breaking: no need to override Serialize/Deserialize in messages

[paulpach]

Messages no longer serialize themselves. This has been decoupled. Serializing a message is now done
via readers and writers, which can be either generated or user provided.

This lifts some restrictions,

• you no longer need to have a default constructor in messages
• Messages types can be recursive
• struct Messages don't need to provide an empty Serialize and Deserialize method

Before:

public struct ReadyMessage : IMessageBase
{
    public void Deserialize(NetworkReader reader) { }

    public void Serialize(NetworkWriter writer) { }
}

After:

public struct ReadyMessage : NetworkMessage
{
}

For custom overrides for Serialize/Deserialize instead use custom reader and writer instead

Before (Click to expand)

public struct ProjectileState
{
  public uint projectileId;
  public Vector3 position;
  public Quaternion rotation;
  public Vector3 velocity;
}
public struct SyncProjectilesMessage : IMessageBase
{
  public static ProjectileState[] buffer = new ProjectileState[1000];
  public int count;

  public void Deserialize(NetworkReader reader)
  {
      count = reader.ReadInt32();
      for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
      {
          buffer[i].projectileId = reader.ReadUInt32();
          buffer[i].position = reader.ReadVector3();
          buffer[i].rotation = reader.ReadQuaternion();
          buffer[i].velocity = reader.ReadVector3();
      }
  }

  public void Serialize(NetworkWriter writer)
  {
      writer.WriteInt32(count);
      for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
      {
          writer.WriteUInt32(buffer[i].projectileId);
          writer.WriteVector3(buffer[i].position);
          writer.WriteQuaternion(buffer[i].rotation);
          writer.WriteVector3(buffer[i].velocity);
      }
  }
}

After (Click to expand)

public struct ProjectileState
{
  public uint projectileId;
  public Vector3 position;
  public Quaternion rotation;
  public Vector3 velocity;
}
public struct SyncProjectilesMessage : NetworkMessage
{
  public static ProjectileState[] buffer = new ProjectileState[1000];
  public int count;
}
public static class SyncProjectilesMessageFunctions
{
  public static void Serialize(this NetworkWriter writer, SyncProjectilesMessage value)
  {
      writer.WriteInt32(value.count);

      for (int i = 0; i < value.count; i++)
      {
          writer.WriteUInt32(SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].projectileId);
          writer.WriteVector3(SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].position);
          writer.WriteQuaternion(SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].rotation);
          writer.WriteVector3(SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].velocity);
      }
  }

  public static SyncProjectilesMessage Deserialize(this NetworkReader reader)
  {
      SyncProjectilesMessage value = new SyncProjectilesMessage
      {
          count = reader.ReadInt32(),
      };

      for (int i = 0; i < value.count; i++)
      {
          SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].projectileId = reader.ReadUInt32();
          SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].position = reader.ReadVector3();
          SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].rotation = reader.ReadQuaternion();
          SyncProjectilesMessage.buffer[i].velocity = reader.ReadVector3();
      }

      return value;
  }
}

---

BREAKING CHANGE: Messages must be public
BREAKING CHANGE: Use custom reader and writer instead of Serialize/Deserialize methods

[James-Frowen]

why is this being removed?

[James-Frowen]

This breaks a lot of messages that use the Serialize/Deserialize methods.

The way in which is breaks the message is the worst part.

Some types that were handled manually before are no longer handled causing errors like this when updating:

The hint or message to say that a now broken message should have custom writers.

Once users figure out (probably with support from discord) then the result will look like this, which writing from scratch seems fine, but going from before->after seems pointless.
Before: https://hatebin.com/otnlbfnoow
After: https://hatebin.com/iqbdqwoydw

The worst part is even after fixing the weaver errors the whole game break because custom Serialize/Deserialize methods are no longer being used such has: https://hatebin.com/tufaepvksq.

I dont think breaking most messages that take advantage of the Serialize/Deserialize methods is worth 500 LOC.

[sonarcloud]

SonarCloud Quality Gate failed.

0 Bugs
0 Vulnerabilities (and 0 Security Hotspots to review)
1 Code Smell

78.3% Coverage
0.0% Duplication