Graphics 'pulse' in and out of focus

[Remington Aries]

The latest viewer update did 2 things on my Mac; it is making a higher demand on the system, the fans are kicking in sooner and harder than before, never a good sign - SL already has a reputation as a laptop cooker. In addition, the graphics load into full resolution after several passes, as you would expect. Then they seem to bounce back to the second pass level of quality, and then jump forward to the next, then back again, leaving the object in question, usually an avatar- "pulsing" in and out of focus. Never come across this before, but 2 friends have also complained of it. So it's not just me. Ideas?

[Peggy Paperdoll]

"The latest viewer update did 2 things on my Mac; it is making a higher demand on the system, the fans are kicking in sooner and harder than before, never a good sign - SL already has a reputation as a laptop cooker...

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That "fans are kicking in sooner and harder" is not "never a good sign".  In fact, it's a good sign.  That means that your system is sensing  a higher temperature and increasing the fan speed to cool whatever it is that the fan is supposed to cool.  It's when that doesn't occur that the "reputation as a laptop cooker" comes into play.  It's a good sign......not a bad sign.  It's always best to get some hardware montoring software to keep an eye on temps.....not depend on fans kicking in or how loud they are to monitor your hardware temps.  If a fan has failed or is not "kicking in" or not spinning faster when it should, that you cook your laptop (or desktop).  Monitoring software gives you the temps so that you will know if things are getting hot.

On the "pulsing" of focus.  That can be caused by almost anything.  Without computer specs it's next ot impossible for anyone to help much.......we can only guess (which is very likely not a correct guess).  Launch your viewer but don't log in.  Under the "Help" menu click on "About Second Life".  You'll see your basic computer specs listed on the first tab.  Copy those and paste back here for people to see.

I'm not a Mac user so I might not able to help much beyond basics are are common to any computer no matter what OS the computer uses.  Off the top of my head I think your problem is probably a connection issue. It could also be a cache issue.  For the connection try rebooting your router and modem (unplug both devices for a few minutes, plug back in, reboot your computer and try again).  Also you're on a laptop and most laptop users connect wirelessly......that is a very common cause of connection problems.  Try hardwiring your computer to your router using a Cat 5e Ethernet cable.  For a cache problem clear your cache and relog.

[Rhys Goode]

Well, Avatar going in and out of focus very often has to do with using http textures.  This is the current default, but lots of people find that turning it off helps this specific problem.  There is a check box on the Develop menu, uncheck HTTP Textures, see if that helps.

In my own experience this is mostly a connection issue.  When I plug into my router with a hard wire, I experience very low packet loss, and http textures load faster.  But when I am on wifi, I start to see packet loss, sometimes pretty bad.  And as soon as I start seeing packet loss, I start to see my avatar going in and out of focus, switching http textures off always seems to help.

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

This has recently been an issue for a lot of people.  Try disabling the HTTP textures in preferences> advanced>rendering  Its worked for a lot.