LOD too low...I think?

[Benson Gravois]

Does anyone know how to increase the LOD, (I think that's the term) on objects? I have a couple pieces of furniture that look great up close, but when I take two steps away they look like scrambled eggs?

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

Preferences > Graphics > Level Of Detail (LOD). 

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

There is nothing you can do to the couch to make it better quality.  That was on the creator of the couch.  Furniture shopping can be a whole process.  I go directly to each store with my personal LOD setting of 2 and look at a rezzed version for myself.  If the couch falls apart when I walk farther away, I don't buy it.  

Many people don't walk around with their personal LOD setting on 4, so your couch will most likely scramble for others viewing it.

If you were only asking to increase your personal view, the do what @SarahKB7 Koskinen suggested and see if your couch sticks around.

[Sid Nagy]

There are tons of stuff rezzed everywhere that deform at the standard LOD settings.
There are as always multiple answers to a problem in life:
One can keep the LOD settings around 1 like LL lab does standard in their browser and have a hard time finding the right stuff or bump it up to 4 (I know I'm cursing in some churches now) and have a lot less trouble with viewing things.

I always chose for the 4 setting.
Because I'm lazy, I don't want to fight long time ago lost wars, and performance stayed acceptable on my PC.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Sid Nagy
Improving the text, as usual.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

What @SarahKB7 Koskinen said.

Higher LoD setting means lower frame rate, though. It's one or the other. It's really up to what your computer can handle. Hope you'll be able to adjust it to your satisfaction.

The default LoD setting for the most used viewers had been 2.5 for years, if I'm not mistaking. Recently, Firestorm lowered the default to 2.0. For the longest period if time, I had mine set to 4.0, until a few years ago, around the time when Linden lab allowed 67% more Land Impact on a Region. That allowance increase definitely slowed things down. Notwithstanding, most objects actually hold up pretty well between 2.5 and 2.0.

Apart from adjusting your LoD in the graphics settings, you might take into consideration furniture that's acceptable at slightly larger distances from the get go, next time when you are shopping for some.

I hope this is also a heads up for creators: please consider putting a little bit more time and effort into building decent lower LoD models. It might just win over a few more customers. It definitely won't harm your reputation.

[Chic Aeon]

Please note that even with a very hefty desktop computer directly connected (not wifi) running at LOD 4 can FRY YOUR COMPUTER'S POWER SUPPLY.  I went through two before I figured out what the problem was.  LOD2 is the safest for most people even if you run on ultra. The preponderance of heavy mesh being uploaded these days just compounds the problem. 

[Coffee Pancake]

29 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Please note that even with a very hefty desktop computer directly connected (not wifi) running at LOD 4 can FRY YOUR COMPUTER'S POWER SUPPLY.  I went through two before I figured out what the problem was.  LOD2 is the safest for most people even if you run on ultra. The preponderance of heavy mesh being uploaded these days just compounds the problem. 

Whoa there a moment Chic.

SL can not fry your power supply, not matter what's going on in SL.

If power supplies are failing on you, then your power supply is under rated for the load your computer is capable of presenting. Power draw can and will vary in use depending on what the computer is doing, and you should have a supply that will allow your PC to run full bore, everything to the max, all day long, in the middle of summer.

 

The fact that you're blaming SL for these failures is especially concerning. SL is a minimally threaded application that can barely get a modern GPU out of bed. I could post links to web pages that put more of a load on your computer.

 

 

I can not stress this enough - Your computer should have a power supply with a rating that exceeds the maximum possible current draw by a decent margin (say 20%).

Running with a power supply that is not rated for the load the computer can draw is a "burn your house down" fire hazard.

 

 

There are lots of power supply calculators online. Buying a bigger supply than you need is more energy efficient. If in doubt, please do post your spec and ask.

https://www.newegg.com/tools/power-supply-calculator/

 

 

[ChinRey]

4 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

(I know I'm cursing in some churches now)

What you on your own land or in your own skybox far away from pulic view, is nobody's business but yours.

However, I think I'd like to look at three diffeent aspects of this LOD/LOD factor issue.

---*---

The content creator

Let's clear up one misconception right away: The purpose of reducing the LOD models so much the viewer needs to increase their LOD factor is not to save LI. The only purpose is to compensate for the creator's poor technical skills. Any relatively skilled 3D modeller who is reasonably familiar with the quirks of SL can make meshes with LI as low as (or at least close enough to make no practical difference) what the "LOD butchers" can manage.

With well optimized mesh you run out of space long before you run out of prims even on a homestead sim and of course, once you reach that level, there's no need to worry about the prim count. Anybody who can't manage that technical quality level is not a skilled mesh maker. There's no reason to discuss this any further. It's a well established and proven fact and if you think otherwise, you're wrong.

However, that raises the question, how skilled should an SL mesh maker be?

We have to distinguish between commercial and non-commercial content creation here.

If you have a significant income from your SL building, from sales or commissions, you need to be at that level to justify your pay. If not you don't deserve the money you make. (Then again, there's no shortage in the world of people who don't deserve the money they earn; a few more of them don't make much difference to the big picture.)

It's different for non-commercial content creators though, and that includes those who only have a symbolic income from SL. Second Life is supposed to be an open and welcoming platform for hobbyist content creators and it's not really fair to expect professional quality from them. All we can ask from them is that they try their best.

 

---*---

The user

You have your on little private hideaway in SL. Are you happy with how it looks and the graphics settings/lag you need for it? If you are, all is well. If not, it's your problem, nobody else's.

 

---*---

Second Life as a whole

It's very different if your build is within public view. Then you have at least a moral obligation to do something that's almost unheard of in SL: You have to try to respect and accomodate the needs of other users too!!!

It's especially important when we consider newcomers. Even in the unlikely case where they do have hardware strong enough to handle a bloated LOD factor they still have no idea how to do it or even that it's possible. So what they see is a decomposed LOD butchered scene or - as often as not - a scene lagged down by ridiculously overdone LOD models. That's not a very good first impression. I'm not saying this is the big reason for SL's poor retention rate but it certainly doesn't help and I do believe it's one significant factor.

Edited January 9, 2022 by ChinRey

[Marianne Little]

Whoa, how big rooms do you have? Cathedral size? It is quite common for outdoor furniture to fall apart from a 100 m distance or so. But indoors, when you are 10-20 m close to it?

The furniture must be criminally bad made, or maybe you have an integrated video card and the viewer read that you have next to nothing, and set your LOD to mini, mini, minimum?

How low can the viewer set an users LOD?

[Sid Nagy]

3 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

Please note that even with a very hefty desktop computer directly connected (not wifi) running at LOD 4 can FRY YOUR COMPUTER'S POWER SUPPLY.  I went through two before I figured out what the problem was.  LOD2 is the safest for most people even if you run on ultra. The preponderance of heavy mesh being uploaded these days just compounds the problem. 

I don't know. I have been in SL since early 2007 and since the LOD factor became a thing when sculpties arrived, I almost always had my LOD factor on 4.
Never had to replace a power supply or a graphic card in my machines. As always, I write my PC off after 5-6 years in use, but that is because I like(d) to keep up with the developments in PC possibilities, not because of hardware failures.
But I agree, make sure that your hardware can handle what you are using it for.

Edited January 9, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[LittleMe Jewell]

Back in my early days, when creators told everyone to set their LOD to 8, I did so.  And I ran it that way for many years and never once had any computer issues because of it.

These days I set it anywhere from 1.5 - 4.0, depending on what I am doing. When decorating the inside of my home, I typically use 2.0 (very few people are seeing the inside of my home - other than folks that cam in).  Outside, I'll set it to 1.5 - primarily because I don't want things to look horrid for others and I have no idea what their computers are like or what their settings are.  When doing Hunts  When exploring, I'll vary from 1.5 - 4.0 depending on the area I'm at and what I am wanting to see and accomplish there.

 

I will add that when I shop, I typically want an item that cleanly reduces the look or something that entirely disappears from a distance, as opposed to something that truly looks broken.

Edited January 9, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Chic Aeon]

It is also possible that I was online much more (like all day besides when the typist was sleeping) and working my machine hard. There were some sims I would always crash in (mostly role play with lots of heavy mesh or sculpts).  

If someone is worried about how hard they are working their computer, they can always install Speccy (free) and check the temperature of your computer.  Sure there are other programs that do the same checks.

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Chic Aeon
grammar

[Maryanne Solo]

Minimum PSU for my custom comps has always been nothing less than 700watts for the past 6 years.
I'm sorry lovely mother earth 8-/ 😓

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Haven't read the whole thread, but I find that sometimes simply alt-click on a mesh object that won't resolve from a distance makes it do so. But that's only on my screen.

[Coffee Pancake]

3 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

It is also possible that I was online much more (like all day besides when the typist was sleeping) and working my machine hard. There were some sims I would always crash in (mostly role play with lots of heavy mesh or sculpts).  

If someone is worried about how hard they are working their computer, they can always install Speccy (free) and check the temperature of your computer.  Sure there are other programs that do the same checks.

 

RTX 3070 is fine up to ~75C, after that it will throttle down to try and stop the heat going any higher (still fine, just intentionally a few % slower), it will shut down around 100C to prevent damage .. which wont actually occur till much higher. Consumer stuff is engineered with pretty wide tolerances and lots of self monitoring built in.

In general the only time you need care about GPU temps is if you're hitting the thermal throttle, and not because the card is in danger, but because your game is running slower than it could be!

For a PSU I wouldn't use anything less than a 750W for a desktop gaming rig, and stick to a good brand, my go to is either Corsair or EVGA (try to stick to the same brand as the modular cables are not interchangeable .. even though they will fit!!).

There is no harm in a PSU being over kill .. it will just run cooler last a lot longer.