What A Linden told me about the new "Script Limits..."

I contacted SUPPORT CHAT about this "Script Limitation" announced by M Linden: (xxxx was the serving Linden, to protect him a bit i hide his name..)

xxxxxx: Hello, Equinox_Pinion. I'm probably helping multiple people at the moment, so please explain your issue in detail, and I'll be with you as soon as I can.

Equinox_Pinion: hi Lindenlab announces free conversion of Openspace in to normal sim, and also announce script limits for OpenSpaces... however, if you don't tell us the amount of scripts that still will be able to run, its hardly possible to plan something. Do you know more about it? thanx in advance

xxxxx: we don't know yet; the script limits are still to be decided, and will be implemented after January first.

Equinox_Pinion: so we are pretty much all forced to to just convert, and afterwards buy new openspaces again if the limits would fit us?

xxxxx: no, you're not forced to convert. you can keep the openspace regions, and keep them as openspaces, by opting out of the Homestead program

Equinox_Pinion: But the Homesteads will have scriptlimits too, so if i don't know them, i can't make plans based on a limitation, when i don't know what this limitation will be... from the knowledge base: "they will support 3750 prims and 20 avatars, and will likely also have script limits."

xxxxx: yes, that's correct. if you want to do something that's more suitable for a full region, then you'd be better off converting. but you're not being forced into it.

Equinox_Pinion: well, if my scripts keep under the script count for homesteads, its fine, tough i can't know this if its not announced, and i would need to convert before january 5 to get it for free? so as i don't get all information, i would have to play save, and go to a normal sim, which is pretty much forced then.

xxxxx: if your scripts are usually too high for what is currently an openspace (1/4 the usage of a full region), then you'll probably need to move to a full region to keep using them.

Equinox_Pinion: problem is that there is no limitation for normal sims either, so even if you divide endless by 4, it will still stay endless. So what do you guys call "too high"?

xxxxx: well, there are certainly guidelines. on a full-prim region, Top Scripts should be under 5ms. for the region at large, total script time over 18ms is too many for good performance. 12-15ms is about right for a busy region

Equinox_Pinion: ok, thanx, i will check a few mainland regions with my statistics bar and see if they apply to that too... SO, will the script limit be a hard limit of script amount, or will they be limited to resources they have available? (so you can just use as much as you want, just they will run enormous slow in that case)

xxxxx: i don't know, equinox. the code hasn't been written yet. you could add your suggestions to the forum thread, so M and Jack will take it under consideration

Equinox_Pinion: Well, i don't think they read it, when i take the updated proposal in concideration. thanx for your time!

Last office hour with Babbage Linden and his monology in LSL convention seems to indicate that there MIGHT BE coming memory limit for scripts. This memory limit would be calculated from parcel's size - similar way as prim limit these days. Each avatar would also have their own constant memory limit.

There are no solid numbers or decisions yet for this - but it was said that "Full regions on class 5 sims get about 800MB each for everything, including scripts, physics and object transport and updates, so we also need to work out how the script memory budget would impact the other systems." Also, if this is going to happen, it will likely use similar design pattern as current HttpIn in test grid: scripts likely have some small constant memory usage and then they will requests additional memory from the sim with similar functions and events as in HttpIn. There are going to be ll* functions to handle memory requests and such.

This kind memory limit for scripts (and other systems) in region/parcel is going to fight against host swapping (that is significally slowing down to all regions in host). It is also going to be easier measure and budget than script time (which might have spikes). It will also effectively limit, how many scripts region/parcel can run. (Thought I am bit afraid that people are starting to use compression algorithm and such to limit script's memory usage...)

Babbage's wikipage with links to chat logs: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Babbage_Linden

/me thinks, you should probably not bother asking for specific information from the wrong department, they have given us till January to plan and the new limits etc will probably be announced well before then.
Of course the other option to keep people like you happy, was to say nothing at all for another 2 weeks until all the fine details were worked out in triplicate

I'm responsible for 200 residents (and their partners) living at my SIM's . To offer them the best service (and not what Lindenlab calls Service) it should simply been included in this announcement already. And yes, for me there would indeed be no difference in announcing it today or when they have the whole picture, as i have to wait till then before i can do anything, and so do many others. If the only thing you do is simply renting out OpenSpaces as a whole parcel, it doesn't make a lot of difference. But with my setup, Having to move A large portion of all my residents to other places and capture part of the additional tier (even if this will be "just" 20 dollar per sim at first) will require a lot of work, and the sooner we can start, the smoother it will go. Having 2 months or just 1.5 month for that DOES make a difference.

Further support chat has NO limitations, as premium member you can go there for questions which can't be found in the support pages.

Thanks for that update! I was already worried they would just limit the number of scripts and not their usage as 100 script can use the same recourses as 1000 scripts.

Well maybe you would nike no news for another 2 weeks till every detail was sorted, but many others seem to want to know the gist of things now and details as they come.
And expecting detailed information from support chat is like to ringing your electricity companys emergency support line and expect them to supply fiscal accounts details and board proposals and policies. Otherwise you basically expect every Lindin toknow everything or have access to all the other Lindens works. Half of the support Lindens are only part timers in other countries.

you don't get the point. Its important to know it NOW as the timer of two months till the tier increase starts NOW. I can only agree on this if the timer would start to count again for two months when they announce the script limits.



Who should i ring then... the board itself?

This script thing will most likely be a simple rule, which every linden will (if they finally found the magic number) be able to tell you by head. Nothing complicated. And by contacting support, i would have hoped their investigation would have already at least a little bit an idea of what to expect.