Client connecting to local Server

Conversation started Nov 21, 2012 at 2:49.

wardd

Nov 21, 2012 02:49

hey every1, i have an engine class in c++ that when run either creates a server or client. i have some engine functions that iw oudl like to call in the server/client, but dont want to store a pointer back up to the engine. would it make sense for the server and client to inherit from the engine?

Jimmy

Nov 21, 2012 03:30

storing a pointer is usually the better way

wardd

but then that means the engine and client for exmple will be strongly coupled, because the engin creates a client and the client has to store a pointer to the engine that created it.... thats bad right?

Jimmy

"strongly coupled by composition" is still much weaker coupling than inheritance

or you mean, the user has to know this

in which case, you can hide the engine constructors behind some method that just gives "makeClientEngine" or "makeServerEngine"

wardd

i...........................c

the biggest issuei have right now is that from the client, you can create a new server in its own process.. like if you decided to host a game for example

but im not sure how to do that from the client... i would have to go back up to the engine and request it to be done right?

Jimmy

you can think of a full standalone single player as basically being one server + one client that are just holding hands

"requesting a server" is something like exposing a network interface to something you already have internally

wardd

Nov 21, 2012 03:45

my design was to start a client only, because if you want to join a dedicated server, i dont want to have a local server running all the time because it would waste resources... or can i make the server process sleep somehow and not take away any performance when im connecting the client to a remote server?

Jimmy

I don't mean you have to run the server as a separate process

wardd

i mean it was my choice to do so....

but what i wanted to know is if its possible to run say a client and a server process, but now have the server process eat up resources?

because if the server process doesn't eat up resources then i hav no problem having it running all the time while i play on some remote server...

Jimmy

what resources would it eat up?

wardd

well it will have its own continuous loop running eating up cpu i would guess

but it would have nothing to do

Jimmy

I presume the server process has some Start() method that you call to initialize "hosting a game" and some Stop() method to you call to dispose of everything.

wardd

Nov 21, 2012 03:54

o yes that is true

Jimmy

while your player is in the menus before jumping "into the real game"

your server shouldn't be doing anything

or you could start the server immediately but then stop it when the client joins a remote server

wardd

i wnat the server to pretty much identical to a dedicated server though... the dedicated server would just loop continuously looking for connections.. if my server isnt running then i have to figure out someway to start it before i can send connection packets to it right? this is assuming i put it in a seperat eprocess

Jimmy

the client just says "I'm going to play with someone else, you should take a nap and unload all your resources"

wardd

the reason being identical is so i dont have to change any code

Jimmy

"looping continuously looking for connections" isn't really that expensive

especially since most "listen" type interfaces have aome kind of built-in timespan to wait

wardd

Nov 21, 2012 03:56

but it is not limited by any kind of sleep or anything... so it will run as fast as possible right? eatup allmy cpu?

but i mean in a real game scenario the server will be doing all of its serving duties so it isn't sitting waiting for connections... it just polls for any connection requests when it has time to

Jimmy

no, it will not run as fast as possible. for example, the last parameter in select is a timeout value

couldn't you run the poller in another thread?

wardd

thats what i was trying to avoid lol

the loop for the server is like
while (true)

{
peek for any connection requests.. none? ok

process...
process..

}

so it doesnt wait at all it just checks to see if any request came in since the last time it checked

Jimmy

well

I wouldn't write it that way

but even if you do

while(true) {
    if (this.currentClientCount == 0)
        peek(50ms timeout)
    else
        peek(0ms timeout)

    process()....
}

wardd

that sounds like a good idea

Jimmy

or, in your client, when you connect to a remote server, first you connect to your local server, send a "standby" command, and then go off and play

wardd

Nov 21, 2012 04:02

i will try doing that but just curious what way would u write it?

ok but then when my server gets a standby command how can i be sure that it is the local client that sent it and not a rogue user?

Jimmy

well, I'd use a separate thread ;) easier to reason about that way

wardd

lol

i will make a branch for both approaches

and then wheni finish both branches ill flip a coin

Jimmy

regarding anti-rogues: well, because your server has some method of authentication

wardd

ok good call

Jimmy

also, any kind of sanity check, such as "I will not standby if there's any players currently playing other than the player who ordered standby"

wardd

Nov 21, 2012 04:04

good idea

well thank you for the help youve given me a couple ideas on how to get started with this solution

how do i upvote your messages?

Jimmy

no prob

there's no reputation in chat

wardd

o :(

Conversation ended Nov 21, 2012 at 4:05.

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