I’m not sure how to run my own server, and since ROBLOX hasn’t yet created “Universe Scripts” and that project seems to be put to the backburner, I was thinking about doing this instead:
Use a crappy computer to get an alt into a ReservedServer, and essentially use that server as a central server and handle matchmaking there using MessagingService. The alt would be sitting there 24/7 with an autoclicker so it’d never disconnect.
It feels like this will work just fine. Is there anything I’m missing, or is there a simpler way to do this?
2 Likes
If everything is server-side then you could just run it on a normal game but I am not sure about the limitation in your system(s)
Ive seen multiple games just use a lobby-type system and put people in sub-places for matchmaking
It works well for most things and doesnt require an alt
Yes, but then you would have multiple servers handling matchmaking. The point is to have 1 central queue rather than having each server have a copy of a queue, which causes all sorts of problems.
I’ve considered this solution, but to me that is far less convenient to the player than a cross-server matchmaking system that works well.
Ok, but how would you make sure that no people would join it. What I would do create a place that only you can join. As far as I know that place will have the same max player count as the start place and if you try and change it it will change the max players at the start place. Just make sure that only one person can join it (as in not accessible to any other people)
I imagine you could make a central shared queue between all lobby servers of running matches or matches requiring players and such
Its no rainbow six siege but with roblox you have to cut corners, and having 20 copies of one shared queue shared by 20 large lobbies seems to be the best option from what I know about roblox matchmaking stuff
ReservedServers can only be accessed by using TeleportService and having the server’s access code. The server-side queue code can be present in all other servers but it’d just be a matter of not activating it until the alt account is detected in a particular server. I think I misunderstood what you said before, I thought you meant to have multiple servers handle the queue.
I actually just created a system that creates multiple copies of the queue using messagingservice(one copy of the queue in each server), and it is not reliable at all. It creates some nasty race conditions.
If done right there shouldnt be too many problems
Usually race conditions are a result of the mishandling and reliance on unpredictable things, not the presence of unpredictable things in and of itself
Im not sure if theres a better solution that requires less annoying bug testing and less time working through design problems because of robloxs problematic system, but given this is roblox I highly doubt theres something too much better
If race conditions are the result of reliance on unpredictable things, then creating a system with copies of queues in other servers is completely unfeasible. Messagingservice in itself is unreliable. Delivery is not guaranteed and the time between the messaging being sent and the messaging being received varies.
You can use something with an unreliable aspect without relying on it
Race conditions are caused by the mishandling of unreliable things, not by the unreliable things themselves
Its a lot of work and design but is definitely a feasible approach, you just have to not rely on timing, success of messages, dont allow errors to compound (ex if one thing goes wrong make sure that error doesnt spread)
This type of stuff isnt easy and thats probably why its so rare to find, but it just requires a lot of robust and weird safety measures not normally thought of