Game runs much slower for me now, plus other bugs

Second Life, is without a doubt, one of the most wastefully written programs I've ever encountered. As a trivial example, while at the splash login screen, where SL is waiting for nothing other than a keypress or a mouseclick, it will consume 100% of user cpu; I thought one had to affirmatively try to make a program doing nothing but waiting on input hit the CPU that hard.

Combine that with recent discoveries that SL sends and processes information that cannot even be seen as it is beyond the maximum draw distance and you've got dreadfully inefficient program. The SL client leaks memory worse than any application I've ever seen that has been three years in deployment.

The simplest explanation is that it was written for coding expediency and never subsequently cleaned up. This is exusable for a start-up with a hot idea that they are dying to get out there, but it is doom for a firm that is trying to use that same codebase to hit the mass-market.

It is most certainly not you.

Glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem... I've got a thread outlining my issue here: /111/e9/84915/1.html

I've been told everything from reinstall, to defective video card and it's driving me nuts. My old machine runs SL ok, my new one is horrid bad since the 1.8.1 update. Check my thread for machine specs, but it should blow the doors off of my old system.

Does this have something to do with Second Life already being in Open Graphics mode, even at the startup screen, and the OG code is always trying to redraw the screen at the highest possible frame rate, even though it's just a static image being displayed and the frame rate is higher than the graphic card and monitor can possibly redraw the screen?

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Perhaps the original poster should try installing older versions of their video card drivers? I know that sounds silly but there have been people solving other problems with SL by doing that.

I'm hardly an authority on OpenGL, but when Google Earth is idle, even while displaying Chip's house, the processor is not busy; so I would guess no.

Amen! Countless games/programs have I run on my machine, and all with tons less problems than SL.


A second Amen! to the poster who mentioned what a resource HOG this program is.. its rather silly. Compared to other programs/games that require much more machine to run, and much less resources used. I know, I know, its not the main gripe here.. but its a gripe nontheless!

I had a lovely experience where SL was screwing up about 30mins before the grid went down, then once I logged back in I'd found a script and object inventory for a HUD attachment were gone, so I had to start the script over again, re-add all the inventory.

Then SL reported several packet loss errors ranging from 16% to 100% loss, before disconnecting me. I managed to log back in, and lo and behold, the script I was working on wasn't there, the old one was, and it left me very pissed off.

This was before the power loss, I take it? They probably had to use an archive of your sim after power was restored. Is there a better way to handle this?

Luc, always the voice of reason.

I figured I'd voice an opinion here as well. I actually rarely have issues with lag or getting booted. My system regularly runs SL at over 30 fps, but last night it took a nose dive, even while standing idle on my own little slice of heaven.

Anyway (insert clever comment here) I think (random grumpy poster) has a few good ideas. The clear solution is to (amazing insight stated).

My 2cp

oh i agree theres something wrong but i cant tell what the content vs software ratio is

If it wasn't worse than it was before, then you wouldn't be reading this. I'm no computer expert. I don't know efficiently written programs and memory leaks, but I signed up in Aug 05 and it worked somewhat okay, but now I crash EVERY TIME - no kidding - EVERY TIME I log on. I am a basic user - this shouldn't be happening. I can log on and then - if I go watch a tv show andd wait for the LAG to clear then maybe I can move around my sim - but if I go too far then I either crash or just keep flying uncontrollably. Such fun for $25 a quarter!

Thought I'd give it a try again... and...now I am spinning uncontrallably. Wow is this a great game - if you want to barf. I'll log out and get back to you with the next crash. (g4 mac)

what the hell are you people doing to get it like that ?

my system isnt nearly as powerful as most others, and i run SL at 1024x768 on 2 mbit dsl fine. no slowdowns, no freezing. i have 1 crash per week. (normally when i try ctrl-esc to taskbar the program)

I guess I am lucky, and pretty much a happy camper. I really don't see where the real beef is. I have played quite a few MMORPGs, and I have very little problem with any of them. Second Life is very addictive, and even with some of it's short comings, I feel it is well worth the money.

I run all these programs on my Dell Dimension 2400, OMG, a Dell, a factory churned out, run of the mill computer, and it is out of date, two years old+. I beefed it up a bit, but it's no graphics machine. 2.8Ghz PIV, 1Gb DDRam, ATI Radeon Chipset-256Mb Vram, and Pro DSL connection. So, as you can see, mine is not a computer that is a graphics Clydedale, but I am quite happy, for now, with the way it performs with SL.

I believe a lot of people's complaints could be solved by tweaking their system to perform better using the control parameters that SL allows, and making certain that the video card controller is set to allow these changes. Also, sometimes you can get better performance by setting the parameters manually, and not allow the in game controls to play a part. It is really up to you, and your method of performance tweaking that plays a big part in performance. I just think some people's complaints are their own misunderstanding of how their video card works with their machine.

Just my two cents. Thanks Linden for allowing me to experience this wonderful world you have provided us.

Barb

Something was changed, tweaked, or messed up during the last update and/or the power failure.

When I signed on I had some slight lag issues, and thusly upgraded my RAM and Video card. All was great for many months until last week. Now, even on my own island and after removing most of the scripts and speaking with an in-world Linden, my FPS often drops as low as 1.5. I am lucky to max it out at 9.

Perhaps our systems do need to be better 'tweaked' to work with SL smoothly. But if the Lindens go changing something that would require us all to change system settings, you'd hope they'd tell you.

It was working fine before, now it is EXTREMELY frustrating. I just dropped $1250 on an island - and the "exclusive" support address that comes with doesn't answer your emails. The Lindens in world relaly do try to help, but I don't think they have the answers either.

If each update to SL is going to require any update to my PC I'm going to soon go bankrupt. Seriously?!!?!? I am WELL within the minimum requirements with room to spare. I'm thinking a NASA supercomputer would lag. We need answers and/or fixes I think.

For those of you who noticed no problems - great for you! w00ts. But it seems quite a few who have been playing fine suddenly cannot.

Yeah I've been having patchy performance issues since 1.8.x, and since Wednesday's update can now add my name to the list of people with major camera zoom issues. When I focus camera on anything there's an immediate sharp drop in fps, and about 1 of every 3 times I camera on something I crash. I mean, fps goes from like 20-29 down to 5-7. Prior to the last update (the 1.8.2) I could get 60 fps or higher in my sky house.

My system is fairly new (Oct. 2005), and it was all running pretty spectacularly up until 1.8.

I'm on a Dell XPS M170 laptop, 256MB NVIDIA GEForce 7800GTX PXI Express, Mobile Intel Pentium M Processor 780 (2.26GHz, 2MB Cache, 533MHz FSB), Windows XP, 2GB DDR2 dual channel SDRAM at 533MHz.

Connection is DSL 768 kbps.

Also, how do I file a bug report for this and not sound stupid? I mean, the bug report form itself makes no sense to me.

Q: How to replicate the bug ?
A: Focus the camera on anything...??

Here is something I have tried in the past, sometimes it works sometimes not. Remember the driver updates for your video card? Well, the latest and greatest isn't always the latest, and workable update to the drivers. Video card manufacturers have to supply a driver set for many different brands , and configurations to their customer base. So, the latest, and greatest may not be the best fix of the driver for your video, and machine configuration. I usually save any copy of the driver install programs that work well with my computer, so that I can revert back to the good drivers if I don't care for the newest revision.

Heck, when I logon to SL, the screen tells me I need to update to driver 3.0.8 or something like that, but I have installed 5.1.2 on my machine, figure that one out. The newest version doesn't work properly for me, so I am staying with 5.1.2 until I get the latest, and greatest that actually works well with my machine.

So, what I am saying is to take a look to see if the older drivers are available for your video card, or if you have the older versions of the drivers, to uninstall the newer ones, and re-install an older version. It would be worth the try. You can always re-install the latest drivers again.

Just some more of my two sense, and an idea to try. Yes, I know, some people are a bit reluctant to delve in such matters, but until you take the time to resolve your problems, whether positively, or negatively, you can't really blame the program for the fact that your computer isn't performing to what you perceive it should perform as.

Barb

couple of you have mentioned reinstalling your vid drivers, which is a good step, but it didn't fix anything. I believe SL has a button for redetecting hardware settings on the next restart of sl. have you tried that? and/or reinstalling sl?

Well, this is why I don't rush out to buy a super-d-duper system, or even add anything to mine. (Though more memory would be good, and surely wouldn't hurt!) Too many people have terrific systems and get worse performance than I do, on my 3-year-old machine.

I'm even afraid to add memory for fear something might get worse.

coco

So how did this week's upgrade fare? Better, worse, the same?

No better. Still slow to draw things, still gray. FPS is fine though, it fails to draw things lots of times pers second, then draws gray things lots of times per second.

Well it fails to draw or draws badly quickly if you are in a simple place without many people around. Otherwise it draws things slowly and badly.

Is it just me or does *every* upgrade actually downgrade performance?

When I first started running SL it was fine. Not great, but good enough to enjoy it. With each upgrade, my performance has deteriorated a tiny bit, but with this last one... woah.

Grey prim city. When textures do finally load, they never completely resolve. Everything is smudged. Movement is also now much much more problematic than it's been previously - a step forward can take a full second. (Flying for some reason is better than walking but that's always been true for me?)

I feel like I'm being classed out of the user base by hardware demands, even though I'm still within spec. Sad

It isn't just you who is experiencing continually diminishing performance. You just need to expect less. Think of it like a real life fiscal depression, don't go travelling, stay where you are. Who needs a new car, really? Nice coiffure from the salon? Excludable luxury. More jewelry has an opportunity cost measured in performance. Additional home furnishings will only slow you down. There are some reports that large inventories slow client performance significantly; this may truly be a case of your possessions owning you.

I recently downgraded from a lovely high-prim pre-fab to a more austere open field. What it lacks in detail, it makes up for in roominess. I dub this the Era of Diminished Expectations, but think I might have stolen that from Vonnegut. Perhaps I may shed my "skin" and find myself a loincloth. Maybe Robin is right: You must Be the Change you wish to see in the world.

One can only lower their expectations so far. At some point it becomes not worth starting the program.

For instance, I don't have Second Life running, I have instead recieved a chat request from someone in a file sharing program I am running, and instead of instantly closing it as I would normally do, I am actually saying something to the person.

Well they started asking about me in real life, so I closed that, but not before I suggested that they try secondlife.com if they are looking for sexual interaction.

Serves them right.

I'm getting a "press the up arrow while flying, it's sluggish to respond, let off, you continue flying" thing at times now, for the first time in longer than I can remember.

Sadly, the only real chage I have been noticing lately is the long rez times it takes when you first TP somewhere, and a little more crashing once in a while, but it is something I wouldn't deem "unplayable", just "a little annoying".