Firestorm HTTP texture fetching bug?

[Alicia Sautereau]

After making post why http textures is so slow in the deployment thread, i recieved unexpected help :matte-motes-tongue:

With Monty Linden coming to the aid, we found something that could explain "lag" issues people complain about
Don`t forget that people also blame loading speed on lag, wich it`s not ;)

Testing Firestorm with HTTP textures enabled with 8 Get requests with empty cache:
http://i50.tinypic.com/1nzrrk.jpg

According to Monty, this should be between 20 to 40, hmm, 9 is abit low, but after a few seconds it drops even to 1:

http://i47.tinypic.com/24c9ptw.jpg

Ok, now this might start explaining why when using HTTP textures enabled, it takes longer then forever to load, cause it isn`t, well, at a crawll.
So while testing i got the latest LL viewer and installed it with it`s own empty cache folder:

http://i48.tinypic.com/1r4rqo.jpg

Hey, it`s most of the time near the max (screenshot 33) and the world rezzes!
Now, i must say that in firestorm, with UDP, the world loads damn fast as it feels like everything is dumped on my gpu`s to render as fast as they can compared to the max texture gets with http.
As some might recognize, this is Ambrosia, UDP i load it with people in under a minute, HTTP with LL latest viewer it still takes a few minutes

As my curiosity was wakend and the missing prims were getting worse on firestorm since the last server deploy, i went for a stroll with a fresh empty cache in LH as i know most buildings inside out
First thing i noticed is that the missing prims isn`t that random at all, sure, wich ones become "missing" is, but afterwards it`s always the same prims over and over again, can even point them out by now.

Second thing i noticed is that the increasing missing prims didn`t go missing with the lastest version, only the ones befor the server deployment still had the issue, wich luckilly weren`t so many :P

Last update to firestorm has been awhile ago, but thankfully with SSB nearing, a new release is coming and is the reason i`m posting this, for the firestorm dev team, but also for users who have problem rezzing the world and think it`s lag wich it might not be.

If your having the same issue, even with another TPV when it takes 30 minutes to load a place, try disabling HTTP textures if you have that option.
Maybe it might just my installation, but i doubt it as it`s a fresh one as of 2 weeks ago and i have had this problem since the start with firestorm :)

I will be doing some more testing but it looks pretty clear that, atleast for me, there is a serious bug with the HTTP texture function in firestorm, thankfully old fashion UDP renders faster for me then anything :-)

Would love to hear suggestions to test this in more specific details if anyone has an idea why this happens (for some?)

 

Many thanks Monty for helping me!! :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

 

ps: stop flashiiiiiiinnggggg CHUI!!!! AHHHHHH

[Theresa Tennyson]

Monty's been working on HTTP textures for a few months - it isnt' strictly fair to say that the problems you're seeing are a Firestorm bug because it was inherited from the Linden Lab code. Certain modems didn't handle HTTP texture requests well and Monty's been trying to reconfigure things to get around that - his changes are in the current LL viewer and have been picked up by the TPV's but some (like Firestorm) haven't released their viewers with updates yet.

I've been using cable internet recently and HTTP textures are actually significantly faster than UDP for me. People who still have problems using HTTP textures should try to get to the bottom of them because they're just going to be more and more common.

[Alicia Sautereau]

If it`s a bug or recent changes, gods knows

All i know is that the current version of firestorm, atleast for me, cripples the client on HTTP textures, wich may affect other users/older tpv`s
I am on cable and a more then average pc as loading is nearly instant on UDP, second on LL viewer HTTP and firestorm fail on HTTP

People complain about lag/loading, if they have the same issue and have HTTP enabled, it might fix their issue untill the next release
Been using firestorm longer then i can remember, but going trough Monty`s troubleshooting showed what is failing, firestorm.
Been wanting an update for firestorm for some time and will among the first to download it

My post was more to hopefully help some others and will be participating with Monty`s texture loading tests

I can`t chew chui

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Alicia Sautereau wrote:

My post was more to hopefully help some others and will be participating with Monty`s texture loading tests

 

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Very cool, and I wasn't taking exception to what you were saying, I was just giving a little more background because I was fairly familiar with the situation.

[Alicia Sautereau]

Sorry, to tired to read correctly :matte-motes-bashful-cute:

[Alicia Sautereau]

While doing my daily end routine, i noticed another issue
Sim crossing with the latest viewer is instant, with firestorm, ugh...

So i`ll just throw out what i`m thinking at this moment, all the server updates made firestorm lagging behind, even if it`s just backend operation that you don`t notice on your screen

Please update firestorm soon :matte-motes-bashful-cute-2:

[Whirly Fizzle]

Monty has made a lot of improvements to the way HTTP textures work recently on Viewer 3. His changes are not in the 4.3.1 release of Firestorm but will be in the upcoming release in ~ a couple of weeks, so give that a try and see if Firestorm is then comparable with Viewer 3 in that regard - it should be.

[Alicia Sautereau]

I`m really hoping for that :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

[Darien Caldwell]

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Whirly Fizzle wrote:

Monty has made a lot of improvements to the way HTTP textures work recently on Viewer 3. His changes are not in the 4.3.1 release of Firestorm but will be in the upcoming release in ~ a couple of weeks, so give that a try and see if Firestorm is then comparable with Viewer 3 in that regard - it should be.

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I read that as "LL's viewer will be nerfed down to Firestorm levels" :matte-motes-evil-invert:

 

Which given what I know is probably true.

[Alicia Sautereau]

Using the LL viewer for a couple of hours and the missing prims problem is stacking up again

This is a general viewer issue

[Perrie Juran]

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Alicia Sautereau wrote:

Using the LL viewer for a couple of hours and the missing prims problem is stacking up again

This is a general viewer issue

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If you haven't seen it, read Andrew Linden's Explanation in the Server Forum.

My simplistic understanding of it is that The Server and The Viewer are "having a failure to communicate."

 

 

[Alicia Sautereau]

Saw it, on the LL viewer it`s as bad as on firestorm, missing prims galore :matte-motes-impatient:

[Phoebe Avro]

I just tried the new Firestorm viewer that came out today or last night and http textures are working much better now!

[Alicia Sautereau]

Running the latest aswell when it came out and it is working as it should with HTP reaching up to 40  

UDP is still faster for me, but i guess that is because my pc is able to render faster then the http fetching/rendering pool thingy <- if that even makes sense

[Obsess Visage]

Ever since I switched from Phoenix to Firestorm in July, (and Phoenix was the most fantastic viewer ever), I was getting "Textures discarded due to insufficient memory" and I would crash soon after.  I would crash every day in 30 - 60 minutes and it's been SO FRUSTRATING!!!!   I read this thread.... and I have Firestorm 4.4.2 and every where I went it would take about 10 minutes to load and I would see grey for what seemed an eternity.

After reading this thread I turned OFF ... Use HTTP Textures.  What a difference!!!  Sims that took minutes to load now take seconds!!!! and the textures discarded due to insufficient memory is GONE!!!!  For me... HTTP Texture is a bug for my experience and I am infinitely better off with it turned OFF !!