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Part I. Server Scripting Guide
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Part I. Server Scripting Guide

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Directory Structure for Entity Scripting
2.1. The entities.xml File
2.2. The Entity Definition File
2.3. The Entity Script Files
3. Directory Structure for Service Scripting
3.1. The services.xml File
3.2. The Service Definition File
3.3. The Service Script Files
4. Directory Structure for User Data Object Scripting
4.1. The user_data_objects.xml File
4.2. The User Data Object Definition File
4.3. The User Data Object Script Files
5. Properties
5.1. Property Types
5.1.1. Primitive Types
5.1.2. Composite Types
5.1.3. Custom User Types
5.1.4. Alias of Data Types
5.2. Server to Client bandwidth usage of Property updates
5.3. Default Values
5.4. Data Distribution
5.4.1. Valid Data Distribution Combinations
5.4.2. Using Distribution Flags
5.4.3. Data Propagation
5.5. Implementing Custom Property Data Types
5.5.1. Wrapping a FIXED_DICT Data Type
5.6. Volatile Properties
5.7. LOD (Level of Detail) on Properties
5.7.1. LOD and Hysteresis
5.8. Bandwidth Optimisation: Send Latest Only
5.9. Bandwidth Optimisation: Is Reliable
5.10. Detailed Position
5.11. Appeal Radius
5.12. Temporary Properties
5.13. Persistent
5.14. User Data Object Linking With UDO_REF Properties
6. Methods
6.1. Basic Method Specification
6.2. Two-way calls
6.2.1. Twisted Deferred Objects
6.2.2. Error objects
6.3. Service Methods
6.4. Intra-Entity Communication
6.5. Bandwidth Optimisation: Send Latest Only
6.6. Bandwidth Optimisation: Is Reliable
6.7. Sending Auxiliary Data to the Client Via Proxy
6.8. Exposed Methods ‐ Client-to-Server Communication
6.8.1. Security Considerations of Exposed Methods
6.9. Server to Client bandwidth usage of Method calls
6.10. Client callbacks on property changes
6.10.1. Implicit set_<property_name> Methods
6.10.2. Implicit setNested_<property_name> Methods
6.10.3. Implicit setSlice_<property_name> Methods
6.11. LOD on Methods
6.12. Inter-Entity Communication
6.12.1. Entity IDs
6.12.2. Retrieving Services
6.13. Mailboxes
6.13.1. Special Mailboxes
6.14. Method Execution Context
7. Inheritance in BigWorld
7.1. Python Class Inheritance
7.2. Entity Interfaces
7.3. Entity Parents
7.4. Client Entity Reuse
7.5. User Data Object Interfaces and Parents
8. Entity Instantiation and Destruction
8.1. Entity Instantiation on the BaseApp
8.1.1. ServiceApps
8.2. Cell Entity Creation From BaseApp
8.2.1. Creation Near an Existing Cell Entity
8.2.2. Creation in a Numbered Space
8.2.3. Creation in a New Space
8.2.4. Creation in Default Space
8.3. Entity Destruction
8.4. Entity Instantiation From The CellApp
8.4.1. Instantiation With No Base Counterpart
8.4.2. Instantiation With Base Counterpart
8.5. Loading Entities From Chunk Files
9. The Database Layer
9.1. Persistent Properties
9.1.1. Non-Persistent Properties
9.1.2. Built-In Properties
9.1.3. Database Indexing
9.1.4. The Identifier Tag
9.2. Reading and Writing Entities
9.3. Mapping BigWorld Properties Into SQL
9.3.1. Entity Tables
9.3.2. The databaseID property
9.3.3. Simple Data Types
9.3.4. VECTOR Data Types
9.3.5. STRING, UNICODE_STRING, BLOB, and PYTHON Data Types
9.3.6. PATROL_PATH and UDO_REF Data Types
9.3.7. ARRAYs and TUPLEs
9.3.8. FIXED_DICTs
9.3.9. USER_TYPEs
9.4. Execute Arbitrary Commands on Database
9.4.1. Execute Commands on SQL Database
9.4.2. Execute Commands on XML Database
9.5. Secondary Databases
9.5.1. Data Consolidation
9.5.2. Database Snapshot
10. Character Sets and Encodings
10.1. Python and Entity Properties
10.1.1. STRING
10.1.2. UNICODE_STRING
10.2. DBMgr and Encodings
10.2.1. UNICODE_STRING storage
10.2.2. Sorting search results
11. Profiling
11.1. Profiling Entities
11.1.1. Persistent Properties
11.1.2. Property Data Types
11.1.3. Property Data Propagation
11.2. Python Game Script
11.2.1. Understanding the output
11.2.2. Increasing Memory Usage / Entity Count
11.3. Profiling Server Processes (C++ Code)
11.3.1. Common Code Block Profiles
11.3.2. BaseApp Code Block Profiles
11.3.3. CellApp Code Block Profiles
11.4. Client Communication
11.4.1. Private Client Events
11.4.2. Public Client Events
11.4.3. Total Public Client Events
11.5. Server Communication
11.5.1. BaseApp Interface Summary
11.5.2. CellApp Interface Summary
12. Proxies and Players
12.1. Proxies
12.2. Witnesses
12.3. Entity Control
12.4. Physics Correction
12.4.1. Avoiding Y-axis rubber-banding.
13. Entities and the Universe
13.1. Multiple Spaces
13.1.1. Spaces Pool
13.2. Navigation System
13.2.1. Key Features
13.2.2. Navpoly Data Format
13.2.3. Script Interface
13.2.4. Navigate
13.2.5. Graph Searches
13.2.6. Auto-Generation of Navpoly Regions
13.3. Time
13.3.1. Real Time
13.3.2. Server Time
13.3.3. Game Time
13.4. Initialisation: Personality script, eload, and runscript
13.5. Global Data
13.5.1. globalData, baseAppData and cellAppData
13.6. Space Data
13.7. Global Bases
14. XML Data File Access
14.1. ResMgr.DataSection
14.2. Accessing Data
14.2.1. Opening a Section Within an XML File
14.3. Data Types
14.4. Writing Data
14.5. Performance Issues
14.6. API Reference
15. External Services
15.1. Non-blocking Methods
15.2. Background Threads
15.2.1. Caveats
16. Fault Tolerance
16.1. CellApp Fault Tolerance
16.1.1. Overview
16.1.2. Restoration process
16.1.3. Example
16.2. BaseApp Fault Tolerance
17. Disaster Recovery
18. Controlled Startup and Shutdown
18.1. Controlled Shutdown
18.2. Controlled Startup
19. Transactions and Handling Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery
19.1. Transaction logic
19.2. Fault Tolerance Behaviour
19.2.1. CellApp Fault Tolerance
19.2.2. BaseApp Fault Tolerance
19.3. Disaster Recovery Behaviour
20. Implementing Common Systems
20.1. General Scalability
20.2. Internal inter-component communication
20.3. Player AoI Updates
20.4. BigWorld Database Scalability
20.5. Player Look-up
20.5.1. Requirements
20.5.2. Design
20.6. Friends lists
20.6.1. Requirements
20.6.2. Design
20.7. Chat
20.7.1. P2P
20.7.2. AoI-based broadcast chat
20.7.3. Non-AoI-based broadcast chat
20.8. Mail
20.8.1. Requirements
20.8.2. Design
20.9. Inventory System
20.9.1. Requirements
20.9.2. Design
20.10. AoI-based Trading
20.10.1. Requirements
20.10.2. Design
21. User Authentication and Billing System Integration
21.1. Authentication by DBMgr
21.1.1. Default Authentication via MySQL
21.1.2. Default Authentication via XML
21.1.3. Custom Authentication and Billing System Integration
21.1.4. Accepting All Users
21.2. Authentication via a Base entity
22. Security
22.1. Client/Server Communications
22.2. Server-Side Network
22.3. Client Side
22.4. Client Cheating
22.4.1. General Rules for Managing Entity Data
22.4.2. Writing Secure Game Script
22.4.3. Balancing Security vs. Latency
22.4.4. Balancing Security vs. Server CPU Cost
23. Debugging
23.1. General Debugging
23.1.1. Information and Error Messages
23.1.2. Testing Scripts Using the Python Server
23.2. Performance Profiling
23.3. Common Mistakes
23.3.1. Definition Files Inconsistent Between the Server and Client
23.3.2. Implementation (.py) Does Not Match Definition (.def)
23.3.3. Accessing Other Entities' Properties and Methods Not Declared in the Definition File
23.3.4. Trying to Update the Properties of a Ghost Entity
23.3.5. Database backup and fault tolerance doesn't work for entities lacking a Base part
23.4. Fixed Cell Boundaries
23.5. Message Reliability And Ordering
24. Shared Development Environments
24.1. Windows and Linux cross platform development
24.1.1. Sharing resources from Windows
24.1.2. Accessing Windows share from Linux
24.2. Using BigWorld with a Version Control System
24.2.1. Customers using the Commercial Edition
24.2.2. Customers using the Indie Edition
24.2.3. Files to exclude from version control
24.3. DBMgr database conflicts
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