There is a good reason that we should look at cutting down our script count and memory usage. Paying clients, regulars, and visitors will ALL get more out of the sim if it is running smoothly. Land renters and room renters will get a much better experience for their buck if they have a responsive sim!

So if we want to grow the sim, serve our shops' clients, and continue to have fun, we ALL need to minimize our script usage!

With that in mind, let me introduce you to an awesome, free little toy:

The Script Scale!

We should have one in place next to the unpacking area of the Black Gazza main store by the time you read this.

The first thing you should do is get a 'scale' reading of your main form. Then I suggest you take another reading in your heaviest BDSM form (collars, sexual organs, cuffs, etc) if you have one of those. Note down your script numbers and memory usage on both those forms.

Now, remove one thing at a time, and see how much of a change you get when you take your next reading. The worst offenders are generally HUD's (and some AO's), ears/tails/wings, sexual organs, and devices that 'listen'. In fact the things that can hit the sim hardest are scripts that listen on channel 0.

You'll note a drop in your memory usage after every scripted object is removed. Now if you see some sort of crazy drop for just one object or script, that should raise alarm bells. Out of dozens of attachments on one recent 'tune up', the player removed one HUD and the script out of one pair of wings, and halved the number of scripts and memory usage!

Once you've identified problem objects, look at the alternatives. Do you like/need it? Are there more 'lightweight' or modern/better scripted alternatives? Can you remove the script from the object and have it function perfectly fine as a physical object? In the case above, the memory hogging script furled and unfurled a set of wings. The client walked around with wings unfurled 99 percent of the time. Problem solved, they unfurled the wings and removed the script!

As far as HUDs go, many popular products have a text based interface for their products. The popular PsiCorps line of sexual organs has excellent text commands, faster and more extensive than the HUD, and using zero additional script and memory. Other products that use text commands also have the benefit of functionality without spending sim resources. Learn and use your text commands!

So now that you've reduced your script impact, what about the 'listening' impact? Well we'll work on that from our side, by reducing the channel 0 scanning from BG collars and devices. In fact, we can already issue collar commands on the channel of a prisoner's inmate number ( /65432 ggmenu ). But you can also set your listening devices (your non BG collars and cuffs, etc) to listen on other channels. Please do so if you can.

With your help, we can make Black Gazza a faster, friendlier, funner... wait that's not a real word, damn. MORE FUN place to be!