Network connectivity, SocketRelay

[tbulford]

Release Candidate 2 released

Changes

• Some extra information on the bandwidth graph.
• Better feedback while connecting making it easier to fix networking and connection errors.
• *BUG* Socket not unbinding when server does not accept connection.
• *BUG* Labels after connection fixed.

[tbulford]

So this weekend I ran my first campaign over Socket Relay. This highlighted a few issues that need to be resolved to make the system work better.

• Connections don't accurate fail across all 4 sockets when some of the failure conditions trigger. If any link in the chain breaks the whole chain should fail as it would normally had the connection been direct.
• When we reconnect we are always assigned a new port. It would be good if on connection the host could get the same port this would make reconnecting for the players much less of a hassle because there software could just continue.
• Retrying connection as the host or player makes more sense the abandoning it when it fails. This should become the new behavior. Some care regarding how we communicate this with players so they understand the status but are not forced to interact.

We only had a few drops that forced a reconnect and sadly when it happened we had to restart Fantasy Grounds. This especially need to be sorted so playing can be smooth.

[tbulford]

New RC3 released.

Changes

• Host reconnects to server if there is a DC.
• Added event notifications to the bottom bar for Server and Client connections and disconnection.
• Server now tries to allocate the same port to each host. This means reconnects don't require the clients reset there port number.
• *BUG* Fixed bug in bandwidth graph max was not accumulative for all incoming clients.

More testing will happen this weekend to see if these changes make for a smoother experience.

[damned]

Good progress - Im watching this with interest tbulford

[tbulford]

Thanks @damned I started adding UDP support last night. Client nearly done need to make some changes to the server next and will then test with Fantasy Grounds Unity.

[tbulford]

Version 1.0.0

Feedback on the current version of 1.0.0

So after playing several games and getting feedback from a few friends using the tool too I have decided to revamp how the system works. I will be bringing the need to have an account earlier into the solution since we really do need to have a better way to identify games and players.

This will change the system to always needing the SR client on the players machines. But it will mean we can host more then one game from behind a NAT address as currently we use the internet facing IP address to identify the user. It will also mean we can identify two or more players connecting from behind a NAT address. Of course it will add the need to register an account to play. I am going to use PlayFab for the accounts as it's pretty straight forward and low effort.

Since UDP is nearly done I will be finishing that along with the code. So I see RC3 as version 1.0.0 and I am starting on 1.1.0 now.

Regards
Travis