Re: Status of xfire. Client/server 3d.

[KARIM SANJABI <karim@ecst.csuchico.edu>]

> 
> Karim did suggest:
> >                                         I was also thinking
> >of redoing the interface, make it 3D.  Much like Ulitma Underworld
> >or Doom.
> There are two major pitfalls with this idea.
> 1) 3D would be _much_ slower than the present (just think how much
>    more you have to do to calculate line-of-sight in 3D!!)

Wrong.  The main problem is in the current xfire, you are sending
all the X crap over the network.  I don't think that many of you
on the list have a good understanding of how fast good client
server code can be.  (I know many of you do however...)  Check
out Netrek if you have any doubts about it being done.  A typical
client to server netrek connection generates about a meg of traffic
in a bit over an hour (if I recall correctly).

As others have stated, the 3D part depends on the engine that is 
running it and the client.  With the move to client/server, if done
right, writing a (DOS/MAC/amiga/C64/whatever) client should really
not be *that* hard.

> 2) games like Doom get banned for their _IMMENSE_ network loading!!!
>    (crossfire almost suffered the same fate, but for the factthat not
>    many people actually play it here, and I managed to get root to
>    agree to out of hours playing only!)
> 
As Tyler stated, the first implementation of netdoom was messed up.  It
is much better know, and dosen't impact the network nearly as much.

> However, the client/server would be an enhancement to the n-th degree,
> but would also mean that it would be even longer until the game was
> stable!!!
> 
> Ben.
>