Server (and other) Progress

Summary:

Overview of project status

Server (and other) Progress

Craig Macomber 1251519962|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

You may have used the downloadable client that we have now. It does some things, some of which it does ok. It, however, reached a dead end on the graphics front. Well, I could have pushed it, and eventually made something kinda nice, but there were limits I did not like. Thus, we scraped the client, and started work on a new one, from scratch, using different tools. It looks fantastic, but still lacks any basic functionality other than planet rendering.

Along with the new client, I designed a new server architecture, which I think will work much better. I have finished the basic architecture, and done some basic testing of it. Everything seems to work well, though there are some features missing as far as automatic crash recovery and distributed processing across multiple servers (basic multi-core support should already work, and the database server can be on another machine), but I think everything else major is solid.

Along with the basic architecture changes, I have now implicated a new networking protocol. It has basic error detection, and should be a solid base for the networking. There are a few details that are currently in need of optimization for high loads, but I will get that fixed soon. I still need to implement it on the client side in python too. (Edit After some testing, for small messages, my code is more than twice as fast as RealBasic's built in alternative, and about 11% faster for much larger messages. I also got it about half implemented on the python side)

Also, I should note that several developers other than me have been active recently working on various design and documentation tasks, as well as the ground combat system which will be ported to the new server, client and networking once finished.

I think that is it for now. No pretty new pretty pictures. I need to rig up a PHP script so I can easily update a gallery of new screen shots for all you (not very numerous) fans :)

last edited on 1251532860|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Craig Macomber + show more

Re: Server (and other) Progress

Craig Macomber 1251575365|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I have now polished up the server side a bit, and fully implicated the python client side. The python side seems to be rather slow with large messages though. I guess I have some optimizing to do.

Re: Server (and other) Progress

Craig Macomber 1251604265|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I ported a bunch of legacy code from the old server into the new one using my new socket. Having done a bunch of cleaning, fixing and refactoring, I think a lot of the code might actually be usable. This is really great because it is quite a large collection of functional tested code. I just need to hook it up to the new database system, and whip up a client and we should have logins and account generation fully working on the new system!

With the client socket working in python, that would mean that the new client mainly needs a basic GUI, and not much else to get it usable with accounts and such.

Once it has accounts, and database access, the server side of the ground combat UI (applying players' actions) should be very easy.

Getting the (not yet finished) ground combat algorithm into the new database system will be an interesting project. I can't really say how long that will take, but once that, and the client ground combat GUI are done (another project of unknown difficulty), there will be a game to play, and it will be fully on the new client and server.

Re: Server (and other) Progress

Craig Macomber 1251759470|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I got the old client to connect to the new server. The new server still needs to be hooked up to the new database though. I'll get to work on that now.

Re: Server (and other) Progress

Craig Macomber 1251771348|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

MySQL was being a pain, but I got it working. The new server now supports account creation and login. The old ground combat stuff, and a bunch of old AI and other ship related stuff has not been brought over to the new server, but that stuff will all go in a separate task application anyway.

I'm going to fix up a few things, then see if I can actually install the new server software on the server and get it all running. I leave it up to check stability and processor load, and get the new client to talk to it.

Re: Server (and other) Progress

Craig Macomber 1251785331|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Well, I got the new client to login, though I have no GUI for entering a user name or password. That was harder than it should have been. I think thats enough for today. Review: I got the new server hooked up to the database, and got both sides of login working, as well as server side account creation.

Edit: I also got chat working, though again, the new client has no GUI for it.

last edited on 1251788722|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Craig Macomber + show more