I still have it happening to me which makes me think it is client/server latency related. I am playing from Japan so i'm used to latency on actions in mmos but this seems different/coded weird. Not sure if its because of emulator or if vanguard was just coded like this. I was playing from the US when i played originally back in 2007 so I never noticed this stuff. Also not knocking you at all i'm guessing this is how the game was coded. you are doing a great job with bringing this dinosaur back to life.
Keep in mind i'm no coder/network guy I could be completely out of left field here, just describing what it seems is happening:
so say I'm fighting a mob. the first melee attack I use goes normally, this triggers the hotbar wide GCD. then once the gcd is complete I have to hit my next ability multiple times before it triggers, after the gcd has been completed for half a second or more. sometimes up to 1 full second delay from when my client shows the GCD has completed and when my next ability will trigger with me spamming the button. There is no indication in the game that it has "seen" my ability request and something's wrong so it's not performing it (ie like out of range, you cant do that yet, etc)
Most games have an ability "queue" to handle client/server disagreements like this, because we're talking miliseconds here it shouldn't matter. Client thinks the GCD is complete it accepts the next ability request and sends to the server. Server takes the request and waits until it sees the GCD is completed on its end and then it performs the action. Once client side gets the confirmation that the server has the request, it starts the animation of the attack and by the time the animation is rolling the server and client are back in sync and server has done the math, then dmg is displayed.
In vanguard i've noticed that the math is displayed instantly after resolution before the animation even plays, even the mob death happens before animation. Thats what leads me to believe that the client is waiting on server confirmation before it lets me key abilities. the whole "handshake" has to complete before it starts animating.
I only have like 150-200ms latency so it should be only 0.15-0.20 second delay at best. In other games it translates into having everything happen 0.2s after i press it, but otherwise everything happens normally. But with Vanguard emu it seems like the server refuses to accept inputs until after it receives word from my client that my GCD has completed, which adds a full round trip Japan > Canada > Japan latency before I can key abilities, so up to half a second or more.
I'll try and illustrate what i'm talking about with a shitty timeline:
Every MMO i've ever played, starting with the 2nd ability (ie after the first GCD):
GCD complete, press next ability---->server receives/Client begins animation---->Server does math/sends results to client for display--->Repeat
1.5s...............................................................................1.7s..............................................................................1.9s...........................................2.0s
Vanguard:
GCD complete on client------->Client tells server GCD is complete------->Server tells client GCD is complete------>Client sends ability to server---------->Server sends results back------->repeat
i'm spamming ability--------------> still spamming-------------------------------->-Spamming then Ability triggers----------->GCD starts on client--------------------->dmg is show then animation plays
1.5s...........................................................1.7s...........................................................1.9s......................................................2.0s.................................................2.2s.................................2.3s
