The truth about events…

Over on Mesh Body Addicts Lildaria has written an article with that title, Truth About Events (NSFW±). She touches on a pet peeve of mine, but her prime point is the problem we are starting to have… having… with events.

Menage A Trios

Menage A Trios

It seems that people are staying longer at events because they have a hard time getting in. If you leave, it may be a day or two before you can get in again. So, demos are downloaded and tried on while people are at the event. This puts a load on the region server and lags it more than their just being there. 

Lildaria is one of those that believe mesh bodies and attachments are a major contributor to lag, my peeve. One has to be careful how they word that charge. Poorly made mesh does aggravate lag. Well-made mesh reduces lag. I have mesh body outfits that have far lower render cost than many of my older classic outfits, often as much as 60 to 70% lower. The challenge is knowing which is poorly or well made. The Quick Graphics RC Viewer has a tool to tell us, but for now it is a problem.

Lildaria is writes about the effort she is putting into telling her readers about her GOOD mesh finds. I think her effort is worthy of mention and support. It is also earning her consider traffic. Lots of people are reading her blog. I do. If you have a favorite designer, ask them if they know about Mesh Body Addicts and let them know you read it. If you are a designer, let event sponsors-facilitators know how important the site is to you. It will help Lildaria.

She also points to a problem I’ve run into a number of times, people promoting an item as fitted mesh that is only rigged mesh. My belief is a number of clothing creators simply do not know what fitted mesh is or how to make it. I’ve started rewriting my 2012 article on how to make clothes. But, Project Bento is slowing me down. I’m figuring out how to handle that before the final version is released.

What we can do…

Her recommendation for those of us going to popular events is to do all we can to reduce lag. That used to mean going to events wearing as little as possible. For a time the focus was on scripts, in the day when every lock of hair and piece of a shoe had a script in it. Now it is about how much mesh your wearing.

Now much of the render lag is handled client side. So, her recommendation is in PREFERENCES->Graphics set Max. # of non-impostor avatars to 1 (lowest possible). Also, to wear as little mesh as you can. For instance she wears her mesh body (obviously a body addict would…) but no mesh head, hands, or feet. Clothes would best be Applier clothes, no mesh. Those have little or no effect on render cost.

Once the Quick Graphics viewer releases these recommendations will be out of date. I’ve written about the settings you can use in the RC version of the Quick Graphics viewer. See: Avatar Render Cost 2015-07. You also may want to try the Project Bento RC viewer as I am getting really good frame rates with the current version.

The real way to reduce lag is to look at your Avatar Complexity Information, top menu: Advanced (Ctrl-Shift-D)->Performance->Show Avatar Render Complexity. Then get that number as low as possible.

What designers can do…

Lildaria makes good recommendation for what event participant can do to reduce lag and make attendees’ lives easier. See her article, link above.

She also recommends having an auto-kick script on the region. After an hour you would be ejected from the region. That makes way for someone new. I personally wouldn’t like getting kicked out, but it would help me get in. But, if I can’t stay, what’s the point?

However, it is up the event hosts to decide this one. I do know that if adopted, once I get kicked I won’t be back. Also, if I know I am time limited, I will bee-line for the designers I am interested in and not bother to browse. I think that behavior will be counterproductive for the event. But, it will address my interests.

Information seems to travel slowly in Second Life. Well, at the lease that that needs to get around. So, it may be some time before we see ‘events’ changing. That people are becoming aware of these problems and talking about them will facilitate change.

4 thoughts on “The truth about events…

  1. Some great points Nalates, and thank you for showing your support!

    I do agree that mesh bodies aren’t the primary cause of lag by any stretch of the imagination, but the ‘mass pile on’ of mesh we wear does add to what already existed, which is why so many simply wear a full body alpha. There are worse culprits (flexi etc) than mesh for sure, just as there are mesh bodies with higher render costs than others.

    Your thoughts on the auto-kick idea are interesting – would it make a difference if it were say 2 hours? Basically, plenty of time to do what you’re doing but enough to remove serial lurkers?

    • Thanks for commenting.

      On Auto-kick… It is really a matter of am I free to browse for as long as I want. Do I have to give up my freedom to solve someone else’s problem?

      I have empathy for those waiting to get in. I am often in that group. So, while I am open to the idea of removing lurkers, how do we identify them? And how do we decide if their lurking is good or bad?

      In games with leveling in SL there is the problem of camping. Time in the region equates with game experience. But, just hiding in a corner and not competing is not what the game masters want. So, the game meters watch for keystrokes and mouse clicks. If after 5 minutes there is no activity they turn off the game meter and stop the accumulation of experience points.

      With Experience Tools it is possible to require a meter be worn that can detect AFK and teleport the avatar out of the region. Without the meter one cannot stay in the event. One just joins the event experience and the HUD or meter is invisibly and automatically attached. It detaches when the avatar leaves.

      That should remove those that are not active. If a lurker is walking around, well how do we tell that lurker from a shopper?

  2. I heard about a gadget on the MP that can teleport an avatar into an already full region by utilizing some nefarious trickery. I don’t have any details though. Nor would I want any because that would really be cheating. Maybe that’s another reason why folks have great difficulty getting to some events?

    • If you are referring to the one I am thinking of, the gadget is not all that nefarious. It is a lag producer. It works by rapidly trying to TP you into the region. It triggers one TP request after another way faster than a human can until it achieves its goal.

      If you and I are waiting to get in, we most likely will see those using the device get in ahead of us. It is theoretically possible for those using the device to drive the region above the set population limit. It would be a case of multiple people sending TP requests when the count of avatars in region drops below the limit and the server allows new entries. Several entries could arrive before a slow running server could close the door.

      It would be interesting to know how many of these devices are in use. I doubt many are used but, I don’t know.

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