WebRTC support about netfox HOT 6 CLOSED

For anyone interested in doing something similar with WebRTC in the future, I resolved this by making the following edits:

# network-time-synchronizer.gd
-L121: var sync_result = await sync_time(1)
+L121: var sync_result = await sync_time(Program.game_authority_id)

# network-time.gd
-L299: if not multiplayer.is_server():
+L299: if not Program.is_game_authority:
...
-L335: if not multiplayer.is_server():
+L335: if not Program.is_game_authority:

Program.game_authority_id and Program.is_game_authority are simply variables set across the network when setting up my WebRTC mesh.

On my own WebRTC signalling and setup code, I added the following calls:

# webrtc_client.gd
func _handle_webrtc_peer_connected(new_peer_id: int) -> void:
+ if new_peer_id == Program.game_authority_id:
+   NetworkTime.start()

# webrtc_signalling.gd
func _handle_authority_webrtc_client_ready(peer_id: int) -> void:
~   Program.game_authority_id = peer_id
+   NetworkTime.start()
~   await set_game_authority_on_existing_peers(peer_id)

from netfox.

I've realized that all of the network configuration starts from NetworkEvents, which doesn't get fired for me because I've rolled my own server-client connection with WebRTC.

I'm going to add the same hooks to my own GameClient and GameServer code and report back.

I'll also have to replace multiplayer.is_server() with my own Program.is_game_authority since every peer in WebRTC technically listens for and initiates connections.

from netfox.

Thanks for the detailed post @bryanmylee!

I've realized that all of the network configuration starts from NetworkEvents

I see you've also figured this out, so this note is mostly for anyone else reading 🙂 You can also manually start things by calling NetworkTime.start. NetworkEvents is a convenience wrapper over Godot's multiplayer events, but you can skip that layer.

I think I can support your use case by making NetworkTime's authority configurable, but default to 1 as it currently does. So that way you would set the NetworkTime's sync authority to Program.game_authority_id and be done with it.

By the way, do I understand it right that your WebRTC setup does not emit the usual events ( connected_to_server, peer_connected, etc. ), and that's the reason why the original NetworkEvents implementation did nothing?

from netfox.

@elementbound As far as I know, that's correct. connected_to_server isn't emitted in a WebRTC environment since all connection nodes are peers.

peer_connected is emitted, but unlike a traditional client-server model, it's not isolated to the server only and is emitted on all peers when a new peer joins the mesh.

I've essentially replaced:

1. connected_to_server with peer_connected(id) where id == Program.game_authority_id, and
2. peer_connected with peer_connected where Program.is_game_authority.

from netfox.

Thanks! I'll try to cater a bit to this use case, both in implementation and in docs 🙂

from netfox.

@elementbound Actually, I think you can ignore this. I've realized that it's practically impossible to get a WebRTC client to work when it's deployed on a server, especially if it's behind a container network like Docker.

I'm basically abandoning this approach :/

from netfox.