Battlefield 4 netcode is next on DICE’s laundry list of fixes

Don’t panic, this is normal.

Battlefield 4 still doesn’t work quite right. You’ve probably noticed this if you’re still playing it, and DICE have posted another blog-based update about what they’re trying to do about it. In this week’s installment of “how we’re trying to fix Battlefield 4” it’s the turn of that pesky netcode.

DICE defines netcode as “problems ranging between faulty networking latency compensation and glitches in the gameplay simulation itself” and lists a few of the issues that are being looked into right now.

There are said to be “upcoming fixes” for packet loss and a customise screen bug (whatever that is) that have been causing some rubber banding issues for players. DICE also says it’ll “continue to collect data” on instances of rubber banding to try to figure out where and why it’s occurring. This comes in conjunction with a couple of HUD additions which arrived with the Battlefield 4 31 January patch, showing when a player’s connection to the server is lagging (a little clock icon) and when packet loss is happening (four small squares.)

Other issues under investigation include “Kill camera delay / Player death sync,” “Tickrate,” “No registered damage” and, my favourite by far, “instant death while sprinting.” The straight-faced description on that latter problem states: “At certain occasions while walking or sprinting, a player could get catapulted at high speed which would cause death if any object was standing in the way.”

There’s also a list of issues that DICE feels are now fixed in Battlefield 4 which are: “Kill card shows 0 health,” “Broken collision,” “Crosshair disappearing, resulting in hit markers disappearing,” “Hit impact sounds” and “Headshot icon.” You can read about them all in the blog post linked above.