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http://dbd.game/killswitch
Flashbangs and Firecracker Variants have varying Fuse Timers on Higher Frame Rates
PLATFORM: Recorded on PC (STEAM), Affects ALL.
There are no steps to this other than simply throwing a flashbang or any of the variants of firecrackers.
SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE
Flashbangs and all of the firecracker item variants have variable fuse timers. By default, flashbangs are supposed to explode after 120 frames (@60fps) or 2 seconds. However, higher frame rates on the client side have a larger disparity when exploding, and at lower frame rates, is more consistent fuse timers, but still not correct.
Obviously, latency plays into this as well and will always have some sort of delay, that is a given since we are not on a LAN setting.
So, why is this an issue? This creates an issue with frame perfect timings such as locker killer grasp rescues, springtrap axe grab rescues, wesker power grab rescues, etc. Basically anything that has the built-in lightborn effect during an animation, denying buffer rescues.
Even if you throw the bang at the perfect time on the client side, accounting for the killers' client ping and framerates, this disparity with fuse timers ontop of latency can completely rob a skillful play that took a lot of thought and game mechanics knowledge. And it also forces players going for these type of plays to either limit their game to 60FPS for consistency which can make their normal chase interactions feel slower, laggier, and just worse overall due to it not performing as smooth as 120 FPS. It's either that or players must create a very fast acting macro/third party script to quickly change their framerate from 120 FPS down to 60FPS, which nobody wants to do.
EXTRA INFO.
All of these videos were recorded at 60FPS on a 1920x1080 resolution. I use a custom configuration for my game client for better FPS and I can consistently play on Ultra with 120FPS without drops. I have variable ping between 45-55ms to Ashburn servers. In ExitLag, I get 30-35ms.
I have recorded multiple sets of data as well which I will provide in this post.
120 FPS IN-GAME
120 Frame Rate set in the game settings.
BANGTHROW | FUSETIMER(FRAMES) |
|---|---|
BANG1 | 117 |
BANG2 | 113 |
BANG3 | 115 |
BANG4 | 115 |
BANG5 | 115 |
BANG6 | 115 |
BANG7 | 114 |
BANG8 | 114 |
BANG9 | 114 |
BANG10 | 114 |
BANG11 | 115 |
BANG12 | 116 |
BANG13 | 114 |
BANG14 | 113 |
BANG15 | 114 |
BANG16 | 114 |
BANG17 | 114 |
BANG18 | 115 |
Average: 114 Frame Fuse Timer
Lowest: 113 Frame Fuse Timer
Highest: 117 Frame Fuse Timer
Again, this is mostly problematic because of the high variance in the fuse timer. 120 FPS provides smoother gameplay overall, but hinders creative and high-coordination teamplay mechanics. Fuse timer could be changed completely and players would not care, they just want consistency in mechanics.
60FPS IN-GAME
60 Frame Rate set in the game settings.
BANGTHROW | FUSETIMER(FRAMES) |
|---|---|
BANG1 | 115 |
BANG2 | 115 |
BANG3 | 115 |
BANG4 | 115 |
BANG5 | 116 |
BANG6 | 116 |
BANG7 | 115 |
BANG8 | 115 |
BANG9 | 115 |
BANG10 | 117 |
BANG11 | 115 |
BANG12 | 114 |
BANG13 | 116 |
BANG14 | 115 |
BANG15 | 115 |
BANG16 | 115 |
BANG17 | 115 |
BANG18 | 115 |
BANG19 | 115 |
Average: 115 Frame Fuse Timer
High: 117 Frame Fuse Timer
Low: 114 Frame Fuse Timer
Now, 60 FPS is very consistent with very little variance in fuse timers. Makes sense since the game servers run at 60Hz and the game struggles with higher framerates/is very dependent on framerates. This is great, relatively consistent and sure, latency or other issues may occur causing varying fuse timers, it happens. However, forcing yourself to play on 60FPS hinders the rest of your experience in other aspects of the game by taking away the buttery smoothness that higher frame rates gives.
120FPS IN-GAME, 60FPS TOGGLE
This data set was recorded after doing the numbers for the native in-game 60FPS. If you didn't know, there are overclock managing programs to record hardware usage, temps, and help control framerates. Some of these programs have built in process frame limiters with a toggle function. So while my game is running 120FPS according to the settings, I can press a toggle key to set my framerate on the process to a consistent 60 on the fly. I figured I would record the data again with this feature just out of curiosity.
BANGTHROW | FUSETIMER(FRAMES) |
|---|---|
BANG1 | 117 |
BANG2 | 118 |
BANG3 | 115 |
BANG4 | 115 |
BANG5 | 117 |
BANG6 | 117 |
BANG7 | 115 |
BANG8 | 119 |
BANG9 | 116 |
BANG10 | 117 |
BANG11 | 118 |
Average: 117
High: 119
Low: 115
Now, I recorded a smaller set of data for this one as I'm on a time restraint right now. But this method still suffers from the same thing as normal 120 FPS in-game settings where there's just a high fuse time variance. But on average with this smaller set of data, the fuse timer was definitely closer to the desired 120 frames.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I'd like to say that I am a flashbang/firecracker main ever since flashlight locker saves were nerfed some years ago. I switched as soon as they were nerfed and quickly dived into the deeper mechanics of these items and I am well versed in the game overall as I have been playing since 2016, both as a casual player and used to play old school competitive.
The data I provided for the 120FPS and 60FPS native sets are accurate as I've tested these timings across multiple patches since the flashbang nerf some patches ago where they nerfed the blind angle. I have thrown probably well over 500 flashbangs in customs across those patches. Fuse timers went as low as 112 Frames and as high as 119 Frames at 120FPS. Every patch it has been the same, varying times with higher in game frame rate options while the fuse timers for 60FPS were much more consistent and close together.
I'm assuming this issue has something to do with UE5 or just the way this game has been coded as there are a lot of interactions outside of flashbangs that are framerate dependent on how they react with the client. Whether it be killer powers, power interactions with survivors, any interaction prompt for survivors, or positional errors with client/server. Hopefully things like this can eventually be ironed out and fixed as I am sure everyone would enjoy more consistent mechanics and smoother gameplay.
PLAYER LOGS:
- Unfortunately, I forgot to back up my log file of the data set I recorded with 120 FPS, I provided the logs for 60FPS with the in-game option as well as the log from the data set where I recorded with 120 FPS set in-game while using an overclock manager to set my game process to 60FPS.
CONFIG I USE
In case this is needed for reproduction purposes. May cause issues if trying to reproduce on a developer build without anticheat/config editing measures as the live build has the measures in place and prevents certain blocks of code from being modified while allowing others to be modified on the client-side.