Region pre-caching
Chaser Zaks
Currently, if you teleport to a region, especially an event region, it takes forever for assets to download. It would be nice if we could create a "snapshot" of all the region assets, minus the avatars.
Think of it like this:
- A region owner sets up all the static objects.
- Said region owner has anyone who wants static objects inside
- Once they are ready, the region "bakes" a package that contains all the assets, and maybe the object cache. This bake can only be done once per day.
- Viewers can then pre-cache, even if it is full, the entire region while they wait.
- When a agent enters the region, the region loads almost immediately for them, because the cache has been downloaded and added to the viewer cache.
This is isn't for regular use, but rather when someone wants to teleport into a region for the first time, they can download the entire region's static object cache before entering. If they enter the region without pre-caching, the region just streams the assets as usual.
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VriSeriphim Resident
This sounds like it might be better served by a better cache update protocol. I assume you are already setting your cache as large as you are able.
Maybe also an option to specify by region what things to (try to) keep in cache.
Kathrine Jansma
Is this worth the effort?
I do not see a "forever" download, but it depends a bit on the network bandwidth available and how the viewer does things. I think there should be clear expectations how slow/fast a tp + rezzing should be for reference purposes. Technically rezzing a whole sim after tp is like loading a new cell in a game, which can take like 20-30s with a loading screen in many cases too.
(see https://www.techspot.com/review/2116-storage-speed-game-loading/ for some numbers from 2020).
With the Cool VL Viewer i tend to be network bandwidth bound (with 100MBit/s) and a little bit I/O bound for texture decoding, but rezzing is quite fast for most regions. Usually in that 20-30s range, unless my draw distance is huge.
Chaser Zaks
Kathrine Jansma Some people, especially those in rural areas and some suburban areas, such as myself, have been left behind by internet companies. I get 2.5MiB/s download and 125KiB/s upload (Which if I get near the upload limit, it cuts my download rate by 3/4th). Still on DSL, even dual-bonded DSL doesn't help here.
I have what I like to believe is a beefy computer, but high speed internet in my area isn't possible because they don't want to lay fiber lines down here.
Kathrine Jansma
Chaser Zaks Thats a terrible bandwith for this age. Most mobile connections or Starlink offer much more these days. In germany they added a law that set the minimum that must be provided everywhere to 10MBit/s.
So maybe ask LL for performance improvements for bandwidth starved residents. Pre-canned static sim data might be an option for that, just like game engines ship most of their levels with the installer upfront.
You actually do not need pre-canned sim data. You would just need an exploration probe that ventures to a new location before you do and that already pre-populates your local on disk cache before a tp happens. Then it could TP invite /IM you once it has things loaded.
LeillaLux Resident
Chaser Zaks Starlink may be a good option depending where you are (ir cost less in some areas) for high speed satellite net if you can. (in case it doesn't get better for you otherwise) good luck though maybe they can implement this Region pre-caching fix either way! :)
Bavid Dailey
no idea if this is practical (I suspect not), but it's a novel and interesting idea (to me)