Sending Packets
Once a packet has been added to the network, it can be called to send a message to the side it refers to. Usually there are four different directions a packet can be sent:
| Direction | Description |
|---|---|
PLAY_TO_CLIENT |
A packet is sent from the server to the client during gameplay. |
PLAY_TO_SERVER |
A packet is sent from the client to the server during gameplay. |
LOGIN_TO_CLIENT |
A packet is sent to the client on initial login. |
LOGIN_TO_SERVER |
A packet is sent to the server on initial login. |
The two login packets are handled internally by forge itself. However, the other two need to be sent using SimpleChannel#send for SimpleChannel#sendToServer. Each method takes a new instance of the message to send.
Client Packet Locations
- It might not always be necessary to update every single client with a packet if they are not viewing the entity or are not affected by it. To specify which clients to send a packet from the server to, a
PacketDistributor$PacketTargetmust also be passed in as a parameter. There are many helpful fields that hold simple implementations of where to send which packet withinPacketDistributor. However, they must be supplied with the required input either viaPacketDistributor#withorPacketDistributor#noArgif it is going to all players.
Here is a list of distributors available:
- PLAYER:Send to the specified Player.
- DIMENSION:Send to everyone in the specified dimension.
- NEAR:Send to everyone near the specified
PacketDistributor$TargetPoint - ALL:Send to everyone
- SERVER:Send to the server(from client)
- TRACKING_ENTITY:Send to all tracking the specified Entity
- TRACKING_ENTITY_AND_SELF:Send to all tracking the specified Entity and Player
- TRACKING_CHUNK:Send to all tracking the specified Chunk
- NMLIST:Send to each NetworkManager instance in the specified List