Ahh, framerates. Depending on who you hang out with, you may hear the term "FPS" dropped into conversation once in a while. If you hang out with me, you've no doubt heard it once or twice. I've put together a little backgrounder on fps here, for anyone who might be interested.  FPS = Frames Per Second.

First, you need to know how to check what your framerate, or FPS,  is. When logged into SL, press Ctrl-Shift-1. That will bring up a stats bar, on the right side of your screen. Under Basic, you'll see your own FPS (Frames Per Second). What I recommend is, keep this bar open for a few days, to find out what your baseline is. Everyones is different, depending on your hardware. It will spike in empty, low-lag areas, and drop when there are lots of people around. With FPS, Higher = Better. Mine used to be around 3-5fps (omg terrible!), because I had onboard video. Got a shiny new video card (NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, in case you were wondering), disabled the onboard video, and bam. Average fps in SL shot up to 30.

If you aren't already familiar with what fps is, imagine a book of pictures. Stickmen, maybe. Each one has a drawing that is similar to the one on the page before. If you flip through it slowly, it will just look like a bunch of pictures. If you flip through them quickly, it will become an animation - the stickman appears to be moving, performing an action. FPS is the speed you flip through the pages. Too slow (low fps), it looks jumpy, choppy, just one picture after another. Too fast, and... oh, tricked you. You can't go too fast, like you can't have too high of an FPS. The faster it is, the smoother the movement. (Although, there is a certain point where it becomes redundant, as the human eye can only detect movement to a certain extent).

There are 2 fps settings on that screen. Under basic, that is your current FPS. It's dynamic - it will usually be jumping around. The second one (under advanced) will say Sim FPS, and that is a reading that affects not only you, but everyone around you. You know the times that everyone is complaining about chat lag, people are walking into walls, banging into each other, etc? Check the Sim FPS - you can bet the sim fps is low. What does this tell you? If you dont want to be lagged, you are a lot better off flying/TP'ing to another sim, than you are relogging. Relogging wont help, unless the sim issue happens to get cleared up while you relog.

If your fps is low, try lowering your graphics settings. If you are using a viewer that includes Windlight, you'll have lots of options for lowering/raising the settings. The lower the settings, the smoother things will generally be. The higher the settings, the prettier things get, but only if your computer can handle it. Edit > Preferences (or Ctrl-P) then going to the Graphics tab will bring up the settings.

On Second Life, based on the range in that status bar, it would appear that 50fps is about the maximum you can get up to. Most video games run between 30-60, and as anyone with experience with SL vs. Video Game graphics will tell you, you'll always get lower FPS on SL than you would on a game. It's streaming live, remember; the graphics aren't stored on your computer, so things are going to come in slower. Unless you have a T1 connection or better, the bandwidth is going to limit you (SL maxes out at 1.5MB/second).

I have achieved 50fps on SL a few times. At the time, I was standing very still on an empty sim. There was almost nothing for the computer to render, so the fps spiked. However, it didn't really achieve anything... things would have looked very smooth, had anything been moving, but as soon as there *was* movement, framerates dropped. That's the catch with fps - the more you need to render (and the smoother you want things to be), the lower the fps will go.

A quick note, to anyone trying to optimize their FPS - don't bother trying to achieve a higher fps number than your moniter refresh rate. If your refresh rate is 80Hz, and your fps is 90, the computer is discarding those additional 10 fps anyway. Might as well boost the graphics and sacrifice a few unused fps. This doesn't come into play so much with SL, as 50 is about the max you can use, but with online games/games on your PC, don't bother going higher than your refresh rate (QuickTip: Right click your desktop, if you use Windows, and go to Properties to find out your refresh rate).

Another interesting thing to note - the vast majority of movies play at 24fps. Although it's not exactly the same thing (3D rendering on a computer vs. cinematograpy), it's still a good thing to keep in mind. If you can achieve an average framerate of 25 or better on SL, things will look pretty smooth.

If you constantly have low framerates, your hardware is the likely culprit. Check your hardware, in this order: Video Card > RAM > Processor.

Having a good setup in one of these areas will not compensate for lacking in another, but upgrading your PC in that order will usually net you the best results, when it comes to not only Second Life, but online/computer games as well.

For a much more indepth look into framerates, click here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

I guess you could say I've always been a troubleshooter. I have an ability to "figure things out". I've always liked taking things apart to see how they work. Back in '00, I was poor. Very poor. I had no income, but I needed a computer. My addiction was strong - I couldn't live without one. I had a desktop, but after an unfortunate incident where I, unthinkingly, mounted my (unshielded) speakers beside and on top of my tower, it wasn't working too well anymore. So, I installed windows 98 on the laptop computer a friend had given me. The laptop had a french version of Win 3.1 on it, and that just wouldn't do. Also, the CD drive didn't work. I ended up copying the install files to my friends PC, using file splitter to break the files into 1.4MB pieces, and installing Windows 98 by floppy. Had to use DOS to splice them back together before I could install. Yeah, it took forever, but it worked. While not exactly troubleshooting, its the same idea. Where there's a will, there's a way.

My "professional" troubleshooting experience involves 5 years of tech support with a major computer company. I work in the imaging and printing division, which is known to be one of the most difficult areas to troubleshoot. If you think the only thing that could go wrong with a printer is a paper jam, think again. :)

Much of what I learned, working for that company, can be applied to Second Life®. Because troubleshooting is troubleshooting, be it legal, medical, technology... it's all the same basic principal. If you dont know what the problem is, before you can figure out what it is, much of the time, you have to figure out what it isn't. Finding the answer to your issue usually involves narrowing down the options. Start with the path of least resistance. If your car has a rattle, do you replace the entire engine? I sure hope not.

Here's an example. A real example; this happened to me last week.

I was getting chat lag, while at my club. Nobody else was getting chat lag. I pressed ctrl-shift-1 to see what was going in - sim FPS was fine, 45. My framerate was dropping. I didn't feel like fighting it, and I had been logged in for hours, so I relogged. Came back up, framerate was back to normal. However, I now had some flashing particles around my head. Red and green. I don't know where they came from.

I hit Ctrl-Alt-T: Show transparencies. However, I was in my club, which has a ton of transparent textures etc. So everything became red. I didn't want to leave there right away, so I turned that off and decided to get more specific. Went to View > Beacons, and set the option to show particle sources. Hit Ctrl-N to turn it on, and voila, there was a transparent ball beside my head, emitting particles. I tried to right click on it to see the object name/owner - it couldn't be selected. Detached all my objects Advanced > Character > Dump all attachments. My attachments came off, but the ball was still there. Other people could see it, as well. Reverted back to default avatar by going Advanced > Character > Character Tests > Test Female. Ack, I'm a newbie! But, a newbie with no floating particle ball beside her head. I put all my clothing/skin/attachment items back on, one by one, and the ball didn't show up again. And, it hasn't shown up since.

This is a fairly simple example of how to "solve your own issue". I could have submitted a support ticket, sent an AR that someone was griefing me with a particle ball, etc. But none of those would have gotten the issue solved right away.

Start off with something easy - often, a relog. Go to a quiet sim. Turn down your graphics settings. There are all different ways of troubleshooting, and the route to follow varies depending on what the issue is. There are so many different tools available in Second Life - play with them, get to know them. Watch Torley's video tutorials to learn more, if "trial and error" isn't your thing.

Have fun!

I was discussing this a little with my friend Meghan yesterday, and made a short mention of it in my last blog entry. I'll call this entry "How to effectively get your message across" or "When things in SL® don't work" or "Cram it, whiners", or "Taryn goes a-ranting". Regardless what the name, I hope I get MY message across, and I hope someone, somewhere, finds it helpful.

There is no shortage of Second Life® residents that have issues; some more pressing than others. The blog at www.secondlife.com is proof enough of that. Whenever comments are open, no matter what the posting, you'll find entry after entry of negative, nasty posts. Some are merited, most are not. They often make me cringe, for various reasons. For example, this past week, there was a post about the Second Life Day of Remembrance. Most of the posts were positive and supportive. At this point, I'm no longer surprised by the people that chose to hijack that thread to post about "Stability Issues", but it's still sad to see.

Linden Lab cannot post an entry that doesn't end up having many comments about how they should stop fooling around and fix the grid. Yes, the last few weeks has seen SL plagued with many issues. Teleport, transactions, object creation & modification, inworld communication tools, issues with the new viewer, traffic reports, logins - nothing has been spared. No one is denying there are issues. And, it's frustrating to see a blog post saying they've "found the root of the issue, and it's been resolved so the issue should not reoccur". Then we see the same issue the next day.

However.

There is a time and place for this kind of thing. When there is a blog posting about something LL has done with residents, for residents, especially something like a "Day of Remembrance" and people use that opportunity to gripe about the grid issues, it only deepens resentment. Is it really necessary? There are SO MANY different forums for making your voice heard - to post on an event blog about it only discredits the person posting the comment, in my opinion.

I'll say it again: there are SO MANY forums for making your voice heard. They are, for the most part, vastly underused. There are many reasons why that could be. Maybe people aren't familiar with them. People don't know where to look. People don't understand where to start. Lack of personal troubleshooting ability. Lack of understanding about how Linden Lab works. Unfavorable bias towards LL due to personal experience, or more likely, the 2nd or 3rd hand stories from a "friend". The list goes on... So, lets look at some ways to make your voice heard. How to get your message across, without sounding (and being treated) like a whining child.

1. The Structure at Linden Lab.

It never fails... anytime a Linden does something positive, fun, exciting... people gripe about how they should be "fixing the grid". People, not every employee at LL is a technician. They aren't all codeslaves, developers, programmers, etc. There are many different departments at LL, and each person and group has their own set of projects. If you pick a Linden at random to message about an issue you are having, there's about a 90% chance (probably higher) that the person you are contacting has no more ability to fix the issue than you do yourself.

Here's a different way of looking at it. You go to Costco. Your tires need replacing. Do you walk up to the pharmacy counter and ask how long it will take? You could, but you wont get far. If you dont get an answer there, will you next try the deli? Perhaps the guy bringing in the carts from the parking lot. He should know. No? Maybe a cashier? That would be ridiculous, right? Of course it would! You'd go to their auto bay! Why would anyone else know the answer to that question? If you can't find the auto bay, then yeah, it would make sense to ask around - pretty much any staff can tell you where to find it.

2. I need a Linden!

This analogy seems silly, and it is. People don't walk over to the deli at Costco and ask how long it takes to change their tires (well, maybe they do, but I don't want to know about it). So why is it any different when it comes to LL? So many people are under the impression they can just "get ahold of a Linden" and their issue will be fixed. They message Lindens at random, telling them about the issue they are having. And, somehow, are surprised and offended when they don't get a response. Now, its not as easy as finding the auto bay, but there's still plenty of ways to find the person you need to be talking to. Start here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Roles. Now, this wiki page is not complete, but it's enough information to get you started. If you are still confused about who to talk to, try dropping by Help Island Public and asking a mentor, they can often give you a better idea of what the different Linden roles are. All mentors are not created equal - if you don't get a good answer from the first one, don't hesitate to ask someone else! Ok, so now you have an idea who at LL you should be speaking to. How to get ahold of them? Random IM is not recommended. Guess what? Lindens are busy. There are about 250 of them, divided into teams. There are hundreds of thousands of active residents, with some 13 million created accounts. Their profile says "don't IM me directly for help" for a reason. There are 2 good, effective ways of getting in touch with the Linden(s) you want to speak with - office hours, and email.

Email is so easy! Every Linden has a LL email address. Use their first name, and add @Lindenlab.com to the end. Voila! Their email. Not to be confused with @lindenlabs.com, which wont exist. For example, Blue Linden can be reached at blue [at] lindenlab.com.

Another good way is office hours. The vast majority of residents have no idea that many Lindens make themselves available for your chatting pleasure once a week, usually for an hour. Sometimes there are topics, sometimes there aren't. Keep in mind, when you are looking for an office hour session to attend, that asking questions that are outside the scope of what that Linden deals with wont get you very far (if this doesn't make sense, reread the Costco analogy above).

A list of various office hours can be found here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Office_Hours

Here's some hints. This is not so much from my own personal experience dealing with LL, rather, it's a common sense thing. Don't start by sending an abusive, nasty email. Would you contact any other company that way? Probably not. I have worked in tech support for 5 years, and I'll let you in on a secret. When I have a customer that calls in, speaking in a rude tone, being demanding, being pushy - Newsflash - they don't get my best service! People deserve respect, and you get what you give. Also, make sure you are clear about what you are looking for, and what they can do to help. Don't email Lindens individually for tech support help - that's not what the email address is for. I would expect you'll get a form letter type of reply. Provide a way they can contact you back. Remember, although SL is a fun environment, you are initiating business contact, so use proper business communication etiquette. Swearing? Probably not cool. Although it depends on the Linden ;)

3. Nothing is working!

Not every issue requires direct contact with a Linden. In fact, the vast majority of issues DON'T require you to speak/get assistance from a Linden. There are many people around that make themselves available - try them first. They are usually less busy, so you can get more one-on-one assistance. Look for mentors in any welcome area. Go to NCI, Help People, Orientation Station... there are plenty of places that are dedicated to helping not only new users, but more seasoned residents as well. They can help with a wide range of issues, and if they can't help you with the specific issue you are having, they can usually direct you to where you can find more support.
Also, before you place blame - look from within. In this case, within your computer. How old is it? How much did you invest? Did you cheap out and buy the walmart special, or did you invest some good $$ (or time) into a decent gaming computer? You don't need the best of the best, but bargain basement isn't going to cut it, not in the world of 3D rendering. Are you trying to run 3 or 4 computers, all running applications that are accessing the internet, across an unencrypted wireless network that your neighbours are probably "borrowing" as well? Of course nothing is working.

4. What *are* some of the resources they would direct me to?

It depends on the issue, of course. You may need to file a support ticket. www.secondlife.com/support > choose "submit a support ticket". Contrary to popular belief, you CAN enter a support ticket with a basic account. You have limited options, to be sure, but you can still file one.

You may need to call the support line. LL offers 2 - a billing line, available to anyone, for billing and account related issues (lost password etc), as well as a concierge line, for residents that own over a certain amount of land (estate owners, etc).

You might be given a jira link, or told to look on jira for the issue. If the issue is already there, add comments and vote. If not, add it! The website is www.jira.secondlife.com, and it's the Second Life feature request and issue tracker. It's not the most intuitive software to use, but with a little practice, you'll figure it out. The login for it is the same login info you use to sign into Second Life.

They might recommend, also, that you go speak to a specific person inworld. Someone who has experience dealing with what you want to accomplish. Want to gather some data about the SL userbase, get some numbers? Talk to Tateru Nino. Want to know how to hook up your wii controller to your computer to cruise around Second Life? Look up SignpostMarv Martin. Interested in finding out more about the mentor program, and how the program itself runs? Talk to Doctor Gascoigne, Jezzie McCellan, myself... there are others as well :) Want to know more about how Linden Lab runs, how things are set up, how they do things? Gwyneth Llewelyn has an excellent understanding of that. There are many "specialists" inworld, that have tons of great information. SL is all about the community, so help others, and accept help when it's offered. Reach out :)  [Disclaimer: I am not promising the people I have mentioned WILL be able to help - just listing a few specialists in different areas of SL].
Also... there may be a place inworld that can help you. Want to learn to build? The Ivory Tower of Prims is a great tutorial center for that. There are classes, video tutorials, self-paced learning centers... SO many great resources. Check them out. There are also many, many different resources available outside the SL world - wikis, blogs, etc. You are on my blog, so you probably already know about some of them. :)

5. I pay for this, you know!

Argh. We hear it time and time again. Here's my take on it.

No one is forcing you to have a premium membership. No one is forcing you to rent/own land. No one is forcing you to use the Lindex® to buy $L. No one is forcing you to put any money whatsoever into SL - or even to be a member. When you signed up for that membership, bought the land, made an exchange on the Lindex... did you see anything, anywhere, that promised you extra support? If you did, you are delusional - it's not there. The only exception to that is large quantity land owners - concierge level residents. Maybe, in general, LL SHOULD offer more support. But the bottom line is, they have what they have, and you accepted that when you signed up. Use the resources that ARE available, you'll probably find a fix to the issue you have. If people spent half the energy they use to complain, on researching and finding an answer, most issues in SL would be resolved. Of course there are exceptions to this, but they are really the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

 * * *

Communication is key. But what is even more key is PROPER, EFFECTIVE communication. Linden Lab can't fix an issue with the grid if they don't know it exists. When they are looking for their next "grid fix" issue, where do they get the information on what's wrong? Here's a hint - it's not from the negative, nasty posts on their community event blogs. Bug reports, jira entries, support tickets.

This entry is not intended to solve your issue. I am just trying to get something off my chest. I'll post more entries with specific ways to get help - I promise. If you've found it entertaining, awesome. If it has given you some information that helps you to better understand how things work, or helps you to get an issue resolved, even better. If you would like further information on anything I have mentioned here, please don't hesitate to contact me.

As always, if you have a suggestion on something you'd like to see me blog about, please post a comment, and I'll do by best to write things up for you when I get a chance.

Taryn London.

Many thanks to Ganesha for her feedback on this entry.

Doc finally got talked into getting a blog of his own. About time! 

http://doctorgascoigne.blogspot.com/ 

For anyone who doesn't know him, Doc is one of my most respected and admired friends in SL. Since I first met him (more than a year ago now!) I've known him to be informed, insightful, and the perfect mix of serious and silly. 

He's a mentor, to be sure, but he's also MY mentor. The one I go to when I have an ethical dilemma or a personal crisis. 

He's a fantastic SL Mentor - top notch. He can answer your questions, from the most simple to the most complex. He's great with referring you to specialists (no one can do everything!) - he always seems to know who you'd need to talk to for help.

His blog is full of great info, so go read up and get informed. :)