Hit registration is the process by which the game server determines whether a bullet hit a player and applies the corresponding damage. It sounds simple, but the accuracy of this process is exactly what determines how "fair" and predictable the game feels at the level of individual bullets and headshots.
The problem arises when there's a discrepancy: the player sees on their screen that the crosshair was precisely on the opponent's model at the moment of firing, but the damage isn't registered or is only partially registered. The community calls these moments "bad hitreg" — and it's one of the most common causes of disputes and complaints in both professional and amateur circles.
Why This Happens
There are several reasons for the discrepancy between what the player sees and what the server records:
- Network latency (ping) — data about the opponent's position and the shot travels with a delay, so the server sees a slightly different picture than the player's client.
- Server architecture specifics — this used to be directly tied to tickrate: the less frequently the server updated the game state, the higher the chance that the exact moment of a precise hit would "slip through" between two ticks.
- Hitboxes — invisible zones on the character model used to calculate hits; if they don't perfectly match the visual model, discrepancies occur.
Connection to Subtick
The topic of hit registration frequently comes up in discussions about the transition from classic tickrate to subtick in CS2. Subtick should theoretically improve hit registration accuracy, since the server accounts for the exact timing of a player's action rather than rounding it to the nearest tick. However, some professional players note that in practice, the feel of hitreg in critical situations — clutches, reaction duels — is sometimes perceived as less stable than in the old system. This regularly becomes a topic of discussion among team captains and players who recall the old system as more predictable.