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Creating the Server Shell

The Server Shell, if implemented, is responsible for handling AI, physics, and generally maintaining the state of the simulatoin. More detail is available in the LithTech Programming Guide.

This page will lead you through the creation of this class, although our implementation will be quite simple.

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To get started, create a new file in Visual Studio and save it as ltservershell.h. Add the necessary multiple-inclusion protection, and include the engine header.

#ifndef __LT_SERVER_SHELL_H__

#define __LT_SERVER_SHELL_H__

// Engine includes

#include <iservershell.h>

As we did for the client shell, we declare the CLTServerShell class, include the constructor and destructor, and declare it to the interface manager.

class CLTServerShell : public IServerShellStub {

public:

CLTServerShell();

~CLTServerShell();

declare_interface(CLTServerShell);

We now override two necessary LithTech functions. OnClientEnterWorld and OnClientExitWorld are called automatically by the engine whenever a client enters or exits the world, respectively. This is the end of our simple server shell class declaration.

// LithTech defined functions

LPBASECLASS OnClientEnterWorld(HCLIENT hClient,

void *pClientData, uint32 nClientDataLen);

void OnClientExitWorld(HCLIENT hClient);

};

#endif //__LT_SERVER_SHELL_H__

Save the ltservershell.h file in the following directory:

<your project directory>\sshell\src

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Now, create another file in Visual Studio and save it as ltservershell.cpp. Include the class header file along with some engine headers.

#include "ltservershell.h"

#include <iltserver.h>

#include <ltbasedefs.h>

Several macros need to be called to set up various components of the server shell. We also initialize the global server shell pointer.

SETUP_SERVERSHELL()

DEFINE_CLASSES()

define_interface(CLTServerShell, IServerShell);

CLTServerShell *g_pSShell = NULL;

The constructor and destructor do nothing in this basic sample.

CLTServerShell::CLTServerShell() {

}

CLTServerShell::~CLTServerShell() {

}

These two functions are called after any client enters or exits the world. In an actual LithTech application, these functions are where player objects are created and deleted.

LPBASECLASS CLTServerShell::OnClientEnterWorld(HCLIENT hClient,

void *pClientData, uint32 nClientDataLen) {

return NULL;

}

void CLTServerShell::OnClientExitWorld(HCLIENT hClient) {

}

That’s it for the basic server shell implementation. Save the ltservershell.cpp file in the following directory:

<your project directory>\sshell\src

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