In a MMORRPG, there is a lot of data exchanged between the server and clients. I am wondering if I should compress this data before sending it over a tcp connection. It greatly reduces the size of the data, I am just wondering if it is efficient. Would it use too many resources on the server side?

I suppose (being that I haven't actually gone down that road) that it would shift the strain from the networking part of the equation over the processing. The more you compress the data -- or the more often you have to compress things -- the harder the CPUs have to run.

I would suggest planning your data formats to compensate for this, and use the smallest amounts of data possible, wherever possible. The only thing that probably wouldn't benefit from this approach is for text chat and whatnot... but for things like position data and the like, it would be better to use a binary or bytecode method over something more bloated (like XML or JSON, for example).

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

Pretty sure the general answer is: don't compress. It takes too long and too much processing power. Better to forgo the compression and get the data to the other end with lower latency than try to save bandwidth by compressing the data first. If you're going over your bandwidth budget you should reconsider what you're sending through the pipes, try and pack the information better and not send superfluous information. This would apply to all multi-player games, not just MMORPGs.

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Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve

Have to agree with Igthorn. The time spent compressing and decompressing isn't worth the savings in packet size. Most of your packets are going to be very small anyway - movement and actions which will be maybe a byte or two.

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IGTHORN said what I said, he just worded it better...

Also, Machaira is a booger-head.

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

I agree with all the above posts.

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Bored? Head on over to my blog and see what I'm up to.

Microsoft XNA MVP

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What most people don't understand about "enlightenment" is that it is not an end-goal; but where you find yourself just before taking a new "first step."

LOL Ninja post editing skillz.

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10 PRINT "Bad Monkey ";
20 GOTO 10

I've been called worse.

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Bored? Head on over to my blog and see what I'm up to.

Microsoft XNA MVP