Also, in a voxel based sandbox game like B< you would need to keep that particular chunk (or chunks) loaded in memory for when you are away (or you would need to stay in the area) so the quarry would continue to operate - this would take valuable server resources away from other game features.
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Well given how hard it generally is to make a quarry (in minecraft I know that there is a way to make it so it takes months of digging to get one) they do yield a lot of reward for it. Idk what you have done in those servers, but I have never seen a quarry ruin a good MC economy. That being said, the quarry doesnāt have to function the same way as it does in MC. I was thinking something similar to the beacon plot system. You plot the course you want the quarry to take, also make it so it takes a significant portion of time and power. For example, you can set it to run while you sleep and in those 8 hours it would do what you would roughly manage in say 4 hours of time. Nothing too drastically OP. Everything can be managed given the right set of parameters. I have been in MC servers where the quarry is actually slower than players, and only goes a depth of 20 units. Similar parameters could be placed here.
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In most modpacks you can get a quarry fairly fast. But yes if there were several hard conditions it could(!) make it work with an economy.
IĀ“m no game developer but couldnāt the āquarry entityā just save the time when the chunk gets āunloadedā and then just calculate the yield based on the time difference when the chunk gets loaded again?
This is actually a good idea (if it is balanced well).
A special beacon (requiring a lot more and rare materials than a normal one) that automatically (over the pace of a long time) mines and stores all blocks inside of it would allow players that prefer to hunt/explore/socialize instead of digging a hole for their next building project to do so if they accept the slow progression of the automated system.
Me either 
Iām only going by how it was managed in MC. The quarry either stopped when you left the area/server or you had to install another addon which kept that particular area āliveā - which as I said, took resources.
I guess they could do it the way you suggested by calculating times the chunk was unloaded / loaded, but I donāt know what the overhead of that would be - if any.
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Since the servers are online, they are always āliveā the day/night cycle always continues regardless of whether or not people are present. So does object functionality. I did some tests where I would open a door containing lava and close the game automatically. To then come back and see that the lava had already followed its course unimpeded by my presence. All the chunks are already there, what could be done is the quarry be an entity in itself. I believe in MC what you needed was a world anchor, which is what made quarries work even when no one was in the server. The same thing could be applied here, except the quarry itself would be the anchor. There are a lot of ways of implementing a quarry and making it incredibly controllable. Like I said, the easiest thing would be creating quarry plotters. Which would function similar to the beacon plotters. The quarry would then dig out the section that the plotters cover. Then on top of that you can give the quarry a specific range for plotting and a type of cooldown for use. Maybe after it finished a full plot of say 12 u3, random example, it would go into a type of cooldown where the quarry cannot be operated or moved. One MC server I played in only the admins had access to the quarries, and they were the ones that placed them and moved them. Creating timers, where the quarry was essentially rented out. After the timer expired the admins would remove the quarry and that person could not use another quarry for a set of time. The mineral detection device was super important in that server lol.
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Yes this is the case, so you need to remember you will not be the only one playing on any given server and at given time (although it may seem like it sometimes in EA!). Thanks for reminding me of the name of them - I couldnāt remember off the top of my head. I just remember that they were bad and should be used sparingly. That being said, Iāll direct you hereā¦ World Anchor | Technic Pack Wiki | Fandom ā¦although the general gist is, theyāre computationally very expensive when it comes to server resources, which is probably why only the admins used them on your MC servers.
Just imagine that everyone had the ability to build these and place them ā¦ say that you have 9 chunks loaded (or even just 1) into memory while youāre away, and so do 10 ā¦ 50 ā¦ 100 ā¦ 200 other people on that serverā¦ that could potentially bring the server to its knees and at best make it lag for everyone else that was trying to play on it.
I would much rather the server resources be put to better use with other features, creatures and more blocks.
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Just because the lava flows after you left the server doesnāt tell us anything else than that the chunk was loaded for a bit after you left the server.
It could be that chunks unload after 5 minutes of not having a player in them.
It could be that there are spawn chunks like in MC which are always loaded. (And you were in those)
It could be as you said that chunks never unload but that is the least possible of those three possibilities because why should they do it that way? It would waste the server ressources you could use better somewhere else.
edit. I wouldnāt put it past them to invent a server which is powerful enough to simulate the (or any) universe in realtime. But until I see it I stick to the statements above^^
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It was the third. I timed how long it would take for the lava to reach the end of the path I made for it. Logged off for that time and it did it. Now you could say it was the second, but the chances that in 3 different places I pick places that have always loading chunks is very minuscule. There are also plenty of games with servers that simulate real time. In either case, it doesnāt matter. If they do like in MC and create a type of world anchor, then the quarry can function even if no one is logged in to the game. Ultimately the point is they can implement a type of machine like the quarry that is incredibly controlled and wouldnāt be op. Which would be awesome, since digging days on end sucks. And as someone else mentioned, if you like exploring or hunting, then you canāt successfully mine in abundance to help fuel your quests without taking massive breaks from questing.
Well how long does it take for the lava to reach the end of the path? 10 minutes? 5 minutes?
There are plenty of games with servers that simulate 1 world in realtime. Where realtime mostly means simulating NPCs because everything else canāt be changed anyway.
Simulating a whole universe, like Boundless will have, in realtime without unloading a huge part of the chunks is impossible at the moment.
Elite Dangerous simulates an entire universe lol, where planets rotate around suns and stations around planets. There is also real time missions and resource monitoring. No Mans Sky is nothing more than elite dangerous but with a plot tbh, well and you can land in pretty much any planet and most have ecosystems. Elite Dangerous atm just has some moons you can land on and most of them are barren. The path was around 8 min. It was a drop through a hole that had some blocks to slow down the path.
Can you show me some prove that the whole universe is loaded at all times? Either in No Mans Sky or in Elite Dangerous?
Also can you alter all the planets like you can in Boundless? How many NPCs are there on these Planets?
Edit. I donāt know it but Iād say all those games do it the same way as Boundless and MC do it. Loading on demand. Unloading unused areas.
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