Region performance issues can seem quite mysterious! They can be difficult to diagnose, but we have some basics here for any time you encounter degraded performance in your region and would like to figure out why!
Before beginning any region performance evaluations, we recommend a region restart. This refreshes everything, which will often improve performance on it's own. Additionally, it will provide a clean slate and will give you the most accurate idea of any issues that exist regularly on the region. Once the region has been restarted, please allow around 30 minutes for the region to come online fully before beginning your evaluation.
Statistics Bar
The Statistics Bar is available to anyone within the viewer, and can give an overview of what is happening on a region. You can open the Statistics bar by typing in Ctrl+Shift+1, or Advanced > Performance Tools > Statistics Bar. (If the Advanced option is not available in your menu, you can make it available through Me > Preferences > Advanced > Show Advanced Menu).
Simulator | Time Dilation | If it is reading significantly off from 1.000 then note this. Paired with Sim FPS, this will generally show how badly a region is struggling. |  |
| Sim FPS | If it is reading significantly off from 45.0 then note this. Paired with Time Dilation, this will generally show how badly a region is struggling. | ||
| Physics FPS | If it is reading significantly off from 45.0 then note this. If so, and you are the Estate Manager or Estate Owner of a private region, please see Top Colliders below. Unfortunately this tool is not available in Mainland Regions. | ||
| Main Agents | This is the number of avatars located within the boundaries of the region. If there are a lot of agents in the region at the time of your investigation, you will want to keep this in mind during your evaluation. | ||
| Objects | This represents the number of actual objects within the region. If this number is within 15% of the region limit then this can cause trouble. However ,be mindful of the type of objects. If the objects are 20k wooden cubes, that is not causing your lag issue. | ||
| Active Scripts | This is the number of scripts actively running on the region. If this number is high, and you see Scripts Run is low, this can indicate that the region is struggling to run too many scripts at the same time. As with objects, keep in mind the type of scripts on the region. While this is not a hard-and-fast guideline, we notice region performance starts to degrade at around 4000-6000 scripts (around 1000 or so for homesteads) - sometimes less or more depending on the types of scripts and script resources being used. If this is a private region, please see Top Scripts. Unfortunately Top Scripts isn't a tool available on Mainland; however, if this is a Mainland region, please see Script Info. | ||
| Scripts Run | This is the percentage of active scripts running on the region at any given time. For example, if it is 50%, then only half of the scripts on the region are running without delay. You will notice that once the Scripts Run percentage begins to dip low, you will be seeing a decent amount of lag. This, coupled with a high number of Active Scripts, and a high Script Time, helps to indicate over scripting of some kind on the region. This could happen for various reasons and you will want to see Top Scripts (if the region is a private island) or Script Info (if the region is Mainland). | ||
Time | Total Frame Time | This is the entire amount of time resources allotted to each region. Generally, this hovers around 22 ms, which is the amount of time dedicated for all resources in the region to run. Said resources are included below. |  |
| Physics Time | The total amount of time taken to calculate all physics issues (such as avatars dancing on a physical dance floor). This should remain low (in the lower single digits). If this is high, see Top Colliders (Private regions only). A high Physics TIme can indicate physics issues in the region. You may check physical objects using Beacons > Show Physical. Intermittent spiking may not necessarily indicate a problem. | ||
| Agent Time | This is the amount of time used up for all of the avatars in a region. This number can get quite high if there are a significant number of visitors (i.e. Main Agents). If there are not, and this number is high, there may be a visitor (unknowingly) with a very high complexity. You can usually find this via Top Scripts (Private islands only). | ||
| Script Time | The amount of time spent on script issues. This number will vary from region to region but is an indicator of the script load on the region. If you see this spiking too often or remaining above 5ms then this is an indication to check Top Scripts or Script Info. A very high number can indicate general over scripting in the region, or a very heavy script in an item that has been rezzed. | ||
| Spare Time | This is the amount of time left over in your region's Total Frame Time that is not currently being used by any resources (such as scripts, physics, agents, etc). The higher this value is, the better your region will be running. Please note that there may be exceptions for Homestead regions. It should always remain above 1.000 and the higher it is the less load there is on the region. If this number is below 1.000 then the region is under significant load. If it reaches 0.000 then the region will be experiencing server lag. |
Mainland Region Performance Tools
Mainland has fewer tools available to them in terms of evaluating a region's performance. On Mainland, you can find information about the scripts on your parcel via Script Info. This is located in World > About Land (or right click the land and select About Land). The Script Info button will be at the bottom right of the About Land window's General tab.
Script Info
This window will show all of the scripted objects on your parcel.
- Size (kb): This is the memory for the individual item. While not fool proof, there is some connection between items that have high memory and high script time. Otherwise, items with high memory may cause issues on a region. If the memory of an item is considered "high" - this is subjective depending on the item and will require your best judgement. Items with a memory over 5000 will certainly want to be looked at.
- Object Name: This is the name of the individual object.
- Object Owner: This is the owner of the object.
- Location: This is the coordinate location of the object.
- URLs: How many URLs are being used by the object.
Should you wish to return or locate an object that you see in this list, both options are available to you in the bottom right corner of the window. Highlighting the object will create a red and blue beacon emanating from the object's location. The red portion will be above the object itself, and the blue portion will be below the object. The object should exist where they meet. To remove the beacon, click the red arrow that points at the beacon itself.
If these tools are not able to help you to diagnose your region performance problem, please do not hesitate to Contact Support! Please note: Most region performance evaluations take time. As such, you are welcome in chat to discuss the issue but you may expect to submit a support ticket on the issue.
Private Region Performance Tools
Private regions have more tools available for region performance evaluations. Please note: These tools are available to the Estate Owner and Estate Managers only.
Top Scripts
Top Scripts is found in World > Region/Estate > Debug Tab > Get Top Scripts button. This is just a snapshot of the highest scripts in the region, not a list of all scripts. It will not match the Active Scripts count that you see in the Statistics window.
Once you bring up Top Scripts click the Time button to sort from highest to lowest. At the top of the page you will see a title that says the number of scripts taking a total of a number of ms. This is important because you can compare this to the Active Scripts and Script Time values in the Statistics Bar to see the scope of your snapshot. You can click Show Beacon to create a beacon to any object you select, and if you open your Map (Ctrl+M) you can click Teleport to be taken right to it.
The amount of time taken by a scripted object will vary between items, and what is an acceptable time will need to be judged from object to object as well. Generally speaking, any item nearing or exceeding 1.0 ms in script time will want to be reviewed.
You will also want to sort via the Mem column (representing Memory). This will show the amount of memory an item is using. The memory column indicates how complex the script is, much the same way a longer song or video might be a larger file. The larger the memory required to run the script, the longer it takes to complete. Complex scripts can impact performance if too many of them try to run at once.
- Time: The individual script time used by the object.
- Name: The name of the object the script in it.
- Owner: The owner of the object.
- Location: The coordinates to the object.
- Parcel: The name of the parcel the object is in.
- Date: When the object was rezzed in the parcel. The older the object the less likely the object is to be a recent cause of lag but keep in mind if the score is significant.
- URLs: How many URLs are being used by the object.
- Memory (KB): The amount of memory in KB use to run scripts compiled, as described above.
Note: You will often see avatars at the top of your Top Scripts window. They don’t actually count toward Script time — they count toward Agent time. The server budgets separate amounts of memory to run them, and will generally prioritizing agents over objects in a region. However, they all use the same pool of resources. This is why a region with a lot of avatars in it can have objects that are slow to respond.
Top Colliders
Top Colliders is found also in World > Region/Estate > Debug Tab > Get Top Colliders button. The title bar indicator says the number of objects experiencing many potential collisions. These will be items that are physically interacting with one another, such as an avatar and a dance floor. You will want to review these items if you find you have a high Physics FPS or Physics Time.
Once you bring up Top Colliders click the Score button to sort from highest to lowest. You can click Show Beacon to create a beacon to any object you select and if you open your Map (Ctrl+M) you can click Teleport to be taken right to it.
The score of an object will depend on how many potential collisions are happening with the object. Any item with a score that is significantly higher than the others may be having issues, such as a fish that swims getting stuck bouncing between two rocks. These will want to be investigated.
- Score: The amount of physics time used by the object.
- Name: The name of the object.
- Owner: The coordinates to the object.
- Parcel: The name of the parcel the object is in.
- Date: When the object was rezzed in the parcel. The older the object the less likely the object is to be a recent cause of lag but keep in mind if the score is significant.
If these tools are not able to help you to diagnose your region performance problem, please do not hesitate to Contact Support! Please note: Most region performance evaluations take time. As such, you are welcome in chat to discuss the issue but you may expect to submit a support ticket on the issue.
Common Errors & Their Solutions
| Error Message | Explanation | Solution |
Unable to create item that has caused problems on this region |
If this value reaches about 920 MB for a full region or 230 MB for a homestead or openspace region, the physics engine will no longer be able to calculate boundaries properly, and no objects will be rezzed. Often times this is due to terraforming items, such as land levellers, or scene rezzers which can take up a very large amount of physics memory very quickly. | Restart this region. If a restart does not resolve this issue, please Contact Support with the time, date, location, and name of object(s) resulting in this error message. |
| Failure to grant capabilities (upon attempting to teleport) | This is a technical issue that will require assistance by an agent. | Submit a support ticket under the type Land & Region > Offline Region. Please note that, as this requires the assistance of an agent, if you receive this error outside of Support Hours (6 AM SLT to 2 PM SLT), we will assist you as quickly as possible when Support Hours reopen. |
Contacting Support
If these tools listed above are not sufficient in helping you to diagnose your region performance problem, please do not hesitate to Contact Support!
- Submit a Support Ticket: Click Submit A Ticket on the top right of your screen. We will be with you as quickly as possible! This options is available 24/7 for any account type.
- Come visit us in Live Chat: This options is available for Premium and Premium Plus members only. If it is available to you, you can open a chat via the grey chat bar at the bottom right of your screen. Chat is limited to Support Hours between 6 AM SLT and 2 PM SLT, seven days a week. If you find chat is unavailable when it normally would be, please check our Status Blog for any ongoing maintenance or unavailability in Live Chat.
Please note: Most region performance evaluations take time. As such, you are welcome in chat to discuss the issue but you may expect to submit a support ticket on the issue.