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Virtual Worlds are more stable than they used to be, but they still have some major issues. So here are hints and tips for how to avoid such problems. Mind you, nothing totally prevents lag and crashing. But these hints should help reduce crashing significantly.
CCLEANER. (yes, that's 2 "C's"). If you use Windows, this is one of the best "cleaner" systems I've seen and has done more to help me maintain a stable computer system than anything else. It's free. Download and install the program. Sometimes that's all that's required to get your system to run smoothly. Do not use the Registry cleaner; that's a sure step to disaster.
ADJUST CACHE. Set your viewer cache according to your system abilities. Originally this was set low, but with today's gigs of RAM and high-level hard drives, you can often increase cache considerably. However, cache being set too high can cause system confusion. Adjust this to the point that it seems to work well, according to the following setting...
CLEARING CACHE. Edit/Preferences/Network. If after time you find yourself crashing regularly or lagging extensively, simply Clearing Cache under the Avatar/Preferences/Networks setting might fix that problem. Note that right after you do that things will run slowly for a bit as textures have to totally reload.
VIRTUAL MEMORY. This is one few people know about, but is very important. In Windows, Virtual Memory is your computer using hard disc drives to store constantly used information-- kind of an artificial RAM (I don't know how it works on Mac. You'll need to research). Chances are your VM isn't set nearly high enough. Low Virtual Memory is one of the major causes of crashing.
When I checked my system, my VM was 2 gigs. I increased it to 9 gigs by using two hard drive partitions. Any setting of 4gigs or more is probably sufficient. There is a limit as to how much VM any hard drive is allowed, so if you have more than one hard drive you can set additional VM... although this may slow down things a bit as your system pulls info from additional drives.
Look up how to set Virtual Memory on the Internet. Doing so will depend on your computer and operating system.
It's fairly safe to set most hard drives to at least 4096megs (4 gigs). Save these settings, exit and reset your computer. When you come back in, go back to that area and double-check the new settings have been established. Once you increase your VM, time between crashes should increase significantly.
ADJUST BANDWIDTH. Check your Viewer bandwidth setting. Different systems will require different bandwidth. After experimenting I settled on 1500 kbps for mine. Your internet may require less. The best way to test this is to look at the bandwidth indicator bar in the upper right corner of your screen, and see which setting keeps that bar on green the most. If you're constantly going into the red, your bandwidth needs adjusting. Experimentation will determine which is the best setting for your system.
ADJUST GRAPHICS. Edit/Preferences/Graphics. Graphics are even more important than your computer when it comes to VR performance.
Graphics cards. A good graphics card is more important than a killer computer system and will have more to do with your overall performance.
Low-Medium-High-Ultra. These settings in your Preferences / Graphics area will directly determine how much stress Inworldz places on your graphics system. If you have a low-power computer you may wish to use the blocky-but-adequate LOW setting. Medium gives a bit better graphics while requiring relatively low system resources. High will require a faster computer and good graphics card, and Ultra will require a "gamer" level system.
Graphics Settings. The graphics settings on your computer will greatly affect your performance. Very few people can use the Ultra setting to advantage. Most people find that High is best under modern home computers (2020). For low-graphic laptops (or Intel-based graphics), lower settings may be needed.
Draw Distance. Withmost systems today, draw distance of 256 is a good setting. Some high-level graphicis cards can handle 512 or more. In some situations (such as inside a store), setting graphics to 64m or 96m can cause textures to rez more quickly.
Avatar Impostors. Avatar Impostors imitates avatars at a distance, but it also destroys those avatar details. Unless your system is low-performance, you're probably okay to click this off. However if you have it off and find yourself crashing regularly, try turning it on and see if it helps.
Detail Sliders. On the right of your graphics window are detail sliders. If you're having crashing problems or serious lag, it is amazing how reducing those sliders to Med or Low will increase performance. Unfortunately it will also reduce the detail of your graphics (on Low settings, cylinders turn into hexagons)... but your performance will improve significantly.
Shadows and Advanced Shaders. Shadows are pretty. Shadows are graphics hogs. Unless you have a powerful graphics card, leave shadows and Advanced Shaders off.
Emergency only: Basic Shaders. Some users report serious problems using any shaders at all. If nothing else you've tried seems to be working, turn off Basic Shaders. This will majorly affect the quality of presentation, but if you're on an old, slow computer with minimal graphics, it may make the difference between being able to use the system consistently or not.
CLOUDS. Most folks aren't aware of it, but the routines that created animated clouds in the sky take more graphics resources than one would expect. If you're having regular trouble with lag or crashing, try turning off clouds. You'll wind up with just a clear blue sky... but it may make the difference you need. You will find this in the ADVANCED / RENDERING menu.
AUDIO AND VIDEO. If you're standing in one spot (like a a dance, regardless of animations), audio will likely not cause problems. With very low performance systems, audio can increase lag. But most people don't care at a dance; they're not physically moving much anyway.
Video. My recommendation: don't use video in-world. If you want to view a video, ask the land owner for the direct-access link (if possible).
Video loading can create stop-dead lag, serious performance issues, and even crash your viewer. You can run a direct-to-computer video (such as YouTube) and your Viewer at the same time with far less drag on your system resources.
In most cases, turn off "auto loading" of both video and music. Switch them to manual so they're not being triggered every time you cross a parcel line.
ADDITIONAL TWEAKS. The following changes may assist greatly in handling texture tracking and other lag issues:
Preferences->Graphics->Hardware Settings
Turn off the option Enable Streamed VBOs
Advanced / Debug Settings / XferThrottle
and
Advanced / Debug Settings
FSDestroyGLTexturesImmediately
Under older 32 bit computer systems these had to be regulated. Under modern 64 bit systems these can be left untouched.
Don't be afraid to tweak graphics settings. You can always reset them to default if necessary. But if you are crashing regularly, the system being stable or unstable may depend on one setting you haven't yet tried adjusting. So take the plunge. If it helps, it helps. Don't be afraid to try something you haven't tried yet. It may be just the trick.
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