Desync explained and why it affects your gameplay the most

In this article; how desync works, why it exists and how to “fix it”.

Desync stands for desynchronization and occurs in multiplayer games. The meaning of it is when your client, the server and the enemy’s client are not synchronized. This can lead to extreme delay. So how does it work and are you able to fix it?

How desync works

When playing a multiplayer game, there are 3 sides of the game. The first one is your client side (what you see), the second one is the servers where the actual game is played and the third one is the client side of your enemy.

If you move left 1 meter, you instantly do so on your own client, but this information needs to be sent to the servers as the actual game is played on there. This can take some time (affected by ping), and when it’s there, the people in your render distance need to receive this information aswell. So no matter what, there will never be 0 delay between your inputs and outputs on the servers.

So while on your client side you might already have taken cover, on the server side you’re still trying take cover and on the enemy’s side you might even be standing still.

Why not just one location where you play the game?

If you only had one location where’d you play (server side), this would cause extreme input delay. Because with the client sides you instantly move smoothly, and if you only had a server side it would work differently. You would have to make inputs and your computer sends that information to the server, updating what you do in the game. This still is the same today, but you already move instantly on your client to fix input delay.

How can you “fix” desync?

Desync isn’t really fixable unless you can upgrade your internet or the game servers get an upgrade. Your ping (response time) also really affects this aswell. The lower ping, the faster the information can be sent to the servers. If your enemy’s ping is high, desync will become a big issue.

But does ping really matter that much? Yes, let’s say you we’re in a shooter game and you both shoot at the exact same time, it would be a race who’s information would reach the servers faster. So, the only way to fix desync is getting better internet speed.

Read more