Possible reason for memory leaks

[Tetley]

Lag is tough because it can be a number of things:

1) The system is loading information "on the fly" like to draw Tortuga on a busy night the system will be loading all the players (including character models, skins, clothes etc). As they are not pre-loaded, this is extra work the system has to do.

2) The system does pre-load and stores so much in memory that there isn't enough left for the new stuff.

3) System configuration. For POTCO, the game code is buggy and so it's highly unlikely that system configs play a huge role in lag. Games like EQ2 and WoW handle much more beautiful graphics, more special effects etc. more efficiently than POTCO. I have less lag and load time on these games. While some systems may create a bottle-neck due to an out-dated piece of hardware, or drivers, the game code is a more likely suspect.

4) Internet connection & firewalls & service provider. The faster your connection, the better your game... in theory.

Without looking at the code it's probably a combination of 1 and 2. I know that definitely the special effects like cannon fire, doll & staff effects etc. are not pre-loaded so they load when needed which is why heavy cannon-fire can bring a system to it's knees.

The optimal solution is determining what you need loaded, what you don't, and when to dump the unneeded information (i.e. after you zone, after a timer, etc). The graphics engine is not advanced and I would expect the game to run a lot better based on it looks.