How do the servers work?

[stnick_85]

I have been playing the game for a bit. A friend is thinking about playing. However how does the peer to peer work? Do we both have to be on to play? Can we both play solo on the same world?

[Rekal]

Two ways of playing multiplayer:

Peer to Peer: Simple way, you host the map directly in the game that your friend then joins. Your friend cannot play on the map if you are not also in the game on the map since he is connected directly to you. This is very hard on performance because the CPU processes that govern multiplayer are run in the same main thread the rest of the game is timed off of. Some players have noticed a 20-40 FPS drop (per additional player) when hosting a map directly like this.

Server / Clients: The more complex (more effort?) way is to setup a dedicated server. You can do this on the same PC you play on. Then you and your friend can connect in game to the server at any time you like. If you setup the server on the PC you play on you would need to leave your PC on and the server running if your friend wanted to play on it without you. No need for both of you to be on at once. This method improves performance over the other method because the CPU processes that govern multiplayer are moved out of the main thread allowing it to run faster. Even if you set it up on the same PC you play on the multiplayer CPU processes are still moved to a different core allowing much better performance.

Here is Rocketwerkz dedicated server instructions if that interests you:

https://github.com/RocketWerkz/IcarusDedicatedServer

[azhockeynut]

Third way, pay for a server, then you both can play, have your own worlds, or play at different times....I have loaded into the world and found my buddy left me signs he crafted with fun messages now and again, you could have a lot of fun with that if you want, like you are both marooned in different places if you want.