The "Story" of a totally lost Newbie

Hi folks,
this is my first post here I was surfing a bit three weeks ago and found out about Second life. I found the Idea very interesting, being a graphics artist and mod developer myself. I even got a credit card for it. But when i started up i was very confused. Ive got extreme lag all the time, altough nobody is around. OK, iam from Germany, that makes the connection a bit slow i guess, but on the other hand, ive got a 3000kbit ADSL line.
The other confusing thing is already mentioned: Nobody is there. I barely see people in this game. The max. number of people i saw in one place was three! And on the mainpage i read about 100.000 players. Strange. I wanted to invest in a premium account
so that i could build a house and all that stuff, but this game just doesnt feel right. The idea is great, tough.

The question is only partly one of your connection speed. There is also your processor and your video card to consider. If those are up to specifications, then have you looked at your graphics settings? By reducing some of those you might improve the lag situation.

If you are in Germany, then the times when you are on are likely to be the times when Americans (by far the largest majority of users) will be tucked up in bed. Having said that, I have never found the situation quite as bad as you do, and I am in the UK. Perhaps if you get to know some people on here you won't be too bothered by the overall number of users on at any one time.

Open the map, and go to a place where there are lots of green dots.
Being in germany possible means you go in when on less active times. But even at the less active times there are atleast 2k users online, might be more now, don't really pay much attention to the stats.
And the 100k users is 100k differen't users logged in the last 90 days, i think.

Edit: Oh yeah, about the lag. Turn down all the Graphical option and see how that is and then turn them up to something you can live with.

When picking somewhere with lots of grren dots I'd suggest a place where they're not all bunched up in one spot, you'll probably find the majority of them AKF.

FYI: 100K is the number of accounts, the most people online at one time so far has been around 5K (and, let me tell you, it was laggy that evening) - right at this moment there's 2,315. According to Terra Nova (09/01/06):


You'll also find that performance varies a lot from place to place depending on the scenery.

And welcome!

Wilkommen zu Second Life, Manuel!

Just to start out with, I'd suggest the following changes to your settings in preferences:

Edit // Preferences // Adv. Graphics:

-Set Draw Distance to: 64m
-Set Max Particle Count = 0
-Uncheck Ripple Water
-Uncheck Local Lighting

Hopefully, this will get you closer to the better performance you're expecting!

Hope to see you in game sometime!

Manuel, read Travis' signoff, that is a good place to start and meet new people.

First things first: Thank you for your quick responses

@Sellador: Ive got a XT9800, Intel P4 3,2 Ghz (HT), and 1024MB of DDR400 Ram. That should do the work just fine

@Frans: I try to do that, thanks. I always worked with the minimap, but i guess thats for the different servers, not the whole world Altough i searched for popular places already!

@Travis: Danke!
Are those configurations you posted a trick for everyone or just for slow PCs? I guess the Draw distance is good for not having to load too much data, but the rest is just clientside stuff?!

There are three international forums, one of which is German. It might help you to connect with people in your time zone.
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Where exactly are you hanging out, if you don't mind my asking?

Welcome to Second Life!

Ah, first off - I would recommend that you to talk to one Ms. Garnet Psaltery. Don't think about it - just do it!

She is effectively in your time zone, and will be able to show you where everybody is, so to speak, and get you in touch with the people that can tame your graphic problems either through Live Help or personal friends.

I daresay you'll meet quite a few others in your time zone too. I'd offer my own help, but quite frankly - I'm more social in forums than I ever am in the world; I rarely leave my land save for business reasons.

But there is a lot out there, and I'm sure you will prosper. Perhaps I shall regret this post someday, when you become a strong business competitor to me?

Welcome and enjoy your new Second Life.

Manuel - after reading your PC specs, yes - the items I suggested are mostly client side. You've got a great system; I doubt your performance issues are completely client related.

However... Do indeed make sure you have local lighting turned off. Its buggy, and even on the nicest of cards, its known for grinding your system to a halt. If part of what you're seeing is low frame rates, I'd definately take a look at that

Also - I second the idea of hooking up with Garnet. She's very knowledgable, and close to your timezone. Not to mention one of the nicest people you'll meet

As Frans suggested also, you're welcome to come by the Shelter too Most of our scheduled activities are normally much later in the evening, but even during your time zone, there's usually folks there hanging out. If you just want to meet some new people, feel free to stop by

Hope this is of use!

Desmond Shang, the hermit of SL.





P2

Manuel, I'm happy to meet you and introduce you to my German friends. I often listen to them chat, and I try to understand what they are saying! I have sent you an Instant Message so you can reply next time you are online.

Desmond and Travis are both very nice people, and I hope you will meet them some day as well.

Hey, there's something funny about this free graphics and design program.

I could have sworn I saw a little person zip by the other day! How strange, I'd best lay off the nutmeg supplements...

And why can't I delete that huge mesh and scattering of objects 700m further down on the Z axis?

@Margaret: Thanks, i was in there once but it seems only Germans who live in the ´States now hang around there I might be wrong tough... gonna check it good the next time.

@Luciftias: I never hang around much because of the lag. But I think Midnight City is interesting, if the lag is better iam gonna visit it properly.

@Desmond: Thanks, i will do that

@Travis: The Shelter? Is that the full name of the place? Ok, see you around then

@Garnet: Well... thanks Iam going to log on now. Maybe your online.

Hi Manuel!
Just to answer a few of your other questions in case they haven't bee already (I always miss things if they have lol)..

While they're are over 100,000 players signed up, during earlish Euro times (like now) there are only about 2000 players online, IN the game.. And usually only 5000-7500 at peak times..

The green dots on the main map are people, mostly people will be in the places that are popular in SL.. Which are quite hard to find (given the number of sims) without looking for either lots of green dots, or going to a place on the popular places list, under the find button.

Feel free to IM me any questions.. Or LiveHelp (from the help menu), there aren't so many people on during Euro times, but usually you will get your question answered .

He, I know that feeling. Especially during GMT+1 daytime, SL feels sooooo empty... but there actually are some euro folks around, just gotta find them Open the Find -> Group menu and search for "SL Deutschland", the group is free to join. Lots of nice people, and there are (weekly?) german-speaking events at the Strandclub at euro-friendly times Feel free to look me up in-world and say hi

Also, look under Find for "Events." There are many, so it will continue to "more" at the bottom of the page. (Which I can't see if I still have the chat menu up.) Look at the ones that are going on when you are on.

Or go to categories and sort them by category.

My machine isn't so hot, so I tend to avoid big parties, due to the lag I will experience. If I really want to go to a big event, I just sit down and look way off at something that isn't moving. May be my imagination, but that seems to help a little.

coco