Networking solution suggestions

Unity Engine
1

Hi all,
I’m needing some help on my project. I need to find a networking solution that fits my needs, which I’m not having much luck with.
I need the server to be able to run on Linux (Ubuntu), since that’s the OS the host machine is running, and it needs to have lots of good documentation since I’m a beginner/moderate programmer. I intend for the server to be centralized and authoritative, so a solution where that isn’t a drastic re-write would be good.
I’ve tried using SmartFox, but their documentation is rather inadequate, and I can only get it to work as an in-between for the SQL database and client.
I’ve tried UNet, but the requirement that all commands be run from the player game object is incredibly frustrating.
I’ve tried DarkRift 1, but I can’t even get a custom server to start.

Any suggestions on a good networking solution would be appreciated. Thanks!

2

I think this way of doing things is pretty much the “industry standard” now. Networking in UE4 and Cryengine works like that too

3

uNet running headless on your Ubuntu box should be fine (this is what I use). On the server, the few scripts are run from a GameObject. On the client, I have only a couple of scripts running from the player GameObejct, mostly they all run from holder GameObjects that exist across all scenes.

4

I perused the manual for UNet, and it doesn’t look like I can use it to make an authoritative server. Not without drastic re-writes.

5

I am using the NetworkServerSimple and NetworkClient classes as authoritative servers - it works very well. Reasonably simple to set up too, as it’s all done with registered callbacks for message types.

6

The scripting docs had far better information than the manual. UNet may actually be a viable option after all.

7

When I started using NetworkServerSimple, it wasn’t documented at all. Had to use the autocomplete and prompts to see what methods there were. I hope things are better now, as it’s a really good class that handles connections, but doesn’t have any game mechanics built in so you can make exactly what you want without bloat or waste.