Authority Concepts

All you need to know about Authority & Network Authority concepts.

Authority

Some Classes can only be spawned on the Server, others can only be spawned in the Client, and there are some which can be spawned in both Server or Client. The side which the Class is spawned is called Authority.

Methods and Events Availability

Some methods and events in the API are only available on a specific side (Client or Server), others are only available in the side which spawned it Authority side):

Server Side

• Methods: can be called only in the Server side.
• Events: will be triggered only in the Server side.

Client Side

• Methods: can be called only in the Client side.
• Events: will be triggered only in the Client side.

Authority Side

• Methods: can be called only in the side which spawned this entity.
• Events: will be triggered only in the side which spawned this entity.

Network Authority Side

• Methods: can be called only in the Server side and also in the Client if the Local Player is the Network Authority of this entity.
• Events: will be triggered only in the Server side and also in the Client if the Local Player is the Network Authority of this entity.

Both Sides

• Methods: can be called in both Server and Client side.
• Events: will be triggered in both Server and Client side.

Both Sides (Network. Authority First)

• Methods: Does only apply to Events.
• Events: will be triggered in both Server and Client side. But will be called in the Network Authority Client first (before sending to the Server). I.e. you don't need to wait for the Server to call it on all the clients, as it will be immediately called on the Client that is the Network Authority of that entity.

tip

All entities spawned in the Server will be automatically synced in the Client. I.e. you can access it's methods and get all data from it without needing to manually sync it.

In the same way, entities spawned in the Client will only exist for that Client, trying to send those entities to the server will cause errors.

Network Authority

Another important concept in nanos world is the Network Authority. We have a "distributed network authority" concept, which means the work of calculating physics and AI (for example) are automatically assigned and distributed to the clients. In general, if a Base Actor is near an in-game Character, it's physics will be calculated by that player's device. The Player that is responsible for calculating and sharing the results is called Network Authority.

The Player assigned is automatically calculated by the server and takes some things into consideration, this calculation is only made if the Player is possessing a Character:

• The distance from the Character to the object
• If the Character is grabbing a Prop
• If the Character is handling a Base Pickable
• If the Character is driving a Base Vehicle
• If the Character has just shot an entity (e.g. Prop, Weapon, Base Vehicle, etc)
• If the Character has just roamed a Character with a Vehicle

In all this cases, the Player will be automatically assigned to be the Network Authority of that Object.

Overriding the current Network Authority

It is possible to override the current Network Authority of a specific entity by using the method :SetNetworkAuthority().

tip

Under certain circumstances, actors may not be in Distributed Network Authority mode. This means they cannot have their current network authority changed. Example: if a player is driving a Vehicle or using a Weapon, mandatorily he is the the Vehicle and Weapons's Network Authority, and this cannot be overwritten through scripting. To validate if an Actor can have it overridden, you can use the method :IsNetworkDistributed().

You can also prevent it from being automatically distributed to other Players by calling :SetNetworkAuthorityAutoDistributed(false).

caution

Always remember to restore the automatic Network Authority Distribution by calling :SetNetworkAuthorityAutoDistributed(true). Otherwise that entity may behave completely weird.

Examples of actions that are only executed by the Network Authority of that Actor

• Objects Physics sync (including when calling :SetForce()).
• NPCs walking with :MoveTo() or :Follow().

Debugging Network & Network Authority

We've added a new option in the settings to Draw Network Debug information in the World, you can toggle it in the settings (Settings -> Debug -> Draw Network Debug), it will draw squares on each entity and traces representing their networked movement.

Entity Square ■ Colors Meaning

The Square in the entities represent the state in the Network Authority and it's health.

	Color	Meaning
■	BLUE	You are the current Network Authority of that entity and the entity is sleeping. You are sharing sync data to the other players.
■	CYAN	You are the current Network Authority of that entity and the you are currently transmitting data. You are sharing sync data to the other players.
■	MAGENTA	You are the Authority of that entity. The entity was spawned on client side then you are not sending sync data.
■	WHITE	You are not the Network Authority and the entity is sleeping or attached. The current Network Authority is not sending sync data because the entity is sleeping or attached.
■	GREEN	You are not the Network Authority and the entity is being synced in a perfect cadence (no lag - less than 2 frames - < 66ms).
■	YELLOW	You are not the Network Authority and the entity is being synced in an good cadence (small lag - less than 4 frames - < 132ms).
■	ORANGE	You are not the Network Authority and the entity is being synced in an ok cadence (average lag - less than 6 frames - < 198ms).
■	RED	You are not the Network Authority and the entity is being synced in an bad cadence (big lag - more than 6 frames - > 198ms, maybe even with packet loss).
■	BLACK	You are not the Network Authority and the entity is skipping packets received from the network, due they are coming in wrong order (cause of bad connection - maybe even with packet loss).

Entity Arrow → Traces Colors Meaning

The Arrow Traces in the entities represent the network data received from the server. If you are the network authority you won't see the arrow traces. The arrow points from where the entity is currently in your machine and where it should be accordingly to the network authority.

Color	Meaning
GREEN	The entity is receiving packets in a perfect cadence (no more than 2 frames delay).
YELLOW	The entity does not receive any packet for more than 2 and less than 4 frames.
ORANGE	The entity does not receive any packet for more than 4 and less than 6 frames.
RED	The entity does not receive any packet for more than 6 frames.