Evidence of Zone Boundaries...

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page revision: 4, last edited: 01 July 2017

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Evidence of Zone Boundaries that Limit Multiplayer Connections

I’ve heard mention before that summoning uses a proximity system, so as a result, being close to your friend is ideal for getting the connection to work. I believe the conclusion is right (that you want to be near each other), but for slightly different reasons. Instead of proximity being factored, I believe it depends entirely on whether or not you’re occupying the same area, or “zone”, of the level. What this means is that there are times where you can be 100 feet away and connect just fine (if you’re in the same zone), or 5 feet away and not be able to connect (if you’re in different zones). And testing seems to confirm it:

Videos: Zone Boundary Evidence (Part 1) | Zone Boundary Evidence (Part 2) | Zone Boundary Evidence (Part 3)

In all three clips, you’ll notice the Bold Hunter’s Mark become grayed-out in the HUD, indicating the connection is beginning. It begins to work, not by coincidence, each time I pass through the shortcut gate. This is because the cooperator is waiting by the Lantern, which is a unique zone from the opposite side of the gate. So shortcut gates are potentially one obvious level boundary (opposite sides of the shortcut gate on street level won’t allow connecting either), but when you keep in mind that zones have to connect elsewhere mid-level, the divisions can sometimes be a lot less obvious:

Noting that players could connect by the bottom of the ladder and by the lamp itself, but not on opposite sides of the shortcut gate, we knew there’d have to be somewhere inbetween those two locations that mark the boundary. It turns out this one in particular is on the street level after descending the stairs… which you might think makes sense, only the division isn’t immediately after stepping off the stairs, it is about another 5 feet past the bottom.

Note that I stepped into their zone at around ~11s in, and where they spawn in is where they were waiting the whole time. Standing back just a few feet further preventing us from paring, despite otherwise being so close in the level. Again, this doesn’t change the summoning advice very much, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re having trouble pairing with someone specific. Be absolutely certain you’re not in different zones.

Many thanks to BlondeMcGuinn and DymonX for the testing assistance! [Illusorywall]