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Web browsers and inworld performance.


Charolotte Caxton
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When I go inworld, it seems to me that I am viewing the world thru a window, in the same way I view any other web content. I can minimize it, resize the box and close it with a red x. I am using V2.6.8, Windows 7 and IE9.

Now this has led me to wonder, does my browser affect my inworld performance/experience?

edit: I am not having a specific problem, per se, I am actually wondering if my choice of browser will affect the way I see SL.

Answered: Thank you Mr. Oh, that was exactly the type of information I was after. Thanks for the add on Nalates. Thank you LoveAngel for the response. :)

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Hello Charolotte. Did you try to maximize the window with the button between "Minimize button" and "Close button - X" ?

EDIT: With any viewer, always you see SL in full screen and also the status bar down. In any case the choice of browser affects the way you see SL.

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You are viewing the world through a window - in the same way you view any other program, not just web content.  When you run your browser it's a window onto the internet.  When you run an SL viewer it's a window onto Second Life.  When you run Word it's a window onto a word-processing document.  etc.

The browser you use does not, directly, affect the in-world performance/experience.  You don't even need to have a browser installed to use Second Life.

However - there are 3 ways the browser may affect performance:

  1. Every program running on your computer takes memory and processing-time - so a fat, slow browser is going to leave less available for SL to run in.  Same with any other programs you have open.  Although my 4yo bog-standard machine is usually happy with IE9, Word, Eclipse and Photoshop running at the same time, I'm not doing SL any favours.
  2. Every program using the internet takes bandwidth - so if the browser has several tabs open, streaming YouTube, installing new updates, and refreshing feeds or whatever there is going to be less available for SL.  Apart from updates it's generally only internet-based applications that continuously use bandwidth but it can be worth checking network traffic every now and again.
  3. Several things in SL will allow or request you to open a page in your external browser rather than the in-viewer one.  Then there is a direct impact as it takes time for the browser to open and accept the URL.

 

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Peter gave a very good answer. I have a little to add.

The in viewer browser is Webkit and open source browser foundation. You can compare it to you favorite browser and see which is faster. I'm one that thinks Google's Chrome is the fastest. Firefox, except for start time, is also fast. IE8 is slow. I haven't use IE9 enough to say how it is.

As to viewer speed... You have a choice to run SL as full screen or in a Window. SL in Full Screen and larger windows puts more of a load on the computer. There are more pixels to draw in larger windows. If you are lagging, you can try a smaller window. If lag is from a crowd at an event, windows size won't make much difference. 

You can use Ctrl-Shift-1 to toggle in and out of viewer stats. If you have low FPS (frames per second) and all other values are good, down size the window and think about a better video card. If Time Dialation, Sim or Physics FPS is low, it doesn't matter as the lag is server side. If PING or Packet Loss is high, window size won't matter because the connection is bad. Visit SpeedTest.net and check that you are getting the Internet connection you are paying for.

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