Network & Server

Realm Crafter Professional offers a cross platform, scalable, multi-server cluster with support for load balancing, player distribution and zone instancing support.

Server Cluster & Scalability

• Master Server - The heart of the cluster; it manages all of the servers and constantly monitors performance. It is responsible for distributing players and zones between servers as well as offering an interface to developers and administrators (see below).
• Zone Server - As named, this server updates and processes events withing the zones allocated to it.
• Account Server - Responsible for handling players through the login process and interfacing with your account databases. It is possible to script custom IO methods for storage in order to use any database solution for your game.
• Proxy Server - The visible endpoint of the network. The proxy server accepts a clients' external connection and routes it to the internal servers; allowing it to direct players between zones hosted on different servers almost instantly with no visible affects, disconnection or re-authentication on the client end.

A cluster must consist of at least one of each server, though many Zone, Account and Proxy servers can be connected to distribute loads between multiple physical machines:


Network layout of small-medium sized game world.

Network Based Spatial Partitions

Each zone in the game work is split into virtual partitions which helps servers to concentrate processing efforts on populated areas and helps to reduce overall bandwidth consumption. Any given player is only aware of characters within his sector and the nearest neighbouring sector, all network data relating to this characters is only set to the local areas ensuring that packets are dispatched purely on a 'need to know basis'. Furthermore, chat packets can be restricted by these sections so that only players within a certain radius may receive a chat message. The image below demonstrates the awareness area of the current player (yellow) with other characters appearing in blue:

Realm Crafter Server Administration

The cluster Master Server incorporated the Realm Crafter Server Administration module which allows remote access to the cluster for developers and administrators. Using a web-based interface (with AJAX support) you can login and monitor all of the cluster services, players and zones. It is also possible to view important network information, such us bandwidth and player counts over a period of 24-hours. In addition to this, any exceptions thrown in scripts will be directed straight to the administration console for developer review.