The Division Networking is Borked and so is Destiny (Destiny)

by uberfoop , Seattle-ish, Wednesday, April 27, 2016, 19:08 (3226 days ago) @ Blackt1g3r

I think the main problem with both games is that they've dumped the traditional client-server networking model in favor of a more distributed networking model.

According to their presentation, the core gameplay physics and whatnot in any given bubble are handled with what's basically a traditional peer-to-peer model with a single host.

and is the reason Destiny doesn't feel like 4-player firefight in Halo Reach (with random slowdowns and stuttering).

The reason it doesn't feel like Halo's classic campaign networking is that it's more like Halo's classic multiplayer networking.

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But this doesn't mean it doesn't trust the client too much.

Suppose that you're walking forward, when your connection clips out. You turn, move to the side, and beat down Enemy A. Then, your connection blips back in. During that time, other player's systems (including the host) just predictively saw your avatar continue to walk forward, and Enemy B has had you in their sights and been ARing you.

So, after your connection come back, the host has to juggle several conflicting reports. Your console is saying that you're 5 meters to the side and that you killed enemy A with a punch. Everyone else's console is saying that you're 5 meters forward and enemy B's console is hitting you with an AR.

Some various things the host could decide to do:
1-Trust everyone else. The host leaves enemy A alive and tells your console that you didn't actually kill them, forces you to teleport five meters forward and to the side on your screen, and tells your console to shave off lots of your health.
2-Trust you. Tell everyone else's console that you actually haven't lost any health to enemy B's AR, teleport you on their screens five meters back and to the side, and tell enemy A's console that they actually died a second ago by being punched by that character who, at that point, seemed to be seven meters away and looking in another direction.

Destiny's networking might just lean a little more toward #2 than people would like.

Of course, networking in general is complex, and a game could easily have all kinds of intermediate solutions, such as:
3-Trust everyone. Kill enemy A, shave off your health due to enemy B's AR, teleport you to back where you were at the beginning of the lag episode, etc.
4-Trust nobody, spawn a herd of space whales on the map that trample everyone, force players to respawn off-map where they die instantly.