Hello. I am a little confused as to why you are creating maps so large, 4096x4096, instead of managable maps of like 256x256 with caching, similar to Everquest''s loading zones??

Visit my planet: Planet John
Capt. James Tiberious Kirk -- hmm, didnt know ole Capn was a tiberia fan.

I don''t know, it''s just the way I had originally planned the game. The server and client use the same map, but I''m planning multi-server architecture, therefore it would be easier to read a range/area of tiles from one file rather than managing multiple file access.

The client is only reading areas of map at once, but those areas change dependent on the player''s location. So yes, I''m doing something like what EQ does, but I''m storing the data in a single file rather than multiple files.



MatrixCubed
http://MatrixCubed.org

60megs of ram isnt much, for a server that is. For a class project where we are writing software to control an autonomous vehicle, it uses a map of 5000x5000 tiles and takes up about 320megs of ram. But we keep it all in the ram and it runs blazing fast, there isnt much difference in speed from a 50x50 map compared to 5000x5000. The only noticible difference is the load time, 50x50 takes miliseconds, while 5000x5000 takes 30 seconds, but when they run, the larger map only runs at about 1 fps slower then the smaller one. But ofcourse, the vehicle uses a 1GHz with 768megs of ram computer So as long as your program can run all in ram, it will be fast.

Possibility

I guess one reason i ask that question is, if both the client and the server must have that 60meg map, what happens when you need to make a change or an update to the map??

If the server is only one with map, then my question i irrelevant. However, if the client has to have the map too, then i forsee a problem with the map size. If you dont mind me pointing out, what happens WHEN you need to update the map because of some flaw. I say when because nothing is for sure, as you know. Wouldnt the client then need to download a 60meg map file just for some map fix when only took 100k to fix?

This is my only point for maps of such size...or maybe im missing something. Anyways, just thought i would describe my point and see what you think.

john

Visit my planet: Planet John
Capt. James Tiberious Kirk -- hmm, didnt know ole Capn was a tiberia fan.

why dont you save small pieces of the map into seperate small files. then the user can just download a small file. have the game peice the tiles before hand and you may suffer a small load time hit.. but its better than suffering a 64mb download cause game designer put the tree in the wrong place(which inherently blocked off the sword which was needed to kill the dragon that had the key to the room where you could find the old man who unlocked the door which held the lumbersaw).... so just have your maps in a folder... its not as pretty but if it works it works. or you can creat an update system which paks the updated level piece into a larger level file. then compress the shit into a smaller file... then jsut have the game read the compressed file, decompress to your map file format and you got it all good... haha sorry i get off topic alot on these messege boards

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I''m almost finished my 3D Engine for the TI-83 calculator

GalaxyQuest:
Well, I could permit the client application to modify the map file, and send data packets with which tiles are to be updated. Essentially, small "patches" that overwrite necessary parts of the map. And they''re still server controlled. Good point though, but I still want to keep the map in one file, for programming purposes.

Ninja770:
Read my response above.

The map in this ongoing thread is for static data... stuff that cannot be changed or manipulated by the players. I haven''t set out to design the dynamic map yet, but that will be a similar style, except some tiles may not have any data associated with them. This dynamic map may be stored in separate files, but I''ll cross that bridge when I get to it.


MatrixCubed
http://MatrixCubed.org