Do I have the right graphics to play Secondlife?

[GokuTM]

I have downloaded Secondlife Viewer about 6 times now. It continuously brought up the crash logger. I deleted the AppData, I deleted the Roaming. I did everything. I un-installed it, re-installed it and I also did the same with Viewer Beta and also the Phoenix Viewer too.

I then looked at the system requirements FOR Secondlife and wanted to know if I meet it's requirements.

I'm pretty sure I do have the requirements once you see what laptop I actually own, but I will post the details below;

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6002) Service 
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: Alienware M17
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL;
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU Q9300 @ 2.53GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 4090MB RAM

Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870

Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9509)

Driver Name: atidxx32,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atiumdva,atiumd64.dll,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll

Driver Version: 7.15.0010.0170 (English)

 

 

[Rahkis Andel]

So you own an old Alienware laptop?

Given what you have already done, I'd say update your graphics drivers. My cursory research has shown that your drivers are out of date. (no guarantee that will fix your issue, though)

I'm sure your laptop meets or exceeds the minimum hardware requirement, but there are many things that can cause issues with Second Life. Unfortunately, many seem to be frustrating if not impossible to pinpoint. In your case, I'm apt to point my finger at Windows VISTA. Get rid of that crap ASAP -- that's a no-brainer.

Changing (Or just reinstalling) OS will probably fix your problem outright, regardless of what was causing it, but it's up to you whether or not you want to go through that trouble.

[Orca Flotta]

I once used an Asus lappy with very similar specs and it ran SL quite well ... until it fried the ATI card. :smileysurprised: But that's a different thing. Your problem may be caused by outdated drivers, as we all know how badly AMD/ATI are programming those. :smileysad: But while Vista was indeed a rather crappy Windows version it didn't have any probs running SL and can be ruled out as the problematic part of your setup. It may be the problematic part in your setup tho. Vista is a very fragile **bleep** piece of software and needs permanent maintenance (anti-virus, registry cleaner, defragging ...) and may not give you the same performance like when it came fresh out of the box. Particularly Vista is famous for eating all your resources and blocking itself with heaps of unwanted crap.

Nevertheless I can only recommend switching to a simple and clever Linux distro (Mint Debian is the best for n00bs) and be done with all the proprietary chit. On Linux you won't need to bother with antivirus or defragging stuff, you might even get away without a firewall.

Further up your RAM to 8 GB, which will work wonders, don't use WiFi and for future purchases stay away from Alienware. Do a proper CLEAN install of your viewer. Firestorm and Singularity (for old people) come highly recommended.

[Rahkis Andel]

No offence meant to anyone, but the people willing to drop the money required to purchase an alienware machine (or mac for that matter) tend to be the types who just want something that works well out of the box and they more or less never have to think about it again.

That does not describe a Linux user.

Also, I'm a little confused; In one sentence you said, "Vista was indeed a rather crappy Windows version [, however] it didn't have any probs running SL and can be ruled out as the problem..."

Yet, in the very next sentence you said, "It may be the problematic part in your setup..."

So...Vista isn't the problem but it might be the problem? My brain!

Hehe -- asides from that, I agree with your suggestions.

[Orca Flotta]

Also, I'm a little confused; In one sentence you said, "Vista was indeed a rather crappy Windows version [, however] it didn't have any probs running SL and can be ruled out as the problem..."Yet, in the very next sentence you said, "It may be the problematic part in your setup..."

So...Vista isn't the problem but it might be the problem? My brain!

 

Ouch. :smileysurprised: Maybe what I was trying to say was that Vista per se shouldn't be a problem but a not very well maintained individual Vista can be very much a problem.

Further I make a clear distinction between Alienware gamers and Mac dummies. For one it's the choice of OS; a very fragile and high maintenance Windows vs a super easy and careless wannabe Linux Mac OS. Also up to a few years ago, before Dell bought out Alienware, it needed a good piece of research and knowledge to even know of the existence of that small garage business Alienware.

So in conclusion I gotta say that I take Alienware owners/users as serious people ... quite contrary to our fruit lovers.

[Eric Castanea]

It's not Vista - I have an old Vista laptop that runs SL fine. But you need at least 2 gig ram to even attempt it. And yes, update your drivers.

[Madeline Blackbart]

---

Orca Flotta wrote:

I once used an Asus lappy with very similar specs and it ran SL quite well ... until it fried the ATI card. :smileysurprised: But that's a different thing. Your problem may be caused by outdated drivers, as we all know how badly AMD/ATI are programming those. :smileysad: But while Vista was indeed a rather crappy Windows version it didn't have any probs running SL and can be ruled out as the problematic part of your setup. It may be the problematic part in your setup tho. Vista is a very fragile **bleep** piece of software and needs permanent maintenance (anti-virus, registry cleaner, defragging ...) and may not give you the same performance like when it came fresh out of the box. Particularly Vista is famous for eating all your resources and blocking itself with heaps of unwanted crap.

Nevertheless I can only recommend switching to a simple and clever Linux distro (Mint Debian is the best for n00bs) and be done with all the proprietary chit. On Linux you won't need to bother with antivirus or defragging stuff, you might even get away without a firewall.

Further up your RAM to 8 GB, which will work wonders, don't use WiFi and for future purchases stay away from Alienware. Do a proper CLEAN install of your viewer. Firestorm and Singularity (for old people) come highly recommended.

---

No offense but switch to linux is a TERRIBLE SOLUTION TO ANYTHING! While it's great for programmers it's a bit complex to run for people who aren't computer savy and pratically NOTHING is compatible with it natively. Making it very difficult for people to run things under. I mean there's a LOT of using the terminal when using linux and most noobie users would panic at the mear SIGHT of someone typing sudo -apt get ( *cough* moo *cough*i do love the moo...that cow!) Want the latest photohsop? not compatible. Like most games? not compatible. And even simple things like setting up a printer ( an issue I had with linux and was never able to solve even though I had the needed drivers) is almost prohibitively complex for beganner computer users. I would NEVER suggest this to someone who doesn't know a lot about computers and not because linux is bad per se because it's not it's a good OS that's open source which is great don't get me wrong. I mean just upgrading withing the same OS can sometimes leave unexpected results let alone switching to an OS you don't know. Also I have attempted to upgrade a dell (which an alienware essentially is) and it would not take linuxs kernal in fact it would not take any operating system it was not originally installed with (not sure why but I assume by deisgn).

While vista is a peice of crap. It is not the issue are I have personally run second life under vista on a VERY under powered computer. Can anyone say 2 gigs of ram +vista+second life running = lag city? so I doubt it's the operating system TBH.

Also there's nothing wrong with alienware though it is just an over expensive Dell. That said if you get dell's extended warrenty there service is very good. They will replace parts next business day (I know I had to have my mother board replaced as I got lucky and got a faulty one) and do so for you which is GREAT for someone who doesn't know much about computer repair (something I will admit I don't know much about).

[Orca Flotta]

Madeline, when was the last time you tried a Linux distro? 10 years ago or sumfink? Modern Linuxes like Mint, Manjaro, Ubuntu, Puppy run complete out of the box and hardly ever will you need that steenkin terminal. Actually Linux comes highly recommended particularly for total n00bs, since it causes much less problems and needs much less maintenance.

No, you can't run PS on Linux without any tricks (well, you can with Wine) but you get the very capable Gimp ... and you get it for free. There is hardly any proprietary software for which there isn't any open source alternative available. Even when I was using Windows (up to a few weeks back) the OS was my only piece of commercial software.

Also I didn't encounter a single problem with compability. All the internals and externals worked right out of the box. Drivers, controllers, interfaces, everything.

Yes, you're right about Vista. If treated correctly it's absolutely capable of running SL. BUT Vista, like any Windows version, needs a lot of TLC: Antivirus program, firewall, registry cleaner, defragger ... Now that's what I call nerdy. No need for all that stuff on Linux. 

@ Everybody: Watch this vid!!!

[Loralinda]

I run SL on Vista just fine, but I've read some forum comments where SL runs better on the nvidia graphics card than on ATI.  Aside from that, I got the big error message after SL changed their TOS and requires you to agree to it before you can log into SL. 

Basically the message is titled "Crash Loop?" and says the following:  "ERROR: AICurlPrivate::BufferedCurlEasyRequest::setStatusAndReason: Received 302 (Moved Temporarily) for responder "iamHere" which has no followRedir()!"

Underneath that message are two buttons: Yes and No.  There is a window behind it which is titled Terms of Service...
But you will see no actual terms of service.  If you press the Yes button you will immediately be logged out.  If you press the No button, the terms of service will appear and there is a check box underneath to check if you agree to the terms.  Once you agree, you are allowed to use SL.

If you've been getting this error message and clicked Yes, you may be booting yourself out of SL.  Don't know if this is the problem, but who knows.  It's just a suggestion.

If this is not the problem, then you might try downloading a lighter viewer.  I like Singularity, but apparently Firestorm is very popular as well.  There's also CoolVL and Nicholaz viewers which I'm not familiar with but others like them.  These viewers don't take up as much of your resources, but you still get the bells and whistles with them.  You can google the names to find their download sites.

[Czari Zenovka]

---

Orca Flotta wrote:

Madeline, when was the last time you tried a Linux distro? 10 years ago or sumfink? Modern Linuxes like Mint, Manjaro, Ubuntu, Puppy run complete out of the box and hardly ever will you need that steenkin terminal. Actually Linux comes highly recommended particularly for total n00bs, since it causes much less problems and needs much less maintenance.

No, you can't run PS on Linux without any tricks (well, you can with Wine) but you get the very capable Gimp ... and you get it for free. There is hardly any proprietary software for which there isn't any open source alternative available. Even when I was using Windows (up to a few weeks back) the OS was my only piece of commercial software.

Also I didn't encounter a single problem with compability. All the internals and externals worked right out of the box. Drivers, controllers, interfaces, everything.

Yes, you're right about Vista. If treated correctly it's absolutely capable of running SL. BUT Vista, like any Windows version, needs a lot of TLC: Antivirus program, firewall, registry cleaner, defragger ... Now that's what I call nerdy. No need for all that stuff on Linux. 

@ Everybody: Watch this vid!!!

---

Very interesting video and certainly food for thought.  Up the road I may purchase a second HD and install Linux on it to see how I like it.  I, too, thought Linux was complicated and only used by techno-geeks.

[Czari Zenovka]

---

Loralinda wrote:

 

If this is not the problem, then you might try downloading a lighter viewer. 

I like Singularity, but apparently

Firestorm

is very popular as well.  There's also CoolVL and

Nicholaz viewers

which I'm not familiar with but others like them.  These viewers don't take up as much of your resources, but you still get the bells and whistles with them.  You can google the names to find their download sites.

---

(Bolding mine)

I wouldn't call Firestorm a light viewer.  Having not used it yet but from reading posts of other users, it is the TPV version of the official viewer.  I see users often recommend one of the lighter viewers to people who have older PCs that don't handle Firestorm well.

As for Nicholaz, my personal favorite years ago, it has not existed since 2010 as noted in this thread in the forum archives.

Just wanted to clarify that.