Should PC 3D Graphics Antialiasing setting be enable or disabled?

[ral61]

My PC's Graphics Control Panel has 3D with Antialiasing settings.

Should the PC with the SL or Firestorm viewers have the Antialiasing setting enabled or disabled,

for potential SL-Grid crashes, ejections & disconnections while inflight with planes or driving boats & cars?

Edited June 12, 2019 by ral61
Investigative Viewer Problems

[Lindal Kidd]

It doesn't have anything to do with aviation, especially, but AA does affect your viewer's performance.  How much depends on your graphics card.

I have an Nvidia GeForce 980, and I keep my AA at 2.  For flying, I'd also probably turn off shadows, and maybe even the Advanced Lighting Model shaders.  I also have the Vertex Buffer Objects box that you show in your snip enabled.

[Nalates Urriah]

To give you a good answer we need to know about your computer. Use the viewer's HELP->About... and copy-paste the info here.

Anti-Aliasing is about getting a sharper image. The trade off is better AA requires more GPU power. My GTX 1060 allows me to run the viewer's AA at x16, if I want. Whether I run at no AA or 2, 4, 8, or 16 I can't see a change in FPS. That is because I use the video cards AA which I think . 

To understand which settings to mess with for best performance and render quality read these articles.

• http://blog.nalates.net/2010/12/17/graphics-tweaking-for-second-life/ = More complete
• http://blog.nalates.net/2016/06/05/nvidia-settings-2016/  <<<--------------<<<<<<<<< Best

None of the graphics settings are going to affect your disconnects. Well... if you are using HD Graphics and loading up the CPU it may have an effect. But, they will get you good performance and the best image quality.

The disconnects are a bug that the Lindens have been working on since January/February this year. A couple of weeks ago a number of fixes rolled out to mitigate the problem. Unfortunately the changes only affect the RC regions... well... may be all regions as of this week. But, more fixes are needed. Today we were testing TP's in ADITI for Simon Linden. I made 200 consecutive TP's today without a disconnect. My previous highest attempts were <30 before a disconnect. I am guessing we might see the latest round of fixes/changes in a couple of weeks. But, the Lindens aren't talking about it.They may be looking at more fixes.

So, don't go nuts trying to find or fix the problem. It isn't likely you. The problem is in the viewer failing to properly connect to the destination region. As best I can tell from listening to the Lindens at UG meetings the problem is in the server-to-server hand off. You can reduce the number of scripts you are wearing and running to reduce the amount of data the servers have to hand off. The number of attachments also swells the data load. But, scripts are the big load. The ideal is a nude avatar (no attachments), no HUDs... So, flying a Shergood H-160 moves you quite a distance from that ideal... even if you fly nude.

The next problem up is Script Run Percent and Spare Time. As the number of scripts per frame goes down the more sluggish your heli controls. Sailboats too... anything with scripts and controls. For now reagon owners and content creators are the ones bitching about the problem. I see it when trying to maneuver my EC-135 & H-160 copters. Landing in regions with less than 50% of scripts running is tedious. No zip in plop down landings. I've given up sailing my Flying Shadow at max. With sluggish controls I capsize too often.

This week things are better... but expect it to get better in the next weeks.