Second life will not download because of graphics card. I have Intel HD Graphics (Core i5)

[boffinkes]

Will the Intel HD Graphics (Core i5) run Second Life? Mine does not want to run it.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

No the Intel HD 2000 will not run the viewers based on SL Viewer 2 or 3.  The i5 CPU has the HD 2000 intergrated graphics chipset which is about equal to the older GMA 945 onboard chipset.  The very old viewer 1.23 (and probably some of the TPV's based on that code) will run SL at low settings pretty well.......medium with a fair amount of lag but not un-playable.  You can also get a discrete card if your computer has the capabilities of installing one (most laptops don't but most desktops do).

 

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Alternate_Viewers

 

The 1.23 download is at the bottom of the page.

 

[Ansariel Hiller]

What Peggy said is wrong. According to the GPU config table file, the Intel HD 2000 graphics chipset is supported to run on medium graphic settings by default. Maybe it's a driver issue that the card is not properly detected.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

In reply to Ansareil:

What Peggy said is wrong. According to the GPU config table file, the Intel HD 2000 graphics chipset is supported to run on medium graphic settings by default. Maybe it's a driver issue that the card is not properly detected.

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I know what Intel says about HD 2000 3D graphics.  I also have experience with that particular graphics chipset.  It's roughly equivalant to the Intel GMA 945 onboard graphics accelerator of old.  Any viewer based on the SL V-2 or V3 code will not run (actually it may not even install on some machines.......it did for the laptop I tried to get it to work on.  But it damned sure would not run the viewer(s) using the V-2 or 3 code).  The SL viewer 1.23 did work (as did Imprudence 1.23 code based viewer) and quite well at low settings in preferences.....iffy at mid settings.  So it will run 3D graphcs......to a point.  Anyone using the 1.23  based viewers are living on borrowed time because at some point in time LL is going to either pull the plug on the viewers or make SL so feature rich the viewers will just no longer work (that day is not too off either).  Those using the viewers are also missing more and more of what SL is every day.......when mesh gets more prevalant on the grid, those users are going to see nothing but weird prims everywhere without ever seeing that those prims are representing.

 

I wasn't wrong.  I said the graphics would work for 1.23 based viewers.........and it does.  However if someone is getting a new computer they are going to be very unhappy when the day comes that SL stops working for them because their graphics suddenly became obsolete for them.  And find out they wish they had known what their graphics were capable of for future use in SL.

[Ansariel Hiller]

In response to Peggy's answer on my answer:

Doesn't matter if it's similar to the GMA 945. Important is what is defined in gpu_table.txt in the viewer installation folder. It defines what GPUs are supported and in what default graphics setting. Quote from the file of current V3:

// Format:
//     Fields are separated by one or more tab (not space) characters
//     <recognizer name>    <regular expression>    <class>        <supported>
//
// Class Numbers:
//        0 - Defaults to low graphics settings.    No shaders on by default
//        1 - Defaults to mid graphics settings.    Basic shaders on by default
//        2 - Defaults to high graphics settings.     Atmospherics on by default.
//        3 - Same as class 2 for now.
//
// Supported Number:
//        0 - We claim to not support this card.
//        1 - We claim to support this card.
//
[...]
Intel HD Graphics 2000            .*Intel.*HD2000.*                            1        1

If it's not working it's more likely a driver/detection issue.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Thanks for the information. I can tell you that the HD 2000 does not work with either Viewer 2 or 3. I'm savvy enough to know to update a driver on a new computer. I'm also savvy enough to know how to install a driver correctly. Both were done on the laptop I was asked to try to get Viewer 3 to run on. I could not, after a couple hours of playing around with both V-2 and V-3.........I could get viewer 1.23 to work and run fairly nicely on the computer. It was not my computer (I haven't crossed over to the dark side for laptops, yet) and the computer in question does not have a discrete card installed, though it has the capability. I suggested my friend try to upgrade to a discrete card but she decided that 1.23 at medium settings was good enough for her use of SL (she used to be an avid SL'er but over the years lost most of her interest). I have no dog in this fight because I'm not a fan of laptops.........I'm just relating information that I know from first hand knowledge is a fact. Some computer guru will always find a way to make something that is not supposed to work work anyway.......but if the average person, with average computer knowledge cannot get something to work, then it won't work for the average person. Boffinkes' computer does not work........just as I found. My experience with that graphics chipset was the same.....hence my response.

 

If you can help him get this computer to work with the HD 2000 graphics then help him.....instead of arguing with me. The table says it should work...........but you've been around long enough that LL's claims are often overly optimistic (or just plain incorrect). Until you or someone else finds a way to get the HD 2000 graphics to work with V-2 or V-3 I'll stand by my claim.

[Ansariel Hiller]

Like I said: It's most likely a detection/driver-combination issue. If the driver returns an ID string that doesn't match the regular expression defined in the gpu_table.txt file, SL claims not to support unkown hardware. You would need the logfile to find out what actually is detected.