Exedore's Highlighting code thread

(Deadwalking) #21

[PC]
@Exodore
All of dazman’s explanations happen in a internet or local game. Dosn’t matter which, although in an internet game it does seem to take a bit longer for the actions to highlight.

(Sleazebaggins) #22

Just to chime in as a console player, since it seems most of the players in this thread are on PC, this issue definitely happens on the 360 version as well. Locking on to both other players and objectives for interaction can be extremely fickle and seems to take WAY too long.

Just last night I was running the level 2 Be More Objective challenge as I started leveling up a new character and both the Engineer repair objective and the Operative hacking objective seem to have very small locking windows where you basically have to be staring dead-center at the highlighted portion, which can be pretty tricky with bullets whizzing by your head. Even when you’re pointed directly at the objective, it seems like you’re pressing and holding the button for a full second or two before you even begin the animation of pulling out your torch or hackbox. And this was all completely offline, solo mode.

It gets even tougher when you’re trying to buff moving teammates or toss syringes to downed teammates when there are still enemies anywhere in the area. Apoc hit the nail on the head. As a medic, you basically have to clear the entire room before you can toss a syringe, because the time it takes to do that is just too long. Even just one enemy can keep a medic from reviving a bunch of his teammates. As a soldier, it’s also hard to toss out ammo in a firefight, though you can sometimes give yourself enough of a window with a well-placed grenade or molotov, using the time enemies are knocked down to pass a teammate some much-needed ammunition. Though at that point it’s usually just better to kill the guys you knocked down yourself.

Frankly I feel like almost all of the interaction animations take a little longer to get going than they should, including climbing/mantling, but maybe that’s a discussion for a different thread.

(AmishWarMachine) #23

[PS3]
Don’t know if this is directly related, but sometimes when setting a mine or turret, they will highlight white, and I’ll try to set them (with “[ ]”) but they won’t set because I’m not looking directly at them. (in other words: if you’re not looking directly at a mine/turret where the interaction prompt will show up, you cannot set them).

(thesuzukimethod) #24

[PS3]
went to remove a sticky bomb, and managed to toss some ammo instead. i suspect it was an issue of proximity and the urgency of deactivating the bomb caused me to rush the interaction (i reckon sharing ammo has a larger radius of interaction than deactivating the SB), and had i waited a bit to engage the interaction, it would have (should have?) prioritized the deactivation.

we laughed after it happened, but both recognized the binding/lock-on was a little wonky. (I think Oz’s comment was - “gotta love brink”)

not sure if there’s a fix (for us), more a solidarity post for an issue that consolers share with PC.

(NthLegion) #25

This is definitely a problem across platforms, but I don’t know how much is lag related. Nothing is more irritating than buffing the wrong person, or sitting with your targeter on a downed team mate waiting for the revive button to appear. This issue is among the major gameplay aggravations.

(Zanchile) #26

bumping to get spammers thread off front page

(AmishWarMachine) #27

…or highlighting a teammate that is all but out of ammo, triggering ammo sharing just as a teammate with 95% ammo runs by, and giving him the ammo instead.

(Exedore) #28

Thanks for the input. It is indeed made worse by poor latency, as the interactions are actually driven by the server. But even with a fast connection, there is a maximum update rate to mitigate lag (one of the initial issues on release).

We’re looking at how we can optimize this for dedicated servers on PC.

(.Chris.) #29

Just an idea to throw out there.

How about letting us throw buffs at any time without locking on but instead add a sort of gravity-well perhaps for the buff if it misses the intended target and hits the ground where by it goes to the nearest player so you don’t need to be spot on with your aim to give out buffs (controllers).

(BiigDaddyDellta) #30

I agree, just throw the buff. I hate chasing people down with my screen going crazy trying to buff in a fight is deadly.

Someone a while back had a really cool “group buff” idea for handleing the match starting frenzy. Use up two or three pips and just buff everyone around you.

(Smoochy) #31

http://twitter.com/#!/Rahdo check out rahdo, ive been twittering with him.

this old thread also raises the point

http://www.splashdamage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29373

not sure why they went with the method that requires server interaction. seems a slower process.

(Exedore) #32

Refer to comments about “things we’d do differently…” :mad:

(FireWorks) #33

Guess it was an anticheat decision in the firstplace but it backfire:/

(MoonOnAStick) #34

[QUOTE=Exedore;361019]Thanks for the input. It is indeed made worse by poor latency, as the interactions are actually driven by the server. But even with a fast connection, there is a maximum update rate to mitigate lag (one of the initial issues on release).

We’re looking at how we can optimize this for dedicated servers on PC.[/QUOTE]This actually explains a lot. Not just the slight lack of responsiveness but the inconsistency of the response (presumably related to variations in ping). I’ll be interested to see what improvements you can make.

Out of interest, are all interactions (mines, turrets, hack boxes, etc.) handled this way?

(Mustang) #35

The only ping that matters is yours
The server shows to you where the target should be and you draw it where the server says
So you will only ever be behind by your ping and not (for example) your target’s ping plus your own

(Smoochy) #36

my ping is usuallt <40 in brink, seems odd that a ping this good would cause issues.

(FireWorks) #37

[QUOTE=Mustang;361225]The only ping that matters is yours
The server shows to you where the target should be and you draw it where the server says
So you will only ever be behind by your ping and not (for example) your target’s ping plus your own[/QUOTE]

That would be a good theory, but its not certain and maybe a possible anticheat mechanism is also implemented. Or maybe something different.