SecondLife and Video Driver's

By Avatar JayR Cela

    Ok here we go, lot's of odd problems popping up lately with the newest version's of SL, most of them seem to be video related gotcha's. So this bring's us to the issue of having the correct video driver installed. The newest is not always the best. You also need to make sure that you correctly do a through un-install, of the current V.D. before proceeding with the new installation. I have some great tools to recommend for just that.

    Now before we proceed any further, this article assumes that you are using either Nvidia, or AMD
 ( formerly ATI ) and a separate discrete Video Card. Witch means we are talking Desktop Computer, Laptop's need not apply. I refuse to use a laptop in any way shape or form for accessing SL. most laptops come with an integrated Intel Graphic's chip set, and believe me those things, although they work fine for spread sheet's and word processing purposes, they absolutely blow big time for trying to run Second Life.

    You do not need a top of the line video card to use and enjoy SL, but having the correct video driver is very important. So how do you determine if you have made the right choice. Unfortunately this seem's to be a bit of a black art, trial and error battle of time and wit's. When it comes to video card's they are relativity inexpensive these days $50 ~ $100 spent should be adequate to get you up and running. Now if you go to the manufactures web site they will automatically choose the correct driver for you, this is your safest bet, but not necessarily the best choice. The most important thing is correct and complete removal of the previous driver. Nvidea is pretty good about this with the most current driver software install procedure's. I have no good experience with ATI but since AMD acquired the company's video card's division last year, I would imagine things have changed for the better.

    First things first, ya gotta un-install the current driver, and since you are using WinBlows do a registry cleaning afterward's before proceeding. Here is a good tool to do just that. http://www.iobit.com/advanceduninstaller.html  
Next you will need to clean your registry
 http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html  Use the registry cleaner option, then I always go an extra step and use this tool as well http://www.glaryutilities.com/ 

Run the registry cleaner's,( both of them ) and reboot your machine, you are now ready to install the new video driver. Here is a great place to find ton's of legacy V.D's http://www.tweakforce.com/
These drivers are all tweaked and generally perform better than the stock versions available from the manufacturer's.

    If you are really having a hard time, you can leave a note here and I will contact you, and see if we can work it out together.

JayR Cela :_)