Atlas MMO Framework?

[Cheyenne]

Are there any plans to make the Atlas MMO Framework available at some point?

[maxdark]

nice question

[mahri726]

I would rather like to see a new MMO Server Software, blueprint-based, designed to work with Unreal Engine 4. It would be nice to program your game server behaviour with special blueprints . Such a MMO Server networking software could be handy for everyone.

[Ryzon]

You have source. If you have decent coders or are decent coders you can program that in to your liking.

[mahri726]

But if you don't have coders, but have a bunch of artists around you...a blueprint-based application on your server might be the best thing to get your work done. This is one of the roles of Blueprints: to permit non-programmers to make games. If this thing would be extended at server level ( a server app to handle imputs and resources) , it would be awesome. Artists could create their MMOs without the need of a programmer.

[Cheyenne]

I would rather like to see a new MMO Server Software, blueprint-based, designed to work with Unreal Engine 4. It would be nice to program your game server behaviour with special blueprints . Such a MMO Server networking software could be handy for everyone.

Of course, I meant updated to work with UE4. Wouldn't do much good in it's original UE3 state.

[Cheyenne]

You have source. If you have decent coders or are decent coders you can program that in to your liking.

That's true but why reinvent the wheel if they already have such code?

Anyway, doesn't look like I will get an answer from Epic since no one replied by now. I imagine the usual suspects (Photon, Smart Fox, Electrotank, etc) will come up with third party options eventually.

[Tim Sweeney]

I'm sorry for the slow reply. We aren't planning to move the Atlas MMO framework to UE4. We are incrementally improving parts of UE4 related to networking, large world support, server performance, etc, to better server MMOs and games with MMO-like elements. For past MMOs built with Unreal Engine 2, 3, and 4, teams have generally used one of two approaches:

1. Implementing a completely custom MMO back-end framework handling all gameplay logic including object movement, and interfacing it with UE through networking: The client purely runs in UE, and the server purely runs outside of UE, and they are coordinated through a custom networking layer using either UDP or TCP. This approach is generally best for MMOs looking to support thousands of players per server, where UE's high-precision approach to player movement and collision are overly-expensive compared to tile maps and other simplified techniques.

2. Using UE's built-in functionality for implementing both the client and server components of an MMO, and extending the networking and level streaming code to support new features such as simultaneous connections to multiple servers responsible for separate streaming levels, and coordination between servers to allow seamless movement of actors between them.

NCSoft took approach 1 with Lineage 2 and various other projects, while Sigil Games took approach 2 with Vanguard. For a small project, I'd recommend approach 2, as it's easy to get up and running in a prototype prior to making engine-level improvements needed for scalability.

[KRushin]

I'm sorry for the slow reply. We aren't planning to move the Atlas MMO framework to UE4. We are incrementally improving parts of UE4 related to networking, large world support, server performance, etc, to better server MMOs and games with MMO-like elements. For past MMOs built with Unreal Engine 2, 3, and 4, teams have generally used one of two approaches:

1. Implementing a completely custom MMO back-end framework handling all gameplay logic including object movement, and interfacing it with UE through networking: The client purely runs in UE, and the server purely runs outside of UE, and they are coordinated through a custom networking layer using either UDP or TCP. This approach is generally best for MMOs looking to support thousands of players per server, where UE's high-precision approach to player movement and collision are overly-expensive compared to tile maps and other simplified techniques.

2. Using UE's built-in functionality for implementing both the client and server components of an MMO, and extending the networking and level streaming code to support new features such as simultaneous connections to multiple servers responsible for separate streaming levels, and coordination between servers to allow seamless movement of actors between them.

NCSoft took approach 1 with Lineage 2 and various other projects, while Sigil Games took approach 2 with Vanguard. For a small approach, I'd recommend approach 2, as it's easy to get up and running in a prototype prior to making engine-level improvements needed for scalability.

I am tremendously happy to see network improvements coming to unreal engine 4. The greatest thing i love and look forward to with UE4. Is the not just new features to specific skills set and specific use cases, but the daring challenge of making a versatile engine with every developer in mind.

I.E Unreal engine is no longer an FPS engine. I know there are plenty of non-fps games on UE2-3. But now a small team with limited resources can truely make any game without huge rewrite. Good job Mr. Sweeney and team

[newbprofi]

Finally glad to hear official commentary for this kind of problem. Things getting clearer. Hope ue4 will evolve to support more MMO features.

[Kaiserludi]

That's true but why reinvent the wheel if they already have such code?

Anyway, doesn't look like I will get an answer from Epic since no one replied by now. I imagine the usual suspects (Photon, Smart Fox, Electrotank, etc) will come up with third party options eventually.

Hi Cheyenne.

Photon already supports Unreal Engine:

http://doc.exitgames.com/en/realtime...-unreal-engine
http://forum.exitgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4717

[tatoforever]

Hello Kaiserludi,
Could you please elaborate how Photon is integrated on UE4? Is Photon using the UE4 networking abilities? Which protocols, or sockets, etc? Do Photon support client predictability and interpolation on UE4?

[ufna]

Hello Kaiserludi,
Could you please elaborate how Photon is integrated on UE4? Is Photon using the UE4 networking abilities? Which protocols, or sockets, etc? Do Photon support client predictability and interpolation on UE4?

As I can see, it has no integration, just "it can work with UE4" note. No special classes/helpers/plugins, just clean Win32 Photon SDK.

[Kaiserludi]

As I can see, it has no integration, just "it can work with UE4" note. No special classes/helpers/plugins, just clean Win32 Photon SDK.

Exactly. Photon supports several platforms, which are also supported by UE 4 (Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, Linux (as soon as it's also supported by UE4)). You can just add Photon as a 3rd party library to your UE4 projet like explained at https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Linkin...e_Build_System.
Photon will also work completely independent from UE4, so no, it does not use any of UE4s built-in networking capabilities, but internally uses raw bsd scokets / WinSockets. Photon supports UDP (both unreliable and reliable via Photons built-in reliability layer, which is basically an ENet fork) and TCP. Predictability and interpolation are no built-in features, as the best solution highly depends on the particular game, so that we think it's best, if you come up with a custom solution for them in your game.

[tatoforever]

Alright,
Thanks for the clarifications!