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Best practices

Localize library methods​

By localizing library methods, you avoid table lookup every time you need to call the function

local Serialize = Dynamo.Serialize

for i = 1, 1e5 do
	-- ...
	Serialize(...) -- avoid table lookups in hot paths
end

Prefer Serialize1 / Deserialize1 for single values​

Variadic Serialize / Deserialize are ideal for multi-value packets. For one value, the *1 APIs avoid packing/unpacking overhead and return the next offset when you need framing.

Account for type tags in size budgets​

Every value costs +1 byte for its tag, including nested array elements and map keys/values. Schemaless flexibility trades some bandwidth versus a fixed schema with known field types.

Instance references vs value schemas​

  • References (RefInstance, default): same instance identity across the network when _VSID is replicated. Use SetConstant("InstanceRefMode", "Extended") if you need more than 65,535 live ids.
  • SerInstance: property snapshot into a new instance; requires DefineSerInstanceSchema and SetConstant("SerInstanceSerialization", true).

Do not mix expectations: a reference does not recreate missing instances, and SerInstance does not preserve the original Instance object. Both peers must agree on these constants.

CFrame size vs precision​

With quaternion mode enabled (default via UseQuaternion), CFrames use 28 payload bytes plus a tag. Matrix mode (SetConstant("UseQuaternion", false)) uses 48 payload bytes. Quaternion reconstruction is lossy relative to a full matrix; measure against your accuracy needs.

UDim scale quantization​

UDim / UDim2 scales are quantized to 16 bits over QuantizedScaleMin…QuantizedScaleMax (default 0…1). Offsets use i16. Widen the range with SetConstant if you need scales outside 0…1, and test GUI values that matter if you need exact floats.