diff --git a/changes/2024-06-19T182508-0400.txt b/changes/2024-06-19T182508-0400.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d9efe7e6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2024-06-19T182508-0400.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Log current cut periodically, instead of when it changes, for more
+consistency and less space use.
diff --git a/changes/2024-06-19T182544-0400.txt b/changes/2024-06-19T182544-0400.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bbd189c24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2024-06-19T182544-0400.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Better progress messages for read-only replay, including a time
+estimate and smoothed rate calculation.
diff --git a/changes/2024-06-19T182611-0400.txt b/changes/2024-06-19T182611-0400.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f09e731a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2024-06-19T182611-0400.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Speed up read-only replay by avoiding playing empty blocks
diff --git a/changes/2024-06-19T182645-0400.txt b/changes/2024-06-19T182645-0400.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..744eb2950
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2024-06-19T182645-0400.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a performance bug in read-only replay which was not using a cache
+for module data
diff --git a/node/ChainwebNode.hs b/node/ChainwebNode.hs
index 9cfd59180..057f33e48 100644
--- a/node/ChainwebNode.hs
+++ b/node/ChainwebNode.hs
@@ -215,9 +215,9 @@ runMonitorLoop actionLabel logger = runForeverThrottled
 runCutMonitor :: Logger logger => logger -> CutDb tbl -> IO ()
 runCutMonitor logger db = L.withLoggerLabel ("component", "cut-monitor") logger $ \l ->
     runMonitorLoop "ChainwebNode.runCutMonitor" l $ do
-        S.mapM_ (logFunctionJson l Info)
-            $ S.map (cutToCutHashes Nothing)
-            $ cutStream db
+        logFunctionJson l Info . cutToCutHashes Nothing
+            =<< _cut db
+        threadDelay 15_000_000
 
 data BlockUpdate = BlockUpdate
     { _blockUpdateBlockHeader :: !(ObjectEncoded BlockHeader)
diff --git a/src/Chainweb/Pact/Backend/RelationalCheckpointer.hs b/src/Chainweb/Pact/Backend/RelationalCheckpointer.hs
index 3dc9ee2c7..e7ffea546 100644
--- a/src/Chainweb/Pact/Backend/RelationalCheckpointer.hs
+++ b/src/Chainweb/Pact/Backend/RelationalCheckpointer.hs
@@ -153,11 +153,11 @@ doReadFrom logger v cid sql moduleCacheVar maybeParent doRead = do
         Nothing -> genesisHeight v cid
         Just parent -> succ . _blockHeight . _parentHeader $ parent
 
-  withMVar moduleCacheVar $ \sharedModuleCache -> do
+  modifyMVar moduleCacheVar $ \sharedModuleCache -> do
     bracket
       (beginSavepoint sql BatchSavepoint)
       (\_ -> abortSavepoint sql BatchSavepoint) $ \() -> do
-        getEndTxId "doReadFrom" sql maybeParent >>= traverse \startTxId -> do
+        h <- getEndTxId "doReadFrom" sql maybeParent >>= traverse \startTxId -> do
           newDbEnv <- newMVar $ BlockEnv
             (mkBlockHandlerEnv v cid currentHeight sql DoNotPersistIntraBlockWrites logger)
             (initBlockState defaultModuleCacheLimit startTxId)
@@ -184,7 +184,12 @@ doReadFrom logger v cid sql moduleCacheVar maybeParent doRead = do
               , _cpLookupProcessedTx = \hs ->
                 runBlockEnv newDbEnv (doLookupSuccessful currentHeight hs)
               }
-          doRead curBlockDbEnv
+          r <- doRead curBlockDbEnv
+          finalCache <- _bsModuleCache . _benvBlockState <$> readMVar newDbEnv
+          return (r, finalCache)
+        case h of
+          NoHistory -> return (sharedModuleCache, NoHistory)
+          Historical (r, finalCache) -> return (finalCache, Historical r)
 
 
 
diff --git a/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs b/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs
index b1f3f6a4c..4db1638ce 100644
--- a/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs
+++ b/src/Chainweb/Pact/PactService.hs
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@ import Chainweb.Version
 import Chainweb.Version.Guards
 import Utils.Logging.Trace
 import Chainweb.Counter
+import Data.Time.Clock
+import Text.Printf
+import Data.Time.Format.ISO8601
 
 runPactService
     :: Logger logger
@@ -787,7 +790,7 @@ execReadOnlyReplay lowerBound maybeUpperBound = pactLabel "execReadOnlyReplay" $
     withPactState $ \runPact ->
         liftIO $ getBranchIncreasing bhdb upperBound (int lowerHeight) $ \blocks -> do
           heightRef <- newIORef lowerHeight
-          withAsync (heightProgress lowerHeight heightRef (logInfo_ logger)) $ \_ -> do
+          withAsync (heightProgress lowerHeight (_blockHeight upperBound) heightRef (logInfo_ logger)) $ \_ -> do
               blocks
                   & Stream.hoist liftIO
                   & play bhdb pdb heightRef runPact
@@ -821,7 +824,10 @@ execReadOnlyReplay lowerBound maybeUpperBound = pactLabel "execReadOnlyReplay" $
                     liftIO $ writeIORef heightRef (_blockHeight bh)
                     payload <- liftIO $ fromJuste <$>
                       lookupPayloadDataWithHeight pdb (Just $ _blockHeight bh) (_blockPayloadHash bh)
-                    void $ execBlock bh (CheckablePayload payload)
+                    let isPayloadEmpty = V.null (_payloadDataTransactions payload)
+                    let isUpgradeBlock = isJust $ _chainwebVersion bhdb ^? versionUpgrades . onChain (_chainId bhdb) . ix (_blockHeight bh)
+                    unless (isPayloadEmpty && not isUpgradeBlock) $
+                      void $ execBlock bh (CheckablePayload payload)
             )
         validationFailed <- readIORef validationFailedRef
         when validationFailed $
@@ -829,19 +835,34 @@ execReadOnlyReplay lowerBound maybeUpperBound = pactLabel "execReadOnlyReplay" $
               J.encodeJsonText ("Prior block validation errors" :: Text)
         return r
 
-    heightProgress :: BlockHeight -> IORef BlockHeight -> (Text -> IO ()) -> IO ()
-    heightProgress initialHeight ref logFun = do
-        r <- newIORef initialHeight
-        let delaySecs = 20
+    heightProgress :: BlockHeight -> BlockHeight -> IORef BlockHeight -> (Text -> IO ()) -> IO ()
+    heightProgress initialHeight endHeight ref logFun = do
+        heightAndRateRef <- newIORef (initialHeight, 0.0 :: Double)
+        let delayMicros = 20_000_000
+        liftIO $ threadDelay (delayMicros `div` 2)
         forever $ do
-          h <- readIORef r
-          h' <- readIORef ref
-          writeIORef r h'
+          liftIO $ threadDelay delayMicros
+          (lastHeight, oldRate) <- readIORef heightAndRateRef
+          now' <- getCurrentTime
+          currentHeight <- readIORef ref
+          let blocksPerSecond
+                  = 0.8
+                    * oldRate
+                  + 0.2
+                    * fromIntegral (currentHeight - lastHeight)
+                    / (fromIntegral delayMicros / 1_000_000)
+          writeIORef heightAndRateRef (currentHeight, blocksPerSecond)
+          let est =
+                  flip addUTCTime now'
+                      $ realToFrac @Double @NominalDiffTime
+                      $ fromIntegral @BlockHeight @Double
+                          (endHeight - initialHeight)
+                      / blocksPerSecond
           logFun
-            $ "processed: " <> sshow (h' - initialHeight)
-            <> ", current height: " <> sshow h'
-            <> ", rate: " <> sshow ((h' - h) `div` fromIntegral delaySecs) <> "blocks/sec"
-          liftIO $ threadDelay (delaySecs * 1_000_000)
+            $ T.pack $ printf "height: %d | rate: %.1f blocks/sec | est. %s"
+                      (fromIntegral @BlockHeight @Int $ currentHeight - initialHeight)
+                      blocksPerSecond
+                      (formatShow iso8601Format est)
 
 execLocal
     :: (Logger logger, CanReadablePayloadCas tbl)