Here is a bit from brianlev_valve (as he is known on Reddit) on what is going on with the current concerns on most of the community's mind.
Why has hit registration been a problem over the past week?
Some of you have been reporting hit registration issues starting in the past week or so, but we haven't shipped any code recently that would have impacted either hit registration or the way any individual weapons work. That’s not to say that there isn’t a problem, but if it’s new, it's probably not coming from a bug in the game. We're investigating, but in the meantime it helps us when you post reproducible steps that lead to poor hit registration.
I see a bullet decal behind a player, but I didn’t hit them. What happened?
If you take a shot when running, jumping, or when unscoped with an AWP, your inaccuracy will be high and the bullet trace on the server and client are not guaranteed to hit in the same spot. This is because several months ago we shipped an update that eliminated most common aiming cheats, where we separated the client and server's random seed used to determine how inaccuracy is applied to a bullet.
Blood effects will always come from a server message confirming that you hit someone, but bullet impact decals on the world come from your client. Impact decals on the world come from the client because when those impact effects are delayed (as they would be coming from the server), they feel laggy, the game looks and feels unresponsive and it’s more difficult to control recoil.
When your inaccuracy is lowest for a weapon (i.e., when you’re standing still), at most the client and server will diverge by the weapon’s standing inaccuracy. But when you have higher inaccuracy, bullet decals are inaccurate and are not useful feedback. For example, with high inaccuracy bullet decals are not useful in diagnosing whether or not you should have hit someone.
Similarly, when you use sv_showimpacts, any client-reported hit is inaccurate for exactly the same reason. In the past, client-reported hits provided valuable information, but now they’re simply misleading. We’re considering removing the client portion of sv_showimpacts in the future because it literally has no benefit to the player to see this data other than to provide misinformation.
What's the deal with hitboxes?
We mentioned recently that we're working on resolving cases where a player's hitbox doesn't match their model (e.g., jumping, while planting, on ladders, etc.). We have a good idea of how to solve the problem, but implementing the solution takes time. So we’re working on it, but still don't have an ETA.
Some of you have been reporting hit registration issues starting in the past week or so, but we haven't shipped any code recently that would have impacted either hit registration or the way any individual weapons work. That’s not to say that there isn’t a problem, but if it’s new, it's probably not coming from a bug in the game. We're investigating, but in the meantime it helps us when you post reproducible steps that lead to poor hit registration.
I see a bullet decal behind a player, but I didn’t hit them. What happened?
If you take a shot when running, jumping, or when unscoped with an AWP, your inaccuracy will be high and the bullet trace on the server and client are not guaranteed to hit in the same spot. This is because several months ago we shipped an update that eliminated most common aiming cheats, where we separated the client and server's random seed used to determine how inaccuracy is applied to a bullet.
Blood effects will always come from a server message confirming that you hit someone, but bullet impact decals on the world come from your client. Impact decals on the world come from the client because when those impact effects are delayed (as they would be coming from the server), they feel laggy, the game looks and feels unresponsive and it’s more difficult to control recoil.
When your inaccuracy is lowest for a weapon (i.e., when you’re standing still), at most the client and server will diverge by the weapon’s standing inaccuracy. But when you have higher inaccuracy, bullet decals are inaccurate and are not useful feedback. For example, with high inaccuracy bullet decals are not useful in diagnosing whether or not you should have hit someone.
Similarly, when you use sv_showimpacts, any client-reported hit is inaccurate for exactly the same reason. In the past, client-reported hits provided valuable information, but now they’re simply misleading. We’re considering removing the client portion of sv_showimpacts in the future because it literally has no benefit to the player to see this data other than to provide misinformation.
What's the deal with hitboxes?
We mentioned recently that we're working on resolving cases where a player's hitbox doesn't match their model (e.g., jumping, while planting, on ladders, etc.). We have a good idea of how to solve the problem, but implementing the solution takes time. So we’re working on it, but still don't have an ETA.
While fans await the fixes, you can either play with the game in its current state or you can check out the new CS:GO Merchandise Workshop. Yep, you can now submit your own custom designs that can then be sold for real money to real people through a real storefront. Neat!
I have the perfect design in mind already...
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