Speed up Second Life

Dear resident,

If you are new in SL, you have probably logged in with the latest SL program ( viewer ).
Unfortunate Second Life's latest versions are always severly slower compared to earlier versions.
it is SL's tendency to rather expect higher PC specs than to look at their program codes.

Check your version in the Menu: Help > About Second Life. Is it 1.23 at this moment?
Download and install a real faster version:
• 1.22.11 : released on 11 March 2009.
► Download: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Old_versions.

You'll see earlier versions too, but before 1.21 don't login into Second Life anymore.
1.21 was a dramatic slow version, i suggest to not use that.
1.22.11 does not install seperately; overwrites current installation, however you can still upgrade and/or go back.

Always start Second Life ( SL ) from a cold computer, as SL suffers from leakage of resources and memory during usage. You may have to restart your Second Life every 2 hours.
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General advice to reduction Lag with Second Life settings:
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SL is a huge load on even the most modern computer. SL can take ~35% of a computer's CPU and resources.
I suggest to close ALL other programs, close your web browser, and all other streams and chat programs.
Make sure you computer's processor and graphical processor both are being cooled as best as possible.

As stated, SL is a huge load on your computer, therefore exellent air cooling can make a real difference.
If you have a "heavy" power notebook with cooling fans under, place your notebook's back up so that air can flow freely under. It can make a real difference.
Also dismount your battery if possible, since the battery charging process generates much heat.
For even better cooling use a special notebook cooler ( with fans ) under the notebook.


In Second Life:

For Duo or More Core computers:
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Open SL's advanced Menu: PC: Ctrl+Alt+D Mac Ctrl+Cmd+D
Advanced Menu > Rendering > activate Multiple Threads.


All computers:
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Goto Preference -> Skins
Don't use another Skin than the Default SL skin. The Default skin is the fastest.

Goto Preferences in SL: Ctrl+P on a PC & Mac.
Goto Network: Match your bandwith with your actual Internet bandwith as close as possible.

Preferences > Graphics:

Run SL in a Window
Mark/Tick Custom

Reduce Draw Distance to between 96 - 120, or even to the lowest value: 64.

Disable Basic Shaders ( Basic Shaders on is a huge slowing down monster ! )
Max. Particle Count 1024
Post Process Quality Low

Set all Mesh details to Mid-High
Flexprim Low as this doesn't work at all according to Torley Linden.

Lightning Detail Nearby local lights
Terrain Detail Mid-High

Hardware Options:
Disable Anisotropic Filtering and OpenGL Vertex Buffer Objects ( because they slow down ).

Detach AO's as they heavy are lag monsters.
Take off all the weapons and other scripted objects when not using them.
All shields MUST be turned off.

SL always slows down if more than 40 Avies are in a region; not much you can do about that, but you can first try to activate Avatar Impostors in Preferences > Graphics > Custom. If this doesn't help you may consider visiting another region.

The larger your monitor is with your SL window at full size, the slower SL will be.
Resizing the SL window smaller on a 19, 20, 21, 22 inch screen speeds SL up.
Don't run SL full screen !

If your internet connection is slow you can try the following:
Disconnecting your modem and router and all cables to and from it for a minute.
Apply the power cable and wait a few minutes. Apply all other cables again.

The effect of the advice above depend on your system and how many people in SL are online. And if SL or your internet provider has some issues on a particular moment nothing will help at that time unfortunate. But the advice will speed up as far as your SL is concerned.

Love Linda Brynner ,