What is Persistent Entity Streaming in Star Citizen?
Star Citizen is a massively multiplayer online game that aims to push the boundaries of what is possible in gaming, both technically and creatively. One of the key features that makes Star Citizen stand out is its Persistent Entity Streaming technology. In this essay, we will explore what Persistent Entity Streaming is, how it works, and why it matters for Star Citizen.
What is Persistent Entity Streaming?
At its core, Persistent Entity Streaming (PES) is a technology that allows Star Citizen to dynamically load and unload game entities based on their distance from the player. Entities can include anything from ships, players, and NPCs to objects like asteroids and space stations. PES is designed to work seamlessly with Star Citizen’s open-world, persistent universe gameplay, allowing players to seamlessly transition from one area to another without interruption or loading screens.
How does Persistent Entity Streaming work?
The basic principle behind PES is fairly simple. When a player enters a new area, the game will only load the entities that are within a certain radius of the player. As the player moves through the environment, the game will load and unload entities as needed, based on the player’s position and distance. This allows Star Citizen to maintain a high level of detail and complexity in its world without overwhelming the player’s computer or internet connection.
To achieve this, PES uses a combination of client-side and server-side processing. The client-side component of PES is responsible for determining which entities should be loaded and unloaded based on the player’s position. The server-side component of PES handles the actual loading and unloading of the entities, as well as managing the overall state of the game world.
Why is Persistent Entity Streaming important for Star Citizen?
One of the key advantages of PES is that it allows Star Citizen to create a vast and highly detailed game world without compromising on performance or accessibility. By dynamically loading and unloading entities as needed, Star Citizen can maintain a high level of detail and complexity in its world without overwhelming players’ computers or internet connections. This is particularly important given the scale and complexity of Star Citizen’s universe, which features hundreds of systems, each with their own planets, moons, space stations, and other entities.
PES also allows Star Citizen to support large-scale multiplayer gameplay. With PES, the game can dynamically load and unload entities based on the positions of multiple players, allowing for seamless transitions between different areas of the game world. This is essential for creating a persistent universe where players can interact and collaborate with one another in real-time.
Another advantage of PES is that it allows Star Citizen to support a wide range of player experiences. Players can choose to explore the game world on their own, or they can team up with other players to complete missions, engage in combat, or explore the universe together. PES ensures that players can seamlessly transition between different gameplay experiences without interruption or loading screens.
In addition, PES also allows Star Citizen to support a wide range of different playstyles. Players can choose to focus on exploration, trade, combat, or a combination of these and other gameplay elements. PES ensures that all players can find something that suits their interests and playstyle, and that they can do so without encountering technical or performance-related issues.
Challenges of Persistent Entity Streaming
While PES is an impressive technological achievement, it is not without its challenges. One of the key challenges of PES is managing the bandwidth and performance requirements of the technology. Because PES requires the game to dynamically load and unload entities based on player position, it can put significant strain on both the player’s computer and internet connection, particularly in areas with a high density of entities.
To address this, Star Citizen uses a combination of client-side and server-side processing to manage the bandwidth and performance requirements of PES. The client-side component of PES is designed
Read more in the Official Star Citizen Server Meshing and Persistent Entity Streaming Q&A here https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/18397-Server-Meshing-And-Persistent-Streaming-Q-A
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