Tired of Floundering Like a Newbie

I was told by an older player that it might take me 30 days to get used to flying around and moving around SL, after TSO. So I have been tolerating the inevitable learning curve for about 3 weeks now, and I'm starting to wonder if it is my newbie status that is the problem, or a technical problem that has something to do with my settings, or some other factor.

Here's what happens to me all the time:

1. My avatar freezes, and to keep him moving, whether he is walking or flying, I have to click on land or something, often repeatedly.

2. I can't line up to go in doors half the time, and I crash into buildings trying to head for openings. I keep bouncing and can't get near things. It's impossible to line up avatars to do animations because of this bouncing.

3. I bounce up and down constantly, when I try to land, I won't stay put. Hitting "page down" doesn't seem to "keep". I often circle around and attempt to land on a building endlessly, sometimes for 5-10 minutes.

4. I often start falling out of the sky. I realize you can't hit "fly" twice because the second time it will make you fall -- or at least, that's what I see. But I'm often struggling to get airborn, especially out of the sea, and hitting arrows madly, and page-up, and struggling to get flying, and then falling.

5. I am constantly seeing stars from crashing into stuff and landing badly.

6. I'm constantly walking around like an idiot when I just want to look at something. I realize I have to hit alt first and then click to zoom in, but I'm walking too stupidly.

Before you reply with newbie-type answers, please note:

1. I'm on DSL, I have gadzillions amounts of memory space available, I have a brand-new computer, it's fast, it all meets the SL specs, I have a brand-new ATI graphics card and all the latest drivers, it certainly doesn't seem to be related to graphics/drivers/speed/memory issues.

2. I have the options checked off or on that make for less graphics-intensive play, i.e. shadows, terrain etc. are all set where they should be, and not on the slower-loading options.

Since I often sink into the ground completely and have to re-log on, I think there is definitely something up here that is more than just being a newbie spastic.

This would appear to be lag related... possibly due to network settings. I know you have DSL, but that's the minimum spec too...



OK, definitely lag... whether on your side or the server's I can't be sure... but try turning off Local Lighting... it can make a HUGE difference



This sounds like a sim handoff issue, and is the same thing that causes teleport failure.



The falling thing is called gravity... the taking off problem, I think is a bug, I get it too.



That's just because you're new



As is that...



ATI cards DO have problems with SL since they don't stick to OpenGL standards. LL and ATI are both reportedly working on this and blaming each other.



Hmmm



That and maybe some of the others can be put down to packet loss. I'd suggest looking at the Stats Bar... (ctrl-shift-M to turn off the mini-map, then Alt-1 for the stats) which will give you that kind of info. Also, watch the red/green bars in the top right corner of the screen... they can indicate network problems...

Hope this helps

OK I looked at this, and saw the packets. They range from 15 to 50 to 100 to whatever ... they are fluctating constantly even when I just stand still. What would be the optimal number? Or what other section on this Alt-1-visible log should I be looking at to learn something?

Oi, definitely sounds like a packet loss problem. Maybe your cables are bad.

As for taking off... I rarely hit F to take off. I just hold down E.

Packet loss for sure. For comparison, I'm getting 0.0 right now. 50 is not playable.

A couple things offered ****simply for comparison**** to your own Alt-1 numbers.

First, my SL experience seems to change on a day to day basis in terms of playability. This is, or seems to be a function of a number of things, some of which are totally out of my control and possibly out of SL's control. Other things I can definitely "blame" on SL,SL software, or residents in SL.

For example, I routinely tp into Ahern Welcome Area - as do many people. This are is a high avatar hang out on a routine basis. Consequently, sim resources are being used to render them and their attachments. Certain scripts, it seems, if begun in another area, continue to run in this area though it is ostensibly a "no build/no script" area. That said, 90% of the time when I tp in wearing more than a single attachment of any kind, I get laggy - meaning I may not be able to move at all or I move in the stutter that you seem to be describing. Since this is occuring - good times and bad - on my computer that is not changing hardware or software wise on a daily basis, I can only conclude that something other than my computer is the cause, regardless of my settings...or by extension, yours.

If I tp back oout of the area, remove all attachments and tp back in, then sometimes, I can move... usually through the area enroute to Morris. If that is not possible, I go to Morris through Oak Grove... That almost always works.

Now, that being said, Alt-1 does allow you to see ping to sim and return as well as the packet loss rate that has been mentioned. Also check the RUN TASK numbers... This, along with the sim fps numbers will give some idea of what SL thinks in terms of how it is performing. The ping rate reflects time from computer to computer, the packet loss is self-explanatory except to say that a high loss rate means tha packets are having to be resent. So even if your ping is low (good), a high loss rate can still kill your performance.

The Run Task numbers seem to tell me (and I am sure I will be corrected here by some one else as I will not be 'exactly right') whether some other resident has decided to suck up CPU time with scripts. If that number gets above 1.0, then I notice degradation in my SL experience.

If the sim fps drops below 200 anywhere, then I tend to leave that sim because that just winds up being a frustrating experience for me. Above that, I can still get poor performance, client-side fps below 2, even with all the fancy doodad sliders lowered due to a noisy connection -- something still possible despite being on cable, dsl, whatever. Normally, this seems to occur in conjunction with high light source environments, high particles (despite what others say about it shouldn't be having any effects), and on plots with streaming audio even though I have turned that off on my side. If the time dilation (whatever that is) climbs above 1.5, then I notice a hit.

There are some sims I simply avoid due to low sim fps rates. I have no clue what I am missing in them. I avoid clubs for the same reason.

Oh, last thing I notice on my end/setup when looking at Alt-1 numbers - for you to compare yourself. My best days have been in the low 20 client fps range. My Bandwidth is set to take data at a 350 whatever rate... and I have a 1mb RAM cache and a 256 MB vdram nvidia card in an AGP slot running in AGP mode. For some reason, my Alt-1 Bandwidth reading never matches what the rate on my system monitor says... That reading, provided through 3rd party software, is always higher than what I see reflect in Alt-1 as Bandwidth.... so, there's nothing I can do to increase that it seems.

So, why have I thrown all this out and offered no solutions? Because I don't have any. I putz around and fiddle, get frustrated or ecstatic based on my SL experience each time I log in. Some days I can run with local lighting on, others, well, let's not even think about those days.

I find I can play if my client side fps is anywhere above 2.4,though that is slow. At 3.5 it becomes truly playable if you don't fly vehicles. Above 5, I can fly vehicles.... Anything above 7 and I cross my fingers that it will stay that way.

This, as I said, is offered just for comparison.... and in some ways, commiseration that I seem to have experienced the bad you have described, but also a bit of the good. Hang in there, good luck.