Lag.

Can someone help me with lag? I will let someone in my computer to figure it out (as long as you're running Windows, 'cause there's that thing that lets you go to someone else's computer to help them with stuff).

I would suggest not using that windows feature with someone you do not know personally and or in real life. Someone could damage your computer intentionally or by mistake. Maybe you can call your ISP and ask them for suggestions for boosting your connection. You could go to Best Buy and ask the Geek Squad for help, lol. If by lag you mean SL in world lag, well, we all experience that due to the network issues. Even people with high end machines and cable connections report lag all the time. Without knowing anything about your computer the best advice I can give you is to make sure you have an up to date graphics card and drivers. Having plenty of RAM helps too. Avoid Sims with too many scripted objects, camping chairs, or avatars. Second Life seems to get laggy when it breaks new records in concurrent users online, but it usually stabilizes some time after that.

My problem isn't just a little lag. It seems to freeze, then next thing I know, I'm somewhere entirely different. The first time I logged on, I somehow got from the beginning to the end of Orientation Island like WHOOOSH! Man, I got cable internet so this stuff wouldn't happen. Yeah, and I got these Intel Extreme Graphics cards, that might be the problem. And I know zilch about drivers. Oh, well. I'll just do the best I can. Thanks.


....Geek Squad LMFAO!....hmmm.....maybe they could help (I'm crazy).

I've been experiencing the freeze-then-show-up-a-sim-away problem for the last few days myself. Normally I do not have this problem. It's probably just server load, not sending you data packets quick enough. There is probably nothing wrong with your computer.

Also, never let "geek squad" people touch your computer. For that matter, don't bring your computer in for "repairs" at best buy or any other big box store. You take a big risk if you do.

Try this: http://www.driverzone.com/

They have drivers for just about any device you may have in your computer. And the downloads include the installers so all you have to do is run them once you download the drivers you need.

The scan of your computer by "driverzone" is free........but it's a small one time charge to download as many drivers as you need for a year.

If all you have is Intel Extreme Graphics, SL is going to be a miserable experience for you. You need a proper graphics card and *at least* a full 1 gig of memory, otherwise the lag of SL will indeed cripple you. With the right hardware, SL is a whole new experience.

1) make sure you're not running any other programs, they type up cpu cycles and memory.

2) make sure someone else in your house isn't also using your cable modem to do things like: bittorrent, youtube, listen to music, browse pr0n. The bandwidth they eat up can really interfere with SL.

3) make sure your not infested with spyware/adware/viruses/etc, get and use a good virus checker. If you're the type that downloads and runs anything from anywhere.

4) make sure you have free disk space.

5) Never trust anyone else with full access to your computer.

Lots of people have been reporting stuttering/freezing with this version of the viewer. 1.13.3(2)

/142/a5/163747/1.html

Sometimes I will be somewhere and all of the sudden I will teleport somewhere else. This is rare though and never usually makes it through. (I get logged off) Maybe this is a bug we should report.

P.S. I was just kidding about the Geek Squad thing...lol

There is actually something in the knowledge base...

http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=023

I've been suffering the stuttering-freezing a lot, usually ending up in me cursing while trying to build, because I have to reenter the numbers when the stupid thing snaps to it's old location. First Look Viewer doesn't seem to have this problem, but I get a lot of LOD problems with attached flexi-cones looking more like flexi-octagons.

I have a cable connection with two computers routed through a single modem and have never had any bandwidth problems while playing SL. No matter what the other computer is doing...........streaming music, video, even emailing a ton of 6 megapixel pictures to friends and family. Often both computers are in SL at the same time too. I don't think that is a the problem at all. As of a couple months ago I have 6 mbps download but up til then I had 3.........and any decent cable ISP will have at least that. Both computers have been doing SL and other internet stuff concurrently for at least 5 years. I don't think LL's servers can deliver enough bandwidth to cause a slow down through a cable connection.

And on the computer specs. I got this computer about 6 months ago......it's high end and way exceeds SL minimum requirements (3.06 gig dual core P4, 1 gig DDR2 ram, and nVidia 7200 graphics card with 256 on board ram). But my older computer just barely met the requirements with 1.5 gig P4, 512 DDR ram and an ATI graphics card with 128 megs onboard ram. It ran just fine.........not as good as this one but I was almost disappointed at the performance increase. In fact that computer is the other one in this house that is the other SL member. It still works great..............and when lag is prevailant in SL both machines are just about the same.

But, one thing I migh have over some is that I'm in California and just maybe I don't have so many internet server hops to get through to play the game. But I'm not sure that has much to do with it either.

From something I read a while back (can't recall where at the moment), a good percentage of the servers are in Dallas. I am in Fort Worth (40 miles from Dallas) and things suck for me too

First, letting someone on your computer through remote access would be a very bad idea. Second, if you really want that, have a geek you trust sit in front of your system. Don't have the time to say why now, but anyway...

To run SL pretty well you need at least 1GB RAM. Then you need a dedicated gfx card. Integrated graphics (as far as I know) are not very good.

In my situation I found the disks subsystem to be the cause of many issues. If you have a single hard disk (maybe even a single partition) with your Windows installation, the swap file and the SL cache, you may have slowdowns.

I have 3 hard disks on my actually defunct PC and I moved the SL cache onto an hard disk which I never use when I'm playing SL.

You should probably go to the Technical Issues forum for the best advice and references on how to optimize your system for SL. There is quite a bit of documentation on this issue.

But here are the basics of what will contribute to problems in running SL. Take them one at a time to pinpoint why you're having troubles.

1) Your computer

You don't mention anything about your computer specs, which can be a key issue for running SL well. Anything less than 1gb RAM can cause problems; 2gb is optimal. And you need a decent graphics card matching the specs in the System Requirements; exceeding them is always better. If you have a core 2 duo processor, some system settings may need adjustment since some versions don't run well with SL. Alternatively, if you're underpowered, you'll also have problems.

2) Your connection

You need a clean high band-width connection with the right fire-wall settings. I don't know from firewalls, so it's usually not something you need to worry about. But it is another potential source of problems if you have a firewall that's locked down too hard.

3) Your SL Preferences

There are numerous inworld notes and entries in the knowledge base on how to reduce lag by adjusting your preferences appropriately. Read them!

Good luck -- it may seem like a lot of tech stuff to absorb and understand, but the pay off will be worth it.

Forum post on lag:

/111/1f/106305/2.html#post1373895

I think I found my problem. I was looking on the BOTTOM of the system requirements page (which I haven't done before) and found that my graphics card (Intel Extreme) was on the list of DO NOT USE cards. But isn't there any way to make it work right? Also, in spite of this, can anyone tell me how to set my preferences for best SL use with a 100mbps cable modem?

Work around would be something along the line of go to Best Buy or even Office Depot and get a compatible PCI or PCI express graphics card and then diable the onboard graphics adapter. Check out cards with at least 256 megs onboard memory. Expect to pay around 100 USD for a good one..............more for a better one.

100 mbps modem? You shouldn't have to configure SL for that!!! I got 6 mbps !! LOL!!
But seriously.................you should have plenty of download speed on even a slow cable connection. 1.5 mbps cable connection is pretty slow for cable (that's about as low as I've seen)..........and that should work very well with SL.

Despite all the hype you may find on the Intel website, an integrated video solution is no match (as far as I know, if I'm wrong someone please correct me) to even a medium dedicated gfx card.

In the 70/100 Euro range there is plenty of gfx cards that will do the job.

I myself I have an ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB, bought back in May 2005 and as far as I can tell it does its job.

If you buy a dedicated gfx card not only SL will be better, but other 3D games too!

Two teensy weensy upgrades to my box made a huge improvement to SL:

Upping my RAM from 512k to 1Gb.
Upping my ATI Radeon 7500 to a 9550.

.. and even my dedicated gfx card is at the bottom of the accepted list ... LL say 'do not use' for your gfx for a reason!

Hey, they've updated that page since I joined! Used to be, it had only the minimum requirements and not recommendations, I believe.

Now if they would put something on there about VISTA!!!

I'd ask about Vista - or suggest they put something on there about Vista - in Second Life Answers, but they closed that down. I'd put it on the blog, but it would be off-topic.

Oh well, they say ignorance is bliss.

coco

Here are some links to some Vista related threads.

/111/12/163019/1.html

/111/98/163395/1.html

/327/60/163126/1.html

/327/dc/164537/1.html