Second Life Forums Archive - Reliability of Linked Messages

Newfie Pendragon

Crusty and proud of it

Join date: 19 Dec 2003

Posts: 1,025

08-10-2005 07:36

Hi all:

I was wondering if anyone knew how 'guaranteed' the delivery of link messages were. I am working on a script that performs quite a bit of communication among its link prims, and on occasion there is a spike in the volume of total messages being sent. Due to the nature of these messages, losing any of them would be annoying, to say the least.

Before I rewrite my code to build in a synchronous/guaranteed message passing mechanism, does anyone know how guaranteed the current link_messages are? An by extension, if there is message loss, what may be factors in influencing the loss rate?

- Newfie

_____________________

blaze Spinnaker

1/2 Serious

Join date: 12 Aug 2004

Posts: 5,898

08-10-2005 07:57

Hmm, I don't think they're guaranteed at all. I honestly don't think anything is guaranteed in SL with SIMs going down all the time. Script resetting of a type is necessary in our environment to keep individual scripts from infinitely wreaking havoc.

That being said, you're accuracy might be around 4 or 5 nines .. (99.99 / 99.999) depending on your spikiness and the SIM you're in.

_____________________

Taken from The last paragraph on pg. 16 of Cory Ondrejka's paper "Changing Realities: User Creation, Communication, and Innovation in Digital Worlds :

"User-created content takes the idea of leveraging player opinions a step further by allowing them to effectively prototype new ideas and features. Developers can then measure which new concepts most improve the products and incorporate them into the game in future patches."

Jesrad Seraph

Nonsense

Join date: 11 Dec 2004

Posts: 1,463

08-10-2005 09:08

I think they start getting dropped if they pile up. But since they seem pretty fast (delivered in ~0.1 second in my experience) that could only happen with high volume of messages.

_____________________

Either Man can enjoy universal freedom, or Man cannot. If it is possible then everyone can act freely if they don't stop anyone else from doing same. If it is not possible, then conflict will arise anyway so punch those that try to stop you. In conclusion the only strategy that wins in all cases is that of doing what you want against all adversity, as long as you respect that right in others.

Moonshine Herbst

none

Join date: 19 Jun 2004

Posts: 483

08-10-2005 10:14

It seems pretty reliable, even during heavy lag, with 40 AVs and 40+ machines using link messages at the same time.

Hank Ramos

Lifetime Scripter

Join date: 15 Nov 2003

Posts: 2,328

08-10-2005 10:55

I encountered a problem with my HRCE ATM Exchange system, where I would have a high-volume of linked messages cause "droppage" of linked messages if a flood of them were queued up for processing. I spent a lot of time redesigning my system to that messages were sent to the appropriate prims instead of using LINK_SET, and by throttling the speed at which I sent out messages where necessary. I don't have any metrics on the number of linked messages that can be queued, but I'd start by splitting up your scripts in to different prims, targeting those prims/scripts specifically where appropriate, and working on throttling the speed at which you send them.

Reliability of Linked Messages
Newfie Pendragon Crusty and proud of it Join date: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 1,025	08-10-2005 07:36 Hi all: I was wondering if anyone knew how 'guaranteed' the delivery of link messages were. I am working on a script that performs quite a bit of communication among its link prims, and on occasion there is a spike in the volume of total messages being sent. Due to the nature of these messages, losing any of them would be annoying, to say the least. Before I rewrite my code to build in a synchronous/guaranteed message passing mechanism, does anyone know how guaranteed the current link_messages are? An by extension, if there is message loss, what may be factors in influencing the loss rate? - Newfie _____________________
blaze Spinnaker 1/2 Serious Join date: 12 Aug 2004 Posts: 5,898	08-10-2005 07:57 Hmm, I don't think they're guaranteed at all. I honestly don't think anything is guaranteed in SL with SIMs going down all the time. Script resetting of a type is necessary in our environment to keep individual scripts from infinitely wreaking havoc. That being said, you're accuracy might be around 4 or 5 nines .. (99.99 / 99.999) depending on your spikiness and the SIM you're in. _____________________ Taken from The last paragraph on pg. 16 of Cory Ondrejka's paper "Changing Realities: User Creation, Communication, and Innovation in Digital Worlds : "User-created content takes the idea of leveraging player opinions a step further by allowing them to effectively prototype new ideas and features. Developers can then measure which new concepts most improve the products and incorporate them into the game in future patches."
Jesrad Seraph Nonsense Join date: 11 Dec 2004 Posts: 1,463	08-10-2005 09:08 I think they start getting dropped if they pile up. But since they seem pretty fast (delivered in ~0.1 second in my experience) that could only happen with high volume of messages. _____________________ Either Man can enjoy universal freedom, or Man cannot. If it is possible then everyone can act freely if they don't stop anyone else from doing same. If it is not possible, then conflict will arise anyway so punch those that try to stop you. In conclusion the only strategy that wins in all cases is that of doing what you want against all adversity, as long as you respect that right in others.
Moonshine Herbst none Join date: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 483	08-10-2005 10:14 It seems pretty reliable, even during heavy lag, with 40 AVs and 40+ machines using link messages at the same time.
Hank Ramos Lifetime Scripter Join date: 15 Nov 2003 Posts: 2,328	08-10-2005 10:55 I encountered a problem with my HRCE ATM Exchange system, where I would have a high-volume of linked messages cause "droppage" of linked messages if a flood of them were queued up for processing. I spent a lot of time redesigning my system to that messages were sent to the appropriate prims instead of using LINK_SET, and by throttling the speed at which I sent out messages where necessary. I don't have any metrics on the number of linked messages that can be queued, but I'd start by splitting up your scripts in to different prims, targeting those prims/scripts specifically where appropriate, and working on throttling the speed at which you send them.

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Reliability of Linked Messages