In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, certain matches can hit with super bullets that deal double damage and take you down. How do these nasty bullets come about?
In action-packed shooters like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a proper internet connection is crucial for a good gaming experience.
However, often you can’t do anything about the poor match connection and still have to live with the consequences or die quickly due to super bullets.
Super Bullets deal double damage
What are super bullets in CoD? These are bullets that deal more damage than they are supposed to.
The impact is accordingly higher and can mean a quick end with headshots.
This feels unfair to players because they feel like they died unjustly.
How is the high damage generated? The enhanced bullets are actually 2 bullets in one shot, arriving simultaneously at the player due to a weakness in the netcode.
The netcode of an online game regulates the connections between the game server and the users, determining how the information from you reaches your opponent when you shoot or move.
Weakness in the netcode leads to errors in the matrix
Why are there such killer bullets? The dedicated YouTuber “Battle(non)sense” posted a graphic on Twitter of his current video, in which he explains the problems that can arise with an unbalanced netcode.
- The graphic shows a timeline from left to right
- At the top as a cartridge the fire rate of a 600 shots-per-minute (RPM) rifle
- one shot every 100ms
- Secondly, the update rate of the connection in red, here 10 Hz
- This rate determines how often information is exchanged
- 10 Hz here is 100 milliseconds or 0.1 seconds
- Then as a third, a weapon with 750 RPM as cartridge
- one shot every 80 ms, thus below the update rate
- At the very bottom for comparison, a connection with 60 Hz / about 17 ms in blue
The weapon with a fire rate of 750 RPM spits out bullets faster than the players’ pings last. This leads to the super bullet phenomenon, as two bullets were fired within one update and then arrive.
In short: A low tick rate combined with fast-firing weapons can lead to these super bullets, which feel unfair to players.
Clan Wars and competitive games affected
Why is this a problem in Modern Warfare? CoD traditionally has a large community of players who organize themselves into clans and compete against each other. This is also partially organized into leagues and for many players, it is a real hobby.
With the investigation by “Battle(non)sense” of the CoD netcode, it has now been revealed that private matches, contrary to the developers’ claims, can also be client-based – meaning a specific player is the host and not the CoD servers are used for the match.
This is the problem with private matches: The rate in these private matches is significantly lower than in games on dedicated servers provided by Modern Warfare, which according to “Battle(non)sense” are around 60 Hz (except Ground War).
This rate is only at 12 Hz (about 83.3 ms) and is therefore, according to the statement in the video, very susceptible to errors and curiosities in transmission. This low tick rate can lead to increased occurrences of “super bullets” in these modes.
In addition to the much-criticized matchmaking, private games could be another weakness in the multiplayer of Modern Warfare.
Netcode is a tricky issue, what do you think of the new findings? Do you play many private matches?
