Just started Second Life and I am lagging SO bad, it can't be my comp. help?

[DamianDellgatto]

I have a newer build on my computer and can run any game on ultra graphics with no problem until i met SL.  I keep getting the red dot on client side and have tried a few things .  My specs are here  and the recommended settings for my comp is on " High" .  any help is appreciated.

 

Second Life 3.2.8 (248931) Feb  9 2012 09:04:17 (Second Life Release)
Release Notes

CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1075T Processor (3491.75 MHz)
Memory: 8154 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)
Graphics Card Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.17.0010.1114
OpenGL Version: 4.2.11399 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

[Chelsea Malibu]

It's important to keep in mind that SL is not actually a game as you are probably used to.  Most games are downloaded or installed from a disk in their entirety where SL is loaded each time you enter a scene.  As you may have noticed, SL is only around 30Mb in size where WoW is 15Gb.

Another problem you will encounter is that SL is not as optimized since most is built by users in the game and not true professional game builders.  This means that graphics are usually on the heavy side and not optimized.  It's much like a website. Some pages are built to load fast, others are not.

Another issue is in scripting.  Try to keep your own script count below 100 and you can find script meters on the MP for free. Also don't cover your avi with high poly prims.  Keep it simple and you will have better performance.

And the last note is to stay away from crowded, high scripted sims.  You will more than likely find that some places run much better than others and its is due to the fact that each region is built different.

You have a good system that should not cause you any problems. Turn down the draw distance to help your graphics load and be patient as you move from region to region to allow time to load before you try to move around.

 

[emmettcullen93]

TRY GOING TO PHONIEXVIEWER.COM AND DOWNLOAD PHONIEX VIEWER IT IS A BETTER VIEWER AND WORKS GREAT ON MY CRAPPY DELL. AS SL VIEWER DIDNT ALSO WELCOME TO SL IT IS A GREAT AND HUGE COMMUNITY THAT IS CONSTANTLY GROWING THUS WHY IT IS SO HARD TO GET ON VIA UR VIEWER.

otherwise you have everything else you need for you computer to run sl. just try the other viewer. it should help.

[Theresa Tennyson]

Go into "Preferences" - "Graphics" - "Hardware" and de-select the box labled "Use OpenGL Vertex Buffer Objects." This is a setting that causes problems with ATI/AMD video cards with more recent viewers.

[Osprey Therian]

You'll have different fps for every place as SL streams.

One thing you might check is in Preferences>Graphics>Hardware. The default setting for Anistrophic Filtering [used to be and maybe still] is ON - which impacts fps for no good reason.

You probably just need tweaking then you'll get good fps rates.

[leliel Mirihi]

---

Osprey Therian wrote:

One thing you might check is in Preferences>Graphics>Hardware. The default setting for Anistrophic Filtering [used to be and maybe still] is ON - which impacts fps for no good reason.

---

Any GPU made in the last 7 years can do anisotropic filtering with no performance lose. And if you want to see what it does just make a 10x64 prim and put a checker board texture on it and stand on one end and look at the other while turning AF on and off.

[Nalates Urriah]

Your AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1090T-and-1055T-Six-cores should be way more than needed.

The AMD 6800’s are good mid-range video cards. You have performance caparable to the nVidia GTX 460’s.

You can see the performance others are getting here: How Fast is Your Viewer? - Second Life.

The difference between Second Life and other 3D games is the difference between DirectX and OpenGL. SL uses OpenGL and is less efficient. You get slower frame rates.

With nVidia we need to setup game profiles. Generally there are no built in profiles for SL. If there are they are often out of date. I suspect you will need to do the same with ATI. I have an article about tweaking your graphics settings here: Graphics Tweaking for Second Life. It is for nVidia but it explains the settings and what they do. It has links to sites with good explanations of all the graphics terms and processes. You can learn which settings you can push to the max without performance hit and which slow you down.

It is possible to tweak 30% more frames per second (FPS).

You don’t say what your frame rates are. Press Ctrl-Shift-1 to toggle open the Viewer Statistics. At the top is your FPS. Check your ping time. Ping over 250ms starts to slow you down. Bandwidth will slow your rez of the world but seldom makes the game sluggish. You may be grey but you should be able to walk.

If you are having trouble walking, look in the Viewer Stats for SIM or Physics FPS. That should be around 40 to 45. Any loawer and your region is lagging and it may be the problem. Also Time Dilation should be 1.00 or >0.9. As it goes lower it indicates the server is having trouble keeping up. Move to another region and see if things change.

Current viewers have memory leaks. After an hour or so you can notice a slow down. Restart the viewer.

[Nickel Briand]

I don t know if it s linked to your issue , but there is something not normal with your settings

 

Voice Server Version: Not Connected

 

Normally , even inside a sim with the voice disabled, you have the version 

It shows more either two viewers running at the same time , either a problem of installation

So , maybe because of your voice problem , it impacts your perfs of your viewer

[Eve Greymoon]

Voice server not connected will show if voice is not enabled.  That's a preferences setting and shouldn't affect fps.

[Eve Greymoon]

---

DamianDellgatto wrote:

I have a newer build on my computer and can run any game on ultra graphics with no problem until i met SL.  I keep getting the red dot on client side and have tried a few things .  My specs are here  and the recommended settings for my comp is on " High" .  any help is appreciated.

 

Second Life 3.2.8 (248931) Feb  9 2012 09:04:17 (Second Life Release)

Release Notes

 

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Processor (3491.75 MHz)

Memory: 8154 MB

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1 (Build 7601)

Graphics Card Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.

Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

 

Windows Graphics Driver Version: 8.17.0010.1114

OpenGL Version: 4.2.11399 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

---

You have plenty of sytem there to run SL on high without issues.  "Lag" as we call it in SL can be caused by many factors and many settings.  Most lag issues are on the client side. 

Since you have a good computer, I would ask about your connection.  SL is notorious for not liking wireless connections, so if possible make sure you're wired in instead.  Also, in preferences there is a bandwidth setting, dont set it too high.  This can cause problems as well.

Streaming media such as music and video can also cause lag in SL.  If you have these turned on in prefernces, you might try turning them off and see if things improve.

There is a general Lag topic in the wiki here http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Lag

It offers some suggestions.

The other article I recommend is this one, as it explains how resources are allocated in SL

http://analutetia.com/?p=7191

As a note, someone mentioned scripts cause lag.  They do not, as they are the last thing to load, the last thing to run, and if there are no resources available for the server to run them, they simply will not run.  This means a script may not start or run, but it will NOT contribute to slow texture loading, problems walking, etc. 

[Nyll Bergbahn]

I think Theresa hit the nail on the head, disable VBO. Linden Lab did something recently to upset this as I've never any any problems with VBO enabled for the past number of years. Disabling it actually resulted in a drop of perhaps 2/3 FPS so I always had it on. I use an ATI HD 5850. However, using the latest versions of the official viewer, VBO enabled decimates my FPS by as much as 30 frames or more making SL almost unplayable. I can use Niran's Viewer with VBO enabled, no problems at all.

[Spooky Mistwallow]

for the first year I was on SL I would lag so bad I had to look at the floor or a wall to keep from crashing if another av was near me.

The answer was in preferences-graphics - hardware  and set "Viewer texture memory buffer" to around 144 or so. LL auto-sets it at 512. Solved my problem instantly.

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Setting the texture slider correctly used to be an issue at one time although although setting the slider too low would result in excessive texture swapping and cause slow performance too. However, most people now have 512MB and 1GB graphics cards so texture memory is not that much of an issue anymore. I'm using a 1GB card as is Damian so having the slider at 512MB should not affect performance at all. Recommendation is to set the slider at one-half of your GPU memory or the same. I rarely experience lag even at Ultra with Shadows enabled. According to Kirsten Lee, the total OGL dataset is only 384MB so LL set the texture memory limit at 512MB. The VBO issue Theresa and I mention is nothing to do with texture memory, it's something LL did to the latest viewers. I keep meaning to open a Jira and I'll try and get to it this weekend.

[angels Oxygen]

hi a few monthes ago i had no lag i hopped on sl with my moms laptop and after that i couldnt walk without running into a wall or anythig in the way i just lag all of the time nonestop i have an ati pc please help what can i do i have the 4.4.0 version the most recent