I received an actual human generated reply to one of many bug reports, instead of the usual auto-reply, indicating that this was due to a recent problem involving sim reactivation. I hope that anyone who also has this problem takes the time to file a bug report every time it happens or as many times as one can stand to report the same bug again and again.
My response was as follows:
Your message being dated 1-31-04 and mentioning a sim reactivation problem that occured during the prior week gives an approximate early estimate of the date of the problem reactivating the sims of 1-24-04. My problem with some other avatars not being displayed while their attachments are displayed goes back as far as I can remember since first installing the program over a year ago. I have email records of bug report auto-replies going back only to December 14 of 2004. During that interval between December 14 and January 24 I filed at least 38bug reports concerning this problem. These 38 bug reports on this problem reflect only a small number of the times I noticed the problem. This has been occuring to one degree or another for perhaps a year now, and thus the idea that my problem with other peoples avatars not being displayed was caused by a transient issue with sim reactivation is simply and plainly not true.
This problem has occurred throughout three different video cards, all Nvidia, on my computer, and also occurs in identical manner on my daughters computer when I use it, and it has a different motherboard and an ATI video card.
In all cases the avatars which are not displayed can be made to appear by changing my active group.
This problem is not isolated to me. I learned of the "change groups" solution from others who had the same problem. It has been reported on the forums,
here are some references:
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Candide LeMay, 1-29-05
" I don't think this is the same problem as people have with not seeing some avatars ..."
Torley Torgeson, 1-26-05 - " Sometimes it's a bug. A friend shows up all invisible and they can see themselves but you can't see 'em. To fix: change your currently active Group. Sounds funny, but it works. (I don't know why though -- would someone care to share, please? "
Zuzi Martinez replies to Torley's statement above
"... that invisobug is the reason me and my friends relog 9 times out of 10."
SuezanneC Baskerville, (me) 12-30-04 -
" Streamlined Customized Bug Reporting Needed I would benefit greatly from a system that would allow me to store customized bug report text. For example, I get tired of typing "Other person's avatar is invisible. Only their attachments show. Their avatar will appear if I change my group." Sometimes I could file just that one error 20 times or more in one night.
Echo Dragonfly - 11-06-04
Ghosting Avatars - I am having problems with avatars ghosting. I go places, and always, there are several av's that I can only see their attacments. I see their shoes, glasses hair pieces etc. but no bodies. At first I thought it was because of the lag at different spots, however, as of late it is starting to happen in my home sim where there is no lag, and I don't get any packetloss. "
Moleculor Satyr - 11-06-04
Heh. I've actually seen this too. ... No name appeared over their heads either. This was in 1.5.5 though....
Beatfox Xevious 11-07-04 -
I've been seeing the sporadic invisible-avatar bug for a few months myself. Found out from someone that changing your active group fixes it -- you can then change back, if you wish. Quite strange, but it seems to work (for me, at least).
Kris Ritter 11-08-04
A number of people have complained they can't see one or more of a group several times
Tiger Crossing 11-08-04
This bug has been around since day 1. The first class I attended when I started was taught by a floating tophat and monocle. I thought it was intentional, but everyone else could see him, it turned out. But there is a fix! If you are near an avatar that is unintentionally invisible, change your active group. It works, strangely enough.
Laukosargas Svarog - 9-23-04
List of Grievances - Invisible Avatars More and more peoples Avis are not appearing, all I see is their name or attachments.
Jinny Fonzarelli - 6-19-04
I have a huge problem with invisible avatars since 1.4. If the AV has objects attached I can see those. I can't see the name above the person either.
Tracy Murray - 11-24-03
This appears to be an old thread, but I am still seeing this problem quite frequently with current (1.1.
SL. In just about any crowd of AVs there will always be one or two that are invisible. Any accessories they are wearing are visible.
" I don't think this is the same problem as people have with not seeing some avatars ..."
Torley Torgeson, 1-26-05 - " Sometimes it's a bug. A friend shows up all invisible and they can see themselves but you can't see 'em. To fix: change your currently active Group. Sounds funny, but it works. (I don't know why though -- would someone care to share, please? "
Zuzi Martinez replies to Torley's statement above
"... that invisobug is the reason me and my friends relog 9 times out of 10."
SuezanneC Baskerville, (me) 12-30-04 -
" Streamlined Customized Bug Reporting Needed I would benefit greatly from a system that would allow me to store customized bug report text. For example, I get tired of typing "Other person's avatar is invisible. Only their attachments show. Their avatar will appear if I change my group." Sometimes I could file just that one error 20 times or more in one night.
Echo Dragonfly - 11-06-04
Ghosting Avatars - I am having problems with avatars ghosting. I go places, and always, there are several av's that I can only see their attacments. I see their shoes, glasses hair pieces etc. but no bodies. At first I thought it was because of the lag at different spots, however, as of late it is starting to happen in my home sim where there is no lag, and I don't get any packetloss. "
Moleculor Satyr - 11-06-04
Heh. I've actually seen this too. ... No name appeared over their heads either. This was in 1.5.5 though....
Beatfox Xevious 11-07-04 -
I've been seeing the sporadic invisible-avatar bug for a few months myself. Found out from someone that changing your active group fixes it -- you can then change back, if you wish. Quite strange, but it seems to work (for me, at least).
Kris Ritter 11-08-04
A number of people have complained they can't see one or more of a group several times
Tiger Crossing 11-08-04
This bug has been around since day 1. The first class I attended when I started was taught by a floating tophat and monocle. I thought it was intentional, but everyone else could see him, it turned out. But there is a fix! If you are near an avatar that is unintentionally invisible, change your active group. It works, strangely enough.
Laukosargas Svarog - 9-23-04
List of Grievances - Invisible Avatars More and more peoples Avis are not appearing, all I see is their name or attachments.
Jinny Fonzarelli - 6-19-04
I have a huge problem with invisible avatars since 1.4. If the AV has objects attached I can see those. I can't see the name above the person either.
Tracy Murray - 11-24-03
This appears to be an old thread, but I am still seeing this problem quite frequently with current (1.1.
SL. In just about any crowd of AVs there will always be one or two that are invisible. Any accessories they are wearing are visible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I am sure there are many more reports of this exact same problem which I did not find during my search, and one can probably assume that far more people had the problem than reported it. Note that Tiger Crossing states the problem has been around since "Day 1", and Tiger Crossing's join date is 08-18-03, which may mean he was aware of the problem at that time. Tracy Murray's post of November 24, 2003 describes the problem as old and was seeing it prior to version 1.1.8.
I have updated my video and "platform" drivers as suggested. So far the problem does not seem to have been helped by this at all.