cache

While doing a defrag of my hard drive, I noticed that SL was taking up 1.? gigs of my drive.

Not a big deal at all. I just didnt realize the cache didnt clean up after closing.

I also noticed that a clean install runs the game just as well as a pre-cached version. So really having all those tmp files littering the hard drive isnt necessary - session to session.

Would it be possible to put in a on-close/dump routine to clear out those unneeded tmp files from the drive?

thanks

First of all, you can control the size of the cache in the preferences.
Second, I garuntee that cache makes a difference. Walk into a texture dense area for the first time, and watch your bandwidth. Then log out, log back in, and go to the same area. The bandwidth spike will be much milder the second time.

The reason it doesn't always seem to make a difference is that object and land data *always* has to be resent, since the world is dynamic. But if an object has a texture you've seen before, your client can just use the texture in the cache, instead of redownloading it.

This is my understanding, you'll have to talk to a Linden for clarification.

-Pat Murphy

Yes I am aware of the cache settings - I set mine high on purpose (as recommended) to improve performace. I dont in anyway have a problem with the cache size.

And just from my own experiences - I have clean installed 4 times just to check.

On my machine, walking into any cluttered area I am receiving large amount of data anyway. Clearing or not clearing has shown no visible improvement one way or the other with regards to area loading, object visibility, or texture loading speeds.

As a matter of fact, I started clean installing *because* I would get lagged/locked up. I will *not* say that it was because of the cache swapping with so much new data pouring in - because I have to proof that such was the case. All I can say is that where as I would lockup at least 4-5 times a night, and black hole 2-3 times a night with a normal install. If the install was clean, I could reduce that down to 0 times (for that night, or 2 nights or so).

Something is going on there. Like I said, I'm not claiming the cache is the problem - but it does strike me as odd.

I was lagging quite a bit and heard from a player a clean install would help. I did so figuring it sure couldnt hurt.

For me the game loaded faster and ran smoother. It really didnt make any sense to me. I see no improvement having the data vs running on a clean load either. Maybe Im missing something?

Another note is I went poking around the files and found sounds Ive encountered only once or twice (songs people played once or ??). Maybe files can be marked by usage and be cleaned after unused "X" number of days ??

I sort of doubt that cache is used from previous log ins. Whenever I log out in Lindenberg, when I log back in I usually have to sit there for about 5 minutes or so waiting for all the textures to load - I can see all the basic outlines of the shapes, just everything is mostly see through. That is independant of clean install or not, I have tried both ways. I would think that if textures were cahced and that cache carried over (usage wise, not storage wise) to the next login then it would load faster.

Maybe this is related to the XP read entire cache problem or its fix?

lol Ama, not to be off topic but I dont even know how you can do it.

I want a shop in Lindenburg pretty badly, but I cant even *get* there without lag storms. (I watched over Sas's shoulder one night she decided to go visiting - took her 10 min to walk a short section of street - dang but the curses that woman can come up with!).


Yeah I know we *need* the cache for the session we are on - but it just seems to resend regardless. I think a cache dump might be a good thing - if for nothing else, maybe it would help with some of the problems that occur when installing new versions. And maybe it would allow the game to run a *little* bit better - closer to the performances with clean installs.

I have a 2mbs cable internet connection. In network I set it to 500k then custom and set both art/sounds and objects to 500,000. I think that helps, but it may not. Doing a clean install really helped. But yeah, I don't move very fast when I'm there.