Skulk hitboxes & look animation bug (hit reg issue)
rantology
Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143750Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
Join Date: 2012-02-05 Member: 143750Members, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold
<div class="IPBDescription">video attached</div>So my friends and I decided to hop on an empty server and see if we could see whats up with the hit reg and seemingly "lost" bullets when shooting skulks. I know this issue is discussed in the other thread but I believe we've found the problem.
<a href="http://youtu.be/MPladWeenvI?hd=1" target="_blank">Here's the video.</a>
In the beggining of the video the skulk (me) will stand stationary and simply turn to look another direction. The model moves but the hitbox does not...so the hitbox seems correct but the model seems to be turning when it shouldn't be. In the second part I am doing the same thing, but then I walk straight at the Marine and stop, and my hitbox re-aligns with my model. You can see the model jerk around to correct itself when I do this.
So, what I believe is happening is anything with a "look" animation severely messes up the hitboxes. The model will appear to be facing a completely different direction than the actual hitbox and it therefore seems like your bullets are just getting lost/not registering. The hitbox seems to be correct from the skulk's point of view, but the model looks like it's facing a totally different direction to marines and anyone else. The model and the actual hitbox get off-sync. You even get blood shooting off the alien when you hit the model even though you aren't actually even hitting the hitbox and so this is particularly misleading.
The skulk is by far the worst culprit for this, but anything with a look animation seems to be affected...we tested the Onos and while not quite as bad, this was present with him as well. The fade seemed fine because he does not seem to have a look animation.
edit for HD video and fixed my wording :P
<a href="http://youtu.be/MPladWeenvI?hd=1" target="_blank">Here's the video.</a>
In the beggining of the video the skulk (me) will stand stationary and simply turn to look another direction. The model moves but the hitbox does not...so the hitbox seems correct but the model seems to be turning when it shouldn't be. In the second part I am doing the same thing, but then I walk straight at the Marine and stop, and my hitbox re-aligns with my model. You can see the model jerk around to correct itself when I do this.
So, what I believe is happening is anything with a "look" animation severely messes up the hitboxes. The model will appear to be facing a completely different direction than the actual hitbox and it therefore seems like your bullets are just getting lost/not registering. The hitbox seems to be correct from the skulk's point of view, but the model looks like it's facing a totally different direction to marines and anyone else. The model and the actual hitbox get off-sync. You even get blood shooting off the alien when you hit the model even though you aren't actually even hitting the hitbox and so this is particularly misleading.
The skulk is by far the worst culprit for this, but anything with a look animation seems to be affected...we tested the Onos and while not quite as bad, this was present with him as well. The fade seemed fine because he does not seem to have a look animation.
edit for HD video and fixed my wording :P
Comments
great find, well done
While this does seem to be the likely cause, is it likely that people are doing this in combat without realising? Also you should test to see if the looking away affects skulk bites landing. If it does it would explain the hit rego weirdness of this patch.
you hit the nail on the head, man!
video was most helpful too
- The shotgun can fire a bit faster while you move forward(you can also jump if you want; you need to spam click attack as fast as possible)
Or it shoots slower while standing still, who knows. (atk speed seems the same if i just press and hold, no matter if i walk or stand)
- <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->The pistol, shotgun, axe (maybe more weapons<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> - i also didnt test aliens) <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->have a fire delay after you jump<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> and click/shoot at the wrong time... ~0.5-1s. (if you just make a quick click and release it doesnt even shoot/swing at this moment => you either need to press and hold until it shoots or click spam until it shoots. The axe has an additional feature - if you time it right it freezes the animation until you release the mousebutton, also release only resets it so you have to click again to swing)
I can upload a video if you want.
Jumping an essential dodging mechanic to not get instakilled as marine in closecombat. (especially if you are behind with armor upgrades)
This bug killed me many times => delay makes you miss or at least give the alien the time for the last hit/swing (but at least this thread made me figure out what is causing the delay so i can time jump more carefully now until its fixed)
Or it shoots slower while standing still, who knows. (atk speed seems the same if i just press and hold, no matter if i walk or stand)
- <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->The pistol, shotgun, axe (maybe more weapons<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> - i also didnt test aliens) <!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->have a fire delay after you jump<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> and click/shoot at the wrong time... ~0.5-1s. (if you just make a quick click and release it doesnt even shoot/swing at this moment => you either need to press and hold until it shoots or click spam until it shoots. The axe has an additional feature - if you time it right it freezes the animation until you release the mousebutton, also release only resets it so you have to click again to swing)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I have to say I thought it was all in my head that the shotgun didnt fire 'correctly' all the time.... It seemed to be slower between shots occasionally, leading to missing (blank fire) and thus generally death :)