I took this from when I introduced this first in IRC, so there may be some unusual typos. Please forgive. Thanks to the people I'm quoting for asking good questions. Sorry I didn't give credit, didn't think about it until after I'd already cleaned this up.

Everytime we have an enemy launch an attack on the city, the lag is absolutely horrendous. Most of the time, we crash during or soon after the fight. So I tried to pinpoint the various problems, WHY were we crashing? The two obvious things were

1) too many PCs in one spot 2) too many NPCs in one spot

I have two other thoughts, based on a comment by Howland before the fight

3) questers may be causing additional lag due to more monsters and numbers being put through the server.

lastly, the fourth reason is because of lag that just tends to generate over time- items left on the ground in random places, etc.

4) We usual don't have a reset before the attacks, we just go straight into them.

So, to address the four problems that may or may not be causing lag, the first thing would be to reset the server JUST prior to any attack. For instance, just after the DM message that --The lizardmen drums are heard above as citizens stream down the streets to flee from the impending attack-- After that, instead of loading a -full- version of the server, instead there would be a carbon-copy version that held limited areas to reduce the need for RAM from all the places that would go unused during battle. For instance, I don't think anyone will be going into the Pissing Crone Basement area during a fight, just as a random example.

"Hmm. But it would be hard to know which areas, though."

Not really. If the drow attack, I doubt anyone would go to Sslalteesh, for instance. And during the Lizardman attack, NOBODY is going to Ysinode, as another example. But there's more After the fight, the server would reset back to the normal module (or with any modifcations that come after it, like when Town Hall gets blown to bits).

"And perhaps close down quests?"

Right, another thing is that standard areas could be tweaked for the fight, such as closing down quests, removing merchants that sell clothes, boxes, or other non-combat things. Even further, standard areas could be changed. The very top of Sanctuary, the gates where most of the fights take place, could be divided into two areas, the front and the back gate. The PCs would be divided into two groups only one would fight at a time. The DMs could freeze one group via paralysis or whatever to simulate that both fights are occuring at the same time. The major foreseeable downside is that for half of the fight you would just be waiting for the other group to finish. But the upside is that you'll ACTUALLY get to fight, and hopefully it won't be a lagfest like usual.

Back to the previous topic of pre-fight resets: "Though if you reset directly before it means no desperately trying to get back from wherever you were in time to help or something." (referring to how many elven players were out in the Underdark during the attack on the city)

You would be brought to whereever your Character Token says you stayed. Like the pissing crone or Town Hall. If, on the other hand, you were WAY far off before the attack, then you would simply be asked to refrain from logging in during the fight, and continue on with your character just as if it had been a crash.

Sounds a good idea worth to investigating, altough it would need throughout communication. But could be a way.

The only problem is transporting PCs back. It is not realistic. E.g. the Elven Warband was coincidentally away from the city during the lizard attack. It is not logical to teleport thoose PCs back. A solution to this could be to unlog the PCs who are in other area until the fight ends. Such events usually don't last for more than a 15-20 minutes, and I suppose the player community could accept a 15 minute pause if their character is not in the action in exchange for a lagless action. after the event ended, than everybody could log back wherever he was.

Quick answer: In that case, the players should simply refrain from logging in. That may seem a little unfair, but realistically it was WAY too laggy to do anything else anyways, and returning to join the battle would be both extremely difficult and extremely unlikely.

I had the idea of representing things as a broader front than just one massive assault. I.e, a few people holding out at differant areas, forcing people to think tactically. This'd require a lot more DMs to pull of smoothly, of course.

Yea, the way I'd imagine it would have to work, each area (and subsequently, each combat group) would need a DM to oversee it. Whenever an area was on hold, that DM could skip over and help another DM out with a fight, of course.