The replication layer is currently part of the server and is planned to be between the client and the server.
Instead of the player connecting directly to the server, the player and the server both connect to the replication layer. The layer allows all the servers to be synchronized.
The replication layer was introduced In alpha 3.18[1]. It offloaded the entire state of the universe: things like characters, ships, weapons, and more away from the game servers, called DGS.[1] The work of splitting the replication layer to be shared between the client and DGS into a new hybrid service still needed to be done, as was the testing of the new crash recovery system. These would be the focus of two tech preview tests which showed that it worked well.[1]
Crash Recovery
If the server crashes, the client stays up, still connected to the replication layer, and when the server comes back up again or a new one replaces it, it comes back to its state before the crash, still impacted by player actions, as opposed to a default state.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Inside Star Citizen: Dev Diary - Server Meshing, Star Citizen, YouTube, 4 July 2024
