Networking
The NetworkPlugin is an optional engine plugin that provides a complete multiplayer networking solution for Plasma Engine. It handles connection management, state replication, remote procedure calls, object spawning, and session lifecycle.
The plugin uses a client-server architecture backed by ENet for reliable UDP transport. It supports dedicated servers, listen servers (host mode), and multiple authority models for flexible game design.
Enable Networking Support
To enable the plugin, use the plugin selection dialog and enable the NetworkPlugin. Network functionality is exposed through components, the plNetworkWorldModule, and C++ APIs.
Feature Overview
The networking plugin is composed of several subsystems:
Network World Module-- The central hub that manages connections, tick rate, and provides access to all other networking subsystems.
Network Components-- Base class for components that participate in network replication, plus built-in components for transforms, physics bodies, events, and debugging.
Object Manager-- Handles server-authoritative spawning and despawning of prefabs, with object pooling and late-joiner synchronization.
RPC System-- Type-safe remote procedure calls with reflection-based discovery, multiple targeting modes, and configurable reliability.
Serialization-- Automatic reflection-based property serialization with quantization, replication conditions, and per-recipient filtering.
Snapshot Interpolation-- Adaptive-rate playback for smooth remote entity rendering with jitter absorption.
Session Management-- High-level session lifecycle with lobby states, ready checks, and player tracking.
Level Manager-- Synchronized level loading across all clients with timeout handling and late-joiner support.
For a comprehensive introduction to the architecture and concepts, see the Networking Overview.