I spent most of the day today running diagnostic tests, trying to determine why I’m having performance problems with Second Life. After a tiring process of elimination, I determined that the problems I’m experiencing revolve around graphics shaders and the VDO. And then I made a fateful decision to plunge into SL Issue Tracker system. I wish I hadn’t.

Once I narrowed down my search, I discovered that the issue I’m experiencing is a known issue at Linden Labs and may be more of a problem with ATI keeping their drivers up to date for OpenGL support. Geesh. So, I’ve downloaded the latest ATI drivers, they came out just after my update just a couple weeks ago. I’m hopeful that this will resolve my problem but the issue has been listed as “critical” since June. So, we shall see.

BTW, I criticized myself for accidentally setting on that VDO thing that was causing me to crash, but it was a default setting. So, I’m not quite as dumb as I feel. My Second Life now feels like a day back in the life of a software developer. I should get paid for the diagnotics I’ve performed on this darned issue.