Radeon 4000 series graphics cards

[Tamara Kuhn]

We have a number of computers here (Uni of West of England) that run SL with Radeon HD 4000 series graphics cards, and in the last week they've all lost the ability to render the detail in water and sky. No matter what we do re graphics settings it doesn't fix it. The new viewer today and the latest beta viewer both have the same problem. Windlight? Can it be fixed?

[Theresa Tennyson]

The current SL viewers are using fairly new versions of the OpenGL graphics language. Previous versions used older OpenGL commands that were causing serious problems with recent video cards and drivers. ATI cards seem to have problems with the changes in the new viewers, especially if their drivers are old. Check what OpenGL version the computers are supporting in "Help" - "About Second LIfe." The version should be at least 3.3. If it's an earlier version try updating your video drivers. Also, many ATI cards seem to be having problems when the "Use OpenGL Vertex Buffer Objects" (VBO's) setting in "Graphics" - "Hardware" is selected. Try turning that off.

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello Tamara. Check out for new drivers for your graphics card. Some other residents reported the same problem after 3.2.4 version of the official viewer.

[ScentualLust]

Firestorm 3.2.1 (24179) Nov 27 2011 15:25:09 (Firestorm-Release)
Release Notes

CPU: Intel® Core2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz (1995 MHz)
Memory: 2048 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon X1600

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.453-080122a-060293C
OpenGL Version: 2.1.7278 Release
RestrainedLove API: (disabled)
libcurl Version: libcurl/7.21.1 OpenSSL/0.9.8q zlib/1.2.5 c-ares/1.7.1
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
Audio Driver Version: FMOD version 3.750000
Qt Webkit Version: 4.7.1 (version number hard-coded)
Voice Server Version: Not Connected
Settings mode: Phoenix
Viewer Skin: metaharper_sidetabs (default)
Font Used: Deja Vu (96)
Draw distance : 96
Bandwidth : 10000
LOD factor : 2
Built with MSVC version 1600

 

There's no way there's going to be new drivers for this video card. Nor can I upgrade the card.

I think you guys at the very least will need to update the minimum requirements of the game, because these are the latest drivers for the Xx00 series and under.

ATi sucks.

[Tamara Kuhn]

Thanks for the tip. I tried it but it makes no difference. Oddly, with the very latest version of the viewer and newly updated drivers for the graphics card (this morning)  the situation is different and worse. Whilst the sky is back with detail, the sea is a flat, deep magenta colour, as are some other blue things. Also terrible lag and de-rezzing. I think the truth is that cards like ours (and they are no more than 18 months old) won't be able to display the newer SL viewers. I've now gone for a Singularity v1 viewer, as all the 3rd party version 3 viewers I've tried give us serious problems. I think the moral is, don't buy ATI cards if you want to use SL reliably. Difficult though, as many machines come with them as standard (the university only buys from HP and they only use ATI cards now). If there are any Lindens reading this, it's a show-stoppping problem for us.

[Tamara Kuhn]

Hi,

I have the newest drivers. This is the SL About info I have.

Second Life 3.2.6 (248086) Jan 19 2012 13:14:05 (Second Life Release) Release Notes

CPU: Intel® Core2 Quad CPU    Q8400  @ 2.66GHz (2659.99 MHz) Memory: 2014 MB OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit  (Build 7600) Graphics Card Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc. Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.93-111205a-132104C-ATI OpenGL Version: 3.3.11399 Compatibility Profile Context

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: Not Connected Built with MSVC version 1600

SO everything seems to be of the right spec, but still the problem persists. Any thoughts?

Thanks again.