Since I switched from 10.04 i386 to 10.10 x64 Compiz window animation duration settings are having no effect. What I mean is if I set it from the default of 80 to 160 or 220, the speed does not change it's always just default full speed. However it worked fine on 10.04. Any idea what would be causing this? Perhaps something is overriding it? To clarify that's Compiz > Effects > Animations. I am using the Sidekick animation.
Sounds like a bug in compiz settings manager, you should report a bug by following this guide:
http://wiki.compiz.org/HowtoSubmitBugReports