WolfBaginski Bearsfoot

Looking from slightly sideways, check your graphics settings. There are effectively two different lighting systems available, If you have Atmospheric Shaders in effect, you get "deferred rendering" which is very different in some circumstances. Also, if you're on a new computer, it's worth checking set-up of the actual monitor, brightness and contrast in particular. A set of monitor test and setting pages There might not be an absolute right answer, you might have to choose between getting all the shadow detail or all the highlight detail, but I've seen what a badly adjusted monitor can do. Once you have the monitor good, you might be able to get things better by adjusting graphics drivers, and finally software. Remember, it depends on the lighting where your computer is, so the best settings for you are not the same as the best settings in the retail store. And you may have seen the variations in picture quality in the TVs displayed at a store.

I just had one of those bad-PC days, which led to me finally switching from Windows XP to Windows 7. It really isn't a fun process. Anyway. In the past I had noticed some rather obvious correlations between a high bandwidth reading and low frame rates, as though there was a other than the graphics card. This isn't happening with Windows 7. I can see how there might be various reasons for this, including better use of multi-core processors.. I still have a lot to do to get everything working, but I am seeing my frame rate, with Lighting and Shadows in effect, tripling. I am used to Windows XP, and I face a lot of work yet to make the changeover complete. XP to Windows 7 is not one of those easy upgrades.

Thanks, Oz, that does seem to have improved things.

I'm afraid that knowledgebase page only lists the ports used by the traffic, and has no information that might be useful to URL-based access controls.

I've been reminded that anti-virus systems often scan data as it is downloaded, which has the potential to adversely affect Viewer performance. Is there any general rule which identifies servers used by Second Life. I'm thinking that http://*.secondlife.com/* should work, but it feels a little too generic for comfort. My anti-virus software also allows exclusion by MIME-type, but I know that there is something a bit different about how SL handles textures.

I'm always wary of that sort of advice, though it's worth a try. Since the OP uses Firestorm, I'd just remind all that Firestorm has a Refresh Texture option in the right-click menu, and that seems to clear up more than just no-texture grey. (I find my system works better with a reduced maximum number of concurrent HTTP requests, for instance. It slows texture loading slightly, but seems to free up a lot of CPU time.) I just had a pop-up from my AV software, which has reminded me that security scanning of incoming internet traffic could be affecting SL performance.

I don't know what holiday arrangements are in the USA, but that includes the Easter weekend, and from my viewpoint that looks like only eight working days to hold the meetings. Incidentally, that cut-off date for the freebies could be better publicised. I'm sorted, and the long-dormant accounts are unlikely to notice any warning, but they're not all demo items and ancient trash. (Some of the ancient clothing freebies are quite good.)

It is beginning to look as though most of my problems are related to the net connection, with a pattern of timing that matches other experience. Though a few tests of connection speed don't show an obvious speed difference. Still, with the rise of internet distribution of TV content--here in the UK we have the BBC's iPlayer service as one example--the traffic levels do shoot up in the evenings, localtime. But there's still the question of why things have suddenly become worse. It is possible that ping times are a factor, everything taking an extra 100msec or so because of the Atlantic Ocean, Anyway, I'm relieved that it isn't just me, even if the reason it is happening so often to me is not your fault. There's been a lot of changes to internet usage in the seven years since broadband became available around here.

Sim crossings generally seem to be getting worse. I usually run a script-light AV, but even that's had problems, walking. Sometimes the process is taking 30 seconds to complete, or more. A few times, with a vehicle that has previously been quite good, I've had my AV briefly displayed underwater at the sim-edge, before being back in the vehicle. I haven't been able to pin it down to a particular RC, and I haven't been able to rule out my net connection as at least part of the cause, but in the past a 28m/sec sim crossing has been possible (not 100% reliable, maybe 80%), and now even walking over the boundary is difficult. At the moment, I don't have enough solid data to justify a JIRA, but keep your eyes open, guys, OK. If I read the notes right, the number of sims running the new sim-crossing code has dropped, but, as I said, I can't rule out Non-LL factors.

Different legal system, but that is pretty much what defines robbery and theft. Using the terms is much like talking of piracy in relation to copyright, emotive and misleading. Ask if we're being defrauded, if we're victims of a con game, and the answer certainly isn't anything like as clear. Party A promises to do deliver a service to Party B, doesn't deliver, and still charges Party B for providing the service. Might not be fraud, because that depends on Party A knowing they can't deliver but it's in that class of crimes of deception.

CommerceTeam Linden: You expect me to talk? goldfinger.resident: No, I expect you to die, Mr. Linden.

Probably due on the 31st April... How the hell did they miss that in testing?

Some of my experiences today may me think the Marketplace team may have botched the job. 1: Order History is not making any distinction between Magic Box and Direct Delivery. I am not seeing the promised notification of which directory to check. 2: Transactions are being reported as completed which have not been. I don't know yet if this is happening with Direct Delivery as well as Magic Box 3: The Marketplace response times, on the web site, are incredibly extended. That isn't helping, but might not be anything the Lindens can deal with. In conjuntion with that has already been said in this thread, I see a pattern of misunderstood communications processes. I hope I'm wrong, because the possibility that the Marketplace is being run on code which the Linders have hacked without a good understanding is, frankly, terrifying.

Unfortunately, the sample messages showing the extra information in order history, do not yet match what is shown. Neither do the emails I have received concerning transactions. I know Direct Delivery is working, because that Sample Bear arrived in my Received folder, It looks as though the supporting infrastructure is not yet working.

Lydia, your claim doesn't make sense. Currently, all server channels are still running the same code. The new code, which will affect region crossing, doesn't get rolled out to RC Servers until 7am Wednesday. You're appearing not to be paying attention to the information which is available, before you jump to conclusions .

I had an email today from DAZ 3D reminding me that this offer has been extended to the end of March.

The problem for many of us is the way that the JIRA system feels so user-hostile. It's a system originally made for the internal management of software projects, as I understand it, and it sucks as a tool for non-programmers. I think I can describe a situation well enough for a competent developer to understand what I am seeing. I am not at all sure I can search the JIRA system to find an existing report of the same problem. Oz Linden doesn't want to waste his time. Neither do I, and I am maybe a couple of levels of tool-making away from being an effective JIRA user. I've not just got to make the nails to fasten the notice to the wall. I have to make the hammer, the anvil, and the forge.

What the heck does it mean when I get an email saying I'm being "followed" by some resident you've never heard of? I can sort of understand what it might mean in the context of sites such as Twitter, Facebook, or LiveJournal. You're putting stuff there which you want people to look at and read. There's a whole different level of stalkerish creepiness about it when it happens in a virtual world. I don't post stuff to those profile pages. I just don't. So I don't see what sensible reason there is for anyone to "follow" me. Consider this to be the scream-and-leap phase of hearing footsteps behind me in a dark alley.

I do see similar things happen when I'm in a particularly busy region, and I can't rule out that possibility from your post. Sunday evening was rather rough in some places, not in others. There are so many things that can mess us all up, and it's sometimes hard to tell who to blame. I know that there are certain timing patterns which reflect loads on the internet local to me (which can affect everything I do, not just SL), and sometimes different things coincide in some hellish synergy of lag. I do reckon it would be worth cutting your draw distance. That will reduce lag, whatever you're doing.

I almost feel relieved by this extra stability, but could you give a pointer to some info on the InventoryAPI issues. Is it something we should be watching for, or did it never get out of the beta RCs? Or is it something that arose from the Unplanned Maintenance on the 10th.

It is still an open question whether e-books in the real world depend on the use of DRM. It doesn't look as though a notecard can be effectively protected in SL: you might be able to script an e-book HUD which displays a notecard in a way that cannot be copied, but I'm doubtful. But, as a way of getting a sample out there, of promoting a real-world e-book, SL isn't so bad, though the numbers are against it. And you might get something out oif the promotional activities. There's no special reason why an author reading in SL can't be as effective as a reading at a bookshop. As a non-USA writer, for me the real-world e-book options are a can of worms, with complications from US income tax being applied. I doubt I am ever going to sell enough for it to matter, but selling in SL does look a little less messed up by that aspect.

At 09:30 PST (sic) the Marketplace will close for an hour for maintenance. We're pointed at the release notes for the Beta. As near as I can make out, this means that the code for direct delivery will be in the version running after the maintenance, but it will not yet be active on the Main Grid. I'm assuming a typo for the time, the outage will start 16:30 UTC, and it might not do anything we can see on the Main Grid. But, worryingly, there's no mention of the other half of Direct Delivery, the new "received" folder which threatens to grab everything sent to us from whatever source, not just from the Marketplace. If you thought the Objects folder was bad, that bit looks far worse.

I am not at all sure that I want to ride a bike, in SL, which has the complex moving parts you describe. Some of the old techniques may be less load overall, than the new. Do you rotage the wheel, or rotate the textures? Fake a detail with a texture (with LOD effects) or do it with mesh, also with LOD effects? I don't know which is better. But here I am, sitting on a different continent with all that does to how SL behave, and I am unsure what I would get from all the detail. So maybe I'm not quite the same market, and there are a lot of potential customers, for any product who are outside the USA. It's not that you're doing anything wrong, but it may be that my sweet spot, in the compromises necessary for a good mesh vehcile, is not yours

That makes a bit of sense, but unless they cut off scripting for everyone not "qualified" it ain't gonna work. And quite a few scripts I have need some editing to work, even if it's just changing a UUID for a texture which is being animated.

That problem may explain some problems I had. Trouble is, Phoenix reports changes to the sim-server version as you move between regions, while my current Viewer, Firestorm, doesn't. Nevertheless, the improvements to sim crossings are becoming obvious. I was making successful crossings in a vehicle at over 100 kph, though the margins at that speed are inadequate. Maybe it was worth a status message?