Project:Flagged Revs Backup/Invisible avatar? Try these things!

This article is part of the Extended Second Life Knowledge Base that includes advanced and specialized information. This information was originally provided by Linden Lab, but is not actively maintained nor guaranteed to be accurate. Linden Lab does not certify nor assume any responsibility for this information.

See the official Second Life Knowledge Base for the most current information.

If you're unable to see your avatar, it could be due to several reasons, including your graphics card, drivers, or Internet connection. Here are some handy steps to help diagnose the problem:

What graphics card am I using?

Click on the Help menu at the top of your screen, and select About Second Life. In the window that opens, your graphics card type and manufacturer are listed about halfway down.

Second Life supports medium to higher-end nVidia and ATI cards. Support for Intel graphics (which is a chipset on the motherboard designed primarily for 2D graphics) is not available.

Am I using the latest graphic card drivers?

Even brand new PCs often ship with outdated graphics card drivers. It's highly recommended that you go to the site for your graphics card and download and install the latest graphics card drivers.

• ATI cards: www.ati.com
• nVidia based cards: www.nvidia.com

I've done all that, and I'm still blank!

Look to the right of your Help menu. Do you see an Advanced menu there? If not, open it up.

1. Select Advanced > Character > Rebake Textures.
2. If that resolves the issue, you're good to go. If not, proceed to the next steps.

I still can't see myself!!!

Open up the Preferences window by selecting Edit > Preferences and try adjusting the settings on the following tabs:

Graphics Tab

1. Change Draw Distance from 128 down to 96.
2. Make sure the Avatar Mesh Detail slider is in the middle setting.
3. Click Apply.

Network Tab

1. Check Maximum Bandwidth -- this setting should be changed to a speed lower than your internet connection speed. Suggestions:
   • 768 Kb Internet speed, set to 400 kbps
   • 1MB/s Internet speed, set to 500 kbps
   • 1.5MB/s or greater, set to 1000 kbps
2. Increase Disk Cache size to the maximum (1000 MB).
3. Click Apply.
4. Still under the Network tab, click the Clear Cache button, then click OK.

Log out of Second Life. Log back in.

Whew! That worked! Thanks a lot!

You're welcome :)

No, all that didn't help!!! What now?

It's possible your firewall may be preventing transfer of some data -- try disabling your firewall temporarily and relogging in to Second Life. Should that not work, Residents with a Basic account should go to Help Island and talk to someone there. If you have a Premium account, you can submit a support ticket through the Support Portal. Either way, be sure to have your system specifications handy, as well as the steps you've tried (as above) to correct the issue.