Day: November 11, 2016

2016 SL project updates 45/2: Bento update 33 w/audio + server / viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey
Project Bento – extending the SL avatar skeleton
Project Bento – extending the SL avatar skeleton

The following notes and audio were taken from the weekly Bento User Group meeting, held on Thursday, November 10th at 13:00 SLT at the the Hippotropolis Campfire Circle. and chaired by Vir Linden. For details on the meeting agenda, please refer to the Bento User Group wiki page.

There is a further RC update pending, as the Lab continues to work on reported bugs. Issues in particular which are receiving attention are:

  • An issue affecting some Mac systems running Nvidia graphics running out of the GL uniform buffer space. This can be fixed by cutting the number of joints per mesh, which may not always be ideal from a creator’s perspective. However, a further fix has been suggested by the alchemy viewer team, which Vir is looking at, which may be an option going forward.
  • An issue with the Reset Skeleton option not always un-deforming an avatar. This appears to be a permissions issue (you can generally deform your own avatar, but may not be able to properly un-deform someone else due to the permissions set on their animations). Vir is currently having a hard time pinning the issue down, and has requested than anyone able to consistently repro it with a model to drop him a line.

A further fix still to be added to the RC viewer is for collision volume joint positions which were failing to reset correctly when using Reset Skeleton.

There have been more bugs filed as a result of the Firestorm Bento pre-release and alpha version being made available to testers, which is helping to pin down the more significant issues and ensure that, where possible, fixes are put in place.

The most recent RC for the viewer at the time of writing (version 5.0.0.321250) has been showing an improved crash rate, with no significant spikes when compared to the current release viewer.

Legacy Content Deformation Issues

The deformation issue affecting some early Bento avatars and due to bad joint position overrides, as initially reported in BUG-40672 doesn’t appear to be widespread. As such, and subject to final confirmation by the Lab, it looks as though no changes will be made to the viewer to fork rendering behaviour (as discussed in my Bento update #32), which would require Bento content to be re-uploaded.

There are other bugs reported within BUG-40672 which have fixes, such as for the eye problem (again, see my Bento #32 update), the Haste Coy product problem, and the 1st Act Garou Male Avatar, and these either are, or will be in RC updates to the Bento viewer, where code fixes are required.

Firestorm Bento FPS Issue

Some people on the Firestorm Bento alpha release are reporting poor performance / low FPS when around other avatars. However, others are reporting an improved performance with the Bento version over the current 4.7.9 – although that could be a placebo effect. For those experiencing lower than expected FPS on their systems,try running the latest official Bento RC and see if the same performance issues are apparent. If they aren’t, try one of the following:

  • Try raising your Avatar Complexity to a high value / No Limit, as there is an odd issue on some systems where rendering a lot of “Jelly Dolls” can negatively impact viewer performance
  • Back-up your settings, and then reset everything to default values (e.g. as defined by the Bento RC) and check performance. If there is a noticeable improvement, gradually work through graphic settings and see if / when the updates start to impact performance. If you see a consistent impact which can be reproduced, file a Firestorm bug report.

Additional Bento Links

The Prim Rig, ANWR Channel
The Prim Rig,  – blog post

Other Updates: Server, Viewer, Avatar Complexity and Aditi Log-ins

Server Deployments – Recap

  • There was no Main (SLS) channel roll on Tuesday, November 8th.
  • On Wednesday, November 9th, the three RC channels should all receive the same new server maintenance package, which includes:
    •  llGetEnv() will support “region_max_prims” (feature request BUG-40825).
    • llGetObjectDetails() will have a new OBJECT_GROUP_TAG function  (feature request BUG-20064) – when pointed at avatars it returns the group tag you see floating above them; and also OBJECT_TEMP_ATTACHED – to tell you if something is a temp attachment (feature request BUG-5195).

SL Viewer Updates

The Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 4.1.2.321518  on Thursday, November 10th. This may well be the next RC to gain promotion to release status, given the Bento viewer is still awaiting a further RC update, as noted above.

The 360 Snapshot project viewer updated to version 4.1.2.321431 on Wednesday November 9th.

Avatar Complexity Issue

As noted in the Bento update, some people are experiencing FPS / performance issues on the Firestorm Bento viewer. However, there are a number of issues related to the level of detail (LOD) on “jellied” avatar attachments, which can have an impact on general viewer performance. The Lab is working on these problems, and hopefully, a fix will be appearing in a Maintenance RC at some point.

Aditi Log-ins

Some people are having issues when trying to log-in to Aditi, These are generally people who having logged-in to the beta grid in a very long time or are trying for the very first time with a particular account. If you are encountering problems, the best solution is to file a support ticket. It should generally be dealt with within 24 hours (weekends allowing), and your Aditi inventory will be synced with Agni (Main grid) as a part of the process of granting you access. You should only need to file a support ticket once.