Before I buy

[Grimshad]

Before I buy I had a few questions and I know the answer to a few of them, but i'd like confirmation:

1. Does TNet 3 have built in support for listen/server mode with lan and ip direct connection?

2. Does TNet 3 have built in support for dedicated server mode?

3. Does TNet 3 have built in support for master server reporting and server browser?

4. Does TNet 3 have built in support for matchmaking?

5. TNet 3 says it requires a license per seat, I believe I understand what that means, but can someone please explain it to me anyway?

I am currently trying to decide between forge networking remastered and TN3.

Thanks for any info that can help me with my decision.

[cmifwdll]

1. Yes. Additionally, you can make use of TNet's serialization without using any of the networking features (so this can be used as a save system for a singleplayer game, I think).
2. Yes.
3. Yes, but you build the server browser (the GUI part). The data is made available from the lobby server (aka master server).
4. No? Matchmaking in general is very dependent on game logic. How would TNet know what criteria you want for matchmaking? It would be very easy to implement though, as TNet is provided as source code.
5. You must purchase a license for each programmer that contributes to your project. I think you can buy a studio license, too, though. Not sure.

TNet isn't a "click these buttons to make your game multiplayer" type of solution, so expect to do a fair bit of coding. The tutorials, documentation, and the wonderful quality of ArenMook's work makes this a very simple task, though.

[ArenMook]

Tasharen's stance on "per-seat" licensing is actually more lenient than that: one license per programmer working with the tool. Meaning if you have 10 programmers, but only one is using TNet, you only need 1 license.

[devomage]

There are several threads related to this topic, you should search those for similar replies.

The biggest perk is the support from the author of this AAA asset.  Any problems you might run into is either already answered or addressed within a couple days.

The only issue with TNet is platform support.  Ensure that your target platform(s) is supported.