Floating Ball

My avatar is a floating spirit looking ball, I have no idea what to do. I can't edit appearance or anything.

control alt R

I think

Or clear cache and relog or just relog. You aren't rezzing, that's all.

I've tried relogging, and ctrl alt R, how do I clear cache?

edit/preferences/network tab

I know there is some way to do this in the advanced menu too (rebake your avatar) but I don't remember.

ETA: try going into appearance edit by clicking on your avatar name. If it isn't visible, uncheck 'hide my name on my screen' in your edit/preferences/general tab.

Clearing cache didn't work. Can't edit appearance by clicking on my name, clicking on my floating ball of an avatar, or going into edit.

That's strange - I could get a pie menu by clicking on my av name.

Well yea I get a pie menu, but appearance is grayed out.

Had some1 in the nooby center fix it for me, they gave me a bald head. Thanks for the help though!

This is interesting. There is actually a system hair item going around that deliberately produces the "cloudy avatar" effect. Mine's called "ghost hair", I think, but there are other names for it.

Wearing such an item is not, of course, the ONLY reason one might appear as a cloud. This happens any time the server hasn't uploaded your avatar's textures. It's usually due to a corrupted texture, or a bad or slow internet connection.

Things to try:

1. Rebake your textures. CTRL+ALT+R
2. Enter Appearance mode and change something slightly, then change it back.
3. Go to Edit/Preferences/Network and click the Clear Cache button. Log out and re-log.
4. Reboot your computer, your router, and your DSL or cable modem.
5. Force the newbie avatar appearance. Use CTRL+ALT+D to enable the Advanced Menu, and then pick Advanced/Character/Character Tests/Test Female (or Test Male). When you appear, you can then put on your regular shape, skin, etc.

when i'm clouded, i was taught by Eli to change my group tag. that usually does the trick for me.

It's also possible to go into the Advanced Menu, choose Character=>Character Tests, and then Test Female or Test Male. I've never actually done it, but it supposedly resets you with a default avatar, and other people have had luck with it.

I'd like some more info on this "system hair" that Lindal mentioned. I was trying to help a someone with the same issue (couldn't rez, Appearance greyed out) and none of the usual fixes were working. Is this item a griefing tool to confuse noobs?

I received my copy as a gag item. It could, conceivably, be used as a griefing tool, by giving it an innocuous name, such as "bald cap".

Someone might wear it, thinking it a standard baldie, and be a long time in discovering why they are a white puffy cloud.

By the way, for any new people lurking: Hair comes in two types. "System hair" is the hairstyle you can create with the Appearance menu. A system hair object looks like a little head of hair in your inventory. Like your skin and shape and eyes, one must always wear SOME sort of system hair.

In most cases, this takes the form of a "bald cap", or "baldie", which is simply a system hairstyle with the sliders set to zero. This is worn, along with the prim hairstyles that most people favor, so that the ugly system hair doesn't poke through the prim hair.

Note that system hair also includes settings for the eyebrows.

to add to the list of possible fixes, type worn into the search on your inventory and make sure you replace every item that shows up... usually it's a skin or clothing item that has become corrupted, at the very least in the sims local cache.

and whenever you do a relog make sure you relog to a sim where you haven't been since the problem started.