Day: September 18, 2018

2018 SL UG updates 38/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Bellefleurs; Inara Pey, August 2018, on FlickrBellefleurs blog post

Not a lot to report.

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, September 18th, the SLS (Main) channel was updated with server maintenance package 18#18.09.04.519319, previously deployed to the main RC channels in week #37 and comprising Logging improvements.
  • The three main RC channels were not updated on Wednesday, but remained on release 18#18.09.04.519319.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the current round of official viewers in the various pipelines, leaving the list as follows:

  • Current Release version 5.1.8.518593, dated August 14, promoted August 20. Formerly the SL Voice RC viewer – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.9.519462, September 10. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
    • Rakomelo Maintenance RC, version 5.1.9.519298, September 5.
    • Animesh RC viewer, version 6.0.0.518949, August 24.
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518751, released on August 20.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Region Crossings

Firestorm 5.1.7 introduced a workaround to better handle vehicle-based region crossings  viewer-side, largely as a result of Joe Magarac (animats) investigations into region crossing issues (see Experimental Region Crossing Code  in my Firestorm 5.1.7 review for more). It’s not a perfect solution, but it can help. Since then, Joe has been looking at similar issues relating to avatars being “half unseated” on region crossings, particularly when the avatar appears to “jump” between 25-100 metres into the air on a crossing, or get pushed sideways.The effect is akin to sitting on an object and the viewer sometimes briefly something you at 0,0,0 in a region before bouncing your view back to your actual seated position.

It’s thought this issue might be related to how the messaging for region crossings is handled: the avatar and vehicle data get packaged and transferred between regions separately to one another, and things can go awry in trying to put them back together if the messages containing the data are received “in the wrong order”. It’s one of several issues with regions crossings that might be improved through viewer-side updates, and Simon Linden suggest the viewer team would be glad to look at contributions aimed and fixing any of them.