Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates for the week ending Sunday, December 23rd
This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
Note that test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are not recorded in these summaries.
Official LL Viewers
Current Release version 6.0.1.522263, dated December 5th, promoted December 13th. Formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer – NEW.
Each year through this blog I attempt to track news about, and changes to, Second Life, as driven by by Linden Lab. On the technical side, this is do through my weekly SL project summaries, which summarise the various in-world meetings the Lab holds each week / month, and the rest is done through various means, such as attending public meetings and Q&A sessions, tracking the official SL blog etc.
Given this has been in some ways a busy and ambitious year for LL and Second Life, I thought it might be interesting to look back over the major changes and technical projects that have come to pass, and some of those still on the horizon.
Land
2018 saw some significant moves on the virtual land front.
On Wednesday, March 14th, LL announced an immediate reduction in Mainland tier costs of 10%.
At the same time, they also announced the amount of “free” tier granted to Premium members would increase from 512 sq metres to 1024 sq metres.
On July 2nd, 2018, private region fees dropped by up to 15%.
At the time of the Mainland restructure, and while welcoming it, I was a little dubious on how it would be received, simply because obtaining Mainland parcels could be something of a hassle. Well, it turned out the Lab had also thought of that, trimming back on the overhead involved in obtaining abandoned land and making it a simple ticket request.
The revised Mainland tier rates introduced in March 2018 (courtesy of Linden Lab)
Result: what has reported to be, and continues to be, a positive response to the change – although just how big is a little hard to judge at this point in time. The last date for which we have figures via Tyche Shepherd’s Grid Survey (January 11th, 2017), abandoned land accounted for around 21% of the Mainland. As (I believe) Tyche updates this figure annually, it’ll be interesting to see how things have changed come early 2019.
First announced in an official blog post on June 20th, The private tier pricing adjustments met with a mixed response, with some in the land rental business claiming they were being somehow being “gouged” on the basis that grandfathered regions were being excluded from the new pricing structure.
New Private region pricing structure, introduced from July 2nd, 2018 (courtesy of Linden Lab)
As I noted when the price adjustment came into effect, such claims were somewhat nonsensical. For one thing, grandfathered regions remain either US $54 per month (Full regions) or US $14 per month (Homestead)cheaper than the new rates. Further, while there was an up-front fee for converting regions to grandfathered status in the 2016 “buy down” offer, more than enough time had elapsed for those costs to be recouped in tier savings. For another, those best placed to capitalise on any surge in interest in holding / renting land as a result of the restructuring would actually be land rental businesses.
As it stands, and again using Tyche Shepherd’s grid survey, the restructuring may resulted in a very small increase in region numbers during 2018. However, I’ll have more on that when Tyche publishes her end-of-year report.
Fee Changes
Alongside the private region fee changes, the Lab also announced an increase in the cost of Linden Dollar purchases by US 0.50 per transaction. While in keeping with the goal of trying to shift the balance of the Lab’s revenue generation away from virtual land, the increase did cause a degree of upset, being the third such in around 15 months (the last being November 2017, when the cost per transaction rose by US 0.39).
This change particularly hit those who prefer to buy small quantities of L$ at a time. While it was pointed out that the impact could be somewhat mitigated through the purchase of larger L$ amounts over fewer periods – providing people’s available disposable income allowed them to make larger, if more infrequent L$ purchases. As it is, how the fee change may have impacted people’s buying / spending habits is a little hard to quantify.
Technical Updates
It may sound odd, but of the four major user-visible technical changes planned for 2018, three were actually established in 2017, with only one actually being delivered before the end of the year.
Animesh
The delivered project was of course Animesh – the ability to use the avatar skeleton to animate rigged mesh objects in a similar manner to animation an avatar (through scripted animations running the skeleton). I’m not going to dive deeply into Animesh, given it has been covered extensively in my Content Creation User Group summaries, and I also gave an overview when it was officially released in November, complete with resource links. Currently, the majority of Animesh creations that are surfacing appear to be basic NPC characters and pets / animals.
Bakes On Mesh
Bakes On Mesh (BoM) is a project extending the current avatar Appearance / Bake Services to allow wearable textures (skins, tattoos, clothing) to be applied directly to worn mesh faces in a manner similar to how they were for system avatars. It was first announced in May 2017.
Vir Linden’s original announcement of Bakes on Mesh in May 2017
BoM touches multiple Second Life services: viewer, simulator, appearance and bake, as such it is a complicated piece of work.
The first part of the process was to update the Bake Service to support 1024×1024 textures, in order to allow wearables to match the quality of textures applied to mesh faces by applier systems. After that, the service needed to be able to recognise how to handle wearables when applying them to mesh faces. The simulator also required updates to recognise things like BoM messages, and obviously the viewer and its UI also required updates.
Cathy Foil introduces Bakes on Mesh (April 2018)
As it stands, the vast majority of the work has been completed. A project viewer has been issued, and the support services updated while the simulator code is grid-wide. However, there are still some issues to be ironed-out viewer-side; currently, the viewer lead, Anchor Linden, is leading work to resolve a positioning issue with small mesh avatars, so BoM is, for the present “on hold”.
It should be noted that the Lab do not see BoM as being designed to replace mesh applier systems, but rather as an alternative. However, it is also seen as potentially a means to reduce the overall complexity of mesh avatar bodies and heads, which may have an impact on applier systems / how they function in future. Also:
This work does not include normal or specular map support, as these are not part of the existing Bake Service, nor are they recognised as system wearables.
It also will not provide a means of applying wearables via script + UUID.
Either of these options might be considered in some future BoM extension.
The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, November 30th, 2018. A video of the meeting is embedded below, my thanks as always to North for recording and providing it. Note that was a brief meeting, with extended silences while things were discussed in chat.
SL Viewer
[0:53-4:05] The Love Me Render RC viewer updated to version 6.0.2.522531, dated December 18th.
Current Release version 6.0.1.522263, dated December 5, promoted December 13. Formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer – NEW.
Release channel cohorts:
Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.1.0.522564, December 19.
BugSplat RC viewer, version 6.1.0.522614, December 18. 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. It also makes the version update check a child process to the viewer, which should prevent the creation of multiple viewer icons.
Project viewers:
Environmental Enhancement Project (EEP) viewer, version 6.0.2.522550, December 18.
Bakes on Mesh project viewer, version 6.0.1.522127, December 7.
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.
Currently, it would appear that the BugSplat RC will most likely be the next RC viewer promoted to release status.
As per my most recent CCUG summary, the Bakes on Mesh viewer will most likely have one more round as a project viewer before moving to RC status. It is also hoped that the EEP viewer will go to RC status in early January.
Feedback from estate / region owners / managers is still being sought for the Estate Access Management viewer, so if you have estate / region management rights for a region / estate, please give the viewer a go and report any issues back to the Lab via Jira.
Voice Service Update
[5:08-6:02] The Lab is planning an update to the voice service back-end over the holiday period. This should have been deployed prior to the break, but had to be postponed. When deployed, it could cause a brief interruption to services, and users may have to re-log to regain voice. Notification of the deployment will be given ahead of time via the grid status page. There is also a roll-back plan in place if the update causes issues.
The majority of the following notes are taken from the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting, held on Thursday, December 20th, 2018 at 13:00 SLT. These meetings are chaired by Vir Linden, and agenda notes, meeting SLurl, etc, are usually available on the Content Creation User Group wiki page.
With the Christmas / holiday break now on our doorstep, this was a short meeting.
SL Viewer
There have been two further viewer updates:
The Estate Access Management RC viewer updated to version 6.1.0.522564 on Wednesday, December 19th. See my preview of this viewer here for more information.
The Environmental Enhancement Project (EEP) project viewer updated to version 6.0.2.522550 on Thursday, December 20th.
Hover Height / Vertical Positioning Issue
Ever since server release 18#18.10.25.521081 was deployed at the end of October / beginning of November 2018, there have been reports of a hover height / positioning issue issue for full mesh avatars of less than “normal” height. This can leave such avatars floating 0.2 to 0.3 metres off the ground if non-height related changes are made after hover height has been set (BUG-225893).
Current Status
Anchor Linden has been investigating this, but is hampered by the fact the behaviour cannot be properly reproduced with consistency. This is making a root cause determination difficult. As this work is currently Anchor’s main focus at the moment, it means the Bakes on Mesh project is somewhat on hold.
Bakes On Mesh
Project Summary
Extending the current avatar baking service to allow wearable textures (skins, tattoos, clothing) to be applied directly to mesh bodies as well as system avatars. This involves viewer and server-side changes, including updating the baking service to support 1024×1024 textures, and may in time lead to a reduction in the complexity of mesh avatar bodies and heads.
This work does not include normal or specular map support, as these are not part of the existing Bake Service, nor are they recognised as system wearables. Adding materials support may be considered in the future.
As per the notes above, Bakes on Mesh is “on hold” at present while Anchor is otherwise engaged in bug hunting.
There are apparently a couple of issues with BoM still to be ironed out, and there is also an internal wiki issue preventing the Bakes On Mesh documentation being published on the SL wiki.
Allowing for the hover height / positioning issue mentioned above and the remaining work on Bakes on Mesh (+ the QA testing), it’s possible it will be a few weeks after the start of 2019 before this project progresses again.
Environment Enhancement Project
Project Summary
A set of environmental enhancements allowing the environment (sky, sun, moon, clouds, water settings) to be set region or parcel level, with support for up to 7 days per cycle and sky environments set by altitude. It uses a new set of inventory assets (Sky, Water, Day), and which include the ability to use custom Sun, Moon and cloud textures. These can be stored in inventory and traded through the Marketplace / exchanged with others, and can additionally be used in experiences.
The project also includes a new set of render shaders to support atmospheric effects such as rainbows, crepuscular rays (“God rays”), better horizon haze and fogging (but will not include rain / snow).
This week has seen updates to both the simulator code (available on Aditi for test, and also on limited release on Agni via the Snack RC channel) and, as noted above, to the viewer.
It’s hoped that the last of the shader work (e.g. crepuscular rays) will be completed in January.
The set agent environment scripted controls (allowing the entire environment for an avatar to be replaced when using an experience) is now in place.
Documentation for this will be pushed on the wiki after the holiday break.
Rider Linden is working on some further UI clean-up / clarification.
In Brief
There has been an issue with joint aliases not being correctly supported (the “avatar_xxx” aliases were not working for all the bones in the skeleton). Vir now has a fix for this, which should be appearing in the relatively near future.
Date of next CCUG meeting: Thursday, January 3rd, 2019.
On Tuesday, December 18th, the SLS (Main) channel was updated with server maintenance package 18#18.12.05.522294, comprising a voice service adjustment and internal fixes.
On Wednesday, December 19th, the three main RC channels should be updated with server maintenance package 8#18.12.03.522210, comprising a further voice service adjustment.
Also on Wednesday, December 19th, the Snack channel should be updated with a new EEP simulator update, 18#18.12.14.522551.
SL Viewer
There have been two viewer updates to start the week, bringing two of the viewers up to parity with the current release viewer (formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer). These are:
The Bugsplat RC viewer, which updated to version 6.1.0.522614. 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.
Love Me Render RC viewer, which updated to version 6.0.2.522531.
The remaining viewers in the pipeline remain (at the time of writing) unchanged from the end of week #50.
Current Release version 6.0.1.522263, dated December 5th, promoted December 13th. Formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer – NEW.
Release channel cohorts:
Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 5.2.0.520057, September 28th.
Project viewers:
Environmental Enhancement Project (EEP) viewer, version 6.0.0.522337, December 11th.
Bakes on Mesh project viewer, version 6.0.1.522127, December 7th.
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, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Last Name Changes – Supporting External Databases
A number of creators and others utilise external databases that use their own log-in authentication process bases on their customers’ Second Life names. Concern has therefore been raised as to how they’ll be able track changes to users’ lasts names once the ability for them to be changed has been re-introduced, with requests for LL to offer some kind of RSS feed providing name change updates.
However,Oz indicated this would not likely be the case, noting:
I don’t think that keeping current with a feed would really work, and it could easily be misused. Don’t store names – store IDs (agent UUIDs). IDs will never change [So] just have them enter name, then internally translate to the UUID. The translation will always be correct whether they use a current name or an old one. We will not be providing a feed or any way to look them up in bulk.
– Oz Linden
No Change Window
Due to the Christmas and New Year holiday period, there will be a No Change window in effect from close of business on Friday, December 21st, 2018 through until at least Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019. During this time there will be no planned updates or releases for the SL simulators or the official viewer.
The next Simulator User Group meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 8th, at the usual time of 12:00 noon.
The last version of Kokua I looked at in these pages was version 6.0.0, which primarily added Animesh functionality to Kokua.
Since that time, there have been a number of further updates, up to and including 6.0.1.44454 (RLV), and this article is intended to catch up to the current releases. In short, the intervening updates have been:
6.0.0.44291 (RLV), November 29th, 2018: focused on parity with Marine Kelley’s RLV 2.9.24.
6.0.0.44301 (RLV for Windows), December 8th, containing RLV bug fixes and four new RLV information panels.
6.0.1.44374 (RLV) and 6.0.1.44375 (No RLV) for Windows, Mac and Linux, released on December 13th.
6.0.1.44454 (RLV), December 17th, 2018 for Windows, Mac and Linux – essentially a bug fix release for a issue with the 6.0.1.44374 (RLV) release.
In addition, the 6.0.1.44374/44375 updates saw Kokua merged to parity with the (at the time of writing) current SL viewer release, version 6.0.1.522263, formerly the Spotykach Maintenance RC viewer, promoted by the Lab of December 13th, 2018 (release notes here).
It is the the 6.0.1.44375 and 6.0.1.44454 (RLV) updates that I am focusing on in this update, together with an overview of the new RLV panels introduced with 6.0.0.44301.
Menu Restructuring
The major visible change to both 6.0.1.44375 and 44454 is a revised menu structure. Up until now, Kokua has used the legacy (going back as far as v1 viewers) initial menu structure of File, Edit and View, as opposed to the Me, Communicate and World options found in the official viewer and followed by (for the most part) most other v5/v6 viewers.
To help Kokua users gain familiarity with the new menu structure, the Kokua team have produced a document outlining how and where options have been moved between menus in converting them from the old format of File, Edit and View to the more standard Me, Communicate and World.
Advanced menu > Classic Kokua Menus allows users to toggle between the “legacy” (File, Edit, View) and “current” (Me, Communicate, World) menu titles. A restart is required for each change to take effect
By default, the new menu structure is OFF, to avoid the risk of confusion for users not expecting the change. For those wishing to to use the new menu system, it can be enabled via Advanced menu > unchecking Classic Kokua Menus. The viewer must be restarted to apply the change. This option can also be used to switch back to using File, Edit, View, if desired (again with a viewer restart required).
RLV Updates
Kokua 6.0.1.44301 implemented a new set of RLV diagnostic panels designed to assist RLV users, as these were initially only available in the Windows version of the viewer, I’m covering them here, as they are now available on all OS flavours of Kokua.
The new panels are a combination of code from the Script Error window found in the standard viewer, and some code from the RLVa implementation within Firestorm. They’ve been designed by Chorazin Allen of the Kokua team, who gives full credit for the base code used, although as he notes, the operation of the panels based on Firestorm’s RLVa implementation have been substantially modified to work with RLV and his own design preferences.
The new panels are all accessed via the RLV menu, which includes a new section for the panels, shown on the top right in the image below. Chorazin also provides a comprehensive guide to their use, and I refer RLV users to that document for further information.
The new RLV windows – click for full size, and also refer to New RLV Information Windows on the Kokua viewer blog. Console, Status and Attached / Worn panel images via the Kokua website
From 6.0.1.44374 (RLV) to 6.0.1.44454 (RLV)
Version 6.0.1.44374 (RLV) and 6.0.1.44454 (RLV) are functionally identical to one another with the exception of the Out Of Character (OOC) functionality – that is, the use of “((” and “))” in text during role-play to indicate comments / messages that should not be considered part of the on-going role-play exchanges.
In short, a change was implemented in RLV 2.9.24.1 that affected how OOC chat is handled when a user is under certain RLV restrictions. However, the change broke the OOC chat processing logic. While not a problem for the dedicated RLV third-party viewer, it has caused problems for Kokua users (see OOC chat with (( )) not working with Kokua RLV 6.0.1.44374).
6.0.1.44454 fixes the issue through the provision of two new options in Preferences > Kokua > General:
Allow OOC chat using (()) (requires restart): enabled by default, this must be checked in order for OOC chat to work at all. If it is disabled, all OOC will appear as “…” in local chat. So, only disable this option if you do not want to see OOC in local chat at all (as the option notes, you will have to restart Kokua when enabling / disabling this option).
Send OOC chat to redirected chat rather than local chat – enabled by default. This has two functions:
When enabled and applicable RLV restrictions are in operation, all OOC chat goes to redirected chat handlers and it will not appear in local chat.
When disabled, the expected OOC behaviour applies, and OOC chat will appear in local chat in the usual (( and )) parentheses.
This option can be set independently to the first, and does not require a viewer restart.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 