"TypeError: Cannot read property 'position' of undefined" with setBlock() if the position is greater than chunkSize

[vladikoff]

Cannot use game.setBlock(...) to create blocks outside of visible chunk range.
Game config:

 {
    chunkDistance: 1,
    chunkSize: 16,
     ...
}

To reproduce:

// tower with different textures
var tower = [
        1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
        1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
      ]
tower.forEach(function (item, i) {
  var pos = [1,i,2]
  console.log(pos)
  game.setBlock(pos, item)
})

The last log prints [1, 16, 2], then error:

TypeError: Cannot read property 'position' of undefined

This can also be reproduced via the console after the game has been fully initialized.
See https://github.com/vladikoff/voxel-test-playground for an example of this issue.

[max-mapper]

Thanks, I have actually been thinking about how to handle this case. The current way voxel.js is set up is:

• voxel-engine emits events that ask for chunks
• chunks are given to voxel-engine
• voxel-engine throws away the chunks when you move away from them in the game
• when you go back, this process repeats

There is no caching/buffer mechanism right now in voxel-engine. I think this kind of logic should live in an external module, e.g. voxel-network-storage, voxel-indexeddb-storage, voxel-png-storage, voxel-localstorage, etc and the storage modules would listen to game events like:

engine.on('set', saveToDatabase)

Then when voxel-engine requests data:

engine.on('needsChunk', function(position){
  getChunkFromDatabase(position, engine.showChunk)
})

... or something like this.

In the short term I suppose I could make voxel-engine emit the .on('set)` events instead of throwing an error

[vladikoff]

Really appreciate the quick response!
Are these the events: https://github.com/maxogden/voxel-engine#gamechunkregiononchange-functionpos- that I can use for the time being?

[max-mapper]

Yea .on('missingChunk' is the event for voxel-engine emits events that ask for chunks

[vladikoff]

Thanks so much! I shall use that for the time being.