Does everyone else have much more lag on the latest firestorm viewer?

[ashlynkilane]

After I have updated the firestorm viewer, I realize that I have much more trouble logging in and when I'm in-world, my fps is much lower than before...is anyone else experiencing this? Or does the secondlife viewer also have the same problem now? 😶 Hopefully I'm not the only one that has this issue.

[Rowan Amore]

Just now, ashlynkilane said:

After I have updated the firestorm viewer, I realize that I have much more trouble logging in and when I'm in-world, my fps is much lower than before...is anyone else experiencing this? Or does the secondlife viewer also have the same problem now? 😶 Hopefully I'm not the only one that has this issue.

It seems to be one of the biggest issues with the EEP viewer.

[Ceka Cianci]

I think I'm gonna keep waiting until there is a version that won't have me reverting back to my current one..

I'm still on Firestorm 6.3.2  right now.

[SarahThe Wanderer]

Yes, I keep crashing like hell!

[FairreLilette]

That's a viewer from Hell as far as I am concerned.  It's horrid.  I would not rez many items in my home; nor a prim with a Christmas Party invite on it.  It's viewer texture buffer only goes up to 512 and it wasn't fetching a lot of my textures, while the BOM viewer goes to 2048.  I'm back on the BOM viewer edition now.   The buffer needs to be higher as BOM skins will be 1024 now.  It was thrashing my skins as well, or in other words, not fetching.  

EDIT:  More info:  I told the Firestorm inworld support people the viewer only has a texture buffer of 512.  So, I asked the FS inworld support..."are you sure you haven't mixed up the viewers?"  To which I got no answer.  For 32-bit, texture buffer needs to be at 512.  For 64-bit, it needs to be 2048.  So, I dunno what's going on or what they are thinking here.  

Edited December 22, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Adamburp Adamczyk]

nope.

[Rolig Loon]

24 minutes ago, ashlynkilane said:

I have much more trouble logging in and when I'm in-world, my fps is much lower than before...is anyone else experiencing this?

Not me, on either viewer. Things look pretty normal as far as logging in and FPS are concerned.  Regions have been wonky recently, though, so we may be visiting different sorts of places.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

I haven't noticed an issue, myself, but YMMV I guess. Haven't we determined that the culprit is settings for water?

I have to say, honestly, that FS has never looked better on my screen since I updated.

And yesterday, by pure coincidence, I logged into one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen in SL at my sim. I was kind of stunned.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Scylla Rhiadra
Missing word

[Rowan Amore]

39 minutes ago, ashlynkilane said:

After I have updated the firestorm viewer, I realize that I have much more trouble logging in and when I'm in-world, my fps is much lower than before...is anyone else experiencing this? Or does the secondlife viewer also have the same problem now? 😶 Hopefully I'm not the only one that has this issue.

There is a known issue with water causing a performance drop.

https://jira.secondlife.com/plugins/servlet/mobile#issue/BUG-229031

[FairreLilette]

49 minutes ago, ashlynkilane said:

After I have updated the firestorm viewer, I realize that I have much more trouble logging in and when I'm in-world, my fps is much lower than before...is anyone else experiencing this? Or does the secondlife viewer also have the same problem now? 😶 Hopefully I'm not the only one that has this issue.

Look under GRAPHICS > HARDWARE and see what your VIEWER TEXTURE MEMORY BUFFER is set too on the EEP viewer.  On two FS viewers, the EEP one and the top one available under OLDER RELEASES for FS downloading both have viewer texture memory buffer set to a maximum of 512, which was not "fetching" many of my textures not even my skin.  So I scrolled down and saw the BOM viewer still available for download.  It's numbers start with what Ceka has listed above 6.3.2.  Don't download the first 6.3.9, texture memory buffer is the same - max 512.  The 6.3.2 BOM viewer has viewer texture memory buffer up to 2048 and that's the viewer Ceka and I are talking about 6.3.2 and you will see it at the bottom of the photo.  6.3.9 has a viewer texture memory buffer for 64-bit set at 512 too and caused the same problems for me.    

https://wiki.firestormviewer.org/fs_older_downloads

Edited December 22, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Ceka Cianci]

2 minutes ago, RowanMinx said:

There is a known issue with water causing a performance drop.

https://jira.secondlife.com/plugins/servlet/mobile#issue/BUG-229031

So that's just an SL issue or a specific viewer issue?

Edited December 22, 2020 by Ceka Cianci

[FairreLilette]

5 minutes ago, RowanMinx said:

There is a known issue with water causing a performance drop.

https://jira.secondlife.com/plugins/servlet/mobile#issue/BUG-229031

I tried that and it did not work one iota to help.   And, FS when I finally contacted them told me I had a fetching issue.  Well, to fix the fetching issue, it reads you need a viewer texture memory buffer of higher than 512.  I tried all the steps and I mean ALL to improve "fetching" I was given, none worked.  So, for now...I'm off it.  BOM with a viewer texture memory buffer of 2048 solved all the problems.  

Edited December 22, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Solar Legion]

Funny, for every single release thus far my Texture Memory Buffer limit has not deviated one byte. Maximum selectable when not sing the Dynamic Buffer is 2048. Maximum for the Dynamic matches my GPU VRAM (not that I would ever set it that high).

It ought to be noted:

1. I am on Linux
2. There have been very few complaints (that I have seen) in the Forum with such an issue on any OS

Therefore the issue is not likely to be on the Viewer end.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 minute ago, Solar Legion said:

Funny, for every single release thus far my Texture Memory Buffer limit has not deviated one byte. Maximum selectable when not sing the Dynamic Buffer is 2048. Maximum for the Dynamic matches my GPU VRAM (not that I would ever set it that high).

It ought to be noted:

1. I am on Linux
2. There have been very few complaints (that I have seen) in the Forum with such an issue on any OS

Therefore the issue is not likely to be on the Viewer end.

I may try it out then.. I know I'm due.. hehehe  My current viewer is from Sept 2019..

[FairreLilette]

16 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I haven't noticed an issue, myself, but YMMV I guess. Haven't we determined that the culprit is settings for water?

I have to say, honestly, that FS has never looked better on my screen since I updated.

And yesterday, by pure coincidence, I logged into one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen in SL at my sim. I was kind of stunned.

I see some of you saying no problem.  So, what it could be on my end is I'm a Wifi connection.  Perhaps a 512 viewer texture memory buffer is not compatible for those on a wifi connection.

I tried everything to correct the fetching from the link I was given from the FS support team.  Nothing worked other than re-installing the BOM viewer with a 2048 viewer texture memory buffer.  

[Solar Legion]

9 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

So that's just an SL issue or a specific viewer issue?

As for the water issue mentioned .... I cannot say with certainty as there are rather few Viewers i can install without having to resort to WINE (which I flat out refuse to do) but the behavior concerning water that is mentioned is present in all Viewers. The difference will be how each TPV handles it.

Firestorm has a checkbox under the Rendering tab of the Graphics preferences section to enable the old behavior (Occlude Objects for water distortion map). For some this helps. Others had to make certain their GPU allowed GL Threaded Optimization specifically for their Viewer. Still others have yet to figure out what exactly is causing the difference.

On my machine, toggling that checkbox helped, though there is still a bit of performance hit with semi crowded places.

I also have the Dynamic Buffer set to 2048 MB with a total 20% extra margin (10% in each slider) which does make most things load in faster.

[Rolig Loon]

Just now, FairreLilette said:

So, what it could be on my end is I'm a Wifi connection. 

Maybe.  Depending on your router and whatever else is going on nearby, wifi can give you lower performance.  I only use a wifi connection when I have to log in with my laptop. The desktop uses a direct cable connection.  My bet is still on server issues, though.

[Ceka Cianci]

1 minute ago, Solar Legion said:

As for the water issue mentioned .... I cannot say with certainty as there are rather few Viewers i can install without having to resort to WINE (which I flat out refuse to do) but the behavior concerning water that is mentioned is present in all Viewers. The difference will be how each TPV handles it.

Firestorm has a checkbox under the Rendering tab of the Graphics preferences section to enable the old behavior (Occlude Objects for water distortion map). For some this helps. Others had to make certain their GPU allowed GL Threaded Optimization specifically for their Viewer. Still others have yet to figure out what exactly is causing the difference.

On my machine, toggling that checkbox helped, though there is still a bit of performance hit with semi crowded places.

I also have the Dynamic Buffer set to 2048 MB with a total 20% extra margin (10% in each slider) which does make most things load in faster.

I've not had any problems with water yet, So i think I'm gonna go for it and give it a try..

I can always drop back if I have to..

Thank you for the quick response..

[Solar Legion]

2 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

I've not had any problems with water yet, So i think I'm gonna go for it and give it a try..

I can always drop back if I have to..

Thank you for the quick response..

Well, you won't know if the water occlusion behavior will affect you until after you update. That particular bit is all client side.

No problem and good luck!

Edited December 22, 2020 by Solar Legion

[Solar Legion]

4 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Maybe.  Depending on your router and whatever else is going on nearby, wifi can give you lower performance.  I only use a wifi connection when I have to log in with my laptop. The desktop uses a direct cable connection.  My bet is still on server issues, though.

Network connection shouldn't affect the Texture Buffer maximum limit. Nor should it affect which version the download link pulls.

[Arielle Popstar]

If i remember right from chats in the TpV meetings, the water occlusion thing would only be if within draw distance of the water.

You can also install the new version of FS in a different folder so both are still available.

[Solar Legion]

1 minute ago, Arielle Popstar said:

If i remember right from chats in the TpV meetings, the water occlusion thing would only be if within draw distance of the water.

You can also install the new version of FS in a different folder so both are still available.

Anecdotal/Personal Observation: This was not the case.

[Gage Wirefly]

1 hour ago, FairreLilette said:

That's a viewer from Hell as far as I am concerned.  It's horrid.  I would not rez many items in my home; nor a prim with a Christmas Party invite on it.  It's viewer texture buffer only goes up to 512 and it wasn't fetching a lot of my textures, while the BOM viewer goes to 2048.  I'm back on the BOM viewer edition now.   The buffer needs to be higher as BOM skins will be 1024 now.  It was thrashing my skins as well, or in other words, not fetching.  

EDIT:  More info:  I told the Firestorm inworld support people the viewer only has a texture buffer of 512.  So, I asked the FS inworld support..."are you sure you haven't mixed up the viewers?"  To which I got no answer.  For 32-bit, texture buffer needs to be at 512.  For 64-bit, it needs to be 2048.  So, I dunno what's going on or what they are thinking here.  

The EEP version has dynamic texture memory enabled by default and its default setting is 512, you can move it up 2048 or higher depending on your gpu. I have 4gb so I leave it at 2048 and it runs great. You can untick dynamic texture memory and it will function like the old way. 

Edited December 22, 2020 by Gage Wirefly

[Gage Wirefly]

3 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

If i remember right from chats in the TpV meetings, the water occlusion thing would only be if within draw distance of the water.

You can also install the new version of FS in a different folder so both are still available.

The water issue is nowhere near as severe as it was in the test versions, they fixed somthing, althought there is still a slight dip in fps with water for some reason. 

[FairreLilette]

4 minutes ago, Gage Wirefly said:

The EEP version has dynamic texture memory enabled by default and its default setting is 512, you can move it up 2048 or higher depending on your gpu. I have 4gb so I leave it at 2048 and it runs great.

Oh, I see it now.  I didn't see that before.  But, when I said to the FS support team "the viewer texture memory buffer only goes to 512", I got no answer.  Mine didn't show any way to set it higher that I could see....?  I'm not sure what is up here on my end.