Mesh Viewer (Firestorm) for mac. Help please!

[Nova Galaxy]

Well, I tried messing with my bandwidth and I STILL can't see mesh. The interface doesn't load text for me as well as it crashing when I try to tp other places. Mesh avatars do not load properly and look distorted, sometimes they don't even load. I have an intel mac. And I really want to experience this new stuff!

 Please, try and help me out. Don't say really immature stuff like 'get a real computer' because this computer was a hand-me-down. I can't afford a whole new computer. :/

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Unfortunately mesh viewers need a good computer to run smoothly.  You may want to check the minimum specs for the veiwer you have and compare it to yours.  I understand you can't afford an upgrade, but at least you'll konw if your wasting your time trying to run it.

Sorry i don't know much about Mac's so can't help you much.  You should try the inworld phoenix/firestorm group though,  They can probably help you.

[Chosen Few]

What graphics card is in the machine, and how current are the drivers?  Depending on the age and specific model Mac, it should have either an Intel GMA, an nVidia IGP, or a real nVidia graphic card.  Pray it's the latter.  If it's the former, it will likely never run SL very well.   If it's the one in the middle, that's substantially better, but still no substitute for a real card.

If the machine is a full tower, like a Mac Pro, it's likely got a discrete card in it, and you should be able to update the drivers, no problem.  You can also replace the card with a newer one, if you want.  You can get a ton of graphics power for not a lot of money these days.

If it's a laptop, then you're most likely stuck with whatever is already in it.  Chances are it's all integrated.  You still should be able to update the drivers, though, which might solve your problem.  (And even if doesn't solve this particular issue, it's a good idea to keep up to date anyway.)

If it's an iMac, then technically the graphics card is upgradeable, but it takes hours to do, even for an expert, and the risks are huge.  Plus, the cards are proprietary, and not exactly easy to come by.  Apple made some really screwy engineering decisions with the iMac line.

[Allric Mabellon]

have you tried the official LL viewer to see if it works? I realize most people dispise it, and lately its just getting a little screwier lol. However, the firstorm viewer is techinically still a beta and not nearly as stable. I use it myself and sometimes it just makes me laugh when it does weird things. Its very nice but if your main concern is seeing mesh (and it should be, mesh is awesome) try the LL viewer. It will hurt at first to get used to but it will be worth it if it lets you see mesh.

[Deacon Sciavo]

Hey I'm having the same issue with my Mac now. It's run perfectly until this past week. Did you resolve your problem at all or find someone who was able to answer your questions?

[Fizz Savira]

I recall searching for this issue on behalf of a friend (I have a Mac and they have a Mac) and discovered it was somehow related to DNS issues of all things!

She did resolve her issues and is able to run firestorm now by solving her DNS issues.

So maybe that's your trouble as well...

Good luck!

 

[Luc Starsider]

If it's a relatively new mac, it should not really have any issues. Most Macs, apart from the now retired MacBook and the lower range MacBook Pros, have dedicated AMD or nVidia cards, but the MacPro tower model is the only one with a desktop version of the graphics cards (AMD). The rest of them have mobile versions of the card. I have Macs with cards from both of these vendors, and I rarely have issues seing mesh (or any other issues for that matter).

Which Mac do you have? And what graphics card(s) does in have?

The portables from later years have dual graphics on board - an integrated Intel chip as well as a dedicated card. Have a look in 'About Second Life' in the viewers help menu to see which one is in use. If it's the Intel chip - which I doubt - you could make sure the right one is used by checking a box in the energy savings control panel in system settings (on the Mac).

On Macs from before the last two years, it may be an idea to check whether 'hardware skinning' is turned on. If it's on, try turning it off and see if it helps. You won't get shadows working if you turn it off, but chances are you don't use shadows on the mac anyway.

Lastly - and this is not a Mac specific thing - try increasing the debug setting 'MeshMaxConcurrentRequests' from its default 32 to around 100. I'm not sure this is the problem or the solution for you, but who knows, it might help . I'm also not sure what the ideas number is for this setting, but have it set to 100 myself.

- Luc -