In StateLoading.java I noticed some discrepancies in the process loading order between client and host.
I don't think this topic is well-documented yet or at least I'm not aware of any such documentation.
Major question for me also is: is the difference in order intentional or a bug?
Documentation Type
With this being architectural documentation of sorts but heavily coupled with the code (despite probably being not modified too often), I would recommend this being documented in the Terasology Engine wiki or in-repo docsify to allow for documentation update as part of related code changes.
If these differences in order of loading are indeed intentional, then this should potentially also be documented in a code comment to avoid future confusion.
Additional notes
The order of process loading for client and host is generally equal (+/- some host only processes and processes that come in dedicated client or host flavours) save for
LoadExtraBlockData (which is done later on host side than on client side) and
RegisterBlockFamilies (which is done a lot later on client side than on host side)
Step
Client
Host
1
JoinServer (clients only)
RegisterMods (host only)
2
InitialiseRendering*
InitialiseRendering*
3
InitialiseEntitySystem
InitialiseEntitySystem
4
RegisterBlocks
RegisterBlocks
5
InitialiseGraphics*
InitialiseGraphics*
6
LoadPrefabs
LoadPrefabs
7
ProcessBlockPrefabs
ProcessBlockPrefabs
8
LoadExtraBlockData
-
9
InitialiseComponentSystemManager
InitialiseComponentSystemManager
10
RegisterInputSystem*
RegisterInputSystem*
11
RegisterSystems
RegisterSystems
12
InitialiseCommandSystem
InitialiseCommandSystem
13
-
LoadExtraBlockData
14
InitialiseRemoteWorld (clients variant)
InitialiseWorld (host variant)
15
-
RegisterBlockFamilies
16
-
EnsureSaveGameConsistency (host only)
17
InitialisePhysics
InitialisePhysics
18
InitialiseSystems
InitialiseSystems
19
PreBeginSystems
PreBeginSystems
20
-
LoadEntities (host only)
21
-
InitialiseBlockTypeEntities (host only)
22
CreateRemoteWorldEntity (client variant)
CreateWorldEntity (host variant)
23
-
InitialiseWorldGenerator (host only)
24
-
InitialiseRecordAndReplay (host only)
25
-
Start Server (server only)
26
PostBeginSystems
PostBeginSystems
27
SetupRemotePlayer (client variant)
SetupLocalPlayer (host variant if local player)
28
AwaitCharacterSpawn
AwaitCharacterSpawn
29
RegisterBlockFamilies
-
30
PrepareWorld
PrepareWorld
* only if not in headless mode
While we're at it we might also want to document the different execution modes (client only, host but not server, host and server, host with local player, etc.)
E.g., a singleplayer game is actually a host, as is a server game. only clients in a multiplayer setup are actually clients (see logic in stateloading.java and newgamescreen.java)
Documentation Topic
In
StateLoading.javaI noticed some discrepancies in the process loading order between client and host. I don't think this topic is well-documented yet or at least I'm not aware of any such documentation.Major question for me also is: is the difference in order intentional or a bug?
Documentation Type
With this being architectural documentation of sorts but heavily coupled with the code (despite probably being not modified too often), I would recommend this being documented in the Terasology Engine wiki or in-repo docsify to allow for documentation update as part of related code changes.
If these differences in order of loading are indeed intentional, then this should potentially also be documented in a code comment to avoid future confusion.
Additional notes
The order of process loading for client and host is generally equal (+/- some host only processes and processes that come in dedicated client or host flavours) save for
LoadExtraBlockData(which is done later on host side than on client side) andRegisterBlockFamilies(which is done a lot later on client side than on host side)* only if not in headless mode
While we're at it we might also want to document the different execution modes (client only, host but not server, host and server, host with local player, etc.) E.g., a singleplayer game is actually a host, as is a server game. only clients in a multiplayer setup are actually clients (see logic in stateloading.java and newgamescreen.java)