Roll Control Fix

What it fixes

This is a test build. It passes the code-level checks, a timing model and a second-model review, but it has not been played in a real mission yet. If something goes wrong, disable it and let me know.

Roll Control works like this: fire the blade, keep holding the trigger, and turn your view to bend the blade. The catch is that this steering is tied to your FPS: fine when it is high, sluggish when it drops, and almost dead a little lower, as if the overclock were broken. It is not your imagination; players have discussed for a while that the steering is FPS dependent and feels sluggish at low FPS.

FPS here means the frames the game really runs. With frame generation on (DLSS Frame Generation and the like) the number on screen is roughly double the real one: 60–90 shown means the game runs about 30–45, right in the broken range. Generated frames run no game logic, so they do not help the steering.

This mod changes only how the steering is computed. With it, the same mouse movement bends the blade as much as vanilla does at 50+ FPS, whatever your frame rate; if your FPS is already high, nothing changes.

How vanilla steering works

1. When you fire and keep holding the trigger, the weapon starts a timer that runs every 0.02 s (50 times a second).
2. Each time it runs, it reads how much your view turned since the previous run and pushes an invisible target point that way. The target sits 10 m ahead of the blade. If your view did not move, the target goes back to straight ahead of the blade.
3. The blade itself homes toward that target point, and that part runs on the host’s machine. So you turn your view, the target moves, and the blade bends after it.

Why it breaks at low FPS

The key: the timer runs every 0.02 s, but your view only updates once per frame. When a frame takes longer than 0.02 s (that is, below 50 FPS), the game does not skip the timer; it runs it several times back to back in the same frame:

• The first run sees this frame’s turn and pushes the target sideways.
• The second and third runs see the same view as a moment ago, a turn of zero, and put the target back to straight ahead.
• The last run wins. That frame’s steering is wiped out, and what reaches the host is also “fly straight”.

What the fix does

• One steering update per frame. The catch-up runs inside the same frame keep the target the first run computed instead of resetting it to straight.
• Scaled to the 0.02 s design. A longer frame naturally accumulates more turn; the mod scales it by how long the frame really took, back to the per-0.02 s amount. So the same mouse movement bends the blade as much as vanilla does at 50+ FPS, whatever your frame rate.
• Everything else in the weapon file is byte-for-byte unchanged.

Why it gives no advantage

• Projectile speed, homing strength, lifetime, damage and spin: all stock values, untouched.
• The host still computes and pushes the blade. The mod only gets the target point right; the message sent to the host is the same kind as vanilla.
• The turning limit is unchanged: homing strength is finite, so at full speed the blade cannot turn tighter than a circle of about 2 m, exactly as in vanilla.
• The same 0.5 s view turn in the timing model, measured as how far the blade ends up turning (a simplified model, not an in-game measurement):

At high FPS both are the same; at low FPS the mod only restores the steering you were meant to have, never more.

Only you install it. A vanilla host is fine, and teammates need nothing.

Limits

• Ping is not fixed. When you are a client, your steering still travels over the network to the host, with the same delay as vanilla.
• Disable it after a game update. It replaces the Breach Cutter weapon file (WPN_LineCutter). If a game update changes the Breach Cutter, disable it until I rebuild it.
• Do not enable it together with other mods that replace the Breach Cutter. Any mod that replaces the WPN_LineCutter file would fight with it.
• Not yet played in a real mission; so far it is code-level checks, a timing model and a second-model review.

Install

1. Fully close the game.

2. Download RollControlFixLite-0.3.0.pak, add it to your mod manager (MintCat or mint) and enable it. Disable any older Roll Control Fix first. Do not enable it together with other mods that replace the Breach Cutter (WPN_LineCutter).

3. It works as soon as you are in game. The in-game page (the on/off switch, what it does, the version, buttons back to this site) needs Mod Hub or Unified UI; without them the fix is simply on.

4. Only you install it; the host and your teammates need nothing. If something breaks after a game update, disable it and wait for a new build.

New to MintCat or Unified UI? See the original CD2 setup steps.