SLURL Proxy ist eine Anwendung mit der man sehr einfach bestimmen kann, welcher installierte Second Life Viewer SLURLs auf deinem Windows Rechner entgegen nimmt. Wenn man eine SLURL auf einer Webseite klickt, öffnet sich SLURL proxy, leitet die SLURL an den von dir festgelegten Second Life Viewer weiter, und zwar mit jedem installierten Web Browser, und jedem Web Browser der nachträglich installiert wird.

Des Weiteren erlaubt SLURL Proxy auch einen Viewer direkt festzulegen, so daß SLURL Proxy gar nicht mehr gestartet werden muss.

Verschiedene Second Life Viewer die Du schon installiert hast, oder installieren möchtest, überschreiben oftmals deine SLURL Einstellungen, und zwar ohne dich vorher zu fragen.

SLURL Proxy bietet hier eine sehr einfache und benutzerfreundliche Methode, dieses Einstellungen wieder zu korrigieren, aber auch entsprechend den eigenen Vorstellungen zu ändern, und das ganz ohne in der Windows Registry fummeln zu müssen, und vor allem System weit. SLURL Proxy muss auch nicht installiert werden, sondern einfach ausgepackt werden, und ist nur wenige Kilobyte groß.

Runter laden kann man SLURL Proxy hier als Zip Archiv. Das Archiv einfach entpacken, wohin du auch möchtest. Danach SLURL Proxy.exe doppel klicken um das Programm es zu starten.

Wenn SLURL Proxy gestartet ist, wird es zunächst prüfen ob es selbst als Standard Anwendung für SLURLs eingetragen ist. Wenn dies nicht der Fall ist, wird man darüber informiert, und bekommt die Option dies zu ändern. Der Einfachheit halber klicken wir hier zunächst mal auf Nein.

Wenn man aber Ja geklickt hat, kann man nun von jedem installierten Viewer die Verknüpfung einfach auf das SLURL Proxy Fenster ziehen und loslassen, und der Viewer wird automatisch hinzugefügt. Das Häkchen vor dem Viewer gibt an dass der entsprechende Viewer für SLURLs verwendet wird. Will man einen Viewer wieder entfernen, kann man dazu einfach auf den Mülleimer vor dem Viewernamen klicken. Hat man die Einstellungen vorgenommen, kann man SLURL Proxy schließen.

Firefox oder Google Chrome wird möglicherweise fragen welche Anwendung geöffnet werden soll wenn du eine SLURL klickst, und wenn dem so ist, dann sollte in dem Dialog auch bereits SLURL Proxy als Option verfügbar und vor selektiert sein.

Der Internet Explorer dürfte einen Dialog darstellen in dem du informiert wirst daß die Anwendung deiner Wahl gerade die geklickte SLURL verarbeiten will, und ob du dies gestatten möchtest.

Festlegen eines Second Life Viewer anstelle von SLURL Proxy. Auch diese Möglichkeit wird von SLURL Proxy geboten. Dazu klickt man den Menüpunkt Set other SLURL Handler. Das Fenster wird nun verschleiert, und es wird erwartet dass man eine Verknüpfung zum Viewer deiner Wahl auf das Fenster gezogen wird. Von nun an werden alle SLURLs immer direkt an den Viewer deiner Wahl geleitet, und SLURL Proxy wird nicht mehr verwendet.

Erfordert .NET 3.5 und läuft nur auf Windows

Aktuelle Versionen von Firestorm sind nicht in der Lage SLURLs korrekt zu handhaben, und statt die entsprechende Landmark zu laden, wird eine neue Instanz von Firestorm gestartet. Das ist natürlich so nicht vorgesehen, und SLURL Proxy erlaubt hier auf einfache Weise dieses Problem zu beheben.

• 1. Erforderlich ist dass man einen beliebigen anderen Viewer zusätzlich installiert, z.B. Viewer 1.23.5, oder Viewer 3, oder Phoenix, oder Imprudence, und so weiter. Wer bereits einen anderen Viewer installiert hat, braucht diesen Schritt nicht zu machen.
• 2. SLURL Proxy starten, Set other SLURL Handler klicken, und die Verknüpfung von dem alternativen Viewer auf das SLURL Proxy Fenster ziehen.
• 3. SLURL Proxy schließen … das war es schon.

Wenn man nun eine SLURL im Web Browser klickt, dann wird die Landmark in Firestorm laden, wenn Firestorm bereits läuft. Wenn ein anderer Viewer bereits läuft, dann wird die Landmark entsprechend in diesem Viewer geladen. Wenn noch kein Viewer gestartet wurde, wird der Viewer gestartet, den man mittels SLURL Proxy festgelegt hat.

Wenn Du eine AMD/ATI Grafikkarte hast, dann könnte es erforderlich sein die folgenden Schritte durchzuführen (AMD/ATI Treiber unterstützen OpenGL nicht besonders gut und SL Viewers benutzen OpenGL und nicht DirectX).

Des Weiteren, Anweisung Nr. 1 betrifft nicht nur AMD/ATI Grafik da VBO als häufige Ursache für Abstürze in verschiedenen Situationen bekannt ist.

• Deaktiviere VBO: Starte den Viewer, jedoch bevor du dich anmeldest, drücke Strg+P um die Einstellungen zu öffnen. Anschließend:
  • Klicke auf den Reiter Grafik und dort auf Hardware Einstellungen. Entferne das Häkchen bei OpenGL-Vertex-Buffer-Objekte aktivieren.

• Deaktiviere die Catalyst AI Funktionalität in deinem AMD/ATI Catalyst Control Center:
  • Rechtsklick auf deinen Desktop und wähle Catalyst Control Center;
  • Öffne das Menü Erweitert;
  • Klicke auf den Reiter 3D. Catalyst A.I. sollte hier irgendwo zu finden sein;
  • Setze das Häkchen bei 'Deaktiviere Catalyst A.I.'

Wenn Rigged Mesh Kleidung unsichtbar wird, ist wieder einmal der Grafik Treiber schuld daran. In diesem Fall sind die Treiber Versionen 14.12 Release, als auch die Betas 14.9.2, 14.11.1 und 14.11.2 bekannt dafür das sie dieses Problem verursachen.
Siehe auch BUG-7653 - FIRE-14871 - Modemworld Blog (englisch).

Die noch sicherste Lösung ist es den Treiber deinstallieren und den die Version 14.4 zu installieren. Solltest das aus irgend einem Grund nicht möglich sein, hilft es dir eventuell die Einstellungen→ Grafik -> Allgemein→ Einfache Shader oder die Hardware Hautberechnung abzustellen.

Es gibt wohl bald eine richtige Lösung, die zur Zeit aber noch Beta ist.
AMD behebt Treiberfehler bezüglich geriggtem Mesh
AMD’s Catalyst™ 15.3 beta driver offers SL mesh fix (englisch)

Auf eigene Gefahr geht auch das hier AMD Catalyst™ drivers: additional Windows workaround (englisch).

Weil das alles nicht reicht, hat auch MS einen Fehler: Defekter Win 7 Patch der das einspielen der Treiber verhindern kann.

Wenn alles um dich herum Rosa dargestellt wird, dann ist dies oft ein Anzeichen für falsche Grafiktreiber. Die beste Lösung ist hier den unten beschrieben Catalyst Treiber zu installieren.

Wenn das oben genannte keine Option für dich ist:

• Deaktiviere : Einstellungen > Grafik > Hardware > OpenGL-Vertex-Buffer-Objekte aktivieren

Alternativ kann diese Einstellung über die Debug Einstellungen gemacht werden. Dazu :

• Falls bei dir oben im Hauptmenü keine Option namens Erweitert zu sehen ist, drücke die Tastenkombination [Strg+Alt+D]
• Öffne das Erweitertmenü und klicke auf Debug Einstellungen
• Füge in das Texteingabefeld ein: RenderMaxTextureIndex
• Setze den dazugehörigen Wert auf 0

Information und Lösungen zu dieser Problematik findest du auf dieser Seite.

Bestimmte Rigged Mesh Sachen ziehen Streifen in die 0,0,0 Region Ecke. Einzige Lösung dafür ist zur Zeit die Hardware-Hautberechnung in den Einstellungen > Grafik > Allgemein zu deaktivieren.

Ref.: Changelog 4.6.1.40478 - FIRE-13071 - BUG-5139

Dieses Problem tritt in der Regel unter Verwendung der AMD/ATI Treiber Versionen 12.2 bis 12.4 auf. Wenn Du eine dieser Versionen verwendest, dann solltest du die Version wie unten beschrieben installieren.

Temporäre Lösungen:

• Deaktiviere Einfache Shader in Einstellungen > Grafik > Allgemein
• Deaktiviere Einstellungen > Firestorm > Bauen > Hervorhebung ausgewählte Primitive aktivieren

Ref.: FIRE-5569 - VWR-28607 - MAINT-825

Dieses Problem wurde in AMD/ATI Catalyst Versionen 12.6 und 12.8 gemeldet: Ref. FIRE-6957 sowie die LL JIRA VWR-29208. Der Lösungsvorschlag ist hier die unten beschriebene Version zu installieren.

Dieses Problem tritt häufig durch veraltete Treiber oder durch die Catalyst Version 12.3 auf. Siehe auch this SL JIRA. Unter Umständen kann dieses Problem durch Deaktivieren von Aero gelöst werden. Mehr dazu auf auf dieser Seite.

Siehe weiter unten um AMD/ATI Treiber zu erhalten mit denen wir gute Erfahrungen gemacht haben.

Manche User haben folgende Darstellungsfehler gemeldet:

• Wasser ist vollkommen transparent
• Windlight für Wasser und Himmel funktioniert nicht
• der Horizont ist verschwommen
• Schatten verursachen sonderbare Effekte oder einen schwarzen Bildschirm
• Es ist nicht möglich den “leuchten” Effekt darzustellen
• Keine Wolken
• Prim-flächen zeigen unerwartete Beleuchtungseffekte

Diese Probleme können gewöhnlich durch die Anpassung des AMD/ATI Treibers wie unten beschrieben gelöst werden.

Bitte siehe diese Seite (english) für mehr Informationen zu diesem Problem.

Diese Probleme wurden mit den Catalyst Versionen 12.11 and 13.01 berichtet. Probiere ob eventuell die folgen Tipps helfen:

• Einstellungen → Grafik → Allgemein → Einfache Shader - deaktivieren
• Einstellungen → Grafik → Hardware → AntiAliasing - deaktivieren.

Eine Installation der Treiber wie unten beschrieben ist aber die bevorzugte Methode.

Windows 8.1 installiert eventuell seinen eigenen Treiber für AMD/ATI Gafikkarten. Das funktioniert nicht gut zusammen mit Firestorm. Du solltest den Windows Treiber entfernen und dann den empfohlenen Treiber wie unten beschrieben installieren.

Diese Seite hat eine gute Anleitung für Windows 7; Mehr Informationen gibt es hier.

Ein weiter gute Referenz Tabelle ist auf dieser Seite. Leider, hat AMD diese nicht aktualisiert. Die Treiber die fehlen sind:

*Achtung: Diese Nummern sind identisch. Benutze die “Compatibility Profile Context” Version um die eigentliche Treiber Version zu finden.

Catalyst 15.x Treiber lösen das Problem mit der unsichtbaren rigged Mesh Kleidung, welches ein großes Problem für viele war.

• Catalyst 15.7.1 ²⁾ macht einen sehr guten Eindruck.
• Anstatt dich auf die interne Treiber-Update-Funktion zu verlassen, besuche lieber die AMD Seite und lade dir das Update direkt von dort. Klicke hier um die aktuellste Treiber Version für dein System zu finden.

Sollte der Catalyst 15.x für deine Karte nicht erhältlich sein, ist der Catalyst 14.4 vermutlich die Beste Treiber Version die du nutzen kannst. Es sieht so aus, das 14.4 alle (oder besser gesagt die meisten) Probleme, die auf dieser Seite beschrieben sind löst. Dazu musst du deinen Treiber downgraden.

• Verlasse dich nicht auf “Treiber automatisch erkennen und installieren” um den Catalyst 14.4 zu finden, stattdessen, auf dieser Seite nach unten auf “Treiber manuell auswählen” scrollen und gebe dort die benötigten Infos ein. Daraufhin kannst du den Treiber herunterladen.
• Sollte 14.4 für dich ein Downgrade sein, deinstalliere vorher deinen alten Treiber deinstalliere vorher deinen alten Treiber (en)vor du den 14.4 installierst.

There are different kinds of problems with missing inventory that can take place; those that are controllable at the viewer or computer end are generally reversible. Problems caused by the Second Life asset server are not always fixable.

If items that you rezzed out in-world are missing, then refer to this page instead.

• If the number of items appears correct, but not everything is showing, reset your inventory filters. On most viewer skins, this means clicking the Gear menu at the bottom of your inventory and selecting “Reset Filters.” On Vintage skin (this is what you're using if you logged in with Phoenix Mode) or Ansastorm skin, click Inventory → Reset Filters in the inventory menu.
  Note: if you are looking for Marketplace items using Inventory search, and they are not showing, ensure that you have the Received items folder shown in inventory, rather than as a button: Preferences → User Interface → Interface Windows → Show the Received Items folder in normal inventory. Or, click the Received button to see what items are in there.

• In your inventory, type letters into the search filter. It doesn't matter what letters; the purpose is to prod the search into finding more items. If the fetch stalls again, pick a different letter.

• For any/all folders that appear to be missing inventory, try creating a new item, of the appropriate type, in the folder. So for example, if you appear to be missing things in the Clothing folder, right-click the folder name → New Clothes → New Shirt. Then relog.

• Try clearing your inventory cache.
  • On recent versions of Firestorm, open Preferences -> Network & Files -> Directories, then click the Clear Inventory Cache button, then relog.
  • On older versions, you will have to clear inventory cache manually, as follows:
    • Go to Preferences → Network & Files; beside Cache Location, click on Open. A window opens showing the contexts of the cache folder.
    • Leave that window open, and log out of Firestorm.
    • Make sure the folder is set to show file extensions.
    • Locate the file whose name ends in .inv.gz, and delete that file.
    • Log back in - preferably to one of the locations given above: at the log in screen, you can select log in location; type in one of the region names indicated above.
  • Additional notes: If clearing inventory cache does not fix the problem the first time you try it, then it probably won't work on additional attempts, so don't keep doing it (though multiple relogs without cache clears may help).

If your inventory is still not loading fully, then the issue may be a network or connection problem. General suggestions for problems that may be connection-related are:

• If you are on a wireless connection and are able to wire it in, do so.

• Reboot your router/modem, leaving it unplugged and unpowered for a minimum of two minutes before powering it back up again.
  • If you have access to a different connection, try connecting your computer to it temporarily.

• If the inventory is still not fetching all the way, view our page on bandwidth and speedtests to make sure your bandwidth is set optimally in the viewer. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, we have found that lower bandwidth settings usually allow for more reliable inventory loading than higher settings.

• 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.

• Please download the official SL viewer, install it, log in on it and see if the items show up there. If they do, then the problem is probably either loading or caching in Firestorm, and you can follow the set of suggestions below under “Advanced Method: Inventory Copy from SL Viewer.” If the items don't show up in any viewer, then there is a good chance they're missing from the asset server, which means the problem may not be fixable.
  

Back on Firestorm, if your inventory count still looks lower than it should be or stalls in the middle of fetching items, then:

• If the above steps have not worked for you, continue on to the next step:

Start by finding your avatar key while logged into Firestorm or another viewer that displays it - see the figure to the right; the UUID is highlighted in green.

It is a string of letters and numbers that appears in your legacy-style profile, though the exact location will vary because different skin options display it differently. If you use web profiles, you will need to switch into the legacy profile to find it. (In Firestorm, this is in Preferences -> User Interface -> Interface Windows→ Use web profiles by default.) You can return to the web profile style afterward. When you find your key, just copy it down somewhere.

Now you will need the latest release version of the SL viewer, so if you don't have it installed yet, download and install it. Then, log into the SL Viewer and get your inventory loaded in that viewer. This might work with any other viewer, as well, but the SL Viewer is the only one we've tested with. Once your inventory is loaded there, log out.

Locate your Second Life cache folder and your Firestorm cache folder on your hard drive. Our clearing cache page will help you locate where that is (just replace “Firestorm” with “SecondLife” in the path name. Don't clear either cache! Just use the paths shown to find the folders.

In the Second Life cache folder, find the file named with your avatar key and ending in “inv.gz”. Drop or copy this file into your Firestorm cache folder. Allow it to replace the one there.

Log into Firestorm and check to see if your inventory is there.

Avoid clearing cache or you may need to do this process again.

Please note: Under normal circumstances, you should not share cache between viewers because it can cause other weird problems. This suggestion should not be read as an indication that setting your cache in different viewers to the same place would be useful. It won't be.

For additional ideas, also refer to the Second Life wiki page on Inventory Loss.

For an introduction to the basics of troubleshooting, please refer to this page.

Phoenix has some video tutorials on YouTube; you may want to visit and bookmark the Phoenix Viewer channel.

• Firestorm 64-bit

• Updating the viewer

• Crashing During Install or Startup

• Crashing While Running Firestorm

• Login Failures

• Texture Discarded Due to Insufficent Memory

• Graphics Glitches and Crashes

• How to Manually Clear Cache

• Clearing settings manually

• Full Clean Install of Firestorm

• Media Related

• Web Feed Items (Search, Web Profiles, or Destinations) Don't Work, Remain Black

• Voice Related

• Bridge Issues

• Camera is Pointing Wrong

• Friends/Groups Detached from Conversations

• Nearby Chat Detached from Conversations

• Firestorm Locks Up on "Initializing VFS"

• Hands Flickering

• I Can't See Worn Mesh

• I Cannot Log in Unless I Clear Cache First

• Clicking on a SLURL Doesn't Activate Firestorm

• AO Folder issues

• Finding a Missing Window

• My Friends List is Empty!

• The Viewer Seems to Freeze Every So Often

• How do I Get Rid of all this Debug Stuff?

• Issues Related to Shadows

• Large Flexi Prims, Like Tree Fronds, Vanish

• Objects Vanish

• Small Prims Vanish Even when Quite Close

• Making WindLight Setting Persist after Teleport

• How do I Derender/Re-render things?

• Restore to Last Position - Workaround

• My avatar won't move

• My saved outfit is empty

• My HUDs Aren't Working

• Attachments Detach then Reattach at Login

• Current Outfit Folder Corruption

• My feet are in the ground, or I'm floating

• I Am Missing Inventory

• Rezzed Items Have Vanished

• Help! I'm Wearing my Entire Inventory!

• Failed to Find Item in Database

• Fixing Avatar Issues - Cloud, Ruth, Clothing not rezzing

• I Can't Log In Because It Says I am Already Logged In

• Persistent Typing Animation

• Stuck Inventory Folders Work-Around

• I am Stuck Running

• Why Does Teleport Fail so Much?

• Worn Attachment not Showing as Worn in Inventory

• HTTP Inventory Issues

• Determining Optimal Bandwidth Setting

• HTTP Fetching Issues

• I See Everything Grey

• Why am I so Laggy?

• ATI Graphics Issues

• Intel Graphics Issues

• Nvidia Graphics Issues

• Everything is Black

• I See Things Like Stars in the Sky

• My CPU is Always at 100%

• Laptop Dual Graphic Card Issues

• Crashing While Editing or Wearing Mesh

• Edit Rotation Guides Missing

• Problems Navigating in Mouselook

• Windows 10 Issues

• Webroot and SL Viewers

• Viewer Not Responding - Vista/Win7 64-Bit

• "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error in Windows

• I Get a User Account Control (Security) Pop-up

• Frame Load Interrupted by Policy Change

• Copy/Paste No Longer Works

• Clicking on a Link in Firestorm Causes a Crash

• Error Importing itdownload.dll

• Failed to Decode Login Credentials

• Firestorm Flagged as a Virus or Malware

• No Mouse Cursor - Vorpx Incompatibility

• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Problems

• Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks Problems

• Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite

• Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan

• Mac Sierra (10.12) Issues

• Crash on Upload

• Linux: Left Mouse Button Stops Working

• Alt-Click Not Working on Ubuntu

• Linux: Wrong Browser being opened

• 32-bit Firestorm on 64-bit Linux

• How to Minimize Firestorm when Running Fullscreen in Linux

• Screen Tearing with Ubuntu 14.04 (or derived, like Mint 17)

• Chat Lag

• "Couldn't convert the image to jpeg2000"

• DNS Fail when Trying to Log in

• I Can't Sit on Things

• How to Get Inventory Back

• Logging in at 10,10,10

• The "ExDepart Virus"

• Offline Instant Messages not delivered to email

• Web Profiles Not Displaying Properly

• Deleting Stored Passwords

If you get a black screen when opening Search, Web Profiles, or Destinations, then try the following:

• Sometimes the window opens minimized at the top left; check to see if this is the case.
• Go to Preferences→ Network & Files -> Connection and ensure that the following are all enabled:
  • Enable Plugins
  • Enable cookies
  • Enable Javascript
• If this is not enough to get search working then go to Preferences→ Privacy -> General and click on Clear History (top of the window). Then relog.
• If this still doesn't help, then make sure that your anti-virus software hasn't flagged, and possibly deleted, SLPlugin.exe, which is required for search to work. Try disabling your anti-virus completely, then reinstalling Firestorm to a different folder. Once done, re-enable your anti-virus and make sure you set it to exclude SLPlugin.exe from being scanned.

Some other issues affecting search are covered here.

If you have a problem using Firestorm, there are a number of ways in which you can get help. It is strongly recommended that you try the following, in order.

The viewer has extensive online documentation, explaining the features and how to use them. If there is some feature which you do not know how to use, then please consult the documentation.

If you have problems with things not working as they should, or are crashing a lot, or being disconnected, etc, then the best place to go is the troubleshooting section of our online wiki.

If the above do not provide a solution for you, or you need urgent help, then the best way is to contact one of our several in-world Firestorm support groups. Please view our tips, rules, and guidelines for our help groups here.

• Firestorm Support English Main support group, English language
• Deutsch - Offizielle Gruppe für Firestorm Viewer Support
• Español - Grupo Oficial en Castellano del Visor Firestorm
• Francophone - Support Officiel Francophone Firestorm.
• Italiano - Sito ufficiale di supporto per il Viewer Firestorm
• Magyar - A Firestorm Viewer Hivatalos Magyar nyelvu Supportja
• Nederlands - Steungroep Firestorm
• Polska - Oficjalna polska grupa wsparcia dla przeglądarki Phoenix-Firestorm
• Português - Grupo oficial para suporte do Firestorm
• Русский - официальная группа поддержки Firestorm
• Phoenix Lounge - Some support available; off-topic chatter encouraged; adult.
  This is a privately owned group, not owned by the Firestorm team.

Please note, group chat lag can be a serious issue. So when you go to a support group for help, please bear in mind the following:

• Please indicate what viewer you are using, and what operating system you are using (Windows, OSX, linux) and which version.
  Recent versions of Firestorm have a checkbox in the English support group chat window: Specify version; please enable this to make it easier for the support team to assist you.
• Your question may not show up for some time; allow time for it to post, and therefore time for people to see it and respond. Posting over and over is not helpful.
• Chat lag frequently results in posts appearing out of order, so rather than post multiple short lines, try to express your issue all on one line, as concisely and clearly as possible.
• If your question has an answer on the wiki, you will very likely be pointed to the relevant page; the solution there will be far more detailed than what help can be given in the group.
• Please remember that support staff are volunteers, and help out on their own time, without pay. They may not be able to help, but they do try. Be respectful.
• Support groups (except where noted) are PG, so please mind your language. While off-topic chat is allowed, it must give way to support issues. No advertising, no hating, no flaming, no drama; no spamming, advertising or begging.

We hold in-world classes explaining how to use Firestorm, what the preferences and menus mean, and so on. A great way to learn how to use the viewer, with an opportunity to ask questions as well.

The class schedule is posted here.

If you believe you have found a bug - or if you were unable to get help from the wiki or in a support group - then please file a report via our JIRA (bug tracker). In order to best help, please supply basic information.

• How to file a bug report or support request

The Firestorm Support Team only provides support for the latest official release of Firestorm Viewer. Earlier versions, even those released by the Firestorm team, are subject to limited or no support.

CtrlAltStudio Viewer (CAS) is a third-party viewer that is substantially based on but unrelated to Firestorm. At present, its website tells users:

• If the problem you’re having or suggestion for improvement is not for one of the CtrlAltStudio Viewer specific features (see the list here), please check whether it’s also a problem with or suggestion for the Firestorm viewer; if it is then direct your enquiry to them.

This is not to be interpreted to mean that users should seek help with CAS problems from the Firestorm Support Team. It concerns the development of the viewer, rather than support, which means the appropriate source for such information is the JIRA, where viewer bug reports and feature requests are handled.

Steps for addressing your CAS problem:

• Search the JIRA to see if your issue has been reported and is being addressed as a bug. If it is, comment on and/or follow this JIRA (you’ll need a JIRA account to do either); if there are workarounds, they are likely discussed in the comments. If there aren’t, there is nothing further you can do until the bug is fixed. Note that you must be have tested your issue on a current version of Firestorm if you are commenting on an open issue.
• Note that because CAS releases may not be current to Firestorm releases, a bug might already have been fixed, and the fix could be available on the latest version of Firestorm. If/when this is the case, CAS will not have the fix until its developer(s) update it.
• If your bug has not been reported yet, download the current official version of Firestorm to test for the presence of the bug and then file a JIRA of your own. You must test your issue on the current official version of Firestorm before doing so. Bugs that are reported without current Firestorm system information will be closed.

Even if the version of Firestorm you are running is the same as the current official version, we cannot provide support for it in our support groups if you built it on your own system. There might be subtle differences in build environments that generate unexpected results. Download the latest official version and test there before reporting your bug or seeking support.

Only the most recent official release of the viewer is supported. Additional previous versions continue to be available (usually the two most recent builds but sometimes one or two more) under the assumption that if they work for you, there is no need to force an update. If problems develop, however, you must update to the most recent version to receive assistance.

If you know or suspect that your problem is not a viewer bug:

• Begin your troubleshooting by downloading the latest version of Firestorm to see if the issue exists there, as well.
• Use the troubleshooting section of the Firestorm wiki to search for solutions to your problem.
• If you cannot find an adequate solution to your problem, you can join one of the Firestorm support groups to ask for help, but you must be using or have tested on the most recent official release of Firestorm to receive help.

Several creators recommend specific settings in order for you to be able to better see their products. Sadly, some of these recommendations will lead to many people crashing more. For example, go to the top menu, Advanced → Debug Settings (press Ctrl-Alt-D to enable Advanced, if it isn't):

• RenderVolumeLODFactor should never be set over 4; a good value is between 2 and 3.
• TextureLoadFullRes should never be enabled.

Similarly, there is a notecard going round which suggests settings to prevent graphics crashes. Sadly, those settings can often result in perfectly ordinary content refusing to render. So if you have changed debug settings per such a notecard, revert them.

For both the cases above, should you not remember what settings you changed, then proceed as follows:

1. Back up your settings as explained here.
2. Then wipe settings by following the instructions on this page.
3. Log back in and see if this fixes your problem. If it does, you can try a restore and see if the issue returns.
4. If the problem does return, wipe settings again and set them from scratch.

Note: This is not the same as rainbow colors in-world.

If you see rainbow colors after logout and you have MSI True Color on your system, do the following steps in order:

1. Uninstall MSI True Color.
2. Install f.lux from https://justgetflux.com/ .
3. Uninstall f.lux using the f.lux uninstaller, not the Windows uninstaller from Windows programs & features / add/remove programs.
4. When running the uninstaller it will give you the option to reset to the windows default color profile; say Yes. (Running this uninstaller is the only way we have found to get rid of the MSI True Color profile.)

Refer to http://jira.phoenixviewer.com/browse/FIRE-12561.

If you find that you are crashing frequently, then perhaps the suggestions here will be helpful. Please don't skim the page - read it carefully.

It is important to distinguish between two things….

If a small window appears, saying that you have been logged out of SL, this isn't a crash. Rather, SL is disconnecting you, for one of a number of reasons, including:

• The region you are in is going down.
• During teleport, the SL servers may fail to hand you over to your destination and so log you out; help on that is given here.
• Your network connection has gone down.
• Your network connection has become poor or unreliable and SL has lost contact with your avatar.

Things to try - in order:

• reboot your router/modem, then your computer;
• make sure your bandwidth is set correctly - follow the instructions hereexactly as given;
• shut down any other programs that are making heavy use of your network connection, such as torrents;
• If you use Mac with Yosemite, see if this might be your case.
• If the problems persist still, try changing your DNS to Google, as explained here.

If you are being logged out when you edit appearance, or edit shape, or use the Appearance toolbar button, did you drop items into the Outfits folder that were not created via the Outfits/Appearance window? If so, remove those items.

Firestorm itself has crashed. The remainder of this page offers possible solutions.

• Update your Operating System. See the advice from LL, and the reasons behind it, here.

• (Windows-only)
  • If you are using an ATI (AMD) graphics card, then please refer here for known problems with these cards.
  • For nVidia users, please refer to this page.
  • Also for nVidia: if you recently updated your drivers and are experiencing crashes, try reverting to an older driver that worked for you.

• (Mac-only)
  • If you have Sierra plus Nvidia graphics, see http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/mac_sierra
  • If you have El Capitan plus Nvidia graphics, see http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/mac_el_capitan
  • If you crash when uploading images to SL or when saving snapshots to your hard drive, see http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/mac_crash_upload

• In Preferences → Graphics → General:
  • Reduce Draw Distance by half (or more).
  • Reduce Max # non-impostor avatars.
  • Reduce Maximum Complexity by half (or more).

• Disable VBO: Run Firestorm and before logging in, press Ctrl-P to bring up the Preferences window. Then click on Graphics → Hardware Settings tab. Make sure that “Enable OpenGL Vertex Buffer Objects” is not checked.

• Several creators recommend specific settings in order for you to be able to better see their products. Sadly, some of these recommendations will lead to many people crashing more. For example:
  • RenderVolumeLODFactor should never be set over 4; a good value is between 2 and 3.
  • TextureLoadFullRes should never be enabled.

• (Grids other than SL only!) Disable HTTP Get Textures: Open the preferences window, then click on Graphics → Rendering tab. Make sure “Use HTTP Textures” is not checked. Please clear your cache if you change this setting.

• It is possible that your graphics settings are set higher than your computer can handle. To see if this is the case, go to Preferences → Graphics, and click on Reset (the circular arrow to the right of the quality slider). After doing this, you may still need to reduce Draw Distance and Max # non-impostor avatars, as mentioned above.

• If you have Shadows turned on, try turning them off. See this page for more side effects of shadows.

• Another thing you can try is: Develop → World → Dump Region Object Cache, then relog. (The Develop menu is revealed with Ctrl-Alt-Q, if you cannot see it.) This sometimes also helps deal with odd texture issues; it may need to be done several times.

• If clicking on a link or SLURL in Firestorm causes an instant crash: do you have AVG 2011 installed? If so, it probably flagged SLPlugin as malware. See here for more on this.

• If you have Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus, see Webroot Issues.

• If you are crashing when you try to upload a texture, please try disabling VBO, as described above. Also, if you are on Windows and running Microsoft SkyDrive, prefer refer here. If you are on a Mac, this workaround may fix the problem.

• If the above tips do not help, you might benefit from a cache clear or viewer reinstall.

• If you find that a full manual cache clear allows you to log in, and you crash unless you do this, then there is a good chance that you have one or more problems with certain inventory items; please see this page for how to deal with this.

If you have eliminated all the possible causes for the crash and you are still crashing, it's time to submit a Support Request on our jira. In that request, you can include screenshots or videos, if they will help clarify your description, as well as your sysinfo and viewer event logs. Follow the steps in this link to create the request and add your logs.

Teleport can fail in several ways:

• you simply don't go anywhere but remain where you were
• you get disconnected
• you crash out

The first of these cases may often be due to simple things like the region you are trying to get to is full, or you have no access to it, or it has gone down. Try again after a few minutes.

Also, please note that the recent introduction of “teleport threading”, an attempt to mitigate the effects of mono memory leak, have led to an increase in TP failures, often resulting in your being logged out of SL altogether.

Things to try:

• If you aren't crashing or disconnecting but aren't getting anywhere, try TPing to different locations. It may just be one region giving you trouble. “Puddle jumping” by going to a different one first might help you get around sim issues.

• Try opening the landmark you are trying to TP to and let the information in the LM load fully before clicking Teleport.

• Having your bandwidth set too high is a frequent cause of TP failure. Go to Preferences→ Network & Files -> Connection and set bandwidth to 300, and see if that improves things. If it does, you can increase gradually, up to a maximum of 1500. Please refer to this page for information on determining your optimum bandwidth setting.

• Mac users: If you crash or get logged out on all or most TPs, then you may need to add new DNS numbers in System Preferences on your Mac, especially if you are experiencing other issues like an empty friends list or trouble viewing rigged mesh. Please see the “Mac-specific” section of this page for instructions.

• 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 you are using a firewall, try disabling it temporarily and seeing if that improves things. Norton products in particular have been known to severely impair various SL functions, including teleports and texture rezzing, but the same issues may appear with other firewalls as well. If this solves the problem, re-enable the firewall, and then configure it to allow Firestorm access to the 'net; for more on that, see here.

• Check your network performance. Go to Help → About Firestorm and scroll to the bottom of the window. There you will see something like “Packets Lost: 191/34581 (0.6%).” You would like to see this number as close to zero as possible. If this is more than a few percent, that is a likely cause for TP failure. You may have a poor connection to your ISP, or it might be that the sim you are on is overloaded and responding poorly. You can also view realtime packet loss in your Statistics Bar (Ctrl-Shift-1; if this does not open, make sure your Advanced menu is open with Ctrl-Alt-D and try again).

• Right-click your tag or a non-prim part of your avatar and select Script Info. If the number of scripts reported is in the triple digits, then it might be causing the TP fail. Try removing scripted prims. To determine which attachments contain the most scripts, go to World → Parcel Details, click Script Info at the bottom and then Avatar at the top. This will list your scripted attachments with their size in memory (not number of scripts) to help you know what to try removing first.¹⁾ Note that UNscripted prims have no effect on TP failing.²⁾

• If you have teleport screens disabled, try turning them back on: Preferences → Move & View -> Teleports→ Disable Teleport Screens … make sure it is NOT checked.

• If nothing above helps the issue, then there may be a problem with your connection, especially if you were seeing high packet loss. Log off and try resetting your router/modem. Unplug it for a minimum of two minutes. If it has a battery backup, remove the battery as well. It does not hurt to reboot your computer at this time. After at least two minutes have passed, plug the router/modem back in and/or replace the battery and log back in.

¹⁾ Often, scripts in worn attachments are old-style resizers, which use one script per prim. In 200-prim hair, that is 200+ scripts! Click on the hair, jewelry, shoes, or other attachment, and if there is a menu option to delete resize scripts, then make a copy of the item in your inventory and delete the scripts out of one copy. Wear the now-unscripted copy and save the scripted one in your inventory in case you need to resize it again in the future.

Naturally, you do NOT want to stop or remove scripts from HUDs or other items that perform useful functions, like AOs, Mystitool, combat HUDs, etc., though you can reduce your scripts further by setting up and using the built-in client-side Firestorm AO instead of an AO HUD.

²⁾IMPORTANT: Avatar Render Draw Weight (formerly Avatar Rendering Cost, which was calculated differently) is totally unrelated to script count. Low draw weight does not mean your script count is low. It is an indication of how much work your computer has to do to draw an avatar, no more. The association between draw weight/ARC and scripts is a myth, and totally false. Also, high draw weight does not interfere with TP; that too is a myth.

Teleport can fail in several ways:

• you simply don't go anywhere but remain where you were
• you get disconnected
• you crash out

The first of these cases may often be due to simple things like the region you are trying to get to is full, or you have no access to it, or it has gone down. Try again after a few minutes.

Also, please note that the recent introduction of “teleport threading”, an attempt to mitigate the effects of mono memory leak, have led to an increase in TP failures, often resulting in your being logged out of SL altogether.

Things to try:

• If you aren't crashing or disconnecting but aren't getting anywhere, try TPing to different locations. It may just be one region giving you trouble. “Puddle jumping” by going to a different one first might help you get around sim issues.

• Try opening the landmark you are trying to TP to and let the information in the LM load fully before clicking Teleport.

• Having your bandwidth set too high is a frequent cause of TP failure. Go to Preferences→ Network & Files -> Connection and set bandwidth to 300, and see if that improves things. If it does, you can increase gradually, up to a maximum of 1500. Please refer to this page for information on determining your optimum bandwidth setting.

• Mac users: If you crash or get logged out on all or most TPs, then you may need to add new DNS numbers in System Preferences on your Mac, especially if you are experiencing other issues like an empty friends list or trouble viewing rigged mesh. Please see the “Mac-specific” section of this page for instructions.

• 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 you are using a firewall, try disabling it temporarily and seeing if that improves things. Norton products in particular have been known to severely impair various SL functions, including teleports and texture rezzing, but the same issues may appear with other firewalls as well. If this solves the problem, re-enable the firewall, and then configure it to allow Firestorm access to the 'net; for more on that, see here.

• Check your network performance. Go to Help → About Firestorm and scroll to the bottom of the window. There you will see something like “Packets Lost: 191/34581 (0.6%).” You would like to see this number as close to zero as possible. If this is more than a few percent, that is a likely cause for TP failure. You may have a poor connection to your ISP, or it might be that the sim you are on is overloaded and responding poorly. You can also view realtime packet loss in your Statistics Bar (Ctrl-Shift-1; if this does not open, make sure your Advanced menu is open with Ctrl-Alt-D and try again).

• Right-click your tag or a non-prim part of your avatar and select Script Info. If the number of scripts reported is in the triple digits, then it might be causing the TP fail. Try removing scripted prims. To determine which attachments contain the most scripts, go to World → Parcel Details, click Script Info at the bottom and then Avatar at the top. This will list your scripted attachments with their size in memory (not number of scripts) to help you know what to try removing first.¹⁾ Note that UNscripted prims have no effect on TP failing.²⁾

• If you have teleport screens disabled, try turning them back on: Preferences → Move & View -> Teleports→ Disable Teleport Screens … make sure it is NOT checked.

• Versions of Firestorm older than 4.7.1 only: If you are being disconnected once TP has completed (that is, once you arriove at your destination, or shortly thereafter), then a possible cause is that your router is being “overwhelmed” with texture transfers. So try the following:
  • Open Preferences→ Graphics -> Rendering, disable HTTP Textures
  • Relog, then try a few teleports to see if things have improved; if not…
  • Relog.
  • And again try a few teleports and see if there is any improvement. If not, revert the settings above.

• If nothing above helps the issue, then there may be a problem with your connection, especially if you were seeing high packet loss. Log off and try resetting your router/modem. Unplug it for a minimum of two minutes. If it has a battery backup, remove the battery as well. It does not hurt to reboot your computer at this time. After at least two minutes have passed, plug the router/modem back in and/or replace the battery and log back in.

¹⁾ Often, scripts in worn attachments are old-style resizers, which use one script per prim. In 200-prim hair, that is 200+ scripts! Click on the hair, jewelry, shoes, or other attachment, and if there is a menu option to delete resize scripts, then make a copy of the item in your inventory and delete the scripts out of one copy. Wear the now-unscripted copy and save the scripted one in your inventory in case you need to resize it again in the future.

Naturally, you do NOT want to stop or remove scripts from HUDs or other items that perform useful functions, like AOs, Mystitool, combat HUDs, etc., though you can reduce your scripts further by setting up and using the built-in client-side Firestorm AO instead of an AO HUD.

²⁾IMPORTANT: Avatar Render Draw Weight (formerly Avatar Rendering Cost, which was calculated differently) is totally unrelated to script count. Low draw weight does not mean your script count is low. It is an indication of how much work your computer has to do to draw an avatar, no more. The association between draw weight/ARC and scripts is a myth, and totally false. Also, high draw weight does not interfere with TP; that too is a myth.

Note: The Developer menu must be enabled for these key combos to work: use CTRL-Alt-Q to enable it.

Key = Key Sequence

The camera controls can be brought up either by clicking the Camera Controls button on the bottom button bar, or by going to the top menu bar and selecting Avatar → Camera Controls.

The camera controls are divided into sections, as follows.

• The leftmost circle allows you to rotate your camera.
• The vertical slide to the right controls zoom; you can drag it or use the +/- signs for finer control;
• The arrows in the square pan the camera left/right and up/down.
• Across the top are six buttons. These are:
  • Front view - places the camera in front of your face, and facing you.
  • Side view - place the camera over your left shoulder, looking forward.
  • Rear view - places the camera behind and slightly above you; this is the default position.
  • Object view - allows you to zoom in on objects by clicking them.
  • Mouselook view - places the camera in front of you; the camera then moves with your mouse; the camera controls disappear in this view. Hit Esc to leave mouselook.
  • Reset view - restores the camera to default.

If you want more control over the camera, without have to poke around in Preferences, have a look at the Phototools Camera window.

For help on fixing your camera view, refer to this page.

To move your camera around via the keyboard instead of the Camera Controls, see Camera Keyboard Shortcuts.

Canonical ended support for the transitional package of ia32-libs. And because both the 32-bit and 64-bit viewers have 32-bit dependencies, viewers may not perform as expected, or at all in some cases.

There are two solutions, one identifies libraries that are dependencies, the second is a more complete installation of 32-bit support.

Note that most 32-bit libraries cannot be installed on 64-bit Linux using Synaptic or the Software Center; you must use apt-get in a terminal.

Ensure 32-bit architecture support is enabled

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update

Install the base libraries

NOTE: These files can't be installed using Synaptic or Software Center.

sudo apt-get install libglu1-mesa:i386 libgtk2.0-0:i386 libidn11:i386 libpangox-1.0-0:i386 libpangoxft-1.0-0:i386 libqtwebkit4:i386

gstreamer0.10 is required; gstreamer1.0 is not yet supported.

You may need to install additional plugins:

64-bit command

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio:i386 gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:i386 gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:i386 pepperflashplugin-nonfree

32-bit command

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good pepperflashplugin-nonfree

NOTE: one or more of these packages may attempt to remove their 64-bit counterpart. Consult your distribution's help documents and/or forums to see if there is a means of installing both.

Additionally, depending on your particular Linux and hardware setup, you may need to locate and install some additional packages:

Growl is a desktop service that puts notifications on your desktop. Firestorm can make use of that service and show you notifications while the viewer is not in focus.

sudo apt-get install libnotify-bin:i386

NOTE: libnotify-bin:i386 may attempt to remove its 64-bit counterpart. Consult your distribution's help documents and/or forums to see if there is a means of installing both.

If you find that you are running into problems running Firestorm, or are receiving a media-plugin-webkit error, Manwa Pastorelli recommends the following packages:

Install the following packages

Packages shown in red may attempt to remove other packages from your system, which may lead to system instability. Install these packages one at a time and observe any mention of packages to be removed.

Packages shown in green may be already installed as a result of installing one of the other packages listed on this page.

sudo apt-get install libstdc++-4.8-pic:i386 
sudo apt-get install libapr1:i386 libaprutil1:i386 libgl1-mesa-dev-lts-xenial:i386 
sudo apt-get install libatk1.0-0:i386 libdb5.3:i386 libfontconfig1:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libuuid1:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxinerama1:i386 libxrender1:i386

If you run across the media_plugin_cef failure message, installing these packages may help:

sudo apt-get install libnss3:i386 libnspr4:i386 libxtst6:i386 libgconf-2-4:i386 libxss1:i386

NOTE: This method is not recommended for Ubuntu 14.04 or newer, nor any variants of newer Ubuntu releases.

This method installs the 32-bit libraries from a previous distribution. Note that this may cause undesirable side effects, user beware. This has been tested with the release candidate of Ubuntu 13.10 and all is well and functional. This may fail on newer versions of Ubuntu and Mint.

Open a terminal and enter the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ raring main restricted universe multiverse"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Regardless of the method you choose, rebooting at this point can ensure that all required 32-bit libraries are referenced, though this may not be necessary.

http://www.firestormviewer.org/downloads/#synved-tabs-1-2

cd ~/Downloads
mkdir Firestorm

# For xz compressed files
tar xf Phoenix_Fire{tab to expand} -C Firestorm --strip-components=1

# For bz2 compressed files
tar xjf Phoenix_Fire{tab to expand} -C Firestorm --strip-components=1

At this point, you can launch Firestorm from a terminal:

cd ~/Downloads/Firestorm
./firestorm

And watch the output, optionally copy it for analysis since not all of it made its way to the viewer log.

NOTE: Qpainter errors can be safely ignored.

You can also create a desktop shortcut, either manually or by running this script in a terminal:

~/Downloads/Firestorm/etc/refresh_desktop_app_entry.sh

If you crash continually, it will be helpful to get a backtrace, like so:

cd ~/Downloads/Firestorm
sed -i "/^#export .*gdb/ s/^#//" ./firestorm # This enables gnu debug
./firestorm

At the (gdb) prompt, type r to launch Firestorm. When Firestorm crashes, you should be back at a (gdb) prompt.
Type bt to get a backtrace. Copy everything from the terminal screen to a text file (there may be several pages, press Enter until you get the gdb prompt again).
Type q to exit gdb.
Create a Support Request on our Jira and attach the backtrace as well as crash logs. JIRA can guide you through the process.

NOTE: You can turn off debugging with:

sed -i "/^export .*gdb/ s/^export/#export/" ./firestorm

Log out of Firestorm.

Using your file manager (dolphin or whatever), locate the Firestorm install directory), and inside that the shell script called firestorm. Open this with a text editor (Kate, or whichever you prefer).

Find the line, '#export LL_BAD_OPENAL_DRIVER=x', in the 'firestorm' script, and take out the '#', to make the line look like 'export LL_BAD_OPENAL_DRIVER=x', save the script.

Now run Firestorm and try streaming audio. You may experience a delay in in-world sounds; if so, relogging might help.

You need to install the pepperflash plugin for Chromium

sudo apt-get install pepperflashplugin-nonfree

If you have a 64-bit linux install, then the default currently is that you will also have a 64-bit version of Flash. This will not work for viewing flash videos. Try installing the 32-bit version of flash as well, then proceed as follows:

First create a 'plugins' folder in your .mozilla folder, copy, paste, and enter the following:

mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins/

Now create the link in that new folder, copy, paste, and enter the following line:

ln -s /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so

Flash video should now work, to test it out enable the inbuilt browser and head over to YouTube, and try a video.

NOTE: Streaming QuickTime may not work on a 64-bit Linux with either the 32-bit or 64-bit Firestorm.

• Manwa Pastorelli
• Jean Horten
• ShortyObrien

“Jellydolls” are a new anti-lag feature created by Linden Labs. You can use this feature to reduce your lag and to protect yourself against graphics-crashing devices worn by others.

For general information about Avatar Complexity (“jellydolls”), please see:

• Torley Linden's short video tutorial:

This will give you a good overview of how jellydolls work and how they can help you. Don't try to find the settings the way Torley describes, since those are the official SL viewer settings! See the rest of this page for the Firestorm settings.

• The official Second Life announcement: https://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/Why-are-all-these-people-made-of-colored-jelly/ba-p/3031255

• Inara Pey's blog: https://modemworld.me/2016/08/09/firestorm-4-7-9-50527-i-see-jelly-people/

• The Second Life wiki page: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Avatar_Rendering_Complexity

Please note: the official Second Life pages (above) describe how to find the settings in the official SL viewer. See the descriptions below for how to find them in Firestorm.

• This determines which avatars will appear as jellydolls to you, based on their complexity.
• Go to Preferences → Graphics → General → Maximum Complexity.
• Note: Lowering this slider will decrease your lag and turn more avatars into jellydolls; raising the slider may lag you but more avatars will be fully visible.
• Note: Moving this slider all the way to the right is not advised, as this sets this setting to “No Limit” — which means that no avatars will render as jellydolls to you, but you will be subject to lag and worn graphics crashers.

• Right click on the avatar's name tag and choose from the menu:
  • Render Normally – avatar will be affected by your complexity slider (above)
  • Do Not Render – avatar will be a jellydoll for you
  • Render Fully – avatar will be rendered fully even if over your complexity slider setting
• In the pie menu, these options are under More → More → Render.

• Go to Preferences → General and set “Show Avatar Complexity,” “Only if too complex,” and “Show own complexity” as you wish.

• This appears in the top right of your screen.
• Go to Preferences → Notifications → Alerts, and move “Warn me if my avatar complexity may be too high” to the “Always show” box or to the “Never show” box, as you prefer.

• This appears in the top right of your screen when you change clothes/accessories.
• Go to Advanced menu → Show Debug Settings → ShowMyComplexityChanges, and set that to zero to hide it, or a larger value to show it. Please make a note of this debug in case you need to activate it again.

• This shows complexity plus rank and area in hover text over avatars.
• Go to Avatar menu → Avatar Health → Show Avatar Complexity Information
• Note: The height of this hovertext cannot be adjusted.

Go to Avatar → Appearance and look at the bottom right of the window.

Two methods:

• Wear the item and then remove it, noting the change to your avatar complexity in the upper right of the viewer.
• Wear the item. Edit it → in the Build floater, click “more info” → and see the number listed for “Display.”

These are the default settings that determine the threshold at which you view avatars fully rendered or as jellydolls. They correspond with the “Quality and Speed” slider located in Preferences → Graphics → General. When the settings are left at these defaults, avatars whose complexity numbers are below these thresholds will be visible, while avatars with higher complexities will appear as jellydolls to you.

• Low: 35,000
• Low-Mid: 100,000
• Mid: 200,000
• Mid-High: 250,000
• High: 300,000
• High-Ultra: 350,000
• Ultra: 350,000

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 all 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 preferable solutions than others.

• 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).
• If need be, inhibit the rendering of other 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.
• 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. BitDefender is apparently one that is particularly bad in this respect. Whitelist the viewer and the cache folder to prevent this from happening. Webroot is known to cause serious problems; see this special Webroot page.
• 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 (click to see image)
  • To check for background updating: (instructions to come)

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.

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 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).

• Language default: Choose System Default or the language of your choice from the drop down menu.

• Content Maturity Rating: Allows you to choose what maturity level of content you are able to access in-world:
  • General, Moderate and Adult: Allows access to all content. You must be age verified to enable this option.
  • General and Moderate: Lets you access General and Moderate content.
  • General: Limits you to General content.

• Start Location: This allows you to choose what default login location shows on the login screen.
  • Show on login: Check this to enable the login location picker on the login screen.

• Name Tags: Here you choose how you display residents' tags. NOTE these apply to what you see, not others.
  • Off: Will set it so you do not see tags.
  • On: means tags will always be visible.
  • Show briefly: shows the tags temporarily.
    • And you can indicate how many second to show them; the default is 10.

• You can enable/disable the following:
  • My name: when unchecked, will not show your tag. Note this is for your view only, others still see it.
  • Group Titles: unchecked hides ALL group titles.
  • View Display Names: when checked shows display names.
  • Highlight friends: colors tags of those on your friends list.
  • Legacy nametag positioning: If enabled, the nametag will stay fixed at the avatar position and not follow the avatar head if it moves because of animations.
  • Complexity if too complex: if enabled, the nametag will show the avatar complexity if the avatar is too complex and has been rendered as a jellydoll. ²⁾
  • Usernames: when checked shows usernames names.
  • Hide own group title: If enabled, this will hide your current group title from others. (Versions after 3.2.2 only.)
  • Legacy names instead of usernames: will show legacy names instead of user names.
  • Trim 'Resident' from legacy names: self explanatory. (Greyed out if the option above is disabled.)
  • Show autorespond mode in nametag: This will show whether you have autorespond enabled, in your name tag.
  • Always show complexity: If enabled, the tag will always show avatar complexity.

• Away Time out: Will set you to away if there is no mouse or keyboard input for the minutes set:
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • 60 minutes
  • never
• Sit when away: Will sit your avatar when in away mode.

• Log out after being away: Will log you out after being away for the number of minutes you set here:
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • never

• Language default: Choose System Default or the language of your choice from the drop down menu.

• Content Maturity Rating: Allows you to choose what maturity level of content you are able to access in-world:
  • General, Moderate and Adult: Allows access to all content. You must be age verified to enable this option.
  • General and Moderate: Lets you access General and Moderate content.
  • General: Limits you to General content.

• Start Location: This allows you to choose what default login location shows on the login screen.
  • Show on login: Check this to enable the login location picker on the login screen.

• Name Tags: Here you choose how you display residents' tags. NOTE these apply to what you see, not others.
  • Off: Will set it so you do not see tags.
  • On: means tags will always be visible.
  • Show briefly: shows the tags temporarily.
    • And you can indicate how many second to show them; the default is 10.

• You can enable/disable the following:
  • My name: when unchecked, will not show your tag. Note this is for your view only, others still see it.
  • Group Titles: unchecked hides ALL group titles.
  • View Display Names: when checked shows display names.
  • Highlight friends: colors tags of those on your friends list.
  • Legacy nametag positioning: If enabled, the nametag will stay fixed at the avatar position and not follow the avatar head if it moves because of animations.

• Show avatar complexity: Shows avatar complexity information in name tags. ¹⁾
  • Only if too complex: Only shows the information if the complexity value is above your maximum complexity setting, in Preferences → Graphics → General.
  • Show own complexity: Shows your own complexity in your name tag.
• Usernames: when checked shows usernames names.
• Hide own group title: If enabled, this will hide your current group title from others. (Versions after 3.2.2 only.)
• Legacy names instead of usernames: will show legacy names instead of user names.
• Trim 'Resident' from legacy names: self explanatory. (Greyed out if the option above is disabled.)
• Show autorespond mode in nametag: This will show whether you have autorespond enabled, in your name tag.

• Away Time out: Will set you to away if there is no mouse or keyboard input for the minutes set:
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • 60 minutes
  • never
• Sit when away: Will sit your avatar when in away mode.

• Log out after being away: Will log you out after being away for the number of minutes you set here:
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes
  • 30 minutes
  • never