[crossfire] Re: Map Protocol Question

[Mark Wedel]

Alex Schultz wrote:
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      Mark Wedel <
      
      mwedel at ...
      
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       The server is arguably behaving properly - as said, the design is that the 
     
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     server basically just sends what changes.  The event that causes those changes 
     
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     isn't a concern to the server
     
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      If one calls properly, to the spec of the doc/Developers/protocol file, then it
     
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      would depend on your interperation of certain parts of that document (hence the
     
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      "arguably" part).
     
     
  Yes - the definition of what 'newmap' really should do isn't explained 
especially well.


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      Yes, and on that topic, I think it would be best to use a newmap1 command or
     
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      something like that to include both the map name and starting coords for the
     
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      'fog map caching', but also allow individual maps to disable 'fog map caching' 
     
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      (if the coords would give away too much, or it there's some sort of storyline
     
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      reason), in which case the server wouldn't send the coords and the client gets a
     
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      special signal that tells it that it can't cache fog maps here.
     
     
  The easiest way to handle maps that we want to keep the coordinates secret is 
to send -1 -1 as the starting coordinates in the newmap1 command.

  The client can still go and cache the data for fog purposes - it will just 
have to invalidate it each time, but that is no worse than how it works right now.

  The trickier part is trying to come up with a standard of for what maps should 
be secretive and what shouldn't.  Because from a player perspective, you'd 
always want all maps to be non secretive, and that could lead to a discussion of 
'why is map xyz secretive?  Map abc isn't, and the info is basically the same'