Are there any good guides on what data to actually send across the network? I''ve searched the article section and there isn''t really what I''m looking for. I realize it depends on the type of game you are making, I just want some guidelines. Thanks.

I''ve got the same question. I poked around a bit and most of the stuff seems to be very much on the technical end of things as opposed to the design end.

Are there FAQs around or tuts or anything somebody could point me to?

You need to send data for basically anything that isn''t static. This means things such as positional data for anything moving (players, NPC''s etc.), trajectorys or something for weapons fire...all that though pretty much speaks for itself, your game won''t be very interesting if nothing happens on the client end
The real design issues come down to how much and how often you send that data, and that can really only be refined by testing under not-so-good conditions over the net.

Are there guidelines for how much simulation you run on each machine? Like is it better to have one machine be in charge of all the positions of all the objects and just tell all the other machines where things are and ask them for the user input? Or is it better to have each machine run it's own simulation as best it can with input from a master? I'm sure you can do it many different ways depending on your circumstances, but I'm just curious what others have already done. No point in re-inventing the wheel.

This is the game I'm trying to add multiplayer to:

barrel patrol 3d




[edited by - miles vignol on May 31, 2002 11:21:35 PM]

quote: Original post by miles vignol
Are there guidelines for how much simulation you run on each machine?

Yes - put as much on the server as you can afford to.

This is for security, and data consistency.



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Here are a few links you might find of interest.

http://unreal.epicgames.com/Network.htm
http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/quake/QDP/qnp.html#reliable
http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/quake/spec/quake-spec34/qkspec_8.htm#NETP0