Server and Client extend what?

[Josh]

What should I call the root type for both the TServer and TClient types?

 

TNetworkNode?

TNode?

TTerminal?

THost?

 

What seems like a proper name?

[wh1sp3r]

TNetworkInterface

[Josh]

I like Terminal, but I'm not sure that is accurate.

[Marleys Ghost]

TNetNode ... cos I liked TNetworkNode but am lazy

 

TNetworkInterface

 

 

Do you have to make everything longer

[Canardia]

TNetworkNode is good, since LEO uses also Node as base class for all entities, and TNode would match that, so TNetworkNode is needed then for network based nodes.

[wh1sp3r]

Marleys Ghost: you should know, how long name Raknet's Class has

[macklebee]

is there already a TNetwork?

[wh1sp3r]

lol, TNetwork

[VicToMeyeZR]

For server Josh, can you implement non-video card capability for coding a server?

[wh1sp3r]

For server Josh, can you implement non-video card capability for coding a server?

 

i agree with this request, It's a must!

[Canardia]

For server, also a Linux version is a must!

[Rick]

I 4th the need for the ability to run a server with LE commands without graphics card, but with physics.

[macklebee]

yeah... kinda have to agree... i rent two game servers myself and it would be impossible if it required a graphics card...

[Marleys Ghost]

so 5 votes for SM0.0 then

[Rick]

We just need a way to not have to have a graphics card. If we call a command that requires a graphics card then it should just bomb and be our fault. All the other commands should still work.

[Niosop]

Or instead of bombing there could be a version of engine.dll that just ignores graphics only calls. Then you could run the same version of the game as both the full game or headless depending on the engine.dll that's there.

[Rick]

Whatever is easiest and fastest

[Mumbles]

Thread looks dead already, but in case it isn't. At uni we were taught that any computer that can receive data on an internet is a host, so THost would probably be most accurate. There is a common misconception that hosts ..must.. be running be running server applications, and this simply is not true.

 

The term 'host' became hijacked when multiplayer LAN games in the early 90's became popular. Akin to organising a party, the "host" would organise the event, which is the same role the server would play in a network game. Whereas people that joined the game would be equivalent to the party's "guests". So whilst most networked applications at the time used the words "server" and "client", games instead used 'host' and 'guest'. Today the word guest is never used. Instead, you'll probably see the options to 'host game' or 'join game'

 

A little mini-essay there, that I'm sure no one really cared about...

[Josh]

Dedicated server mode will come once some networked games are up and running.

[Rick]

Doesn't that seem kind of backwards? People are less likely to create networked games if their servers require a graphics card. Plus if they do spend the time to make a server application that requires a graphics card, then you make a dedicated server mode, I can only assume it would require some changes to their code. So you want people to make networked games knowing that they'll have to rework some of their server code once this feature comes out? Just seems kind of backwards to me.

[wh1sp3r]

i agree with Rick

[Mumbles]

Dedicated server mode will come once some networked games are up and running.

 

Sounds a bit like Modern Warfail 2...

 

But really, this shouldn't actually be an issue until an LE game is Internet playable, and has a large player base. For LAN and small scale Internet games the lack of dedicated server support shouldn't hit a game's playability too hard.

[Rick]

wh1sp3r, would disagree. He created a finished online LE game. He has a dedicated server that is more powerful than his PC, yet he can't use it because to run a server with LE you need a graphics card. Most servers don't have graphics cards.

 

The problem is people are hesitant to even pursue such a game if the library they use doesn't accommodate the design.

[Mumbles]

When I say, small scale, I mean like 8 clients at most, and probably also with a small amount of objects to track, the original Doom might be an example of that (4 clients and in DM mode, no enemies, so only a few objects).

 

I don't know enough about this game though, but it probably isn't what I'd call 'small scale' (I presume I could find the game in the web-site link in his sig)

 

Medium scale would be your average 8-32 player Counter Strike, Quake, Unreal Tournament sort of game.

 

Large scale would obviously be an MMO like World of Warcraft

 

 

Edit: If the game is ballwars, that definately is small-scale, and running a dedicated server, so now you've confused me a little bit... Also, by the message frequency, I don't see why that particular game wouldn't work with a non-dedicated server.

[Rick]

It works as a dedicated server so there is one central area to play games. Does it have to be this way? Not, but it's the way it's designed. It's not really up to us to tell him how to design his games. Because of the limitations of servers needing graphics cards he may have not expanded on the game. This is the point I'm trying to make. If the feature isn't there most people aren't going to waste their time designing their games as such in the HOPE that Josh implements the feature. So we get into a chicken and the egg situation.

 

I guess we need to create some fast crappy online games just to show Josh that we want a dedicated server.