Low FPS making SL unusable

[Gecko Gorilla]

For the last few days SL has been unusable for my partner. FPS is fluctuating between 2 and 20 on Firestorm, Phoenix and V.2 on several different sims. No changes have been made to the PC. Did a clean install of SL and video drivers. Graphics are set to low with as many options turned off as possible. Other games run smoothly and connection tests return 5Mbps down 1 Mbps up. To me this looks like an LL issue from all the testing done but perhaps someone out there has seen this before or has an idea of what might be going on.

[Marigold Devin]

Welcome to Second Life Forums, Gecko.

Has your SL changed also over the last few days?  If you have noticed no particular changes, then doesn't that indicate it is a problem at your partner's end, rather than with SL? 

My own thoughts on the matter are your partner may have got something running on their PC that is affecting Second Life, for example, if windows are putting on automatic updates, or if anti-virus, or maintenance software is running, this can slow down performance of other programs running. 

Also, memory issues.

And in spite of connection tests seeming to be ok, it could be that in your partner's area there are times of the day when more people are sharing the internet connection.

If your partner is using a wireless connection there are also additional problems, in that other people can piggyback on her broadband.

Other answers will follow.

[Thinkerer Melville]

Check your router and modem.  Here is general troubleshootin info:

 Troubleshooting, cautions, getting help in SL. Summary 2012

http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/2012/01/kit-troubleshooting-cautions-getting.html#more

TKR

[PeterCanessa Oh]

---

Gecko Gorilla wrote:

...games run smoothly and connection tests return 5Mbps down 1 Mbps up...

---

 

SL can't be compared to games, which have almost all content pre-installed and optimised on your hard disk.  Instead SL has to donwload everything you see/hear.  Unfortunately the '5Mbps down 1 Mbps up' means absolutely nothing.  For a start you can't set SL comms that high but most importantly it is the quality of the connection that counts, not the raw speed.  Next time you log in to SL open the statistics window and check your ping and packet-loss.  If you can't log in run pingtest.net against a San Francisco server.

[Ayesha Askham]

Gecko

Despite the correctness of all the answers you have received so far I have to say something is definitely not right with either Linden Lab servers or their chosen ISP partner.

I have seen some odd data from tests on the line to SL in recent days which are totally unconnected with my other net connections.  Quite why or how I do not yet know, but I am poking a few possibilities.

You have only to look at this forum or encounter one of the recent oddities SL has foisted upon us to see that LL are fiddling under the hood of SL again.  I emphasise that after 4 years in SL I know how to isolate local issues!

Persistence in eliminating all possible, probable and downright unlikely issues that may be interfering with your SL is the only couse of action open to you.  I wish I could offer some positive proof, but I cannot.  Just stick at it!:smileyfrustrated:

[Silania Pastorelli]

Something isn't right and that's for sure. I am now blaming my Server because I have the same problems as his partner.

Today I have a new modem installed because I haven't been able to access the internet for more than 2 or 3 hours a day for the last week.

Tonight I have clean downloads of 2 viewers, the Lindens own and the last version of Phoenix before the new mesh enabled version and I can't stay in Second life longer than 3 minutes! This is getting to be really annoying and upsetting.

 

 

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

Since there is a new version of the Linden Lab viewer out, there are two possibilities.

1: It's been installed at an auto-upgrade, and, at least on your system, it has messed you up, big time.

2: It isn't installed, and it has the fixes you need. Firestorm, I'm afraid, is an old enough release to lag on a bunch of fixes that have been done.

I will say that Cool VL Viewer from Henri Beauchamp seems to be a lot faster.  He has been doing code optimisations rather than focusing just on the graphics. It's not a viewer for everyone, a bit too different in other ways, but it is different enough to be worth trying. If you still get the slow FPS, you likely will have to start looking at other details.

[Gecko Gorilla]

Just a little background before I give you some more results. I work in the IT/Tech support dept for the isp that she uses. Simple things like routers and connections are 100% NOT the issue here (not on her side at least). Also.. I am not in the same location as her so my SL has no bearing in the matter.

So...

Ping to a San Fransisco server: 151ms, DL 4.97, UL 1.98. However, using SL stats.. ping is near 300.

Memory is holding at almost 1 gig available while in SL but the entire pc slows to a crawl. By "entier PC" I mean as I was trying to chat with her in using google talk when she was in SL it would take a few seconds for what she was typing to show up on her screen. This makes me believe she has some sort of video issue but I am not trained on that side of things so not sure. Last night we downloaded Imprudence and logged onto OSGrid. Same results.. very slow.

Still looking for an explanation and ty for all the help.

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

SL doesn't have any game servers in San Francisco, so you have been misled. I think the appropriate check locations are Phoenix and Dallas.

You are getting a slightly worse ping time than I would expect from here in the UK for SL. My DL and UL speeds are limited by the ADSL line. I'd have to pay a lot more to get what you get.

1GB for SL? Out of how much system RAM? I am usually seeing more RAM used by SL, and I do wonder if the machine is a bit short of RAM. If there is disk-swapping going on, you are going to lose speed. Windows version is also a factor here, I don't know about other operating systems.

If your video card is good enough to handle high frame-rate, and the bottlenecks are elsewhere, you can see minimal drops in frame rate as you increase the graphics quality setting, while the figure for ktris/sec increases. It can also take a few minutes for the frame rate to stabilise after you log in.

[dd Temin]

Greetings,  this sounds to me like a video card/graphics problem.......usually caused by over-heating of video card  or graphics chip..........or  the Video card /chip is just plane going bad.

Running SL  stresses / (creates more heat ) of a graphics card  than any video game.

There are a couple of graphics hardware option settings in the edit...preference......graphics  settings of the viewer   that can cause low frame rates if not  set correctly.  In "hardware options"...."enable VBO  box needs to be checked.

Good luck finding  the problem...i know it can be very frustrating  at times.

[Nalates Urriah]

When you are logged into SL you can get an actual game server URL and IP address. Look in Help->About.

A tracert to an actual game server will give you reults you can use to file a trouble ticket with SL if it is on their side, which it well could be.

For us to give you real suggestions, not just guesses, we need the viewer's Help->About from the troubled computer.

What changes are being made and when by the Lab is a little confusing right now because of the holidays. Next week they will be back to their regular schedules.

The version of the viewer is important. Viewers before 3.2.5 do not have the majority of Shining fixes for better OpenGL compatibility. The 3.2.5 and 3.2.6 are rumored to have most of the shining fixes and run faster. I've been using the development 3.2.7 and I think it is faster than 3.2.5 and 3.2.6.

Exodus and Cool VL are both fast. Things are changing so fast it is hard to know which viewer is fastest. 

[Eve Greymoon]

Her computer info would be helpful, what video card, driver version, what version of windows, processor, etc.  Sounds like a  video card issue but hard to tell without info about her specs.

As for her whole computer slowing down, go into debug settings and change her background yield time to 200 or so. This will give other programs running on her system priority over SL if the client is minimized.  Let us know if that helps with her whole system slowing down when she's running SL. 

 

[Dianera]

getting a very similar problem.

updated video drivers about two months ago early December for any new games for xmas.

been a long time SL player not afraid of lag. didnt have a a single problem before this latest patch. was playing fine a few weeks ago. ball park just after new years.

 

any ways loaded her up yesterday. it said new build. i know sl can be a royal pain. so i skipped the new build logged in hella lag unplayable. did all the checks restart took note of every thing. when logging in on my previous build...cant remember cos its gone.0 the second time i took note that my hud was missing all but buy and upload when though settings nothing was wrong tried lowest graphics it didnt help.

 

it also messed with my computers over all performance. so i figure hey ok it defiantly needs a update. updated it got my hud back lag is exactly the same on all graphic options. I even have to run the game in compatibility mode. Been dredging the forums looking for answers. closest latest thread found to this issue...

 

Scrap that i just disabled voice chat.. instantly went back to perfect....WTF

 

CPU: Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E6550 @ 2.33GHz (2333.33 MHz) Memory: 2047 MB OS Version: Microsoft Windows 98 compatibility mode. real ver: 6.0 (Build 2900) Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation Graphics Card: GeForce 9500 GT/PCI/SSE2 Windows Graphics Driver Version: 6.14.0012.5896 OpenGL Version: 3.3.0 libcurl Version: libcurl/7.21.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8q zlib/1.2.5 c-ares/1.7.1 J2C Decoder Version: KDU v6.4.1 Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.750000 Qt Webkit Version: 4.7.1 (version number hard-coded) Voice Server Version: Vivox Built with MSVC version 1600 Packets Lost: 48/30,218 (0.2%)

 

disabled voice holly crap back to normal upon enabling and disabling there is a vivox voice server error... nice new feature optional lag button...ta LL