Multiscripted Arrows

[agentronin]

There are gorean sims that forbid multiscripted arrows. What is a multiscripted arrow? What is their advantage in combat? Why would a gorean sim adminstrator forbid them?

[Rolig Loon]

I have no idea, but I imagine that someone on one of those regions could tell you.  However, if you are a scripter and are hoping to write a script for one, this is the place to come when you get stuck (no pun intended, but it turned out that way).

[Innula Zenovka]

As Rolig suggests, asking an administrator on one of these regions what they mean by "multiscripted arrow" is probably the best way of finding out what they have in mind

I can't think of any particular advantage to adding multiple scripts to an arrow (or any other projectile weapon).   There are some occasions when it's either necessary or desirable to use several scripts but none of them would apply here that I can think of.

However, I can imagine a weapons maker who isn't an experienced scripter putting several scripts in an arrow for the sake of convenience.  Perhaps one might handle the arrow's flight and another  would handle communications with the relevant parties' HUDs if the arrow hits somebody.   

A region administrator, and particularly one on a combat region, might well object to that because of the potential impact on region performance of having a large number of objects containing multiple scripts, as opposed to one single though rather larger script, being temp-rezzed at pretty much the same time.  

It's the sort of thing that normally wouldn't have much impact on region performance but, in the particular context of a combat region with a battle going on, could easily make a noticeable difference to region performance and perceived lag.

[ChinRey]

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agentronin wrote:

What is a multiscripted arrow?

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I don't know either but my best guess is that it's an arrow with multiple scripts compatible with different combat systems.

 

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agentronin wrote:

What is their advantage in combat?

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If my guess is right, nothing. It's just that they can be used in more environments.

If Innula's guess if s right, nothing at all.

 

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agentronin wrote:

Why would a gorean sim adminstrator forbid them?

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Again assuming either my or Innula's guess is right, lots of people still believe that scripts add to the overall lag and the more scripts you have the more lag you get. That's mostly a myth and not usually true - it certainy isn't in this case. But even so, there is a limit to how many script events a sim can handle. Once the number goes beyond that limit, the server will run out of time to execute them all and scripts will start failing at random.

The reason the administrators would forbid them may either be that they believe in the script lag myth or that the sim actually has problems with script overload. For an active combat rp sim either explanation is equally plausible.

[Innula Zenovka]

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ChinRey wrote:

Again assuming either my or Innula's guess is right, lots of people still believe that scripts add to the overall lag and the more scripts you have the more lag you get. That's mostly a myth and not usually true - it certainy isn't in this case. But even so, there is a limit to how many script events a sim can handle. Once the number goes beyond that limit, the server will run out of time to execute them all and scripts will start failing at random.

The reason the administrators would forbid them may either be that they believe in the script lag myth or that the sim actually has problems with script overload. For an active combat rp sim either explanation is equally plausible.

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 It's not just a question of how many script events there are.   As I understand it,  scripts normally inflict their largest performance hit on a simulator is when the object containing them first rezzes.   That's because the simulator has to load the script into its memory and then do any necessary initialisations (so devices that send avatars home if they have too many scripts in their attachments are usually closing the stable door after the horse has bolted -- the avatar has already caused as big a performace problems as it's going to, simply by rezzing).

Normally that's not very a big deal, but in the context of a combat region, where you have lots of avatars running around and lots of physical objects colliding with each other, I can quite see why the administrators would want to minimise the number of scripts in temp-rez objects like arrows, which are likely to be rezzed frequently and in considerable numbers.   It's one of the few things they can control that might affect the region's performance.

[ChinRey]

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Innula Zenovka wrote:

It's not just a question of how many script events there are.   As I understand it,  scripts normally inflict their largest performance hit on a simulator is when the object containing them first rezzes.

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Yes, that is a very good point that I missed. Running scripts may not cause too much server lag but loading them certainly does. It is possible Mono's bytecode sharing will eliminate that problem but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Lexia Moonstone]

It might be  related to people cheating by using mutiple copies of the same damage script to cause extra damage.

[ChinRey]

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Lexia Moonstone wrote:

It might be  related to people cheating by using mutiple copies of the same damage script to cause extra damage.

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Are you suggesting that role players in SL are cheating???

Yes, that would be another possible reason why somebody would add multiple scripts to an arrow, but nobody would actually do that, would they?

[Innula Zenovka]

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Lexia Moonstone wrote:

It might be  related to people cheating by using mutiple copies of the same damage script to cause extra damage.

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Preventing that should be reasonably simple for whoever makes the combat system, though.    I don't know offhand whether the arrow communicates via its owner's HUD or that of its target, but, either way, the HUD could easily be told to ignore multiple messages from the same object unless it was another HUD.   This wouldn't affect melee weapons since they record hits by using a sensor with a very narrow cone (or they used to -- they may use llCastRay now).