Munitorum

[Akara]

There have been a few misconceptions as of late about the new database and Munitorum's take on performance. I decided to make this thread to clear these misconceptions up and allow you all to ask your questions regarding the up and coming changes to weapon authorization.

The Database:

I'd like to briefly mention why the database was created. As many of you know, not all third party equipment acts the same. Some weapons for example may include a HUD, or special effects, while others may just be a stick that launches a cube. These little extras if scripted well are harmless, but often they are not and can end up lagging the sim a great deal when a lot of weapons are active at once. Even simply having the "mono" box, at the bottom of a script when compiling it, checked can destroy a sim's time dilation when firing, or cause a sim to lock up, upon sim entry/logins.

The problem with the old way of approving weapons was there wasn't really a structured procedure to the testing side of things. To list a few things I noticed; texture sizes and the likes weren't extensively looked into, the actual gun mechanics were often not closely looked into - mono compiled scripts/RPM etc. and a few guns were classed as a light weapon when really they were a bit overpowered.

The main idea behind the database is to improve overall performance of our sim and those we fight in to reduce lag. In turn this allows you all to have more fun in combat. It's secondary purpose was to cut down on unauthorized equipment being used in the field. It's newly aquired third purpose that has sort of come with making new rules is helping content creators improve their equipment, making it more effecient and there are already examples of this happening, which is great to see.

The Misconceptions:

Let's start with the simple ones:

I'm not a supreme sculpt overlord bent on converting everyone into using sculpty builds. Some of the sculpty builds I have seen are very inefficient just as I have seen inefficient high prim builds, the testing procedure doesn't have a great deal to do with prim work infact, it's more to do with the texturing and scripts. There is a lot of debate over this subject and really there shouldn't be, it is pretty much up to the creator's effort or decisions.

I will give you an example - let it be known this is just an example and not some evil plot to destroy all you know and love. I have seen sculpty weapons of around 30 prims with at least 10 1024x1024px textures and then some. At the same time, I have seen some 255 prim builds that use a single texture skin - this is obviously going to be much quicker to load than the sculpted build. Less to load means less to download from the server and while connection speed is a factor in this, so is file size. This example obviously works both ways, I have seen 255 prim builds with countless oversized random textures and sculpty builds that are like 20 prims with 1 1024x1024px skin.

The database is not designed to take all your cool toys away. (That's all i've got on that one! It was all mentioned above.)

Blanket approved gear will likely be fixed up to this new standard! The blanket approved scripters are pretty dedicated people, most of them are in Ordo infact. As I mentioned above, we're helping people improve their weapons not simply denying them and throwing them in the gutter.

I'm sure theres something i've not addressed, but these are a few things that have been mentioned to me appropriately or otherwise. Don't really appreciate the hostility from that select few, but i'm hoping it was just a misunderstanding. Feel free to comment or ask questions. :)

EDIT: Oh, also heres a link to some database notes, link to the database is found there too, for those interested [Click]

[Aryte]

The database is something we as a group have really needed for quite a long time. It is a very efficient way of dealing with a growing, dynamic set of weaponry permissions. I understand some individuals may have concerns or believe this is some sort of unnecessary tyranny on part of the designers-- it really isn't. It's a methodical, intelligent move that I have had a lot of invested interest in. Thank you, Nikki4, for taking the time to better explain this. Transparency will go a long way to underline the happiness that is the database project, ha ha.

As a final note: a policy to be clarified. Things that have not been approved by Curia previously, but are marked approved in the database are ok for use by Ordo personnel. The two vendors Firecore and Gunporn listed as banned in the database, are banned completely from Titan. However, if a weapon is marked "denied" in the database and has been previously approved by Curia, or is blanket approved it is still ok for use until the database is in full effect.