Connecting multiple servers seamlessly
by Tom Stone · in Technical Issues · 01/05/2009 (5:23 am) · 0 replies
Hi,
Just wondering if I might spark a little help or pointing to the right place (if such a place exists that is). I'm currently looking into connecting multiple servers, and found the following resource:
http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=2421
which is quite simple and indicates (let's say in an MMO context rather than FPS) a EverQuest style loading system, where you're setting 'zones' and you can then spread them onto multiple physical machines where necessary - however, and here's the trickier bit;
Has there been any discussion of a server handoff without a 'trigger' LOADING... PLEASE WAIT. (Everquest players will remember just how jarring this one is, along with many many FPS players).
There are fairly obvious issues here particularly when you have terrains joined together on different servers - presumably you'd have one server tell all others it's joined to when the atlas terrain changes, then the other servers would update and keep the atlas terrain (for visibility) of other servers they are connected to, and all are supplied to the client for rendering by the server that the client is currently connected to.
(Saying nothing about visibility and streaming of objects across server boundaries).
Hoping to prompt a discussion :)
Just wondering if I might spark a little help or pointing to the right place (if such a place exists that is). I'm currently looking into connecting multiple servers, and found the following resource:
http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=2421
which is quite simple and indicates (let's say in an MMO context rather than FPS) a EverQuest style loading system, where you're setting 'zones' and you can then spread them onto multiple physical machines where necessary - however, and here's the trickier bit;
Has there been any discussion of a server handoff without a 'trigger' LOADING... PLEASE WAIT. (Everquest players will remember just how jarring this one is, along with many many FPS players).
There are fairly obvious issues here particularly when you have terrains joined together on different servers - presumably you'd have one server tell all others it's joined to when the atlas terrain changes, then the other servers would update and keep the atlas terrain (for visibility) of other servers they are connected to, and all are supplied to the client for rendering by the server that the client is currently connected to.
(Saying nothing about visibility and streaming of objects across server boundaries).
Hoping to prompt a discussion :)
