Blatantly Bad Weapon Prediction?

[amcwatters]

Hey guys, so I have a question that peers into prediction and basic networking within Lua generated weapons.

It's a pretty straightforward question, and I'm sure some of you might have wondered yourself, but, why is weapon prediction so [i]awful[/i] in Garry's Mod?

I mean sure, in singleplayer, there's nothing to worry about, but once you play any multiplayer server, there's always noticeable problems, such as reload counts skipping, animations playing between milliseconds, and sometimes worse, seconds, effects being unbelievably delayed.

So I'm going to humiliate myself and just say that I'm a giant idiot who doesn't know what's really going on, but why is this such a persistent problem with Garry's Mod?

I figure that if the internal weapon code is right, then the SWEPs themselves should behave just like the hard coded variants, considering the SWEP code is shared in most instances.

Go ahead and give me boxes to package my weapons in if I'm missing something everyone already knows.

[thomasfn]

I have massive problems with it too. In fact the CSS sweps that Garry has distributed with GMod seems to have problems with it. The thing is, you have no control over who the messages actually get sent to when you send a weapon animation from the server, and half of the clientside functions don't even work. It's damn annoying.

[disseminate]

I feel your pain. It's just silly, some things that happen (SendWeaponAnim clientside = fucked up anim, serverside = only playable once/laggy, shared = laggy)

[amcwatters]

Wow, so like, this is all just something we all know but never talk about? There has to be an aid to this problem.

[Bkacjios]

If you make the weapons right, you can severely minimize any of these problems. My weapon base I made for my servers seems to handle very well..

[Grea$eMonkey]

[QUOTE=blackops7799;23428108]If you make the weapons right, you can severely minimize any of these problems. My weapon base I made for my servers seems to handle very well..[/QUOTE]

This. GMod doesn't know what it's supposed to predict and when. You need to explicitly tell it.

[thomasfn]

[QUOTE=grea$emonkey;23428791]This. GMod doesn't know what it's supposed to predict and when. You need to explicitly tell it.[/QUOTE]

Making everything shared should work, yes? That way, the client receives all the commands the server does in order to predict.

Doesn't work. Try it yourself.

[editline]08:36PM[/editline]

[QUOTE=blackops7799;23428108]If you make the weapons right, you can severely minimize any of these problems. My weapon base I made for my servers seems to handle very well..[/QUOTE]

I would like to see the code behind this (if not actual Lua, then pseudo-code).

[Bkacjios]

Here's a snippet of the primary fire/shoot bullets.

[lua]function SWEP:PrimaryAttack()
if ( !self:CanShootWeapon() ) then return end
if ( !self:CanPrimaryAttack() ) then return end

self.Weapon:SetNextPrimaryFire( CurTime() + self.Primary.Delay )

self.Weapon:ShootBullet( self.Primary.NumShots, self.Primary.Cone/self:GetStanceAccuracyBonus() )
self.Weapon:TakePrimaryAmmo( 1 )

if IsFirstTimePredicted() and self.Owner:IsValid() then --Predict that motha' fucka'

self.Owner:ViewPunchReset()

self.Weapon:EmitSound( self.Primary.Sound, 100, math.random(95,105) )

local bonus = self:GetStanceAccuracyBonus()

if ( CLIENT || SinglePlayer()) then
local eyeang = self.Owner:EyeAngles()
eyeang.pitch = eyeang.pitch - self.Primary.Recoil/bonus/1.5
eyeang.yaw = eyeang.yaw - math.Rand(-1,1)*self.Primary.Recoil/bonus/1.5

self.Owner:SetEyeAngles( eyeang )
end

if self.Weapon:GetNetworkedBool( "Ironsights", false ) == false then
self.Owner:ViewPunch( Angle( -self.Primary.Recoil/bonus, math.Rand(-1,1)*self.Primary.Recoil, 0))
else
self.Owner:ViewPunch( Angle( -self.Primary.Recoil/bonus/2, math.Rand(-1,1)*self.Primary.Recoil/2, 0))
end
end

if ( (SinglePlayer() && SERVER) || CLIENT ) then
self.Weapon:SetNetworkedFloat( "LastShootTime", CurTime() )
end

end

function SWEP:ShootBullet( num_bullets, aimcone )

self.Weapon:SendWeaponAnim( ACT_VM_PRIMARYATTACK )
self.Owner:MuzzleFlash()
self.Owner:SetAnimation( PLAYER_ATTACK1 )

if !IsFirstTimePredicted() then return end

local effectdata = EffectData()
effectdata:SetOrigin( self.Owner:GetShootPos() )
effectdata:SetEntity( self.Weapon )
effectdata:SetStart( self.Owner:GetShootPos() )
effectdata:SetNormal( self.Owner:GetAimVector() )
effectdata:SetAttachment( 1 )
util.Effect( "gunsmoke", effectdata )

if self.MuzzleEffect and self.MuzzleEffect != nil then
local effectdata = EffectData()
effectdata:SetOrigin( self.Owner:GetShootPos() )
effectdata:SetEntity( self.Weapon )
effectdata:SetStart( self.Owner:GetShootPos() )
effectdata:SetNormal( self.Owner:GetAimVector() )
effectdata:SetAttachment( 1 )
util.Effect( self.MuzzleEffect, effectdata )
end

local bullet = {}
bullet.Num = num_bullets
bullet.Src = self.Owner:GetShootPos()
bullet.Dir = self.Owner:GetAimVector()
bullet.Spread = Vector( aimcone, aimcone, 0 )
bullet.Tracer = 5
bullet.Force = self.Primary.BulletForce
if type( self.Primary.Damage ) == "table" then
bullet.Damage = math.random( self.Primary.Damage[1], self.Primary.Damage[2] )
else
bullet.Damage = self.Primary.Damage
end
bullet.AmmoType = self.Primary.Ammo
bullet.Callback = function ( attacker, tr, dmginfo )
self.Weapon:BulletCallback( attacker, tr, dmginfo, 0 )
end

self.Owner:FireBullets( bullet )
end[/lua]

[thomasfn]

All shared, right?

And is that effect business basically a manual version of self:MuzzleFlash()?

And ply:ViewPunch has no effect clientside.

[Bkacjios]

Yes, all shared.

Yes, to effects.

Viewpunch works fine clientside..

[thomasfn]

[QUOTE=blackops7799;23429300]Yes to effects.

Viewpunch works fine clientside..[/QUOTE]

Has never [b]ever[/b] worked for me clientside, either singleplayer, listen server or on a dedi.

[Bkacjios]

Working fine for me.. :confused:

[thomasfn]

[QUOTE=blackops7799;23429329]Working fine for me.. :confused:[/QUOTE]

Did it work before the engine update?

[Bkacjios]

I believe so. I'll have to double check if it is working clientside in a minute.

[editline]04:07PM[/editline]

Just tested it on my server. ViewPunch is definitely working fine.

[thomasfn]

[QUOTE=blackops7799;23429381]I believe so. I'll have to double check if it is working clientside in a minute.

[editline]04:07PM[/editline]

Just tested it on my server. ViewPunch is definitely working fine.[/QUOTE]

How odd. I'll have another look when I next do some GMod dev. But when I tested it, I tested pretty thoroughly and it most certainly had no effect clientside. Oh well.

[Kogitsune]

The predicted_viewmodel entity is to blame. If you do it entirely clientside with a cmodel, it works perfectly.

[url]http://getsatisfaction.com/facepunch/topics/entity_resetsequence_bug[/url]

The bug has been around for a while in regards to the entity.

[amcwatters]

[QUOTE=blackops7799;23428108]If you make the weapons right, you can severely minimize any of these problems. My weapon base I made for my servers seems to handle very well..[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry but I derived code directly from the Source SDK to write [url=http://code.google.com/p/swep-bases/]these weapons[/url].

I hope your meaning is: if you write the weapons in a way which Garry's Mod can tolerate.

[editline]01:31PM[/editline]

[QUOTE=grea$emonkey;23428791]This. GMod doesn't know what it's supposed to predict and when. You need to explicitly tell it.[/QUOTE]

I don't understand this at all, really. GMod isn't doing anything special with the weapons. You're using wrapper functions which are derived from straight out of the game; theoretically, if there is no tampering with said functions, then writing a weapon directly from the code out of the Source SDK translated to Lua should work just the same as their hard-coded counterparts, unless the methodology of running Lua methods from within the SWEP object somehow throws everything off.

[editline]01:35PM[/editline]

[QUOTE=thomasfn;23429627]How odd. I'll have another look when I next do some GMod dev. But when I tested it, I tested pretty thoroughly and it most certainly had no effect clientside. Oh well.[/QUOTE]

It might have been an engine update, when you check the root of the function, it's definitely shared, but I remember distinctively that the client-side function did nothing, it was empty.

[Lily]

[QUOTE=Kogitsune;23429733]The predicted_viewmodel entity is to blame. If you do it entirely clientside with a cmodel, it works perfectly.

[url]http://getsatisfaction.com/facepunch/topics/entity_resetsequence_bug[/url]

The bug has been around for a while in regards to the entity.[/QUOTE]

getsatisfaction

you got to be kidding, garry's account there is even closed. he dosent check that at all i think

[amcwatters]

lol

[Kogitsune]

[QUOTE=Tobba;23430058]getsatisfaction

you got to be kidding, garry's account there is even closed. he dosent check that at all i think[/QUOTE]

That post was from 8 months ago. It's an old issue is what I mean.

[amcwatters]

It's too bad this never got taken care of. :eng99:

[thomasfn]

[QUOTE=amcwatters;23430604]It's too bad this never got taken care of. :eng99:[/QUOTE]

I want azu back!

[Lily]

[QUOTE=thomasfn;23430724]I want azu back![/QUOTE]

I dont think VALVe wants him back
(he leaked the golden wrench release time or something didnt he?)

[thomasfn]

[QUOTE=Tobba;23430758]I dont think VALVe wants him back
(he leaked the golden wrench release time or something didnt he?)[/QUOTE]

Who knows, let's not start that again. But still, this is the sort of thing he'd (probably) look into and find a fix for.

[commander204]

Why did he/she quit, I heard stuff, but not everything has to be true on the internet :/

[Lily]

Gbps told me he did something and VALVe got mad, and then said they didnt want him to work on anything VALVe related

[|FlapJack|]

tl;dr: Azu leaked something minor, Valve go apeshit and remove his access. I now know the full story, and to be quite honest it's extremely small and unimportant.

The only reason he's not allowed to code for GMod anymore, is lack of trust - if he leaked a small secret, what about the bigger ones?

[garry]

I thought I fixed most of these issues a few months back. I'll look at the CS:S weapons again soon to see if there's any problems I can fix.

In the meantime if you can isolate and reproduce specific issues - and have potential fixes for them - I'm all ears.

[disseminate]

Wow, thanks garry - you're the best.

[AzuiSleet]

[QUOTE=Kogitsune;23429733]The predicted_viewmodel entity is to blame. If you do it entirely clientside with a cmodel, it works perfectly.

[url]http://getsatisfaction.com/facepunch/topics/entity_resetsequence_bug[/url]

The bug has been around for a while in regards to the entity.[/QUOTE]

This was addressed in the initial update I did. There's a function reset the event parity in the code somewhere (allowing it to correct itself when it gets the sequence from the server, assuming you did the proper prediction), that was likely commented out at some point.