NetworkTransform
The position, rotation, and scale of a NetworkObject is normally only synchronized once when that object is spawned. To synchronize position, rotation, and scale at real-time during the game, a NetworkTransform component is needed. NetworkTransform synchronizes the transform from server object to the clients.
NetworkTransform covers most use cases for synchronizing transforms. For some special cases such as fast paced games a custom implementation with a different interpolation algorithm might be better.
tip
You can have multiple NetworkTransform components on child objects of your network object to synchronize individual positions of child objects.
Restricting Synchronization#
Quite often not all transform values of a GameObject need to be synchronized over the network. For instance if the scale of the GameObject never changes it can be deactivated in the syncing scale row in the inspector. Deactivating synchronization only saves on CPU costs but in the future it will also reduce the bandwidth used by NetworkTransform`.
Thresholds#
You can use the threshold values to set a minimum threshold value. Whether to scale to your project's world unit scale or to reduce the frequency of synchronization updateSs, changes below threshold values won't synchronize. For example, if your NetworkTransform has Interpolate enabled you might find that you can lower your position threshold resolution (position threshold value increased) without impacting the "smoothness" of an object's motion. Increasing the threshold value (lowering the resolution of synchronization updates) reduces the frequency of when the object's position synchronize (which translates to reducing bandwidth consumption).
note
The small changes below the threshold still result in a synchronization of the values as soon as all the accumulative changes cross the threshold.
Local Space#
By default, NetworkTransform synchronizes the transform of an object in world space. The In Local Space configuration option allows you to change to synchronizing the transform in local space instead.
Using local space can improve the synchronization of the transform when the object gets re-parented because the re-parenting won't change the local space transform of the object but does change the global space position.
Interpolation#
Check the Interpolate setting to enabled interpolation. Interpolation is enabled by default and is highly recommended. With interpolation enabled, the NetworkTransform interpolates incoming changes to position, rotation, and scale. In addition interpolation buffers, the incoming data with a slight delay and applies extra smoothing to the values. All these factors combined result in a much smoother transform synchronization.
When you have Interpolate disabled, changes to the transform apply immediately, resulting in a less smooth position and more jitter.
note
The NetworkTransform component only interpolates client-side. For smoother movement on the host or server, users might want to implement interpolation server-side as well. While the server won't have the jitter caused by the network, some stutter can still happen locally (for example, if movement is done in FixedUpdate with a low physics update rate).
ClientNetworkTransform#
NetworkTransform always synchronizes positions from the server to the clients and position changes on the clients aren't allowed. Netcode for GameObjects comes with a sample containing a ClientNetworkTransform. This transform synchronizes the position of the owner client to the server and all other client allowing for client authoritative gameplay.
You can use the existing ClientNetworkTransform in the Multiplayer Samples Utilities package.
To add the Multiplayer Samples Utilities package:
- Open the Package Manager by selecting Window > Package Manager.
- Select Add (+) > Add from git URL….
- Copy and paste the following Git URL:
https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/com.unity.multiplayer.samples.coop.git?path=/Packages/com.unity.multiplayer.samples.coop#main - Select Add.
Optionally, you can directly add this line to your manifest.json file:
"com.unity.multiplayer.samples.coop": "https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/com.unity.multiplayer.samples.coop.git?path=/Packages/com.unity.multiplayer.samples.coop#main"
You can also create your own ClientNetworkTransform by deriving from NetworkTransform, overriding the OnIsServerAuthoritative virtual method, and returning false: