Re: cheating & LOS

[Jason Fosback <jason.fosback@mccaw.com>]

philb@cats.ucsc.edu:
>  I think I picked up the rest of Jason's post, about using
>  a "mask"
>  

>  He proposes , instead of sending new faces, sending
>  11-word binary viewing mask (?), that would change when
>  neccessary. Each "word" would be 11 bits long , or
>  whatever the width of the screen.

Actually, no; the mask at this point could just be a stream of ones and zeroes, representing  
on/off for given squares.  If we have an 11x11 screen, it would take 121 bits to mask the entire  
screen.  That translates to a 16-byte number (on the same line as the NEWMAP command)  
representing the screen.  On an  n x m  screen, this means the total number of bytes (B)  
required is:

	B = ceil((n x m) / 8)

"Carl Edman" <cedman@cedman.remote.Princeton.EDU>:
> The server does not tell the client what to draw when and where.  It  

> tells the client what it sees.  Where it sees nothing because it is  

> behind walls, it does not send map commands.  The client knows for what  

> areas it has received map commands and it only displays those.  Those  

> areas which are not mapped in, it can display whatever it wants and it  

> doesn't need any instructions for it.

Okay, so the server gives the client exactly what it sees.  Hmmm.  So, does the client do an  
automatic SHIFT of the map?  Let's forget LOS for the moment, and focus on what you're  
proposing.  In a large, open area (such as Scorn), would you be transmitting the MAP  
command for all squares, or does the client do this implicit SHIFT?  Okay, so now when we  
head north from the starting area toward the wall, the top area of the sreen in not visible; when  
the client does the implicit SHIFT, does it automatically assume the new area is *outside* the  
LOS, consequently leaving the area black?

-jason
____________________________________________________________
 Jason Fosback, Systems Engineer   | No sir, I didn't like it
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