Non loaded world change simulation - best method

[DFined]

Hi!

My mod simulates heavy ashfall and buildup. In the areas where the player is, it is not hard. However when, say, a full block layer has fallen around the player, if they decide to move somewhere and load new chunks I need there to also be an extra layer already on top of the new chunks. If they then return somewhere they have already been I also need blocks to have built up there. I first thought of trying to somehow do this during chunk generation, but this only helps with new chunks and not ones being repeatedly visited. 

Currently I am updating the chunks (adding the layer of blocks to the top of the chunk) during the world tick by checking when the chunk is near the player (all chunks withtin a radius (4-5 chunks) of the player get checked, and if any are out of date they get updated). This works somewhat well for one player, but if I want to expand it to multiplayer capability the server definitely wont keep up. So my question is if there is a better way of doing such a relatively absurd thing, because the current way seems like a bodge.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance

[Alpvax]

You should be able to use the chunk load event. You can save the last ash amount to a chunk capability, and if that amount is less than the world ash amount, update it.

[Draco18s]

Or: don't worry about it.

Players have a general acceptance that when chunks are unloaded, nothing happens there.

 

As an example, lets say that your players make a server and zero players are online for a period of 8 hours. How much ash should build up?

[DFined]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:06 PM, Alpvax said:

You should be able to use the chunk load event. You can save the last ash amount to a chunk capability, and if that amount is less than the world ash amount, update it.

Yeah, thats pretty much what im doing, but using just the load event, sadly, doesnt cover the full situation, so I have to use tick as well. Sadly this approach seems suboptimal.

[DFined]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:37 PM, Draco18s said:

Or: don't worry about it.

Players have a general acceptance that when chunks are unloaded, nothing happens there.

 

As an example, lets say that your players make a server and zero players are online for a period of 8 hours. How much ash should build up?

Thanks for the response!

Well... Thats the thing, the whole point is that there should be no escape from it. It is meant to be something that actually makes the game hard by destroying most plants etc. If I do it just around the player it would be slightly pointless, as the theme is a global catastrophe.

The amout of ash should, probably, be config based, but over 8 hours, say, it could be 2-3 blocks thickness (the blocks are also variable thickness like snow, so that they build up gradually).

And I know that, likely, the answer is just "Its way too many blocks to update, it cant be done effectively", but then again, the chunks do get generated pretty quickly and that doesnt (*usually*) cause much lag on a decent pc, whereas this works just barely. Currently I am looking into what is different. I assume its that when the chunks are primed during worldgen it is a simpler action per-block changed. 

[Minuthemodder]

Discussions about ore retrogen seem to be worth checking for your project. May far from simultaneous and global scale simulation, yet they're one of successful precedents about manipulating existing chunks.

https://github.com/KitsuneAlex/EasyRetrogen

Edited January 11, 2020 by Minuthemodder

[DFined]

On 1/12/2020 at 2:42 AM, Minuthemodder said:

Discussions about ore retrogen seem to be worth checking for your project. May far from simultaneous and global scale simulation, yet they're one of successful precedents about manipulating existing chunks.

https://github.com/KitsuneAlex/EasyRetrogen

Hm, thanks, I will check it out!