Intel GM965 headache

Trying to run SL on a Dell 630. I've seen several discussions elsewhere about this chipset and SL issues, but not in this forum. So anyone there with ideas?

1. I have updated the driver to 6.14.10.4831, the most recent on Dell's web page.
2. I have set UseOcclusion to FALSE.
3. I have used imagecfg.exe to force SecondLife to run only on core 1.

I can function in most areas with draw distance set to minimum. However, near as I can tell there are certain objects that drag the thing down. IF I get near my home in Batak, or other places where whatever these objects are exist, my FPS drops to .4 and chat or movement of any kind become nearly impossible.

I can (eventually) teleport to a known safe area and it clears up immediately.

I have not figured out which of these objects are the likely problem. I"m afraid I may just have to start returning things until the trouble goes away. Its not the "number" of objects, as I have been in some very heavily populated areas with not trouble at all.

Additional note: For some reason, the "UseOcclusion" hack won't stick. It keeps gettting wiped. any ideas there??

It may be worth getting the updated driver from Intels website, as it tends to be more up to date.

To install on some OEM computers, you may need to extract the installer with WinRAR, and then update it manually through Device Manager.

Yes I did pull down the latest driver which is nearly a year newer than the one from Dell and it would not install. There is actually a driver from March 2008 on intel's site. But when it refused to install I didn't think I'd be able to go any further. Is this likely to bork up my machine if I try to force it in?

you shouldn't need to use Dells Driver, they are always a year or so behind. you will have to do it as above extract it then install it from device manager.

as well don't worry about forcing 1 core only. SL runs fine and much better on 2 cores; note, if its a Quad I don't know, but on a dual core it works fine.

It won't, no. Extract the installer using WinRAR, then using Device Manager, upgrade the driver via the INF that used to be in the installer.

I've done this many times, to upgrade GMA 900, GMA 950, and GMA 965 drivers.

Oh interesting thanks. I was told by several that it would become unstable running on 2 cores. Given other issues I was having I figured I'd just rule that one out. Are you two using machines with GM 965's successfully?

I believe the problem is related to one particular type of object that the GM965 doesn't like. I can turn off rendering for simple objects and the problem goes away but so does half the grid. I have been in areas with large amounts of objects and have no problems at all. But I get within 64m of whatever is causing it and fps drops to nonexistant. In areas where this object, whatever it is doesn't exist, it does quite well. I can even fly ships successfully now which I could not on my older machine.

I am using a GMA 950 on a dual core machine, with SL running on both cores.

Update the driver using the method I mentioned, it should help at least a little.

I got the driver updated. So far it seems to have helped reduce the crashing. But it did not resolve the FPS problem. Certain areas my FPS still drops to almost zero unless I turn off rendering of simple objects. Hope that can be fixed!

Thanks for the help so far.

What types of quality settings do you use overall? In general they should be set to medium-low for your GPU type.

I"ve tried with everything dragged to the lowest settings possible. All pointers to the left, Vertex stuff turned off, local lighiting off, bump map and shady off. I either get super fast performance or frozen. There is no inbetween. I'm standing on my island in Batak and peaking at 30fps. But if I go up to my house on the hll it drags down to .4.

I've also discovered that some avatars tend to cause problems too. Haven't figured out why.

The Occlusion setting doesn't seem to matter. I thought it was disappearing before but it seems like its actually being relocated in the file and still there.

JUst have to cross my fingers that SL eventually fixes this. It looks very much to me like a bug in a specific object or texture setting. I may have to resort to clobbering everything on my parcel one at a time to get to the bottom of it.

Out of curiosity, have you tried the RC6 of the 1.2 client? I've noticed that it improves performance a bit (but beware that it is still test software).

Yes I use both the normal client and hte RC6. Both experience the same problem. I've also tried the Electric Sheep viewer and it fails completely.

Partial answer: Ok I discovered one thing that helps some..I no longer freeze up totally. FPS still is bad but not near as it was..the world doesn't totally stop anymore though certain things still slow it down considerably, one thing seeming to be excessive movement from some (but not all) avatars.

Running SL full screen and lowering resolution to 1024x768 is the trick. Its not great. But its usable. I can go back to places I was unable to visit after getting this machine. I can even get a few features like Shiny and local lighting back.

SO: If you have the GM965, here is what to do:

1. Make sure you have occlusion turned off.
2. Be on the most current driver from Intel (dated 3/17/200. I have not crashed since I installed this updated driver.
3. Run full screen at 1024x768 or lower.
4. Have massive bandwidth .

I"m back in the skies .

NOTE: I"ve heard mixed reports on limiting SL to one core. I made the change to permanently set the affinity flag to core 1 and can't find instructions on how to reverse that setting. Some say SL doesn't do well running dual core. Others say it works fine. If I can figure out how to undo it I'll give it a try full dual core again. The change is made with imagecfg.exe btw.

On a Core 2 Duo E4500 and GMA950, I gain a few frames per second with it using both cores. I also have "Run Multiple Threads" enabled in the viewer.

Out of curiosity, what resolution were you running at before?

Also, for Vista, there is a newer driver released toward the end of April. For XP, yours is the latest.

My windows runs at 1440x900. So running as a window thats where it was at. I actually didn't try running at a window with Windows set lower. Didn't want to do that.

I noticed some issues tonight. Mostly the presence of some avatars still seems to drag down the frame rate.

Something worth checking. In your BIOS, make sure you are allocating the maximum amount of system memory to your video card. It will be called "DVMT" most likely. I believe your card can support up to 384MB.

Since the x3100 has no dedicated video memory, it must use system memory, and you may have very little allocated.

I wasn't able to find anything in the bios to change. In Windows the nfo page says that maximum video memory is 384MB. Actual amount used seems to vary.

That would be correct, then, and already set to the maximum. The GPU will allocate memory as it needs it.

Intel Drivers:

Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2800&lang=eng

It says chipset, but includes the graphics drivers.

GRRR!

Well I had this thing working but it seems like the last server rollout broke it again. Might be easy to say its not a server thing. But thats the only event I can think of that borked it back up.

Since the last rolling restart performance has gone to pot again. And a few other people seem to be having FPS problems now too.

Texture memory in the hardware settings is the latest in this saga. In preferences, click on the Hardware Options button and make sure texture memory is at its LOWEST possible setting. WHY? I have no clue. But seems like things run smoothly enough when this bar is dragged down to 32.