Not able to pick up weapons dropped on stairs

[Gudenrath]

Been killed several times now, standing around like an idiot, trying to pick up an enemy gun, but being unable to, seemingly because it has been dropped on stairs. It seems there is either no way to pick up items dropped on stairs, or they are only able to be picked up from obscure angles.

This is everytime.

[Ducky]

If that happens, do you then see the message on your screen telling you that the weapon can be picked it up? Or is that message not shown at all if you move around the weapon?

[r5cya]

lots of places they can't be picked up. my rule of thumb is, i run over it and hit the ctrl button, if it picks it up, great, if not, i do not hesitate to get into cover. no weapon is worth dieing for. in fact most times i'll avoid the weapon and area alltogether. there's probably another guy right around the corner.

[Gudenrath]

Originally Posted by Ducky

If that happens, do you then see the message on your screen telling you that the weapon can be picked it up? Or is that message not shown at all if you move around the weapon?

No message. While a grenade or other items dropped just before the stairs, from the same dead body, does show on the screen as being items you are able to pick up.

I just had this in Grain Elevator twice.

[r5cya]

lots of slopes won't let you pick stuff up. you've seen the bouncing nades, right?

[Proud_God]

Most likely due to a desynch in where the server and your client think where the weapon is.

[Temporary]

There could be another reason for that problem: you need to be above the weapon to pick it up.

It's (almost) impossible to pick up a weapon from below it, you notice that on slopes and trenches: the gun is visible, you are near it, and you can never grab it.

Proud_God is also right, desynch happens frequently, much to my despair (oh those grenades...)

[Mekhazzio]

Physics are not synchronized across the network, so objects that go into free physics, like ragdolls and dropped weapons, show up in different places on every computer. This frequently causes the pickup system to break down, because it's built so that you need to be within pickup range & facing of the weapon on your client to initiate the pickup, and then -also- need to be within the pickup zone on the server for it to run the pickup. Thus, you need to be in the intersection of those zones to actually pick up the weapon. If the position of the weapon has desynched enough that those two areas don't have any overlap, then it just can't be done.

Stairs make the problem worse by amplifying the physics action, but it can happen on perfectly flat ground too.

It ought to be using a more client-authoritative method.

[Genocider]

Originally Posted by Mekhazzio

Physics are not synchronized across the network, so objects that go into free physics, like ragdolls and dropped weapons, show up in different places on every computer. This frequently causes the pickup system to break down, because it's built so that you need to be within pickup range & facing of the weapon on your client to initiate the pickup, and then -also- need to be within the pickup zone on the server for it to run the pickup. Thus, you need to be in the intersection of those zones to actually pick up the weapon. If the position of the weapon has desynched enough that those two areas don't have any overlap, then it just can't be done.

Stairs make the problem worse by amplifying the physics action, but it can happen on perfectly flat ground too.

It ought to be using a more client-authoritative method.

Can you explain why occasionally, I'll kill a guy and his weapons and equipment just disappear completely? I've had it happen a few times and still don't get why that happens. Although thanks for the explanation about the above. Really hope TWI fixes this stuff sometime but I doubt it'll happen anytime soon.

[Mekhazzio]

Originally Posted by Genocider

Can you explain why occasionally, I'll kill a guy and his weapons and equipment just disappear completely?

That's a different bug, and one that happens a lot more than just occasionally. The dropped item system isn't very well-made and can cause collision errors with itself, which makes the spawning of some of the items abort before they're even created.

But yeah, pretty much all of the bugs in the game have been in since release and their numbers haven't diminished much, so don't hold your breath.