For huge saves, it would be nifty if the delta from the last save could be sent instead of having to download the entire save, given that we know the last time any given player was last connected; perhaps a utility that builds and maintains a set of delta files between saves allowing any ...

Calculating the flow rate for individual pipe segments for visualisation could be interesting, depending on how realistic we're attempting to be; I imagine you'd want to start from in/out flows from input/output fluid boxes and tanks.

I guess something like for each pipe segment, build a list of ...

Yay! We now have pipes instead of aqueducts!

Liquid in real-life pipes (effectively) teleports.


I'd like pipes and storage tanks to be treated separately.

You have four classes of fluid boxes: input fluid boxes, pipes, tanks and output fluid boxes.

First, pipes fill up, and you get very low ...

the problem is that a lot of mods will get ported to v2 only very slowly. if ever.

users who enjoy playing with mods whose authors don't have the time could benefit from improvements such as fixes to the logi bot algorithms, but if the bugfixes are limited to a compatibility-breaking releases ...

Or do you mean prove that the local save matches the old save that the delta is based on?


This, obviously. And now do it without needing to send nearly as much data as just sending the whole file.


Rsync can do it for a fraction of the file size, but it requires a checksum file of that old ...

Prove the save files are the same for returning players.


That's pretty easily done; rsync and xdelta are both byte-accurate, and the save itself has a checksum, which I believe is sent to the server to verify that the save you just loaded matches a previous state on the server.

Or do you mean ...

For huge saves, it would be nifty if the delta from the last save could be sent instead of having to download the entire save, given that we know the last time any given player was last connected; perhaps a utility that builds and maintains a set of delta files between saves allowing any player ...

It should be relatively trivial to test how well the various delta algorithms work; grab a big multiplayer save, load it in single-player and wait to generate a set of autosaves, then use those saves to test how small a delta file can be created by rsync/xdelta/etc., and that you can reconstruct ...

TL;DR
Create and send deltas (delta compression) to update a multiplayer save to the latest version to reduce the bandwidth and time required to join a server.


What ?
Every time a new multiplayer save is created, create a delta file between the latest save and the previous save, for example ...

For huge saves, it would be nifty if the delta from the last save could be sent instead of having to download the entire save, given that we know the last time any given player was last connected; perhaps a utility that builds and maintains a set of delta files between saves allowing any player ...

Could we use the rsync algorithm to transfer the latest save based on a previous save? You'd need to send more data than operating on in-memory game state, but you'd be operating from a known-good set of data.


It could also help to serialise by how recently an entity was last changed, as that ...

I've got to wonder if there would be a win to be had to classify build orders for a given roboport network by item; that way, if you don't have enough items/robots, you only need to consult the list as new items and idle robots become available, but the rest of the time you don't need to consult the ...

I'd like to have random, infrequent rain and/or thunder on Nauvis instead of the weather constantly being partly cloudy.

If we get a snow planet, occasional snow would be awesome, too.

Ooh, if this is engine-supported, we could add red-hot blocks of steel that can be forged into other shapes, but if left to cool for too long, we need to reheat.

Alternatively, we need to wait until they're cold enough to machine.

On the other hand, given molten metal carried in insulated pipes ...

Do we know if we get a day/night cycle in space or if we always get (some) sunlight all the time?

Given the solar panel design, the sun would ideally always be ~45 degrees west/up from the platform.


If it's always sunny, that means the platform is always oriented sunwards, and we're in a sun ...

Perhaps what might look best is stationary (seed-based random) background stars, with smaller and smaller parallax scrolling asteroids?

Perhaps the occasional asteroid passing over the platform by way of a shadow?

If you're really keen, background stars for the journey from planet a -> b, rotated ...

Using this to do directional lighting that changes throughout the day and with local light sources would be really cool, although probably a lot of work to render all the new maps.


That shader stuff works best for things that rotate while the sun stays in the same place. It could work for ...

Using this to do directional lighting that changes throughout the day and with local light sources would be really cool, although probably a lot of work to render all the new maps.


That shader stuff works best for things that rotate while the sun stays in the same place. It could work for ...

Will the new features added re: shaders and arbitrary sprite rotation be available to modders and usable planet-side, or is it all hard coded for the asteroids?

Using this to do directional lighting that changes throughout the day and with local light sources would be really cool, although ...

I think I want an even bigger rocket silo that has enough space for two construction bays and a launch tube and that logically rotates a new rocket into position.

Perhaps have the new rocket slide 'north' into the launch tube and then get raised into the launch position?

On the other hand, perhaps ...