Over the years, Truck and I have tried to do what we can to improve overall performance on the sims by trying to keep a hand on the number of high rez textures, number and type of scripts … and with less success … the number of prims used.  We continue to improve as we understand more. We could strip down the sims to bare bones gaining even better performance (less Lag), but then it wouldn’t be the Calas Galadhon Park that we know. That said, we are asking for your help in doing what you can to make everyone’s visit to the Park … particularly at our Live Music Events a pleasurable and positive experience for all.

One of the issues we face when there are many avatars at an event is that dreaded 3 letter word LAG. One way each of us can help reduce lag at events is through responsible personal script management. That is, limiting the number of scripted items worn or attached to our avatars during the time we attend an event. That’s where we’d like to ask for your help.

Since we are not a role play group of sims, we should be able to explore or attend events with a max of about 100 scripts – 200 at the most when just exploring the Park. More than that really impacts sim performance significantly. We have set this as a limit for scripts at our events now. Below is some information that may be helpful.

First here’s how scripts contribute to lag. Each sim is allocated 256MB of server memory for scripts. This means ALL scripts on the sim at any given time have only 256MB of server memory. At large events it’s not unusual to have 40 -70 avatars in attendance. If each avatar is wearing scripts using 2MB of memory then simple math reveals that in avatar script memory alone 30 to 50% of the server memory is claimed by those scripts, leaving much less memory for necessary sim scripts and things slow down or in the worst case, come to a stop.

Also, every script we wear in SL has to be registered by the sim we’re on. That ‘registering’ in itself takes away from the available sim resources, so a high script count can be just as bad as a high script memory amount!

A good explanation of Script Count and Memory:  http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/68686-recent-topics-about-script-count.html#post1474028

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE NOW TO HELP:

•  On Firestorm, you can right click on your avatar, select SCRIPT INFO from the pie menu, and get a count of the scripts worn and the amount of cpu time those scripts are using. In the above example, wearing about 2MB of scripts uses about 5% of the available cpu time! Multiply that by 50 avatars and you see that those 50 avatars are using ALOT of the available sim cpu time!
•  You can find a free and easy useful script counter in Marketplace at

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Weight-Scale-Script-Counter/1835786 .

•  I will also place a less attractive Coagulate Script Counter near the TP boards at the Dimrill Dale sim entrance which you can touch and take a free copy for your use at home. It will ask you to type /99give  to receive one.

• You can also check your script memory usage by:

Go to –> World –> About Land (Parcel Details on Firestorm) –> Script Info (lower left of window) –> My Avatar tab (Avatar tab on Firestorm)

This tab will show your Avatar Script MEMORY Usage in kilobytes (kb) and lists each scripted item you are wearing and the amount of memory in kilobytes it is using.

1024kb = 1 megabyte

2048kb = 2 megabytes

3072kb = 3 megabytes

4096kb = 4 megabytes

5120kb = 5 megabytes

etc

THINGS TO CHECK AND REMOVE

• Take off highly scripted items, such as multitools, combat HUDs, collar systems, trackers, and shoes and jewelry with lots of color change features. (If your shoes and jewelry are copy, make a backup copy, then delete the scripts either through the menu, or if there is no menu and the item is modifiable, by editing and deleting the scripts in ‘contents’.) If removing the scripts is not an option, then making the decision to not wear that item for that particular event would be best.
•  Look for clothing attachments and hair that has resizing menus.  Make a safety copy, then use the menu option to Delete the resizing scripts in your everyday copy.
•  Remove flight assist devices. They are no longer needed, since unassisted flight is now possible up to 5000m.

No solution is perfect, LAG appears here to stay but working together we can have a better chance at a more pleasurable experience attending events at Calas Galadhon Park or just exploring its sims.