Oolite Bulletins

Ahruman wrote:

Lorfarius wrote:

Would it be worth keeping OoliteMOG as a seperate entity though?

“Keeping”? It doesn’t exist, and as far as I’m aware no-one is working on it.

Umm we were talking about Oolite becoming an MMORPG remember? Of course it doesnt exist. I was carrying the conversation on in the case it did exist.

Its been debated a few times and seems to be generally agreed that the first step would be a special death-match system. A couple of peeps have tried it, but "even" this first step had them taken away by the men in white coats! It proberbly is do-able, but very hard.

creating a seperate subgame on the oolite engine for the purposes of playing two save games against eachother in a deathmatch environment to test piloting skills and ship customization wouldn't be that difficult to do, i imagine.

maybe instead of real multiplayer, the ability to import another players' saves as a unique npc?

Miangele wrote:

creating a seperate subgame on the oolite engine for the purposes of playing two save games against eachother in a deathmatch environment to test piloting skills and ship customization wouldn't be that difficult to do, i imagine.

Oh, you imagine, do you?

Miangele wrote:

maybe instead of real multiplayer, the ability to import another players' saves as a unique npc?

As it stands, player ships work differently to NPC ships. For instance, player ships have shields…

I think the best idea is to have one galaxy (too start with)

Server software would produce the following:

Market prices on planets
Automated ships
starfield

each client computer would have to give the server x,y,z coordiante and angles, ship type, missles launched info. Then the other client computers can read this info from the server.

I do see that as a big problem, yes I can see that people are using there spare time but if you slowly chip away at a problem it will get smaller.

Pete

Ahruman wrote:

As it stands, player ships work differently to NPC ships. For instance, player ships have shields…

You seem to give up before the problem is even started Where would this place be if the fella who created Oolite did the same?

It is so easy to say that something like converting Oolite to MMORPG is doable, when you are not the guy who actually does it. As Ahruman has already stated, attempting to do so would essentially mean throwing away what we already have and redesigning the entire game engine from scratch.

Also, note that the fella who created Oolite had a very precise plan on what is to be done and what the scope of the game would be. And that scope did not involve multiplayer at any time, nor changing out the entire engine after it had been implemented.

Sorry, it's just that it is a huge undertaking and no one can devote time for that at this point. Be sure that if it were that simple, it would have been already implemented. However, if anyone wants to have a go at it, the source code is always available.

another_commander wrote:

It is so easy to say that something like converting Oolite to MMORPG is doable, when you are not the guy who actually does it. As Ahruman has already stated, attempting to do so would essentially mean throwing away what we already have and redesigning the entire game engine from scratch.

Also, note that the fella who created Oolite had a very precise plan on what is to be done and what the scope of the game would be. And that scope did not involve multiplayer at any time, nor changing out the entire engine after it had been implemented.

Sorry, it's just that it is a huge undertaking and no one can devote time for that at this point. Be sure that if it were that simple, it would have been already implemented. However, if anyone wants to have a go at it, the source code is always available.

Nobody is asking anyone to throw away Oolite in its entirety. This is just a thread about Oolite as an MMORPG. I really dont see any insult being pushed forward in the slightest by those wondering if its possible. People are bound to discuss it as Elite seems to make an ideal front for this type of game.

Maybe it would or wouldnt be easy to use the current Oolite engine as such an MMORPG, nothing wrong in speculating.

Fear not, grasshopper, he's not offended. He is, however, exasperated with the whole matter of a Oolite MOG, as nearly every newcomer (including myself) brings up the subject.

The point is that Oolite as it is can not be converted; its engine would have to be redone nearly from scratch to make it a MOG and there is nobody willing/able/available to take on such a colossal task.

If you thrust your skills are up to is and you have patience and time, please go ahead, but be aware you'll be starting a massive project that will tax you heavily - allyou need is to remember that nowadays a game's production is a team affair involving tens of professionals and spanning years.

Still, if someone starts it, I'm certain that anybody who can code will be willing to lend an occasional hand.

Miangele wrote:

creating a seperate subgame on the oolite engine for the purposes of playing two save games against eachother in a deathmatch environment to test piloting skills and ship customization wouldn't be that difficult to do, i imagine.

okay let me just list the "not so difficults"

Networking Code..

Requires a new set of instructions to be written

A Brandnew New Network parser.. a socalled network parser that will take information and break it up into parts so that they do not exeed the current TCP/IP Packet limits.. if memory serves me right: the maximum packet size is 1500 bytes...

Prediction code..

Since multiplayer is a real time enviroment, you cant just resend data that did not arrive at the Client...

Therefore you have to write prediction code that "gueeses" what a ship might be about to-do such as pitching, yawing this counts for both player ships and NPC ships.

When the next packet arrives after the one that didnt the code also has to make adjustments for what the prediction code did, as opposed what the player actual did.

Server Code

no matter what, one machine will allways has to act as server.. It can do this be being a client server, or a dedicated server...

A client server is a machine where the player is also playing

A dedicated Server is a machine that do not actual run the game but just the server code...

Client Code...

Clients are the Players, these receives information from the server and sends information to the server about what they do..

The time from this information the send to arrive is what you typical read in a game as ping.. A ping of 100 usually means that data is lagging 100 miliseconds meaning its 100 miliseconds old.

There are required a whole lot of code to take this lagging into account and it also has to be tied into the prediction code.

Anyway as you can tell, its just not so simple.. There are a whole lot of "thinking" required to make networking code for a real time Game enviroment...

So i better stop here...

Cheers Frame...

There is a lot of open source development on this subject on the net

loads of information out there I normal program hardware so with all the graphics and gameplay software written. The network side would seem easy to me. I may have a try when I have finished my current project.

Ahruman, how about making the last few posts a sticky closed thread?

If someone actually beguins the Oolite MOG, they can open a new thread but until then these posts should be enough to silence the newcomers who'd bring up the subject.

Cmdr. Maegil wrote:

If someone actually beguins the Oolite MOG, they can open a new thread but until then these posts should be enough to silence the newcomers who'd bring up the subject.

This sounds like a good idea. Put a single sticky up mentioning how its not something the current team want to get involved in, rather than having to regurgiate how hopeless, pointless asking it is.

Possibly what we actually need is an FAQ… community-maintained, perhaps?

Excellent idea! There are a couple of other topics coming up quite frequently, usually as newbie questions, that are answered "from scratch" everytime.

So, who's going to do it?