Clientside/Serverside detection

You can check if a script is running serverside, clientside or in singleplayer using functions provided by ACSUtils.

Terminology

Server – an engine instance that runs the gameplay code.

Client – an engine instance that runs the rendering code and controls a player on the server.

In singleplayer, the same engine instance is both a server and a client. Both IsServer() and IsClient() return true in singleplayer.

In ZDoom and GZDoom multiplayer (but not Zandronum's), all players are both servers and clients, just like in singleplayer.

Zandronum multiplayer emulation is singleplayer. Just like in singleplayer, the same engine instance is both a server and a client.

In regular Zandronum multiplayer, the server is only a server and clients are only clients, obviously.

Yet, if Zandronum were to allow hosting non-dedicated servers, where a player allows others to connect to their singleplayer game without launching a separate engine instance, the hosting player would be both a server and a client, while other players in the game would be only clients.

Functions

bool IsServer() – returns true if the script is running on a server.

bool IsClient() – returns true if the script is running on a client.

bool IsServerOnly() – returns true if the script is running on a server that is not also client.

bool IsClientOnly() – returns true if the script is running on a client that is not also server.

Writing robust multiplayer code

The definitions above enable writing ACS code that functions correctly in both singleplayer and multiplayer without singleplayer being a special case. Using IsClient and IsServer correctly ensures that your mod runs correctly in both singleplayer and multiplayer:

if (IsServer()) { // Run serverside gameplay code. } if (IsClient()) { // Draw hud, spawn effects. }

How the functions work

All detection of clients and servers is founded on two functions: ConsolePlayerNumber and IsNetworkGame (formerly known as IsMultiplayer).

IsClient() simply checks if ConsolePlayerNumber is not negative.

IsServer() is more complicated. It returns true if ConsolePlayerNumber is negative. But if it's not negative, it needs to distinguish between multiplayer emulation and real multiplayer. The function needs to return true in multiplayer emulation but false in real multiplayer.

It checks if the multiplayer is real using IsNetworkGame. But calling this function in ZDoom/GZDoom crashes the engine. Therefore, before calling IsNetworkGame, it checks if the engine is Zandronum using IsZandronum.

IsServerOnly and IsClientOnly simply return IsServer() && !IsClient() andIsClient() && !IsServer(), respectively.