As title says, is it possible to use external servers with matchmaking 2.0? The API reference is a real mess for me to parse through, with 3 places of "Matchmaking" and no note of which of legacy or 2.0 it belongs to. I can't seem to find API for 2.0 for external provided servers what API to call to register server being available for matchmaker, so is it even possible?
The best way to quickly look for the multiplayer 2.0 APIs is referring the official docs:https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/playfab/api-references/. For example, all multiplayer 2.0 APIs are inside multiplayer sections meanwhile the legacy multiplayer APIs are in server section. Usually the legacy one is named “matchmaker” and the modern one is “matchmaking”
The new Matchmaking system is designed for multiplayer 2.0 servers, there is no native registration methods for external servers and it will be complicated to manually maintain the matching tickets for different players. The only thing matchmaking can do is to match the players, besides that, it cannot handle the management of external servers.
Sorry, but I don't fully understand..
Are you saying that the new matchmaker built around starting servers for each match, and then closing them when match is over? So it's a tightly integrated matchmaker with server manager?
If not:
"it will be complicated to manually maintain the matching tickets for different players."
Isn't this done by the matchmaker? What is the difference of having external servers here or integrated/hosted by you?
"The only thing matchmaking can do is to match the players, besides that, it cannot handle the management of external servers."
Isn't that the point? I don't want the matchmaker to handle the servers, I only want to be able to connect servers to matchmaker to be available to fill players for matches? And then let an external manager notice how many servers are up.
I am not very familiar with multiplayer server service from external providers, but if the matchmaking is used with PlayFab multiplayer servers 2.0, after a ticket is matched, PlayFab can automatically allocate server instances for players, with IP and ports attached in the callback result. PlayFab servers are scalable and can set up standby servers for low-costing fast response.
The legacy "matchmaker" is able to register the external server and monitor the heartbeat so that PlayFab side can be notified with the game status. However, "matchmaking" cannot, the whole process is done after a ticket is marked as "matched". You may need an additional agent server to monitor the whole process, to request a server instance from external provider (or allocate an existing instance from a cached DB) or shut down it after the game is end.
Sorry for the inconvenience that the legacy documentation website has been migrated to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/playfab/, but the tutorials on legacy multiplayer server/matchmaker haven't been moved to the new place yet.
If you are trying to use legacy server system, please refer to: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/playfab/features/multiplayer/servers/using-externally-hosted-games-servers-with-playfab
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