Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs!

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

Current Version: V.4.01 Stable (09/21/2021)

Notice

I will be releasing a new module with new features, including Shapecasting in the near future. Stay tuned! More information:

Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs! - #1133 by TeamSwordphin

Upgrading from 3.xx to 4.0

Please note that V4 is not backwards compatible with V3. There are a few API changes that were introduced in V4 to better suit modern code etiquette. Here are the changes you need to know if you want to make your code compliant with V4:

Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs! - #597 by TeamSwordphin

Notable Features

• Accurate, performant, and easy to use!
• Use attachments or vectors to make your hitboxes in seconds!
• Attachment pairing to create straight-line hit detection!
• Support for automated individual part hit tracking, humanoid only, or even unfiltered hits!
• Hitbox distinction (for example, smash bros tippers!)
• Hitbox Time Scheduler, set and forget; let the module turn off the hitbox for you!
• Supports Mesh Deformation!
• No credits necessary and full help support available!

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Introduction

Hi there! I just released a module that focuses on raycast hitboxing, so things like melee weapons will probably be the most useful. But feel free to let me know what other projects you will use this for!

Creator Hub - Store

OR

Example Place

Direct download
RaycastHitboxShowcaseV4.rbxl (107.4 KB)
(do note that these places won’t be updated, so if this module gets an update, you have to do it)

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Original Post & Examples

A few years back, I’ve been intrigued by the design of MORDHAU and Chivalry since I wanted accurate hitboxing while making it simple to do across a variety of different weapon shapes and sizes. Here’s a timestamp of how MORDHAU did their hitbox for their swords which may prove to be helpful.

Warning: Does include realistic depiction of blood so please be aware before opening

MORDHAU Devblog - #2 Melee Combat

It basically fires a ray from an attachment placed on the weapon every frame. Do note that the red lines are visualizations purposes only, they do not last that long.

https://gfycat.com/welcomeglitteringkillifish
https://gfycat.com/fairsecondaryafricangoldencat

I also made it so you can adjust the placements of where the raycasting starts via attachments so I can fit it on different weapon shapes easily without hardcoding it. Here is the same system but the attachments are spread out a little to compensate for larger hitboxes.

https://gfycat.com/enchantingdecentbeagle

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How To Use

Thankfully, it is very simple. Head over to my Github wiki which has extensive documentation and examples that will get you up and running in less than a few minutes!

Beginner Examples

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Why Raycasting over Touched, Region3, etc… ?

I had a little thought process on the end of this thread, so you can check it out if you’re curious on why I opted to go for raycast.

Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs!

I touched base on this topic a little on one of the threads I listed in the OP. But to summarize, I needed a way to have hitboxes that do two things: Be as accurate as possible while also maintaining adequate performance. For simpler cases, like the classic Roblox sword, Touched is all you need. You don’t have to fiddle around making rays or region3s. My games are based around extremely fast and fluid combat. Take this gif as an example: Touched will not work with these kinds of an…

How to make a perfect hitbox?

Ranged hitboxes I think are pretty straightforward to do, so I don’t think I need to go over that (besides, I think these other lovely people can give more insight on ranged combat if you need that). For melee hit boxes, I use raycasting. A few years back, I’ve been intrigued by the design of MORDHAU and Chivalry since I wanted accurate hitboxing while making it simple to do across a variety of different weapon shapes and sizes. Here’s a timestamp of how MORDHAU did their hitbox for their sword…

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Limitations

• HitStart only hits a target once (so multiple rays don’t hit the same target). Call HitStop to reset this target pool so you can hit the same targets again. The module supports different detection modes, so if you dislike this functionality, there is a way to change it.
• Wide objects requires a lot of attachments to be working correctly

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Update Log

Current Version V.4.01 Stable (09/21/2021)

• Fixed inaccuracy issues. Credits go to @bagwan12345
• GoodSignal implementation
• SignalTypes
• More Information: Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs! - #743 by TeamSwordphin

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Previous Versions & Downloads

V.4.0 Stable (07/02/2021)

• Rewrote module to more legible and with more common coding etiquette
• Typechecking
• Minor hit detection optimizations
• Significantly more optimized debug visualizer rays
• Different Detection Modes
• Mesh Deformation support
• Debug Visualizer rays no longer give false positives to the hit detection
• Debug Visualizer rays switched to LineHandleAdornments
• Module is now Rojo-compliant at Github
• More Information: Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs! - #597 by TeamSwordphin

V.3.3 Stable (02/25/2021)

• NEW Hitbox:HitStart(seconds) custom scheduler. If optionally given, will automatically turn off the hitbox after the given seconds has elapsed. Uses os.clock for maximum accuracy.
• More details: Raycast Hitbox 4.01: For all your melee needs! - #442 by TeamSwordphin
• RaycastHitboxV3.rbxm (9.2 KB)

V.3.2 Stable (11/18/2020)

• HitStop switched to table.clear, for much better table reuse performance

V.3.1 Stable (11/14/2020)

• New OnUpdate Event
• Switched AncestryChanged to CollectionService to fix memory leaks
• Removed RenderStepped sync rate
• Fixed some inconsistent signal error messages

V.3.0 Stable (10/15/2020)

• New Hit Distinction group feature
• Significantly improved hit detection performance
• No longer need to disconnect OnHit events!
• Everything should now be ipairs

V.2.3 Stable (10/13/2020)

• Removed redundant function calls in MainHandler
• Significantly improved HitStart/HitStop performance
• Removed CollectionService ‘RaycastEnabled’ tag (if you were relying on this, it is no longer supported)
• Fixed inaccuracy issues when a hitbox was deleted
  RaycastHitboxV2.rbxm (9.0 KB)

V.2.2 Stable (8/22/2020)

• Added WarningMessage bool
• Minor performance improvements
• Folder/readability reorganization
• Documentation improvements
• GetHitbox returned

V.2.1 EXPERIMENTAL (6/05/2020)

• Now uses new Raycast API!
• Removed Hitbox.ignoreList
• Added Hitbox.raycastParams
• OnHit now returns 3 arguments: hit, humanoid, raycastResults

V.2.0 EXPERIMENTAL (5/30/2020)

• Removed RaycastHitbox:DebugMode
• Removed HitStart([damage value]) argument
• Removed DontCheckForTransparency
• New HitboxObject:DebugMode
• Major Performance Improvements
  RaycastHitboxV2.rbxm (8.4 KB)

V.1.53 BETA (4/03/2020)

• Updated some outdated API
• Clarified some troubleshooting steps
• Added a new troubleshooting question
• Added warnings whenever it detects rays are not being shown
  RaycastHitbox153.lua (17.9 KB)

V.1.52 BETA (3/25/2020)

• Fixed LinkAttachment position errors

V.1.51 BETA (3/24/2020)

• Fixed SetPoints position errors (should now be as accurate as attachments)
• Credits to @Shurikanz for the find

V.1.5 BETA (3/23/2020)

• New HitboxObject:RemovePoints
• New HitboxObject:LinkAttachments
• New HitboxObject:UnlinkAttachments

V.1.3 & V.1.4 BETA (1/28/2020)

• Initialize should now return a hitbox and not nil
• Mild performance increases
• New Function: PartsMode (documentation is in the script)

1.21 BETA (10/30/2019)

• Removed RaycastHitbox:HitStart
• Removed RaycastHitbox:HitStop
• DebugRays remade with constraints/attachments to help low-end devices
• Initialization performance improved

1.2 BETA (10/27/2019)

• New HitboxObject:SetPoints(Instance part, table vectorPoints)
• New RaycastHitbox:DebugMode(boolean true/false)
• Recursive now supports all instance types (no longer have to be a model!)
• Ignore list now automatically includes Terrain

1.1 BETA (10/24/2019)

• Deprecated RaycastHitbox:HitStart
• Deprecated RaycastHitbox:HitStop
• RaycastHitbox now returns HitboxObject
• New HitboxObject:HitStart
• New HitboxObject:HitStop
• New HitboxObject.OnHit:Connect(Instance part, Instance humanoid)
• New RaycastHitbox:GetHitbox(Instance model)
• Possible Issue - Heartbeat loop might not successfully disconnect when deinitializing, but happens sometimes (need confirmation)

1.0 BETA

• Initial Release

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Like this module? Please consider donating a little to support my future works!

You can additionally file additional pull requests or bugs at my github repository (though if you DO have bugs, replying to this thread is much faster)

GitHub - Swordphin/raycastHitboxRbxl: Requires Roblox Studio and knowledge of...

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My other modules:
Inverse Kinematics and Procedural Animation
Part Pooling

[devMatthew]

Awesome module! Very useful and very accurate! I suggest adding a way so you can control what happens when you hit something. For example if I wanted to be able to also hit certain parts with my weapon to destroy them I could. Have it so it will return “hit” like the touched function does. Just a suggestion! Would make this module 10/10 just by having that feature! Good work! Keep it up!

[RuizuKun_Dev (Kitsune)]

Awesome, Thank you for considering the request!

I’ll provide further feedback when I get to it.

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@TeamSwordphin

BeforeWithComments.lua · GitHub

I asked a friend to make a more optimized version of the script.

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I also notice that you are using a lot of Rays, can it be reduced to using only a few maybe 5?

One in the top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right, and middle along with the Hitbox

Instead of creating many horizontal Rays can you create less with Vertical Rays and still have the same or better performance?

Perhaps the Attachement could automatically be created and all you need to do is create a HitBox part, then use CFrame to get the size and sides of the part then create Damage points depending on how big it is.

[colbert2677 (ImagineerColbert)]

Okay now I have to use it given that it’s an open source resource now. I absolutely have to.

From the moment I first saw those hitboxes in action, that became one of my new favourite development-related threads. Being able to work with the logic behind it is a blessing and I thank you very much for sharing this resource with the community.

Melee hitboxes are definitely a rising topic on the DevForum as developers are creating more melee-centric games and a common question throughout the forums is how to achieve accurate hitboxes while accounting for several factors, up to determining which method is most performant and suitable.

Setting the thread to watching to keep up with any discussion. Thank you so much for this.

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

Thank you! I planned on something like that but ran out of time to make yesterday If I have time today I will absolutely update it with that functionality.

[Nerbzzz (Nikki)]

Very nice, This is the best hitbox script i’ve seen so far!

[LuaBearyGood]

This feature looks AMAZING! Completely ignoring the practical uses for is the ‘SwordShieldMan’ looks cool twirling around a sword covered with red laser beams (aka. hitbox thingies).

In terms of practical uses, I believe this is going to be amazing to use, especially since detecting the.Touched event on a low end device is… Ya know…

Unfortunately as much as I love the rays following the weapon I feel my players may not feel the same way so I guess I wont have that enabled in my projects

In conclusion just thank you, this is such a well made solution to one of the most irritating problems on roblox and I didn’t even have to go through a pack of harribos keeping my mind focused enough to script it!

Just to confirm, the thing about using the beams was a joke @ScriptingSupport

[colbert2677 (ImagineerColbert)]

AFAIK the rays are only intended for debugging purposes and you aren’t meant to actually enable them within a production environment.

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

Ah thank you! Before I could reply to your DM, I see you already edited it so I’ll just reply here instead. Let’s start from the top.

1. There are some slight changes in the optimized version that I think are unnecessary, but overall I think it is ultimately an improvement. DebugRay code was copied directly from the raycasting wiki so take it up with the writers . Still at work, so I’ll look at the optimizations a bit more thoroughly later.

2. I assume you are talking about the SwordNShield NPC above. I’m not sure what you mean by vertical rays, but I suppose if I am visualizing it correctly, something like a ray starting from a sword handguard to the end of it’s blade tip. There is a possibility that you can increase performance with vertical rays like this, but speedy swiping motions will not have a guarantee that it will hit if the target are between the vertical rays between the last and current frame. This will be no different than using a touched event imo (faster physics = less likely to hit).

3. Automatic attachment generation sounds neat, and I can probably try something like that. Though this may become intricate and difficult if it has meshes or weird shapes, and may even reduce performance depending on its complexity.

Overall, for simple swords, I would just string the attachments along the blade, and maximum 15 of them. Though the SwordNShield NPC has no problem having over 180+ rays being made at once.

[RuizuKun_Dev (Kitsune)]

@TeamSwordphin

I’m not sure what you mean by vertical rays

I went to art school, this is what they call a master piece

@TeamSwordphin

difficult if it has meshes or weird shapes

This shouldn’t be a problem if you use a Block Part as a HitBox, so it wouldn’t have weird shapes.

@TeamSwordphin

speedy swiping motions will not have a guarantee that it will hit if the target are between the vertical rays between the last and current frame.

I see, then that could be an option for the Users to choose which type of Ray they want to use depending on the performance they want.

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

Can confirm, also went to an art school. Even Michelangelo will tremble at your pure brilliancy. Picasso lovers, watch yourself.

I do like the idea of vertical rays, in a way people can sacrifice accuracy for more performance so you’re right. Regarding block part as a hitbox, I suppose something like an irregular scythe weapon where the angles aren’t always rectangular and you want something especially accurate, it might not work but for most common use cases, I can see it working like you described.

[jrmblox]

Awesome module, however before i am going to use this ill be waiting for some more events to come out. I am currently creating lightsabers and i need the onhit event. So definately using this in the future!

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

New Update: V.1.1

Hey all, just updated some minor but beneficial changes to the module. You can read more in the “How To Use” and “Update Log” in the main thread if you want to know the changes. Thank you to those who have helped thus far, it was a great learning experience. I will keep updating it and optimizing as need be (and as much as I can within my limited timeframe!)

In summary, the Initialize function now returns a HitboxObject which you can use HitStart or HitStop on. It also has a new onhit function (example in the main thread). I’ve filled out some more information directly in the module, and the HitStart and HitStop used directly on the RaycastHitboxModule is deprecated (so use the returned HitboxObject instead). This variable system also allows you to manage multiple hitboxes, a good example is if you have a dual wielding sword character, you can disable hitboxes for one of the swords while keeping the other off hand on.

[spliceosome (Shardwielder)]

How computationally expensive is this? It doesn’t look too bad, but I imagine swords with large hitboxes (and many of them) would have a lot of overhead.

Very nice work

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

There are definitely room for improvements, but from what I’ve tested, the performance was a lot better than using Region3 and Touched (in large quantities). The ShieldNSword npc above stretched about 181 raycasts a frame, and even in live production games with a plethora of other computation happening, server was still very smooth, fps drops were minimal, and this is also tested with multiple SwordNShield npcs at once. Though, if you’re really worried, it doesn’t hurt to test it out yourself.

Edit: Most games dont really have oversized swords, so honestly you should be doing 7 - 15 attachments per weapon, 1 stud apart for the most efficiency. It takes hundreds of rays a second to even consider performance drops.

[Om4rr17 (Om4r)]

For some reason, was not efficient on my testing.
There are a few points you should certainly consider for next update.

1. Ignore should automatically include the terrain.
2. Support for multiple hitboxes, such that sword skill hitboxes are bigger than normal attack hitboxes
3. have damage with initialize function? Instead of passing it, every time you attack, you could have it set in the metatable.

If possible could you share a sword model that contains the sword (or any other free model scripted with this module) so that we could see how you require the module etc?

However, all in all, this module is really amazing and I appreciated trying it out, thanks!

What I’m currently using for touched event is setting a loop that gets the touching parts of a non-cancollide part in the tool, representing hitbox.

[TeamSwordphin (Phin)]

Thank you for your insights. What performance problems were you encountering in particular? I can probably do a quick mockup example later for you.

Regarding 2., V.1.1 should have support for multiple hit boxes, you just need a separate model containing those new attachments and then call initialize on that one. Unless I’m not understanding what you’re requesting then I apologize.

[BraxbroRoblox]

The raycasts are from old point to current point, yes?

If so, then rather than attachments there should be an option to pass a table of positions and a root part to do said positions relative to. This would reduce instance management and be preferable in my opinion.

[Om4rr17 (Om4r)]

Yeah, I edited the script so that the sword has is made of tables, each one being the hitbox.
And regarding performance, I believe the number of parts or the number of raycasts created/calculated were the reason for the lag.
Would really appreciate a quick example tool, thanks!

[colbert2677 (ImagineerColbert)]

What was your setup? You’re usually capable of firing off hundreds of rays per frame without performance hits as short rays at inexpensive. Seems like a concern to me that you were experiencing performance hits with this, since to my understanding it does exactly that (short rays per frame).