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Issue Details (XML | Word | Printable)

Key: VWR-6309
Type: Bug Bug
Status: Resolved Resolved
Resolution: Fixed
Priority: Major Major
Assignee: Unassigned
Reporter: Ran Garrigus
Votes: 0
Watchers: 1
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1. Second Life Viewer - VWR

Advanced Sky Editor leads to persistent and crippling frame rate drop

Created: 10/Apr/08 10:12 AM   Updated: 16/Nov/08 04:20 AM
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Component/s: Graphics, Performance
Affects Version/s: 1.20, 1.19.0.5, 1.19.1.4, 1.21 Release Candidate, 1.21
Fix Version/s: 1.21

Environment:
Second Life 1.21.0 (95157) Aug 26 2008 16:03:19 (Second Life Release Candidate)
Release Notes

You are at 236810.7, 241378.4, 601.0 in Revelations located at sim829.agni.lindenlab.com (64.154.223.74:13002)
Second Life Server 1.24.3.95195
Release Notes

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 Northwood (2495 MHz)
Memory: 512 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce FX 5200/AGP/SSE2
OpenGL Version: 2.0.3

libcurl Version: libcurl/7.16.4 OpenSSL/0.9.7c zlib/1.2.3
J2C Decoder Version: KDU
LLMozLib Version: [LLMediaImplLLMozLib] - 2.01.17709 (Mozilla GRE version 1.8.1.13_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 27/3883 (0.7%)


 Description  « Hide
When using standard settings for my system (no basic shaders, no atmospheric shaders), I can get something like 20 fps on an empty sim with not much to render. If I go and change environment settings, such as switching to default sunrise/noon/sunset/night, that's fine. I can open the Environmental Settings as well without a problem, and drag the time-of-day slider around without a problem.

However, as soon as I open Advanced Sky (I just realized I should test with Advanced Water, too), my frame rate will plummet from 20 fps to 2 fps or thereabouts. This persists even after I close the sky editor.

It seems almost as if the Windlight atmospheric shaders are somehow kicking in (using them does indeed bring framerate to a crawl), except I see no such effects (no clouds, for one). The sky will change color according to what setting I use, but otherwise nothing happens that seems to call on the shaders.



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Ran Garrigus added a comment - 29/Aug/08 12:43 PM
I'm updating this to note that the problem persists with all clients since the initial report, including the latest RC. I go into the Environment Editor, open Advanced Sky/Water, and immediately the frame rate will crash from 15-20 FPS to 1.5 FPS. A look at system resources shows the CPU holding steady at 70-80% usage for the SecondLife process, so I'm guessing this is somehow an issue with the graphics card. I'd love to learn more information about this. If there are any logs I could get and send, I'll certainly do that. It's rather frustrating to not be able to edit sky settings for photos and such.

Ran Garrigus added a comment - 20/Oct/08 07:00 AM
This problem continues with the latest official 1.21.6 release. I would love for someone to be able to at least point out what sort oflogs I could perhaps get to attach in hopes that the problem could be isolated. If it's just a driver thing, even that'd be good to know (and yes, I've tried a couple different driver versions).

It's really very frustrating.


Ran Garrigus added a comment - 16/Nov/08 04:20 AM
Resolved this issue by upgrading from SP1 of Windows XP (Home) to SP3. While researching a new graphics card, I came across a comment in this LL blog post <http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/11/15/typical-frame-rate-performance-by-graphics-cardgpu/> indicating someone had this same problem. The resident, Shakeno Tomsen, linked through to a forum post they had made about the issue at <http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=223621>, and in their updates noted that upgrading resolved the issue for them.