Viewer 2.7.4 makes EVERYTHING (including my avatar and sims) invisible!!!

[Mecctacular]

I've been using SL since late June, so I'm still fairly new to the game. I have a Macbook Pro, and I've been using 2.7.2 the whole time. I have had very few issues (those of which were fixed eventually). I was sent an update for 2.7.4 today, so naturally I clicked on it, thinking I'm going to get a new-and-improved version of the game. When it restarted, and I logged back in, I couldn't see ANYTHING except water, the sky, and my name floating above nothing. Everything else was invisible. The sim wouldn't load and my AVATAR would not load. My computer NEVER took this long to load ANYTHING on SL. 

I logged out, then back in. Still was the same. I tried teleporting to another location. Still the same. I changed my avi's clothes to an outfit that didn't have an alpha layer. Still couldn't see her. So, I checked the website to see if there were any solutions for my problem. I stumbled upon a link to the previous version, so I downloaded that and deleted the 2.7.4. I thought that would solve everything. When I logged in, more things were visible (like trees and flowers), but I still couldn't see buildings, land, other avatars, or any other details. The only thing I could see on my avi is her hair! 

I went even further back to the 2.7.1 version, and things were STILL the same! It's like the 2.7.4 version corrupted every other version of SL on my laptop or something! *sigh* I don't know what to do.

Can someone help me? Or if YOU can't, can you tell me who to contact??? I'd prefer someone who was higher up, in-charge, and/or working for SL to fix this issue. Thanks in advance. Remember... I have a Mac, I've NEVER had this problem before, and all of this began today when I updated to the 2.7.4 version.

[Anaiya Arnold]

You'll need to access support through the appropriate means if you want someone working for the Linden Lab to help you sort out your issues.

You can file a ticket, or if you have premium account, use live chat during its ordinary hours of operation, or if you have access to concierge support, then you should certainly use that.

 

 

[Jacki Silverfall]

Have you tried a different viewer? Like Firestorm? Also try restarting your router/modem. But see if it is better with another viewer. Then let us know.

[Thinkerer Melville]

First try the simple fix:  Try Phoenix.  If this is a Viewer 2 problem that will fix it because Phoenix is not related to Viewer 2.

You can find Phoenix here:

Third Party Viewer Directory

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory

If you  have a problem there, you can join the Phoenix/Firestorm Viewer Support group.  It is open enrollment.  Just look it up in search and click the join button.  They can help you with viewer problems.  

TKR

 

[Mayalily]

Yes, but aren't they discontinuing Phoenix in about a month?  Or am I confused on what they are discontinuing?  What exactly r they discontinuing?

If they are indeed discontinuing Phoenix, I'd take Jacki's advice.  I think Firestorm is the closer one to v2.  I'd suggest try Firestorm first. 

 

[Jacki Silverfall]

Yes they are discontinuing Phoenix and any V1 base viewers soon. But for the sake of seeing if her problem still exists on any viewer really she can use Phoenix for now.

[Mayalily]

Yeah, but not for long.  I read on here August is the time that Phoenix will die.  So what good is going on SL for a month and then nada?  I think it's better to try to see if you can get V2 or Firestorm working so you can have a prolonged SL that will last longer than a month as I read in August Phoenix is over. 

So, put in a ticket to see what's up with your V2 probs too because Phoenix won't be here much longer. 

[Jacki Silverfall]

It's only a one time deal just to see if she still has the problem on another viewer, if so we can rule that out. Then she can go back to her V2 and try something else.

 

[Mayalily]

Yes, that's true. 

To the OP:  You could also go premium for a few months so you can connect to live chat.  It's very inexpensive for live chat and support, I think it's about $10.00 US dollars a month.   Macs I've heard some are built like Fort Knox; so you might need some live support with a Mac and a particular viewer about to be phased out soon.

There are many options here to try, but do consider opening a ticket and/or even going premium for a months for live support and chat. 

SL is worth it but so is your computer, so hang in there! 

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Perhaps you didn't fully remove 2.7.4 from your computer. Unistall Second Life as usual then naviagate to the following folders and delete them.

 ~/Library/Application Support/SecondLife

/Users/<username>/Library/Caches/SecondLife

If you want to save chat files move them elsewhere for the moement and replace in new installation.

They should be in  ~/Library/Application Support/Second Life/{avatar name] 

Now download 2.7.2 from this link and install.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Release/2.7.2

When installed, select Preferences > Setup > Software updates > change to Download and install updates manually

 

 

 

[Jacki Silverfall]

Read this thread. Maybe 2.8 will be the one for you.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Second-Life-Viewer/When-Viewer-2-8-comes-out-you-will-be-happy-again/td-p/978733

[Mecctacular]

I fixed it! Simple really... 

Yesterday, I was using the Firestorm viewer, and even though many things are similar to SLV2, there's still major differences that were annoying. Not to mention the lag every 2mins! Whew! lol So, I tried a few of the other viewers: Singularity, Imprudence... even one called Kirsten. Disliked all of them. Firestorm was still the closest in similarity to SLV2. For some reason I thought, "let me try SLV2 again; see if they fixed it." (I hadn't deleted SLV2 from my computer.) 

I logged in, and lo and behold... it was still the same. I remembered that I had to raise the Quality bar on Firestorm. So, I thought maybe I had to raise it. When I went to the Quality setting, it was on "High", so I raised it. Didn't work. I lowered it to "Mid", and everything appeared! But some things still weren't visible... so I lowered it further to "Low". Everything was visible again! I fixed it. I guess that's all my Mac can take: the low quality setting in 2.7.4; even though it was on "High" in 2.7.2. 

So, if anyone else has a Mac and you can't see anything except the sky and water, lower your quality setting. Me > Preferences > Graphics > Quality and Speed. Hope it helps you! 

Yay! I solved a SL tech issue ! lol

[Nyll Bergbahn]

If you were able to run 2.7.2 on High and you can only run 2.7.4 on Low, that is not a solution. 2.7.4 may have rather a lot of bugs which is why so many people have complained about it but using more computer resources than 2.7.2 is not one of them.

[Thinkerer Melville]

Thianks for posting that.  At keast we understand tthe cause of tht symptom. and can offer bettter help when someone else has that problem.  

You may want to check the bandwidth you are getting (ISP claims are not always true).   Here is info on setting and checking bandwidth:

Preferences: Setup window. Bandwidth, auto-downloads

http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/2011/07/kit-preferences-setup-window-bandwidth.html

TKR

 

[Mayalily]

The following copy and paste from one of the links in the blog provided by Thinkerer was interesting and read:

The results of this fourth annual Speed Matters survey of Internet speeds show that the U.S. has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet. The median download speed for the nation was 3.0 megabits per second (mbps) and the average upload speed was 595 kilobytes per second (kbps). This was only on half of a megabit per second increase (from 2.5 mbps to 3.0 mbps) since last year. At this rate, it will take the United States 60 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in South Korea. And when compared to the rest of the world, the U.S. ranks 25th in average Internet connection speeds. Read the full report below and check out how your state stacks up:

 

Mayalily wonders how much of that is true? 

 

Another link read:

Installing and uninstalling software can leave your windows registry fragmented, with obsolete, corrupted, and harmful files. 

 

Mayalily has often said this in her posts.  It's really not a good idea to keep uninstalling and reinstalling.  Uninstalling and reinstalling should be done as a last ditch effort imo, NOT the first thing to try because it cause registry errors.  Always try to stick with your original viewer.  My SL was running better before I did an uninstall/reinstall because now I have do have registry errors and that's only more money to spend on SL.  Last ditch efforts should be the uninstall/reinstall. 

Try explaining to your significant other that more money needs to be spent on SL just to correct a bunch of registry errors now. And also yes one of my software program did become obsolete after uninstall/reinstall... so now I'm trying to tell that to my significant other and that's more money to try to get the non-obsolete version of a particular software running again.  And try explaining that to your loved one when he thinks SL costs too much in the first place.

Always consider uninstall as the last thing, not the first thing. 

[Mecctacular]

You have a point. But what else am I supposed to do in the meantime ? It's not like I can personally create a better version of SL for Mac computers. I'm just dealing with the hand I was given. This solution is going to have to work for now until SL decides to show a little more love to the Mac users.

[Luc Starsider]

This is very strange. I'm running SL v. 2 on a MacBook Pro and have - luckily - had no issues with any viewer (aside from the usual crashes and bugs). I assume you have tried Nyll's suggestions regarding regarding doing a complete reinstall of the viewer. I also assume you run the latest version of the OS. If not - which version do you have installed?

Since that does not work, I would suggest doing some maintenance on the Mac (which you may already have tried). Performing some cleanup and repairs will fix many issues and should be done from time to time.

A great tool for this is Onyx, which can be downloaded from here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/11582/onyx and I suggest you run what is found under the 'Automation' tab as a minimum. (I run it myself about once a month.) Let the program do any checks it asks permission for when you launch it, though. (Btw you have to be logged in with a user that has administration privileges to use Onyx)

- Luc -

[Angelina31]

This one worked the best

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Your-Avatar/Avatar-not-loading/m-p/873105/highlight/false#M4948

[IDKanythingOK]

You need to do a clean "install"...go into your PC and find all files related to SL..delete them. If you have more than one version on your PC, you will have problems. You cannot just un-install, you must remove files associated with SL. Then you can do a clean "install". I hope this helps you.