One of the biggest complaints from the Modern Warfare open beta centered around the netcode of the game. Apparently, incorrect latency figures were being shown, leading players to believe they were getting a better connection than they actually were. However, the servers the matches were running on were far less than optimal.
Around release, Infinity Ward released a video explaining the netcode in Modern Warfare. In it, they stated that the game was, in fact, running on dedicated servers. However, this is only for public matches; Modern Warfare custom games are a whole other story.
What is the status of the netcode in Modern Warfare?
YouTuber Battle(non)sense was the first to uncover the netcode issues in the Modern Warfare beta. Naturally, he ran the same tests for the full launch of the game. Earlier this week, he released another video detailing the current status of the netcode.
For those who either can’t watch it or didn’t understand it, here’s a quick breakdown. Essentially, public matches, not including Ground War, run at a tick rate of 62 Hz. A tick rate is the number of updates the match sends to the server. The higher the tick rate, the better the connection and, in turn, the better the experience.
Ground War, which features 64 players, has a tick rate of 22 Hz. This is to be expected, as there are far more players than in previous Call of Duty games. However, all public matches are running on dedicated servers. Custom games, on the other hand, are not.
Custom game issues
Private matches in Modern Warfare use a single host, and your connection to that host depends on both sides’ Internet. If the host has a poor connection, then your connection, no matter how strong it is on your end, will match that of the host’s.
If #CallofDutyModernWarfare has guns with a firing rate of more than 600RPM, then this causes "Super Bullets" on Listen Servers due to the 12Hz rate.
There are not enough updates to have one update per fired round, so damage gets bundled.https://t.co/dYYjZG51Zd pic.twitter.com/8cguS3LtIZ— Battle(non)sense (@BattleNonSense) November 21, 2019
In Battle(non)sense’s tests, custom games have a tick rate of a mere 12 Hz in Modern Warfare. This is far below the norm for any big multiplayer title on the market today. Games like Fortnite and Overwatch have their custom games running on dedicated servers. This ensures your connection is solely based on your Internet alone.
There’s no real explanation from Infinity Ward on why custom games are running this way, much to the dismay of professional players. Since a majority of their time is spent in private matches, it’s no surprise these players are irate.
Perhaps a fix could be coming with the rumored overhaul of Modern Warfare in December. This issue, unlike some others, is a much bigger task that could take some time, unfortunately.
Have you noticed this is custom games? Let us know, and keep up with Daily Esports for all Modern Warfare coverage.
