Two questions (regarding MySQL and AAs)
 

1. (Really noob question, but...) Does the size of my database affect the performance of my server? There's many populated zones I never use, or plan on using, and will my server run faster if I wipe them out entirely?

2. I'm messing around with AAs, and I was wondering where my database is pulling the 'ability' in 'aa_levels' from? I've searched through AA.cpp and AA.h, but with no luck.

I'm on 6.0DR3 by the way, using the PEQ database. Thanks. :)

Well. . . Technically, yes. A smaller database will allow the system to run faster in certain areas (basically anywhere where the server has to request info from the DB).

However, with the speed of today's computers and the power and scalability of MySQL, you're not going to have a noticable decrease in performance until your DB is very, very large. And by very, very large, I mean with hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions of records and poor maintenance.

Practically speaking, unless you're running an EQEmu server on a system that is just barely able to do so, trying to "clean up" your DB won't help. And even then, you're talking a barely noticable change.

Dunno about the AA question though.

AAs are a mess right now. If you wanna try to work on fixing up AAs, drop by IRC and talk to me.