56k version

There soooo needs to be a 56k version of thsi game so it appeals to the wider market without access to DSL or Cable or any broadband services.

Seeing as how so much data has to be transferred to keep loading times from being prohibitive, a narrowband version most likely wouldn't work.

It would if the minor things like music and stuff that isnt really neede it turned off

Ok now, this just happens to be my area of expertise, so sit back, get comfy, and I'll tell you a little story 'bout a man named Jed.

Erm.

Ok. Ash, I am currently playing SL via 56k. It's wonderful. It's amazing. I did have to adjust the network settings (in preferences) giving nothing to water, clouds, and wind, and dialing all the others down, down, down until added together they are less than 56.

It's so wonderful. So what if perfectly round spheres look more like roundish cubes to me? It's still wonderful. So what if I lose so many packets so much of the time (if I teleport anywhere or attempt to fly anywhere or when more than 1 other av comes to see me at the same time) that I cannot move, and everything I say echoes over and over and over again. It's so amazingly wonderful. So what if my inventory cannot load 50% of the time because I don't have enough bandwidth? I'll just chat those times (hoping that the Find - People online will actually work during packetloss), and hold off on building and scripting for the other 50% of the time.

The *only* reason I'm in SL via 56k is because I got hooked while I had broadband. If the way I currently experience SL was the way I experienced it my first time in world, there would not have been a 2nd time in world for me.

In order to create a 56k client, the Lindens would basically do what I did in my network settings. Dial them all down, down, down (and disallow setting them any higher).

I don't mean to burst your bubble, Ash -- it's a nice idea, but I think you would agree with me if you were to experience SL over dialup.

#!

I have to agree with #! here... it's just not really possible without DRASTICALLY turning down much of what makes SL so interesting. I'm just not convinced it's possible.

Well, I was forced into experience SL during dialup, and all I can say is "Just make the single-player not-online version".

I mean, if you really want to have some slow form of SL, it would have to be with stick figures and blocky landscapes. And as a person who likes to create, I can sympathize with anybody who doesn't really feel good showing off stuff that would look weird when toned down for a slower connection.

But it doesn't bug me that much, so.... how's that for an idea? 4-bit colors, all avatars are stick figures, and the landscape and buildings are all blocky. Chat is sped up, yada yada....

I dunno, personally I don't think you should ask a game that has the disclaimer "broadband only" to slow down for your own needs. But whatever...

Did this post contribute at all? lol

Maya3D + IRC + Java Compiler = 56k Version of SL.

See its easy.

Just don't use any of the advanced fetures of any of those three. And if you complain about the choice of those three (the 3d modelor, chat and programming language) I will make you program in befung. And you don't want to do that.

it's laggy enough with the cable modem. Can't wait till the 2 week thing ends for all the people who don't decide to stay with SL, it'll be the first lag free day and quite possibly the last, although it should last a while.

Well....i agree with Dave. This game is for brodband connections only. I have a bud by the name of mark. Most of you all have a copy of his Futrisitc Chairs. He is on a Stalite connection and he is unable to upload much but for enyother games its pritty good for him. Im not sure but i think no matter how far away you are from a DSL or CABLE provider i belive you should be able to get SATALITE connections out thare in the contry. So mabe if you want to play other games that dont demand Large uploads mabe you should look into getting that even though its slower that CABLE and costs more money it looks like a good choice. Unless you want to see if you can get the old brodband system. ISDN i belive its called.

C ya in game guys

i heard ISDN =(

just run 2 56k's w/ 2 phone lines if you need that =P

No joke. The lowest quote I've gotten for isdn is $100 per month for 128k. And that's not even unlimited online time (I forget exactly how much).

I seriously considered satellite, but $600 for the dish and $50 per month and then not be able to upload anything? Doug and Catherine convinced me that I would Not.Be.Happy with it.

I'm holding out for cable, hoping against hope that it'll actually be available here in July. Hey, y'all all wanna call Comcast and ask about availability here at my place? Maybe if they got deluged with calls they'd push the date up =)

#!

Whats the # and wheres your area?

We're there for ya

Wish I saw this before.. I just threw out a Internet Satellite (It is worth it if you have no other options.. and I paid less than I do with Comcast now, liek $42/mo)...

Since the majority of the bandwidth should be down and very little up, the overall bandwidth should be adequate (I was getting about 1.5Mbps down on it). The latency, however, would kind of make things a bit slow reacting.

This is encouraging!

I have a "second home" at the beach that may soon be my first/only home. It is on the state line, literally as far from the closest phone office as you can get. Rumor had it that we would NEVER get DSL, and they had already promised Cable Internet access only to change their minds.

I recently did my monthly on-line check to see if there is ANY high speed access in my area from ANYONE (satelite is probably not a possibility as it is a condo facing the wrong direction) and once again found that there was none, and none planned.

BUT... Since they have been sending my phone bill since January to the wrong address, and I had to call to get that straighted out, I took the opportunity to complain to the poor clerk I was dealing with. To my great surprise, she told me that I could get DSL service after all!

Now I haven't been back to TRY it yet, but I've gotten all the confirmations that the service is active, plus they have sent me the modem (free), so they must be pretty sure it will work. I'll know in a week or so.

In the mean time, it is good to know that you at least CAN sign on over a modem. I had never even thought to try it. My modem set-up uses the local area network, so I'm sure SL wouldn't even know I was dialed in...it would just appear to the software as a VERY slow DSL connection, but for some reason it never occurred to me to just sign on and see what would happen.

One reason everyone should be interested in this is that the same techniques that would make SL usable on a 56K connection would also make it much much faster over DSL. I frankly don't think there is enough caching going on. I know there is a LOT of stuff that shows up in my cache, but I also sense that the software might be just over writing items rather than bothering to do a time-stamp comparison. I watch the lights on my router while in SL and it blinks so fast that its a blur and that doesn't matter whether I am flying around or in my small cabin alone with no physics or anything else going on. I also notice that every time I visit a SIM (even in the same session) the map acts as though it is having to re-discover the terrain below me. This can't be right. 99.99% of it is the same from one minute to the next (or for even longer periods) but the program doesn't act like this is the case.

My guess is that after the system is feature-complete more emphasis might go into communication performance issues.

By the way, there are modems that will let you use TWO phone connections at the same time. One version requires a similar pair of modems at the other end to be fully capable, and I'm not sure any ISP supports this. The other gadget I have is an internet router that uses two external modems, will use both to connect (you would need two ISP accounts of course) and feeds the results into your local area network. I think the intent was to give small businesses a faster shared connection (before DSL). I only used it in that mode long enough to prove that it worked, but there might be something like that available still. Next time I lay my hands on the thing I'll get the brand name and post it. I think it was Haupage, but I'm not sure.