Thrayce Lanley

I'm glad someone started this thread, because I've been pondering the realities of the issue of 'SL hardware' for a while now. I've been lurking various SL fora here and there, and there IS definately a correlation between hardware requirements and user-count. I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but I read an official LL post that 60-65% of the current userbase was using 'class-3' hardware, meaning that 60-65% of SL users are running the client on a computer that can BARELY run well enough to stand still and chat. (if anyone knows where that statistic is, I'd appreciate the citation :matte-motes-smile:) Now, I'm a long-time Kirsten's User, running all the 'bells and whistles' that make SL a pretty place. I have to admit, with all the settings of the S21 viewer set to 'Ultra', it becomes apparent that our virtual-home is absolutely gorgeous. But, that being said, I've encountered something darker on various 'open' forums... I've read thread after thread where someone running ANY SL-client claiming to have decent framerates with graphics set to 'high' or even 'ultra' are soon to become the target of people accusing them of "bragging". While I don't see any reason for a 'class-divide' among users, I've never really understood why some take the position that LL should dumb-down their graphics code to more accomodate the end-user who is using a ten-year-old comp. Case in point. I installed phoenix (iteration from about a month ago) alongside Kirsten's on my system to film video. I wasn't prepared for what I saw, and it is the lead-up to what I write here. On KV, my AV appeared as normal, but on the Phoenix Viewer, it turned out that the multi-attachments were not to be seen, shadows were causing a major FPS-drop, and the AA in Phoenix seemed to be trying to set my chipset on fire. Up to that point, I was under the impression that all the viewers shared a parallel-development sort of thing. Instead, the harsh reality had set in that this was not the case. So, I brought this up in the fora and it didn't take twenty minutes to land myself a good scalding from those who insisted that I was some 'rich guy' who's just trying to show everyone up, and that I'm just another KV fanboy simply because I don't use his favorite client. Furthermore, I was told (on no uncertain terms) that "not everybody has the cash to buy your [expletive] hardware." Of all that I've written here, this is the sum: is there really a divide as such between users with a 1998 Dell and a state-of-the-art WhizBang2012? I have to be careful about writing along these lines, as it's FAR too easy to appear like I'm promoting a class-divide or something. I'm not. But with all the fuss about the latest LLV iteration (v4 is it?), I think we should also be careful to remember that there are all sorts of users in our virtual world, all using different clients, under different needs and requirements. The Phoenix iteration I used in the above example was incapable of using or viewing multi-attachments because the fanbase had requested UI changes instead of edits that would increase compatibility with the other viewers. Anyway, not quite a rant, and certainly not a complaint. Just a concern. Cheers! ETA: Someone said earlier that Shadows, DOF, AntiAliasing were for Photographs ONLY. Again, I'm running KV S21 as my MAIN "Roleplay, hang around and chat, visit places, and shopping" viewer with all of these features turned on, at the ULTRA setting. While I understand that comment, let's remember it's not necessarily true. Furthermore, the poster was also correct when he said one could acquire a decent GPU for 100-200 dollars U.S. I'm running KV under a 1GB Zotac GTS250, and getting 22-30 FPS on average. This card ran me $149.99 at Staples. Cheers again!