Team-comtress-2: Demoman Shield Charges have extra melee range that isn't applied properly; goes unused as a result

[AzureAzel]

Description

When charging with any Demoman shield, your melee attack that ends the charge is supposed to have a longer melee range in order to connect the hit easier. Unfortunately, this extra range is incorrectly set to only occur if the charge is still active, which conflicts with how shield charges are immediately canceled upon attacking. As a result, the charge ends before the extra melee range is applied, as the charge gets canceled at the very start of the melee swing and completely ignores the fact that there's a delay between swinging a melee weapon and hitting an enemy. This still partially works in-game if you swing your melee weapon and then charge immediately afterwards. I understand that it's entirely possible that this could potentially change the balance of the shields if fixed, but it is indeed a bug nonetheless.

The TF_COND_SHIELD_CHARGE condition is supposed to set your melee range to approximately 128 units during the charge, and allow you to utilize it with the melee attack that ends the charge.

Checklist

• [x] None of the open or closed issues document this problem.
• [x] This is a bug, not a new idea.
• [x] This is objectively a bug, and not something that people commonly disagree on.
• [x] This bug is in the code of the game, not in the textures, sounds, or other resources.
• [x] This issue occurs on the latest vanilla TF2 update.
• [ ] This issue is listed on the Source 1 official bugtracker.
• [x] This issue occurs with DirectX level 100.
• [x] This issue occurs on the latest Team Comtress release, or the master branch.
• [x] This issue occurs when using no custom content.
• [x] This issue occurs when using start_tf2.bat (or start_server.bat) with no custom launch options.
• [x] This issue occurs when using a listen server (using the map command ingame).
• [x] This issue occurs when using a dedicated server.
• [ ] This bug is in the internal procedures or tooling (e.g. the build process).

Reproduction

1. Charge with any shield, and attempt to attack an enemy 128 units away from you with your melee weapon mid-charge.
2. If you miss, then the extra range was never applied. That's the bug.
3. Do the same test, except swing your melee weapon immediately before charging. You'll hit the enemy.

[wgetJane]

I understand that it's entirely possible that this could potentially change the balance of the shields if fixed, but it is indeed a bug nonetheless.

this is a bug, but it is a massive balance change for demoknight since it increases his melee range while charging to 128 units from 48 or 72, which is a really great difference

i personally don't really care if demoknight gets this range increase, but i imagine that some people wouldn't agree with the buff

i don't think demoknight should be nerfed, but one may also suggest that the range increase from swinging then charging be removed instead

[treacherousfiend]

It might be worth it to figure this out and fix it just so we can send the idea of it to valve for them to decide if its worth implementing

[InfernoSuperNova]

in one of the MVM missions, the charge cancel on melee swing doesn't apply to one of the bot types. and the range feels total bs. so I personally feel like it should be entirely cut.