SL Running Slow With High Speed Internet

Slow would be an understatement. About a year ago my Second Life client ran so smooth it was amazing, only in high traffic areas would things slow down, but only then it was alittle bit. Nowadays its so choppy, even with the graphics turned down I can barely walk around and chat is laggy.

Any tips on fixing this? I really really miss being able to build & shop. :\

Edit: Not even sure why I'm asking if it's fixable. I KNOW it isnt. With every damned patch/update the game will get worse for me, and most of the areas I visit barely have five other avatars in them MAXIMUM.

You could start by posting your system specs...?

Three things you can try.

Assuming you are using Windows OS. Delete all instances of SL from your computer, run a registry cleaner, and download and install a fresh copy.

If you are using a router/modem, unplug that from the mains for 20 seconds or so, then plug back, wait for it to connect. This will refresh your IP node connection. Although not publicised, ISP's suggest this action be done every 6 months minimum, in their FAQ sections.

Assuming using Windows XP, open control panel, then the Firewall icon, go to exceptions tab, deslect everything in there except SecondLife.exe and SLVoice. If you see an entry called Bonjour, that is a connection stealing trojan.

The only real thing you can do to fix it is to upgrade your computer. Most of us face this dilemma, myself included. This past client upgrade was hefty, to put it mildly. With the demand for a low-teck client, hopefully they will consider that these upgrades are leaving most of us behind. The new windlight is hugely tasking, and it isn't stopping there. There is also talk of a realtime shadow addition as well. From the few people I talked to who have the test client with this function, they can barely move at all with the shadowing enabled. of course this is only in testing, hopefully they can find a way to streamline this function. As for having a monster of a computer really designed to calculate huge tasks, just to log onto a video game enviornment, questionable really.

The easiest way to up your performance is to max your mobo with ram. I just did so this week after a month or so of staggering and crashing myself. As for my own system, it's nothing close to new in PC standards. No fancy dual processors, or quads for that matter. It really has gotten pretty proposterous, the level of performance one needs just to log in now.

Actually, you were just perhaps unlucky it all happened to you all at once. The OP hasn't posted any specs, but consider this:-
You can turn off all the windlight eye candy and go back to plain sl. If that makes no difference, then adding more ram, wont help.

You may know, when you install a fresh copy of Windows, how suddenly it feels leaner and faster, that is because it is. Everytime we install yet another 'must have programme' it bloats the registry, adds more fonts to be loaded at startup, defrags the HD etc etc...

Sometimes simple servicing routines can work well.

SL doesnt use multi cored cpu's anyway. A single core running at 3ghz, with a single core thread programme will run twice as fast, as a 8ghz quad core anyday, as each core runs at approximately 2ghz, and you can take away the levels of shared cache as well.

Turning off the vast majority of background services that come with Windows XP/Vista, that you only need if you are part of a company intranet, can speed up your system. Keeping only programmes you really need on your system will slim down the registry considerably and allow windows to load faster and run leaner. Remove unwanted/unused fonts, keeps the page file swapping to a minimum. Defragging the HD at least once a month, will help with programme loading speeds. Cleaning the registry will clear probably 100's of broken and corrupted/unused links that stall the startup.

Dusting your system, especially fans, keeps your system at the right temprature, check air flows, all count towards a healthier and useable system. Keeping drivers up to date, not just the Graphics Cards, also helps in their own small way.