to run Unity fine in the past and then recently have a problem, you might want to roll back that one update. To do this, go to your Start menu, then to the Control Panel, to Systems & Maintenance, then to Programs and Features and then finally to Install Updates. Look for the Nov. 26 update and roll it back.
• Make sure you are using the latest version of your preferred browser. We suggest Google Chrome.
• When interacting with our web game, it is imperative that all other applications on your computer are closed. We strongly suggest that you utilize only one browser/one window at a time.
• Try not to launch your web browser from our desktop client extension (if you have installed it). When playing with the desktop client extension, we suggest your web browser should be closed. When playing with the web portion of our game, we strongly suggest that the desktop client extension be closed.
• All first-time players who visit our site are asked to install Unity if it is not currently on their system. If, for some reason, you did not install Unity on your initial visit, please go to the following link and install Unity now - http://unity3d.com/webplayer
• Rebooting your computer may improve performance including preventing the loss of memory. If your computer is running sluggishly and Unity seems to be running slowly, try closing down all applications and rebooting your computer.

Below are specific issues that may occur and suggestions on how to resolve them.

1. Website/community components don't display properly, layout is broken or not working well.
   Some site components may be having issues because your browser is not supporting the required CSS features. Our suggestions to resolve this issue are as follows:
   • PC users, use the latest version of Internet Explorer (IE 10 or newer). Some versions of Internet Explorer are not available for older PCs, therefore we suggest Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome)
   • If you are using Internet Explorer 9, look for the Page tab, open that tab and then click on 'Compatibility View'.
   • On Mac computers, use the latest version of Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome) or the latest version of Safari
   • Then install the Unity web player for your browser( http://unity3d.com/webplayer ) and then use that browser to access the community.
   • We do not recommend using Firefox right now since its performance is not as good as Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. However, we do not suggest using older versions of Internet Explorer because they don't support all JS/CSS features of the site well.
2. Page content does not load completely.
   • Open just a single new browser window (we recommend Google Chrome).
   • This issue may be due to a cache problem with your browser. Each browser has a Settings feature where you can clear the cache. In Internet Explorer, click on the Settings option; in Firefox click on the History option; in Google Chrome, click the small tool icon in the top right in the Chrome browser window and then click on History.
   • Choose the option in all browsers to 'clear the cache' or 'clear all browsing history'.
   • Afterwards, once your browser is done clearing the cache, close the browser window, open a new one and then try loading the content page again.

   If the issue remains:

   Are you using Google Chrome as your browser and running Norton AVG/the Norton toolbar in Chrome? If so, many users of all sorts of plug-ins on the web have issues related to using the Norton AVG, Norton Toolbar in Chrome when the Norton Toolbar and applications are active

   (See here for example http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Toolbar-Norton-Identity/Toolbar-2013-2-0-18-causing-problems-with-latest-Firefox-and/td-p/834202)

   Since that bug is on Norton's end, and since Chrome is a great browser yielding great performance and stability, instead of using a different browser, we suggest considering turning the Norton toolbar off and using a different antivirus app since it looks like that bug could affect your browsing experience on many sites.

3. Whole site and/ or 3D game content is running slowly:
   While we constantly work on improving site speed and performance of all modules, there are some things you can do on your end to achieve a better experience:
   • Do not launch the browser/web view from the windows desktop client game. Instead, launch a new browser window to access the community, manage your stable, etc.
   • Make sure you have the latest version of your browser installed. Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome) is the best performing and most stable browser on Windows.
   • Do not have more than one browser window and tab open at once. Each window and tab costs performance.
   • Delete or disable unnecessary browser toolbars. There are various toolbars (like search toolbars, etc.) one can install in the browser, but many of those have a negative effect on browser speed, performance and stability.
   • Close down any other unnecessary apps you don't have to have open while playing the game, especially ones which consume a lot of memory, CPU or GPU resources.
   • On a Windows PC, you can open the task manager (by pressing ctrl+alt+del) on Mac, you can open the activity monitor app from your Applications/Utilities section. Both of these allow you to see which applications and processes are running and allow you to close some of them.
   • Rebooting your computer can sometimes help.

Note: Only close applications you opened yourself. Do not close system applications you haven't launched manually.
By running less (or no) other applications you have more free resources for running the game/website, which should help if you have a weaker/older computer.

Here is additional information pertaining to Unity issues and possible solutions:

When on Windows 7 and you are not able to get some site portions running well:
• On Windows 7 there are two versions of Internet Explorer, one 32 bit version and one 64 bit version. If you have issues running a site in the 64 bit version use the 32 bit version instead.
• You can get to the 32 bit version by pressing the Windows Start button in the bottom left corner, then in the panel that opens in the search text field, enter "internet explorer". It will then list "Internet Explorer", "Internet Explorer (64 bit)" and "Internet Explorer (without add-ons)". Click the first link (the one where it just says "Internet Explorer"). Once this 32 bit version is open, you can right click on the icon for it in the bottom task bar on the desktop and choose ‘Pin this to the task bar’ so that you can always reach that version quickly. This version runs better with many sites.

When on Windows 8 Pro and you are not able to get some site portions running well:
• Windows 8 Pro (x86 version of Windows 8) also comes with two browser versions (but this time for all major browsers). One is the standard desktop browser version (like Internet Explorer for the desktop), which you access when going to the Windows desktop and launching a browser from there. That one can have full support for Javascript, css, plug-ins etc. Then there's the second browser version which gets launched by default when one launches a browser from the metro/ "modern UI" Start screen of Windows 8 (the tile icons start menu).
  That version is cut down in functionality and does not support all common desktop browser features like full support for add-ons/ plug-ins like Flash, Unity, etc.
  
• Always launch the browser from the desktop since the site requires the fully featured browser and not the cut down "modern UI" version (There is also a way to toggle always launching the desktop browser version even from the modern UI start screen. You can do that in the settings menu of your browser).
  Note that the site is not supported on Windows RT since that version (and ARM devices made for running that) do not support all add-ons, plug-ins etc. This is an issue for many sites and we will have custom apps for some of such mobile devices in the future, but as of right now, regarding Windows you need a full desktop (x86, so Windows XP, 7 or 8 Pro) Windows version to run all site features properly.
  
• In general. keep your browser and system up to date. Check if there's an update for your graphics card drivers in case you have visual issues, check if there's an update for your browser if you have an issue with some site code not running properly, check if you have the latest version of the Unity player installed if Unity 3d content is not showing at all.
• In case some portion of the site is not working although it worked before and no change was made on HRF staff end, then check your system to see if something was modified recently on your end which could affect things negatively. This could be things like-recently installed browser toolbars, recently installed other software affecting the system negatively, changed or misconfigured firewall or antivirus app settings.
• Changed Internet connection settings (if you connect via wifi, try a wired connection to remove that possible cause due to your connection being slow or not working well in other ways).
• A Windows update causing issues (one can look at the list of Windows updates in the system info and roll back updates there, too).

Setting the default browser to always open content in your best working browser:

If you have issues with one browser (let's say firefox, could be another one, too though depending on your system setup/ browser version), and using the community website, online 3d features etc all works fine in another browser (let's say Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 9+ etc) then you should consider setting the browser with which all works fine as the default browser for the system. That way calls by the system and other applications to launch a new browser window are opened in that browser and hence when you launch a new browser from the desktop client for example that gets launched in that browser, too.

To set a browser as the default browser go into the settings menu of the browser (which is usually a menu item/button somewhere in the top (right) menu bar of the browser) and there in the settings menu there's an option to set that browser as default browser).
In Google Chrome for example press the icon in the top menu on the right edge (which looks like three horizontal lines), which brings up a menu where one of the items is "Settings", click that, then on the settings page that opens, scroll down to where it says "Default browser" "make google chrome my default browser". Click that button. That will make Chrome your default browser, you can still open any other browser yourself, just calls to open a new browser window by the system or other programs will then be launched by the browser you set as the default one (in this case Chrome).

(You can also change that at any time since the other browsers have the same functionality to set them as default browser in their settings menu)