Select your installer language (default = english).Navigate to where the file is saved, and run the installer program.Most are free downloads, and most allow installing in parallel with other versions. There are even programs which do not provide a 3D view, but allow simple interaction with Second Life, such as chat or instant messaging.īecause of variations in your computer memory, graphics card or chip, operating system, graphics drivers, internet connection, and other factors, some viewers may work better than others for your situation. Alternate Viewers - List of most alternate viewers.
The viewer software has been open-sourced, so there are numerous alternate viewers available with different features: The latest official software version can be downloaded from the Downloads Page. Therefore only recent versions will work properly. These programs are in constant communication when logged in. This includes both the viewer software, and the server and back end databases.
The Second Life software is under constant development. Optional hardware includes a headset or microphone to use the voice features, and 3D Flycam Joystick. To get good frame rates and low lag on the highest graphics settings also requires a fast internet connection, and the Second Life server you connect to be not overloaded. It is possible to have multiple versions installed at the same time. You will need at least 74MB of hard drive space to install, and 1GB or more of hard drive space for the eventual application data that will be generated (mostly cached object and image data) for each version of the Viewer you install. As a guide, Geforce 8800 and above should run on the Ultra settings, Geforce 3 will barely run with the lowest settings and special advanced settings to reduce graphics. Tom's Hardware Sep 2009 Graphics Card Chart compares relative performance.
The most important feature to run Second Life is your graphics card or chip. Although certain configurations are not supported (for example, satellite or wireless internet), they can still be used with some limitations. The supported hardware and operating system requirements are listed on the Official System Requirements Web Page. There are many other learning resources available for Second Life, some of which are noted in the learning resources section at the end of this page.
This guide is for the ones who like a traditional reference manual format style of documentation. Even that does not cover everything about Second Life.ĭifferent people like to learn in different ways.
Thus a full introduction requires several linked wiki pages of reasonable size, of which this is the first or top level page. Because Second Life combines social interaction, avatar customization, media streaming, 3D graphics creation, software scripting of objects within the world, and business transactions, the viewer is quite a complex program.
This wiki page summarizes how to install and run the current version of the Official Viewer software. In addition to the Viewer program, some features are accessed via the Second Life website (like this wiki page, for example). The Viewer allows you to log in to the Second life grid, and then see and interact with objects and avatars around your current "location" in the virtual world. Interacting with the Second Life ® virtual world requires you download, install, and run a "Viewer" program on your computer. Please see the main User's Manual page as a starting point. This page is part of the Second Life User's Manual, describing how the Viewer software works.