Displacement/collision problems

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

I grown increasingly annoyed and pissed off at these issues and I just want to confirm that Im am not the only one having this.

This is the bugreport I've recently submitted to support.guildwars.com (too lazy to type it all over again)
Quote:
While playing the game I often seen this weird bug where game server would think that my character is in one location and I see myself pretty far from that location. Screenshot attached.
You can see that that shadow beast and warrior are pretty far away from me, yet they dealing damage to me. Also shadow monks and mesmers seem to be facing me, but you can see their projectiles flying in direction of beast and warrior. So the conclusion is that I am standing next to warrior and beast, but for some reason game client shows my location being totaly different.
I have noticed that this bug appears after being body-blocked by NPC's. Problem is that it looks to me like I actually went around warrior and beast and closed onto shadow casters, while server thinks that they completely blocked me and I remained at that location.

In general I am convinced that collision code need serious revision. "rubberbanding" and "chokes" after bumping into NPC or parts of enviroment became very frequent since after factions pvp weekend.

Another related problem I often come across (unfortunately due to nature of this issue screenshot is useless) appears when ordering me character to attack in melee (or talk to friendly NPC). If there is a small piece of unwalkable terrain or another NPC on the path, my character would bump into it and then instantly teleport to the end point on the path but would become immobile for a few seconds. It appears to me that server does decent job trying to verify my path, but client fails to display it properly.
I have attached the screenshot mentioned in bugreport.

All I got as response is usual "omg check you connection" crap. Now I've been thru this quiet a few times, plus I have some knowledge of how IT support works from inside, so I responded like this
Quote:
How is this a display lag? How is this obvious to you? My client reponds to my actions just fine. I can move, I can cast spells, I can see damage applied properly both ways, I can see movement and actions of both NPCs aand other players without any delay. The only problem is that I am not at the location where I see myself. How is this a lag?
What obvious to me is that this is obvious failure of the client to recover from either previous packet loss or misvalidation of client's action by server.
So if _you_ do not wish to troubleshoot your systems, but instead blame my ISP, Bill Gates or sun radiation, then you can just say so and close this ticket
(Oh yes, I got pissed there)


Anyway please confirm that Im not the only one having these "connection" issues.

Phaern Majes

Phaern Majes

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2005

Anywhere but up

The Panserbjorne [ROAR]

R/Mo

Happens to me occassionally, it seems to fix itself after I kill the enemies though.

Kitty

Kitty

Academy Page

Join Date: Sep 2005

Germany

EI

N/Me

Yes, I also have that problem sometimes, it also sometimes happens that enemys are shown in wrong locations.

Cottage Pie

Cottage Pie

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

Birmingham, England

Taking Aegis

Mo/Me

this is definately an issue...I can trigger it on purpose too....go into autorun mode, and take a tight corner, round the edge of a strair case or something...with me this always triggers rubber banding, i will get so far up the stairs then appear at the bottom, over and over. Not sure why it happens, perhaps autorun doesn't send enough 'location data' to the server or something, so it thinks i got to the top of the stair case without ever turning the corner and pulls me back down...meh...it's very annoying.

Murder In China

Murder In China

Banned

Join Date: Sep 2005

/B/Chan

Looking for one

W/

Or you snagged onto a boundary on the corner.

Tainek

Tainek

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

[Rage]

i get this on a fairly regular basis when rounding up smites in UW, ive also noticed, you seem to exist in both places, i can be


X here according to sever





Y Here according to client





Z and Aggro monsters from here which is far from position x (2/3x aggro range)


they then ignore Y and head straight to X


$hade.

$hade.

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2005

Canada

[FiRM[]

R/

One of my probs is sometimes when I see and enemy and I click on it to attack it my char suddenly appears right infront of the enemy but doesn't attack then it suddenly goes back to where I was before :\

SnoopJeDi

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Saved By My Pinchers of Peril

R/N

My money is on a client prediction error, perhaps due to a client-server hiccup. The server is probably only managing entities and collision, with the client picking up model display, etc. The server is still telling the client that the collision model is at X,Y,Z, but the client hasn't updated the model origin to suit. As far as I know, the only way to completely annihilate this uncommon and fairly benign error is to expend more of a limited pipeline with continual sync-ing. Personally, I don't think wasting that power is worth fixing this, because it rarely happens to me, and has never really bothered me that much.

Dead Phlox

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2006

Angelic Knights of Ascalon

N/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by $hade.
One of my probs is sometimes when I see and enemy and I click on it to attack it my char suddenly appears right infront of the enemy but doesn't attack then it suddenly goes back to where I was before :\
I get this often, but I assumed it was just me. I also assumed that it was problem only I saw, but one time a guildie said something along the lines of "how did you transport to the monster, then get back so fast?"

It's bizarre, that's what it is.

floppinghog

floppinghog

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2005

pit of brimstone

Squad Six Six Six [ssss]

A/Me

I can cause it on purpose too, its not lag. The link between client and server must be the issue at some point, though its crucial in pvp when your crossing a bridge sharply on a turn, it totally gets you screwed. bumped back, try again, you get free (you think your are, you cross) then your bumped back, and probably already surrounded by the enemy in the barrier corner.

Not a rant or aggrivated in anyway, though it would be nice if this could be corrected a bit.

If memory serves me right, I think Gaile Gray mentioned that Factions would improve either bumping or collisions with bridges in pvp and etc. They were going to polish this. We'll see I guess.

Edit: She mentioned it "a long while ago".

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnoopJeDi
My money is on a client prediction error, perhaps due to a client-server hiccup. The server is probably only managing entities and collision, with the client picking up model display, etc. The server is still telling the client that the collision model is at X,Y,Z, but the client hasn't updated the model origin to suit. As far as I know, the only way to completely annihilate this uncommon and fairly benign error is to expend more of a limited pipeline with continual sync-ing. Personally, I don't think wasting that power is worth fixing this, because it rarely happens to me, and has never really bothered me that much.
As I mentioned before I dont recall much of this problem before factions pvp weekend, so it is either update for it broke things or increased load on server did.

Str0b0

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

North Carolina

N/Me

It's bad math in the program. That's what it more or less amounts to. There is at the core of the program an equation that defines the boundaries of certain objects and the location of certain objects. What happens is you end up with the computer putting two objects in the same space at the same time or the boundaries of an object extending beyond the graphical representation of the object. Some rubberbanding is caused by lag but a lot of it is due to collision issues and bad math.

SnoopJeDi

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Saved By My Pinchers of Peril

R/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ira Blinks
As I mentioned before I dont recall much of this problem before factions pvp weekend, so it is either update for it broke things or increased load on server did.
I haven't noticed any difference since before or after. I do know that they updated the renderer (and for a few days, I had to toggle bloom on/off every time I zoned. Ugh), which may put indirect pressure on, causing a sync error.

lg5000

lg5000

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2005

Australia

Out of curiosity, when that happens to you, do the rest of the team/monsters also jump around randomly?

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

me? no...

lg5000

lg5000

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2005

Australia

Then I have no idea how to fix it.

Star Alfur

Star Alfur

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

WoW. :3

PM if you need me.

W/

Yes, has happened to me several times. Awfully annoying while running ... I've noticed this happens to me often while moving around undead Hell Hounds. o.O

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

well i see lots of people having the same problem... if only they would take time to report it, then ANet might even fix it...

Nightwish

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jul 2005

During the preview weekend, in 12v12 battle, I was running up the hill towards my teamates, when I almost reach them, suddenly I was back at the start. I ran back again and the same thing happened. Repeat this 5x and imagine my desperation to save my teamate

Another case was that an attaxe was right in front of me and I tried to agro it as a tank, but I found myself charging head on into a big group seconds later. It turned out that the attaxe had magically teleported back into that group further away.

MasterDinadan

MasterDinadan

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

The Zaishen Force

Me/E

It could be an issue with your internet or network connection. I almost never suffer this kind of problem.

Yawgmoth

Yawgmoth

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2005

It happens alot for me and it's uber-annoying, and nothing changed about it since early betas... except for that i see it even more often on mobs/other players for a few last days. Anyone else (from Europe) observed increase in frequency and scale of these issues in the recent days?

My explanation:

IMO the problem has to be the Guild Wars network code - they tried to minimize the amounts of data sent so that their infrastructure could be very cheap to make up for the lack of monthly fees. In fact the data transfer most of the time you play GW is less than 1kB/s going up to 2kB/s when lots of action is going on.
I'd like to be able to check my ping in game, but the one number wouldnt really tell me anything because of how the game engine works:
-some data are considered high-priority and are sent with almost no latency - example: i'm able to Infuse efficiently, i have less than 50ms latency on skill use.
-some other kinds of information are sent less often and with less precision - example: the locations and movement of players/npcs/mobs - it feels like it's 500-1500ms latency in that ( i played many online games and i just know how 50,100,200,500,1000ms ping feels )
-and finally (it's another major annoyance) some information are sent with latency of many seconds or just ommited - this leads to lots of so called 'bugs' with Guild Lord dying suddenly, when he was still above 50% health and those players/npcs/mobs walking arond having no health displayed. The bug with running through closed gates may be also connected to this or may be just server side, i don't know.

I think that the only solution would be increasing the frequency of sending certain information between client and server which would require increase in bandwidth usage and that may be something they just can't afford.

I'd really like to hear a response from an Arena.net's dev on it.

Grais

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2006

The Tools

/Signed
Same problem for me, ultra annoying. Seems to just crop up occasionally , and if the game is getting laggy, I expect it to happen. Not to the point of ruining the game for me, but it is pretty damn annoying. Another annoying occurence running lag , where I stop, and my toon keeps going, like the server aint getting the 'stop' packet, this has been my bane more than once, plus it makes others think your a 'tard when you run right up to the fighter and your a monk. While I commend Anet for overall system stability, this is something that can use some serious 'looking into' by the devs. Pretty please, we are all asking nicely.

MasterDinadan

MasterDinadan

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

The Zaishen Force

Me/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterDinadan
It could be an issue with your internet or network connection. I almost never suffer this kind of problem.
Sorry to repeat, but this is most likely the issue, as I just had it.
I play Guild Wars all the time at home, where I'm only one of only three computers sharing a LAN that accesses a cable internet connection... No lag problems, collision issues, jumping, or ANYTHING.

Compare to just know, when I try to run Guild Wars from my computer at college on a different network, the game runs exactly like you describe. My character bounces around and doesn't move very fluidly, because of my network lag.


So, I don't think there is much ANet can do about it if you are just on a slow network...

Sephy

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2005

Refuge From Exile [RFE]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterDinadan
It could be an issue with your internet or network connection. I almost never suffer this kind of problem.
Way to not read the OP.

Anyway, lately I seem to get this quite a lot too. Especially on those extremely narrow bridges in SF

jackie

jackie

/retired

Join Date: Dec 2005

On the Beach

I get quite a bit those as well. In Sorrow's Furnace yes those narrow bridges near the place where Flame Djinn is in the Galen Mission - very annoying sometimes .

And it seems that when running for example towards north and then theres little path to east, if I stick literaly in the east side of the north path and turn east, it sometimes bounces back to the path heading to north.

These things have happened quite often for me and I rarely get lag with 10mbit connection except if servers are having problems so I've learned to avoid the situation but still they are little bit unnatural

Silent Kitty

Silent Kitty

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2006

Netherlands

[TYW] "The Young World"

A/Me

Sometimes when I cross a bridge, I find myself running underneath it. No big deal, and very funny. Still it is something that should be fixed, unless it gives me superpowers

JiggyFly

JiggyFly

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

So-Cal

Forsaken Wanderers [FW]

Mo/

I got it bad today in a GvG. It was the Wizards Isle map, and as my team and I were running up the stairs to the guild lord, I ran completely through the stairs and ended up underneath the guidlord and bodyguards.

Then later at the 35 minute mark and teamate of mine and I went into the enemy hall to go for the guild lord, but I never made it. I must have run through the side-gate into the hall about 30 times and everytime I was taken back outside.

All this glitching, falling through bridges, getting stuck in the ground and not being able to move. I first started seeing all this happen after the Factions PvP event (before that it was just the occasional getting snared on a corner or soemthing).

And with Anet always saying "They're putting all their efforts into Factions etc...", I'd gladly take Factions getting postponed a month for Anet to get on it and fix this shit, it's getting that annoying.

Kenweng

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2006

Hope of the Midnight Crest

R/

I have this same problem too occassionally but it usually happens when my internet starts to act up. My thoughts is that is has someting to do with the transfer of packets between the server and your computer through a certain internet connection. Maybe the information system may be messed up or just bad coding as someone mentioned earlier. I hope you get this fixed for yourself.

(funny note) This also happens to monsters such as ettins...happenned just a while ago where the ettin was stuck in what I like to call "the infinite loop" syndrome where he is trying to attack me but keeps getting teleported back to where he originally started from.

strcpy

strcpy

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

One of Many [ONE]

I get it fairly often also. It happens during several different times - though all are generally latency problems.

Network. If I have to manny torrents open or too many computers going through my cable modem. This can get very bad if I don't limit upstream (I have 6mbit down - hard to fill that). I usually have no reserves anywhere, though I will sometimes configure the netwrk to reserve 5K/s upstream for my game sometimes.

Local client. No one else one the connection, no other software accessing the internet (I log all outgoing traffic on the router). If I'm in a battle with quite a few enemies and move fast (even just rotating the camera) soemtimes some serious rubberbanding. Going around corners with autorun can be irritating sometimes also. But all of these see a hige spike in system load when I've bothered to turn on logs. I have a somewhat older computer that has some video card issues - it boggs down sometimes (dual athlon 1800's - the dual chipset (762 northbridge) has some agp slot issues).

In my opinion this tends to be some of the "anti-hacking" stuff GW does. The game assumes worst state for you, best state for server controlled (in other words - anything that even slightly fails sanity checks is assumed hacking). I've noticed that damage to me during those times stays, damage to mobs doesn't. One amusing time of both network and system bogging down I had a level 20 warrior killed by two char choats and a flame caller outside of Grenditch Courthouse - it was quite a long segment of "rubberbanding". I think I killed the choat a few times in my client only to rubberband back and him alive again. Though with the way the death penalty works - was more funny than anything (I killed a torrent and everything went back to normal).

Your also just going to have it happen no matter what from time to time. For fast computers on fast networks maybe enough that an individual may never see it, but it will still happen across the board. If I'm right and it's a design feature (stops client side hacking fairly well) we are better off with it, the vast majority of the time it's nothing more than irritating.

About the only time it get's irritating is if I'm in a mission and it's causing a loss (especially at the end of some of the harder ones like THK or Thirsty with henchies). Otherwise it's sorta amusing watching the goings on.

Hodor

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Federated Communist Uber Korps

This game does appear to do alot of what is called client side prediction, where your GW client will show you where it thinks you should be based on your input. The position info is passed to the GW server, which updates your real position. Sometimes dropped packets or server lag causes a failed position prediction. The warping business is the GW server saying, no I think your meant to be here.
This function seems to fail now and then, and you don't get warped to where the GW server believes you are on your local GW client visually. You see where your GW client though you should be, rather than where the GW server knows you are.
There doesn't apear to be regular sanity checks between server and client for some reason. It's a flaw in GW's protocol somewhere I'd guess.

studentochaos

studentochaos

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2006

Seeking atm

N/

I get this problem all the time. I just take it as it is. Probably my connection and it is already so tempermental I don't want to start a fire

Vermilion Okeanos

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2005

In my opinion, it had something to do with the recent update of
DirectX8 -> DirectX9 transition.

There are more problems than ever all of sudden after they send the faction update. It was then, Dx8 was switch to Dx9.

That was one of the main reason I hold the faction update guilty.

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

I said it more than once and I'll say it again. There is nothing wrong with my internet connection. I am on 1mbit dsl line and there is only d-link router between me and internet. Besides the issue described is persistant and continues to happen while my client responds to my actions just fine. I refuse to understand how this looks anythin like connection problem.

Hodor

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Federated Communist Uber Korps

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilion Okeanos
In my opinion, it had something to do with the recent update of
DirectX8 -> DirectX9 transition.

There are more problems than ever all of sudden after they send the faction update. It was then, Dx8 was switch to Dx9.

That was one of the main reason I hold the faction update guilty.
Considering this has been happening to me since I started playing GW mid last year, this isn't likely.

Thallandor

Thallandor

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Singapore

Seers of Serpents [SoS]

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterDinadan
It could be an issue with your internet or network connection. I almost never suffer this kind of problem.
QFT ruberbanding usually occur when the sever has a problem communicating with your network connection. i doubt there is really Anet can do to help you in this.

otherwise it could hardware or you have too many programs running in the background causing memory problems.