serious spaam
08-28-2003, 05:05 AM
i was wondering how a game client automatically finds currently running game servers in a lan. after a bit of thought i came up with a server side and a client side approach( i havent tested them yet ).
1) the client side approach is probably a bit dull, but could work for (single network) lan: the idea is that the client resolves its ip adress and scans the whole subnet for running servers. while this would be fast and simple for C,D class networks it will be probably quite expensive and time consuming in an A class lan.
another down side is as indicated above that lans split up in multiple networks are not covered by this approach.
2) the server side solution that popped into my mind would require the game server to
send a broadcast signal as kind of a beacon( a ping for instance ) for the game clients. again this approach may perform weak in a big lan with plenty of running servers.
are any of the two approaches worth a try or total crap ? what would you suggest ? has anyone in here mastered such a problem before ?
greetings, serious !!
1) the client side approach is probably a bit dull, but could work for (single network) lan: the idea is that the client resolves its ip adress and scans the whole subnet for running servers. while this would be fast and simple for C,D class networks it will be probably quite expensive and time consuming in an A class lan.
another down side is as indicated above that lans split up in multiple networks are not covered by this approach.
2) the server side solution that popped into my mind would require the game server to
send a broadcast signal as kind of a beacon( a ping for instance ) for the game clients. again this approach may perform weak in a big lan with plenty of running servers.
are any of the two approaches worth a try or total crap ? what would you suggest ? has anyone in here mastered such a problem before ?
greetings, serious !!