How do I reduce lag?!

[Intoxicate]

My photoshop lags horribly whenever I have my viewer running at the same time.

I don't have any other programs runnin, only Photoshop and Firestorm (4.2.2). My photoshop runs perfectly fine when I don't have the viewer runnin, the issues begin as soon as I log into SL.

I've tried reducing my memory usage in photoshop, and I've also tried lowering my graphics settings in firestorm, but I still lag horribly and it makes it extremely hard to create.

Does anyone have any ideas or tips about how to fix this?

My graphics card:

[Intoxicate]

My photoshop lags horribly whenever I have my viewer running at the same time.

I don't have any other programs runnin, only Photoshop and Firestorm (4.2.2). My photoshop runs perfectly fine when I don't have the viewer runnin, the issues begin as soon as I log into SL.

I've tried reducing my memory usage in photoshop, and I've also tried lowering my graphics settings in firestorm, but I still lag horribly and it makes it extremely hard to create.

Does anyone have any ideas or tips about how to fix this?

My graphics card:

[Carl Thibodeaux]

Is it mandatory you run both at the same time?

[Intoxicate]

Since I'm working on mesh clothing, yes. Constantly logging in and out of the viewer is not an option. 



If I were just working on system clothes, I'd just use SLCP. Unfortunately SLCP only works on system clothing, not mesh. 


Hence my predicament. Any suggestions?

[Carl Thibodeaux]

Check out the FS support group.

But i know theres alot of things such as HTTP Textures and countless other things you can disable.

But best ask in the offical group on SL.

[Fabiano Dover]

i think it's not lag as we mostly talk about here but might be your machine isnt able to run both the same time.

what's your machine specs? that makes more clear than only the graphics.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

SL and photoshop when running alone take up a lot of your computers resources.  If you get lag running both of them your computer just can't handle both being open at the same time.  Its not just your graphics card, you could have the best in the world but if your computer doesn't have the juice  you can't run them both.

[Intoxicate]

This is my system info:



So in the event that my machine just can't handle both programs, what are my options? buying another machine is not an option, and I don't wanna have to deal with horrible lag everytime i wanna make mesh clothing.


What do I need to upgrade to sort this out?

[Ren Toxx]

Experiment with the debug setting 'BackgroundYieldTime', try making it higher so that, when your viewer is not the foreground application, it leaves the processor a bit more time to attend Photoshop.

It's possible, anyway, that both applications running simultaneously use up more physical memory (RAM) than you have, forcing the operative system to start using the hard drive for extended memory... and that's when it slows to a crawl, backgroundyieldtime or not. If you suspect that being the case, I suggest actually creating a separate settings file for your viewer to use when you're going to work alongside Photoshop and thus need the viewer to use as little resources as possible. This separate settings file could have a lot of specific adjustments for it, such as limited draw distance & bandwidth, no use of HTTP textures, small viewer cache (and in a different folder, come to that), all sounds off, etc.

[Intoxicate]

Thank you very much! Your response was very very helpful! I'll give your suggestions a shot, and I'll update accordingly. 

But at the risk of sounding like a noob... what's the "http textures" option for?

[Nyll Bergbahn]

The main problem is that your computer has AMD 6530D graphics, which is integrated with the AMD Processor and uses system memory with 512MB dedicated to the graphics. It's DDR3 memory too, not the faster DDR5, which many mid and high range graphics cards use.

Because it's integrated with the CPU, you cannot simply replace the graphics hardware in your computer but what you may be able to do is add a discrete graphics card if there is a spare PCIe x 16 slot available on the motherboard. If you're not sure by looking, check with the manufacturer or Google your system specs.

Adding a discrete card will require more power so you will undoubtedly also have to upgrade the PSU to at least 500W for a mid-range graphics card. PSUs are not expensive items. A Nvidia GTX 650 1GB graphics card would do fine (a GTX 660 would be much better but is a bit more expensive and needs two 6-pin connectors and you may only have one spare). Increasing your RAM to 8GB may also help but I can run SL and Photoshop quite happily on 4GB. Crucial has a scanner to make sure you add the correct memory at http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/

 

[Intoxicate]

OMFG Thank you thank you THANK YOU!

I followed your suggestions and now I can run firestorm and photoshop just fine now!

I was at my wits end with the lag so THANK YOU!

 

[Intoxicate]

Thank you very much for your input! I'll definitely keep your suggestions and info in mind when the time comes to upgrade my machine

[Orca Flotta]

4 GB RAM isn't so hot neither. :smileysad: Invest in 8 or better 16 GB. RAM is cheap these days and the most easy and fast fix. Will cost you 40 $ and is done in 5 mins top.

[Intoxicate]

where would i find such an upgrade at such a cheap price??

[Dillon Levenque]

You can go to Crucial.com (google it and follow the link). They have an application you can run that evaluates the RAM you have and tells you how much you can add and of what type. They also sell RAM but equipped with the information you can shop elsewhere for better prices if you want.

By the way, if you have never taken a computer apart and added modules, boards, or memory it probably WILL take longer than five minutes, but it is by no means a complex or difficult task.

[Ren Toxx]

---

Intoxicate wrote: [...] 

what's the "http textures" option for?

---

Some years ago viewers used an older protocol called 'UDP' to download textures from the SL servers, before switching to the current, faster (and being made still faster right now) 'HTTP' protocol, but both methods are still supported; fact is, for reasons beyond my technical understanding HTTP is also heavier on the processor, and in your case you'll probably value lower viewer resource usage over a couple seconds' difference in texture downloading.

 

Which takes me back to my original, broader suggestion. I'm glad that BackgroundYieldTime was apparently enough for you, but if you find yourself later in need of just a tad more multi-tasking capacity, here's the thing: changing a couple things like BackgroundYieldTime, HTTP Textures or draw distance is easy enough, you can set them one way when you're going to build, and then back to 'nicer' values when you're done and want to, perhaps, go dance with friends.

But as Carl said, there's a lot of things you can fine-tune for specific needs / situations such as building. An awful lot of them, maybe enough to have two Photoshops running concurrently with SL... well, maybe not so much, lol, but you get the idea.

Anyway, if you delve deep enough in Preferences and Debug Settings, you can shave off a whole lot of processor-gobbling options unneeded for building. Problem is, the more of them you change (and the more hidden and complex to change some of them are), the longer it'd take you to set them all back to 'normal' every time you finish building and want to 'go out'.

 

And this is where multiple settings files come. You can use your Firestorm's Preferences > 'Network & Cache' tab > 'Open Settings Folder' button to locate the settings_firestorm-release_v4.xml file (or something like that -it should be the one with the bigger size than other XML files in the folder) where your current settings are stored, duplicate it with another name (for example, settings_firestorm_building.xml), and then launch Firestorm with that alternative settings file. How? By also duplicating the Firestorm launcher icon in your desktop, editing this duplicate icon's properties (specifically, its path to the Firestorm executable) and, where the original XML settings file is indicated, manually change it to the name of the duplicate XML settings file you made.

From then on, you can use this second Firestorm desktop icon to run the viewer with those alternative, 'building settings', go crazy with lowering or switching off unneeded things, and none of that would touch your original, 'going out' settings; when you're done building, simply log off, and log in again with the original Firestorm desktop icon... voilà, all 'nice' settings are back.

 

Explaining all the things you could change within these alternate settings may be beyond the scope of one single post, but remember: you could even have a different, much smaller viewer cache -not to mention a different one, in another folder-, along with many other things useful to reduce the viewer's memory & processor usage.

[Orca Flotta]

By the way, if you have never taken a computer apart and added modules, boards, or memory it probably WILL take longer than five minutes, but it is by no means a complex or difficult task.

Yeah, right. It might take a little longer; finding the correct screwdriver, finding the slots with RAM modules on the mobo and pushing a new one in, can take up to 6 minutes maybe. Overall it's just clickety clack. Like LEGO for adults, really.

Also many many vids on YT where those nerdy geeks show exactly how it's done. After you watched it you'll lose all respect for those self-acclaimed hardware gurus. :matte-motes-sunglasses-3:

[Intoxicate]

I ran the crucial scan and found that I have 4 slots total, so I think that means I can get a maximum of 16GB..... right?

That's all I know The prices don't seem too bad, but I assume I'll need to buy a new power source that can handle all this extra juice, right?

I mean.... I'm not a complete noob at computers (i've taken apart and installed/upgraded the hard drive, keyboard and memory on my old laptop before, and it ran quite well, I only got rid of it to buy something bran new with better specs.)

That being said, I've never taken a desktop apart, and I'm far from being any kind of guru or authority on the matter... >.>

 

[Dillon Levenque]

See Orca's suggestion about watching youtube videos above on taking the PC apart. As for needing to increase power, no. Added RAM will have only a tiny influence on your power consumption and depending on design could actually reduce it (either way, the level of change would be microscopic from a real world point of view).

If you upgrade to a new graphics card, then yes: you will almost certainly need to improve your power supply.

I just took a timeout to run the Crucial memory scanner on my PC (thought I had but I guess I've only done it with customer's) and it does give configuration suggestions based on what it sees. If it gives you one for 16GB then you can do that. I think I'd stop at 8GB because without looking I don't know if the extra 8 would buy you anything. It wouldn't HURT, it just might not be worth paying for.

[Intoxicate]

the truth of the matter is that I honestly would never be running enough programs to NEED 16GB. I would probably be fine with 8 honestly.

My only thing is since my computer is still under warranty (it's only a year and a half old), I don't wanna void the warranty by taking it apart myself.

If I go that route (memory upgrade) I'll just leave it to the Pros. I'd rather pay more and keep my warranry valid just in case something -does- happen down the line that I can't fix on my own.

[Dillon Levenque]

If it is under warranty, don't TOUCH it.

"Oh. You seem to have opened the case and moved things. I'm so sorry but I'm afraid that voids your warranty".  In fact you can't blame them. Who knows what was done once the box was opened?

So either pay them to add RAM or wait until it comes out of warranty and do it yourself. Sounds like your original problem has been solved by some clever suggestions from other people anyway, so just leaving things as is would be my advice.