Second Life Server (Main) Channel Week 16 Deployment
On Tuesday April 16th, the SLS Main channel received Monty Linden’s HTTP updates, which were deployed to BlueSteel and LeTigre in week 15, after having previously been on Magnum for testing. These updates can be briefly summarised as:
- More complete and more correct headers on texture and mesh fetches – these should ensure the viewer is better able to handle objects as they are downloaded to it
- Keepalive connections for some HTTP-based services
For more details on the project, please refer to both the deployment release notes and to my overview of Monty’s work.
Second Life Release Candidate Week 16 Deployment
On Wednesday 17th April, all three RC channels should receive the same update package. This comprises the server-side LSL Animiation Override capabilities, this time complete with a fix for BUG 2164, wherein the new capabilities could conflict with built-in animation poses in chairs, etc., as discussed in my week 15 updates. This deployment additionally includes the slight region performance improvement when there are no pathfinding characters present. Release notes are available
Originally, a separate package had been in preparation for deployment to BlueSteel / LeTigre, but this has had to be postponed due to “last minute scheduling issues”, according to Simon Linden when speaking at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday April 16th. While attempts were apparently being made to get an alternative project into RC, it was “down to the wire to complete testing” at the time of the Simulator UG meeting, and an announcement confirming BlueSteel and LeTigre would receive the same package as Magnum was posted to the deployment thread not long after the meeting finished.
Object Return from Region Edge
A further update which should reach all three RC channels on Wednesday April 17th is the fix for https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-313 (estate tools do not return objects between 255 and 256m ) / https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-2021 (Auto-return not affecting objects at 256m), which see objects right on the region edge sometimes slipping into a “limbo” which prevented them from being returned either under Auto-return or when using estate tools.
There is some concern that the fix, once deployed, may not correct all issues. However, until it is deployed, there’s no actual way of knowing – so further updates may well be following.
Region Crossings
Since the deployment of the fix for BUG-1814 making region crossings in vehicles has been seen as noticeably better by many people. However, some have noted problems which appeared to be linked to crossings between regions running on different simulator versions, and this was discussed at length at a recent Simulator User Group meeting.
Kitto Flora suggested the problem was not so much with different simulator versions, but due to network traffic, commenting, “It’s directly related to your Net traffic rate when you cross. If its 500k – fail maybe 20% of time … If its 50k it rarely fails.”
While I have been flying extensively over the past week, particularly over Blake Sea and the south-lying regions and over parts of Nautilus, I’ve not been monitoring net traffic during my flights – although I do reduce Draw Distance when flying and tend to shunt graphics quality down to medium-low – so cannot comment on Kitto’s observations. I can however state that when I did encounter problems beyond the expected temporary loss-of-control / rubber-banding – such as my camera skewing off to once side of my aircraft as shown below – it always coincided with a move between one simulator version and another, and never between regions on the same simulator version. So I guess more test and observations are due on my part after this week’s deployments!
The discussion on region crossings raised additional questions. One of these was whether or not the speed one crosses between regions made any difference. Simon Linden replied:
Your speed in-world shouldn’t have any effect on actually making it or not, but faster crossings will show the errors in predicting where objects will be more. Such as the rubber band effect when crossing … your viewer sees you going a certain speed, and keeps moving you that way, while you hit the crossing, get some lag as the data is transferred to the new region, and you’re stuck into the world, then sling-shot back to the new position.
Questions / comments were also raised around the subject of region crossings and idle regions: specifically whether crossing into an idle region was subject to additional delay as the region “woke up” and that some have experienced issues with regions which are apparently idling being unresponsive to new child avies, and people “bounce” off the border prior to being able to cross. Responding to both the question and the comments, Simon said:
You actually shouldn’t ever be able to do that. It won’t be idling if you can see into it … Also, remember idle regions are not dead, they [are] just are running at a slower frame rate, just like loaded down regions do.
Missing Prims
There are currently no updates on the “missing prims” situation which has been previously reported in this blog, and which has grown markedly more apparent since the last set of interest list updates.
Andrew Linden was not at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday April 16th to discuss either, but is almost certain to be asked at the Beta Server meeting on Thursday 18th April, if he attends.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
Reblogged this on The Lionheart Times.
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