questions for the care and feeding of a sim...

Ok so...
I have a bunch of questions, if anyone, Linden or otherwise, can shed some light, it would be great.

What causes drop in sim fps?

What is the difference if a sim runs at 500 fps or 3500 fps?

Which is worse for a sim - twenty boxed items with floating text scripts or one vendor with twenty items?

How do all those floating text scripts effect the sim?

What is the dfference between selling "a copy" of an item with a script in it and selling the item using "buy contents" in a box without a script?

What effect do those "pose ball" scripts have on a sim?

How do vistor counters effect sims?

Light Objects?

When fps drop, what should we look for?

When the sim lags, what should we look for?

Thats enough questions for now...

thanks,
fen-

Dr. Laura?

Are you writing a new book?

lol, I just had to get that in.

Champie

I'm no expert on this at all, but I'm at work and there's not enough football on at this moment... I'm bored, so I'll take a stab, correct me where I'm wrong as these are only my assumptions.

What is the difference if a sim runs at 500 fps or 3500 fps?
I believe this difference depends on the number of people in and bordering that sim at the moment. If there's only one av in a sim running at 60fps, then fps should still be as smooth as tv... get another av in there, and it gets herky-jerky. So, divide the fps figure by the number of avs, and you get the average fps per user.

Which is worse for a sim - twenty boxed items with floating text scripts or one vendor with twenty items?
I'd say this depends on other factors. If the boxed items each have unique hi-res textures, and the vendor is static (meaning it does nothing unless a visitor clicks it), then I'd say the boxes create the most initial lag. However, if the vendor is one that constantly cycles textures and spits out ad slogans, then the vendor would lag more.

How do all those floating text scripts effect the sim?
I'd don't believe they affect the sim at all.. beyond the point of initialization. Once the script runs and installs the text, it stops - so to speak. At that point, the text comes with the object when you enter the area. But, if the text is constantly updating/cycling/changing colors... then it would lag more.

What is the dfference between selling "a copy" of an item with a script in it and selling the item using "buy contents" in a box without a script?
Hmm, the latter doesn't require a script... it's coded into the SL client. So no lag. But, the former offers options such as being emailed when someone makes a purchase. Also, you can log names, split cash, give out a custom version to whats displayed, etc.

Light Objects?
These are client-side effects. You only see them if you enable the local-lighting option, and any slow-down is dependent on your hardware. The sim fps isn't affected.

When fps drop, what should we look for?
Too many people in the sim. Hi-rez textures on small prims. Scripts that are constantly updating... timers that tick more than needed, listens that are listening when not needed, physical objects (those crashed cars/hoverboards), scanners.

When the sim lags, what should we look for?
Same as above... Connection problems on your end.

Stuff.



The same as 7000 down to 700, I believe. SimFPS is merely a number to represent about 15 different bits of information all at once. Hit Alt-1. Hit the Advanced tab. See all those 0.2ms and 2.5ms things down the list? Each one of those represents time the processor is spending on running various things, like scripts, agents (like you and me), moving objects, objects using physics, and other things.

Basically, it adds all those ms numbers up, and uses them in some formula (I forget what), and spits out the final number as SimFPS. The maximum the SimFPS could ever be is 10,000, I believe. However, the difference between 10,000 and 5,000 is EXACTLY the same amount of difference between 50 and 25. It's a math thing. If I had the forumla I could explain it better, but I can't remember it.

The number of people in a sim doesn't affect this much more than me rezzing a plywood cube and making it Physical, and MAYBE sticking a simple script or two on it. For example, back a bit I attended one of the Town Halls. We had thirty three people in an empty sim, and the SimFPS was still in four digit territories. Four digit == Good, Three digit == Ok. Two digit == Call a Linden. One Digit == Get out before it crashes.



Depends, but usually a vendor with twenty items is worse. Unless it simply doesn't use any timers, listens, or sensors, then they MIGHT be equal (but then again, they might not, but I'm fairly certain that the difference between a box with SetText on it is quite similar to a vendor with no listens, sensors, or timers. Unless the boxes with text use listens, sensors, or timers, of course.)



They don't, unless they change periodically, or if they're programmed to be set with a verbal command or someone is stupid and puts the llSetText in a timer. Basically, floating text is just like the color or the position of the object. It's just another bit of data that's downloaded to the client once, and never again. Unless the text changes, at which point the data is redownloaded to the client, just like the position or texture, or size, or color. Particles are the same way.

However, with both SetText and Particles, if you "change" the text or particles to the EXACT same thing it already is, it's just like changing it to something different.



Uhrm. None? Unless the script inside the first one is doing some weird timer stuff. I don't really know though, because I don't deal with boxed sales OR vendors.



If they have listens on them (like hide/show commands) then it's a "big" impact (compared to a plywood cube that's been freshly rezzed, at least). You can reduce the impact by having only one listen on the entire 'bed' or whatever, and the bed can use LinkMessages to talk to all the balls, but that one listen still makes an impact on the sim.



"Big" (compared to the plywood cube), unless they only count who touches them. Most visitor counters use constantly running sensors to see who's nearby. A sensor has an impact on the sim. (You can see it in the Run Tasks thing in that list I pointed you at. The 2.4ms number might jump to 2.5ms from time to time with a new sensor, unless the sensor is running every 0.1 second, at which point the Run Tasks'll probably just jump to 2.5 and stay there).



None. These just affect your client FPS. "Light" is just like color, SetText, Particles, position, size, or other things. It's just a bit of information that's transmitted once, and that's it.



In the sim? A Linden. Or someone that's just started up twenty listen/sensor/timer using vendors.

Realize though, every time I talk about a timer, a timer with absolutely NO code in it whatsoever has very little to no impact on a sim. The only impact on a sim comes when the timer is running rapidly, or there are a lot of slower timers doing a lot of code. It's actually the code INSIDE the timer that causes the problem, not the timer itself.



Someone doing crazy Physics experiments with cut twisted hollowed torii. Really, the only actual NOTICEABLE lag occurs when either the SimFPS drops below 100, or the Physics engine starts getting overtaxed. It can get overtaxed by too many avatars too, because we're all physical objects ourselves.

fen,
In the alt-1 dialog you will find more informative figures than sim FPS.
Specifically, there is a number of fields that detail the times the server is spending on various tasks, such as running scripts ("Run Tasks", avatars ("Run Agts" etc.
WRT scripts, anything that triggers an event will cause lag. Sensor scripts like visitor counters will cause some lag, but there usually isnt any single culprit. It's all the little things put together. You shouldnt worry about this unless you are actually experiencing lag. If you are, then press alt-2 to see the relative times your client is spending on different things, like waiting for network traffic, receiving updates and textures from the server, rendering the actual primitives, etc.
I can take a look at your sim if you want. Troubleshooting lag is a bit of a specialty of mine.

Sure Eggy, anytime I am on, which is alot, be my guest!

fen-