I can't rez objects

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.

Does this sound familiar: "When I drop an object out of my inventory into the world, it doesn't appear."

There are a few possible causes:

No Build land

The land you're dropping the object onto doesn't allow building. This should cause a blue error dialog to pop up in the lower right corner of the Second Life window announcing that you can't build there. "No Build" can be set on a per-parcel or per-region basis. A small icon appears in the menu bar when you're on No Build land.

Too many rapidly-changing objects in view

The object may not appear, but after you log out and back in ("relog") the object appears. This may mean there are too many rapidly changing objects in view.

Every time an object changes (rotates, changes color, etc.) an update message is sent over the network to your client. If too many of these updates get sent, you may not receive the message saying that the new object was created. The object exists -- you just can't see it until you relog.

When this happens, the bandwidth meter in the Statistics bar is usually high, over 400 kbps (open the Statistics bar by selecting View > Statistics Bar from the menus at the top of the Second Life window). Clicking Advanced in the Statistics bar and looking at the Network section will show persistently high bandwidth in Objects, usually over 100 kbps.

To find the objects responsible, turn on the Advanced menu.

Select Advanced > Show Updates. This will display an animating blue or red flash each time an object changes itself. If you have a high concentration of red flashes, these objects are probably to blame. Either delete them or force them to stop animating. Common causes include laser light shows, scripted animals, trees with falling leaves, or anything that creates large numbers of new objects.

Download queue for region stuck

The "download queue" for your region is stuck. When you drop an item from your inventory into the world, the object is downloaded from our central file server. There's a queue of objects being downloaded. You can see the size of this queue by opening the Statistics bar: Pending Downloads is in the Simulator section. If it is falling, or zero, this is not the problem. If your download queue is high and never falls, please file a support ticket (you may need to have your region restarted).

Scripted objects are too far away

Some scripted objects do not appear if you are too far away, even if they are within your viewer's draw distance! If the object you are trying to view has a script in it, try moving closer to it until it appears.

Other solutions

Here are a few more things to try if you cannot see objects inworld:

Reduce draw distance to 64m

1. Choose Edit > Preferences from the top menu bar.
2. Click the Graphics tab.
3. Check the Custom checkbox.
4. Move the Draw Distance slider all the way to the left.

Increase the Second Life viewer's cache and bandwidth

If the cache or bandwidth settings are set too low, some objects may appear slowly:

Important: Setting Maximum Bandwidth too high can also have adverse effects on your Second Life experience. Try increasing maximum bandwidth a little at a time and observe the results.

Still a mystery

If none of the above reasons seems to be the cause of your inability to rez an object, check the blog to see if we've reported any gridwide issues. If not, you may want to visit Help Island and see if anyone else has been having the same problem. If you have access to support tickets, feel free to submit a ticket.