question about starting up the game

i play on vista and just recently downloaded the lastest drivers when i try to start up the game my computer goes into wierd colors and says second life requires (32-bit) to run in a window its running at 32 can anyone help me?

Which graphics card are you using? I've had alot of problems with an ATI one. You might want to try an another version graphics driver for your card.

im using nvidia i downloaded the latest driver from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=en-us

note i havent downloaded any of the patches i just recently downloaded SL from the website and im wondering if its because i havent downloaded the patches?

If you just downloaded Second Life from the website you most likely downloaded the most recent viewer..........there are on patches for it.

What it sounds like to me is that your graphics is set to 24 bit color. You need to change that to 32 bit True Color in your nVidia control panel.

Any other guesses for helping you need information about your computer, graphics card, connection to the internet, what error messages you recieve (I'm guessing the only message you are getting is that SL requires 32 bit color....which it does).

i checked it said 32 bit...

Try going to your control panel (for Vista), check Personalization.......make sure it's set to 32 bit too. Also set your resolution to your monitor's native resolution.

I'm not familiar with the error message - I don't suppose you're using Vista in 64-bit mode?

If so, try 32.

I've never seen that error message either.......it might be a Windows error message.

it says secondlife requires truecolor 32bit to run in a window please go to yadda yadda to set it.alternatively if you choose to run fullscreen, second life will adjust screen every time it runs

did you go to yadda yadda to set it?

Information about your system would be useful.

The site "Can You Run It?" at http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/srtest/ might give you the information needed.

What kind of video card, what kind of processor, amount of ram, amount of video ram, what version of SL, what version video driver, and other such commonly needed and supplied system information.

There's at least one Jira issue about this error message: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-3595 .

I wonder if this could be an Aeroglas problem or possibly a Vista theme problem.

I was thinking the same thing........but I believe Aero requires 32 bit color. But a theme could maybe be the problem.

Any chance it could just be faulty drivers? ATI isn't exactly known for quality control when it comes to their drivers. For instance: Catalyst 9.9 gives my Radeon HD 3650 fits on Vista, and often fails to start ("Windows has stopped this driver because it reported problems". Scaling down to Catalyst 9.6 seems to keep things stable.

god i dont think ill ever get this thing to work ;_;

Try rolling back to the previous driver

It's not an ATI driver issue...the OP said it's Nvidia.

Try checking the color depth in the Personalization menu or the Nvidia control panel's monitor settings. You can also try using the Windows Default theme and then turning off Aero if that does not work. Another possible problem is that some monitors will support higher refresh rates by reducing bit depth...lowering the refresh rate may help.

More system specs would help further troubleshooting.

whats aero?

Aero is a feature of Vista. It's fluff to make your desktop look good. You can have drop shadows, your icons can be made to fade in and out when you click on them. It's all eye candy and uses a lot of the system resources. You can turn it all off or part of it off in your control panel under Performance and Maintenance.

But, I seriously doubt Aero is your problem........I'm almost positive that Aero requires 32 bit color depth. It wouldn't hurt to turn at least some of the Aero stuff off to free up some resources to use on other stuff you do with your computer (such as running SL). I'm beginning to think you have a corrupt graphics driver that is causing your problem. You might try to go back to nVidia and download the driver for your card again......save it to your desktop instead of running from the website. Once you have it downloaded and scanned by your antivirus, uninstall your old driver from your computer. Follow the instructions to restart your computer........when Windows reboots it will see new hardware (your graphics card without a driver will be seen as a new hardware device). Close the dialog box without letting Windows search for a new driver. Then make sure all programs are shut down and navigate to your downloaded driver file and install it. You'll have to restart again to complete the installation. When Windows boots up this time it will be using your new driver. Check your preferrences to make sure your color depth is at 32 bit and that your monitor resolution is set to it's native resolution (nVidia's driver should set that for you automatically). Try SL again.

Also I believe there are some themes in Vista that do set your desktop to 16 bit or 24 bit........to make it look old fashioned or something. If you are using a theme like that change it to the default theme (it's 32 bit). And, again, without some computer specs we all are just shooting in the dark........if you don't want to tell us anything about your computer it's likely no one will have any more ideas. I know I'm out of them. It's up to you.

Good luck.

its not that im not willing to its just how lol

where can i go look up my system specs and copy and paste them?

All we really need is some basic information about your computer. You can find the information in two places on your computer. First place is your control panel. Open it and find the "System and Maintenance" section. Click on the "System" icon. Write down the following:
Windows edition including any service packs
Under the System heading list the Processor (including the speed), memory, and system type.

That's all the information needed from that page.......the rest is personal and you should not post any of it.

Next, while still in the control panel, find your "Device Manager" and click it. You'll see a list of all the devices installed on your computer. Find the "Dispay Adapters" and click the + (plus) sign to expand it. Your graphics card/adapter will be listed. Double click it to open. On the "driver" tab you'll see your driver version........copy that down.

That's about all that is needed about your computer. The type of internet connection is important too.......DSL, cable, T1, etc. along with the speed (your ISP's advertised speed will help but it is likely to be higher than what you actually connect at). If there are more than one computer connected to the internet in your home then you are probably using a router........we need to know that.

And, any bacground programs you run while using SL could be a factor too.

Hope that helps you find what we need to know.

sorry for being so late i sorta gave up im trying again

i have a NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS

intel core duo CPU e4500 2.20 GHZ

3070 MB RAM

32-bit operating system