drneau.com

drneau · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:54 am Post subject: Working on networking

Doing the v3 networking now. I'll update this thread as it progresses.
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drneau · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:37 pm Post subject:

OK. I've been working on this a LOT and have the strategy fairly well firmed up and tested/implemented.

In v2, each time the client connected all console-related items (layouts, audios and images) were transferred to the client. If the client lost a connection, you had to reconnect it by hand. When you reconnected the client, all components were transferred again.

Fair to say that in v2 I didn't have much forethought in regards to networking. What WAS nice about the networking in v2 is that the client didn't require fileshare access to the server to work. That part will hold true for v3. I don't want you to be a home networking expert to get this to work!

v3 is vastly different

First thing you'll notice in v3...when you start it, it asks you to specify a location for the client repository. This isn't a pointer to the server repository...this is meant to be a directory local to the client system that will hold a cache of console components (audios, chip designs, console layouts and images). Just like the server repository, you can have it live wherever you want...even on a memory stick.

When the client connects to the server, the first thing it does is send the server a summary of what is contained in the client repository. The server evaluates this summary. If the client repository contains files that aren't in the server repository, the server tells the client to remove them. If the server repository contains console components that either aren't on the server or are different (same name, but different data) than those on the client, the new component is fired off to the client.

I have that working now.

Other networking-related items that are either in the works or planned...
- Clients will auto-reconnect if they lose connection.
- The server can send a "kill yourself" message to selected clients...that tells them to NOT reconnect after disconnecting.
- Clients can have an "alias" that will appear in the client list table on the server so that you can tell which one is which (in case you don't have your IP addresses memorized)
- The client and server will have extremely detailed messaging to tell you what's going back and forth and when, and it'll be color-coded based on message type. For instance, when a client connects, you'll see something like the following...

Client network log (on the client):

roadmanagerphil · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:40 am Post subject:

Will there be, and is there now, a limit of clients connected to 1 server?

drneau · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:57 pm Post subject:

roadmanagerphil · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:02 pm Post subject:

damn. we did a tourney last weekend, with 4 computers, and they would NOT stay connected. Thought perhaps there was a limit, but then the game started, and I just didn't have time to mess with it. I think it might have had something to do with naming the wrong directory for images or sounds... Oh well. Looking forward to v3!

AO · "Ace High" Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 11

What information is streamed to the client? Is it like V2 that sends out each second countdown for the timer? Or did you just send out an update every 5 - 10 seconds and have the client sync up?

Networking (lack of) is the only reason I haven't been trying out the V3 beta Smile

drneau · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:51 pm Post subject:

drneau · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject: