Have clients select weapons by ID, rather than by name

[Toodles2You]

The usercmd_t struct has a weaponselect field, used in the weapon prediction code, to select weapons by ID. Being a part of the client's command struct, it can also be sent over the net. Using this instead of sending a "weapon_" command every time a client wants to change weapons should substantially reduce the number of string comparisons that the server has to handle in multiplayer. In network/delta.lst, I set it to be sent as 6 bits, as weapon IDs only go up to 64.

(I also removed the SelectItem definition on the client, as it seems to be dead code.)

[Toodles2You]

Also, the original method of selecting weapons is still available, so it won't break existing configs that use them.

[SamVanheer]

It would be better to have a SelectItem overload that takes a classname and do what the original method did, then you don't need these changes here. People who merge changes into their projects won't have to make extra changes as well.

[Toodles2You]

Good idea. If I update my branch, would you recommend amending the existing commit or creating a new one?

[SamVanheer]

Amend the commit. No need to add multiple commits to a pull request.

[SamVanheer]

Have you tested this in a multiplayer environment with host_limitlocal set to 1? This limits command updates when running a local multiplayer server which can delay transmission of commands and thus delay the server's weapon switching logic.

[Toodles2You]

I just did a quick comparison between the two with host_limitlocal set to 1 and fakelag set to 30. In the past, I had done both tests with fakelag and LAN multiplayer with one other person. The only difference I've ever observed is that, with the cmd->weaponselect method, it's less likely for a switch to get delayed or ignored when rapidly switching between weapons. The actual delay between the client sending the command and server receiving it seems indistinguishable.

I should also mention that I discovered this because of it's use in Deathmatch: Classic.
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/halflife/blob/master/dmc/dlls/client.cpp#L1669

My thought process is that, even if they're functionally identical, less data being sent over the wire is a win. And that because it's officially implemented in a multiplayer GoldSrc game, it's likely a stable feature.

[SamVanheer]

This method is also used in Source:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013/blob/0d8dceea4310fde5706b3ce1c70609d72a38efdf/mp/src/game/client/in_main.cpp#L1165-L1175
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013/blob/0d8dceea4310fde5706b3ce1c70609d72a38efdf/mp/src/game/server/player_command.cpp#L378-L387

So they probably planned on doing it during HL1's development, got around to it when making DMC and then used it in Source games from that point onward.

[SamVanheer]

Sorry, i merged this by accident. Looks like i can't reopen it, can you create a new PR with the changes?