State Sync

State synchronization is the process by which the server broadcasts the authoritative world state to connected clients on each tick.

How it works

1. Server tick — On each fixed tick (default 30/s), the server steps the physics world and updates all entities
2. Serialization — Each entity's state is serialized via serialize() (from GameObject)
3. Distance filtering — Only entities within getStateSyncDistance() of a given client are included in that client's state packet
4. Broadcast — The filtered state is sent to each client over the WebRTC socket
5. Client apply — The client calls updateFromNetwork(data) on each matching local entity

Distance-based visibility

The server only sends state for entities within a configurable radius of each connected client. This reduces bandwidth for large worlds.

class MyServer extends Server {
  getStateSyncDistance(): number {
    return 150 // Only sync entities within 150 units
  }
}

Bandwidth tracking

Monitor outgoing bandwidth with the built-in tracker:

server.bandwidthTracker // Access bandwidth stats

State packet format

Each entity contributes its serialize() output to the state packet. The format is:

• Entity ID (key)
• Serialized state (value) — position, rotation, state hash, and any custom fields

Entities with garbageCollect === true are omitted from state packets and the client is notified to remove them.

Tick rate

The server tick rate controls how frequently state is sent. Default is 30 ticks/second, matching common game server conventions (sv_tickrate).

const game = BaseGame.instance()
game.tickRate // 30 (default)

A higher tick rate gives smoother interpolation but increases bandwidth and CPU usage.