Day: February 20, 2019

2019 SL User Groups 8/1: Simulator User Group and EEP oddities

Posted on by Inara Pey

A Way of Life; Inara Pey, January 2019, on FlickrA Way of Life – blog post

Server Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news.

  • On Tuesday, February 19th, there was no deployment to the SLS (Main) channel, leaving it on server maintenance package 19#19.01.25.523656; however, region on the channel were restarted. The planned update for the channel was again postponed due to a late-breaking bug.
  • On Wednesday, February 20th, 2019 the RCs are likely to be updated as follows:
    • BlueSteel and LeTigre should receive EEP update server maintenance package 19#19.02.16.524516, comprising the following fixes:
      • BUG-226252 [EEP] Please create an internal error code for llReplaceAgentEnvironment() & llSetAgentEnvironment() that distinguishes whether an agent does not have the experience allowed and if the experience is not allowed at their location.
      • BUG-226246 [EEP] llGetEnvironment() reports SKY_LIGHT fade_color as a rotation instead of a vector. (SKY_LIGHT only returns vector light_direction and vector total_ambient. fade_color is removed https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlGetEnvironment)
    • Magnum should receive server maintenance package 19#19.02.16.524515, comprising further internal fixes.

SL Viewer

The EEP Project viewer updated to version 6.0.2.524476 on Tuesday, February 19th. The remaining viewer pipelines remain as  follows:

  • Current Release version 6.0.1.522263, dated December 5th, promoted December 13th, 2018. Formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 6.1.0.524348, dated February 13th. 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.
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.1.0.523351, dated January 23rd.
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.0.2.523177, dated January 16th.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 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, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

EEP Deployment Oddities

There are some oddities being witnessed while EEP is being deployed. These should all go away once the code is fully deployed on the servers and the viewer code has reached all release versions of viewers.

Day / Night Cycle Differences

With the EEP updates currently on around 20% of the main grid, it is possible for very different values to be returned to the viewer when travelling between adjacent EEP and non-EEP regions, and this has been causing some confusion. Rider explains it thus:

EEP changes how the time is calculated. llGetSunPosition is dependent on the environment. It was not before. Legacy regions determine the beginning of the day differently than EEP regions. So until [they] have been [updated] there will be some disruption.

The way the start of the day has changed. It is now GMT-8, this [also] may not align with neighbouring legacy regions.

Other Oddities

  • There are also reports of jarring region crossing transitions that can sometimes occur when moving between regions with different EEP settings – see BUG-225689.
  • Stars on EEP regions will appear black against the daytime sky when seen on a non-EEP viewer with Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled, or as white stars with ALM disabled.

Marketplace Gifting

There is an issue with the redelivery of gifts made via the Marketplace that (depending on the age of the original gift delivery) might result in the redelivery going to the sender, rather than the intended recipient – see BUG-226124. If you encounter this, please raise a support ticket.

Catznip R12.1: Animesh and more

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tuesday, February 19th, 2019 saw the long-awaited release of Catznip R12.1 – the release coming a little over a year since the last update.

The key feature with this update is support for Animesh, although it also sees Catznip come up to parity with the Lab’s viewer cove (release 6.0.1.522263 at the time of writing), which means there are a lot of bug fixes and other tweaks within the viewer.

 Table of Contents

 

Catznip R12.1 also introduces a number of features and enhancements directly from the Catznip team.

These notes are designed to cover the most visible changes with the release. For details on specific bug fixes, please refer to the R12.1 release notes.

Log-In Splash Screen

The first major change with Catznip R12.1 can be seen within the viewer splash screen. This includes a revised destination panel and revised information tabs.

Web Links

The splash screen now includes five buttons located to the left of the large Catznip logo. These are links to:

  • The Catznip Patreon page.
  • The Catznip Flickr pool (empty at the time of writing).
  • Clearer buttons to Catznip on Google+ (although Google+ will be closing on April 2nd, 2019), Facebook and Twitter.

Destination Guide Panel

The Destination Guide panel has been overhauled for better access to destinations by selected category and to display information, as outlines in the image below.

The updated Destination Panel of the Catznip log-in screen

Revised Information Tabs

The log-in screen information tabs located below the destination panel have also been revised, so it contains the following tabs:

  • What’s New: primarily useful during Catznip beta releases, when it lists all the JIRAs that were fixed or added for that particular beta.
  • Grid Status: displays information from the Second Life Grid Status RSS fed.
  • Modem World: displays posts recorded by this blog’s RSS feed.
  • Reddit : displays recent threads from the Second Life Reddit community.
  • Seraphim: lists blog posts recorded in the Seraphim blog RSS feed. Clicking the location column will set your login location to that specific event.
The log-in screen information tabs

Note that the tabs are considered experimental, and feedback on their inclusion from Catznip users is requested.

Lab Derived Updates

This version brings Catznip up to parity with Linden Lab release viewers through to release version 6.0.1.522263 (formerly the Spotykach RC viewer, promoted on December 13th, 2019. Major updates in that release include:

  • Voice Server:
    • Second Life: Vivox version 4.9.0002.30313.
  • Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) Dullahan:
    • Dullahan: 1.1.1080
    • CEF: 3.3325.1750.gaabe4c4.513446.
    • Chrome: 65.0.3325.146.

Animesh

Animesh allows the avatar skeleton to be applied to any suitable rigged mesh object, which can then in turn be animated using suitable scripts and animations contained within the object’s Contents. This opens up a whole range of opportunities for content creators and animators to provide things like independently moveable pets / creatures, and animated scenery features.

While Animesh is likely to primarily be used by content creators, it has been designed so that any suitable rigged mesh can be converted to Animesh directly from the Build / Edit floater. Do be aware, however that simply converting an object will not cause it to start animating – you’ll need suitable animations and a script to run them. Like any other object utilising animation, this is done by adding the animations and scripts via the Edit > Contents tab for your converted object.

A razzle of raptors? Animesh used to animate rigged mesh raptors from Linden Lab

The best way to get started with Animesh is to use the available resources. These include:

Continue reading “Catznip R12.1: Animesh and more” →