So I've been having some unusual clientside performance issues. And I couldn't explain it with server stats. And I couldn't explain it with client side effects such as network congestion.
What I've discovered is that the SL client doesn't drop the draw distance in the way that I'd expect. Looks like a bug, but maybe someone will explain how it's a feature.
So two snapshots.
First, a picture of me in Selby. As you can see, I have draw distance set to 192 and I've specified that it should drop the draw distance if FPS < 10. If you look at the mini-map, you will see that it's dropped the draw distance to 64m, but the client FPS is still less than 10. Also, note that the building in the distance is more than 64m away. It's grayed out, but it's still being displayed.
I would also note that if I manually set my draw distance to 64m, relog, and fly all around the sim, then I maintain a constant FPS of 45!
The second snapshot is me flying around in the crippled state. Notice the building in the distance. Also, more than 64m away. And it didn't exist in my original view. As I started flying toward it, it rezzed into view...even tho it's supposed to be outside my dropped draw distance! It's grayed out, too, but still putting load on my client. My FPS has now dropped to 5.5!
So, what's going on guys?!? it looks like the draw distance drop feature is totally borked!
