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[driftwood]

In minecraft, there is a dat file which contains a 3d array of location for every brick on the map.

When a client changes a brick, the action updates the dat file on the server, I presume.
Then, is the whole dat file, or just the action, propagated to the clients?


I am wondering how it would affect ping, if for every brick, coordinates are being constantly updated across all clients (whether or not an action has been performed on them). Or whether a client should have a cached copy of the array, actions update the client dat file, then the server dat file.  This is followed by a scheduled (every minute for example) server initiated sync - where the whole dat files is reuploaded to all clients (to cover for the eventuality of lost instructions/packets).    

Does this make sense? if so how should I design my client updates?

[mokesmoe]

Remember that minecraft level files are already divided up into chunks . I don't anything about how the multiplayer works but I'm sure that makes a difference.

[driftwood]

head hurts

[Geeze]

When you travel to unloaded chunks, server sends whole chunk. And server sends block updates but only in current area. Of course server has to follow what chunks are loaded for what players (well not necessarily but usually you want to minimize internet traffic)

I hope this clears it up.