[HL] Crossbow shoots at wrong angle underwater

[Nesciuse]

Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere. When shooting crossbow underwater it fires at wrong angle. Aiming up, down, forward works correctly but aiming at some angle fires the bolt wrongly. See video

https://youtu.be/fzWfx0z0JVQ

[HaajPaaj]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is an intentional game mechanic, not a bug. It's supposed to simulate gravity acting differently on the crossbow bolts underwater. This is further supported by the fact that when the crossbow is first obtained in the game, you are immediately dropped into a body of water, so this effect can be observed right away.

[Nesciuse]

That's definitely not the case. The bolt is supposed to simply travel slower underwater not travel in different direction then where you aim. Couldn't figure out why it happens looking at the source code. This code

halflife/dlls/crossbow.cpp

Lines 419 to 428 in b1b5cf5

	if (m_pPlayer->pev->waterlevel == 3)
	{
	pBolt->pev->velocity = vecDir * BOLT_WATER_VELOCITY;
	pBolt->pev->speed = BOLT_WATER_VELOCITY;
	}
	else
	{
	pBolt->pev->velocity = vecDir * BOLT_AIR_VELOCITY;
	pBolt->pev->speed = BOLT_AIR_VELOCITY;
	}

sets up the velocity. Also this works properly in Half-Life Source

[SamVanheer]

Whether it was intentional or not is irrelevant, it's been this way for 26 years. Changing gameplay mechanics after that much time is a bad idea.

You can always fix it in a mod.

[HaajPaaj]

By that same line of logic, can't the broken behavior be restored with mods? I fail to see why fixing this error, if it truly is an error, would be a bad thing. If it goes against the intentions of the designers unintentionally, I would consider that an issue that could do with fixing.

[Nesciuse]

@SamVanheer
It's not a gameplay mechanic but a simple bug that makes crossbow quite bad and unintuitive. Most people don't even know they are missing the ichtyosaurus most of the time because of this. Calling this gameplay mechanic is quite a reach. Did you even know about this if you claim fixing this after 26 years is a bad idea ? Did you even verify if this bug was present at release ?

[HaajPaaj]

If it isn't a gameplay mechanic, then I agree.