OpenBVE Multiplayer Extension Future Agenda

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ipaclansite:

So as I've seen the low popularity with the Multiplayer Extension, even if you simply dont see the player ahead of you, (it sucks but) michelle is right.  Multiplayer probably wasn't the brightest idea, even though we invented it even before OpenBVE was created.  I think people just like that feeling of multiplayer through Teamspeak, and having everybody blindly running.  It gives a better sense of realism perhaps.  So I like to play around with ideas,

Anybody remember this?
http://www.bvestation.com/bvemulticbtcX/CanarsieL/

What will the next OpenBVE:ME do?  It will be a huge extension to that.  So whats in the plans?

1. A Track Panel, just like the real dispatchers, a track layout will be accessible on the BVEStation website for dispatchers to watch over the trains.  What does that mean?  There is no server, and it can run all the time.  So there may not even be a need for dispatchers, it will be available for everyone to see, and watch the trains currently in the route moving.
2. We'll extend on our track panel by implementing the NYCT Subway system's network, so in our BVE route, whatever shares track will be reflected on the panel.  Running the E and V?  Thats doable.

Everything is on the web interface, the only thing that occurs in OpenBVE:ME will be a maintained connection to the website, which will continuously update its position as you see the train move along the map on the web interface.  So what exactly are we simulating here, we may not be simulating an actual multiplayer, nor will we see what is in front of us on the track, but we will simulate what its like to be sitting in that dispatch office and watching those lights flicker in real-time with other players.

Let me know what you think about this idea guys as I develop this idea in the coming months.  Thanks!

salieri101:

I like ur future plans for the multiplayer.
I think if it is possible to add "visual contact" between the players' trains then it would also be good to add.
So
ur future plans + visual contact between trains + teamspeak = awsome multiplayer with much more attention than it has now + kinda roleplay way to play

I know this is hard work and it needs a big developer crew to do it but i think it makes sense and it would be worth to do.

ipaclansite:

Visual contact as in seeing the other trains ahead will not be a feature I will be implementing, although I have an idea of how it works, itr didn't work correctly, and seeing the other train would then require routes to be updated to include intervals which have trains ahead of them.  This will require updating virtually every route on the site, and I'm sure the developers don't need extra work to get this program running.

It also adds more conceptual problems to the whole multiplayer issue in which I dont have a solution for because OpenBVE (or BVE for the sake of arguement) is a 1 line simulator, and if trains are on top of each other, then there will be collisions and things like that.  I would have to create some type of queue system to load players in and things like that, which would require huge rewrites of code in the OpenBVE source, which 98% of which I am not familiar with, and there is little documentation about the code so I wont be touching that.  But all it took was that 2% to create something basic, and that was what I really wanted to do.

I just wanted to show everybody that some form of multiplayer is possible even in the littlest sense.

So dream on, one day we may get to see the train in front of us, hell who knows maybe I'll make it by accident one day, but I dont see it coming to life without the utmost cooperation of developers, trainbuilders, more programmers and of course users who are interested in this, because not many people are too interested about this whole idea of multiplayer anymore.  They all dream about it, then they get something to play with, and they never go back again probably because of what I did, but at least I made a point to show it is possible, and chose not to be the ones waiting for something then end up being unsatisfied.

Back on what I want to do, I think that if people see something they will want to try it, since I couldn't get visual contact for the players, then I'll give visual contact for dispatchers and everyone else who wants to see.  Since the map is on the website, users can see things without the need to actually download the client, and that may encourage others to download and try it for themselves.  So what exactly will this program do compared to the original?  You will drive like you usually do, there wont be anything to see, except for the dispatcher.  So whats in it for the players then? Nothing, other than knowing that you are now hooked up to a track map.

2 Train Master:

Great idea,ehhh I remember that Panel,I actually liked it works good but if you mess up someone can always fix it.

Kawasaki_Plant:

Or you can make something similar to SimSig that connects with the location of the person in openBVE.

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