Quote Originally Posted by Daeriion_Aeradiir View Post
Instanced housing would solve the situation, but could present a technical and catastrophic nightmare from the dev's side of things if implemented in haste without proper testing, or the proper hardware to handle it.
Instancing doesn't put any load on the server. Instancing takes a value in RAM or object, and clones it. Meaning 5 instances take the same space as one. The 'issue' is assigning an instance value to each character as an ID, which would take a few bytes. Then you assign a database to each ID to show what items are where. And that is saved on the character. This part is already done. Its why you can put furniture where you want.

So what happens when you have two people owning the same 'house'. The outside is static. When you enter a gate or door, you enter an instance of the place. It sends you your information during the loading screen and when it appears it appears as your house. Lets say your friend owns the same house. You exit your home through the gate or door and reenter, selecting your friend from a list. You enter their version.

Here's the cool part. The house is already loaded into RAM from you entering your version. It only needs to load the placement of the furniture. The loading time is quicker because of that.

Also all textures of the instance and furniture is loaded from your harddrive. The ONLY thing the server loads is the database of furniture used and where it is as well as the new instance ID. We're literally talking about 2-4bytes of info needed. And who is moving where as normal. That part may seem high, but its not. Zone ID, X, Y, Z coordinates. The zone ID is the only difference. And its needed anyway for Mist, Goblet, ect.

The hardest part is making an access point. And the list of who owns what. Data that is already being used.

As for the potential 20,000 instances. Instances ONLY need to be running when they are being accessed. Just like Dungeons and Duties. Its no more stress on the server than there is now. Hopefully that clarifies.