Category: SL Tech

Erebos Harbor – blog post

There was no Simulator User Group meeting for week #34 2018, so the project notes are pretty brief.

Server Deployments

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

• On Tuesday August 21st, the SLS (Main) channel was updated with sever maintenance package 18#18.08.10.518612, comprising an update to the HTTP delivery of off-line IMs and notifications that should ensure group notices and Friend requests are correctly delivered. This release was deployed to the main RC channels in week #33.
• There is no planned deployment or restart for any of the RC channels, also leaving them on server maintenance package 18#18.08.10.518612.

SL Viewer

• The Second Life Voice viewer, version 5.1.8.518593 and dated August 14th, was promoted to de facto release status on August 20th, 2018.
• A new Love Me Render viewer, version 5.1.8.518751, was released on August 20th, containing assorted viewer rendering fixes for the following issues / requests:
  • Applying planar texture alignment to prims with diffuse and normal maps fails.
  • Align Planar Faces does not work on normal or specular maps.
  • Handle dual-graphics systems more robustly.
  • Derendering Avatar type also derenders some rezzed mesh objects.
  • Selecting mesh objects make several HUD-related items invisible.
  • Negative horizontal & vertical offset values for normal & specular maps always revert when closing build floater.
  • Add info to text debug display for cache hit rate and fetch timing.
  • Grids.xml with a single grid instead of an array in LLSD can crash viewer.
  • Objects with Alpha Masking > 0 do not rendering correctly on avatar.
  • With transparent texture and alpha masking at cut-off 1, the underlying colour shows through in small patches.
  • [DRTSIM-383] Changing the horizontal offset value also changes the vertical offset while editing specular maps in the build floater.
  • Incorrect values of Rotation degrees field with checked Align Planar Faces check box in different tabs.

The remaining SL viewer pipelines are currently unchanged:

• Release channel cohorts:
  • Animesh RC viewer, version 6.0.0.518579, August 13.
  • BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518305, August 7. 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.
• Project viewers:
  • EAM project viewer, version 5.2.0.518362, August 9 – improved region access control tools; see my overview for more.
  • Bakes on Mesh project viewer, version 5.1.7.518013 August 3.
  • 360 snapshot viewer, version 5.1.6.515934, June 6 (see my hands-on update).
• 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. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

SL iOS / Android Clients / Streaming SL

Speculation is running rife in some quarters that the Lab is developing a mobile client for iOS / Android following the publication of a job opportunity for a Second Life Senior Mobile Engineer.

The potential for offering a mobile (or even a streamed viewer experience through a browser) was most recently publicly discussed by both Ebbe Altberg and Oz and Grumpity Linden at the SL15B Meet the Lindens events in June 2018. I’m embedding the audio from those sessions here, together with links to the summaries of what was said, for those who prefer reading over listening:

• Ebbe Altberg: https://modemworld.me/sl15b-meet-the-lindens-ebbe-altberg/#mobile

• Oz and Grumpity: https://modemworld.me/sl15b-meet-the-lindens-grumpity-and-oz-summary/#mobile

Cloudbreak – blog post

Server Deployments

as always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest update.

• The Main (SLS) channel was updated on Tuesday, August 14th with server maintenance package 18.07.20.518086, previously deployed to the RC channels and containing internal fixes.
• On Wednesday, august 15th, all three RCs should be updated with server maintenance packager 18#18.08.10.518612. This comprises an update to the HTTP delivery of off-line IMs and notifications that should ensure group notices and Friend requests are correctly delivered.

SL Viewer

Animesh RC Viewer

The Animesh release candidate viewer arrived on August 13th, with the release of version 6.0.0.518579. For those not familiar with Animesh (anyone?) please see the viewer release notes and the links within them, or check my updates on Animesh, provided as a part of my Content Creation User Group meeting summaries.

Remaining Pipelines

Outside of the Animesh update, at the time of writing, the remaining SL viewer pipelines remain unchanged from the end of week #32:

• Current Release version 5.1.7.517973, dated July 30th, promoted August 3rd. Formerly the Quinquina Maintenance RC viewer.
• 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 5.1.8.518305, August 7th. 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.
  • Second Life Voice RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518310, August 7th.
• Project viewers:
  • EAM project viewer, version 5.2.0.518362, August 9th – improved region access control tools; see my overview for more.
  • Bakes on Mesh project viewer, version 5.1.7.518013 August 3rd.
  • 360 snapshot viewer, version 5.1.6.515934, June 6th.
• Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and  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.

Region Crossings

Region crossing have been somewhat rougher recently than had been the case of late. Simon Linden had been poking at the code in the hope of making some updates, but has been diverted but other working, and is hoping to get back to things soon.

I know the viewer has very similar messaging code as the simulator and there are tweaks I want to make to that which  should help crossing issues caused by packet loss … it doesn’t always recover when a crossing goes bad, as we all know. We’re looking at that from two ways … ideally fix things so it doesn’t go bad. But if it fails, be more graceful about it … and there’s a certain amount of hope that the way we force the error is actually what happens in the random normal case.

Part of it now is even having the 2 regions and the viewer agreeing on what happens and how to deal with it … where an AV and vehicle end up and confirming all parties know the same state… I’m hoping this can at least get better if the target region can at least report to the viewer and 1st region a status for how it works out.

Simon Linden discussing region crossings at the Simulator User Group meeting, August 14th, 2018

The question was asked if part of a multiple region crossing (e.g. from the corner of one region to another, passing through the corner of a region adjacent to both) could result in the viewer talking to the “wrong” simulator, to which Simon replied, “I haven’t seen it have issues with talking to the wrong simulator, but then I’m not looking yet at the issue of a corner crossing that might quickly move to a 3rd region.”

So, no changes for the present, but the problem is still getting attention at the Lab, and there is an appetite for trying to improve things from the server-side of the equation, with Simon also noting, “It’s also a classic case of working on SL … we always want to fix things with a minimum disruption. Being able to make something better only by touching the server is a lot better than requiring a viewer update.”