“This indicates that The Division is most likely using a trusted client network model,” writes Fiedler. “I sincerely hope this is not the case, because if it is true, my opinion of can this be fixed is basically no. Not on PC. Not without a complete rewrite.”
There’s some level of speculation involved, but having worked on Titanfalls 1 and 2, Journey and God of War: Ascension, the man knows his stuff.
In ‘top-tier competitive FPS games’, he says, the server never trusts what the client is saying—what happens server-side is gospel. The server runs client-side player inputs through the ‘real game’ on the server. The result is then seen and experienced by everyone.
If, as Fiedler suspects, The Division is running a trusted client model, client-side evaluation of hits and stats is sent to the server, which checks for anything suspect but ultimately trusts what it’s fed.
“I hope they’re not using a trusted client networking model,” Fiedler concludes. “I hope they have something up their sleeves. I hope they have a valid networking approach based around server-side checks that can address this issue in some way… But unfortunately, so far, all signs point to no.”
You can read his full blog and all the technical detail here.
