From b001a679799bdc7d08eabcd1300271d0e1357b0a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Zefram Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 19:07:53 +0100 Subject: Administrative world anchor --- manual.md | 56 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 56 insertions(+) (limited to 'manual.md') diff --git a/manual.md b/manual.md index d356667..fb21f45 100644 --- a/manual.md +++ b/manual.md @@ -725,6 +725,62 @@ the electrical system which is 100% efficient in moving energy around. To transfer more than 10000 EU/s between networks, connect multiple supply converters in parallel. +administrative world anchor +--------------------------- + +A world anchor is an object in the Minetest world that causes the server +to keep surrounding parts of the world running even when no players +are nearby. It is mainly used to allow machines to run unattended: +normally machines are suspended when not near a player. The technic +mod supplies a form of world anchor, as a placable block, but it is not +straightforwardly available to players. There is no recipe for it, so it +is only available if explicitly spawned into existence by someone with +administrative privileges. In a single-player world, the single player +normally has administrative privileges, and can obtain a world anchor +by entering the chat command "/give singleplayer technic:admin\_anchor". + +The world anchor tries to force a cubical area, centred upon the anchor, +to stay loaded. The distance from the anchor to the most distant map +nodes that it will keep loaded is referred to as the "radius", and can be +set in the world anchor's interaction form. The radius can be set as low +as 0, meaning that the anchor only tries to keep itself loaded, or as high +as 255, meaning that it will operate on a 511×511×511 cube. +Larger radii are forbidden, to avoid typos causing the server excessive +work; to keep a larger area loaded, use multiple anchors. Also use +multiple anchors if the area to be kept loaded is not well approximated +by a cube. + +The world is always kept loaded in units of 16×16×16 cubes, +confusingly known as "map blocks". The anchor's configured radius takes +no account of map block boundaries, but the anchor's effect is actually to +keep loaded each map block that contains any part of the configured cube. +The anchor's interaction form includes a status note showing how many map +blocks this is, and how many of those it is successfully keeping loaded. +When the anchor is disabled, as it is upon placement, it will always +show that it is keeping no map blocks loaded; this does not indicate +any kind of failure. + +The world anchor can optionally be locked. When it is locked, only +the anchor's owner, the player who placed it, can reconfigure it or +remove it. Only the owner can lock it. Locking an anchor is useful +if the use of anchors is being tightly controlled by administrators: +an administrator can set up a locked anchor and be sure that it will +not be set by ordinary players to an unapproved configuration. + +The server limits the ability of world anchors to keep parts of the world +loaded, to avoid overloading the server. The total number of map blocks +that can be kept loaded in this way is set by the server configuration +item "max\_forceloaded\_blocks" (in minetest.conf), which defaults to +only 16. For comparison, each player normally keeps 125 map blocks loaded +(a radius of 32). If an enabled world anchor shows that it is failing to +keep all the map blocks loaded that it would like to, this can be fixed +by increasing max\_forceloaded\_blocks by the amount of the shortfall. + +The tight limit on force-loading is the reason why the world anchor is +not directly available to players. With the limit so low both by default +and in common practice, the only feasible way to determine where world +anchors should be used is for administrators to decide it directly. + subjects missing from this manual --------------------------------- -- cgit v1.2.3