Networking Setup and Roadblocks

Author: Jacob McLain

My task was to get networking set up so that we would be able to have multiplayer functional for the build. I missed this deadline due to an issue with the method I was attempting to implement networking through. I was attempting to create server and client targeted builds that would run separately and meet up on the server. This was a major roadblock in that the version of unreal we're using doesn't utilize this methodology without more setup. I unfortunately lacked this further setup and was unable to discover what I was missing. I looked through the Unreal documentation as well as multiple YouTube guides to figure out if I was doing a step wrong.

The solution came when a fellow classmate informed me that using a dedicated server isn't necessary unless the project is for a game with many players on at the same time, MMO's being an example of this. I was then directed to different documentation that detailed steps to take in order to implement a Peer to Peer connection as opposed to a server connection. After testing out the information in the documentation to ensure that I understood the content, I found that doing things this way would be much more involved and would require that I stick my hands into the code of my other team members on a regular basis so that everything continues to comply with a networked environment. Either way, I'll my work cut out for me.

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