[Jafin]

It's odd... we didn't really have this lag problem during beta. I wonder why there's such a problem now... while I can't say I've been around to check on server activity much, I'd say an increase in players might do it... very very odd.

[kta]

No and no, the lag persists even when I'm alone on the server. If there was no such lag in beta this could help - what did change from beta to now?

KTA

[TheSupremeForce]

Agreed. I've noticed lag when the server is otherwise empty. Now, I'm pretty sure that I notice worse lag when there are other people online, but I'm not talking about many. One or two other people seems to often be enough.

When I transition on the Overland Map, there have been times when the lag's been bad enough that I've managed to run across half the area before I "jump" back to where I started.

Even the sewers can be just as bad. Quite often, I'll go through an area, and the trigger takes so long to spawn the creature that I won't encounter it until I'm on my way back. Last night, I walked into a room in the southern sewer, walked out, and then stood there for twenty seconds before the spawn actually happened. There was only one other player online at the time.

[Balanor]

How has the lag been lately? Any improvement?

I made a few changes to scripts and the server setup itself which is why I ask...

[TheSupremeForce]

Seems to be considerably better the last day or three. I haven't had more than a brief stutter.

[kta]

I will not be as optimistic as TheSupremeForce - but the situation has improved...

KTA

[Balanor]

OK - I'm assuming for now that the changes made have improved (decreased) lag on the server. I believe the main culprit were the scan settings for the anti-virus software on the server.

I'll continue to look at scripts and optimize them if I can.

[TheSupremeForce]

I wasn't being optimistic. For a few days, I didn't have more than a stutter. It's still not as bad as it was for a while, but it's more than a stutter at times. Seems to generally be when triggering something that spawns (either monsters, which I'm used to, or "random npc's"). Coming close to a horse causes lag, but that's an engine issue.

Something near the Flaming Brazier does the same thing. Might be the creatures inside the walls, but I won't swear to it. My worst lag still seems to happen on the Overland Map.

Again, it's not nearly as bad as it was for a while, when I'd often experience a half-screen of "lag".

[kta]

Something near the Flaming Brazier does the same thing. Might be the creatures inside the walls, but I won't swear to it.

Yeah - it still hangs for me when I come close to the place!

I believe the main culprit were the scan settings for the anti-virus software on the server.

Did you consider using a non windows machine for the server? Or even a VM? This might save some cycles...

KTA

[Balanor]

I'm not very familiar with non-windows OS, and based on the problems I've heard about with NWN and Linux (for example), I'm not excited about trying to figure out a non-windows OS and any troubleshooting that might be required to get NWN to work with it.

In my experience, VMs slows thing down more than speed them up. What I mean is that the physical machine would still only have 3 GB of memory and the same processor, but would then need to run the VM (which could probably only be able to use 2 GB of memory so the actual host machine will function at more than a crawl with the remaining memory), and would still be using the same processor (which would essentially be running two operating systems at that point).
However, since they're easy enough to shut down and just store, and since I do have Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 VMs, I will look into getting NWN on one of those VMs and maybe see if we can do a test run of how they work some day.