Commonwealth-Online-Public/protocol/world-sync.md

World Sync

World synchronization is a long-term problem and is not part of the first prototype.

Fallout 4 assumes a single player owns the world state. Multiplayer requires deciding which client or server controls each piece of world state.

World State Examples

World state can include:

• Doors
• Containers
• Pickups
• NPC deaths
• Physics objects
• Quest stages
• Workshop objects
• Terminal states
• Dialogue state

Early Approach

The first prototype should avoid world sync as much as possible.

Recommended early restrictions:

• Use a custom test cell
• Avoid lootable containers
• Avoid quests
• Avoid doors
• Avoid terminals
• Avoid persistent world changes

Later Ideas

Possible future approaches:

• Host-controlled world state
• Server-authoritative world state
• Cell-specific state tracking
• Limited interaction whitelist
• Resettable test environments