Why did I have to fix this?

[solstyse]

Last time I logged into Sl on Firestorm, i got a notification that TextureDiscardLevel was set to 3 and should be set to 0. I thought it was a one time thing, so I just left it alone. Today when i logged on, I got the same message, so i went into debug settings and changed the value to 0. The result was an immediate and very noticable improvement in performance. Camera and movement controls are better than they have been for a solid month before I got the popup for the first time! Memory usage is down, and cpu usage spends less time spiked at 100% (I know, the first answer is buy a better computer, but that's not my concern for now.)

So, this made me curious about a couple of things. What is TextureDiscardLevel to begin with? Why did changing one value help me so much? And since it clearly was wrong for a while, why did it take Firestorm so long to prompt me to fix it? Most importantly, if this was such a help, and camera debug settings were such a help when I messed with those, what else can i do in debug to optimize my viewer?

[Perrie Juran]

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Texture_Console

there have been in the past several threads about favorite debug settings.  some of the info may be obsolete now though

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussions/What-s-your-favorite-debug-setting-you-d-like-to-share-We-need/m-p/314098/highlight/true#M128263

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Your-Favorite-Debug-Settings-Revisited/m-p/858481/highlight/true#M6400

as to the rest of your questions, will need someone who knows more than me.

[Norton Burns]

TextureDiscardLevel is exposed in graphics prefs in the Texture Details Loaded dropbox, which should always be set to Normal. Older viewers had no warning if you changed that, new ones do.

As a general rule, don't play in debug unless you know what the setting you are changing is actually for & the consequences of altering it. Also take with a pinch of salt any 'favourite debugs' you hear from people. They are often based on misconceptions.

There is good reason some settings are hidden in debug, away from casual users.

[Krystal Khalim]

I am having the same issue.  Where do I find the Debug section to fix this please?

[Porky Gorky]

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Krystal Khalim wrote:

I am having the same issue.  Where do I find the Debug section to fix this please?

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Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S will take you to your debug settings.

[Krystal Khalim]

Thank you for the information.  I was able to find the settings but that did not make a difference in the graphics appearance.  Is there something else I should check/change?

[Sebastian Spearsong]

where is this control???

 

[Qie Niangao]

Note that this is a very old thread, so it's unlikely to have any current relevance, but to answer the question, this is a Debug setting, accessed as described in that link. FWIW, it shows as "0", the default, when I launch the Linden viewer.