Unturned is declining player-base wise, and here's why (discussion)

I'm going to guess that you don't know what causes rubber banding in the first place. It's an issue with networking which is why it only happens on public servers. It's not there as a nerf.

When you do something on a server a packet get sent to the server and a response gets sent to your client. When walking forward the packet might look something like this:

[4:06:30] Emerald has begun moving, 90, Walking, 130, 45
[4:06:45] Emerald has stopped moving, 150, 45

The first line here says that I have started walking east (positive 90 degrees from north) starting from coordinates 130, 145. The second line says that I've stopped moving at coordinates 150, 45. The communication would look more like this actually:

[4:06:30] Emerald has begun moving, 90, 130, 45
[4.06:35] Emerald has changed direction, 0, 135, 45
[4:06:45] Emerald has stopped moving, 135, 55

The "changed direction" packet would be present for any change in movement. These packets would also contain more data than just what I've written out. walking through a house might be anywhere from 6 packets to 6000 depending on how erratic your movements are. and that's just going one way. Servers usually send back an acknowledgment packet.

How does this relate to rubber banding? Imagine that you connection to the server is slow enough that the direction change packet above arrives at the same time that the movement stopped packet arrives. The server checks what it's processed against what the packet says. This would cause the server to think "oh shit, Emerald is over here when she should be over here." Correcting this error is really up to how the developer wants it to be done. The three options are using the players position according to the client, using the players position according to the server or have them meet in the center somehow.

There is another possible issue that can cause rubber banding: packet loss. This occurs when the packet doesn't reach its destination at all. It results in much the same error as above.

How can all this be fixed? There's several ways:

  • reducing the size of the packets
  • reducing the number of packets
  • getting better internet, either through plugging in directly, paying for a better plan or changing your service provider altogether.
  • Choosing the servers you connect to wisely

The first two options offer a free fix for the player but could also introduce even more issues. The second fix costs the player money but lessens the amount of possible issues introduced.

The fourth option is the most reasonable choice. Connection to a server is measured in milliseconds. You'll see this listed everywhere labeled as "ping." The lower this number is the better your connection to the server is. Hosting a server on the machine you're playing on would produce the best ping. Playing on a server hosted in Australia while you live in Canada would probably produce the worst ping. My general suggestion is don't play on anything with over a ping of 75 ms.

There's no measurement for packet loss as far as i know so you're just going to have to hope for the best when connecting to a server.

TL;DR: #2 is not necessarily an issue with the game but more likely an issue with your internet connection. Plug in, get better internet or choose your servers more wisely to fix it.

/r/unturned Thread