User:Lum Pfohl/Troubleshooting
Stuck as a Cloud / Mist / Ruth Shape
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
For reasons unknown, the avatar is unable to download and wear their normal shape. Fortunately, there is very quick and effective way of addressing this condition.
I have a couple of folders prepared (MALE SHAPE & OUTFIT and FEMALE SHAPE & OUTFIT - from the SL Library Folder). These folders contain the complete newbie avatar of the Guy Next Door and Girl Next Door look. It is imperative that these folders contain the SHAPE associated with the avatar. These folders are great because they contain SL hair, SL skin, SL shapes, no attachments - all low lag!
Observe them quickly change their outfit and become a newbie.
Have them clear their cache, relog and give them a new folder to change into when they return. If it still doesn't work after several attempts, help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/ The good news is, I've helped no less than 6 residents successfully in this manner (brand new, to 6 month residents). Blackened Avatar
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
Note: An avatar that is completely black may be running DUAL MONITORS (such as on a laptop with an external monitor) AND running Second Life on the secondary monitor. Either way, the treatment is the same.
I have a couple of folders prepared (MALE SHAPE & OUTFIT and FEMALE SHAPE & OUTFIT - from the SL Library Folder). These folders contain the complete newbie avatar of the Guy Next Door and Girl Next Door look. It is imperative that these folders contain the SHAPE associated with the avatar. These folders are great because they contain SL hair, SL skin, SL shapes, no attachments - all low lag! Ask the resident if they have their clothing and shapes saved in a folder, or would be able to quickly restore their appearance. We will be clobbering whatever they have on, and replace their outfit completely. Let them make notes on what they are wearing, for reference later.
Have them clear their cache, relog and give them a new folder to change into when they return. If it still doesn't work after several attempts, help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/ Disappearing Clothing
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
I have a couple of folders prepared (MALE SHAPE & OUTFIT and FEMALE SHAPE & OUTFIT - from the SL Library Folder). These folders contain the complete newbie avatar of the Guy Next Door and Girl Next Door look. It is imperative that these folders contain the SHAPE associated with the avatar. These folders are great because they contain SL hair, SL skin, SL shapes, no attachments - all low lag! Ask the resident if they have their clothing and shapes saved in a folder, or would be able to quickly restore their appearance. We will be clobbering whatever they have on, and replace their outfit completely. Let them make notes on what they are wearing, for reference later.
Have them clear their cache, relog and give them a new folder to change into when they return. If it still doesn't work after several attempts, help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/ Objects Aren't Rotating!
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
There are two possible causes:
If it still doesn't work after several attempts, help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/
Polygons Shooting Out Of Avatars
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
This may be the first indication of a serious problem... Software settings might cause this, but more often than not, it is a sign of the Video Card overheating.
Help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/ Fantastic Screen Displays While In Appearances
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
Residents may argue, "But I have a brand new computer, how can my drivers be out of date?" The fact is that updates to software (and drivers) are coming out all of the time. The version that is installed with their Operating System may be recent, but still several revisions back - one that is "certified" as stable and working. Second Life uses cutting edge graphics technologies which might be incorporated into a recent SL Upgrade. Quite often, people start having video problems after an upgrade, as the SL Viewer requirements blew past what their driver can effectively provide.
Help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/ Avatar Covered With Onscreen Textures
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
Residents may argue, "But I have a brand new computer, how can my drivers be out of date?" The fact is that updates to software (and drivers) are coming out all of the time. The version that is installed with their Operating System may be recent, but still several revisions back - one that is "certified" as stable and working. Second Life uses cutting edge graphics technologies which might be incorporated into a recent SL Upgrade. Quite often, people start having video problems after an upgrade, as the SL Viewer requirements blew past what their driver can effectively provide.
Help them file a support ticket at https://support.secondlife.com/ Everyone Tells Me I'm A Cloud / Mist / Ruthed
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
Ahhhh, Ruth. She is the bread and butter of the Second Life world. She is the default character that's loaded by EVERY SINGLE SL client out there, when someoone teleports into a sim. You can often watch people arriving on Orientation Island as a Ruth, then slowly develop into other shapes and genders as the clothing information is downloaded from the Asset Server and dispatched to all of the other Residents in the vicinity. On recent viewers (since June 2008), RUTH is a thing of the past. Ruths are rendered as a Cloud or White Mist on people's machines. Follow the same treatment steps below. There are several treatments:
I came across a SL-Hair (not the prim kind, but the hair-base) which turns an avatar into a white mist. I use an older client on which I see Ruthes. While I look completely normal on my screen (not even Ruthed), on everyone else's screen I'm a Could / White Mist. This hair base is called "Vampire Cloud," but there may be variations on this name. To treat this cause, simply replace the hair base with a good hair base known to render yourself correctly.
Help! I'm A Monster!
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
The issue is caused by a series of animations that bend the body this way and that and are either applied by a scripted object or a gesture. It's similar in concept to a "body crusher" script which folds an avatar into a tiny package so it can fit into a smaller avatar of a cat or a floating eyeball. It's a harmless prank, thought up by ingenious griefers. It can be horrific to an unsuspecting newbie. I have seen a number of scripts and animations and gestures which will "reverse" the effects of the Monster Script. Some are easy to use, others - I am clueless how to apply them. I also wonder if the resident would be willing to accept yet another gesture to run when it was a malicious gesture in the first place! There is nothing simpler than the following to cure this condition:
There's just no way it wouldn't work. Animations are not normally persistent across Second Life sessions. If it DOES persist, then there's something else at work. Check for:
I Can't Setup My Voice!
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
Gray Everywhere
The people affected by this condition might exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:
This is usually caused by our public enemy no. 1 - LAG. I'd like to go out on a limb and say, "we did this to ourselves!" Lag is caused not by SL, but by the content that the Residents of SL have created (see my explanation below). It is exacerbated by the number of residents in SL. There is no silver bullet for this condition, but there are things we can do to mitigate it for ourselves.
This "coaxes" the textures to for the right-clicked objects to render faster. Obviously if *everything* is gray, and you've right-clicked "everything," then it'll take a long time for "everything" to render. Prioritize what you'd like to have rendered first.
If your PC is busy trying to contend with memory management issues, chances are it's too busy to request and download the textures to apply to your surroundings.
You'll have to balance the MAXIMUM BANDWIDTH setting with what your Internet Service can provide and who else in your household is using the same connection.
Chances are, you're probably chewing up a lot of network bandwidth. Your Internet Connection is like a garden hose. There's only so much you can push through it. Switch to bandwidth conservation mode.
There have been reports of residents coming to Help Island, saying they have crappy performance, everyone is gray and ruthed, and they're sick of Second Life. After much teeth-pulling we discover they're on dial up, connected at 28.8 kbps ("28.8? How can that be? I have a 52kbps modem!")
Obviously, if you have less textures to download, your experience will be much better. Consider a busy sim such as Help Island Public. The SIM itself contains platforms and scenery and objects that have their own textures. Linden Labs built those. Let's assume they've optimized their textures so that they're small in size as possible while still maintaining a good look.
Residents will be wearing different clothing, hairs, attachments, robes, scripted objects, etc. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. A texture that is 256 x 256 pixels by 24 bits deep will be 192 Kb (196,608 bytes). This is stored in a JPEG-2000 format. Grossly assuming a 10:1 compression ratio, this texture is 19.2 Kb. If any texture is "reused" (that is has the same UUID) on multiple objects, then this 19.2 Kb texture need only be downloaded once and stored in the cache. It can be read from there and applied to the many objects. But more likely, people are sending in 1024 x 1024 pixel alpha (32 bits). I know I do. They simply look better and have more detail, and have a transparency channel. This file is now 4 Mb (4,194,304 bytes). Even at a 10:1 compression ratio, it's still 409.6 Kb! A typical dress may have 4 or 5 different textures. My favorite dress by Bare Rose probably has about 10! Hairs can also contribute to the texture count, although I'll wager there's only about 2 or 3 different kinds in most of them. 409.6 Kb x 5 (textures per dress) + 409.6 Kb x 3 (textures per hair) * 20 residents on the HIP platform. Let's see... 64 Mb just for hair and dresses alone! We're not even talking the scenery or the avatar's skins or the group chat traffic, streaming audio or anything! 64 Mb may not sound like much to you, but it is 67,108,864 bytes. Internet Connection Speeds are measured in "kilo-bits per second" or "mega-bits per second." A bit is 1/8 of a byte. 8 bits per byte. In transmission-speak, a kilo or mega is 1000 and 1,000,000 even. (Other calculations, I've been using kilo=1024, mega=1,048,576.) Let's do the math: (67,108,864 bytes) * (8 bits/byte) ------------------------------------------- = 699 seconds (roughly). (768 kilo-bits/sec) * (1000 bits/kilo-bits) That's around 11.5 minutes at 768 DSL/Cable Modem speeds!
Note: You Cable Modem users out there - don't get your hopes up too much. Even if you *Do* have a 7 or 8 Mbps connection (in the best case scenario), your Second Life viewer cannot take full advantage of it. The *maximum* bandwidth your viewer can use is 1.5 Mbps. Moreover your client is very likely to be set to something lower than that. As you can see, the faster your connection speed, the quicker you could potentially receive it. If there are 20 residents around you, all 20 residents will be receiving the same 64 Mb of textures. The simulator and asset server goes into overdrive sending out textures here and there, to everyone. Plus a whole slew of other things:
You can quickly see that's a lot of burden on the Simulator who must now transfer here and there. As old residents leave and new ones arrive, the new residents get the 64 Mb, and the older residents get the delta (only what's changed). We, as content creators, have created objects that are not optimized for Internet Transfer. We, as content consumers, use those inefficient objects in a manner that exacerbates the problem. We love to "wear" lots of it! In the end, we did this to ourselves, despite Linden Labs' guidelines... [Watch Video] This is why griefers can bring a sim to its knees. The simulator in a crowded sim is already working at near-capacity. All the griefer needs to do is to put the last straw on the camel's back.
SL Mentor Ian Graham posted the following in a Mentor Mailing List on October 16, 2008, reproduced in its entirety. Relevant parts are shown in blue: With respect, I disagree strongly. We can and should blame texture problems on SL. New users can and will compare SL to other systems, and they SHOULD. I believe data shows clearly that they DO. Younger users in particular base their expectations on their experiences. I love SL and want it to succeed. That's one reason I volunteer time to help SL as a mentor. Before we go about spending valuable mentor time trying to diagnose a users "the world is gray" or I can't see" comments, let's look at some facts regarding texture loading in SL. They reveal clearly that most gray, long load time graphics are not the fault of the viewer or the local machine. The mode Linden uses for texture transfer needs to take a LARGE share of the blame. Linden uses UDP instead of HTTP for texture transfer. There's been a glitch in UDP transfer routine from Linden for ages now, and it has gotten worse for many long term users. The problem ( verified by Linden Labs) is that UDP textures load in increments of 10 seconds. Here are LINDENS OWN TEST RESULTS from WITHIN their own system (tests by Dan Linden): About 80% of the time 512x512 images take ~20 seconds to download. About 15% of the time 512x512 images take ~37 seconds to download. About 5% of the time 512x512 images take ~4 seconds to download. My fellow mentors - do the math. In an area with 200 textures for a new user, that's a boat load of time for a new user to see to see the world. To test this yourself, clear your cache, relog and then rez a snapshot picture from inventory and size it full screen. How long does it take to fully rez? As MENTORS, we need to be aware of this, and to try and help users who find this frustrating. Muttering about a users machine and graphics cards and such is a smoke screen and they know it. It does not help them, us, or SL. Dancing around this does not help. Be honest. Telling new residents that this is the reality of a user created world, and hi-lighting the benefits of SL will help. Explain to them that waiting 20 seconds per click to see a vendor's product picture rez 80% of the time is not their fault. If they find shopping in world intolerable, point them to the web based shopping services. Textures load there just fine. Further, if you find this situation frustrating and believe it is harming the long term prospects of SL as long as it remains uncorrected, I would encourage you to provide Linden Labs with constructive feedback and criticism via the only method we have available for such : The JIRA system. Edward Griffith
Lum Pfohl 11:42, 4 December 2007 (PST) Updated 07:48 17 October, 2008 (PST) |
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