That would make FL a totally different game.. go ahead

there is a post in one of the forums about moving the files. Seems to work give it a try.

Junkman

I tried this very thing months ago, sharing the multiplayer accounts location between servers. The only problem I encountered that I could not overcome was the .cfg files that reside in the same location. Both test servers would use the exact same information regarding the information that was uploaded to the Global Server (sever info) so essentially the second server was invisible and never accessed. The second server would always be "published" exactly the same as the first server in name, IP address, comments, etc. There didn't seem to be a way to share the accounts. Simply copying the accounts to the second server has always been possible, but the server would remain seperate (not the point of sharing accounts).

Browclops

But does it work if you only move the folders, and not the cfg files? I believe so, though I need to do more tests to be sure. The program I'd make would sync the character folders between servers, hopefully on-demand, thus letting users continue improving their character even if one server is down or full.

Could someone willing to help me test it out, by running a server and moving some character folders, contact me on MSN: [email protected] ? IM me if you see me online (I'm away if I'm away ).

Absolutely that could work, old style directory replication. In order not to waylay the proc time any more than it generally is on a server, you would need to set up replication standards so that it wasn't trying to replicate every two minutes. Perhaps every 15 minutes. That would allow people to spend time on one server, and if they wanted to switch servers they would only need to wait a max of 15 minutes before the changes to the folder would be in effect on the other server(s). I had not considered having them out of sync for a period of time but it certainly is reasonable, considering some servers are down for long periods of time, or they delete everything and start over. I think it's a good idea. Go by time stamp, the latest time is the folder to use in the overwrite process.

Browclops

I'm also thinking, if possible, to do it on-demand: a server wouldn't sync a person's characters until they join that particular server, so servers wouldn't have to have every person's characters on their hard drives. Not sure how I'll work that yet, but I'm pretty confident that it's possible.

Now to finish FLMM v1.2, and then start reading up on TCP/IP programming .

Ok, after doing a lot more thinking while waiting for my mom to pick me up after my ACT testing, I think that, to minimize bandwidth usage, I'll have to go with a traditional many clients/one server structure, and have the clients (the computers running flserver) send all modified character files to the main server, and check the main server for updated files.

ATTENTION: could everyone who would consider running this program on their Freelancer servers let me know that they'd use my program? If I get at least 5 servers willing to run this program (if it works well), I'll start developing this program asap.

I will

Browclops

I may give it a shot for you.

erm, yeah,.. might give it a bash

IGx89,
Are you still planning this or not enough takers?

Browclops

maybe you should think of this in a different light.

Maybe if the user information is stored on 1 Global server and is then accessed by the player before connecting to an individually created server e.g

i go Online with freelancer i then Log into (theoretical) account server with my username and password i then choose the character i wish to use e.g u can setup multiple names on the servers right? it then accesses the server list of all servers connected to the Account server and then i connect to the server of choice Via this Account server.

or another option is to Store all user data on the users individual machine but then that would open up the possibility of hacking and modding right?

anyway just a thought ... reply and tell me what ya think.

thx.

I Hold The Knowledge
I Hold The Power
I Am The Book Of The Dead

What events are there that can be used to trigger an update?

One thing that seems comparatively easy - because it can be done without interfering with the server process - is a directory watch on the savegame directory. If the FLServer updates the file only when the player leaves or dies then we are set; if the savegames are updated more often then this approach falls flat on its face.

It is not necessary to muck with server ids for this to work; it is sufficient to extract the non-constant player data from the savegame and splice it into the corresponding savegame for that player/character on the target server.

I think instead of looking for server-generated events to trigger an update it would also be feasible to have the player trigger the update via a web interface. The problem with that approach would be authentication, of course.

Inspiration for the replication portion can be gotten from uucp and Usenet news.

Status update: Last Friday I got an alpha version of FLServerSyncher working! Here's how it currently works: The tool is run on a server, and it puts or gets files off of a good old FTP server. I originally had the tool checking modified dates on files to see what has changed between the client's and the ftp server's files, but that was turning to be way to difficult. So, I've decided on MD5 checksums, and have done quite a few optimizations to make it work well. The program will also only run every 5 or 10 minutes, so it should be nice to your bandwidth and CPU usage. Right now I don't know how long it will take every time it is run, because I've been on vacation since last Saturday and won't be getting back until this Saturday (I'm using a public library computer now). Since it uses a regular FTP server, there shouldn't be any worries about security or performance.

So, expect me contacting a few of you within the next couple weeks with a beta version needing testing .

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Freelancer Mod Manager: newbies' dreams come true
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