Client vs server npc anims

[slender tapir]

Always better to play npc animations on client? What about for combat? Would there be noticeable delay?

[stable glacier]

For combat I personally use a server script set to client run context

[cloud lotus]

I think for npcs its better to play the animations on the server because if you play the animations on the client. The client would need to own that part if i am not wrong

[slender tapir]

not true

[cloud lotus]

dang

[stable glacier]

Depends on how important sync is

[slender tapir]

i'm wondering this because i have a fast paced ish combat with parrying and im wondering if it would cause a noticable delay to play on client

[slender tapir]

can you explain client run context? i know a little

[stable glacier]

Jst try it

Idk much about it

[cloud lotus]

Well depends.ig in the end you would still have to FireAllClients

[slender tapir]

no, u just have the client play animations for npcs that are loaded in, and in close enough proximity

[stable glacier]

I use it for a sim like combat game where u mostly fight npcs

[cloud lotus]

So you will just trust the client with all the logic like detecting the parry

[slender tapir]

no, the server is still authoratative

client just sends infpo

basically what i did for my deer npcs

is this:

[cloud lotus]

but then if the parry is detected on the server you would have to take an extra step just to play the animation

because you would have to send the information to the client again

which will just cause more delay

[slender tapir]

yeah but u dont want the server to play anims if u can fight it

im pretty sure the client playing the animation might be just as fast

[cloud lotus]

wdym by "can fight it"

[slender tapir]

server runs 30 fps

client unlimited fps

server has limited power

[cloud lotus]

well the client has as many fps as the client (the user) has

[slender tapir]

what i do for my deer npcs is this: server checks if no players are near, then anchors them, to not cause strain on server, and it doesn't play aniomations, just sets the states, idle, run, walk, and the client detects states of npcs near them and loads the animations

[cloud lotus]

and taking the time client and server need to communicate in account is still important

especially if you communicate 3 times

to play something that should be responsiv

[slender tapir]

well right now i do it on the server

for my enemies that u can fight

[cloud lotus]

Well that is what i would recommend

[slender tapir]

ik but ima have a lot of npcs

and i see people recommending this

[cloud lotus]

don't worry about optimization so soon

premature optimization is your times worst enemy

[slender tapir]

but thats just the architecture for how npcs work

not rlly just optimization

[cloud lotus]

But your already worrying about there beeing many npcs.

But well

[stable glacier]

Just finish ur game bro and then maybe improve it later

If needed

[cloud lotus]

I'm just recommending something to you, you don't have to listen to me

[slender tapir]

my game is damn near finished, i just want to make imporvements

[cloud lotus]

Then go for it 👍

[slender tapir]

im gonna test to see if playing the attack anims on client is better

[pale kraken]

** You are now Level 7! **

[slender tapir]

thanks for ur help guys

will read on run context'

[civic dust]

...that's just a localscript. generally shouldn't give this particular advice

if newbies start doing this a lot, it will make helping them harder down the line because neither they, nor anyone helping them, would consider this to be a source of a problem, which it very much can be, e.g runcontext=client script in starterpack will run twice.

same for runcontext=server

[civic dust]

even less of a good idea when you're telling people to do this when you barely understand it yourself

[civic dust]

... thats usually the other way around. clients are very limited fps. servers are practically unlimited

[civic dust]

this is still a good idea however; no computer is actually unlimited, and roblox will throttle. best to spend your resources around the player instead of things no one can see

[civic dust]

it's true, if you cannot make it once, it doesn't matter how optimized or fast it doesn't work

[civic dust]

if you already have it working, great! stick with that.

[civic dust]

... but there will always be a noticeable delay. You cannot escape the fact of network latency. You can move it, or try to hide it, but you cannot eliminate it entirely. there is no "always better", it depends on what you're doing.

there's always more than 1 way to do things.

[civic dust]

switching to server authority is not an improvement, it is a choice. it is good for some games but not others.

[stable glacier]

How does this come to what I said?

I have it inside the npc

[slender tapir]

@civic dust I swear the server was capped at 30 fps and someone made it a point to me to prove this so I believed them, I just looked it up and now it’s saying generally it’s 60?? I’m confused

[civic dust]

roblox runs at 60fps, not 30, though networking rates may be subject to throttling

[slender tapir]

As for my deer method, does this seem performant? I make all clients handle the animations, and the server just handles the deer, if a player isn’t close to a deer it’ll get anchored and stop doing anything, so basically it gets unloaded, and if a client is near, the deer will begin moving again as normal… I was thinking of getting rid of humanoids and making my own custom ones for npcs just using simple body movers n stuff but not sure if that’ll be better or worse seeing as humanoids are built into studio

Ur thoughts?

[civic dust]

performance is not the issue

[slender tapir]

But I’m gonna have a lot of nps

It’s a big map

[civic dust]

you haven't decided on a way to do it yet, and likely haven't gotten the latency hidden yet

or maybe you have

idk you weren't quite clear on that

[slender tapir]

There’s not really any latency with playing the anims on client

Even with 50 deer all in the same place

Haven’t done any crazy tests with like 500 Deer

[civic dust]

i suggest you do those tests and find out what your limit is

coz it may already be enough

can't optimize past 60fps y'know

[slender tapir]

What about custom humanoids though

Can you answer my question on that

Aren’t regular humanoids like imbedded in studio in c++ or something

[civic dust]

roblox has 3 different types of humanoids at the moment

well 2~3-ish

a few years ago i'd say yeah probably, since humanoid is a bit bloaty

and a bit jank, lacks control etc

it's not something a beginner can feasibly achieve tho

[slender tapir]

Wait what? They added more humanoids

[civic dust]

roblox has the standard humanoid, obv, it also has ControllerManager and has had this for quite a while, and recently they're building up to releasing new humanoid https://devforum.roblox.com/t/studio-beta-avatarabilities-library-for-a-luau-based-character-controller/4403904
see also https://devforum.roblox.com/t/avatar-joint-upgrade-for-physically-simulated-character-movement-is-now-live/4298561

so roblox is doing a fair bit of work on the humanoids already.

so... could you make your own humanoid? yeah you probably could. You could make your own pathfinding algorithm too with A*. But are you going to do better than roblox? ... Prooobably not, at least not without a looot of battletesting in live servers.

much benching, all sorts of work needed

so imo just go with what you have and, when you have a real performance problem, worry about it then

e.g does your game actually need 500 deer, or is 50 more than enough?

[slender tapir]

I mean, they’re all gonna be spread out, it’s a pretty big map, and the Deer won’t all be around each other

[civic dust]

ya only way to know is try it out