The first part of this article is here.

UPDATE! 9/27/2022

It came to my attention that Firestorm 6.3.3 either changed my graphics setting for Enable Vsync or the viewer handles it differently. So I went back to check my settings and found it indeed was limiting the upper limit of FPS. So, I need to revise my measurements to keep them consistent with previous measurements.

This recent Firestorm Viewer update is said to help with performance. So, I measured some numbers and dug up the previous versions’ numbers. The numbers I get say this version is definitely faster. But the Green Room numbers in my skybox are down. Curious. They went down while all others went up.

I use presets for the 512- and 128-meter draw distance tests. So, the viewer settings are essentially the same for each test across all versions. These are impromptu tests. Basically, simple and easy rather than rigorous and precise. So, it will be no surprise if your numbers are different.

I have upgraded my network and Internet service. Previously I got about 50 to 80Mbps download. Now with a new gigabit gateway and switches download speed is over 200Mbps. So, regions rez really quickly. YAY!

However, textures still take some time to completely rez. Everything near me when I rez in will fully rez almost immediately. Stuff farther away looks good until I zoom on it. Those can take a while to completely rez. Firestorm’s right-click Texture Refresh seems quicker now and helps. But my network upgrade did not solve all my render delays.

This network change doesn’t make much difference to the FPS. Once everything downloads, render speed is constant. For the previous tests, I waited a long time for a region to rez. A region I have not been in for a time now takes 5 to 15 seconds to rez all the textures. Previously it could take minutes. Returning to a region the same day gives me an almost instant render. But not always. Not sure why it works sometimes.

“My porch” is in Bellisseria. All three of these tests are taken on the same porch looking in the same direction.

Version 6.6.3 – 9/16/2022 My Porch @ Coyote:   Green Room @2200m: Nelsonia Safe Hub: Arapaima Safe Hub: Exhale Club:

40FPS @ 512m – √ 50FPS @ 128m – Rev 65FPS 60FPS @ 128m – Rev 154FPS 60FPS @ 128m w/10 avatars – ? 53FPS @ 128m w/36 avatars – √ 19FPS @ 128m w/66 avatars* – √

Version 6.5.3 – 3/2022 So, my front porch:    Green Room 2200m:    Nelsonia Safe Hub:

6.6 FPS @ 512m DD* 18.4FPS @ 128m DD 100± @ 128m DD 22.6± @ 128m DD w/18 avatars

Version 6.4.21 Front porch:      “        “ Green Room @ 2100m:        ”       ”             ”      : Nelsonia Safe Hub:

10 FPS @ 512m DD 21 FPS @ 128m DD 125 FPS @ 128m DD 160 FPS w/o Atmo-Shader 18 FPS @ 128m DD w/26 avatars

This is a big jump in speed. So, for speed alone, this update is worth the effort.

Being curious I measured the SL viewer version 6.6.4.574727 performance.

My porch:	20FPS @512m
	36FPS @128m
Green Room:	60FPS @128m
Nelsonia Safe Hub:	60FPS @ 128m w/8 avatars
Arapaima:	46FPS @128m w/36 avatars

This suggests Firestorm is performing better than the default SL viewer.

*One of the interesting things I noticed is in the Exhale Club is my FPS was slowly climbing. Once everyone had rez’d I was getting 40FPS. Nice.

There are several new features in this version. But I don’t have much use for most of them. I still hadn’t figured out what is different about the copy/paste feature in the build panel. After looking in the release notes, I now suspect the Firestorm copy/paste just changed to use the copy/paste the Lab added to the default viewer. This is the Build Panel copy paste… which has been in Firestorm since the Bronze Age.

They have added a copy/paste to the materials section of the build panel. In the Build Panel on the Textures tab just to the right of the Glow setting are two buttons for Copy and Paste.