feat: Quiet Mode for certain game types

Assets/Mirror/Components/NetworkTransform/NetworkTransformBase.cs

@@ -457,6 +457,9 @@ protected virtual void OnEnable()
         {
             ResetState();
 
+            if (NetworkTime.quietMode)
+                Debug.LogWarning("NetworkTransform: Quiet Mode is enabled, which will cause issues with interpolation. Please disable Quiet Mode in Network Manager.");
+
             if (NetworkServer.active)
                 NetworkIdentity.clientAuthorityCallback += OnClientAuthorityChanged;
         }

Assets/Mirror/Components/PredictedRigidbody/PredictedRigidbody.cs

@@ -145,6 +145,12 @@ protected virtual void Awake()
             positionCorrectionThresholdSqr = positionCorrectionThreshold * positionCorrectionThreshold;
         }
 
+        protected virtual void OnEnable()
+        {
+            if (NetworkTime.quietMode)
+                Debug.LogWarning("PredictedRigidbody: Quiet Mode is enabled, which will cause issues with prediction. Please disable Quiet Mode in Network Manager.");
+        }
+
         protected virtual void CopyRenderersAsGhost(GameObject destination, Material material)
         {
             // find the MeshRenderer component, which sometimes is on a child.

Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkClient.cs

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-using System;
+using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Linq;
 using Mirror.RemoteCalls;
@@ -1792,8 +1792,9 @@ static void Broadcast(bool unreliableBaselineElapsed)
             // nothing to do in host mode. server already knows the state.
             if (NetworkServer.active) return;
 
-            // send time snapshot every sendInterval.
-            Send(new TimeSnapshotMessage(), Channels.Unreliable);
+            // send time snapshot every sendInterval unless in quiet mode
+            if (!NetworkTime.quietMode)
+                Send(new TimeSnapshotMessage(), Channels.Unreliable);
 
             // broadcast client state to server
             BroadcastToServer(unreliableBaselineElapsed);

Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkManager.cs

@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ public class NetworkManager : MonoBehaviour
         public bool editorAutoStart;
 
         [Header("Sync Settings")]
+        [Tooltip("Enable Quiet Mode when not using any NetworkTransform or PredictedRigidBody components.\nThis CANNOT be changed at runtime after server starts!")]
+        public bool quietMode = false;
+
         /// <summary>Server Update frequency, per second. Use around 60Hz for fast paced games like Counter-Strike to minimize latency. Use around 30Hz for games like WoW to minimize computations. Use around 1-10Hz for slow paced games like EVE.</summary>
         [Tooltip("Server / Client send rate per second.\nUse 60-100Hz for fast paced games like Counter-Strike to minimize latency.\nUse around 30Hz for games like WoW to minimize computations.\nUse around 1-10Hz for slow paced games like EVE.")]
         [FormerlySerializedAs("serverTickRate")]
@@ -319,6 +322,8 @@ void SetupServer()
 
             ConfigureHeadlessFrameRate();
 
+            NetworkTime.quietMode = quietMode;
+
             // start listening to network connections
             NetworkServer.Listen(maxConnections);
 

Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkServer.cs

@@ -2272,7 +2272,7 @@ static void Broadcast(bool unreliableBaselineElapsed)
                 //   pull in UpdateVarsMessage for each entity it observes
                 if (connection.isReady)
                 {
-                    // send time for snapshot interpolation every sendInterval.
+                    // send time for snapshot interpolation every sendInterval unless quietMode is enabled.
                     // BroadcastToConnection() may not send if nothing is new.
                     //
                     // sent over unreliable.
@@ -2281,7 +2281,8 @@ static void Broadcast(bool unreliableBaselineElapsed)
                     // make sure Broadcast() is only called every sendInterval,
                     // even if targetFrameRate isn't set in host mode (!)
                     // (done via AccurateInterval)
-                    connection.Send(new TimeSnapshotMessage(), Channels.Unreliable);
+                    if (!NetworkTime.quietMode)
+                        connection.Send(new TimeSnapshotMessage(), Channels.Unreliable);
 
                     // broadcast world state to this connection
                     BroadcastToConnection(connection, unreliableBaselineElapsed);

Assets/Mirror/Core/NetworkTime.cs

@@ -16,11 +16,16 @@ namespace Mirror
     /// <summary>Synchronizes server time to clients.</summary>
     public static class NetworkTime
     {
+        // Set true from NetworkManager to disable TimeSnapshotMessages and limit PingMessage to 0.5Hz
+        internal static bool quietMode;
+
+        const float highPingInterval = 0.1f;
+
         /// <summary>Ping message interval, used to calculate latency / RTT and predicted time.</summary>
-        // 2s was enough to get a good average RTT.
-        // for prediction, we want to react to latency changes more rapidly.
-        const float DefaultPingInterval = 0.1f; // for resets
-        public static float PingInterval = DefaultPingInterval;
+        // 2s is enough to get a good average RTT.
+        // For snapshot interpolation and prediction, we need to react to latency changes more rapidly.
+        internal static float defaultPingInterval = 2.0f; // internal for tests
+        public static float PingInterval => quietMode ? defaultPingInterval: highPingInterval;
 
         /// <summary>Average out the last few results from Ping</summary>
         // const because it's used immediately in _rtt constructor.
@@ -129,7 +134,8 @@ public static double predictedTime
         [RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethod]
         public static void ResetStatics()
         {
-            PingInterval = DefaultPingInterval;
+            defaultPingInterval = 2.0f;
+            quietMode = false;
             lastPingTime = 0;
             _rtt = new ExponentialMovingAverage(PingWindowSize);
 #if !UNITY_2020_3_OR_NEWER

Assets/Mirror/Tests/Editor/NetworkConnection/NetworkConnectionToClientTests.cs

@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ public void UpdatePing_SendsPingWhenIntervalElapsed()
             float savedPingInterval = NetworkTime.PingInterval;
             try
             {
-                NetworkTime.PingInterval = -1f;
+                NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = -1f;
                 NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(1);
 
                 // Update() calls UpdatePing (fires ping) then flushes the unreliable batcher
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ public void UpdatePing_SendsPingWhenIntervalElapsed()
             }
             finally
             {
-                NetworkTime.PingInterval = savedPingInterval;
+                NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = savedPingInterval;
             }
         }
 
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ public void UpdateTimeInterpolation_StepsWhenSnapshotsExist()
             // StepInterpolation. In edit mode unscaledDeltaTime is typically 0,
             // so remoteTimeline stays constant, but the branch is fully covered.
             NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(1);
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = float.MaxValue;
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue;
 
             connection.OnTimeSnapshot(new TimeSnapshot(NetworkTime.localTime, NetworkTime.localTime));
             double timescaleAfterSnapshot = connection.remoteTimescale;
@@ -308,7 +308,8 @@ public void Disconnect_SetsIsReadyFalse()
         public void Cleanup_PreventsQueuedMessageFromBeingSent()
         {
             NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(1);
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
+            NetworkTime.quietMode = true; // avoid log spam about connectionId mismatch since we're not calling Connect() on this instance
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
 
             byte[] message = {0x01, 0x02};
             connection.Send(new ArraySegment<byte>(message));
@@ -330,7 +331,8 @@ public void Cleanup_PreventsQueuedMessageFromBeingSent()
         public void Send_BatchesUntilUpdate()
         {
             NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(42);
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
+            NetworkTime.quietMode = true; // avoid log spam about connectionId mismatch
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
 
             byte[] message = {0x01, 0x02};
             connection.Send(new ArraySegment<byte>(message));
@@ -359,7 +361,8 @@ public void SendBatchingResetsPreviousWriter()
             const int BatchHeader = 8;
 
             NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(42);
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
+            NetworkTime.quietMode = true; // avoid log spam about connectionId mismatch
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
 
             // send and update big message
             byte[] message = {0x01, 0x02};
@@ -390,7 +393,7 @@ public void SendBatchingResetsPreviousWriter()
         public void Send_UnreliableChannel_BatchesUntilUpdate()
         {
             NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(1);
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
 
             byte[] message = {0xAA};
             connection.Send(new ArraySegment<byte>(message), Channels.Unreliable);
@@ -411,7 +414,8 @@ public void Send_MultipleMessages_AreBatchedIntoSingleTransportCall()
             // 1400-byte MemoryTransport threshold, so Batcher packs them into
             // one batch and Update() makes exactly one SendToTransport call.
             NetworkConnectionToClient connection = new NetworkConnectionToClient(1);
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
+            NetworkTime.quietMode = true; // avoid log spam about connectionId mismatch
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue; // disable ping for this test
 
             connection.Send(new ArraySegment<byte>(new byte[]{0x01}));
             connection.Send(new ArraySegment<byte>(new byte[]{0x02}));

Assets/Mirror/Tests/Runtime/NetworkServerRuntimeTest.cs

@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ NetworkIdentity SpawnPrefab(GameObject prefab)
         public IEnumerator DisconnectTimeoutTest()
         {
             // Set low ping frequency so no NetworkPingMessage is generated
-            NetworkTime.PingInterval = 5f;
+            NetworkTime.defaultPingInterval = float.MaxValue;
 
             // Set a short timeout for this test and enable disconnectInactiveConnections
             NetworkServer.disconnectInactiveConnections = true;