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Mar 29, 2004, 7:19pm

Okay, look at this *recent* article:

"My Avatar, My Self"
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/print_version/kushner0404.asp

I see There, Second Life, The Sims, and even EverQuest mentioned in it.
But *gasp*...no AW!

It seems like AW doesn't exist to publishers, magazine editors, and
online authors. Please, someone prove me wrong. AW is missing the "gravy
train" of the press when they these sorts of "VR round ups."

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

Apr 2, 2004, 6:38pm

How is college going, Brant?

I agree that AWRPG is very popular, but that the amount of users online
at the same time is down a bit from what it was a few years ago and
could be higher.

To get new paying customers (citizens) into AW, you need to think about
a tourist's user experience. If AW allowed a tourist to at least
customize their avatar to a certain degree on the fly (such as changing
shirt color, hair type, etc. like in There) and added voice chat
(hopefully this will happen in 4.x), I think it would help to ease new
users into the program and could stand a better chance against There and
Second Life.

Voice chat or customizable avatars might be that "killer app" or "killer
feature" AW needs to get itself more noticed by the press and other
"outsiders" who never heard of or used it before.

I also think AW needs to start thinking about a first person shooter
type of system (like the ability to have an inventory or hold and fire a
weapon without using a bot) and drivable vehicles.

But you brought up a good point about community. I don't hang around AW
that much nowadays, but I know there are tons of cities, towns, and
personal builds there.

You can add all of the features you want into a program like AW, but
without a community, it will most likely fail. Either there has to be
more citizens that start their own large public worlds (such as A!!CT or
other gaming worlds) or AWI staff needs to work at this themselves.
Maybe AWI could finally open that beta world (the one where you could
build your own houses and it had a currency system, I forget its name at
the moment) or work on other projects.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Well, while I'd like to think that this will change sometime soon, I highly
> doubt it. As to the user count, I don't think there's been that many fewer
> visitors - in fact, I'd say that there are many MORE visitors than there
> were immediately after the pricing fiasco in January 2002.
>
> AW's problem right now is that it doesn't have a "killer app." In 1999,
> that killer app was AWBingo, which always ran out of cards, and had hundreds
> of people playing in several worlds simultaneously. Then, WildAW was the
> big thing, and the world quickly filled up with property (and obscene
> material). Later, AWTeen had 60-70 simultaneous users.
>
> But recently, AW has fragmented into a loosely connected collection of
> individual worlds as the company places more emphasis on worldbuilding with
> browser and server features, and neglects AlphaWorld and other AW-owned
> worlds.
>
> You know what's interesting though, as I'm writing this I was telegramming
> Poseidon about AWRPG, which has 51 users in it right now. It will be
> interesting to see if that's just a passing fad, or if perhaps something HAS
> been found to rejuvenate that energy....
>
> Comments?

Apr 2, 2004, 6:44pm

What types of risks have you found in this type of advertising?

If you e-mail the editor or another person at a magazine and say that
you are just a fan or a happy user of the company's product, I don't see
the problem. You are basically just requesting or asking for a review.

There is always the chance that someone could misidentify or mistake you
for someone else, including an employee (especially if you used a
at myactiveworlds.com e-mail address for example). However, a simple
sentence up front such as "I am not an employee of AWI, but..." should
work fine in my opinion.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Well, just make sure that you don't end up geting sued because you
> misrepresented yourself as an AW employee. I've found that there's a lot of
> risks in advertising like this.
>
> -Brant

Apr 3, 2004, 4:17am

I suggest that those who are interested, go to
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/ and write to CNN and suggest they do a
story on AW.

While one person may not be able to do much, if several of us contact
them, it will make a much larger difference.

MSNBC, Fox News, local TV stations, smaller online tech new and review
sites, PC Gamer, and other computer print magazines are other places to
contact.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Speaking of PR, it looks like yet another article was released just like you
> were describing.
>
> Take a look at
> http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/fun.games/04/02/two.virtual.worlds.ap/index.html
>
> -Brant

Apr 12, 2004, 7:24pm

Lioness, what exactly is it that are you concerned about? What would
make this idea different than recommending AW to a good personal friend?

Are you worried your comments might be shown on TV or in a print
publication? That would depend on the company's terms and conditions or
privacy policy.

Are you worried that a reporter or editor would call your house at
dinnertime asking tons of questions about AW?

Are you worried that AWI would sue you or something for mentioning their
product?

Just trying to see what your little Lion brain is thinking... :)

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Errrrrrrmmmmmm...... what are the legalities of doing that though? Word of
> mouth is one thing. However, doesn't AWI have to be the ones to initiate
> something like this?

Mar 30, 2004, 11:43pm

And maybe its also because some of the people that used to frequent
AWTeen may finally be growing up and outgrowing it, or getting grounded,
or something else related. ;)

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Because AWTeen was mainly for teens,adults were welcome -- seeing how kids
> arent really suppose to be up at 3am, because of school.. duh. Also prices
> went up, meant more kids couldnt pay, less users.
>
> --
>
> Signed,
> TheMask
>
> :: Owner of Delusional-Minds Hosting ::
> Free world hosting.. Just a T-Gram will do it.
>
> http://www.delusional-minds.com

Apr 2, 2004, 6:21pm

Back when I was researching hex editing, I thought the #1 thing you
didn't want to do was make the software display an error window, since
it would be relatively easy to find that section in the code (unless it
was put in another area of the code altogether).

I've seen articles about game programmers who allowed cracked code or
unofficial patches to be put on a game, but the software didn't display
an error message. Instead, it would slowly "degrade" in some way, such
as the firing rate would keep slowing down and would eventually stop, or
parts of the screen would appear blurry so you couldn't see. Basically,
the software could find out if you were using a crack, and then made
your game buggy on purpose. :)

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Heh, it would be very good idea, even to show an error that the AW Browser
> was edited, and isnt at the same correct size, and will not run :)
>
> --
>
> Signed,
> TheMask
>
> :: Owner of Delusional-Minds Hosting ::
> Free world hosting.. Just a T-Gram will do it.
>
> http://www.delusional-minds.com

May 2, 2004, 7:07pm

Either that or having the option of not logging whispers in the first
place would be nice.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

May 9, 2004, 1:09pm

I think I made a post about this (and other There-only features) a while
back. AW appears to be adding streaming support (like the ShoutCast
streaming There has) and voice chat, so that's at least two things that
will hopefully be added to AW that There already has.

As for vehicles, I've heard rumors that they'll be added, but I still
remain skeptical. What I would really like to see is the ability to hold
objects (such as a coffee mug or a weapon) or have an inventory system
in place. FPS and adventure games would really take off in AW if his
happened. Think of There's paintball guns.

On the other hand, if AW adds too many of There's features, it may be
called a "copy cat" (or maybe There should be called the copy cat, it
depends on your opinion). But at the rate the press seems to ignore AW
in 3D/VR reviews, I don't think that's a problem.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > I've been in there (.com) alot lately, and they have Buggies, AW should have
> buggies, and alot of the cool stuff there has, like group convo's, and
> stuff...! I dunno how they would have to completely redo over the source
> code... AW is more, Simple...

May 10, 2004, 6:15pm

In addition to your idea, why not be able to leave or set a prerecorded
voice message when you are AFK or offline? Or better yet, the ability to
store short voicemails that get played when you click on them, similar
to telegrams, but with voice. I would assume they would all be stored on
the AWI server, but I could see hard drive space might be an issue.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

May 10, 2004, 9:09pm

Well, maybe set aside an extra few MB of storage space per citizen for
voicemails and make it so they can't be longer than 30 seconds or
something. Also, use some sort of compression to lower their size. With
the price increases AWI has made in the past, I'm sure they could at
least afford a basic hard drive array/RAID array on eBay. ;)

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Short voicemails? I Smell bandwith/HD Space costs ;)

May 19, 2004, 2:35pm

You mean when you try to load a propdump using the remote admin tool? I
have gotten disconnected several times when I have tried to upload a
propdump taken from a local world server to a remote world server, but
it only happened when the world's object count was 8000 or higher.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > I hope that have in the future, AW will fix world server, when we talk about
> load propdump.
> Today (inkl. build 66) you will get yout load of dump stopped if some ID in
> the dump does not have build rights or special objects. If you have over
> 1000 citizen that have been build in your world over many years, it will get
> hard to figure out who make this load to stop, so only option is to add * on
> all objects rights, so it can load perfect.
> What i mean, is this is a backup, and it should load no matter who have
> rights at the moment.

Jun 2, 2004, 6:33pm

You could always try and win a bot limit upgrade by playing Bingo, too.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

Jun 11, 2004, 8:13pm

Has your friend followed the guidelines listed below?
http://www.activeworlds.com/help/aw35/video_problems.html

I haven't fiddled with the video settings for a while, but I thought
that you only had to reload your cache/worlds when you switched video
modes completely (for example, software to Direct3D, Direct3D to OpenGL,
etc).

As for knowing in advance what the options do, it might be listed
somewhere in the help file. At least now she knows for future reference. :)

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > "Immigration Officer: Remember switching T&L on dramatically improves
> framerate..."
>
> NOT! I know of at least *one person* who is on a WinME machine who wishes
> she would have been better informed that:
>
> 1) Switching ON T&L would make her RELOAD all worlds she normally visits
> (she's on dialup and it was a very painful experience) and
> 2) Wishes she would have been forwarned in advance of T&L forcing world
> reloading and
> 3) Wishes there was some sort of warning that T&L is not good for ALL
> computers, nor ALL graphics cards, nor ALL connections such as dialup!
>
> It even messed up other areas of her computer and has literally taken her
> days to fix, if she ever can get them all fixed without formatting and
> re-installing. T&L is not for everyone!
>
> AWI ... can you add that into the IO message pleazzz?
>
> Lady NightHawk
> (rocks on T&L ... but unfortunately not everyone does)

Jun 15, 2004, 7:42pm

"So fresh and so clean, clean" -Outkast :)

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > And make sure to make it a FRESH CLEAN install and NOT just an upgrade on
> top of WinME.

Jun 30, 2004, 2:57pm

It would be great if you could specify where all of the objects, models,
textures, etc. (the "cache" of the AW browser on your local computer)
would download to. Note this is different than the "local path" feature.

You could, in essence, specify the cache be downloaded to a network
drive and use AW on multiple computers without having to re-download
everything. Or you could use an external hard drive or portable USB
drive just for AW downloads.

Or, if you installed AW on one hard drive partition and don't have much
space left on it, you could change it so the cache would use another
partition with more free space.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Jun 30, 2004, 9:27pm

Even drives that don't use Windows file sharing/NetBEUI such as the
NetDisk by Ximeta (http://www.ximeta.com)? What about drives on a
Gigabit NIC? :)

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > The only problem with a network drive is that AW does *not* tolerate any
> kind of interruption to the drive; it's very easy to cause the browser
> to crash by running it from a network drive.

Jul 7, 2004, 4:49pm

Care to share the URL or link to the streaming station so others can
watch/test it?

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Jul 7, 2004, 4:47pm

See my comments below:

[View Quote] > 1. asx support in media streaming

I agree. This would be nice.

> 2. World caretaker lookup,to find out the list of caretakers in the world
> you are in

Again, why not? Would be handy.

> 3. citnumber - citname lookup

This can be done with many bots. Adding it to the browser itself
wouldn't be too hard.

> 4. citname - citnumber lookup

Ditto.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Jul 13, 2004, 4:55pm

I'm sure this has been requested in the past, but with the addition of
the media command in 3.6 and the popularity of the AW TV stations, I
feel it needs to be requested again.

Wouldn't it be nice to watch movies with the media command when AW is in
full screen mode? Go world hopping or exploring and be able to see
things just a bit more closely? Modelers would be able to examine
objects, avatars, and textures with more clarity and just think of how
it might improve gaming/RPG worlds.

There is a program called FRAPS (http://www.fraps.com) that allows you
to capture video of games and other 3D applications, but it doesn't work
with AW's "windowed" graphics.

If the AW browser would support full screen mode, users could use FRAPS
(or other similar programs) and would be able to create their own
virtual reality movies/films. It has been done before and is getting
more and more popular. Take a look at http://www.machinima.com for more
information about this.

Some users of There (one of AW's competitors) have taken this idea and
have made at least four movies already...just by using There's built-in
voice chat and the program itself. You can download them by going to
http://users.snowcrest.net/fox/there/miraclepictures/ in your Web browser.

I also think Second Life (another competitor to AW) is getting in on the
act. If AWI would just add full screen mode, they'd probably get quite a
few paying citizenships for those that want to make their own machinima
movies.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Jul 13, 2004, 7:54pm

I know about your improve page, Eep. :) I've been there many times and
read through most of your site.

I agree that the AW browser needs more than just full screen mode (much
more), but it seems that with 3.6, AWI is trying to focus on one or two
main things/new features now for each release (i.e., media and fixing
Linux world server issues under 3.6).

I'm not sure about their plans for 4.0, but I would personally like to
see full screen support and voice chat added sometime soon. There has
voice chat and there are royalty-free codecs out there AWI could use.
Full screen mode could probably be done quickly, IMO.

All they would really need to do is close or minimize all tabs/toolbars
and windows. Text would be handled just like any other FPS game, a few
scrolling lines being overlayed atop the graphics near the top or bottom
of the screen.

For join/invite and other similar things you could just have a simple
text prompt (instead of a new window appearing) and pressing Y or N
would accept or decline the request.

I agree that fixing bugs should come first and adding more features
should come second, but whenever a new version comes out that doesn't
add many new features a lot of people seem to bitch or say "there is
nothing new" and just revert back to the old version. :P

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote]

Jul 14, 2004, 6:28am

See my comments below...

[View Quote] [View Quote] Nothing a few if then statements couldn't handle, in my opinion. If you
can type commands into an FPS console while still being in full screen
mode (think Quake, several years old now), it shouldn't be rocket
science for AWI to pull off.

I'm not talking about having a big text window popup, just one line of
text near the top or bottom of the screen that might say "Builderz wants
to join you. Accept? (Y) / (N)"

>
>
> But fixing old bugs restores previous features that have been disabled/altered. Some (out of MANY) examples:
>
> - no bobbing/bouncing objects (most noticeable on infinitely repeating ground object)
> - restored av hover Newtonian physics (changing av rotation doesn't change av momentum in that direction)
> - reduce av collision momentum (currently causes bump noises to repeat WAY too much)
> - "examine" command doesn't start rotation screwed up (this WAS fixed a few versions ago but is somehow back since 3.4)
>
> I would rather have these OLD bugs (some dating back to pre-AW3) fixed before adding completely new features ("media" command, VOIP, et al), wouldn't you?

AWI could spend all day fixing bugs, but some would argue that it may be
better for them to re-write a good deal of the browser from scratch instead.

What I'm more concerned about how AWI is going to survive the
competition such as There and Second Life. Sure, they make some cash
with unis and galaxy servers, but they won't forever. The media command
is a big step forward.

Now if they could add full screen mode, voice chat, the ability to hold
inventory items/weapons, customizable avatars, and drivable
vehicles...they'd be about "on par" with the competition in the current
marketplace. Adding an affiliate program so citizens can make money or
get some sort of credit for referring others to AW would be a good idea
as well.

To be honest, I'm all for a less bug ridden and more stable browser. I'm
thrilled that (as far as I can tell) the major crashing issue with the
Linux world server has been fixed. But I don't think too much time
should be spent fixing non-critical bugs at this juncture.

Look at it this way, Eep. The average person doesn't upgrade from
Windows 98 to Windows XP just because it fixes some bugs. They do it
because they like the fancy new interface or they like/want a new
feature. Microsoft is known for adding features first and fixing bugs
second. I'm not saying that's how things should be done, but look at how
much money they have in the bank.

Another example: look at all of the games that ship and two weeks to a
month later there is already a patch out for them. In an ideal world, a
product or game would be 100% bug free with tons of great features, game
play, eye candy, etc. But in the real world, time is money and the dev
team needs to focus on certain things that need to get done. I could go
on, but I think you get my point.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Jul 16, 2004, 2:58am

Not that I'm aware of. If you have a chatlog, I'd love to see it.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > Isn't full screen mode being implemented for the next update or two? ENZO
> said so while chatting in AW Gate to some of us.

Jul 18, 2004, 4:07am

In the past, someone at AWI made an ActiveX control that allowed you to
run AW within Internet Explorer (Internet Explorer runs on both Windows
and Mac, but I don't think Mac supports ActiveX controls). It may be
possible to do a similar thing using Java (which will work on a wide
variety of operating systems), but I doubt AWI would ever do it.

AW uses RenderWare as their graphics engine (games such as Grand Theft
Auto also use it). If RenderWare can't be ported to other operating
systems, then porting AW would be next to impossible.

The AW browser, like others have said, uses MFC. It also uses the
Windows Media SDK for the media command as well as Internet Explorer.

The best bet for now would be to try to use emulation software to see if
AW will work on a particular operating system. Then if it does, you (or
your friends) will most likely need to spend time tweaking settings and
checking to see if any features or options don't work properly.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > Just curious, I have quite a few friends that would like to check aw out but
> they are Mac users. The very old page about using a windows emulator is ...
> well, it's old! Is there any chance of aw ever releasing a Mac version of
> aw??? If not, why? Inquiring minds wanna (*sorry Eep*) know! LOL

Aug 1, 2004, 6:00am

I really think it is about time AWI started an affiliate/associates
program. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, read
this: http://money.howstuffworks.com/affiliate-program1.htm

The AW newsletter tries to make money using affiliate programs (go to
http://www.activeworlds.com/newsletter/0704/ and look at the ads on the
lower left). Second Life has their own affiliate program
(https://secondlife.com/affiliate/).

Why doesn't AWI have their own affiliate program? Really, why don't
they? They are missing out on a boatload of money. There are lots of
people on the Internet called "Internet marketers" who could easily sign
up hundreds or even thousands of new citizens within a very short time
period. No joke.

What do current citizens get out of it? Well, they would be able to get
their own special link or code and anytime they'd refer someone to AWI's
Web site, they could make money -- either a one-time payment or a
recurring (monthly) payment. So if you got someone to sign up under your
affiliate link, you may earn $2.00 USD per month for every citizen you
sign up (until that citizen cancels or doesn't renew).

For example, let's say I tell my friend about AW. I give him a link such
as http://www.activeworlds.com/affil.cgi?212482 or
http://affil.activeworlds.com/?builderz and my friend clicks on the
link. It redirects them to the main AWI site, but uses a cookie or some
other identifier so AWI knows I sent them there.

If my friend decides to buy a citizenship, world, 3D Homepage, universe,
etc. (or download the AW browser and register as a cit) -- I'd get a cut
or percentage of the price. Not only does AWI make money, but I make
money for helping close the sale. AWI makes money, AWI didn't have to
pay any advertising costs to acquire a new customer, AWI's userbase is
increased (if buying a cit), and I make some money for helping AWI. It
is a win-win situation.

There are many ways for money to be sent to affiliates. PayPal,
electronic fund transfer (direct deposit), or mailing checks in the mail
are some examples. Not only would citizens be able to make money from
this, but there would be more users in AW.

This isn't some type of MLM scheme, as affiliate marketing has been used
for years with great results. Another benefit is that it would allow
citizens to get some money back. If they pay $6.95 USD per month for
their cit, but referred four new people to buy citizenships (let's say
they make $2.00 USD per month per cit), they now make $8.00 USD per
month, which is more than enough to pay for their cit each month. So by
getting four people to sign up under them, their own citizenship is, in
essence, now free.

People could put banners, graphics, or text links on their Web site,
post to forums, write reviews, etc. to get the word out -- all they need
is their special affiliate link. To be honest, I was thinking of
starting my own affiliate program up with 3D Host, so if someone
referred an interested prospect to the 3D Host site and they bought some
hosting, that person would get a cut and I'd get a customer without
having to advertise.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Aug 12, 2004, 10:36pm

It would be nice if you could set an away message of sorts when it comes
to telegrams. For example, let's say I go on vacation for two weeks, but
get two dozen telegrams within that time period while I'm gone.

Currently, no one would know that I'm on vacation, just that I'm not
online at the time. People would probably keep sending more grams such
as "Where are you?" or "It has been a week! How come you didn't answer
the grams I sent you yet?"

It would be nice to have an auto-reply message sent back to users during
a time period such as this to inform the sender of the fact that I'm
away or unavailable. This would be different then the current AFK mode
as the message would still be sent even if the citizen is offline.

This would be great for vacations, having to rest due to a health
problem, or just to get a break from AW in general. I'm not talking
about mass-telegram spamming here.

I see it working like this. Marci sends Builderz a telegram. Builderz
has a setting somewhere in the browser for his extended telegram
message. The AW uniserver sends that pre-typed message to Marci and
anyone else that grams him until either a) Builderz logs back into the
browser and disables his message b) after a pre-set time period
determined by Builderz.

Comments, thoughts, suggestions, flames?

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

Aug 19, 2004, 6:32pm

And if AWI added full screen mode, screen shots would look so much
better. ;)

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > A built in screen capture button on the aw browser would be nice. Many times
> I want to take a shot but have to go and figure out how to do it again or
> bring up a program I have to do it. With a button it would be quick and
> simple and hopefully land the image into the cache someplace that we all use
> so much.

Aug 20, 2004, 3:02am

I know I personally wouldn't use the feature if it was added, but most
FPS games *do* allow you to take a screen shot by pressing one button on
the keyboard. I used to save my high scores after some matches and the
game would automatically number the screen shots for me.

True, while not every keyboard has a "Print Screen" key, AW is only
officially supported under Windows, which makes use of it. There are
other screen capture programs available for free besides SnagIt.
Ultimately, while a built-in screen shot button might be nice, I think
AWI could better use the time to implement something else.

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote]

Aug 20, 2004, 3:07am

I agree with Strike. *imagines a large thread in the community group
where many people start complaining that the new invisible mode has
created dozens of "AW cyber stalkers"*

Builderz
http://www.3DHost.net

[View Quote] > People are worried enough that places use CT to monitor them through
> invisible bots, nevermind having normal users be able to be in their area
> and not be detected...
>
> Dont forget the other social implications of the AW 3D environment, it would
> be like handing a stealth cloak to someone to go sneak into their bedroom.
>
> - MR

Oct 1, 2004, 9:53pm

Mask has been hosting for a while, Eep. I have access to his world
server via the world remote admin tool and his server is connected at
100mbps to a managed switch in a professional data center located in
Missouri. The data center's network has a 99.999% SLA and uses
multi-homed bandwidth.

TheMask's server most likely won't be able to fully utilize a full
duplex 100mbps connection, however. One reason is that it usually takes
a pretty hefty server to push that much data. Mask's server is fast, but
it doesn't have more than one CPU and doesn't have any SCSI drives.

Secondly, even if he is connected at 100mbps, that is just to the
managed switch in the data center. In other words, he doesn't have a
full 100mbps pipe all to himself. He has to share bandwidth with other
servers in the data center. Also, there is overhead in certain protocols
like TCP/IP that cuts into the true amount of bandwidth he can really use.

Most likely when a host says "100mbps" it means that if the other
servers on the same switch are idle, Mask's server may be able to burst
up to 100mbps for a short amount of time if needed. Paying for a real
100mbps dedicated Internet connection costs lots of money, so it is
cheaper to buy a dedicated server in a data center for around $50 to
$500 USD per month.

In reality, Mask's server is probably able to sustain speeds closer to 5
to 20mbps. Either way, that is still much faster than most home
broadband connections and should be more than enough for simple world/OP
hosting. In addition, peering with other ISPs/networks is also better,
thus data is usually routed faster.

In you didn't know, a managed switch is different than say a home
Linksys switch you would buy at the store. Managed switches have their
own IP addresses and can be monitored in real-time. Good ones have dual
fans, power supplies, etc. in case of failure.

Now, with that out of the way...

What the Mask was referring to was transferring property data (that is,
doing a propdump) from his home computer to his server using the world
server's remote admin tool. True, his server has a faster connection
than his home computer, but his home connection is still faster than 8
or 9kbps. Network congestion could have played a role, but I doubt it.

I have done tests myself at different times throughout the day to a
world server in Florida and I experienced the same thing Mask is talking
about. My Internet connection was idle (besides being connected to the
world server via the remote admin tool) and I wasn't running any
software to limit or control my bandwidth. I haven't tried using
different versions of the world server remote admin tool during the
testing, however (I use 3.6 build 16).

The propdump.txt file being sent to the world server (not an object
path) was uploading/being sent very slowly -- around 3 to 4kbps. It
would only upload a few dozen objects per second. Other times, it would
work very fast and I could see it sending at least a few hundred objects
per second.

Now, what is the reason for this? Network congestion could be an issue
like Eep mentioned, but I have noticed this for months at a time since I
used to do daily backups via the remote admin tool. Downloading and
uploading backups to and from the server via FTP was faster than using
the remote admin tool.

So where is the problem? A partial explanation was a post made by
someone a long time ago. I forget exactly who made the post, but they
mentioned that the world server uses C Tree (maybe it is spelled c-tree,
I forget) databases to store most of its data. I believe the poster
stated that C Tree has very bad error checking code, if any at all.

When transferring data via the remote admin tool, it should make sure
that everything is being sent correctly and no data is being lost. Maybe
Chrispeg or 9 9 9 could look into the issue a bit more, but I think it
has to do with the way the world server imports data into its database
that causes the slow transfer speed.

As far as TheMask goes, he just needs to work a bit more on his verbal
and writing skills, Eep. :)

Builderz

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