Windows 10 Spring Update – Part II

Here is the scoop on the Windows update… Does it work with Second Life™? Short answer, yes.

This morning I had an update notice… maybe ‘warning’ is more accurate. I choose to go ahead with it. They warn it may take longer than most updates. It took between 60 and 90 minutes. (i5-6600k @ 4.1GHz) So, you may want to choose a time to update, they give you the option to schedule the update, which is smart.

Life Goes On, Whether you choose to move on and take a chance in the unknown, or stay behind, locked in the past, thinking of what could have been...

Life Goes On, Whether you choose to move on and take a chance in the unknown, or stay behind, locked in the past, thinking of what could have been…

I’ve noticed a few complaints in the Second Life forum. Seems some are having issues with NVIDIA drivers. My NVIDIA 388.13 (23.21.13.8813) made the transition. But a couple of my hardware monitoring tools didn’t make it.

Win 10 removes those apps it thinks are incompatible. Seems the nanny-state propaganda is soaking in everywhere. So, Microsoft in its awesome wisdom is taking care of us. The language I would use to thank them is generally considered inappropriate.

Apparently, Firestorm and Linden viewers are considered appropriate. Firestorm launches and runs. Everything seems to run. On my front porch I get about 58 FPS. In January with 5.0.11 I was getting about 90. In my green screen room at 1500m I was getting 140 FPS and now 180. Jumping over to the near buy newbie hub, I was getting 40-50 FPS with 20± people around. With 28 around (according to world map) I get 57±. For easier comparison;

  • Porch 58 FPS
  • Green 180 FPS
  • Hub w/28 57± FPS

I think my neighbor has had more effect on my FPS than Win 10. Nice club and fun owners, but my FPS is down a bit. Not an issue.

The Linden viewer works as I expected, version 5.1.3.513644 (64bit). The FPS numbers are;

  • Porch 105 FPS
  • Green 121± FPS
  • Hub w/31 I get 51± FPS

I don’t understand the porch numbers. I checked. That is what I get.

NVIDIA

I looked to see what the latest driver is for NVIDIA. They do not seem to push the updates like they once did. So, I get behind. Seems the current ‘Windows’ approved driver is 397.64. (<500MB)

I created a restore point before installing it. I had seen those posts complaining of problems. The surprising thing is my System Protection was turned off. I normally have it on as being able to roll back an update or a mistake on my part is WAY handy. So, something in the updates had turned off my system protection.

If you want to create a restore point, type create in the Windows Search (or Cortana) in the lower left of your screen. You’ll get the option to create a restore point and check if your protection is on. It takes a few minutes depending on your hardware.

If you want to know how much disk space to dedicate to restore points, try 1GB. A minimum of 300MB is recommended by various people. If you have the space, go bigger. 10% of the disk is a lot.

Post Update

After installing 397.64 everything still works.

  • FS Porch 45 FPS
  • FS Green 150 FPS
  • FS Hub w/33 31 FPS
  • LL Porch 103 FPS
  • LL Green 120 FPS
  • LL Hub w/31 40 FPS

It seems the update slowed Firestorm down and had almost no effect on the Linden viewer. The avatar slow down doesn’t tell us much because the avatars are never the same ones. In the early LL test I was seeing some jelly dolls, but not in the last test. So…

But, I had no problems post Win 10 and NVIDIA updates.

Some New Stuff

There are individualized settings for apps in Windows 10. I use NVIDIA’s game settings. So, I’ll probably skip using the Win-10 feature. (Settings -> Display, click Graphics settings)

The Game Bar is remodeled. (Settings -> Gaming -> Game Bar) You can grab a screen capture, record a video, or stream to… wherever. I use OBS and NVIDIA has a game bar with similar abilities. I’m not too interested in what Microsoft built in. I turned it off.

Bluetooth & Password are added. So, you can use your mobile phone to log you in. Lose your phone and you’ll be screwed.

Sound Improvements have been added. You now have individualized app settings for sound. No equalizer yet. (Sucks) Type Sound Mixer in Cortana/Search.

There is a hardware keyboard auto-correct feature in this update. Reports are it sucks. It is supposed to be like the soft-keyboard on Android that continuously provides word completion and word suggestions. Makes typing text messages way easier. (Settings -> Devices -> Typing) I have all that turned off in Win-10. Word has its own built-in corrections and auto-complete. Plus, Grammerly does it for web pages.

There is better eye tracking control built-in now. But, you have to have a camera device other then the standard single camera in most laptops.

Better support for HDR display. (Settings -> Apps -> Video Playback) Unless you have an expensive high-end monitor, this is useless. But, as prices drop we’ll see more of them.

There is now an Ultimate Performance feature, but it is only for “Work Station” versions of Windows, a step beyond Pro. I didn’t know there was such a thing. Apparently, the idea is to turn of various features that steal a few cycles here and there, like power management.

This would be a gamer’s dream.

Summary

So… no problems yet. SL stuff all seems to work. The NIVIDA driver update works… I’m happy.

One thought on “Windows 10 Spring Update – Part II

  1. Pingback: Second Life News 2018 w20 | Nalates' Things & StuffNalates’ Things & Stuff

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