[sldev] Need to learn about object download to the client...

[Dale Mahalko]

On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 5:17 PM, Jay Reynolds Freeman
<jay_reynolds_freeman at mac.com> wrote:
> So I have been looking at the SL Viewer Architecture Wiki, and
> babbling a bit as I page through 600 000 lines of source code,
> trying to learn about the whens, hows, and wherefores of information
> about objects in SL, that are near the agent, being downloaded
> to the client.
>
> Stuff in the wiki is rather thin, but there are several possibly
> promising pages that seem to be limited to group access; they
> include the pages for Culling, Groups, and the Rendering System.
> Alas, the wiki also seems not entirely clear on what group
> can access them, or how to go about joining it.

Probably the best place to look for object tracking and summarizing,
is in code related to the mini-map. The mini-map seems to be a live
display of all objects the client has downloaded and is rendering in
your vicinity, as well as showing the sims that are currently
communicating with your client. The mini-map seems to act as a sort of
summary of primitives and other data being actively monitored by the
client, so tapping into its code could give you most of the object
data you seek..

(I wonder if the mini-map may have started life as debugging tool just
to monitor this background information, but later moved into general
use as a common user's tool.)

- Scalar Tardis / Dale Mahalko