Despawning (farm) animals if nobody present?

[Thurrok]

I had an idea today about possible performance increase of the server by despawning animals where there are no players, for example cows in towns which have no online population or visitors in the area.

I'm not sure how server code works, maybe this is already implemented. I figured since it works with other games (I'm thinking especially of X3: Reunion's OOS combat), it might help out a bit here too.

[Darkren]

AI is deactivated when no one is nearby, I believe. If a bear chases someone inside a house, chances are he's stuck there until the bear despawns, or someone else walks into the bear's vicinity to let him leave.

[theTrav]

From previous posts he's made I reckon Loftar is pretty performance conscious, he also seems to have a good setup for working out what exactly is taking a lot of resources and what is taking bugger all.

If farm animals were a problem, I reckon he would have solved it by now

[ViciousGamer04]

I had an idea today about possible performance increase of the server by despawning animals where there are no players, for example cows in towns which have no online population or visitors in the area.

I'm not sure how server code works, maybe this is already implemented. I figured since it works with other games (I'm thinking especially of X3: Reunion's OOS combat), it might help out a bit here too.

Solution! Everyone, help the game run smoother. Eat more cows, pwn more beasts, and simply stop dropping/making so much junk!