Sorry if this is not the right place to ask, but am I the only one who thinks that Star Citizen’s new server meshing technology is an old hat? I believe it’s the same technology that a few highly scalable Minecraft servers have been using for years. WorldQL introduced this back in 2021, but I think the idea was around even earlier than that. GrieferGames has also put this into practice.

  • macniel@feddit.de
    4·
    8 months ago

    Server meshing isn’t new at all. But how CIG is doing it, is. The dynamic nature of it is what makes it revolutionary. Servers can be spooled up and retired as needed. A certain area of the universe is under heavy load as there are thousands of players having a small fleet engagement? Add more servers to handle the load. There are some planets and even star systems that are not visited by players? Retire them and just let Quantum (CIGs universe simulation) run the simulation for those star systems.

    • lukas@lemmy.haigner.meOP
      4·
      8 months ago

      But isn’t that exactly what the people at WorldQL accomplished already?

      To actually solve the problem, something more robust was needed. I set the following goals:

      • Players must be able to see each other, even if on different server processes.
      • Players must be able to engage in combat across servers.
      • When a player places a block or updates a sign, it should be immediately visible to all other players.
      • If one server is down, the entire world should still be accessible.
      • If needed, servers can be added or removed at-will to adapt to the amount of players.

      I think the last point specifically addresses your concern about dynamic server meshing. They can scale up or down depending on how many players are in an area.

      • macniel@feddit.de
        2·
        8 months ago

        Perhaps yeah, and it sounds like that. But the scale is not really comparable. Or can WorldQL still simulate whatever is going on in unloaded chunks?

        • ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.comEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          I don’t think the base game, Minecraft, actually simulates chunks which aren’t loaded. IIRC they’re frozen until loaded into memory again. So no, but not because of WorldQL tech.

        • lukas@lemmy.haigner.meOP
          1·
          8 months ago

          Fair point. Minecraft itself doesn’t simulate anything in unloaded chunks afaik, so I think the WorldQL PoC can’t change that as a server plugin. They probably could if they develop a Minecraft server from scratch tho.

    • Banzai51English
      1·
      8 months ago

      IE, CIG is attempting to do it in the hardest way possible.