5 ms·

So, there's a character in the game that has a passive ability that lets it recover HP faster if they are not being observed by the enemy. That ability necessi

by Festro 4y ago

So, there's a character in the game that has a passive ability that lets it recover HP faster if they are not being observed by the enemy. That ability necessitates a function that checks for enemy vision, from heroes or from static observer wards that you can buy. From an exploit perspective that is a huge boon to use for a variety of purposes. Lately it may have been used to allow exploiters to detect those purchaseable wards so that they can be countered and removed in gameplay.

FartyMcFarter 4y ago
Interesting. I would have thought such an ability would be implemented by increasing the HP on the server and then sending the new HP value to the client. But perhaps this is impractical for some reason.
- Festro 4y ago
  I think it's a matter of network performance, and the visual bugs that you can create without due care in such a fast-paced online game. Valve have commented on this hero's mechanics, and issued fixes relating to client/server-side interactions within the past year in fact. But apparently, the exploiuts still exist. Their comments have been around how redoing such mechanics can cause undue lag between clients that need to be 'caught up with' as quickly as possible. Too long and a client could see something they shouldn't and get a competitive advantage. Valve don't want to have a server updating 10 clients on 10 different network connections if they can avoid it. The compromise is to do more client-side, but that leaves the system vulnerable to such exploits. Considering that the game includes fog of war, and invisibility mechanics, visual bugs from these systems do crop up a fair bit.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    Normally stuff like that would be done both client- and server-side, but the server would have the final say for shared game state purposes (which the client can of course ignore, but then it'll just desync).
- tikkabhuna 4y ago
  I'm wondering what the client vs server is responsible for. I would have thought the server could have been responsible for adding/removing the buff where necessary. Curious as to how health regen is done in general. The server must have some sort of understanding of what it should be otherwise clients could set it to whatever they want.

by Festro 4y ago

FartyMcFarter 4y ago

Interesting. I would have thought such an ability would be implemented by increasing the HP on the server and then sending the new HP value to the client. But perhaps this is impractical for some reason.

Festro 4y ago
I think it's a matter of network performance, and the visual bugs that you can create without due care in such a fast-paced online game. Valve have commented on this hero's mechanics, and issued fixes relating to client/server-side interactions within the past year in fact. But apparently, the exploiuts still exist. Their comments have been around how redoing such mechanics can cause undue lag between clients that need to be 'caught up with' as quickly as possible. Too long and a client could see something they shouldn't and get a competitive advantage. Valve don't want to have a server updating 10 clients on 10 different network connections if they can avoid it. The compromise is to do more client-side, but that leaves the system vulnerable to such exploits. Considering that the game includes fog of war, and invisibility mechanics, visual bugs from these systems do crop up a fair bit.
- int_19h 4y ago
  Normally stuff like that would be done both client- and server-side, but the server would have the final say for shared game state purposes (which the client can of course ignore, but then it'll just desync).
tikkabhuna 4y ago
I'm wondering what the client vs server is responsible for. I would have thought the server could have been responsible for adding/removing the buff where necessary. Curious as to how health regen is done in general. The server must have some sort of understanding of what it should be otherwise clients could set it to whatever they want.