Will Ex_interp Be Locked In 1.1?
Immacolata
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2140Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-11-01 Member: 2140Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
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ex_interp (interpolation) is one of the many Half-Life net-code variables. Detailed information can be found at <a href='http://www.geekboys.org/docs/netcode2.php' target='_blank'>http://www.geekboys.org/docs/netcode2.php</a>.
But in a nutshell, most people believe that it affects client side hit prediction. It does not cause you to shoot better. But it is believed that by adjusting your ex_interp values to best fit your internet connection you can increase your hit accuracy. You still have to aim where you are shooting, but supposedly the correct ex_intep values will help your shots register more often (less false negatives).
The downside, player models move very jerky the higher-up the value is set.
Personally the vote is not in for me. I am one that believes that if you spread a rumor that a command in half-life gives a person better anything, and there is no concrete Valve documentation that states otherwise, you will get a whored of players who think they are miraculously better players because of the magic of the command.
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Some consider it a cheat/hack while others consider it a high-end tweak for the elite and those "in the know".
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And some consider it a handy excuse whenever anyone happens to outclass them (Hi animosity!). Apparently killing him as a skulk implies that i have a "nice interp", excellent logic there dumbshoes!
Note: I haven't even changed my interp anyway
The bigger issue is that people don't know about them.
It's also a great band.
As for the command, I spent a few minutes testing it with a personal dedicated server over a LAN, and then on a cable connection.
<b>YES</b> the models to get jerky.
<b>NO</b> you don't hit "more often".. partially because of the jerkiness. At least, in my tests which are notably limited.
The only advantage this could give is with an insanely fast connected server with a LOT of CPU power. And it's not a cheat/hax/exploitz, just an internet setting tweak.
I swear, some people see the word "variable" and scream "OMG H4X LOCK IT AND BAN TEH CHEETARS!"
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*Snigger*
Brian Molko got a smack in the face when they toured here. I laughed & laughed.
What I've gathered from this thread:
ex_interp is a configuration variable
It is used by your local HL (NS) client to try to match player model movement to what is happening on the server.
It is intended to help you compensate for your connection by allowing you to tell your client what kind of latency (lag) to expect.
It is exploitable because... setting a very low value causes the models to move ahead of where they would actually be? Thus allowing you to know where someone's model will land (or move to) slightly before they get there? I think that's what has been described...
Please correct me if I've misinterpreted anything.
It is used by your local HL (NS) client to try to match player model movement to what is happening on the server.
It is intended to help you compensate for your connection by allowing you to tell your client what kind of latency (lag) to expect.
It is exploitable because... setting a very low value causes the models to move ahead of where they would actually be? Thus allowing you to know where someone's model will land (or move to) slightly before they get there? I think that's what has been described...
Please correct me if I've misinterpreted anything. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
AHA! Now my nublet mind understands what it is all about. Thanks! The better your connection is, the lesser impact it has. Like 30 ms latency measn that there isn't a lot to be predicted since return times are low. But at 100+ ms perhaps. I see now.
It should at least be a variabled tied to your connection as was intended <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
To clarify: suppose there is a corridor, with another corridor to the side. A marine with a pistol is in the main corridor but can't see into the side corridor. In the side corridor is an alien, running to the main corridor, but it stops just before it gets into the main corridor so it never could be hit by the marine.
Now, due to lag prediction, the comp of the marine (assuming laggy connection) could predict the skulk running into the main corridor (based on current speed and position), before it receives a information that the skulk stopped. So the marine does see the skulk coming into the main corridor. The marine shoots and hits the skulk model on his PC, even though the alien player never entered the corridor on his own PC. Does the server count this as a hit or miss?
To clarify: suppose there is a corridor, with another corridor to the side. A marine with a pistol is in the main corridor but can't see into the side corridor. In the side corridor is an alien, running to the main corridor, but it stops just before it gets into the main corridor so it never could be hit by the marine.
Now, due to lag prediction, the comp of the marine (assuming laggy connection) could predict the skulk running into the main corridor (based on current speed and position), before it receives a information that the skulk stopped. So the marine does see the skulk coming into the main corridor. The marine shoots and hits the skulk model on his PC, even though the alien player never entered the corridor on his own PC. Does the server count this as a hit or miss? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
As I understand it, the server will honor a hit scored on the model you saw on your client, <b>unless</b> the player was never actually at that location because what you saw was a result of client-side prediction.
So in the example you gave, the skulk doesn't get hit.
An example where the skulk does get hit: he runs past a door that the laggy marine is watching. The laggy marine shoots, but due to his 1000 msec lag, he fires one second after the skulk was already gone. The server looks back in time, figures out that 1000 msecs ago the skulk was in fact right there (meaning that if the marine had no latency he would have killed it fair and square), and awards the kill (leading the skulk to curse loudly, since he erroneously thought he was untouchable).
This is what I've gathered from the studies I've read, but I could be wrong.
In any case, if the above is correct, then tweaking ex_interp shouldn't bestow any magical advantages.
The other factor to consider is, just how important is it to remove? I'm reading about it here, but I can guarantee you I'll never be spending any time tweaking that setting so I can get a marginal increase in accuracy (my ping is about 100ms avg., and the default is .1, so I probably can't benefit at all by changing it). >95% of players will never touch the command, but those with the patience to fine-tune something like that deserve any performance increase they get.