It's an interesting game, but...

...I'm not sure I'm going to subscribe at the end of my trial.

There is a lot in the game that interests me, it really is very creative and unusual, but I frequently suffer terrible lag that means it's impossible for me to do anything and I have to log off.

It's possible my machine is just a little underpowerd to handle it. Although it's about 4 years old now, I've regularly upgraded it. However, the motherboard is now the limiting factor. I've done as much as I can without a complete rebuild, which I can't afford at this time. It does exceed by a decent margin the minimum specs for the game.

The main problem seems to be when I'm in an area with more than about five other people. I'm generally ok if I'm on my own or there are just one or two others around. However as a big element of the game seems to revolve around community activities that's not good.

Anyway, the key specs of my machine are:

1.4Gz Celeron Processor
512Mb memory
Geforce 5700LE 256Mb graphics card
512k broadband
Windows XP Pro

Is my machine the problem?

Yes, sadly, the Celery processor and the motherboard are going to be the limiting factors. You'll probably get a maximum of 7-8 fps on a good day However, I've heard of people playing on pentium 3 500's or so, so there might be hope.

This game cannot run any faster than 15-16fps on most systems anyway, due to the streaming nature of the program.

Version 1.6 (coming in the next few weeks) are supposed to alleviate the "too many avs in one space" problem. I tested it on the preview grid with about 20-30 avatars and the increase in performance is VERY noticeable. So there might be hope after all

We all hope you stick around... ten bucks really isn't that much for a lifetime membership, especially since you'll make it back eventually

LF

Of course, this statement all depends on where you are... I get 25+ in some places, ~5 in others. My system is about a year old (3 ghz p4, 1 gig corsair DDR400 ram, 256 meg GeForce 5900 ULTRA).

That said, gathering avatars together always produces lag right now. LF is right, the preview adresses this a fair bit.

Have you tried turning your settings down?
Setting your draw distance lower and turning off features usually takes my FPS from 7-10 to 20-30.

SL is a very *very* cpu intensive game... and that is a rather poor performaing cpu on the best of days... what you may want to do is bide yer time for now, but keep upgrades in mind for the future.. you can get a cpu/motherboard combo for under $200 now that will literally be 3-4x faster, or more than what you have currently.. which is a pretty decent price point

*think athlon socket 939 platform, mobo about $120, 3000+ or 3200+ rated cpu's can be had in the just a hair under $100 range these days... all the rest of your components should be able to transition over smoothly (assuming that is ddr ram at least)

a system similar to yours, with those two upgraded parts, would probably net in the 20 fps range most places, down to 12-15 in very crowded areas, and up to the 40 fps range in more secluded private areas...

but keep in mind your neighbors are going to be as big, or bigger of an influence of your frame rate as your own system will...

In a lightly developed area with plenty of open space and not too much clutter, i can get almost 80 fps in second life... in welcome.. i get about 10... and anywhere else can be anywhere inbetween

Yes, as the others have stated, your computer is the problem. However, your net connection could play a slight role. I generally have very good framerates, but on high traffic nights (most Sundays at primetime), I get network slowdowns. These typically manifest in start & stop patterns where I can rotate and look around at the usual framerate, though I can't move my av for several seconds.

No need to repeat what the others said about your computer, but, I do want to reiterate that you really should get the US$10 basic account and stick around at least until version 1.6. It's a definite improvement to FPS, as well as cool new features and other bug fixes. You'll most likely see improvements with 1.6.

I acutaly have almost the same specs as you, including the exact same video card...and I can run SL preaty darn well with all the bells and whistles.

The only big difference in my system is the processor: I have a 1.4 ghz Athalon XP chip, instead of a Celeron.

I don't have enough first-hand experience to say whether the Celeron is really that bad or not. What I can tell you, from having built this system myself, is that you can get the same model Athalon or a little more than what I have for about $50, and a corresponding motherboard for roughly $40 (you would need the new motherboard in order to switch to the athalon).

Of course...yes, there is the issue with having so many AVs in an area on my machine too...but everyone else has brought it up well enough.

Thanks for all the replies and advice everyone.

I played again today and things weren't too bad until the peak time in the U.S. (I'm in the UK). Managed to lose all my Lindens on some silly casino games... but then won three Tringo games on the trot to restore a few L$ to my balance!

I probably will sign up for the basic account and then when I get some money together upgrade my machine, as that's been on the cards for a while now anyway.

Dippy - It was a pleasure meeting you - I sincerly hope you give SL another go when you're ready. The potential here is really limiitless... and lots of great people here

Travis

No but your units are!

According to the NIST guide for the International System of Units (SI) you should make the following changes:

1. There should always be a nonbreaking space between your number and unit.
   
2. The unit for cycles per second is "Hz" (short for Hertz). The engineering prefix for a billion is "G" (think "giga". Thus the unit for billions of cycles per second is "GHz".
   
3. The unit for bytes (eight bits) is "B" and the unit for bits is "b". Thus for a half of gigabyte of memory, one should write "512 MB".
   
4. Transfer rates are usually quoted in bits not bytes. So a connection of 512 kilobits per second would be written as 512 kb/s.
   

In summary your system specifications should read:
1.4 GHz Celeron Processor
512 MB of memory (don't forget the genitive marker "of"
GeForce 5700LE 256 MB graphics card
512 kb/s broadband
Windows XP Pro

~Ulrika~

I certianly hope you were kidding with this post, otherwise your chair is in severe danger of being sucked up your anus.

Thanks Jonquille Noir, I had the particular person you quoted on my ignore list. Though, it's good every now and then to be reminded why I've ignored certain forum posters.

For Serendipitus Maginot:
Seems like your problem is more network related than computer related, if things were fine until U.S. peak time. What are the peak times? I'm thinking it's 8p-midnight eastern on weeknights, and nearly all day on Sundays.

I'd say being in the UK and having a 512k DSL are your limiting factors.
My computer is about as old as yours, and its specs are even lower than yours.
SL lags like hell... but only until things finish caching.
I stay the hell away from crowded places, though... I'm mostly a scripter, so having 30 people LOLing around me is a bit of a turnoff when I'm trying to be productive.

What an overtly crude and graphic post in response to a neutral informative post about the usage of SI! You sound like my younger brother. Hmm.

Anyways, at least once a semester I devote an entire course to teaching the usage of SI and engineering notation. I try to clear up the confusion between "b" and "B", teach people that "Hz" is pronounced as "hurts" (instead of "hurt" and that 1000 MHz is equivalent to 1 GHz. I then finish it with a lesson on typesetting, as the general public has gotten into the bad habit of either omitting units or connecting their numbers and units. It never fails that at least once a year I'll have to review a paper where the units are munged -- and this is from scientists.

Naturally, that was just a reference to an international standard I posted. For those who are interested in that sort of thing, it is an interesting read; for those who are not, continue on.

~Ulrika~

Well the 512k DSL will be doubling in speed in a month or two (for free, thanks Pipex!) so that will be one problem out of the way.

I think it is mainly the texture caching that is causing me the problems. If I just stay static in a new area for a minute or two things are reasonably playable as long as there are not too many other people around, and the partial solution I've found for those situations is to zoom in my field of view so that I've only got a few people in sight at once.



Hey, Travis, thanks for the warm welcome. The Shelter is a nice place you've got there. Hope your quiz show host got out of that queue in the end. And everyone else, Dippy is officially my nickname, since Serendipitus is a bit of a mouthful...

Oh and I too sincerely hope the unit pedant was joking... remember people a dictionary records language it does not define it...

Brilliant !! Welcome to my sig line !!

Dippy, good luck with the computer upgrades and to reiterate, please do get the lifetime account. Stick around, great things are to come! Welcome to YOUR Secondlife.

As others have stated, it's that Celeron that's killing you. They're just not meant for this sort of thing.

Anyway, you're welcome to come hang out in Indigo (assuming you're a nice person). We take numerous anti-lag measures to ensure the sim runs smoothly for everyone. (After 1.6, hopefully some of those steps won't be necessary any more, but we'll have to wait and see.)

Worst case scenerio though, it certainly can't hurt to spend the $9.95 to keep your account, even if you never use it until you upgrade your machine.