[Ice Cake]

Will it ever get client and server architecture? Or is duke's engine incompatible with that?

[Mark]

Client / Server is what is being worked on now for multiplayer. Its been a long wait but it will be here eventually.

[Daedolon]

Ice Cake, on 27 September 2015 - 08:20 AM, said:

is duke's engine incompatible with that?

Yes.

Ice Cake, on 27 September 2015 - 08:20 AM, said:

Will it ever get client and server architecture?

Yes.

[Ice Cake]

How can both answers be yes?

[Mark]

Ignore his first answer. He said yes only because Eduke does not have it NOW. But it will.

[Striker]

Did IFOC (or whoever is working on MP) start working with the netcode yet?

[Master O]

Mark., on 27 September 2015 - 04:18 PM, said:

Ignore his first answer. He said yes only because Eduke does not have it NOW. But it will.

So, you're saying that Duke Nukem 3d, one of the most popular FPSes of all time, outside of Doom II itself, does not have a modern client that supports multiplayer?

How is that possible? This is a basic feature of every FPS.

[Inspector Lagomorf]

Master O, on 15 February 2016 - 06:11 AM, said:

How is that possible? This is a basic feature of every FPS.

Yeah, remember that bitchin' Wolfenstein 3D multiplayer client?

[Mark]

My thought is that the person or people capable of finishing the netcode have come to the realization that, being as busy as they are, its not worth the effort for what might be only a few to several dozen players that are really interested in multiplayer. Probably a flash of interest then it will fade away. So it stays on the wish list. I could be wrong but thats my opinion. I was hogging the phone line at home dukematching against friends and family back in the 90's and will probably give it a try if and when its finished.

[Danukem]

Here is my take on it. It used to work, until about 2010 IIRC. Which is to say, it worked about as well as the original game -- pretty shitty but at least functional. Then they decided to overhaul the netcode to make it more like a modern game and less sensitive to sync issues. But the overhaul turned out to be a bigger job than anticipated, and lacking sufficient expertise and motivation, it was left half-finished. So now we have essentially no multiplayer at all.

[Daedolon]

So suddenly the lack of free time becomes the lack of skill.

[Tea Monster]

Megaton has been running for some time, so yes, there has been a modern port with MP, but I've found the controls with it to be a royal pain. When I've played with the old MP version of EDuke, I don't remember those problems at all.

[Paul B]

I remain optimistic. The entire reason why I enjoyed Duke 3D from the beginning was because of its multi-player functionality which added so much replay value. In the last 6 years all my maps I've made have been designed with Co-op / Death match in mind so when it does get released my maps can be enjoyed in all flavors. While adding multi player support from the ground up to this game may be a daunting task I have a feeling they haven't abandoned it and they are close to making it a reality. I believe in TerminX and his team of talented individuals. Go team Duke!

[OpenMaw]

It's no easy task to make something work exactly like it was inside of a completely new framework.

Moving Duke to a really strong centralized and user friendly multiplayer experience would be really great, and probably help boost the overall health and populace of this community. The number of old school mods from back in the day, and even some of the newer ones like Dukeplus would be insane to get the chance to play in a more stable internet environment.

I totally support whatever time it takes the guys to see it done and done properly. I'm sure if they wanted to they could throw something out there half-ass and call it a day in a couple weeks. But that wouldn't benefit anyone.

[Striker]

Inspector Lagomorf, on 15 February 2016 - 06:19 AM, said:

Yeah, remember that bitchin' Wolfenstein 3D multiplayer client?

Doom once had sync-based multiplayer like Duke3D, and there was a time when Duke3D's multiplayer was nearly as popular as Doom's, so it is kind of surprising that a functional C/S multiplayer client hasn't come into existence by now in much the same way.

I really hope EDuke32 gets complete C/S Multiplayer before I die, or some other port rises to take it's place. Sync-based multiplayer is shite, and Megaton as a port itself is sub-par.... (Lots of bugs still, rarely worked on anymore, and they still haven't fixed ART loading in the workshop, making maps with new resources naught but impossible to play.)

[neoacix]

How about we start a crowd funding for the coders to get multiplayer done?
I would donate 20 € for that!

Money is allways a nice encouragement. ;-)

[Inspector Lagomorf]

I would not be surprised if the bar is set at something high like $500,000. Doing something like adding unified netcode to an old FPS would be a full-time arrangement.

[Hank]

neoacix, on 19 February 2016 - 05:52 PM, said:

How about we start a crowd funding for the coders to get multiplayer done?
I would donate 20 € for that!

Money is allways a nice encouragement. ;-)

yep, $ 50, all we need is a place to send the cash too, and a volunteer to commit to the project.

[neoacix]

So, anyway how much the funding is, who is ready to take this job?

[Fox]

Daedolon, on 16 February 2016 - 04:12 AM, said:

So suddenly the lack of free time becomes the lack of skill.

It's about specialization. No point in doing trial and error for years when an expert could do it in months...

[Paul B]

I would donate 50 bucks to the cause if it meant getting it done. I'm sure everyone else on these forums would too.

[neoacix]

I talked to [IFOC]75 in the IRC chat
He said he is working on it, but he has not much free time.

So, for me, that's the first person who directly says that he is working on the netcode for a long time.
I'm maybe a nobody, but I want to keep this ball rolling!
He thinks about funding some freetime!

Is there a chance?
I'll hope he will apply to this thread.

[Hank]

neoacix, on 19 February 2016 - 08:13 PM, said:

I talked to [IFOC]75 in the IRC chat
He said he is working on it, but he has not much free time.

So, for me, that's the first person who directly says that he is working on the netcode for a long time.
I'm maybe a nobody, but I want to keep this ball rolling!
He thinks about funding some freetime!

Is there a chance?
I'll hope he will apply to this thread.

There is always a chance.
However, whoever will be focusing on making EDuke32 server ready (netcode), will need to coordinate with the EDuke32 team. It is still work in progress with constant updates.

All the best.

[Hendricks266]

Hank, on 20 February 2016 - 09:19 AM, said:

However, whoever will be focusing on making EDuke32 server ready (netcode), will need to coordinate with the EDuke32 team.

75 has been since he started.

[neoacix]

So in summary, we got 1 guy in the team for the job and we got a bunch of people in the community who would support crowd funding.
Question is: Why don't do it?

We don't have to raise the bar to a high goal.
For instance, crowd funding for paying [IFOC]75 one week to work on the netcode is a possible thing, I think.
I don't know how much time you coders spend per week to work on the code, but I assume it's less then 10 hours.
So one week of continuous coding could be a real boost.
Of course [IFOC]75 has to talk with his boss for a free, unpayed week and it takes some effort to initiate the funding.
But I think it would be a very, very nice thing.

[OpenMaw]

It's also a matter of want. Does he want to take a week off his job, does he want to code for a week continuously? I highly doubt it.

Coding at that sustained rate is very taxing and can be counter-intuitive. I can imagine the mind just turning to goo.

[Danukem]

Commando Nukem, on 22 February 2016 - 01:08 PM, said:

It's also a matter of want. Does he want to take a week off his job, does he want to code for a week continuously? I highly doubt it.

Coding at that sustained rate is very taxing and can be counter-intuitive. I can imagine the mind just turning to goo.

Programing isn't like laying bricks. Progress generally isn't linear and It's difficult to predict how long a job will take. Unless the programmer already has all of the knowledge they need before starting, and is already familiar with the way the project is organized, a lot of their time will be spent learning how to do it, not actually coding.

[neoacix]

Well, it was just a suggestion, if he don't want, it's okay.
But I've seen other projects doing this (https://www.haiku-os.org/ <- they're working on an OS), so I wanted to mention it.
Also, nobody said that [IFOC]75 has to work fulltime on the code.
My thought was more in the direction to give him more freetime to do so.

Edit:
I may also have to add, that I'm a coder too (but not for Eduke).
So I know how much time goes into (re)thinking and learning and not actually coding.
But that's not the point.
The point is, regardless if you think/learn about it or actually code for it, you need time for all of that.
And there's a big difference if you start working on your code again every weekend and have to rethink your latest steps or if you have some days off to work on it!
But okay, if everyone thinks it's a bad idea, to fund some coder some freetime, I can live with it.

[Striker]

Still nothing so far?

This is my only hope when it comes to Duke now, considering how World Tour turned out.

I just want to know what's going on, I've yet to receive a straight answer. No in-progress branch, no nothing? Hasn't even been touched yet?