"Graphics card that Second Life does not support" Any way of getting round this? Help Please!

[Kittykittycatgirl]

Hey guys, I start Second Life and get this error each time... It says it will "Probably be okay" but its all laggy and the world looks broken.

My specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium

Intel Celereron T3500 (2.1Ghz dual core)

3gb DDR3 RAM

(Now the problem...)

INTEL GMA 4500M

 

Is there anyway I can get it to work properly? I heard there are third party viewers but I tried Rainbow and it was a tiny bit better but still broken... Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

~Chloe 

 

Edit - The graphics are already on lowest, so that won't fix the problem.

[Claireschen Hesten]

the only way to get round the problem unless someone knows better is to upgrade your graphics intel graphics just aren't cut out to handle something as demanding as SL even if you could get it to run on the lowest graphics thats the best it will manage in the short term you might like to see if there is an upgraded driver for your graphics that may help you

[Kittykittycatgirl]

Its a laptop

[Peggy Paperdoll]

From Notebookcheck.net:  http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-GMA-4500M.20379.0.html

---------------------------------------------------------------

The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (GMA 4500M) (sometimes also called
GMA X4500 M) is a DirectX 10 capable integrated shared memory graphic card for
laptops. The mGPU is integrated in the Intel GM40 and GL40 chipsets and designed
for cheap laptops.

Compared to the GMA 4500M HD, the 4500M features a slower core clock (400 MHz versus
533MHz) and is thus a bit slower in games.

The chip itself is capable of supporting the CPU to decode HD videos, but because of
the slower clock rate, the 4500M has troubles decoding 1080p videos fluently and
therefore has no full Blu-Ray logo support.

The gaming performance of the 4500M is not really good. Only less demanding 3D games
and very old games may run fluently in low detail settings. Sims 3 and F.E.A.R.
for example achieved 30 fps (with stutters) in low deatails and low resolustions
(combined with a fast CPU). 2D applications, games and Windows Vista / Windows 7
Aero are supported without any performance problems.

Compared to other modern integrated chipsets like the
GeForce 9400M or the Radeon HD 3200, the 4500M is clearly the slowest especially
for 3D games. Still the power consumption of the chip is quite competitive, so
it may be the right choice for office tasks

----------------------------------------------------

The video adapter is not designed for 3D graphics and no matter what driver or tweak you do to it, it just will not perform well.  Your only solution is to upgrade to a discrete card that is, at least, a entry level gaming card.  The problem is the chipset is put in inexpensive laptops and those laptops are not generally capable of such an upgrade.  You have the wrong computer for SL. 

Sorry for the bad news.

 

[Lynda Klossovsky]

Hmm, also i noticed sorrys to say, that a celeron d (which is the cpu you list) is a good cheap general purpose  cpu, mainly for office number crunching....even though it does connect to SL,  the actual performance of the cpu isnt very fast, therefore the sluggish  grey views..

(i say this because i have a dual core pentium, so i know lol )

 

Sorry to be the bearer  of more bad news..

[Kittykittycatgirl]

But the thing is, I can play games like Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Half-life 2 Episode 2, Counter-Strike Source etc.

[leliel Mirihi]

---

Kittykittycatgirl wrote:

But the thing is, I can play games like Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Half-life 2 Episode 2, Counter-Strike Source etc.

---

All of those games use the source engine which hasn't had a major update since 2006, and wasn't exactly known for having high system requirements before that.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

I'm sure you can play those other games........and probably many more.  SL looks like a game and even "plays" like a game....that's about where the similarity ends though.  The entire platform the makes up SL it totally different than any of those games.  The most striking differences are, first, practically nothing to do with SL resides on your computer..........it's all remotely stored on the servers owned and maintained by Linden Lab at two locations in the United States (San Francisco, CA and Dallas, TX).  Everything you see in SL is brought to your computer via the Internet from one of those locations after being requested by your viewer.  None of those other games do that.  Second, practically everything you see in SL is user created......Linden Lab creates next to nothing on the grid except maybe the land, water, sky, stars, moon and sun.  All those objects, items, prims and the scripts to animate, change or allow interaction are created by users just like you and me.  Very few of those creators are professional (meaning professionally trained).  The creations in SL are almost never optimised for rendering proformance (heck many of the creators eyes would glaze over if you spoke to them of optimistion). 

 

What all that does is put a very heavy load on the individuals using SL computers.....it requires a machine capable of above average graphics (and, at least, a decent CPU).  Everything is rendered on the fly.........it's called for by your viewer and delivered to you by the servers and your machine has to be able to handle what's delivered.  If you machine does not have the ability to keep up with what's coming, it lags or fails to perform..........maybe even crash.  It's the nature of SL.  It's what makes SL what it is.  Some computers (actually most modern, mid-level computers) will do okay.........the better the machine is the better it will do.  I'm sorry to say that your computer is at the bottom of the heap (so to speak).  It's just not going to run SL very well at all.........there's no need to gloss it over.  You have the wrong computer for SL.  You can get SL to run but you'll never be happy.  Facts are facts.........yeah buts and what ifs are not going to change the facts.

[Deej Kasshiki]

SL just doesn't play well with Intel integrated graphics chips, plain and simple. The fact that you can play the games you listed doesn't really say a lot for the reasons stated by another poster. Every game engine is different and SL is an even more unique case due to the user created (non-optimized) content.

Even people who use high-end "gaming" laptops equipped with dedicated graphics chips struggle to run SL.

[Carol Darkthief]

The big problem is the graphics hardware

You have a decent amount of RAM and a fast enough processor chip, able to run SSE2 code. More RAM would be nice.

If you're talking about a laptop machine, you're locked out of any easy fix, and the graphics hardware you have is intended by Intel for laptops.

If the graphics chip is being used in a desktop motherboard, you could install a replacement card, and get decent performance. Doing it that way seems like a daft design choice.

You have a good machine, but it wasn't the right choice for SL. 

[Etalia Cristole]

I was able to run SL on a Netbook that had a GMA 450 with everything GFX wise turned off getting about 5 FPS.  I used this free app called GMABooster to pick up another ~5 FPS.  Not great, but it runs.  Your GFX card is clocked lower then what it should be which is where GMABooster comes into play.  Nine times out of ten, a GMA GFX card is clocked at 200 mhz instead of 400 mhz which it can handle w/o an increase in voltage.  Its kind of an overclock hack but does not really effect battery life or increase heat.  Keep in mind that card is really, really old.  Even if you bought the laptop yesterday, that gfx card has been in production for many, many years and is well behind the times.  You will be hard pressed to get ANY laptop to run SL with any real graphic settings turned up.  Part of this is the crappy graphical engine they are using called Windlight.

You can try GMA Booster and hope you can pick up a few more FPS but don't expect much.  Sorry I don't have better news.  No matter how hard it tries, an elephant is not going to be able to screw a goldfish.  You are kind of in the same boat. 

http://www.gmabooster.com/

[Anne Willful]

I have the same set up more or less and Phoenix works in most places - though lags in some.

 

Viewer 2 etc is hopeless for me

 

I see the technical explanation but until LL recognise that most non-gamers buy standard laptops without enhanced graphics they are going to continue to put off a lot of the new people they are saying are joining in record numbers

 

 

[Wisdom Davi]

I been playing in SL for three years on an old acer with mobil intel chipset family on a wireless connection..