Some games hand monster movement to one nearby player’s client to reduce server load. If that player’s connection is bad, the monster moves strangely on everyone’s screen.
Why The server hands monster movement to the client of the nearest (or first-arriving) player → Effect That player’s reports reach the server late or in bunches → On screen Only that monster hitches and then teleports on every nearby screen. It looks fine on the controlling player’s own screen
Hand control to a player with a good connection (by ping and loss), have the server take control back immediately when reports stop, have the server compute important monsters such as bosses itself.
On the graph
Outliers only · Position report interval per monster (by controlling client)
Where to look
Server-side, per monster: the client with control and that client’s report interval, RTT, and loss. The arrival interval of that client’s packets is also visible in a server-side packet capture
Confirmed if
Every monster that moves strangely is controlled by the same one player, that player’s reports are uneven or stop, and handing control to someone else fixes it right away
Ruled out if
Monsters the server computes itself jump the same way: server tick delay or the viewer’s connection. Still jumping after control moves: pathfinding mismatch in command sync
Check with
Game server or client logs and metrics
Learn more
The controlling player sees nothing wrong, so reports only say “the monster is acting weird.” If everyone except one player sees the same monster moving strangely, first check who has control of that monster.
Sources
Authority (Netcode for GameObjects 2.5)Unity In a distributed authority model, each game instance (client) takes authority over some network objects and simulates them