reference.md

Reference

[TOC]

Overview

This page collects the practical build, run, configuration, and tuning surface of the project in one place.

It covers:

• client and server executables
• build variants and presets
• runtime options
• important tuning knobs and defaults
• logging and diagnostics paths

Build System

Executables And Targets

Executable	CMake target	Purpose	Presets
Bomberman	Bomberman	SDL2 client runtime, menus, multiplayer scene flow, and local presentation	linux-client-debug, linux-client-release, windows-client-debug, windows-client-release
Bomberman_Server	Bomberman_Server	Dedicated authoritative server runtime and fixed-tick simulation	linux-server-debug, linux-server-release

The client and server are built as separate executables. That split keeps the authoritative server runtime independent from the SDL2 game client.

Build Variants

Preset	Platform	Build type	Notes
linux-debug	Linux	Debug	Main development preset; enables richer diagnostics and client debug netcode toggles
linux-release	Linux	Release	Leaner runtime build for Linux packaging and sanity checks
windows-debug	Windows (MinGW cross)	Debug	Cross-compiled Windows client build
windows-release	Windows (MinGW cross)	Release	Cross-compiled Windows client packaging build

Debug and release builds differ in a few practical ways:

• Debug builds define SPDLOG_ACTIVE_LEVEL=TRACE and default to more developer-friendly logging.
• Release builds reduce the active log level and do not carry the same debug-oriented observability surface.
• --net-diag is available in client debug builds and server builds, but not in the client release build.
• --no-prediction and --no-remote-smoothing are client debug options only.

Build Prerequisites

Platform	Requirements
all builds	CMake 3.24+, Ninja
Linux client	GCC 12+ or Clang 15+, SDL2, SDL2_image, SDL2_ttf, SDL2_mixer development packages
Linux server-only	C++20 compiler; SDL packages are not required if BOMBERMAN_BUILD_CLIENT=OFF
Windows client cross-build	MinGW-w64 toolchain plus SDL2 MinGW packages in the configured sysroot

All other third-party dependencies are vendored in third_party/, including ENet, spdlog, and nlohmann/json.

CMake Options

Option	Default	Meaning
BOMBERMAN_BUILD_CLIENT	ON	Build the SDL2 client target
BOMBERMAN_BUILD_SERVER	ON	Build the dedicated server target
BOMBERMAN_BUNDLE_DLLS	ON	Bundle MinGW / SDL2 DLLs into Windows client packages
BOMBERMAN_MINGW_SYSROOT	/usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32	MinGW sysroot path used for Windows DLL bundling

CMake Presets

Configure Presets

Preset	Purpose
linux-debug	Linux debug configure tree for client and server
linux-release	Linux release configure tree for client and server
windows-debug	Windows debug cross-compile configure tree for the client
windows-release	Windows release cross-compile configure tree for the client

Build Presets

Preset	Target
linux-client-debug	Bomberman
linux-client-release	Bomberman
linux-server-debug	Bomberman_Server
linux-server-release	Bomberman_Server
windows-client-debug	Bomberman
windows-client-release	Bomberman

Build And Run

Each configure preset maps to one build directory. Run cmake --preset <configure-preset> once, then build the client or server target from that configured tree as needed.

Linux Client

cmake --preset linux-debug
cmake --build --preset linux-client-debug
./build/linux-debug/Bomberman

Linux Server

cmake --preset linux-debug
cmake --build --preset linux-server-debug
./build/linux-debug/Bomberman_Server

Windows Client Cross-Build

cmake --preset windows-release
cmake --build --preset windows-client-release

Useful Configure Overrides

# Server-only Linux build
cmake --preset linux-debug -DBOMBERMAN_BUILD_CLIENT=OFF

# Client-only build
cmake --preset linux-debug -DBOMBERMAN_BUILD_SERVER=OFF

# Disable Windows DLL bundling
cmake --preset windows-release -DBOMBERMAN_BUNDLE_DLLS=OFF

Binaries are written to build/<configure-preset>/.

Packaging

Run packaging from the relevant build directory after building:

cd build/linux-release
cpack --config CPackConfig.cmake

Generated package formats:

Build dir	Package format	Contents
build/linux-release	TGZ	client and server component archives
build/windows-release	ZIP	Windows client package

On Windows packages, SDL2 and MinGW runtime DLLs are bundled from ${BOMBERMAN_MINGW_SYSROOT}/bin when BOMBERMAN_BUNDLE_DLLS=ON.

CLI Options

Option	Applies to	Purpose	Notes
--help	client, server	Print usage and exit	Local to each executable
--port <port>	client, server	Override the default server port	Valid range: 1-65535
--log-level <level>	client, server	Override the base log level	Accepted values: trace, debug, info, warn, error
--log-file <path>	client, server	Write logs to an explicit file path	Shared logging option
--net-diag	client, server	Enable structured diagnostics JSON capture	Build-gated on the client
--mute	client	Disable audio playback	Useful for local multi-instance testing
--no-prediction	client	Disable local player prediction	Debug build only
--no-remote-smoothing	client	Disable remote-player smoothing	Debug build only
--seed <value>	server	Override the match seed	Useful for controlled comparisons
--input-lead-ticks <value>	server	Override the authoritative input lead buffer	Range: 0-kMaxBufferedInputLead
--snapshot-interval-ticks <value>	server	Override snapshot send interval in ticks	Range: 1-60
--no-powers	server	Disable powerup spawning for the session	Server-side gameplay toggle

Runtime Tuning Knobs

Network And Session Tuning

Knob	Surface	Default	Purpose
inputLeadTicks / --input-lead-ticks	server	1	Buffers authoritative input slightly ahead of consume time
snapshotIntervalTicks / --snapshot-interval-ticks	server	1	Controls snapshot send cadence (1 = every tick / 60 Hz)
prediction enabled	client	on	Enables local player prediction
remote smoothing enabled	client	on	Smooths remote-player presentation

These are the most important tunables used during testing and A/B comparison work. Deeper protocol and simulation detail lives in the subsystem pages.

Gameplay And Round Tuning

Knob	Surface	Default	Purpose
map seed	server / shared map generation	generated per session unless overridden	Drives deterministic tile map generation on client and server
brick spawn randomize	shared gameplay config	10	Controls how often grass tiles are promoted to bricks during generation
powerups per round	server / shared gameplay config	4	Number of hidden powerups seeded under bricks when enabled
powerup duration	shared gameplay config	10 s	Default lifetime for temporary multiplayer powerup effects
speed boost movement target	shared gameplay config	5.5 tiles/s	Movement speed while the speed boost is active
bomb range boost amount	shared gameplay config	+1	Additional blast radius during the range boost
boosted max bombs	shared gameplay config	2	Bomb-cap target while the max-bombs boost is active

Logging And Diagnostics Paths

Path	Purpose
Configs/DefaultLogging.ini	Default named-channel logging configuration
logs/	Runtime output directory for diagnostics JSON reports
Tools/diag_viewer.html	Browser-based diagnostics viewer shell
Tools/diag_viewer.js	Viewer logic for report parsing and comparison
Tools/diag_viewer_launcher.sh	Convenience launcher for opening the diagnostics viewer
Tools/NetworkTesting/netem_launcher.sh	Linux helper for tc netem-based impairment testing
docs/assets/testing/TestMatrix/	Retained test-matrix logs and diagnostics evidence

Diagnostics reports are written as:

• logs/diag_server_<timestamp>.json
• logs/diag_client_p<N>_<timestamp>.json
• logs/diag_client_u_<timestamp>.json before player assignment is known

If --log-file is not provided, logging follows the default config resolution path and console output setup.

Important Defaults

Network Defaults

Default	Value	Source	Meaning
Protocol version	9	Net/NetCommon.h	Handshake compatibility gate
Default server port	12345	Net/NetCommon.h	Shared client/server port default
Max players	4	Net/NetCommon.h	Maximum supported gameplay player count
Simulation tick rate	60 Hz	Sim/SimConfig.h	Fixed-tick client/server simulation basis
Default server input lead	1 tick	Sim/SimConfig.h	Authoritative input scheduling buffer
Default snapshot interval	1 tick	Sim/SimConfig.h	Snapshot every server tick by default
Max frame clamp	250 ms	Sim/SimConfig.h	Fixed-step accumulator clamp
Max steps per frame	8	Sim/SimConfig.h	Fixed-step catch-up ceiling
Server peer session capacity	8	Server/ServerState.h	4 gameplay peers plus 4 overflow transport peers

Powerups are enabled by default on the server unless --no-powers is supplied.

Gameplay Defaults

Default	Value	Source	Meaning
Brick spawn randomize	10	Const.h	Shared brick-density knob used by deterministic map generation
Tile map size	31 x 13	Const.h	Generated gameplay tile dimensions
Default player max bombs	1	Sim/SimConfig.h	Starting bomb capacity
Default player bomb range	1	Sim/SimConfig.h	Starting explosion radius
Default bomb fuse	1.5 s	Sim/SimConfig.h	Authoritative bomb lifetime
Powerup types	4	Sim/PowerupConfig.h	Speed boost, invincibility, bomb range boost, max bombs boost
Powerups per round	4	Sim/PowerupConfig.h	One hidden placement of each configured powerup type
Default powerup duration	10 s	Sim/PowerupConfig.h	Shared temporary-effect lifetime
Speed boost target	5.5 tiles/s	Sim/PowerupConfig.h	Boosted player movement speed
Bomb range boost amount	+1	Sim/PowerupConfig.h	Additional bomb blast radius
Boosted max bombs	2	Sim/PowerupConfig.h	Boosted bomb ownership cap

Related Pages

• Networking
• Diagnostics
• Testing
• Architecture

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