[GameSpot] - Tons Of Apex Legends Bugs Were Caused By A Single Line Of Code

[343iBot]

Apex Legends has endured its fair share of bugs in the four years since its initial release, and the most stubborn, persistent issues with the game seem to be sound-related bugs. But the game's audio woes may have finally come to an end, as Respawn says it has found the source of the problem: a single line of code related to a new weapon that was introduced to the game at the start of Season 16.

In the game, the Nemesis is an energy assault rifle with a curious origin. In real life, however, it's apparently been the catalyst behind many of the game's sound effect issues. But audio bugs weren't the only issues lurking behind the new firearm--the introduction of the Nemesis caused dozens of bugs to pop up, including one that caused grenades to disappear.

Describing the ordeal as "finding a needle in a haystack," Respawn developers explained the source of the issues in a Reddit post earlier this week. Interestingly, they weren't even trying to address problems with the game's sound effects when they discovered the problem--they were just trying to fix the disappearing grenades, which led developers down a "rabbit hole" revealing the two bugs were caused by one source: a single line of code that was added to the game when the Nemesis debuted.

The Nemesis has a "warm-up" phase when players begin firing it, increasing the rate of fire until it reaches its peak. That warm-up period produces a particle effect. Naturally, when the gun is not in use, the effect disappears, as it would be seen by no one and also waste precious processing resources that could be better used for something else. But the "stop particle" command that achieved this was being sent to the server from every uncharged Nemesis in the game on every frame, which only strained resources further.

"14 clients with a Nemesis running at 180fps would be enough to cause FX to begin being dropped," the Reddit post explained. This caused problems with sound effects like footsteps and visual effects (hence the disappearing grenades).

Both issues--and according to Respawn, dozens of others--were solved when developers addressed the bug with a game update on April 25. The information was not made public until this week.

"Since [fixing the bug], we have been keeping a close eye (and ear) on socials and our new metrics," the developers explained on Reddit, ending the post that a reminder that although this single fix has had a significant effect, it's not necessarily a cure-all. Still, it seems the results are promising enough that the developer felt it was time to inform the playerbase.

Season 16 comes to an end next Tuesday, May 9, with the launch of Season 17: Arsenal set for 10 AM PT / 1 PT ET the same day.

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