Distributed Server Model

[Lord Folken]

This is an idea i have been toying with for a while:

( I don\'t know what shape your code is in, so forgive me if i mention ideas that you have had or allready implented.)

Bandwidth is a scarce resource so a model where many servers share the load would be of benefit.

One possible approach would be to divide the world into sectors. When an avatar then approaches a sector boundry the client would connect to the other server, maintain a link with both servers as long as he is in no mans land, and then terminate the connection with the previous server once its done.
The character information would be passed from server to server directly. So either a distributed database would have to exist, or all servers communicate with a single db server. If a server crashed or gets disconnected another server could take over that sector and drop in all the avatars at predefined spawn points throughout the sector. That way the people could keep playing.
The client would connect to a

The other approach would be one similar to IRC. Several servers support several players. As soon as one player comes near another but are on different servers, the location data of the two will be exchanged continously.

A couple of additional mind snipplets:

Adaptive Location Update Rate - as soon as players come near each other the update rate increases up to realtime once they see each other.

Fixed Location Rate - Once things get crowded it will be difficult to update each and every player. So a max ammount of updates will be distributed amongst the avatars in the immidiate presence of the player. That way the link of the player and server will not be crowded.

Thats all for the moment.. hope my mind rants are of more worth then the diskspace and bandwidth they occupy.

[Chlerval]

Not a bad idea, but hard to code. And only usefull in a HUGE world.

1) \"Nomans land\" would not be needed, just some ovelapping area on both servers. So that when you enter an overlapping area the server directs you to the other server and when you leave the area you are connected with the other server (but the player does not notice anything of the transfer)

2) Why not distributing the interiors alone? This reduces much of the resources from the exterior, so there is no need to distribute the exterior.

[Lord Folken]

Hard to code: maybe... cannot judge what kind of effort it will requite.

No-Man\'s land: The overlap that is what i mean with it. Sorry wasn\'t clear.

> 2) well I thought that bandwidth is going to be the first bottleneck when you land a success and a lot of people start playing it. If the game is free I thought that the first thing you\'d need is bandwidth.

I haven\'t thought about hardware resources yet. But some MMORPGs like everquest / darkage of camelot etc... seem to use a multiserver model as there are sometimes zone crashes where part of the world goes down in flames.

If you\'d use an sql db back end it should be easy to get the sql server at least off the gameserver hardware. Given todays multigigaherz systems.. you probarly could support a couple of hundred players on a single cpu.

[Cete]

Planeshift Server currenty doesn\'t need a lot of bandwith, however, something similiar is planned called Superclients. These are special clients running an AI(Artificial Inetlligence). So you can host a dragon or something else on your 0-24 online computer, and specify its behaviour.  Unfortunately this feature is planned to be implemented after the release of Crystal Blue.

[Vengeance]

Actually after MB, not CB.  I expect the AIs to get smarter and smarter over time though--i.e. the first ones will probably be pretty dumb.

[Chlerval]

Would it also be possible to add your own area?

[Vengeance]

No.  Not planned, not anticipated, and not really possible anyway.

- Venge