

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:
Things to try - in order:
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.
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.
Why? Because here be dragons. And sometimes clearing your settings may be the best way to fix a weird problem. Keep in mind that settings are not cleared by uninstalling or installing new viewers.
If clearing settings solves your problem, then you might want to create a backup of your settings once you have restored them as you like them - and assuming that everything works. Click here for instructions.
Assuming you are unable to log into the viewer, follow these steps.
Firestorm 32-bit | |
Windows XP | C:\Documents and Settings\[YOUR USERNAME]\Application Data\Firestorm (or use the environment variable %APPDATA%) |
Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10 | C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Firestorm (or use the environment variable %APPDATA%) |
Mac | /Users/[YOUR USERNAME]/Library/Application Support/Firestorm 1) |
Linux | ~/.firestorm |
Firestorm 64-bit | |
Windows XP | C:\Documents and Settings\[YOUR USERNAME]\Application Data\Firestorm_x64 (or use the environment variable %APPDATA%) |
Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10 | C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Firestorm_x64 (or use the environment variable %APPDATA%) |
Linux | ~/.firestorm_x64 |
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.6.9 (42969) and earlier.
Teleport can fail in several ways:
NOTE: Being disconnected is NOT the same as crashing. If you see a window saying “You have been disconnected from Second Life - View IMs or Quit”, then you have been disconnected. If the program simply shuts down with no message window, then you have crashed.
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:
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.
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.7.1 and earlier.
There are two ways to count worn scripts in Firestorm. One method allows you to view the total number of scripts on your avatar or in a selected attachment on your avatar. The other method shows you a list of all your worn scripted attachments with their script memory (not number of scripts) displayed.
For the total number of scripts you're wearing:
For the number of scripts in a specific attachment:
Please note: Your Firestorm LSL Bridge is needed for Method 1 to work. If you do not see a message in nearby chat after following the above steps, then make sure it's worn and enabled:
For instructions for Phoenix, please refer here.
Some anti-virus 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 non-functional. There is nothing we can do about this. However, it should be possible for you to tell your anti-virus that the viewer is safe; you will need to whitelist the viewer program as well as some components.
The following is a list of anti-virus software and how to whitelist. Naturally we cannot provide instructions for all existing anti-virus software, 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.
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:
Please refer to this page.
(derrived from https://community.f-secure.com/t5/Security-for-PC/How-do-I-exclude-a-file-or/ta-p/15398)
If Gatekeeper prevents you from opening Firestorm, there is a simple workaround: See “How to open an app from a unidentified developer and exempt it from Gatekeeper” on this page. Once you have allowed Firestorm to open via this method, Gatekeeper will not flag it on subsequent launches (until you reinstall Firestorm again).
For a longer-term method, please visit here for a tutorial on whitelisting using the Gatekeeper software.
In order to create an exclusion rule:
Rules can apply to the following protection components:
A scan if a disk or folder containing excluded objects scans the entire disk/folder except the excluded objects. Yet you can force scan excluded objects from the contextual menu (by right-clicking).
Also you can create an exclusion rule from within a report window:
An Exclusion rule window will open. Make sure that you are satisfied with the new exclusion rule settings. Object name and threat type fields are assigned automatically on the basis of the report data. Click OK to create the rule.
For Win 10 (possibly also Windows 8.x):
Add exclusion to Auto-Protect and Risk scan
Norton Internet Security includes a feature called Download Intelligence. This works such that the user community reports downloads as good or bad. While this may be very helpful, it can also be unfairly detrimental to programs, especially when they are updated as they are then treated as totally new.
Therefore, if you use Download Intelligence, you are urged to disable it before attempting to download any of our viewers, in order to avoid them being incorrectly reported as infected with a virus. Refer to this page for instructions.
See this page for additional Panda tips for whitelisting files and folders: http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/downloads/docs/product/help/is/2012/en/709.htm The page is out of date but the methods may still work.
To date (August 2015), there is no way to whitelist the entire cache folder in WebRoot. Therefore WebRoot may continue to cause severe problems including slow rezzing and viewer freezing.
If you test with WebRoot off and find your SL experience greatly improved, the only suggestion we have is to choose another antivirus program.
Some more more info on Webroot and the problems it has been known to cause, see this page.
For additional information:
These classes are based on our official Firestorm release and are conducted in voice and 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:
Class times and days change regularly. Classes may be held any day of the week, with start times from 8am to 7pm SLT. Nonetheless, if the class times are still inconvenient you may prefer to watch recorded versions of some of these classes on YouTube.
*All times SLT*
Thursday | November 17 | 12:00PM – QuickPrefs Customization + Lag (TEXT ONLY) Two mini-classes in one. One discusses the causes of lag in SL. The other explains how to customize your Quick Preferences. | FS |
Saturday | November 19 | 4:00PM — Avatar Complexity and Graphics Presets Learn how to boost performance with av complexity and improve usability with the presets. | FS |
Monday | November 21 | 12:00PM – Clean Install (TEXT ONLY) Learn how to correctly and quickly perform this most fundamental and important of tasks. | FS |
Tuesday | November 22 | 10:00AM – Preferences Set 4 We will cover some of the Firestorm preferences (Colors, Skins, Notifications, User Interface, Sounds and Media). | FS |
Wednesday | November 23 | 2:00PM – Odds & Ends 1 Learn some of Firestorm's handiest features, like Inventory, Radar, and some hard-to-find gems. | FS |
Thursday | November 24 | 12:00PM – Contact Sets (TEXT ONLY) There is a cool feature called Contact Sets that lets you organize your contact list. We will cover how to set them up and use this epic feature. | FS |
Friday | November 25 | 4:00PM – Animation Overrider On Firestorm, you can save scripts and HUD space by running your AO animations directly through the viewer. Learn how to set up and get the most out of this useful feature. | FS |
Monday | November 28 | 2:00PM – Reporting Bugs, Requesting Features (TEXT ONLY) Learn how to communicate effectively with our devs to make the changes to Firestorm you want or need. | FS |
Tuesday | November 29 | 2:00PM – Preferences Set 2 We will cover some of the Firestorm preferences (Graphics, Network & Cache), based on our current release. | FS |
Firestorm supports both the new Region Windlight, introduced by LL, and Parcel Windlight, which was introduced with Phoenix Viewer. Both of these allow you to customize your in-world sky and water, but they operate at different levels: one is region-wide, while the other is restricted to single parcels.
Parcel Windlight allows individual parcel owners to customize their own land as they wish. Region Windlight is most effective on region-wide parcels, or where Region owners wish to provide a consistent experience to visitors.
There are several ways in which you can control you personal Windlight experience. You can opt to use whatever sky and water settings have been selected by region and/or parcel owners, or you can use your own. You can also create your own sky, water and day cycle settings.
General options concerning Windlight are set in Preferences→ Firestorm→ Windlight tab; please refer there for details.
If you wish to use your own day/night cycle, or set to a specific time of day, then use top menu bar→ World → Environment Editor → Environment Settings.
If you own a region or parcel, you can customize the Windlight settings for yourself, and for others visiting your land.
Region Windlight can only be changed by region owners or estate managers. It is set by going to the top menu bar and selecting Region Details. On the window that opens, select Environment. Regions can be set to use the default SL day cycle, a custom day cycle, or fixed time of day. See here for more on how to configure a region's Windlight settings.
Parcel Windlight sharing is a feature of Firestorm that allows land owners to specify a Windlight preset for the viewer to use while on their land at the parcel level.
The land owner just needs to put a plain text string at the end of the parcel description. Parcel description is set in the About Land floater, General tab.
/*Windlight Sky: "[name of the preset]"*/
Windlight water presets are also supported:
/*Windlight Sky: "[name of the preset]" Water: "[name of the WL water preset]"*/
Water settings can be used by its self just like sky if wanted.
Example: If the sky preset is to be [TOR] BIG SUN - Awwyeah and the water preset [TOR] Watermelon juice and the parcel's description is “My awesome place” then the parcel description would be like this:
My awesome place /*Windlight Sky: "[TOR] BIG SUN - Awwyeah" Water: "[TOR] Watermelon juice"*/
Zones
Parcel WL settings also support zoned settings based on altitude. This allows skyboxes to have a different sky settings than ground level.
/*Windlight Sky @ [lower]m to [upper]m: "[name of preset]"*/
Example: If the parcel wide settings are to be [TOR] MIDDAY - Cheery cyan for the sky and [TOR] Ice-like for the water with a skybox between 500 meters and 600 meters using [TOR] NIGHT - Moony for its sky, the config line would like like so:
/*Windlight Sky: "[TOR] MIDDAY - Cheery cyan" Water: "[TOR] Ice-like" Sky @ 500m to 600m: "[TOR] NIGHT - Moony"*/
The parcel wide settings for sky and water are optional. Zones can be used by themselves leaving the rest of the land at region defaults.
NOTE: There is a 3 meter minimum distance between zones, zones should be at least 10 meters apart and over lap the desired area by a least 5 meters to allow for the 5 second delay on detecting changes.
If you have set region WL to use a fixed sky or a custom day cycle, region WL will always override parcel WL unless you use the RegionOveride flag
For example:
/*Windlight Sky: "[name of the preset]" Water: "[name of the WL water preset]"RegionOverride*/
Advanced
If there is not enough space in the description for the desired config line, there are several optional formatting and whitespace
/*Sky:"[preset]"Water:"[preset]"*/
Is the same as:
/*Windlight Sky:"[preset]" Water:"[preset]"*/
Zones can be shortened as well:
/*Sky@[lower]-[upper]:"[preset]"*/
Please refer to this page for details.
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.
NOTE: It is strongly recommended that you go to a known low lag region to do any of the things listed below. Once, thre, reduce draw distance significantly, to reduce the load on your network connection. These locations are recommended:
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:
Back on Firestorm, if your inventory count still looks lower than it should be or stalls in the middle of fetching items, then:
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.
Note: You must be LOGGED OUT of both viewers before doing the next step.
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.
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.6.9 (42969) and earlier.
If this occurs, chance are good that the inventory cache is corrupt. Deleting it should solve the problem.
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.
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:
<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>
Issues outside of Firestorm can, and often do, result in viewer crashes….
If you are using Windows 10, and have an Intel 2000/3000 or older graphics card, please refer to this page if you cannot start Firestorm without crashing.
If you crash during login, then try setting Firestorm to XP compatibility:
If you get a User Account Control security popup, then please see this page.
If you have just installed Firestorm on a linux system and it will not start, it is highly likely that you are missing some required libraries. You need to verify if this is the case.
You need to open Terminal and cd to the Firestorm install directory. If you are unsure how to locate it, use your linux file manager to find it first; it will help you locate the install directory. Useful shorcuts:
so for example, from terminal, you would do something like this:
cd ~/Firestorm
Assuming that Firestorm is installed in the directory called Firestorm, in your home.
Once there, copy the following into Terminal:
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="./lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}" ldd bin/do-not-directly-run-firestorm-bin
This will spit out a long list of libraries. Check to see if any are marked as “not found”. If so, you will need to install these with your package manager.
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.7.1 (45325) and earlier.
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.7.9 (50527) and earlier.
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.7.7 (48706) and earlier.
First of all, relog then test the HUD(s) again. That may be enough. If not, read on.
Things to try:
Stay in a script-enabled region to do all of the following:
Inventory, right-click the item → Edit
, and while it is in Edit, go to Build menu → Scripts → Reset Scripts
, or Build menu → Scripts→ Set Scripts to Running
).Inventory > Current Outfit folder
, and see if you are wearing any HUDs you were not aware of. (Note: HUDS do not necessarily have “HUD” in the name.) This could include temporary “Experience” HUDS that you may not be aware were attached.2)Inventory → Right-click → Detach from Yourself
, then Inventory → Right-click → Attach to HUD
, and choose an unused point.These classes are based on our official Firestorm release and are conducted in voice and 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:
Class times and days change regularly. Classes may be held any day of the week, with start times from 8am to 7pm SLT. Nonetheless, if the class times are still inconvenient you may prefer to watch recorded versions of some of these classes on YouTube.
*All times SLT*
Wednesday | November 30 | 10:00AM – Odds & Ends 2 Learn about fun and useful items like how to use Auto-Replace, using the Command Line for a number of tools, and more. | FS |
Thursday | December 1 | 12:00PM — Avatar Complexity and Graphics Presets (TEXT ONLY) Learn how to boost performance with av complexity and improve usability with the presets. | FS |
Saturday | December 3 | 12:00PM – Introduction to Firestorm and the Wiki This class gives you an overview of the Firestorm Viewer and of our greatest informational resource, our Wiki, including search tips. | FS |
Monday | December 5 | 12:00PM – Basic Troubleshooting (TEXT ONLY) An introduction to basic methods to start locating problems. Focused on Firestorm but some parts are non-viewer-specific. | FS |
Tuesday | December 6 | 10:00AM – Animation Overrider On Firestorm, you can save scripts and HUD space by running your AO animations directly through the viewer. Learn how to set up and get the most out of this useful feature. | FS |
Wednesday | December 7 | 2:00PM – Preferences Set 3 We will cover some of the Firestorm preferences (Move & View, Advanced, Firestorm), based on our current release. | FS |
Thursday | December 8 | 12:00PM – Clean Install (TEXT ONLY) Learn how to correctly and quickly perform this most fundamental and important of tasks. | FS |
Friday | December 9 | 4:00PM – Preferences Set 2 We will cover some of the Firestorm preferences (Graphics, Network & Cache), based on our current release. | FS |
Monday | December 12 | 12:00PM – QuickPrefs Customization + Lag (TEXT ONLY) Two mini-classes in one. One discusses the causes of lag in SL. The other explains how to customize your Quick Preferences. | FS |
Tuesday | December 13 | 2:00PM – Firestorm Skins This class covers the differences among Firestorm's many skin options, including the Vintage Classic and Colorable User Interface skins. | FS |
Wednesday | December 14 | 10:00AM – Settings Backup/Chat Logs These two mini-classes cover backing up your settings and managing chat files. | FS |
Thursday | December 15 | 12:00PM – Preferences Set 4 (TEXT ONLY) We will cover some of the Firestorm preferences (Colors, Skins, Notifications, User Interface, Sounds and Media). | FS |
Gateway Manager | Flossy Andrew |
Gateway HR Manager (FSG Helpers) | Amalia Broome |
Gateway Assistant Managers | Kio FeilaDorrie BellmanCoral Sharpshire |
Merchandise Manager | |
Gateway Estate Management | Jessica LyonFlossy AndrewNisa MaverickWhirly FizzleLette PonnierMiro Collas |
aere26 Resident | |
Alexegram | |
Amalia Broome | HR Manager |
Amaya Summers | |
Angela Kwak | Dutch |
animal | |
Anita61 Anatine | Dutch |
beladona Memorial | |
Blair Karas | |
Bluezy Bleac | Assistant Manager. French, German, Dutch |
brisgaumick | Spanish |
ChuckPC | |
Coral Sharpshire | Assistant Manager |
Davey Akina | Russian |
Dorrie Bellman | Assistant Manager |
FidgetsWidgets Resident | |
hatake.kohime | |
katydid62 Resident | |
kaydge | |
Kio Feila | Assistant Manager |
Kitty Beery | Dutch |
Melissa Drasilova | French |
panterapolnocy | Polish |
Pim Peccable | |
pixelprophet lane | German |
Skyspinner Soulstar | |
sniper.siemens | Italian |
Spectr3 Belfire | English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Turkish, Italian |
Teresa Firelight | |
Tracy Argus | |
Vico Torok | German |
VivienneAKittenn | Spanish |
Willow Wilder | |
xAngelBaby |
Roleplay Manager | Teresa Firelight |
Roleplay Leaders | Starwolff2000Pim Peccable |
This section covers issues related to audio, video and some aspects of search.
If you are still using Quicktime media and you have issues watching movies (as opposed to YouTube videos) it might help to clear your QuickTime cache:
Go to Preferences→ Sound & Media -> Sounds and make sure the volume sliders for streaming music and media are not all to the left and that there is no mute symbol (red no entry sign) on the speaker icon next to those. Make sure the Master Volume is not all to the left.
Check that Sound Source rolloff distance (Media tab) is correct; set back to default, if you changed it (5m and 30 respectively for min and max).
Go to Preferences→ Sound & Media -> Sounds and check that you have the Sounds and UI sliders up high enough and that there is no mute symbol (red no entry sign) on the speaker icon next to those.
Go to the top menu bar→ Advanced → Use Plugin Read Thread, and disable it, if it is enabled - or vice versa. (If you cannot see Advanced on the top menu, press Ctrl-Alt-D.)
If that doesn't help, first ensure that you have your bandwidth set correctly. Also, test the audio stream in your regular media player, and/or try a different audio stream in-world.
If the music volume fades as you cam around or edit objects, check the sound equalization settings in your operating system. For example, this may be caused by “Loudness equalization” being enabled in your speaker properties on Windows 7. (Refer to http://jira.phoenixviewer.com/browse/FIRE-19885.)
Refer to this page for all Win10 issues.
Please ensure that you have the most recent version of Flash for Safari installed. You can get this via the normal update process, or from Adobe.
For streaming music on OS X 10.9 Mavericks, please refer to this page.
For users on Sierra, there are reports of media features (such as MOAP, TVs, web search, and web profiles) working more slowly. Ref. BUG-40552.
Both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Firestorm for Linux require 32-bit libraries to function. See this page for a link to your Linux flavor to verify you have all the needed audio-related packages installed and to troubleshoot stream issues.
See this page for documentation on Firestorm 4.7.5 (47975) and earlier.
For basic information on how to get help, click here.
This page covers issues and problems which you might encounter with Firestorm; for topics concerning how to use the viewer, you are instead directed to the main Firestorm documentation page.
The topics here are divided into issues which are directly related to the viewer, and those which are really SL issues or bugs.
Should this not be helpful, then please contact support. The best place to get fast help is in one of the in-world groups. Otherwise, you may contact any of our support team. We will do our best to assist you.
If you believe you have found a genuine bug - or have a feature request, then you can file a JIRA.
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.