Playing

[ShinGojira1954]

I downloaded the game this morning, opened it, and it worked. I then closed the game and went swimming. Couple hours later, I try again and all that happens is the game window pops up and it goes to a white screen. It is raining outside so the wifi isn't at peak performance, could that be it?

[LittleMe Jewell]

31 minutes ago, ShinGojira1954 said:

the wifi isn't at peak performance, could that be it?

Most definitely.  It is not recommended to try running SL via wifi.  All sorts of performance related issues can get you.

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Plus, please don't get used to calling it a "game".

It is a platform, a virtual world or simply SL, a viewer application.

[Nalates Urriah]

Whether WiFi is recommended depends on your access point hardware and signal strength. You need newer access point hardware. N-protocol and 5GHz is on newer units. You need a good signal.

The viewer has a Viewer Statistics panel. Press Ctrl-Shift-1. Look at the Ping and Lost Packets values. Ping <250ms is usable. Between 205 and 500ms things get questionable. >500 may work for a time but your experience will suck.

Packet loss should be low, <1%. You may be able to stay connected with higher loss rates. It will depend on what is getting lost and well your packets are getting to the servers.

Older routers/access points can have a problem with SL. Often restarting the router/AP and your computer resolves the problems.

With older routers you may need to use a wired connection. Try a cable and see if it works better.

 

[Coffee Pancake]

The Second Life client is EXTREMELY sensitive to packet loss, and while a lot of work has been done over recent years to resolve these issues, it is still the case that ANY packet loss (as in literally ANY - there is no "ok " amount) can cause unexpected weirdness and frustration.

Packet loss can be seen in Help > About (bottom of page) or by pressing SHIFT+CTRL+1 (3rd item from top).

Open Prefs > Setup >  Set bandwidth to 200 and relog. If you still see anything other than 0.0% packet loss. Drop it by 25. Repeat if required.

Note .. the bandwidth slider does not apply to downloading textures or inventory, those will always download in as fast as possible, so setting a low packet loss value will not disrupt the viewers general performance.

[Lindal Kidd]

While everyone's advice is correct, I wonder...

The OP says "it's raining outside so wifi isn't at peak performance."

Wifi is a short range radio system that connects devices within a home or building.  It's not affected by rain.

However, satellite communications ARE affected by rain.  Sometimes cellular networks are also affected, if the weather is extreme.

If the OP is connecting to the internet via a satellite link or using their phone as a wifi "hotspot" and linking to the internet over a 4G cellular network, weather could enter the picture.  Linden Lab does not recommend using SL over these types of internet connection.  If you can, switch to a cable or fiber optic, or even a DSL service.

[Nalates Urriah]

Some details are missing... The viewer's Max Bandwidth setting is for the data traveling via UDP protocol. There is no 'resend' or better described as error correction in the UDP the viewer uses. The viewer is designed to compensate for UDP packet loss. You oten see it as 'rubberbanding'. Even with quite a bit of UDP loss the viewer usually recovers.

The serious/critical data now travels over HTTP, which has error correction. If the error recovery takes longer than the specified time out and repeatedly fails, the servers drop the connection. At login all sorts of things traveling by HTTP can fail on a poor connection and can result in misbehavior after you seem to have logged in.

A third option, place for the problem, is the Internet Service providers that provide wireless service via systems that are basically long range WiFi. Those that provide the higher speeds work in the 5GHz range, which is sensitive to several types of interference including weather.

What we are all saying is look at your connection. A good general connection does not mean you have a good connection to the SL servers. Test that connection. Start by looking at your viewer's stats.

[Whirly Fizzle]

Do you mean that the login screen opens but it's just a white page with no splash screen but you can still see & use the username/password boxes & login button or is the whole login screen white with no visible username/password boxes or login button?
Or is the white screen once you have logged in?

I don't think any of the above is a connection issue.

Are you running the viewer on a secondary monitor?
On some systems, launching the viewer after previously moving it over to a secondary monitor will cause this - example: http://prntscr.com/jnpfoh