Netcode - NetworkTransform Interpolation for Orbit

Hi,
I am updating my Unity game project from the old UNet to Netcode. I have a (2D) ship object that is updated by the server (and using a NetworkTransform its position/rotation is sync'd with the clients). This works well when the ship is moving in a straight line, or even turning, but in the past when I was using UNet, when the ship went into a circular orbit around a planet (the interpolation) didn't work very well. I ended up having to not use a network transform (I forget the specific UNet details as it was a long time ago) and having the client update the Ship's position locally.

Before I implement the orbit in the Netcode (to see what it looks like) - do you think that the interpolation will "just work" for this type of orbit (Note, the ship is about 1 inch and the planet is about 4 inches in size - so the orbit is quite "tight"). If the interpolation doesn't work, is there a way to turn off the NetworkTransform control of the ship's position (while it is in orbit) so that the client can handle calculating a smooth circle around the planet?

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks, Dalin

 

Since you are updating your project anyway (if I understand correctly), just give it a try. You'll see for yourself how it behaves anyway.

Whether it looks okay really only depends on whether the interpolation simply tries to predict a straight-line movement only, or whether it looks at historical changes in position (= circular movement) and keeps applying that.

Either way, client-side prediction will look best in any case, and I doubt that even clever prediction will make it go around the orbit in a smooth way. If the orbit is even a "mode" that the ship enters or leaves on user command only, then it would even make sense to only record the enter/exit orbit mode state and in-between have the client predict the ship's orbital position provided that the movement is deterministic.

 

Hi, thanks for the input. I agree that the client handling the "smooth" orbit looks best - and this is how I implemented it originally. However, I'd like to use the Network Transform so the client doesn't have to do the extra work. Regardless, if I decide to have the client handle the orbit, I somehow need to turn off the NetworkTransform... do you know if this is possible. Ie, (as you note) the server sends a client the "go into orbit" command, so if I can turn off the client's "listening" to the server's Ship position and have the client take over at that point (until the "leave orbit command") - this could work. I just don't know how to approach this (yet). My first thought is to grab the NetworkTransform component and deactivate it - but I don't know if I can do this. Again, any comments are appreciated. Thanks, Dalin