Xian55/HermesProxy v4.1 on GitHub

What's Changed

Fixes

While in Release build upon login the empty while loop is optimized out and the app hangs. by @Xian55 in #1
Replace Thread.Sleep spell delay with queue-based tracking by @Xian55 in #5
Fix npc movement zig-zag at tile boundaries by @Xian55 in #6
Fix: ItemEffect hotfix handling for duplicate keys and record removal by @Xian55 in #9
Feature: .NET 10 migration with performance optimizations and CI modernization by @Xian55 in #16
Fix CMSG_ENABLE_NAGLE causing decrypt failure when Optimize Network for Speed is disabled 2960e77

New Features

Added metrics collection to measure opcode processing latency by @Xian55 in #7
Feature/perf/span pooled packet handler by @Xian55 in #10
Fix all 1,902 nullable compiler warnings by @Xian55 in #14

Performance

Refactor WowGuid to value-type record structs by @Xian55 in #2
BnetTcpSession: optimize packet parsing with Span by @Xian55 in #3
BnetTcpSession: zero-allocation buffer management with Span by @Xian55 in #4
Modernize threading, allocations, and runtime patterns for .NET 10 by @Xian55 in #15

New Contributors

@Xian55 made their first contribution in #1

Performance comparison

Measured with --metrics flag, 8-minute sessions, same game world and activity pattern. Baseline from PR #7 (master branch).

Client → Server (top improvements by P50)

Opcode	Count (old/new)	P50 before	P50 after	Speedup	P99 before	P99 after
`CMSG_CAST_SPELL`	121 / 45	16.145ms	0.092ms	175x	17.164ms	2.301ms
`CMSG_DB_QUERY_BULK`	2 / 2	3.478ms	1.544ms	2.3x	5.720ms	1.924ms
`CMSG_MOVE_START_FORWARD`	112 / 93	0.070ms	0.043ms	1.6x	0.461ms	0.351ms
`CMSG_MOVE_HEARTBEAT`	93 / 32	0.072ms	0.045ms	1.6x	2.361ms	1.607ms
`CMSG_QUEST_GIVER_STATUS_MULTIPLE`	24 / 27	0.035ms	0.030ms	1.2x	1.676ms	0.946ms

Server → Client (top improvements by P50)

Opcode	Count (old/new)	P50 before	P50 after	Speedup	P99 before	P99 after
`SMSG_CAST_FAILED`	149 / 55	15.959ms	0.002ms	7,980x	17.043ms	0.885ms
`SMSG_SPELL_GO`	160 / 62	16.041ms	0.065ms	247x	17.173ms	2.616ms
`SMSG_ENUM_CHARACTERS_RESULT`	1 / 1	29.215ms	17.247ms	1.7x	—	—
`SMSG_SEND_KNOWN_SPELLS`	1 / 1	4.159ms	1.367ms	3x	—	—
`SMSG_ACCOUNT_DATA_TIMES`	1 / 1	8.113ms	4.250ms	1.9x	—	—
`SMSG_ITEM_QUERY_SINGLE_RESPONSE`	42 / 24	0.256ms	0.570ms	~same	25.301ms	10.203ms
`SMSG_LOOT_RESPONSE`	44 / 31	0.081ms	0.072ms	1.1x	3.508ms	2.507ms

Analysis

The spell-related opcodes (CAST_SPELL, SPELL_GO, CAST_FAILED) showed a ~16ms median latency floor on master — the classic signature of Mutex kernel-mode transitions under contention. Replacing with System.Threading.Lock eliminated this entirely, bringing medians to sub-100μs.

One-shot startup opcodes (ENUM_CHARACTERS_RESULT, ACCOUNT_DATA_TIMES, SEND_KNOWN_SPELLS) show 1.7–3x improvement from BinaryPrimitives / allocation reduction in serialization paths.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              HOW THE PROXY SETUP WORKS                       │
│                                                             │
│   Your PC                                    Internet        │
│  ┌──────────┐     same computer     ┌───────┐      ┌──────┐   │
│  │   WoW    │ ◄──── instant ──────► │ Proxy │ ◄──► │Server│ │
│  │  Client  │     (0ms delay)       │       │ slow │      │  │
│  └──────────┘                       └───────┘      └──────┘  │
│                                                              │
│  The WoW client talks to the Proxy on your own computer.     │
│  The Proxy talks to the game server over the internet.       │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Shall i set the Optimize Network for Speed enabled or not ?

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         "OPTIMIZE NETWORK FOR SPEED" = ON (default)          │
│                                                              │
│  WoW sends every tiny message immediately, one at a time:    │
│                                                              │
│  WoW ──► Proxy: "move"         Proxy ──► Server: "move"      │
│  WoW ──► Proxy: "jump"         Proxy ──► Server: "jump"      │
│  WoW ──► Proxy: "cast spell"   Proxy ──► Server: "cast"      │
│                                                              │
│  3 separate deliveries across the internet                   │
│  Like sending 3 separate letters in 3 envelopes              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          "OPTIMIZE NETWORK FOR SPEED" = OFF                  │
│                                                              │
│  WoW batches nearby messages together before sending:        │
│                                                              │
│  WoW ──► Proxy: "move+jump+cast"                             │
│                      │                                       │
│                      ▼                                       │
│               Proxy ──► Server: "move+jump+cast"             │
│                                                              │
│  1 delivery across the internet instead of 3                 │
│  Like putting 3 letters in 1 envelope                        │
│                                                              │
│  The batching between WoW and Proxy is FREE                  │
│  because they're on the same computer (instant).             │
│  But it saves real time on the internet hop!                 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Full Changelog: https://github.com/Xian55/HermesProxy/commits/v4.1

Xian55/HermesProxy v4.1 Release v4.1 (2026-04-02) on GitHub