Star Citizen: Network Engineer on Server Meshing

As a Network Engineer and player of games since MUDs and Doom....I thought I'd kick this channel off with my thoughts on Server Meshing and some gameplay showing how bad a pilot I am.

I can finally credit the Video that spawned this whole thing:

I have nothing else to go down here yet, perhaps some day I'll be a big-boy youtuber with links and all sorts of stuff no one reads for the bottom of my description!

[DeepTitanic]

"Let's look at a simple graph" - shows accurate model of the human brain

[j.d.]

Experts giving their 2 cents on stuff I love is some of my favorite content!
Also, Happy New Year 🥳

[psykosmach]

"Think of this like the metaverse only not stupid" sums it up quite nicely 😀

[MrTybio]

Thank you all for your comments, I'm doing my best to read and where I can, answer questions. The outpouring of responses here is more than I could have ever expected, it's amazingly gratifying. I AM reading every comment, but I'm unlikely to be able to respond to each and every one.

[_Addi_]

This was really interesting to listen to. I would definitely tune in if you were to review more of their tech, or go more in depth in the future.

[Routerninja]

As a fellow 30 year network engineer I'd love to see a deep dive into the architecture and routing/switching of the infrastructure.

[oliyoutude]

Do more, please. Always love hearing from experts, it is so easy to dismiss something as easy when you cant grasp the work require to achive the set goals.

[eatsmartstuff]

More. Say more on this. I've not heard anyone with as much insight and experience in the field speak on this subject. Your piloting will improve over time so long as you continue playing. EXCELLENT WORK!

[VoidyVids]

"Think of this like the metaverse, only not stupid" Take my sub and my like lol

[stormwolf]

I've been saying for a long time that if they can pull off dynamic server meshing to a level where other game developers want to licence it from CIG then that in itself will pay for SC's server costs for the next decade (or more). I'm sure there's even the potential for this tech to be used outside of the gaming industry.

[forjo]

I was glad to hear you touch on simplification up the tree -- as object containers will not need to notify other object containers of every event that occurs within them. This is one of the keys of making this all possible -- determining what information can stay in the container and what information needs to be shared. With this type of system, an entire ship in space could produce as much data as a single player in a ship with respect to the objects in which both reside. Meanwhile, tons of things can be happening within each ship that are confined to each's object container.

The concern I have will be the need for distributed databases to track it all. Each object container will effectively be its own database and those updates will have to be committed back to a "master" database (at least in function) at some point. How they handle this particularly as dynamic meshing comes online will be critical.

[BuffCitizen]

This was really enlightening. I’ve been a Star Citizen backer since 2016, and just recently started my freshman year at college majoring in Information Technologies & Management where we’ve started to delve into server architecture and networking. In reality this tech they’re making could fund the game immensely, it’s ground breaking really, and could change the MMO industry forever. This would effectively immortalize cloud imperium games.

[StickellsPlaysNow]

I was a CCIE back in 2014 or 2015. I've moved over into virtualization now, but can still appreciate the complexity of what they are doing. I was so hyped up about the announcement, I jumped back into SC for the first time in about a year. There was a player in the server just ramming players on their pads. Moral of the story - the players will always find a way to abuse and ruin whatever awesome stuff is implemented.

[Shakerroo]

I'm definately subscribed. That was a very informative breakdown of what they are trying to do with replication and server meshing. Thank you for this!

[Daggre]

This is great Tybio! Subscribed! As a 20+ year (primarily mobile client) developer, not a networking expert, I was absolutely blown away by what they're trying to accomplish with server meshing and replication layer. As you said, this is much bigger than SC and has applications not only in other games but in the entire framework of what a meta-world could even be. There is absolutely no reason why a root node transition from, say, Stanton to Pyro, would be any different from a transition from a virtual city through the front doors of a virtual Porshe dealership in a real "bigger-than-Facebook/nVidia" sense. If they can transactionalize the handoff of a node transaction in an NFT this is a technology industry shaker not just a gaming industry shaker.

[veliostv]

Always interesting to see a bit more deep dive from a professional. I myself just know it's unbelievable and you are the one to explain why 🙂

[vincenzosparks]

This was an amazing perspective and I'm happy to see someone else shed light on CIG's pioneering endeavor to make a game of this scope. It does hold massive potential of future implications for the entirety of gaming and many people just don't understand that. Thanks again!

[michaelimhotep]

Definitely appreciate your perspective; just retired after 39 years in IT ..server, cloud architect. Must admit you raise a good point about the nested tree structure and associated complexity. You wonder how much overhead will be taken up by pure dynamic management of it vs other player transactions. I definitely appreciate what they're trying to object/inheritance wise..but I sure hope they've got really powerful servers

[KentHarkey]

this is your first video, and you said something i haven't seen someone say well. Such great context and information

[Blackcat_]

Never stop yourself from making an analytical video like this, Sir. Thank you for your work. The passion i'm hearing is the same thing im feeling for this "thing" they are making. I sat on the fence much longer than most, but never wrote them off once. What i see now is nothing short of a technical miracle. Been in IT a LONG time.. i know what im looking at. Unbeleivable, really.