Map Streaming

[dylan]

When a client connects it'd be nice if the server could sent relevant map data based on the position of the client.

Example:

• The server sends the tiles the client needs to draw the screen/render it's view radius.
• The server sends differences in local tile info when a change occurs to a map.
• The server sends new relevant tiles to the client as the client moves, and the client drops irrelevant tiles.

This would allow for very large maps that can be generated/chunked/streamed to clients.

[cha55son]

I would be interested in this as well. The closest I could find from google for this type of problem client-side would be

http://impactjs.com/forums/help/giant-seamless-map-split-into-levels/page/1

Assuming I could get that working properly (seamlessly or with a short loading screen) then it shouldn't be difficult for the server to notify clients to load new maps as they reach the border of the current map.

The problem I foresee with this setup is the server will need to manage all entities across the entire world which will most likely be to much. For example I am working on a tanks game and it can only handle up to 10 players before there is noticeable lag. (EC2 small server) I am currently working on reducing network traffic where necessary so that should help a bit.

I believe the end result would be to spin up a server for each sub-section of the world. So as a user transitions from one sub-section to another they would really be changing servers. Although if one sub-section of the map is a high traffic area then it could potentially overwhelm the server. Unless, high traffic sub-sections are ran on more powerful servers.

[dylan]

I have several papers on this very problem, I'll gather a few of the simplest and post them. Specifically we'd need area of interest filtering with a pub sub mechanism for clients so they only receive data for entities local to them and drop them when they shouldn't care, a custom background map/collision renderer that loads/dumps relevant tiles on the fly, as well as some dead reckoning/easing for when we miss update frames.

On Nov 30, 2013, at 8:09 AM, Chason Choate [email protected] wrote:

I would be interested in this as well. The closest I could find from google for this type of problem client-side would be

http://impactjs.com/forums/help/giant-seamless-map-split-into-levels/page/1

Assuming I could get that working properly (seamlessly or with a short loading screen) then it shouldn't be difficult for the server to notify clients to load new maps as they reach the border of the current map.

The problem I foresee with this setup is the server will need to manage all entities across the entire world which will most likely be to much. For example I am working on a tanks game and it can only handle up to 10 players before there is noticeable lag. I am currently working on reducing network traffic where necessary so that should help a bit.

I believe the end result would be to spin up a server for each sub-section of the world. So as a user transitions from one sub-section to another they would really be changing servers. Although if one sub-section of the map is a high traffic area then it could potentially overwhelm the server. Unless, high traffic sub-sections are ran on more powerful servers.

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[dylan]

I'll post any map streaming related notes here, i'll post area of interest filtering stuff in the other issue...