Getting started with Second Life

A Guide to the Second Life Viewer Software

(also known as Beginner's Guide, Manual, User Guide, User's Guide, User Manual, or User's Manual)

Interacting with the Second Life virtual world requires you download, install, and run a "Viewer" program on your computer. The Viewer allows you to log in to the Second life grid, and then see and interact with objects and avatars around your current "location" in the virtual world.

This Guide is intended to document how the current version of the Official Viewer software works.

In addition to the Viewer, some features are accessed via the Second Life website (like this wiki page, for example).

Downloading

Hardware and Software Requirements

The supported hardware and operating system requirements are listed on the Official System Requirements Web Page. Although certain configurations are not supported (for example, satellite or wireless internet), they can still be used with some limitations.

You will need at least 74MB of hard drive space to install, and 1GB or more of hard drive space for the eventual application data that will be generated (mostly cached object and image data) for each version of the Viewer you install. It is possible to have multiple versions installed at the same time.

To use the Viewer with good frame rates and low lag on the highest graphics settings requires (1) a high end gaming computer with a good graphics card, (2) a fast internet connection, and (3) the Second Life server you connect to be not overloaded. If some or all of these are not met, the viewer settings can be adjusted to handle a wide range of circumstances.

Optional hardware includes a headset or microphone to use the voice features, and 3D mouse.

Versions and Download Locations

The Second Life software is under constant development. Therefore only recent versions will work properly.

The latest official software version can be downloaded from the Downloads Page. Older versions can be found on the Old versions page. Note that only versions 1.23 and 1.22 are currently supported. When a new version is being beta tested, a series of "Release Candidates" are available for download, and updated even more often (weekly or less) than the official version (every few months on average).

The viewer software has been open-sourced, so there are numerous alternate viewers available with different features:

• The Snowglobe Viewer - An open source viewer jointly developed by Linden Lab and outside contributors.
• Partial List of Alternate Viewers
• Another List of Viewers
• (add any other lists or individual viewers here)

Installing

Windows Install

(1) Click download link

(2) When popup appears, click save file

(3) Navigate to where the file is saved, and run the installer program.

(4) Select your installer language (default = english)

(5) Select your destination folder (default = C:\Program Files\SecondLife)

(6) When you click the install button, the files will be sent to the destination folder, and a start menu folder and desktop shortcut will be created.

Running

Parameters

When running the program, you may use various Viewer Parameters at startup. Some of the more useful ones for regular users includes:

--autologin (logs in as last saved user)

--login <firstname> <lastname> <password> (logs in as a given user)

--multiple (allows more than one copy of the viewer to run at the same time. NOTE: Your computer must be high powered for this to work well)

--purge (clear cached data files on startup)

--port <13000 to 13050> (port number for a given copy to use)

--url <SLURL> (specify a start location in the 3D environment in SLURL format. Must be last parameter)

Setting Preferences

Some preferences are saved locally on your computer, and can be set prior to to login.

Click the Edit menu > Preferences, or type CTRL-P.