Preference Settings

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When you sign on to Second Life, does it look more like a stop-motion video rather than a smooth running program? Does your avatar freeze up? Does it seem like none of your controls are being acknowledged? These oddities are often referred to as "lag". Don't give up, this could possibly be due to your SL preference settings. Assuming that you have met the minimum requirements, you can probably tweak the settings so that Second Life becomes a responsive, enjoyable experience.

Let's look at some of these preferences. I'll explain what they do and how to easily configure them. Even better you can change these preferences prior to connecting to Second Life (aka "SL") as well as change them while you're in-world (a term meaning "while you're logged on to SL"). Again, you can make these changes before you sign on to SL or you can make these changes while your logged in. When you're logged in, you will edit the PREFERENCES via Ctrl-P. But let's make these changes now, before we officially log in.


  • At the Sign-On window, click the PREFERENCES button aT the bottom-right side of the screen.
  • The Preferences window will have ten tabs for you to select the tabs are:

GENERAL- INPUT&CAMERA- NETWORK- GRAPHICS- GRAPHICS DETAIL- ADV. GRAPHICS- AUDIO&VIDEO- CHAT- COMMUNICATION- POPUPS. 

    Let's look at each tab and the optimal settings you can set for each one.


Contents

GENERAL TAB

  • I don't believe there are any options you can select here to make SL run with less lag.
  • I tend to have Start Location be My Last Location. This is helpful in case SL crashes on you and you want to sign back on and be at the location where you were when you got crashed out.
  • Show Names: Always is standard as well.
  • Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.



INPUT&CAMERA TAB

  • Nothing to change here!



NETWORK TAB

MAXIMUM BANDWIDTH SETTINGS

Ok time to get to work: KEX GODEL has written a great wikiexplanation about the Network Settings. I've updated KEX's suggestions to apply to the newest version of SL and added a few of my own notes.

  • Start with 300 kbps as your default setting for MAXIMUM BANDWIDTH. You can do this by either sliding the bar or entering 300 into the box next to kbps.
  • When you are signed onto SL, you will see in the top right corner of your window two small vertical bars. These bars are indicators. The bar on the left is your PACKET LOSS. The bar on the right is your CURRENT BANDWIDTH. These indicators can be green, yellow, or red, depending on the percentage.
  • The Bandwidth Bar Indicator on the right is not as important of an indicator of lag as much as Packet Loss Bar Indicator on the left. If you see ANY indication of packet loss (meaning, if the bar is always red), that's not good. If you see it every once in a while, or in very busy areas with a lot of people, that is normal. But, if you're getting any significant amount of packet loss in quiet areas or while flying around, you may need to adjust your Bandwidth under your Preferences / Network tab. The exception to this is that some packet loss seems to occur regularly at busy hours.

1. Start with 300 kbps as your default setting for MAXIMUM BANDWIDTH.

2. If you're not experiencing any packet loss, but feel like the world is loading too slowly and your Bandwidth Bar on the right is often yellow or red, then raise your bandwidth higher.

3. If you are experiencing packet loss, reduce your bandwidth down until it stops.


DISK CACHE SIZE (MB) SETTINGS

  • I recommend a reasonable setting around 250MB. You can set it higher, but then I'd recommend purging the cache occasionally to keep it working efficiently. Higher cache sizes tend to slowly degrade performance over time. If you set it too low, then you're always downloading things over and over again. 250 seems like a reasonable compromise in size and performance. (Again, many thanks to KEX GODEL!!)
  • Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.


GRAPHICS TAB

  • Next to Draw Distance, make sure that you have 64. Lower is faster and 64 is as low as you can go.
  • Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.



GRAPHICS DETAIL TAB

  • Uncheck the box next to Enable Vertex Shaders.
  • Uncheck the box next to Enable Bumpmapping and Shiny.
  • Uncheck the box next to Enable Ripple Water.
  • Uncheck the box next to Avatar Vertex Program.
  • Select the NORMAL button next to Avatar Rendering.
  • Most graphics cards can handle Nearby Local Lights, but go ahead and select Sun And Moon Only for right now (Remember, you can always go back and chose some fancier graphics options, but right now, let's stick with the basics so that we can get SL up and running smoothly).
  • Select the LOW button next to Terrain Detail.
  • For the Object, Flexible, Tree, Avatar Mesh Details, move ALL of the sliders to the FAR LEFT for the time being.
  • Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.



ADV. GRAPHICS TAB

  • Uncheck the Anisotropic Filtering Box.
  • Set Gamma to 0
  • Set Nighttime Brightness to 1.000
  • Uncheck the Enable VBO box.
  • Your computer should already communicate to the SL program the amount of memory your Graphics Card holds. This number will be selected for you. If it appears to be the wrong amount of MB, then select the correct number.
  • Fog Distance Ratio: It is believed that this number does not affect lag in SL. Personally, I have my ratio set at 1.5
  • Max Particle Count: 256
  • Outfit Composite Limit: There is a note that says "Lower is Faster" but I have yet to read about any changes in performance when this number is set to 0. I have mine set at 5.
  • Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.



AUDIO&VIDEO TAB

  • Uncheck the Play Streaming Music box and the Play Streaming Video Box.
  • Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.



CHAT, COMMUNICATION, POPUPS TABS

  • The last three tabs (Chat, Communication, Popups) don't have anything to do with whether or not SL will be laggy. So no need to worry about those.


TIPS

  • Hopefully SL will be running more smoothly for you. Like I said, we've stripped down all of the fancy graphics. If SL is smooth and your Packet Loss Bar Indicator is not constantly Red, you can slowly start adding feature by feature to your SL preferences (Ctrl-P). For example, I ended up choosing HIGH for Terrain Detail in the Graphics Detail Tab. I also bump up my Maximum Bandwidth when I notice that the Bandwidth Indicator Bar is full and the Packet Loss Bar is not Red.
  • Remember that Second Life is a "world" that is constantly being changed. There is always some packet loss and lag in busy places. The best way to gauge your system preferences is to go to a quiet area like the SJSU SLIS campus and see how the program is performing. How to find the SJSU SLIS Campus
  • When you enter into a new place, just hang tight for a moment and wait while the things around you load.
  • Most video cards give you the option to select whether you want better performance or better graphics quality. You might want to consult your graphics card preferences and try directing the card to focus on performance rather than quality. This might help.
  • Remember that Windows Vista alone needs 1GB of RAM. It's never a bad idea to go ahead and add more RAM memory. This isn't as scary or hard as it sounds. It usually only involves a few steps. Extra RAM can increase the performance of all off your programs, including Second Life.
  • Don't have any other programs running while you are running Second Life. (some enthusiasts even suggest restarting the computer right before you log on to Second Life!)
  • One last time: Don't forget to click the APPLY button when you've made your changes.
  • Feel free to Instant Message me when you get into the world of Second Life and you still have questions about the settings of your preferences. My SL name is Mace Slunce.

--Bernd Becker, Friday, April 27, 2007

Retrieved from "http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/sl/index.php/Preference_Settings"