RakNet 3.0 Beta

RakNet project is a reliable UDP networking API.
RakNet is a networking API that is a wrapper for reliable UDP and higher level functionality on Windows, Linux, and Unix.
It allows any application to communicate with other applications on the same computer, over a LAN, or over the internet.
Although it could be used for any networked application, it was developed specifically for rapid development of online games and the addition of multiplayer to single player games.
Main features:
- Secure connections
- With one line of code Raknet will automatically use SHA1, AES128, SYN Cookies, and RSA to prevent connection spoofing, replay attacks, data eavesdropping, packet tampering, and MitM attacks. Overhead averages 12 bytes per datagram.
- Voice communication
- Using Speex for encoding / decoding, 16 bit audio can be transmitted using approximately 1000 bytes per second.
- Remote terminal
- Using either Telnet or secure RakNet, you can remotely administrate your applications. The system has built-in commands for most RakNet functions and is designed for users to extend for their own purposes. Example capabilities include application resets, password management, and logging.
- Application directory server
- The application directory server allows servers to list themselves for clients to find and connect to. The system uses a key / value system. Listing your server and posting new rules are both done with a single line of code.
- Autopatcher
- Update your users with database driven binary delta patches, or use a simpler version for updates such as user skins or maps.
- Object replication system
- RakNets object and memory replication system provides a framework from which you can synchronize your program state. It requires no changes to your program architecture and there is no unneeded overhead. Memory is replicated through a single function call, with support for callbacks for serialization of complex types such as pointers.
- Network traffic compression
- The BitStream class allows compressed writes of vectors, matrices, quaternions, and real numbers between -1 and 1. It also supports delta compression, by which unchanged values only use a single bit.
- Remote function calls
- While you can send and interpret your own bit streams, remote function calls make this process easier as you now deal with functions rather than raw data. Remote function calls only take 1-2 bytes of overhead and allow both static C function calls and class member function calls. Return values are also supported.
- Routing and multicasting
- RakNet supports automatically updated connection graphs, which are used for routing and multicasting via a minimum spanning tree. You could, for example, use RakNet for highly efficient distributed peer-to-peer file sharing. Simpler applications include directed messages between clients and efficient broadcasts.
- Robust communication layer
- Flow control, message ordering on different channels, message coalescence, and splitting and reassembly of packets larger than the MTU are transparently handled for you.