Yes, it is true, we have been attacked by the lag monster. It’s a monster that drains the energy from us and increases frustrations. It relishes in the molasses it pours down on all of us, and laughs at our misery. So, Ancilla and I have taken it upon ourselves to fight this monster and drive it away from us. Catelenya, Lola Darkwolf, and Sophie (wildasophie) joined us in our quest searching for the nefarious beast and hoped to lay him to rest. Alas, he eluded us in our search. We did make numerous discoveries, though. These discoveries gave us some ideas of our next steps, and I wanted to share with you what Ancilla and I are planning to do to combat this foul beast.

We did a sim restart and did notice that things improved considerably after the restart. So, for the time being, we’re going to be doing a daily sim restart between 5am and 6am, Second Life Time. This should keep the lag monster at bay while we hunt down its lair.

We have quite a large number of scripts on the sim. This is not surprising considering the focus and purpose of our city. The thing is, not all the scripts are needed to be active at all times, and some aren’t needed at all. Others we can replace as well. So, over the next several days, we will be going through the sim and searching for scripts we can delete or deactivate. We’ll also be looking for toys and objects we can update, or ones that have to be removed completely. We need to focus on reducing our scripts as much as possible.

Finally, be conscious of your own script counts. We aren’t limiting script sizes for avis, as some sims do, but we are asking that you take a look at your scripts to see if you are using them effectively. Do you have a HUD attached you never use? Remove it. Make a copy of your hair and remove the scripts from the one you wear. When you want to change colors, just pull out your original hair and repeat the process. Does your clothing/hair have resize scripts? Make a copy of them and remove the scripts. Every little bit can help.

This is going to take some time to do, so we thank you for your patience. We’re still doing some tests, and Ancilla will do another blog post later with more information about what she found. Until then, the sim will remain open and available for everyone to use and enjoy, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep the lag monster away.

*** WARNING: Ahead lies techie babbling from a Koder Kitty. Proceed with caution. ***

There are two types of lag that affect us in the city.

Client lag is caused by mesh, complexity, textures, and download speeds. Client lag is different for everyone. If you have a slow Internet connection, a slow computer, low memory, lower graphics card, and so on, you are more prone to client lag. Using avatar imposters, lowering your graphics settings, and using jellies for high complexity avatars are all useful tools to help with the client side lag.

Server lag is caused by scripts, which cause the entire city to slow down. Doors will open slowly, and menus will take several seconds to register. This is the major point of pain that we’re trying to deal with. The client side lag is important too, and there are things we can do to help in that, but our focus now is trying to get the scripts under control.

We will keep you updated as we have more information, but in the meantime, please continue to enjoy the city and we’ll keep the lights on for you.