Second Life project updates 27/1: server, viewer, Experience Keys

Posted on by Inara Pey

Jasmine's Hollow; Inara Pey, June 2015, on Flickr Jasmine’s Hollow (Flickr)

Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates / news.

  • There was no scheduled deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, June 30th
  • On Wednesday, July 1st, all three RC channel received a re-roll of the server maintenance project from week #26, minus the problem which caused that week’s roll-back.

BUG-197, “Cannot See My Chat Only In My Region/ Region Bad Performance” refers to a problem whereby a user can’t see any of their local chat on a region or parcel, and nor can anyone else, due to a scripted object which is spamming chat so badly, the chat throttle kicks in, but no warning would be provided to inform the user this was the case. with the deployed change, the user will now get a message about the chat throttle being hit, but unfortunately, the system will not identify the spammy object (so it might be removed / returned, if possible).

SL Viewer

On Tuesday, June 30th, the Experience Tools RC viewer, version 3.8.0.302622, was promoted to de facto release status by Linden Lab. An official blog post accompanied the promotion, and I blogged an updated overview of the viewer and Experiences.

On Thursday, July 2nd, the Attachment Fixes RC viewer (Project Big Bird) updated to version 3.8.1.303130, bringing it to parity with the release viewer. The Maintenance RC viewer and the Viewer-Managed Marketplace RC viewer will also be updated in due course.

Experiences and Experience Tools

As noted above, the Experience Tools viewer was promoted as the release viewer on Tuesday, June 30th. As a result of this, a number of questions were raised during the Simulator User Group meeting that day, some of which have been asked elsewhere, and so are reproduced here:

  • Will accounts other than Premium be able to create Experiences in the future?
    • No comment at this time
  • Will it be possible to purchase additionalKVP data storage (for storing information on an experience – players, their progress, etc.) in future?
    • This has not been ruled out by the Lab, but it is something they’re decided they don’t “need to figure out yet”
  • What happens to an Experience if a Premium user reverts to a Basic account?
    • The Experience is suspended; data saved to the KVP will not be immediately deleted
  • Will it be possible to transfer an Experience to, say an alt on Premium if downgrading the account associated with the Experience to Basic?
    • This is a possible idea for the future; however the Lab are not looking at it at present, due to the complexities involved
  • Can any third-party creators to sell no mod scripts for other people’s experiences?
    • Technically, no; contributors to an Experience have to be explicitly allowed by the Experience owner
  • Can an Experience run on a mainland parcel?
    • Yes
  • Can an experience run across multiple regions?
    • Yes, so long as it is Allowed by the land owner(s)
  • Will a region restart affect the information for an Experience stored in theKVP?
    • No.

Other Items

Windlight / Environment Changes

The Lab is looking to improve windlight / environment capabilities within the viewer. No work has actually started as yet, but there has been an offer from the Alchemy TPV team to contribute code that would allow the cloud textures to be changed without having to re-start the viewer when doing so.

An idea that has been suggested is that creating and saving windlight settings as local XML files could be replaced by saving them as assets. No decision has been made on this, but it is important to note that were this to go ahead, this would not prevent people from creating their own windlights. Rather, what it would mean is that such custom settings would be saved as SL assets, rather than locally, making them easier to share with others, resulting in a more easily achieved “shared experience” to be experienced.

Avatar Complexity

The release  of a project viewer for Avatar Complexity is still stalled due to the bug that’s been introduced that renders all avatars affected by the setting as invisible, rather than as the expected “Jelly Babies”.

Published by Inara Pey

Eclectic virtual world blogger with a focus on Second Life, VR, virtual environments and technology.

8 thoughts on “Second Life project updates 27/1: server, viewer, Experience Keys”

    1. If the code is contributed, and the Lab wanted to use it, yes. Equally, if they felt such a button / floater was needed, they could develop one themselves or accept a contribution from any other open-source developer.

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        1. I don’t use the official viewer as my primary viewer. I also rarely, if ever, use the Firestorm Quick Prefs, as my primary user case for the viewer naturally leads me to use other panels a lot more. Ergo, my opinion isn’t necessarily representative of people who do use the official viewer first and foremost.

          As I’ve said before, if this is something you feel strongly about (you do keep bringing it up), why not simply raise a feature request with the Lab?

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          1. I use a tpv that is very close to LL viewer but has those features i do miss.
            If the choice was only between LL viewer and none else, then i feel i will do it.
            As it is…

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  2. Let me rephrase.
    A quick access button with a slider for draw distance, a tab to cycle and change sky settings.
    Just these 2 would make me very happy indeed.

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  3. Pingback: Experience Tools & RLV | Nalates' Things & StuffNalates' Things & Stuff

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