Kobuk Farshore

Okay, I'm feeling a bit more educated via this thread, thanks WhiteStar! I would certainly be open to getting an Asus except for the fact that I live in Alaska so will be buying this laptop online, and as far as I can tell it's not possible to purchase an Asus directly from their site. They have a nice long list of who to buy their machines from, but clicking on a couple of those sites at random hasn't brought up anything I can customize yet. I guess I can look into it a bit more though-- I don't intend to buy this lappy for another monthish. :}

Peggy Paperdoll wrote: A viewer is a viewer. If it works for you and you like it, great.....if not you can use another. Why all the "my viewer is superior to your viewer" crap all the time? I couldn't agree more. When someone makes a viewer that's perfect in every imaginable way for every imaginable person, then I'll tote it as the best. Until then, I just have favourites. :}

Ayesha and VRprofessor: thanks for explaining some of this for me. I suppose at this point I've pretty-much made up my mind to get either an Alienware M17x or M18x, and if it doesn't run SL spectacularly for making machinima then I should at least be able to enjoy it for inworld photography. And barring that, I could forget SL and play Skyrim. :} Ayesha, I've been on both the US and UK Alienware sites (I'm from the US but in England for the holidays) and though I think different models do/don't offer certain chips, I see both sites showing the M17x and M18x with a choice of either ATI 6990M, NVidia 560M or 580M, though the M17x only has the option for single cards. Money's not so much the issue (within reason) as trying to find a fairly decent gaming laptop, so I'd rather try for the best graphics I can. With that in mind, would either of you recommend getting dual cards? Assuming I was on a good wired connection, would NVidia SLI work for boosting SL graphics performance/FPS?

Have you tried putting a bald or eyebrows on? Sometimes that can be a quick-fix. I would've suggested downloading V3 or Firestorm, but if your alt logs in fine I imagine that can't be the issue.

Phil Deakins wrote: Also, since I updated the V3, I can't stay logged in with it. It crashes me out all the time, so it's no good any more. You know, I think I'd gladly give up some of the "improved" amazingness of SL in exchange for simple joys like being able to see everything without needing the most high-end machine, and actually... not crash. :}

Lianna: By the look of your avi you could drop-kick me easily without any need for guns or syringes full of the T-Virus. :} You do look incredibly hot though. Ceka: You have an evil streak, woman-- please teach me that in addition to how to look fabulous. Thank you for the http heads-up too as I would've had no idea; it's easy to see why SL newbies give up when there are so many little things that turn playability to cr*p. And hey, from now on whenever I successfully complete an outfit in the most sneaky who-would've-thought-of-this way, I'll be yelling, "NINJA TACTICS!"

lianna Garnet wrote: Since Kirsten's has stopped development, I've been using Niran's Viewer. I'm excited to try Niran's-- there are a couple of things in Exodus that bother me, though perhaps they'll be fixed in future releases. I did hear Niran's being highly praised for it's ability to make gorgeous machinima, but I don't forsee being able to take advantage of it fully (or Exodus, for that matter) until I get a new computer. :smileysad:

I second Ariel's post, although to be fair I began SL on Emerald without even knowing V1 existed, so I suppose I've always been biased. When Phoenix came along my computer struggled with some of the builds and I downloaded V2, but the shock of how ridiculously anti-intuative V2's GUI was sent me straight back to Phoenix. I haven't even tried V3 yet to be honest, though I've heard it's vastly better, and I'd consider switching if it turned out to have dramatically shiny performance. Memories of V2 still make me twitch though. In addition, I was a huge supporter of Kirstens Viewer until it sadly went out of development recently. It was gorgeous for SL photography -- for tweaking windlight, shadows, depth-of-field -- but I didn't use it for everyday wandering since it had a tendancy to crash for me. Exodus Viewer has become my new favourite, but again, mostly just for film and photography. Some months ago in the Machinima Mondays group there was a discusion with one of the Lindens about introducing a completely stripped-down viewer for SL machinimists. I've been a bit out of the loop so have no idea what (if anything) became of it, but I'd certainly use something like that, too. :}

Aww thank you, Perrie. :} I really don't remember what settings I had on; my graphics aren't the best so I usually have to rely on flipping through my shortlist of windlight presets and then Photoshopping. I'm certain it's just one of the sunrise settings pre-installed in Firestorm and not one I downloaded and installed though. Here's the unedited version without textures:

Grr. I suppose that's what I'm anxious of, Linda. Do you know if there's a list anywhere of supported graphics cards for certain viewers (or even just the generic viewer)? Thanks for the Asus recommendation though. I feel like I have no clue at all when it comes to laptop PCs, so it's really helpful to hear what systems people are using that work.

LOL Wildcat. "Throwing up grass: through this painful feeding and purging process, cats prepare their minds and bodies for combat." What's more frightening is that you don't seem adversely affected by water. :smileyindifferent: I don't do scary or sexy well, but I can do a mean hand-plant. This second photo was supposed to be a sort of "sending good vibes to the universe" pose and not an attempt to sacrifice myself to fireflies. Although maybe they're the same thing?

Ceka Cianci wrote: thats my tell tale sign that something is perfect for me..we all have that little tingle somewhere that says..oh if that wasn't made for me then it was made for nobody LOL Aah. I'd always assumed that feeling was a spidey-sense warning of something dangerous about to happen-- like the rapid and spectacular death of all my $L. :} I love your trick of wearing two pairs of pants though, Ceka. If I wear my faun hooves (which doesn't happen often as it negates my ability to wear pretty boots) I always put a darker faun-tatt under my light one, purely because it gives a sort of fluffy shadow that makes the fur look more realistic. I'd never thought of doubling jeans though. Could you explain the "http textures needing to be shut off" for multiple tattoo layers? I suppose I'd become resigned to my Mac just struggling to render things well. I feel like the trick to having a successful-looking avatar in SL -- just like the trick to being a successful builder -- is just to be really sneaky about how you put things together. SL's quirks and limitations can drive me nuts, but getting around them to create something unique gives me an elated sense of satisfaction. That's something no generic optimized game with all its awing-graphics-but-no-individuality could give. ETA: @ Ariel and Heart: I think a shopping-trip-organizing thread is imminent. :smileywink:

Jo and VRprofessor: This is absolutely the info I was looking for, thank you so much! A good friend of mine in SL told me this morning that she has an Asus G73SW with a 1.5GB 460M NVidia that works brilliantly on ultra settings and rarely gets hot. As you both pointed out though, I'd rather go for a 580M 2GB. And Alienware, for as overpriced as they may be, have some perks to their machines. :smileywink:

Ceka, you're my hero already-- I didn't know tone tatts existed! Can I ask what viewer you're using though, since Firestorm still goes into grumpy bake-fail for me sometimes if I try to wear multiple tattoo layers? I have to say your avatar really is stunning though. It's exactly the sort of cool look I absolutely hopelessly can't pull off, rofl. My avi has always been more to the short-n-dorky side, which is frustrating at times because I end up with a stockpile of glamerous or rough/edgy type clothes that made my heart flip when I saw them in the store, but when I wear them myself... just make me look as if I got dressed in my great-aunt's closet in the dark without knowing she'd once been a lady of ill repute. :} It would be fun to get a small group together to go shopping inworld sometime. I have a feeling there're an awful lot of good stores/items I have no idea about. :smileywink:

Chic and just a little dangerous, Valerie. Gorgeous. Something about this photo makes joining the Russian Mafia in Chicago suddenly quite appealing. :smileywink:

How much do you charge as a personal stylist, Heart? ;p I've always wanted to try a darker skin but demos I wear just look odd with the shapes/hair I have. This is why my resolution for 2012 is to diversify my avi with... well, a little more than the hottest, most exquisite selection of boots and gowns on the grid. Happy weekend to you too!

I've been approached to participate in studies while at places like New Citizens Inc and Help Island Sandbox-- I suppose anywhere with a diverse crowd of SLers would be a good spot. Otherwise, I'm certain you can find some willing people right here in the forum who'd be interested in helping out. Let me know if there's a female gender study; I'd certainly be up for it. And good luck!

That gives me some hope, thanks for this, Emil. Ideally I'd like to be able to use Exodus Viewer or some other sort of Kirstens-esque viewer that's good for photography, but I'd resign myself to the regular V3 if it showed me shadows.

You're too sweet, Heart. I won't be inworld again until next week as I'm traveling RL atm, otherwise I'd be pleading in your IM for the LM. I did just do a search on Marketplace and they really do have some adorable hair though-- with beautifully textured ribbons/flower accessories too. I'm thinking my look will be changing again next week, after seeing some of the posts in this thread.

Re: snitches-- I can only imagine what FB might reward users with to turn each other in, Alazarin. No ads on their pages? Switching completely back to the old FB look ONLY for people who snitch? :smileyvery-happy: :smileylol:

Thanks so much, WhiteStar. I meant to ask before-- is there a reason why you'd stay away from ATI cards? I've done a little hunting around trying to read up on gaming laptops and Alienware comes up near the top of most lists; though at 12lbs their best machine is twice as heavy as my Macbook Pro so I may be looking into a chiropractor. The specs I'm looking at are an i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz w/ turbo boost), 16GB RAM, 750GB HDD and 2GB NVidia 580M. I guess all I'm really anxious about is buying an expensive gaming laptop that plays every other game immaculately but displays SL no better than my Mac. Hopefully someone will stumble into this thread in the next few weeks and share their perfect-running SL laptop specs, though.

JeanneAnne wrote: What is FB going to do, hire people to look thru millions of accounts trying to weed out avatars? No kidding, Jeanne. I actually had no idea FB had a policy against people making avatar accounts, and since I've seen a number of prominent SL creators/bloggers with Facebooks I'm guessing FB itself doesn't care or police it too well.

Aww, thank you so much, Charlotte. The horse avi actually has a gorgeously-animated AO, which makes galloping around awfully fun. For Xmas I was pulling a sleigh-load of friends' around some winter sims. :smileyvery-happy: @Heart: You look beautiful. I was about to fawn over your hair and ask where it's from, but see you've already shared skin/shape info lol. Have you considered starting a style blog? :smileytongue:

Unfortunately I live half the year in one part of the world and spend the other half travelling, so it has to be a laptop. I don't expect desktop performance-- I just want something SL actually runs adequately on, which my $3,500 Macbook Pro currently fails to do. :smileysad:

Thanks Setekh and WhiteStar-- good info. I guess I'll just have to buy the thing and hope, although really I can't imagine it could be worse than my Mac, so there's that at least. :smileywink: