See: http://i.imgur.com/iKwIFkc.jpg Screenshot seems benign, but the issue has an impact on the game. Build sprites are visible to the commander from arbitrary distance.
he said sprites - walls are models, sprites are 2d objects ... ... its probably that white spot in center of the red mark on his pic?!
Inside the red circle there is a small blue "flash" - the sprite that pops up when you are constructing/repairing a structure. It looks small in the screenshot, but in game it's much more outstanding since they are flashing periodically.
so paticle sprites. you can also see ref-node steam particles even though you shouldnt be able to. helps to know what refs are claimed by the enemy. non gamebreaking bug but doesnt make it appear polished either. question is, devs "fault" or source engine "feature" you cant do shit about?
I guess it depends on your definition of gamebreaking. I consider this quite a ship-stopper. Never blame the engine for bugs without evidence. The rule is: developer issue until proven otherwise.
I thought about that, but what's in his screenshot is something I've never seen before so I ended up assuming it was the walls because I do think that's something you usually don't see unless you have allied troops there. Though for walls it feels like there is a bit of delay til they actually disappear. To be honest at first I thought he was talking about that white line coming from around the mid point out, it kinda looks like that weird wall bug, except the line tapers off and I never seen the walls whited out like that. Not so sure about this...
If you're a computer scientist, a game designer, or a software engineer, you might get away with making outrageous claims about engine bugs. In your case, just never do it.
Cokemonkey, I'd suggest you drop your underlying aggressiveness. It won't help anyone and won't further your interests. Concerning the bug: Those are not sprites (those only exist in 2D games), those are particles. That white "line" Lazybum mentioned is simply a smoke trail of a projectile. You can even still see it in the shot. Back on topic: I agree that this is something that tells you, something is there that you shouldn't be able to see. It's another of these things tied to how the Fog of War is implemented. Should it be gone from a game design standpoint? Absolutely. Is there something that can be done about it from our side? It's pretty likely since the implementation of the "FoW" is Empires-code. I'd just like to make a point here: Sure you can blame the devs for bugs in a mod. Just make sure you blame the right devs. We are not the only ones that contributed code and assets to the overall game you play today.
I am not being aggressive, I'm just doing my best to be precise and unambiguous - something I'm not always good at. Bug reporting isn't about agendas, it's about clearly and concisely explaining a problem that others can reproduce. Interests and niceties have no place here. Incorrect, animated sprites can be used in 3D games. I believe you may be correct in that they are particles, though. Unrelated. Developers are always to blame. Blame doesn't have derogatory connotation for developers. If anything, you should be very happy it's code fault, implying the bug can be fixed.
Game breaking = Game cannot be played properly and is broken. Examples of this are inability to spawn, inability to build, inability to construct/drive certain vehicles, inability to research, inability to use weapons, inability to use particular skills (revive, defusal, build upgrade), etc. Not included: visible tweaks and polish.
What if they provide teams an unfair and unintended competitive advantage? Sometimes game-breaking is more geared towards competition.
Right, but it does allow a dishonest team an unfair advantage over an honest one. For example (this is a shit example) in league of legends, players can be banned if they're found to be abusing bugs.