Giving Plasma some Horsepower

[Nek'rahm]

As we all know, Plasma was an engine created for detail and immersion. However, it's memory is kinda... limited. Large Ages like D'ni's Ae'gura and Gahreesen took FOREVER to load and stabilize.

I'm asking only one thing: IS THERE A WAY to break through Plasma and recode things for it to process faster? If not, is there anything that could be done possibly in the future to reduce lag and loadtime?

[Lontahv]

Why?

It's only needed if cyan lets us start our shards.

And I think it would be pretty hard since it's not just a mem-cutoff--it would be rewriting the whole plasma-kernel(I think).

~Lontahv

[Nek'rahm]

So tell me then (and yes I understood we'd only do this with Cyan's permission).

Would it be easier to do:

A) Recode Plasma

B) Rebuild Uru in a new engine

C) Do something different (if so, explain please)

[Paradox]

Recoding Plasma is not an option, it's a closed source engine owned entirely by Cyan. Recoding anything is a great way to get Cyan lawyers to come after you. (Actually, even adding custom content is still very borderline from the legal perspective).

Using a different engine is possible, but all of the existing content would have to be converted to a different format, likely with some issues of its own. Any existing .blend files would need to be massively upgraded to deal with the new engine.

Overall, Plasma does perform very well, and it's memory management is fairly good.

[Nek'rahm]

Alright then, but does anything in a person's computer control how fast Plasma will decode .blend files and build up Ages?

I mean, does a computer with a faster processor load Ae'gura faster?

[Paradox]

More RAM will make Ages load faster after the initial link, I imagine that a faster processor and connection would be able to parse the data faster as well. A good video card will speed up loading, especially if it has its own on-board memory.

[Nek'rahm]

Alright, so what's the ideal computer specs then to run Uru Live?

[Lontahv]

As good a computer as you can afford to get.

The more memory/video-card-power/cpu speed/bus speed/etc. the better. Uru will run on the highest-end gaming machine(very well), or a lower-end comp(not so great). I don't think there's a limit when it comes to Uru running well--the higher you go the better it gets--until you reach the point where YOU can't tell the difference.

~Lontahv

[Chacal]

Also a fast SATA disk, good partitioning practices (such as having different physical disks for the OS and swap file and for apps and data.

[Grogyan]

So tell me then (and yes I understood we'd only do this with Cyan's permission).

Would it be easier to do:

A) Recode Plasma

B) Rebuild Uru in a new engine

C) Do something different (if so, explain please)

B and C, players from MOUL are already migrating to Second Life, and while I have only really been browsing, its engine is certainly stronger than MOUL and more flexible, the possibility of creating Ages in that is doable and it does mean that we don't have to recode anything.
Also Ogre is also a valid engine to make a new game out of, but I doubt anyone here would dare try and make a MMO for free, but then again Almlys is working on 7d7, perhaps you can ask him