Packet reliability

Waverider · 2002-06-08T08:04:10

I''m curious - I haven''t seen this discussion as I''ve traversed the posts... I know that there are a number of possibilities of packet unreliability in network programming, but I just want to make sure I''m on the right track with my thinking... When programming a network game, you have to be prepared for: 1) Lost packets (the packet is just gone, next packet will need to update the state fully) 2) Packets that arrive out of order (packets sent as A B, and arrive as B A) 3) Packets arrive more than once (sent once from source, but arrive more than once because of inaccurate system self-checking) Are these all reasonable to watch out for? (I know packet loss is a given). And am I missing anything? Also, does guaranteed delivery avoid ALL the troubles above?

Networking and Multiplayer Programming

Started by Waverider June 05, 2002 09:52 PM

10 comments, last by Waverider 21 years, 10 months ago

Shannon Barber

1,684

June 07, 2002 09:19 PM

I was also going to say that 3 tends to happen when you broadcast, particularily with multiple protocols in use.

TCP''s guaranteed delivery doesn''t exactly avoid those problems, it handles them - and it''s method of handling them may not be optimal for your game.

I believe the guys at FunCom managed to make a mmorpg work over tcp (though how well it works is an issue of debate) for Anarchy Online.

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