Second Life and multiple monitors

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If your computer has two or more monitors, it's very useful to display Second Life on one, while showing various applications on the other(s). For example, some Resident content creators have dual monitors so they can do image editing in Photoshop while keeping an eye inworld. It's more convenient than flipping back and forth -- extra screen "real estate" really does make a difference!

What follows are some general tips relating to Second Life and dual monitors. For specifics, consult the documentation provided by the manufacturer(s) of your monitors and your graphics card, because details may vary.

On some systems, Second Life may encounter problems if it's running on the secondary monitor. In Windows XP/2000, monitor numbering is usually done in the Control Panel > Display > Settings tab, like this:

If your avatar turns black

Try this:

1. Log out of Second Life.
2. Open Second Life on the primary monitor.
3. Open the Advanced menu.
4. Select Advanced > Character > Rebake Textures.

This should "refresh" your avatar so you appear as expected again.

If this issue persists with your dual monitor setup, please tell us more about your graphics card and monitor configuration here. We'd like to know:

• What graphics card are you using? (Do you not know? This article may help)
• What's your setup look like?
  • A laptop with an extra monitor
  • A desktop with a dual-port graphics card
  • A desktop with a dual-monitor cable splittter
  • Something else

Stretching the Second Life window across more than a single monitor

This is also known as spanning, and can result in greatly lowered performance. To compare before and after, select View > Statistics Bar and observe "FPS" (Frames Per Second)" at the top. You'll likely notice that it drops, and and you'll feel the experience get jumpier and rougher. For this reason, spanning isn't generally recommended.

Quit Second Life before making major monitor changes

For example, switching resolutions, or enabling/enabling a monitor. Changing those settings when Second Life is open may result in a hard crash that restarts your computer.

What about adding floating toolbars to Second Life so I can put them on another monitor?

We've received a number of feature requests for this (including Proposals #197, #808, and #1070). We agree that this would reduce clutter and make better use of a multiple-monitor configuration. It would likely take a couple months of developer time to make it work well across Windows, Mac, and Linux. We don't currently have an ETA for this feature, but it's on the to-do list.