See here for a description of what a cache is.

Clearing your cache this way will “cure” certain kinds of texture or inventory issues caused by problems with the cache files stored on your hard drive. It will not solve server problems, lag, or other non-cache-file issues. A full cache is almost always better than an empty one.

You can clear just parts of the cache, depending on the issue you're trying to resolve:

• Open Preferences→ Network & Files -> Directories.
• Go to the first path “Cache Location” and click the “Open” button behind the path. This will open a file explorer window displaying your current cache location.
• Logout (close the viewer) and then delete everything inside the folder currently displayed in your file explorer.
• Should you not be able to start the viewer to bring up Preferences, then locate the folder manually. In its default location, the folder is hidden on most OSs. To find it, you will need to show hidden folders. Now you need to locate the cache folder:

Delete everything inside that folder, OR delete the specific folder/files listed in the table above.

Now continue as follows:

• Log back into SL, to a quiet region (try the Firestorm Support parcel or a Linden water region such as aich or hatton). On your inventory window, click “Recent Items”.
• Wait for your inventory to repopulate fully. The process may be sped up, if necessary, by typing random letters into the search bar.
• While inventory repopulates, do not teleport anywhere, and do not attempt to access anything in your inventory. Talk to people or surf the web.
• Watch as it repopulates. as long as you can see (Fetched…) at the top of the inventory window, it is still loading.
• Once inventory has repopulated, log out of SL once more, then log back in.

At this point, you should be back to normal… whatever “normal” happens to be that day in SL.

Before continuing it is recommended that you Backup Settings. You may skip this step if you choose, however, if there is a problem during or after the update and you do not have a Back-Up then you could lose any changes you have made to your settings.

Updating your viewer need not be a daunting task. The Method explained below is for a straightforward Update. DO NOT follow this method if you are reverting to an earlier version.

For the current release, go to the Downloads page.

If you want to install a previous release, we recommend you use the steps in Clean Install

Having done all those steps, you may now install Firestorm. Installing Firestorm is done in pretty much the same way as any other application on your computer.

Go to Adobe Flash Player, select your operating system, then select the appropriate flash player.

People use the term a great deal, but usually without really understanding what it means, what causes it or how to deal with it. Some of the things commonly suggested to reduce lag actually have little or no effect.

First off, “lag” is a catch-all word that actually covers three very different things, and it is important to distinguish between them. Most lag reduction methods only deal with one of these three aspects.

You can use the Statistics Bar to get detailed information of what might be causing lag.

This is when you have connectivity issues. There are problems somewhere in the network between your computer and the LL servers. This usually can be noticed when you start to experience packet loss. Press Shift-Ctrl-1 (or Advanced¹⁾→ Performance Tools → Statistics Bar) and look at the top, packet loss; ideally this should be 0%; if it isn't, you have a connectivity issue and are losing data. Also, check Ping SIM. Ideally, this should be under 200.

Symptoms of a poor connection include (but are not limited to):

• failure of your avatar or textures to rez;
• object information not displaying in hover tips when you mouse over the object;
• teleport failure;
• random disconnections.

You can try to mitigate network lag by playing with your bandwidth. Too high, or too low, a value will result in network lag. For information on how to determine your optimal bandwidth, refer to this page.

Aside from the network issues mentioned above, some programs may inhibit or interfere with a good connection. Some firewall software and anti-virus programs are known to do this. You may want to temporarily disable them and see if the situation improves.

Everything you see has to be drawn by your graphics card. When there is too much to draw, when your computer cannot keep up, you experience client-side lag. Avatar Complexity (formerly called Avatar Render Weight or Avatar Rendering Cost) is part of client-side lag.

Symptoms of client-side lag include jerky or sluggish movement.

There are many things you can do to reduce this, without having to ask people to adapt to you:

• reduce your draw distance (do you really need to see 512m away?);
• Decrease max non-impostor avatars in Preferences → Graphics → General, which makes drawing of distant avatars much faster;
• disable atmospheric shaders (which serves to drastically reduce how much your computer has to render, as the sky alone is very graphics-intensive);
• if need be, inhibit the rendering of other avatars: Advanced → Rendering Types → Avatar - or derender them.
• try reducing your level of detail settings for everyday use or to improve performance: Preferences → Graphics → Objects and Sculpts LOD; you can always adjust this setting again temporarily if something specific fails to render for you.

Client side lag is local to you. It is a direct result of how powerful your computer is. It is no one else's fault if your computer cannot handle a specific situation. So if you're in a high-lag setting, adapt temporarily as described above.

It must also be pointed out that client side lag does NOT affect things like scripts, at all. It has next to zero impact on a SIM's performance.

Contrary to popular belief, particles do not “lag a SIM'. Their effect on a SIM, on the servers, is in fact close to zero. Particles are almost entirely client-side. They are rendered on your computer, by your graphics card, and in fact, do NOT require a script to keep them going. They need a script to initiate the effect, yes, but afterward the script may be removed and the particle effect will keep going forever - until another script is dropped in to turn them off, or the object is taken or deleted.

If you find that particles are “lagging you”, it is wrong to ask that the effect be stopped. Instead, stop it yourself, on your own computer. That way others who are less affected may continue to enjoy them.

You can disable particles in a number of ways:

• Advanced → Rendering Types → Particles
• Preferences → Graphics → Max. particle count - set to 0

Doing any of these things will stop particles “lagging you”. There is no need to ask others to degrade their SL experience on your behalf. Also, again, particles do NOT cause server-side or script lag. Even if the scripts are not removed, a single one uses 0.02ms script time.

Owners of venues that have a “no particles” policy may mean well, but are misinformed. Again, particles do not lag a SIM, and are very easily dealt with client-side as described previously. Those venue owners are aiming at the wrong target in trying to reduce lag: particles aren't it, scripts are - and even more so, moving avatars (see below). You can't remove the avatars, of course, but you can request that they not show up with heavily scripted attachments.

(Having said that, every little bit helps when it comes to reducing script lag, so if you have a particle effect that does not require the script to be in it at all times, remove it.)

Like particles, high avatar complexity does not lag a region; the effect is entirely client-side. The higher the complexity, the greater the client lag it causes. Be aware of your own complexity, so as to try to reduce the lag you cause for others.

Server-side lag is caused by several things, independently. There are two major causes; all others are secondary and negligible. They are, in order of impact on a SIM:

• Physics. People, even wearing nothing at all, with a low complexity, and no scripts, will lag a SIM. The SIM needs to keep track of where each avatar is, to prevent them walking through one another, floors, walls, etc. Avatar movement is very high when it comes to server side lag. Sitting down reduces this lag significantly. Your avatar, in fact, becomes linked to the prim you're sitting on.

• Scripts. This is common knowledge, compared to the previous point. If you know you're going to a busy event, then remove scripted attachments, as many as possible. An AO in and of itself is negligible when compared to hair that is resize-scripted. Keep the AO, and instead ensure that your hair, shoes and other attachments have no resize scripts in them. Detach all HUDs which you do not actually need. (There is no good reason whatsoever for anyone to be carrying around more than 200 scripts on a human avatar, even when in full RP attire, with combat HUDs.)

Contrary to popular belief, prims do not lag a SIM - or more precisely, their effect on lag is miniscule compared to the two things mentioned above. Scripted prims cause lag; unscripted ones do not - relatively speaking, of course.

So, if you're going to an event, before you leave for it, check your attachments (hair, shoes, etc.) to ensure that they are unscripted. To those running events, it is strongly suggested that you ask attendees to do these things; a badly lagged SIM affects everyone at the event.

NOTE: As stated earlier, lag caused by physics (primarily avatar movement) is the number one cause of region lag. If physics lag is bad enough, scripts simply will stop running; avatar movement is considered more important than scripts. If there are 40 people at an event, and many are moving about, it will be laggy even if none of those people are wearing scripts.

NOTE: Moving away from a scripted prim will not do anything to reduce the “lag” it may be causing you. Scripts all run on the region server, and therefore, they are “global” to the server. No matter where you are in the region, the effect of that script running - that is, the time taken to run it, and the memory it consumes - will be felt on the entire region.

If you want more detailed information on checking for region lag, read on.

In order to understand region lag better, it helps to have a basic understanding of what is going on.

The simulator software that runs SL regions loops through a sequence of steps, during which it handles the following, among other things:

• avatars moving around
• physical objects
• scripts

Each time it goes thought the loop, it spends a little time dealing with each of the above: are avatars walking? If so, update their position, make sure they're not trying to go through a wall, and so on. For scripts, give each script a bit of time to run.

This loop is called a frame and runs, or should run, 45 times every second. That means that each iteration of the loop lasts 22.2ms, and that is the total frame time.

You will need to open the Stats window with Shift-Ctrl-1 for this.

Look for Simulator, near the top. click to expand if it isn't. Time Dilation basically says how long 1 second is in the region. Ideally, this should be 1.000, but normally can drop to 0.0097. The smaller the number here, the more lag there is. Then, look at SimFPS and Physics FPS. In a healthy region, these should both be 45.0 (there's the 45 mentioned above, the number of times a second the simulator software executes its loop). If these drop below 45, then the simulator software is unable to run all 45 iterations per second; it is lagged.

Now scroll down to the bottom, to Time; click to expand, if it isn't. This shows how much time is taken by each of the tasks the simulator needs to do in each Frame (for info on what each value means, refer here).

Total frame time should be 22.2ms, ideally (remember, that's how long each frame runs). The first value to look at is Spare time. This tells you whether the region is lagged or not. The higher the spare time, the better. If you have 0.001 ms here, then the region is lagged.²⁾ The values between Total frame time and Spare time will give an indication of what is causing the lag. For example, high script time will mean that the region has script lag.

LMR - Love Me Render: Graphics/rendering related fixes. See release notes below for more details.

The pages below have been updated to reflect some of the changes since Firestorm 6.2.4. These pages are continually being updated. Please do not bookmark them, as they will disappear once 6.2.5 goes to public release.

• fs_625_prerelease:

Catznip RLVa 2.2 Release Notes

Release Notes for v6.2.4. (529638) - Second Life Viewer Released on August 5, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.2.4.529638.html

Love Me Render

This viewer adds a variety of graphics/rendering related fixes.

== Other == [UPDATE]

FMOD Studio 2.00.01 (updated Windows, Linux, Mac)

KDU v7.10.7 (updated Windows, Linux, Mac)

Voice Server Version: Vivox Version 4.9.0002.30313 (Windows and Mac)
Voice Opensim 4.6.0017.22050 (Windows and Mac)
Linux uses native voice files Version: Vivox 3.2.0002.10426

LibVLC Version: 2.2.8

Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) Dullahan updated:

• Dullahan: 1.1.1320
• CEF: 3.3626.1895.g7001d56
• Chromium: 72.0.3626.121
• Page of test URLs for Dullahan. With the Developer Menu enabled (Ctrl Alt Q) press Ctrl+Shift+Z then the Home page button.

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

If you haven't logged into the Aditi Grid recently, you will likely need to contact LL Support to gain access as well as have your inventory synced. Please review this page carefully http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Aditi. Also ensure you have this viewer setting enabled in Preferences - Advanced - Allow login to other grids.

So you have the latest viewer and still can't see mesh - what's the deal?

Well, it isn't necessarily automatic. Depending on your specific hardware, certain settings that need to be enabled for mesh, may be set off by default.

Go to Preferences→ Graphics -> General; then enable Basic Shaders.

If this remains greyed out, then increase the level of Render Quality until Basic Shaders becomes enabled and can be checked.

Make sure you have a reasonable draw distance. If you have difficulty rendering mesh, lower it; if your draw distance is over 128, set it to 128, or less. (The optimal value for draw distance is entirely dependent on your own hardware; you will need to experiment to find what works best for you.)

In some cases, worn mesh attachments will not render properly still. Go to Preferences→ Graphics -> Rendering and disable both of the Alpha Mask Rendering options.

There are also rare instances of glitches where mesh that you are wearing appears worn by another avatar (yes, it is bizarre!). In that case, try going to Preferences → Graphics → General, and enable Hardware Skinning.

In some cases, low-end graphics cards or very old graphics drivers may require you to turn hardware skinning off rather than on. Before doing this, please try updating your graphics drivers and review the other options on this page, as turning hardware skinning off may reduce your performance.

If you have Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus, see Webroot Issues. For other antivirus apps, see our Whitelisting Guide, and be sure to whitelist all parts of the viewer. This may need to be done from scratch each time you upgrade to a new version.

If mesh is simply slow to appear, but does appear eventually, that is not necessarily a problem with mesh itself; please work through this page: Slow Rezzing.

HTTP fetching may be overloading your router; please try the suggestions given here; if they do not help, revert the changes made then return to this page and continue.

If none of the above work - and make sure you try all of them first! - then in the top menu bar, open Advanced → Debug Settings, type in Mesh2MaxConcurrentRequests and gradually decrease (not increase) the value. (If Advanced is not visible on the top menu bar, press Ctrl-Alt-D.) If it does not help, try increasing the value from the default. Under no circumstances should you increase this beyond 64. Please see this comment on a related JIRA ticket for an explanation of the possible drawbacks of increasing this setting. Additionally, we recommend returning it to default once the mesh you're trying to see is visible.

In most cases, this is due to the mesh item being made low LOD so as to reduce its land impact. You should never try to resolve this by increasing LOD above the maximum allowed in Preferences → Graphics → General (4), as that would result in greatly increased memory use, usually leading to a significantly increased rate of crashing. Rather, the issue is inherent in how the mesh item was made. So you either live with it, or replace the item.

The opposite effect of what was described above. This happens when mesh objects have far too many triangles in the high LOD models. The viewer is overloaded and cannot render anything else. To resolve this, you will need to remove some nearby items, preferably the ones that are too complex. You can try to determine which those are by editing each item, looking at the Object tab, and look at the mesh information on the right. Any mesh item – or group of mesh items – with an excessively high number of triangles is possibly causing your problem.

Reference this SL JIRA issue for more information, where you an see that it is considered expected behavior.

This happens more frequently for those using ATI/AMD graphics and drivers, but has been seen occasionally with Nvidia graphics and drivers as well. Visit Graphics Glitches for ways to address this.

If you can see most mesh fine but a specific mesh item fails to render and/or displays a pyramid, triangle, or ducky when it's first worn or rezzed, then read on. This is caused by mesh that fails to load, and in many cases is a result of having too high a draw distance in the presence of a lot of complex mesh.

• Reduce draw distance significantly, then relog. That often clears the problem.
• If that doesn't help, reboot all your network hardware and then your computer.
• (If the problem occurs only on selected regions, it could simply be a symptom of region lag–see this page for information. In this case, there may be nothing you can do about it.)

If this still doesn't help, then:

• Back up your settings - see this page
• Wipe your settings manually, as explained in this page
• Log back in and see if the mesh renders correctly. If it does…
• Restore your settings (see the backup page above), then check the mesh again.

In Preferences → Graphics → General, make sure Basic Shaders and Hardware Skinning are enabled.

Modern mesh bodies and heads often use a lot of smaller pieces to make up the whole item, so parts can be hidden under clothing. Sometimes the rigging information for one or more of these pieces gets corrupted during download and stuck in the viewer's cache. Currently, the best way to fix this issue is to clear cache.

Please note: this only applies when parts look broken or incomplete. For mesh parts that look ok but that are simply floating in space, see Slow Rezzing.

If certain mesh objects are invisible on Firestorm 5.0.11 on OpenSim grids, set the debug setting FSEnforceStrictObjectCheck to False. To change that setting:

1. Go to top menu, Advanced (Ctrl-Alt-D to enable Advanced, if it isn't), Show Debug Settings
2. Type in FSEnforceStrictObjectCheck, set to False
3. Close the DebugSettings window.

On OpenSim grids, mesh should never be uploaded using “Analyze”. Analyze should only be used on grids that support Havok.
On Firestorm 5.0.11, mesh uploaded with Analyze is likely to render invisible when FSEnforceStrictObjectCheck is set to true.
An in-depth discussion about this problem can be found here.

And that is indeed a million dollar question! Lag is pervasive in SL, and there is no such thing as a “lag free SIM” - except one that is completely empty.

Before this can be answered, it is first vital to understand what lag is exactly, so please refer to this page for an explanation of the 3 forms of lag.

If you find yourself being badly lagged, there are things you can do to reduce the effects of two of the three types: client and network. You can only reduce server side lag if you own or rent the parcel or region being affected by it.

This is the most common of lag you will experience in SL. And you can do a great deal about it, without requiring that others do anything, and most of it simply entails reducing your graphics settings. Try these one at a time; sometimes just one or two will be enough to make things significantly better. Also, they are not given in order: in different situations, some will be better solutions than others.

Graphics settings changes that may help:

• Set your graphics to Low: Preferences→ Graphics -> General→ Quality and speed.
• Ensure that anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing are both disabled: Preferences → Graphics → Hardware Settings tab.
• Reduce your draw distance.
• Reduce the maximum number of non-impostor avatars (this makes drawing of distant avatars much faster): Preferences → Graphics → General.
• Reduce your Maximum Complexity value (this renders more complex avatars as “jellydolls”).
• Disable atmospheric shaders (which serves to drastically reduce how much your computer has to render, as the sky alone is very graphics-intensive).
• You can derender everyone except friends via top menu, World → Show Friends only. (Remember to re-enable, then TP out and back.)
• If need be, inhibit the rendering of all avatars: Advanced → Rendering Types → Avatar.
• Alternately, you can derender avatars one by one, by right clicking on them and selecting Derender.
• You can also derender objects, the same way.
• If there are many particle effects around you, turn particles off: Advanced → Rendering Types → Hide Particles.

These things will reduce the “quality” of your SL experience, but they may be required if you find that your movement is badly impaired by client side lag.

System issues to check:

• If you have a dual graphic card laptop then see here.
• Make sure your anti-virus software is not scanning the viewer cache folders; this has been known to have a huge impact on viewer performance. (Look at look Preferences → Network & Files → Directories → Cache location, to see where the cache folder is located.) Whatever anti-virus you use, Whitelist the viewer and the cache folder to prevent this from happening. Webroot is known to cause serious problems; see this special Webroot page.
• If you use Windows, try disabling SuperFetch, and see if that helps. More info here and here.

Windows 10: Check to see if your computer is downloading updates in the background or running defragging operations.

• To check for defragging:
  1. Open File Explorer
  2. Right click a drive (for instance, C:) and select Properties
  3. Click the “Tools” tab
  4. Click the “Optimise” button
  5. A window will opening showing if a defrag is in action
• To check for background updating:
  1. (instructions to come)

If you own or rent a home, or a public venue, there are things you can do to reduce client lag for yourself and others without overly sacrificing the “feel” of the location. For example:

• Use small textures on all structures, 512×512 or smaller.
• Avoid using prims that change textures if possible; if you need them, again, try to keep the textures small.
• Avoid using textures with alpha channels if none are needed (a solid brick wall texture doesn't need an alpha channel).
• Make enclosed spaces that do not give too large a view of the exterior, especially the sky.
• Use particles and animated textures sparingly.

Another common cause of lag is your network connection. You may even have a high speed connection, but if you have set your bandwidth too low or too high in Firestorm, you will be causing lag for yourself.

Determining the optimal value for bandwidth in Firestorm is explained on on this page.

Other things that are known to affect connection speeds are firewalls and anti-virus software. So if you still experience network-related lag, you can try disabling these, temporarily, and seeing if things improve. If they do, then you may want to consider replacing firewall and/or anti-virus software.

In SL, you can reduce bandwidth usage (and thus network lag), by looking for and identifying items which cause frequent updates between client (the viewer) and SL servers. Many objects cause such updates; some you will need or want to keep, but you may be able to eliminate others.

To get a visual indication of what objects cause updates, go to top menu, Develop → Show info → Show Updates to Objects. (Press Ctrl-Alt-Q to enable Develop on the top menu, if it isn't.) This will enable colored trails above objects that are updating. Each color has a different meaning¹⁾:

• Red: Indicates a full update, such as the creation of a prim. This is a relatively large data packet sent to your computer. If you see objects that are showing a constant stream of red, they're contending for your bandwidth, which may cause other things in the area (like textures) to load slower. If the object is made up of many pieces, the packet is larger.
• Blue: Indicates a partial update, such as a change of position or color for a prim. These are always smaller than full updates. However, the same rules apply as for the full updates. If you are creating content, it's a good habit to make sure it's not updating many times per second. Changing colors, textures, shape, or particle parameters several times per second causes partial updates that contend for your bandwidth.
• Green: Indicates an ending update, such as the deletion of a prim. If this packet gets lost on the way from the server to your computer, the object becomes a “ghost” – your viewer still renders it, but you can walk through it, and when you edit it, the Creator field is blank because the object no longer exists on the server.

You can disable showing of updates by unchecking the setting mentioned above: Develop → Show info → Show Updates.

Objects that update are generally (but not always) scripted. However, many scripted objects do not constantly generate updates. For example, a scripted chair that is not in use, is “idle”. It does nothing, and therefore isn't generating netwrok traffic.

NOTE: Some effects are in-world only; they cause things to change visually but are handled entirely by the client, thus do not create any network (or region) lag. These include: particles, texture animation, client-side rotation.

If you own or rent a parcel or region, then there are many things you can do to help reduce server lag. Here is a partial, incomplete list:

• Remove all unnecessary scripts.
• Remove all items that rez temporary objects (temp rez creates a lot of lag on a SIM).
• If you host events, consider providing seating for avatars and ask them to make use of it.
• Similarly, for events, request that attendees detach scripted attachments before they arrive (NOTE: asking people to reduce their ARC, or complexity, does not alleviate server lag in a noticeable way).
• For large parcels, provide easy ways for people to teleport about, saving them walking (avatars moving creates physics lag).

Firestorm has the ability to have its built-in animation overrider controlled by a script inworld. There are two interfaces, one compatible with the OpenCollar attachment protocol, the other compatible with the LockMeister restraints interface.

The LockMeister interface is simple to use. Any item wishing to control the AO needs to send a message on the LockMeister channel, -8888. The message consists of the key of the targeted avatar followed immediately by the word “booton” to turn on the AO or “bootoff” to turn it off. For example, “12345678-1234-1234-1234-abc123456789booton” would enable the AO of the avatar whose key was 12345678-1234-1234-1234-abc123456789.

The full protocol is described on this page.

Click here for a test script.

The OpenCollar interface is more complex to use. Its main advantage is that it was designed to be compatible with the protocol used by the OpenCollar Sub AO. The full protocol is described on this site.

OpenCollar software is now being developed by two different organizations, and the protocols for each can be found at the OpenCollar group at Github and the OpenCollar group at www.opencollar.at/.

It is also less resource-intensive, as the protocol was designed to be controlled by only one device, which relieves it from hearing large numbers of messages not intended for it.

To begin, the controlling device announces its presence on the command channel by saying “OpenCollar=Yes”, either when it is attached or rezzed, or when requested by the bridge, which will send a message “OpenCollar?” when it is rezzed. Once it has done so, it may then send a message to enable the AO, or disable it: “499|ZHAO_AOON” to enable it, or “499|ZHAO_AOOFF” to disable it. The controlling device should send the message “OpenCollar=No” when it is shut down or derezzed, or no longer desires to control the AO.

It's important to note that the OpenCollar interface assumes there is only one controlling device. A second device will not be able to gain control of the AO, since the bridge will only listen to the sender of an OpenCollar=Yes message it receives until it is rerezzed or reset; other senders simply will not be heard.

Click here for a test script.

Some anti-virus programs (and firewalls and anti-malware programs) will incorrectly flag a viewer - or necessary components of a viewer - as a virus or threat. They may remove the suspected part completely, rendering all or part of the viewer slow or non-functional. There is at least one anti-virus program which will scan every file placed on your computer, even if created by an authorized program. This can affect Firestorm (or any viewer) in that it will scan each and every texture placed in cache, slowing down performance of the viewer significantly, keeping objects and/or textures from rezzing, and keeping CPU usage high.

There is nothing we can do about this. However, it should be possible for you to tell your anti-virus (firewalls/anti-malware) that the viewer is safe; you will need to whitelist the viewer program as well as some components.

The following is a list of some protection software and how to whitelist. Naturally we cannot provide instructions for all existing programs, and the information here may be outdated. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you consult the software manual for the specific program you use, for accurate and up to date information.

In the instructions below, substitute “firewall” or “anti-malware program” for “anti-virus” as needed.

Here are the steps to follow to reinstall and whitelist a viewer in such as way that the anti-virus program doesn't “mangle” the viewer yet again:

1. Uninstall the viewer normally.
2. Disable the anti-virus software completely
3. REBOOT your computer to make sure that the AV is not running anymore.
4. Reinstall the viewer.
   • On Windows, make sure you do not install it back to the default folder suggested; INSTALL TO A NEW FOLDER. This step is vital.
   • On Mac, simply reinstall to your Application folder as usual.
5. In your anti-virus program, whitelist the following, per the instructions below (or better, consult the manual for your anti-virus software):
   • Windows: the viewer install folder
     • inside this, the viewer itself (firestorm.exe), slplugin.exe, slvoice.exe and dullahan_host.exe
   • Mac: the Firestorm application (normally in your Applications folder)
   • the viewer cache folder
     • In its default location, the folder is hidden on most OSs. To find it, you will need to show hidden folders. Now you need to locate the cache folder:
       • Windows Vista/7/8/10: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Firestorm
       • Windows Vista/7/8/10: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Firestorm_x64
       • Mac: /Users/[USERNAME]/Library/Caches/Firestorm
6. REBOOT your computer at this time.
7. Run the viewer to ensure that it is working correctly; do a test of search and voice to ensure that both work, checking that the respective plugins get loaded. LOG OUT of the viewer.
8. Re-enable your anti-virus software and run the viewer again, repeating the tests above.

The Firestorm client bridge is a scripted object that serves to enhance the user experience in ways that a viewer could not do otherwise.

If you are logging in with Firestorm for the first time, the bridge will be created automatically, and placed in a special folder in your inventory, called #Firestorm. The bridge will be named something like #Firestorm LSL Bridge v2.25 (the last numbers are the current version).

You do not need to log in to a parcel where you have build rights, in order for the bridge to be created. However, the parcel must be script enabled for you or the bridge script will not be able to initialize.

If for any reason you need or wish to detach the bridge, you may do so; it will not reattach automatically. To get it back on, you may rewear it, or, using the top menu bar, go to Avatar → Avatar Health → Recreate LSL Bridge. This will “clean up” any old bridges and make a new one.

Note: The bridge will not detach when using wear or Replace Outfit.

The bridge uses HTTP to communicate, which is inherently more secure than listens.

The bridge is created using an object from the SL standard library, which is part of your default inventory. For this reason, hiding the library is disabled.

Currently, the Firestorm bridge supports the following functions:

• Flight Assist: The Firestorm bridge has a built-in flight assist. This may be enabled in Preferences → Firestorm → Extras → Enable Bridge Flight Assist. Note that if you enable this, you should not wear any scripted flight assist; using both will cause them to conflict, with undesired results. The flight assist allows flight above 5,000 meters and provides a speed boost. The amount of boost can be selected in Preferences → Firestorm → Extras.

• Script Count: If you right click you avatar, or any object, and select “Script Info” from the context menu, Firestorm will output a line of information similar to this:
  [17:16] Script info: '[avatar name]': [22/22] running scripts. 1408Kb consumed for 0.015702ms of cpu time.
  This indicates how many scripts the object contains, how much memory they are using, and the script time.

• Radar:Radar functions are assisted by the bridge, particularly when people are beyond your draw distance. Enable in Preferences → Chat -> Radar→ Enhance radar with LSL-client bridge.

• Movelock: This function (in top menu, Avatar → Movement → Movelock) requires the bridge for it to function.

• Additional Movelock functions: Firestorm -> Move & View -> Movement Always re-lock position after region change, and Lock and unlock position after stopping or starting movement.

• AO Support for Objects: Allows collars or other scripted items to enable/disable the built-in animation overrider. This can be enabled/disabled in Preferences→ Firestorm -> Avatar.

Other features are planned, but not yet implemented.

For known issues with the Firestorm bridge, and how to deal with them, please refer to this page.

For a general introduction on how to move your avatar and control your view, refer to this page.

• View angle: Affects the camera field of view.
• Distance: Changes the distance that camera view follows your avatar.
• Transition Time: How long it takes for the camera to adjust to quickly changed camera positions/angles.
• Smoothing: Affects how smoothly the camera moves.
• Disable camera constraints: Allows you to move your camera further away from your avatar, and allows you to cam underground. (Same as top menu bar→ Advanced → Disable camera constraints.)
• Don't use the mouse wheel to control zoom level of the camera: By default, scrolling the mouse wheel results in the camera zooming in or out; enabling this option will disable that feature.
• Automatically pose avatar during (select one or more):
  • Build/Edit: When selected, the camera automatically moves to center on the object you're editing.
  • Appearance: (set by default) When selected, the camera automatically zooms in on your avatar when you enter Appearance mode. It also automatically focuses as you select different Body Parts and Clothes tabs. Deselect this to leave the camera where it is.
    • Add Additional Lighting: If enabled, when you go into Appearance, you will have extra lighting to iluminate your avatar. (This option is not available if the one above is disabled.)
    • Show Visual Hints: Option to disable preview thumbnails (visual hints) when editing shape.
• Clicking your avatar keeps camera position: When enabled, clicking on your avatar will focus the camera at the point that you click on your avatar.
• Reset camera position after teleport (within a region): If enabled, the camera will revert to the default position after a TP within the region; when disabled, it will remain where it is, relative to your avatar.
• Reset camera position on avatar movement: If you enable this, the camera will revert to its default position whenever you move your avatar; disable this to inhibit the camera reset. Useful when taking photos, if you need to move your avatar a bit without the camera moving from where you are pointing it.
• Disable minimum camera zoom distance: Allows the camera to zoom as far in as you want, allowing you to see inside prims.
• Turn avatar towards camera direction on reset view: If this is enabled (old default behavior), then when you hit Esc to reset your camera, the avatar will turn to face whatever direction your camera was pointing at when you pressed Esc; with this disabled, your avatar will not move, but instead the camera will rotate round behind it.
• Allow the camera to move without constraints through prims: If enabled will not keep your camera view on the same side of a prim as your avatar. For example put your back against a wall, and you see the other side of the wall. When disabled, your point of view would be over your head, and you see inside.
• Show the default camera controls minifloater always as opaque: If enabled, the camera conrols window will always be opaque.
• Re-render temporary derendered objects after teleport: If enabled, temporarily derendered objects will remain derendered until you teleport; otherwise, they stay derendered until your relog, or a manually re-rendered via the asset blacklist window.

• Enable Mouselook functionality: Enable this if you wish to use Mouselook.
  Mouselook can be entered either by scrolling forward with your mousewheel, or by using the 'M' key on your keyboard (which first equires enabling WASD for movement, in Preferences->General), or from top menu, Advanced → Shortcuts.
  • Show avatar in Mouselook: Will allow you to see yourself when in mouselook. Does not show the entire avatar, but looking down you would see your feet.
  • Show user interface in mouselook: Normally, in mouselook, user interface elements such as the inventory window, IM windows, etc, are hidden. If you enable this, they will remain on screen.
  • Don't close Conversations and Radar window when changing into Mouselook: By default, these windows close when you go into mouselook; enabel this if you prefer that they stay open.
  • Enable context menus in Mouselook: If you enable this, you will be able to open the pie/context menu using Alt Right click.
  • Leave Mouselook using the scroll wheel: If enabled, then you can exit mouselook by scrolling back with your mouse scrollwheel.
  • Show Mouselook Instructions: Will show the “press esc to exit mouselook” message while in mouselook.
  • Show Mouselook Crosshairs: when enabled, crosshairs are displayed in mouselook mode.
  • Enable combat features: Enables IFF (Identification Friend or Foe).
    • Draw target markers: Draws arrows pointing to friend/foe avatars.
    • Range: Max range for the above.
  • Mouselook mouse sensitivity slider: This affects how far your avatar turns in mouselook. Moving the slider to the right causes your avatar to turn farther When you move the mouse, with the same amount of mouse movement.

• Arrow keys always move me: The arrow keys move your avatar around if you hit them while chatting in the main chatbar. Disable this if you prefer to use arrows keys to move back/foward in text you have typed, so you can edit it. NOTE: This only affects the main chatbar, at the bottom of the screen. It does not work in chat windows in the main Conversations window.
• Pressing letter keys affects movement (i.e. WASD) instead of starting local chat: Enabel this if you wish to have the WAD keys move your avatar.
• Use AZERTY keyboard layout: Enable this if you have an AZERTY keyboard; if your keyboard has a QWERTY layout, leave it disabled.
• Tap-tap-hold to run: Allows you to double-tap and hold the up arrow key to run.
• Fly/Land on holding up/down: Allows holding the PgUp or PgDown button to fly/land, respectively.
• Enable crouch toggle mode: If this is enabled, pressing PgDown will put you into a crouch; you will remain that way till you press it again. Otherwise, you need to press and hold PgDown to stay in a crouch.
• Disable waiting for pre-jump and landing animations: In effect, a fast jump. Same as the option in the top menu, Avatar→ Movement → Quickjump.
• Allow avatars to walk backwards on your screen: If this is left off, your avatar will turn around to face the camera when you walk backward. This option affects only what you see, and does not work with scripted AOs, only the client AO (or no AO).
• Turn avatar towards a selected object: Disable this option if you do not wish your avatar to turn to an object when you select or edit it.
• Movement at region crossing:
  • Predict. Original behavior. This will cause the viewer to try to predict movement into the region ahead, using bogus movement until the session with the region ahead has been setup.
  • Stop. Experimental option. Does what its name implies. Movement at the region crossing will cease until the session with the region ahead is setup and data is received (such as a position update).
• If built in LSL Bridge movelock is active…
  • Always re-lock position after region change: If you enabled the movelock function in top menu, Avatar → Movement → Move Lock (Ctrl-Alt-P), then this keeps the lock enabled if you teleport.
  • Lock and unlock position after stopping or starting movement: With this setting enabled, you will be able to move even if movelock is enabled; movelock will still prevent being pushed.
• Single click on land: Clicking a spot on the ground can either do nothing, or cause you to walk to that spot.
• Double click on land:

  Double clicking a spot on the ground can:

  • Do nothing
  • Cause you to walk to that spot
  • Teleport you to that spot. (See also the Firestorm Bridge.)

• Joystick Configuration: Opens a window where you can change settings for other input devices.

• Play sound effect when teleporting: Allows you to hear the teleport sound effect.
• Always fly after teleporting: If enabled, your avatar will automatically fly when arriving at a new destination, after a teleport.
• Always show the Teleport cancel button: This allows teleports to be cancelled once started. Note that cancelling a TP in progress may log you out.
• Disable Teleport Beacons: Disables the red indicator arrows and the vertical beacons that sometimes are shown after a teleport. Thus if you do not land at the exact location you wanted to (due to teleport routing), you will not have the beacon to guide you to your intended destination.
• Disable Teleport Screens: Disables the black teleport screen during all teleports.
• Do not close the map when teleporting: Enable this is you want the map to stay open after a TP.
• Keep 'Show Friends Only' enabled after teleporting: If this is off, then the Show Friends Only option (top menu, World→ Show Friends Only) will automatically disable after teleport. Handy in case you forgot that you enabled it, and then wonder why you can't see anyone.

• Enable Minimap Rotation: When enabled the minimap will rotate when your avatar turns.
• Double click on Minimap: Select an action when you double click a point on the Minimap:
  • No Action
  • Open World Map
  • Teleport
• Pick Scale: Controls the radius of the pick range on the minimap.

Note: Other options concerning minimap are found under Preferences→ Colors -> Minimap.

• Filter duplicate landmarks on world map: If enabled, duplicate landmarks are filtered out of the Landmarks drop down menu on the world map.
• Show additional region information on World Map: Displays avatar count and maturity level on the world map.
• Show grid coordinates on the world map: Display regions' grid coordinates on the world map.
• Enable double click teleports on the World map: Allow teleport to a location on the world map by double clicking.

The Firestorm inventory window is accessed by clicking the inventory icon on the bottom button bar.

This will open the inventory window, which is initially docked, but as with all other such windows, may be undocked. A typical inventory window looks like the one below.

These are special Firestorm Viewer folders which are “protected” by default to prevent inadvertent mishaps.

For more information, see Animation Overrider

For more information, see Firestorm LSL Bridge

Restrained Love. For basic setup, see RLVa Quick Setup

The Wearable Favorites window allows you to list frequently used items, HUDs as an example, in an easily accessible location so that you can quickly attach and detach them as needed. See Wearable Favorites

• Help: Click the question mark to get help - this page.
• Minimize: The horizontal line will minimize the window on your screen.
• Close: To the right of the redock arrow is an X; clicking this will close the inventory window. To reopen, click the inventory button again, as described above.

• Filter: If you wish to search for items with specific names, type part of the name here. Partial matches work; for example, if you type in hair it will match chair as well as hair. The inventory folders will open and all matching items will be shown, but not others. To remove the filter, click the X that appears at the end of that edit box.

• Collapse: Clicking this will close all open inventory folders.
• Expand: To open all inventory folders, click this button.
• Filter Types Dropdown: You can narrow your inventory search by a single type of content with the dropdown menu. For more detailed filtering, click Custom at the bottom of this menu.

There are three views available in the inventory window; you can toggle between them by clicking the tabs described below:

• INVENTORY: This tab displays your entire inventory in the window.
• RECENT: Clicking this tab will reduce the inventory to showing only recent items. By default, this means all items acquired since last login. This default can be changed - see below.
• WORN: This tab shows only those items in your inventory which are currently worn.

Below these three tabs is your inventory proper. Inventory is organized into a hierarchical tree. By default, the main inventory consists of two folders, which you cannot rename: Inventory and Library. Within Inventory are more folders. Some of these are system folders, meaning they have default and standard uses and cannot be removed or renamed or moved; all other folders here can be manipulated at will. For the most part, this main folder will contain items you accumulate in SL, things you purchase, or make.

The Library folder, on the other hand, is supplied by SL. It contains all manner of things which might be of use. You are free to use items in this folder as you wish, but you may not delete or otherwise manipulate the contents.

If a folder icon has a small arrow to the left, then it contains items; click that arrow to expand the folder. Folders may contain single items or other folders, or a mix of both. Items may be objects, textures, animations, and so on.

If you click on any folder, to the right of the name you will see the number of elements in the folder, that is, actual items, and subfolders. Referencing the image above, the Objects folder shown contains 28 items, and 6 subfolders.

Note that the total displayed (6616 in the image) includes items and folders.

Below the inventory view are more icons:

• Gear: Clicking this icon pops open a menu, shown to the right. The entries in the menu are as follows:
  • New Inventory Window: Open a new inventory window. Note that if you have a lot of items this may take a moment to open.
  • Sort by Name/Most Recent: Sets how you wish folders and items to be sorted in the inventory display.
  • Sort Folders Always by Name: This forces folders to sort alphabetically, regardless of the setting above.
  • Sort System Folders to Top: This places the system folders at the top of the list of folders, with all the others below. System folders include: Animations, Body Parts, Calling Cards, and so on, down to Trash.
  • Search By: Allows you to search inventory according to different fields:
    • Name
    • Creator
    • Description
    • UUID
    • All
  • Add objects on double click: If enabled, double click on an attachment will cause it to be added to its attachment spot; if disabled, it will be worn (meaning any currently worn attachments on that sport will be removed).
  • Add clothes on double click: As above, but for layered clothing, as opposed to attachments.
  • Show Filters: Opens the Inventory Finder, which enables you to limit which items are visible in your inventory, according to item type.
  • Reset Filters: Clears all filters set with Show Filters.
  • Close All Folders: Same as the Collapse button.
  • Empty Lost and Found: Deletes the contents of the Lost and Found folder without moving them to the trash. Use with caution!
  • Save Textures As: Disabled unless a texture is selected in the inventory list. Then it will allow a texture to be saved to your hard drive.
  • Share: Click this to give the selected inventory item(s) or folder(s) to another avatar. A window will open, from which you may select who to give it to. This method is an alternative to dragging the item(s) onto an avatar's profile.
  • Find Original: Disabled unless the currently selected item in your inventory is an inventory link. ¹⁾
  • Find All Links: If clicked when an item is selected, this will show all links to it - if any exist.
  • Replace Links: Used to repair broken inventory links. Refer to this page for more information.
  • Show Links: When enabled, this will display links in inventory.
  • Show Only Links: Filters the list to show links only, hiding all other items.
  • Hide Links: Prevents links from being shown.
  • Empty Trash: Removes the contents of the Trash folder. Use with caution - this cannot be undone! (Same as right clicking the trash folder and selecting Empty trash.)

• +: Creates a new item in the currently active folder. The same options are available by right clicking a folder name.
• Suitcase Icon: This opens a new inventory window, and is thus the same as selecting “New Inventory Window” from the gear menu.
• Total: This shows the total count of elements (items and folders) in your inventory.

The bottom of the inventory window has 3 buttons:

• Profile: This will be disabled unless an item is selected - then, when clicked, it will display the item's properties.
• Share: Allows you to give the selected item(s) to another avatar. Same as dragging the item onto the avatar's profile.
• Marketplace/Wear/Teleport/Play: The third button will change depending on what you currently have highlighted in inventory:
  • Marketplace: If you have a folder, texture or a script highlighted, then it will read Marketplace; clicking it will open the SL Marketplace in your web browser.
  • Wear: The button will show Wear if you have an wearable item, or any object, highlighted.
  • Teleport: Shown if you have a landmark highlighted.
  • Play: This shows on highlighting a gesture or animation.

Inventory can be searched by typing into the white space at the top. As you type, inventory is filtered to show only items that match what has been typed. As described above, you can search by name, creator, description or UUID.

If you want to search on multiple words, separate them with a '+', but without spaces. For example, if you are looking for a landmark that you think contains Firestorm Marina, type in: Firestorm+Marina. This will match (assuming you actually have such a landmark, of course), Firestorm Gateway Marina.

To clear the search field, click the 'x' at the end of the search bar.

Normally, search operates across all tabs in the Inventory window. If you want to use separate searchs on Inventory tabs, then go to Preferences → User Interface → Interface Windows → Allow separate search terms on each tab in inventory.

If you right click any inventory item or folder, you get a menu. This menu will vary depending on context; for example, right clicking a menu will give a different menu that right clicking an item.

• Share: Selecting this allows you to give the selected item to someone else. The avatar selector window opens, allowing you to select the person you want to give it to.
• Open: Certain types of items may be opened or previewed: scripts, notecards, textures, sounds, gestures.
• Properties: This opens the item properties window, where you may view and change select item properties.
• Rename: Allows you to rename the object; only available if the object is modifyable for you. (You can also press F2 to edit an item's name.)
• Copy Asset UUID: Copies the UUID of the object to the clipboard, for some types of item.
• Restore to Last Position: if the item is an object, this will cause it to be rezzed out to its last position in the region. Use with caution! The function doesn't take into account the region name, only coordinates within a region. So do not use it if the object was never rezzed out in the region you are in, unless you are prepared to go hunting for it.

• Copy: Select this to make a copy of an object. You can then use one or both of the following two to paste copies.
• Paste: Paste a previously copied item into the folder which is currently selected. (You cannot make a copy if the item is no copy for you.)
• Paste as Link: Pastes a link to a previously copied item, into the folder which is currently selected.
• Replace Links: Used to repair broken inventory links. Refer to this page for more information.

• Delete: As the name suggests, this deletes the selected item, moving it to your Trash folder.

• Wear: Wears the item on your avatar, replacing any other items which might be already worn in the same spot.
• Add: Wears the item on your avatar, adding it to any other items which might already be worn in the same spot.
• Attach To: Allows you to select a body part on which to wear an object.
• Attach to HUD: Allows you to select an HUD point on which to attach the object.

For the Recent tab only:

• Show in Main View: Highlights the item in the Inventory tab.

For Worn Objects Only:

• Texture Refresh: This option is only available if the object is currently being worn & refreshes the texture of the worn object.

• Share: Selecting this will allow you to give the folder (and its contents) to someone else. The avatar selector window opens, allowing you to select the person you want to give it to.
• New Folder: Creates a new folder inside the currently selected one. The name will default to New Folder, and will start off in edit mode so you can rename it.
• New Script: Creates a new, default script in the current folder.
• New Notecard: Creates a new blank notecard in the current folder.
• New Gesture: Creates a new gesture in the current folder.
• New Clothes: Creates a new clothing item in the current folder. Select the type from the sub-menu.
• New Body Parts: Creates a new body part in the current folder. Select the type from the sub-menu.
• Use as default for: Allows you to set the folder as the default folder for uploads of images, sounds, animations or (mesh) models. To view the current default folder settings, look in Preferences→ Firestorm -> Uploads.

• Replace Current Outfit: Removes all attachments and replaces them with the contents of the current folder. If the folder contains body parts *system hair, skin, shape, eyes), any worn ones will also be replaced; if any of the four required body parts are not present in the folder, the currently worn one will remain worn.
• Add to Current Outfit: Adds the items in the current folder to your avatar. Any worn attachments will not be removed. If the folder contains any system body parts, then the worn parts will be replaced (as you cannot wear more than one of each part).
• Wear items: Similar to Replace (described above), except that attachments are not removed if the folder contains no replacement. For example, if you are wearing something attached to the Chest point, and the folder has no object that would attach there, the existing attachment will not be removed.
• Remove from Current Outfit: If you are wearing any of the items in the current folder, they will be removed.

• Rename: Allows you to rename the currently folder. This can also be accomplished by pressing F2, rather than right-clicking it.

• Copy: Select this to make a copy of a folder. You can then use one or both of the following two to paste copies. (Naturally, this will not be available if the item is no copy for you.)
• Paste: Paste a previously copied folder into the folder which is currently selected.
• Paste as Link: Pastes a link to a previously copied folder, into the folder which is currently selected. As with items, this is just a reference.

• Delete: Allows you to delete the selected folder, and everything inside it. The folder is moved to your trash.

Aside from the usual Share option, there is a Cleanup Broken Links option. This will remove any broken links from the folder, without you having to unprotect it, and then manually go through and delete broken links.

There can be a Received Items folder or sub-panel in the inventory window. This will appear the very first time you make a purchase from the SL Marketplace.

If you prefer to have this sub-panel displayed as a normal inventory folder, open Preferences→ User Interface -> Interface Windows, and enable Show the Received Items folder in normal inventory.

BoM - Bakes on Mesh: LL Bakes on Mesh Viewer is Live
LMR - Love Me Render: Graphics/rendering related fixes. See release notes below for more details.

The pages below have been updated to reflect some of the changes since Firestorm 6.2.4. These pages are continually being updated. Please do not bookmark them, as they will disappear once 6.3.1 goes to public release.

• fs_631_prerelease:

Catznip RLVa 2.2 Release Notes

Release Notes for v6.3.0. (530115) - Second Life Viewer Released on August 26, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.0.530115.html

Bakes on Mesh

Bakes on Mesh is a new feature to allow system avatar baked textures to be shown on mesh attachments.

Release Notes for v6.2.4. (529638) - Second Life Viewer Released on August 5, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.2.4.529638.html

Love Me Render

This viewer adds a variety of graphics/rendering related fixes.

== Other == [UPDATE]

FMOD Studio 2.00.01 (updated Windows, Linux, Mac)

KDU v7.10.7 (updated Windows, Linux, Mac)

Voice Server Version: Vivox Version 4.9.0002.30313 (Windows and Mac)
Voice Opensim 4.6.0017.22050 (Windows and Mac)
Linux uses native voice files Version: Vivox 3.2.0002.10426

LibVLC Version: 2.2.8

Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) Dullahan updated:

• Dullahan: 1.1.1320
• CEF: 3.3626.1895.g7001d56
• Chromium: 72.0.3626.121
• Page of test URLs for Dullahan. With the Developer Menu enabled (Ctrl Alt Q) press Ctrl+Shift+Z then the Home page button.

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

• FIRE- -

If you haven't logged into the Aditi Grid recently, you will likely need to contact LL Support to gain access as well as have your inventory synced. Please review this page carefully http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Aditi. Also ensure you have this viewer setting enabled in Preferences - Advanced - Allow login to other grids.

These classes are based on our official Firestorm release and are conducted in text except when otherwise noted. There's no need to talk, but you may want to be able to hear. We also usually have help available to answer questions in text. This schedule is subject to change.

Note that it is best if you are on Firestorm for the classes.

Locations are indicated in the far right column as follows:

• FS: Firestorm Support region classroom, * Firestorm Classroom

Class times and days change regularly. Classes may be held any day of the week, with start times from 8 am to 7 pm SLT. Nonetheless, if the class times are still inconvenient you may prefer to watch recorded versions of some of these classes on YouTube.

Unscheduled classes may also be held on an impromptu basis. If this happens, a notice will be sent in Firestorm Support English. secondlife:///app/group/3a1be8d4-01f3-bc1a-2703-442f0cc8f2dd/about

*All times SLT*

Windows 10 updates since March 2017 have resulted in users experiencing stalling or crashing at “initializing VFS”.

Firestorm addresses this issue, but you must do this additional step once you have installed the 64bit version:

1. While logged out of Firestorm.
2. Right click the desktop shortcut for the 64bit Firestorm → Properties → Shortcut tab.
3. In the “Target” text box, go to the end of the text, *add a space* and then add this exact text to the end: --noprobe

"C:\Program Files\Firestorm-Releasex64\FirestormOS-Releasex64.exe" --set InstallLanguage en --noprobe 

4. Click “OK” to apply to save changes and launch Firestorm using the Desktop shortcut. (Note that if you use the pinned application on your task bar, make sure you pin the shortcut, not the running viewer.)

For reference, see: https://jira.phoenixviewer.com/browse/FIRE-21109
[Windows 64bit] Windows 10 - Stuck on “Initializing VFS” after KB4015217 on Intel HD, Intel HD 2500 & Intel HD 4000 cards on 64bit viewers only.

Reminder to check directly with the Intel website for the most up to date drivers. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/

If your computer has an Intel CPU and also has either an AMD or Nvidia graphics system, it may have the ability to switch between the Integrated Intel graphics or power savings, or the AMD/Nvidia for performance. But sometimes Firestorm isn't automatically configured to use the high performance graphics.

You can confirm this issue by looking at Help → About Firestorm and checking the name of the graphics card listed. If it says Intel, follow the steps below:

• Log out of Firestorm

• Right click desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel
• Down the left side, select Manage 3D settings
• Click the Program Settings tab
• Click the Add button
• If you have already launched Firestorm, it will be among the programs listed. Click on it, then click Add Selected Program at the bottom
• If not listed, click Browse
  • Navigate to the viewer installation folder:
    C:\Program Files\Firestorm-releasex64\Firestorm-releasex64.exe for the 64-bit
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Firestorm-Release\Firestorm-Release.exe for the 32-bit Havok
    C:\Program Files (x86)\FirestormOS-Release\FirestormOS-Release.exe for the 32-bit OpenSim
  • Click on the Firestorm application and then click Open
• In the dropdown below the program, choose High Performance NVIDIA processor
• If you have both a 32-bit and 64-bit Firestorm installed, repeat the above step to add the other version.
• Click Apply, then close the NVIDIA Control Panel
• Open your viewer and go to Help → About Firestorm. Verify that the graphics card listed is the Nvidia card.

• Right click anywhere on the Desktop and select Configure Switchable Graphics
• If you have opened Firestorm at least once, it will appear in the Recent Applications tab
• If not listed, click Browse
  • Navigate to the viewer installation folder:
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Firestorm-Release\Firestorm-Release.exe for the 32-bit Havok
    C:\Program Files (x86)\FirestormOS-Release\FirestormOS-Release.exe for the 32-bit OpenSim
    C:\Program Files\Firestorm_Releasex64\Firestorm-bin.exe for the 64-bit
  • Double click on the Firestorm application
• If you have both a 32-bit and 64-bit Firestorm installed, repeat the above step to add the other version.
• Once Firestorm is listed in the AMD Control Center, click the button at the right to change it to High Performance
• Click Apply at the bottom and close the control center
• Open your viewer and go to Help → About Firestorm. Verify that the graphics card listed is the AMD card.

This tab allows you to set default behavior for the sending of crash reports to the Phoenix/Firestorm team, for analysis.

• Send crash reports to firestormviewer.org: Enable this to have crash reports sent to us.

• Minidump type: Not currently supported.
  Possible values are:
  • Minimal
  • Default
  • Extended

• Always ask before sending: If enabled, you will get a request after each crash, asking whether to send logs.
• Include settings.xml: If enabled, this will send your preference settings as well, which can be helpful in diagnosing the problem. Note that this file contains your SL name.
• Include Second Life name: If enabled, you SL name will be included with the crash info, which can allow us to contact you for more info, if needed.

NOTE: Please refer to our Privacy Policy.

There are several volume sliders available here so you can customize the levels for each. Note that the master volume slider affects ALL volume.

• Mute when minimized: Checking this will mute all sounds when you minimize the viewer.

You can enable/disable Streaming music, Media (video) and Voice Chat from the the check boxes to the right of their respective volume sliders. For issues getting audio or media working, refer to this page.

• Play sounds from collisions:

  (to the right of the Ambient slider) Enable this to hear when collisions occur.
• Play sounds from gestures: (to the right of the Sound Effects slider) Enable this to hear sounds from gestures.

• Play a sound when my friends:¹⁾
  • Log in
  • Log Out

• L$ change theshold: This sets the value above which you will get an audible alert when you receive or spend L$. Amounts below this will not trigger a sound.

• Output Device: This drop down allows you to change the output device for viewer sounds
  • Selecting “Default” will always select the first output device; if the available devices change and the previous default device isn't available anymore, the viewer automatically switches to the new default device (depends on the OS which gets the new default one!). Selecting a particular device will NOT automatically switch to another device if it isn't available anymore (preferences will show “Unavailable device”), but will switch back to this device once it becomes available again.

• Allow Media to Auto-Play: With this enabled, video will play automatically (not recommended).
• Allow inworld scripts to play media: Will allows scripts to automatically start media (not recommended).
• Play media attached to other avatars: Enables media attached to other avatars (media on a prim).
• Enable media filter (increased security): This will let you control what media stream you connect to, allowing you to whitelist or blacklist any media stream. See this page for more information.
  • Manage Media Sites (button): Allows you to edit your whitelist Domains and blacklist Domains by Adding and Removing from either category. More information is here.
• Media source volume rolloff distance:
  • Starts getting quieter at: This controls when a sound source will start to fade out.
  • Completely disappears at: This controls when a sound source will be no longer audible.

• Allow audio streams to auto-play: With this enabled, streaming music will play automatically (not recommended).

• Enable Parcel Audio Fading: Check this if fading should be used when the parcel audio stream changes.
  • Fade in: duration of the fade in seconds.
  • Fade out: duration of the fade effect in seconds.

• Show stream title notifications: For audio streams that supply this information, the song title will be shown. Can be set to:
  • Off
  • Toasts
  • Nearby Chat
    • Send stream title to chat channel: Lets you choose what channel the viewer uses for the above option.

• Enable Voice: Check here to enable voice.
  • Reset Voice (Circular arrow): If you have problems getting voice to work, try clicking this to reset the vocie software. Should that not help, refer to this page.
• Allow Voice in multiple viewer instances simultaneously: Enable this if you want voice capability in multiple instances of Firestorm.

• Hear Voice from Camera Position: Voices closer to your camera position appear louder.
• Hear Voice from Avatar Position: Voices closer to your avatar position appear louder.

• Move avatar lips when speaking: (aka “lip sync”) Will cause you to see avatars' lips moving when they speak in voice.
• Show voice visualizers over avatars: Enable this to display a white dot over avatars who have voice enabled.
• Show voice visualizers in calls: Show voice indicator and move avatar lips while in a private call.
• Show voice channel state in conversation tabs: Indicate, in conversation tabs, when people have voice enabled.

• Automatically reject all incoming group voice calls: Enable this to automatically decline group voice chat.
• Automatically reject all incoming AdHoc (conference) voice calls: Enable to automatically decline voice conference calls.
• Automatically reject all incoming P2P (avatar with avatar) voice calls: Enable to automatically decline person to person voice calls.

• Toggle speak on/off when I press: Clicking the Set Key button allows you to assign a button on your keyboard to toggle voice.
• Audio Device Settings (button): Opens a section where you can choose your input and output as well as adjust the mic volume. You will be disconnected from in-world voice while this is open. To close simply click the button again.

Note: The Nearby Chat tab has an indicator showing the status of Local voice:

• Green = Voice is working;
• Red = Voice tried to connect, but encountered an error;
• Yellow = Voice is not connected.

Here, you can change sounds played when specific “events” happen (for example, the sound played when you get a new IM). You can also chose to disable (or re-enable) sounds on a case by case basis.

To change a sound, locate the “event” you are interested in (example: Taking Snapshot), then paste in the UUID of the sound you wish to use. To obtain the UUID of a sound in your inventory, right click on it and select Copy UUID.
Note that the sound clip needs to be full permissions in order for you to be able to obtain the UUID.)

If you wish to restore the default value, click the D button to the right of the UUID.

The drop down to the far right of each line allows you to enable or disable each sound.

See here for a video describing this.

This tab continues the previous one, with more “event” alert sounds you can change.

This tab continues the previous one, with even more “event” alert sounds you can change.

Symptom: You receive a message that the system has “Failed to find [name of any item] in the database” every time you try to wear or remove something.

Please note: This is not a viewer issue, but we have written this page to help users with a common problem.

We have identified a few causes of this. Please work through each one until the problem is solved, and if still having trouble, be sure to see “Otherwise,” at the bottom of the page.

• Open your Inventory and look in your Current Outfit folder (must be the “Current Outfit” folder and not the “Worn” tab; this is important).
• Look for any broken links in the folder, particularly for the item with the name in the “Failed” warning you're receiving.
• Delete any and all broken links in the folder.

Explanation: This error happens when the broken link gets “stuck” in the folder for some reason. When the viewer tries to update the Current Outfit folder – which happens whenever you wear or remove a body part or clothing item – it detects the link in there and thinks you want to be wearing that item. So it tries to put it on you, but it can't because the link is broken, and the “Failed” message pops up.

If deleting broken links doesn't help, or if there were none, then make a temporary folder in your inventory. In it, put a copy of a system skin, system shape, system hair base, and system eyes - nothing else - and not the ones you are already wearing. Then right-click the folder name, replace outfit (not add or wear). Then check Current Outfit folder (not Worn tab) and delete any links showing as not worn. Then relog. (Please follow these steps exactly as given - it matters.)

• If the error message has gone away, you can try putting on your usual body parts and clothing.
• If the error message has NOT gone away, proceed to the next section.

• Check in Lost & Found folder and delete any system layers named “new”–“New skin,” “New eyes,” “New pants,” or similar.
• If you are wearing the item, remove it (if a clothing layer) or change to a different body part, whichever applies, and try deleting the item again.

Explanation: If a worn system clothing layer or system body part is not found at login, that layer/body part will be replaced with a default asset that is created and placed in Lost & Found. You will continue to get the error message until the “new” item is deleted from Lost & Found.

• If the error message has gone away, you can try putting on your usual body parts and clothing.
• If the error message has NOT gone away, proceed to the next section.

(Windows only)

This feature has been known to cause problems.

The NetBooster tool is a feature in System Mechanic Pro. This NetBooster feature does not always execute, so there is an element of randomness to reproducing these SL connectivity problems when System Mechanic Pro is installed on the system.

• Uninstalling System Mechanic Pro does not appear to revert the changes made by the NetBooster feature.
• The solution is to go into the NetBooster tool and selected “Restore original settings”.
• This restores Windows default settings and everything in SL works again.

For more information and additional symptoms, see this SL bug report.

If none of these steps help, then please test using the official LL viewer, which can be downloaded here. If you have the same problem there, file a support ticket with LL.

If you have Intel HD 620 or Intel HD 630, and Windows 10 – This is an Intel driver issue.
The easiest fix is to use Firestorm Version 6.2.4.
If you are using Firestorm Version 6.0.2, use another viewer to remove the jacket layer.
(Ref. BUG-225655 and BUG-227078)

If you have Intel Graphics HD, Intel Graphics HD2500 and Intel Graphics HD4000, and are using the 64bit version of Firestorm 5.0.7 or later, on Windows 10, refer to this page.

If you don't have the above graphics and this occurs, chances are good that some part of cache is corrupt. Deleting it should solve the problem.

• Locate your cache folder. You will probably need to do this manually, if you are unable to log in. Use a file manager (like Windows Explorer for Windows system, Dolphin, or some such) to locate the cache folder. In its default location, the cache folder is hidden on most OSs. To find it, you will need to show hidden folders. Default cache locations are:
  • Windows 7, 8.1, and 10: press [Win] + [R] and type %localappdata%, then look for the Firestorm folder. (This method avoids having to un-hide folders.)
  • Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Firestorm
  • linux: ~/.firestorm/cache or ~/.firestorm_x64/cache
• Delete the cache folder you located.
• Log back into SL, to a quiet region (try Hippo Hollow, Aich or Hatton). Allow your inventory and cache to repopulate fully.

Windows only: If the above doesn't work, then click the speaker icon in the system tray, then touch the volume slider, just enough to change the volume slightly. It may be that the Windows sound system has stalled; this should “give it a kick”.

If the above fails, then try doing a full wipe of all settings.

This indicates that a debug setting (a control) is missing a comment. It is unclear which comment is missing, but the fix is to reinstall Firestorm using the Clean Install procedures.

Please see Recent Crashes on Windows, following a Driver Update for this issue.

Ref. FIRE-12339

This is almost always caused by the MemoryPrivatePoolEnabled being set to TRUE. It should never be set to TRUE. But before you try to fix this, we could really use a copy of your crash logs to help us work on a fix. See here for steps to collect your crash logs, then attach those logs to FIRE-12339.

Then, do the following:

• Make sure hidden files/folders are set to show - see here for steps.
• Browse to your user_settings folder. This is located at -
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\ [USERNAME] \Application Data\Firestorm\user_settings
  • Windows Vista, 7, or 8, 8.1, and 10: C:\Users\ [USERNAME] \AppData\Roaming\Firestorm\user_settings
  • Mac: User/Library/Application Support/Firestorm/user_settings
  • Linux: ~/.firestorm/user_settings
• In the user_settings folder, find the file named “settings.xml”
• Open settings.xml in a text editor - For Windows, Notepad++ is ideal for this
• Search settings.xml for the term MemoryPrivatePoolEnabled
  You will see a block of text like so:

<key>MemoryPrivatePoolEnabled</key>
<map>
<key>Backup</key>
<boolean>0</boolean>
<key>Comment</key>
<string>Enable the private memory pool management</string>
<key>Type</key>
<string>Boolean</string>
<key>Value</key>
<boolean>1</boolean>
</map>

• Near the bottom there, change the “<boolean>1</boolean>” line just above </map> to “<boolean>0</boolean>”
• Save changes to settings.xml and edit the text editor.
• Login.
• Profit.

Issues outside of Firestorm can, and often do, result in viewer crashes….

• Make sure your file system is not corrupt by running chkdsk or equivalent for your OS.
• On Windows, ensure that your registry isn't messed up by running CCleaner or similar.
• Reboot your PC and moder/router.
• Ensure that video drivers are current, as well as your OS.
• Do a Reinstall of Firestorm. Be sure to use a fresh download of the viewer; either clear your browser cache or use a different browser for the download.

“Out of the box” you should be able to run more than one copy of Firestorm without doing anything. If you try and it doesn't work, then go to Preferences→ Advanced and make sure that “Allow Multiple Viewers” is enabled. If it wasn't, enable it and relog.

Mac does not really like to open two instances of Firestorm at once - you will notice it wants to bring the already-open one to the front. The standard way of duplicating the application is fairly resource-heavy, so here are two alternatives. Use Method 1 if you want to create a new instance right away. Method 2 requires some advance preparation, but once you have it set up, you'll be able to access Firestorm with any of your accounts quickly and easily.

Ctrl-click on Firestorm Viewer in your Applications folder and select “Show Package Contents.” In the folder that opens, go into “Contents” and then “MacOS.” In the MacOS folder, you'll find another Firestorm with a black box icon. Double-click this to open your new instance of the viewer. Terminal will open as well; you can let that run in the background.

With this method, you will spend some time setting yourself up, but once the work is done, logging into the viewer will never have been easier.

• Open Apple's Script Editor - it's in Utilities, in Applications. It will open a new script for you.
• Copy and paste the following into it:

do shell script "\"/Applications/Firestorm-Release.app/Contents/MacOS/Firestorm\" -multiple -login yourName yourPass"
quit

• Change yourName and yourPass to the correct name and password for your avatar.
• Change Firestorm-Release.app as needed for the version you use.
• Save. Give it a memorable name - you'll need a different one for each av, so have the avatar's name in there somewhere.
• Set the file format to Application, leave the other check-boxes clear (except 'hide extension', which is optional; whether you want it to say .app or not makes no difference to the functionality).
• Save it somewhere you can find it easily.
• Double-click to launch Firestorm for that avatar.

For more avatars, change the details and Save As…

Should you need to modify it in future, drop this “applet” onto Script Editor and it will open as editable text again.