Summary
The library provides basic client / server network functionalities for games using RPCs. The major strength of the library is the template based RPC class. It allows to register and call RPCs effortless. It further includes a tutorial game server and game client (each around 300 lines of code ) for a very simple multiplayer shooting game as a proof of concept.
Network RPC Lib Features
- Register RPCs in one line. The RPC class autodetects all paramters from the function pointer
- RPC Data-type mismatch or wrong number of parameters are stated as error to ease debugging
- Numbers are automatically sent as the smallest possible datatype (byte, short , .. )
- Supports GLM datatypes for use in 3D Games
- Supported Datatypes : (u)char,(u)short,(u)int,float,double,vector,map, GLM vec,mat and quat
- Support for nested Datatypes like map [ string , vector ]
- Reliable and unreliable calls possible
- Function pointers of remote functions are not required
- Based on ENet
- Tested on Cygwin, Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows
- C++11 based
Network RPC Lib Limitations
- RPCs cannot be class member functions
- No compression
- No encryption
- Only void functions supported. Non-void functions were tested but complicated everything.
- Client to Client connections are not supported
Example Game Features
- Lobby
- Multiple Games
- Handle spwaning/removing of game objects
- Simple Shooting functionality
- Intentionally textmode for simplicity
Benchmark
A first simple test on localhost (Core i7 Notebook) gave:
1 Call / Network Update:
- 69.000 unreliable RPC calls/sec [client.call_ex(0,"hello_server", "Greetings")]
- 74.000 reliable RPC calls/sec [client.call_ex(1,"hello_server", "Greetings")]
10 Calls grouped / Network Update
- 144.000 unreliable RPC calls/sec [client.call_ex(0,"hello_server", "Greetings")]
- 310.000 reliable RPC calls/sec [client.call_ex(1,"hello_server", "Greetings")]
20 Calls grouped / Network Update
- 142.000 unreliable RPC calls/sec [client.call_ex(0,"hello_server", "Greetings")]
- 364.000 reliable RPC calls/sec [client.call_ex(1,"hello_server", "Greetings")]
Note that this is not about the response time
Example Usage
Call Server Function:
Client Side:
NetClient client;
void set_pos(vec3 pos)
{
// do something
exit(0);
}
int main()
{
rpc_register_remote(client.get_rpc(), login);
rpc_register_local(client.get_rpc(), set_pos);
client.connect("localhost", 12345);
client.call("login", "myname", "pass");
while(1) client.process();
//client.disconnect();
}
Server Side:
NetServer server;
void login(uint clientid, string name, string password)
{
// clientid is the first parameter for server functions
server.call(clientid, "set_pos", vec3(1,2,3));
}
int main()
{
rpc_register_local(server.get_rpc(), login);
rpc_register_remote(server.get_rpc(), set_pos);
server.start();
core_sleep(10000) ; // wait client to do stuff
server.stop();
}
