Best way to update GUI data

[ClubPetey]

Hey all, Question for you:

 

I have a TileEntity that does some relatively heavy calculations and stores some data, fortunately it does this only once every 10 seconds. The client has no need of the data except when the Block's GUI is open.  So I have only the server running the calculations.  After much confusion, I had the "ah ha" moment that the client's TileEntity needs to be updated, from the server.  There seems to be a few ways to do this:

 

1. Use the getDescriptionPacket (Packet132) method in the TileEntity.  From what I read, this will update players in the vicinity on some periodic basis. My concern, this is a lot of extra traffic if people never open the GUI (which they prob. wont most of the time), and I'm not totally sure what the interval is, so I don't know if its fast enough to keep the GUI in sync with the TileEntity.

 

2. Send a custom packet (Packet250) from the server when the server executes the openGui().  This avoid unnecessary traffic, but causes a bit of a visible delay, as the GUI appears, then the packet is received, then the GUI is updated.

 

My question is two parts a) Is the TileEntity the right place for this kind of work, looking at source of other mods seems to suggest the Tile is the "workhorse" for your blocks b) Am I being overly concerned about traffic and should just go with #1 for the better GUI experience, or does the packet system incur a lot of overhead and should be used as sparingly as possible.

 

Thanks

-pete

[SamTebbs33]

You know, you can use the *public void updateScreen()* in GuiContainer to update your Gui

[ClubPetey]

You know, you can use the *public void updateScreen()* in GuiContainer to update your Gui

 

Will updateScreen() cause the Server-side TileEntity to update the client side entity?  Must understanding is "no" but I may be mistaken.  I know that I can do an onInventoryChanged() on the server, which will send an update, but it's my understanding that also will not sync custom data fields I am storing in my TileEntity.

 

 

[ClubPetey]

1. Use the getDescriptionPacket (Packet132) method in the TileEntity.  From what I read, this will update players in the vicinity on some periodic basis. My concern, this is a lot of extra traffic if people never open the GUI (which they prob. wont most of the time), and I'm not totally sure what the interval is, so I don't know if its fast enough to keep the GUI in sync with the TileEntity.

First to answer your question: The Packet132 is send:

• Whenever a player starts watching (= tracking) the chunk the TE is in
  
• Whenever a block update on that block is done (which you can force via markBlockForUpdate or something like that in the World class).

 

But also: Packet132 sucks. It sucks badly. Why? It's much heavier than it needs to be. It always sends the overhead of a NBTTagCompound, which could be avoided. I suggest just making your own Packet250 to both tell the client to open the Gui (don't use FML's system) and transfer the data. that way you avoid the delay.

 

I also felt Packet132 was bloated.  I like your idea of going around FML to open the GUI, I'm going to try that tonight.