Is this effiencent use of program coding?

I just launched Second Life a few minutes ago and did my usual getting up and doing some other RL things while SL loaded......things like letting the dog out, going to the fridge for a drink, maybe turning the TV down a bit. I've notice for the last few months that process is getting longer and longer with each update. Right now it takes nearly a minute and a half (85 seconds to be exact). Of course that encludes clearing my cache since I check that box each time I log in so the next time I launch it will be cleared. So maybe subtract about 10 or 15 seconds to be fair for most users. Second Life viewer is 64.55 megs big on my computer.

After posting when I turn on my computer each day it takes Windows XP (Service Pack 2 with all updates) about 30 to 45 seconds with all antivirus, firewall, antispyware, and other background programs to launch. Windows XP (SP2) is 2.87 gigs big.

I also can launch The GIMP 2.2 in less than 10 seconds. GIMP is 76.28 megs big.

Now I know there is a few seconds while SL queries the internet for permissions etc. So does Windows. Now for my question:

Why does it take so much longer for SL to load than other, much bigger programs? Adobe Acrobat reader is about twice the size of SL...........takes maybe 10 seconds to launch when I need to read a PDF file. It's only SL that takes so long.........and it's nothing but viewer like Acrobat. What little programming knowledge I have I've heard that poorly written programs will take a longer time to launch AND respond to input. Since the viewer is constantly querying LL's servers for information it follows that there is going to be a slower system all the way around. I just want to know why a viewer takes so much time to load...........and if because it takes so much time to load is that related to how SL performs (especially during high load conditions).

I defrag my drives once every week (two at the most). My primary drive has 93% free space. It spins at 7200 rpm. Check disk is run about once a month. I have a 6 mbps download cable connection that tested at that speed (never less than 5.8 anyway). My processor speed is 3 gigs on a P4 dual core. nVidia 7200 PCI-E 256 meg graphics card. And a gig of DDR2 RAM. My system cache is 1 gig.

It just doesn't make sense to me that SL is the slowest launching program I have.........and, by far, not the largest.

I think a lot of SL startup time is network stuff..

Network stuff before you log in? I'm talking about getting to the log in screen. Now to log in.........that can take several minutes during heavy use hours.

I'm timing the time it takes for my click of the shortcut icon to where I can see the pretty picture of some jungle island when SL (the viewer) is launched completely and I can then log in. I watch my connection icon in my system tray.........no in or out traffic til just before the log in screen comes up.

Uh huh..

How do you think it comes up with, say, the blog entries on the login screen?

With that maybe 5 seconds of traffic just before the log in screen becomes available?

I don't know if this helps much, Peggy (it probably doesn't but what the hey, right?). There's so many variables to consider. However, as a rough measure, it took about 40 seconds from double-clicking to moving in-world with my Windows computer (Vista Ultimate, Nvidia 7900 GS 256 MB video card, 3.1 GHz Intel C2D overclocked). It took about 22 seconds from single clicking from the dock to moving in-world on a MacBook Pro (2.16 GHz, ATI x1600 128 MB video). I'm tired so I only did two tests on each computer. Also, I didn't clear the cache as you did so this may have some effect. Why not leave the cache as the game relies on streaming content?

Are you still using that nVidia 6200LE for your video card?

-purge

No longer need to check the box every time.

My shortcut Target properties box reads:

"C:\Program Files\SecondLife\SecondLife.exe" -multiple -purge

My Client takes about 20 seconds to load, to be fair, using a programme like Adobe Acrobat as an example, is like saying a door is equivilant to a floor. The client has to initalise a lot more internal programmes, ddl's and services from the OS, it doesn't do one function like render pdf files.

On a good day, SL takes maybe 5 seconds to get to the login screen. On a bad day, it seems like a minute or so. To me, that sounds like network issues can greatly impact the time it takes to get to the login screen.

Clearing your cache every time is really overkill, IMO. It makes the world slower to rez and puts more load on the sim. If you're concerned about performance and don't have a good reason to do be clearing it so often, you should consider not doing it.

I agree here as it's the most likely culprit, cleaning your cache regularly is good, but every-time you open SL completely defeats the purpose of having a cache!

I don't know about for Windows, but I'm looking into a simple perl or shell script that I can have run automatically every week or so to clear my cache (just trash the cache folder, it's way quicker than doing it via the SL preferences).
Then just make sure to dump your cache when you update and you should be fine.

I think the culprit here is definitely that you clear your cache. I know that LL occasionally suggests it as a way to get rid of inventory loss problems, but that doesn't mean clearing cache is something you should want to do all the time. Caches are important.

I'm pretty sure that simply generating the cache structure on disk for the first time takes as much as a minute, if you're running SL for the very first time. I know I've seen something like "generating cache files" and seen it take a minute or two. You're probably doing this every single time you run SL.

You don't change your oil each time you run your car, do you?

Yeah, I'd have to agree that the reason it takes so long is because you're clearing your cache every time you start. I'd recommend clearing it every 2-3 weeks, if that, but certainly not every single time you start it. Personally, that I can remember I've only ever cleared mine 2-3 times in the year that I've had SL now and have only once had an issue with the cache.

I tried testing the loading time myself, it took 5 seconds to load without clearing the cache, and 36 seconds to load with clearing the cache.

Defragging your HD 1-2 times a week is also overkill. Once every month or so can so a bit of good (not really enough to justify doing it IMHO, unless your drive is formatted as FAT32), but doing it so often can decrease performance and may decrease the life of your HD.

Also, just as a side note, the physical size of a program has next to nothing do to with how long it should take to start.

Okay.........I'll give the not clearing my cache each time a shot and see what happens. But, I'm still having a hard time understanding how the cache clearing has much to do with launching the viewer (isn't it sort of like a browser anyway?). I already mentioned it takes 5 to 10 seconds for the "clearing cache" box to disappear........which I've subtracted from my time trials. I know because the cache is empty it will take things longer to rezz initially once logged in. Also it doesn't seem to make any difference at all about how many concurrents are logged on when I launch SL.

Actually, unless the grid is really lagged, I log in in about 10 seconds.....might take up to a minute for everything to rezz (that's my cache thing I do but I expect that). Yes, I'm still using my 7200LE.......but it works fine. Frames per second vary with the sim load and stuff but usually run around 20 to 30. My graphics is not an issue at all.

I guess I really have no problem.........mostly just curious why it takes so long to load. Thanks everyone for the answers and opinions.

Additionally, it may take awhile for it to run a hardware check, or for your machine to prepare to switch display modes.

It usually takes 5-10 seconds here to launch.

Personally, I find clearing the cache works well for me. If you press Ctrl+Shift+4 (or it maybe 3, I'm not ingame atm, so can't verify) you will see the client status and its connection to the Sim server you are hosted on, for the most part it can give out warnings that there are Bad hosted meshes, or missing textures etc. Anyone else noticed when you rez certain objects etc, they are empty or lost their creator/owner status, or with textures/notecards (textures being 0x0 size, NC being empty)? Thats because the system has tried to load them from your cache which has become corrupt and can cause hangs.

For me.

10 seconds: The splash box that says stuff like "initalizing vfs"
20 (+10) seconds: Window appears
30 (+10) seconds: Can log in
35 (+5) seconds: Blog entries and the rest of the log in screen is available

AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+
2GB DDR2 PC4200
ATi Radeon X1950PRO

The entire client loads for me within ten or fifteen seconds, and this is after I clear my cache -- something I do everytime I finish an SL session. The quality of your computer hardware will definitely affect how quickly you can launch this application; and if you only barely meet the system requirements, you'll probably experience a nice, long wait.

Enable your console through the Client debug menu. Maybe it'll tell you something useful while you start up.