Feasible way to tenfold the map size and server capacity

[Grodenn 53]

I think we all would love bigger maps with more players on them and the ultimate goal would be an Eve like server that everyone is playing on, so this got me thinking. How could this be done, and is it even possible for dayz?

Potentially I got a brilliant idea :P but I'm unsure if it actually would work or if it is possible to do. So if anyone thinks it wouldn't I would love to hear why :) or better yet any other way to solve it. This is kinda a big wall of text so I wrote a very short TL;DR at the end for you lazy people ;).

The idea

Anyway I used to play alot of World of Warcraft (a shame to admit on these forums haha), and they have been using a technology that Blizzard is calling "phasing" for quite some time now. This isn't something very usable in of it self for dayz but I believe the same tech is used in a new featured launched with the latest WoW xpack. This feature allows player from different realms to invite each other to a party and all of a sudden they are playing together on the same server. Now that is amazing and if I remember correctly this is done without any loading screens for the players.

I'm not 100% sure how this works but I think that 2 clients that are connected to 2 different servers are then automatically transferred to the same (physical) server. Now I am assuming this is the case (and I really really hope it is :) ) but if it is this type of tech could be used within dayz to create sick magic!

How you might ask? Well first it should be used in a slightly different way, instead of 2 different servers running the exact same map transferring one client to another server by an initialization from the user it should work like this. Imagine the map Chernarus running on a specific server (a physical computer), let's call it "Server A" and then you have another server, "Server B" running let's say the map Namalsk. What if you connected one of the borders on the 2 maps (water border in this case) and using this "phasing" tech to transfer a player from Server A to Server B when entering a specific area around this border. So if you would be watching a player entering this area you would see that character fade away (disappear) if you are on Server A. If you are on Server B on the other hand you would see the character appear in the same area but now on the map Namalsk.

This would basically mean you could move between maps with the same character on the same GAME server (which in this case is using 2 physical servers), basically having the potential to double the map size and player count .Let's not just stop there if this would work it also means that i can be applied to the Land side borders where you could create a continuation of Chernarus. A map that continues the landscape of your well known zombie infested world :). It would feel like the same map when playing on it but technically it would be several different maps running on several different server rigs.

You would literally be able to create how ever big zombie universe you want (yeah I do realize that would require sick amount of work) and you could have every single player on the same game server running how ever many extensions of the map you want (or are able to create).

This could potentially create some problems if a lot of players decided to stay on the same "map" which is running on 1 server. But this could be solved by dividing every single map into grid system like you can see on the in game map (I use this as an example). Every piece in this grid should be able to run on a 3:d physical server if needed, basically transferring some on the load from the first one. This system should be dynamic and fully automatic and only be enabled if one particular Server reaches a threshold for it's capacity.

I think that the borders between the "maps" should have limited light of sight, ie be located inside forests, on mountains, far out in the water so it is not visible from land etc. This would limit the amount of weird situations where you are spotting or sniping people and they just disappear in front of you. It also means you need to be rather close to spot people appearing on the new map. These things will still happen from time to time but I think it is a price that is acceptable to pay for this type of feature.

Impact on game play

I think that something like this would have a insane impact of how the game is played. You could potentially have something we could call "Starter zones" that is a safer place to be at. Freshly spawned people start here and the zone (lets say the entire current map of Chernarus) have a limit on how good the loot is that drops. Maybe you are never going to find military graded weapons here, you won't find choppers etc. How ever I'm not in ANYWAY saying that this is a zone that should be SAFE as in you wont get killed or people with better get can't enter. No it should be as it is now just that this particular zone is the only one you spawn in and it doesn't have that great loot.

This would mean that if you want good gear etc you will have to move away from the starter zone spreading people over the map(s) and have less really geared bandits around bambies :) (by their on choosing).

Another thing that would be cool is having different items only spawning in specific locations (parts of the entire world), for example very high end medical stuff, weapons/ammo, vehicle / vehicle parts, base building materials etc. Stuff with so low spawn rate that you are just not really going to find just that thing you actually want. So the reality would be that some groups / people would end up with more special medical stuff than special weapons for example. What are you going to do if you want a cool weapon but you only get the cool medical stuff (or the other way around). Well either you run about to the places that drop what you want, though the chances of you getting what you want is slim to none. You could also try to find someone with the item you want and kill them for it. How ever I think that the absolutely best way would be to find someone, for example on the forums but preferably in game (like a trading post created by players!), that has what you want and trade with them.

I think a map like this would create very very interesting player interactions everything from trading to outright wars between 'clans' for territory :).

Building it

Would it be possible? From my point of view it should technically be possible, how ever I can't say for sure. But if it is the biggest problem after creating the system for it is making the map(s) to run on a server like this. It would take a lot of time and be a pretty expensive task to complete.

Rocket have been talking about making new maps in the future that they might charge a price for (he wasn't the biggest fan of this but thought it was better than selling hats:P), this could be a way of financing the whole thing. You pay a sum to access a new area that has been created, this has some negative impacts ofc but personally I would be fine with it. Another way would be to have a subscription based system (as in pay for game time). There could also be community created maps/areas. I'm really not sure which would be the best way to do it but if it is technically possible I think that this game could reach an entire new level on delivering an freaking awesome experience.

TL;DR

I'm suggesting a system where you can merge 2 maps that is running on 2 different physical servers and let players "phase" in and out between them at specific locations on the map (the borders between them). As an example take the current map of Chernarus and place the map Namalsk at the border with water. A player that is currently on Chernarus would be able to go into this location between the maps and change server. Basically going from server A to B and from map Chernarus to Namalsk on the same GAME server and character and without a loading screen.

Letting any one server run double the amount of players / map size or potentially even an Eve sized universe of zombie frenzy :).

This will create really cool new player interactions and experiences bringing the game to a new level. The biggest problem would be creating the actual map(s) if this thing is possible (which I'm not sure it is).

I would love to have some input on this idea, do you think it is actually possible to do? Maybe you got a better solution or maybe an improvement!

[Timmymachine109 (DayZ) 235]

This is an awesome idea and I'd love to see something like this in DayZ...but I'd imagine that it's very hard to implement!! Be amazing to have a huge free roaming world instead of just Chernarus though :)

[Shiro-Austin 8]

I am very interested with this idea, and I shall give you beans for it. However, it is not the kind of thing that I believe would work in a large first-person shooter such as ArmA. I am only an aspiring game developer so I am not actually sure if this is possible or not, TBH. I would love it to be in the game, but I feel the hit to performance, especially on weaker PCs such as mine, would be catastrophic. Thanks for the good read though

Shiro-Austin.

[enforcer1975 1111]

I stopped at World of Warcraft...

but good idea, i don't think it will work though because i don't think the server files are designed to share data among eachother. And you would still only have a max amount of players on each server, they only jump around.

[Grodenn 53]

I stopped at World of Warcraft...

but good idea, i don't think it will work though because i don't think the server files are designed to share data among eachother. And you would still only have a max amount of players on each server, they only jump around.

Well even if that is the case it should be possible to change the design so it would be possible, shouldn't? As for max players yes technically that is true but if NWAF was on one server and Electro on another and together they have 100 people on them (same game world) does it actually matter that they are running around on different machines(read: servers)? The feel will be the exact same as if they where on the same. The difference is that you are not as limited by the performance potential if you are running several servers, ie higher player/zombie count in a larger area.

[A.Williams 17]

If the map got massive it would be harder to spawn from another server and spawn right behind an enimy

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

Try hooking up with your mates on a map that big, with death as prevelant due to disease and PVP, would you want a huge map?

I would love nothing more than a huge world in which to play on, but if it's too big, certain other factors come into play, resources (unless infinite) lagg due to loot, other players, zeds, livestock. Team play will be paramount. Vehicles will be a requirement, no longer will foot travel be the normal. no sufficient power sources to utilise radios over huge distances. Choppers will be priceless!

Great idea.

[m.w. vindicator 880]

Server A would be on Chernarus. Server A would have sister servers that would be on different maps. Server B running Namalsk would be server A's sister. A person on a mother fucking boat could travel to Namalsk from Chernarus. The two servers would share the load of players.

Players should be able to choose which map they spawn on because if a player's friends are on Namalsk that player should be able to spawn on that island to join them. Otherwise meeting your friends would be a ridiculous venture.

The two servers would have a max player count where 1 server could handle all the player's if everyone went to one map for whatever reason.

Lets says Server A running Chernarus and server B running Namalsk had a max player count of 150. Normally the number of player would be split (probably about 60% Chernarus 40% Namalsk due to size differences and temperature!). The two servers would have no problem handling the 150 players split.

Lets say the server sends out a radio message from Green Mountain telling everyone to go to Chernogorsk. In this scenario, everyone gets the message and goes to Chernogorsk. This would means that 150 people would be on Server A! Well the server should be able to handle that number of people. If one server could only handle 100 people, then the max number of player on all the sister servers should be 100.

The player count should be determined by the weakest sister server's max player count.

[Failbait 60]

I stopped at starter zones, no thanks man.

[m.w. vindicator 880]

I stopped at starter zones, no thanks man.

He is saying that everyone would spawn on one map, like Chernarus. You would be required to travel to other areas, like Namalsk. The

starter locations would be no different than what we have now.