Version 4.19.910 addresses a glitch in version 909 where some (but not all) plants treated with Plant Auxin did not exhibit the 25% growth spurt. Version 4.19.910 also includes a number of script optimizations that make a significant reduction in how much memory they use to run. For the ḈḁṇṇḁḇḭṦḼ Team, the memory reduction is perhaps as important as the glitch fix, but most Growers & Breeders will welcome seeing Auxin back to normal!
This brings us to the craziness that led us to advise Growers & Breeders not to harvest plants during late September...
On September 13, Linden Labs began updating server software during scheduled rolling restarts. This process began on mainland sims -- where we first identified & reported the issue -- and spread grid-wide over the following week. While, Linden Labs says the new server software contained major improvements in operational speed & lag reduction, they overlooked a specific event that is very important to many breedables (not just ḈḁṇṇḁḇḭṦḼ) .
Here's a simple explanation. When an object rezzes out another object, like when a mother plant pops out a seed brick during harvesting, a programming event called "on_rez" is triggered. The parent object can pass a bit of data called a "start parameter" to the offspring & the "on_rez" event is supposed to be able to "hear" the start parameter, potentially using it to initialize itself.
Unfortunately, the new SL Server code let the parent object send the start parameter faster than the child object could start its own scripts. So, the child wasn't able to hear the start parameter & properly initialize itself. In our case, the offspring seed brick is supposed to send a message back to the mother that it's rezzed, initialized & is ready to receive its genetic information, but that wasn't happening. And that resulted in the crazy brick-textured mothers, non-functional floating dwarf plants & seed bricks that germinated as epics.
As we waited for Linden Labs' tech folks to research the issue, which affected a number of breedables & other scripted systems, we were logging "stack overflow errors" (which means "out of script memory"), so we began working to optimize certain script functions & ended up with some significant improvements. Of course, the stack overflow errors were triggered by the server bug, but we were able to make some lemonade out of the SL "lemons."
Linden Labs has reverted to the SL Server code that was working prior to the September 13 debacle. Since they are aware of the problem, we sincerely hope that they'll be able to "get it right" with future server updates.
The first 4.19.910 Limited Edition plants will come out later this month. In the meantime, follow your usual update procedures to "fix" your older plants. If you're an Auxin addict, you'll want to move quickly; if you're not, just take it easy.
Happy Growing! It's 4:20 somewhere!
