I've been thinking about a sharding system for a while. By sharding, I mean breaking a server into smaller segments, while all the servers hold a small chunk of the world.

This may or may not be possible with BYOND, depending how far I take it.

I've seen many suggestions on how to do this, but people get confused as to which one anyone is talking about whenever this subject comes up, so... I'm going to try to outline which ones I've seen mentioned, and we'll refer to them by number here out.

Method #1.) A server has regions. Each server basically has the same essential "code" and the object trees are almost identical (Except for local NPCs, monsters, etc.), but the map is different, and there is a possibility of different icons on each server. Think of it like this: In a real life game simulation, you could split the united states into several servers, either by state, or by continental region, or by whatever method. Let's take the state method. The servers would contain all the neccessary objects of all the other servers, but the maps would be different. Kansas, has no beaches, thus would need no beach icon, or beach turfs, while Arizona would need desert icons for some regions of it. The server for Kansas would still contain the code to manage rapid dehydration due to being in a desert, but would not implement it. When travelling from state to state, you save the players' character, export the savefile to the server, and then dump them over to that server. They load up in that character, at the train station, or airport.

If this is a bad example, I have no other way of explaining it any better, so you are going to have to bear with me. The point is, each server has its own map, and the code and icons are almost identical between them, with a few differences.

Method #2.) The server is the same on all servers. Map, code, icons, everything, but it is split into several small "hub servers", which can support about 20 people. When more than 20 people join one, they dump the other players over to the other. The tricky part of this, is every so often, each server tells the other server what is going on. If a monster spawns in front of castle A, all the other servers make an identical monster in front of their respective castle A. Plus, players that are not actually on server 1 are represented by "dummies" on server 1. Every time the player moves, the server is given a message, and it moves that "dummy player" to where the player moved. This method would take a lot of work. This may not be possible with BYOND.

Method #3.) The server is again, the same on all servers, but this time, each player has their own server. they are hosting, but nobody can join their game. Each server sends messages to a "central server", which only records the locations of active objects and NPCs in the world. This server also functions to coordinate with the other servers and synchronize all actions. This method, also may not work with BYOND.

Method #4.) This is exactly the same as Method #3, but has something called "Peer to peer communication." You know Peer to Peer File sharing? It saves the server a lot of space and work, while allowing people to communicate and share things over the web. This is essentially the same idea. Rather than send a message to the central server so it can send messages to each player, who may not even really have to know where one specific player is at a specific time, We have players send messages to those nearby, and then the central server, so that when that information is requested, it can be supplied.

Let's say player A moves. He is in sight of player B and player C. Player A's server sends a message to Player B's server, and to player C's server. This tells it to move player A's "dummy mob" on each. After those two messages have been dispatched, player A's server sends a message to the central server. This records the position of player A for later use. Now, let's say player D logs in near where player A just moved. Player D downloads all the information from the central server, and is shown player A. Now, what if Player E, a friend of player D teleports to player D? Player E's server has no idea about player A's new location. The central server will also update him.

This method should be possible with BYOND, it is just a matter of finding an efficient way of doing it.

Any thoughts? I know that you can combine the approaches listed, such as you could make a Method 4 combined with a Method 1 easily. Oh, and by the way, for any of you who think none of this is possible, or just don't have any idea, look up "world.Topic(), world.Export(), world.Import(), client.Topic(), client.Export(), and client.Import()" in the reference... I just want to know if anyone has thought about doing this. I would very much like to do this, but my aim right now is to create a .dmp loading system, and a dynamic resources cache to reduce the size and lag of worlds...

I know this is a lofty goal, but I'm starting small. I'm trying to make a single player game that implements a netchat system. Basically, it connects to a central server, sends the messages they type to it, and it sends the message to all servers that aren't ignoring the user, and are connected. If this works, I might try to find a way to do some of the things listed above...

Just a thought... I think a lot, sorry...

~Ter