Category: SL Tech

SL project updates 2017 14/2: TPVD meeting, server updates

Posted on by Inara Pey

Maison de L’amitie – blog post

The notes in this update are taken from the following sources:

  • Server Beta User Group meeting, held on  Thursday April 6th, 2017 at 3:00pm SLT – transcript here
  • The TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, April 7th, 2017 at 12:00 noon SLT.

A video of the TPV Developer meeting is embedded at the end of this update. My thanks as always to north for providing it. Timestamps in this report, where relevant, will link you to the point in the video where items are discussed (via a new browser tab).

SL Viewer

No changes to the current pipeline since part one of the week’s update:

  • Current Release version 5.0.3.324435, dated March 13th – snapshots to e-mail hotfix
  • Release channel cohorts:

    • Maintenance RC viewer version 5.0.4.325124, dated Monday, April 3rd  – review
    • Voice RC viewer version 5.0.4.324770 released on March 20th – several improvements to voice
  • Project viewers:
    • Project AssetHttp project viewer, version 5.0.4.324828 dated  March 30th – This viewer moves fetching of several types of assets to HTTP / CDN – overview
    • Project Alex Ivy (“LXIV”), 64-bit project viewer, version 5.1.0.503537 dated March 17th
    • 360-degree snapshot viewer, version 4.1.3.321712 dated November 23rd, 2016 – ability to take 360-degree panoramic images – hands-on review
  • 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.

64-bit Build Instructions & Windows Crash Rates

[11:15] The Lab plan to update the viewer build instructions on the wiki to match the 64-bit build process once the 64-bit viewer reaches release status, and the build process is seen as stable.

[29:14] The 64-bit build is being tested across all versions of Windows back to Windows 7. While the current project viewer cohort of users is small, there is evidence that Windows 7 64-bit systems have a “significantly higher” crasher rate with the viewer than Windows 8 or Windows 10, with Windows 10 systems having the lowest overall crash rate.

SL Voice: Linux Updates and Blocking Older Versions of SL Voice

[0:49] Vivox, the company that provides the Voice back-end service and delivers the Voice plug-in for the viewer are no longer providing updates for Linux. This means there will no longer be any Voice updates for the Linux flavour of the viewer unless Vivox reverses that decision.

[1:42] The plans to block older versions of SL Voice to ensure  users are only using the most recent versions of the plug-in, first announced in the latter part of 2016 and placed on hold in December 2016, remain on the back-burner with Oz  Linden noting, “We don’t have any time line for disabling older Voice versions … We may or may not get to it.”

Region Access Changes

There are two changes to region access which are currently in progress.

Region Capacity and Access

[2:36] The first is the Improved Region Capacity and Access updates as reported by the Lab on Tuesday, April 2nd, and which are being rolled-out in stages. There has been some negative reaction to these change (some basic account users have been particularly vocal about the upper capacity to a very busy region being “reserved” for Premium members); however, the deployment which was placed on its own limited server channel (McRib),  appears to be going well and so will be rolled to a larger selection of regions in week #15 (commencing Monday, April 10th).

[3:28] The Lab will continue to look at avatar capacity within region types  as they continue to make other changes to the system, and if the opportunity arises to increase the numbers, they “probably will” (quote). Of course, increases to region capacity on the back-end can have a negative impact at the viewer end of the equation, where the viewer and client system potentially have to work than much harder.

Revised Region and Parcel Access Controls

[4:40] The Lab is revising how Public Access controls are set at both region and parcel access. This involved changes to both the back-end (already on RC) and a set of changes to the viewer UI. You can read more about this in my separate report here.

Simulator Operating System Update

[4:07] As noted in recent SL project updates in these pages, the Lab has been working on a new region simulator build using an updated version of Linux. These work has been on test on Aditi (the beta grid) for the last several weeks (on channel DRTSIM-323), and is due to move to an RC release in week #15, pending no last-minute show stoppers arise in final QA  / test.

This is an extensive back-end change to the simulator, which should be largely invisible to users. However, the Lab will be watching the initial deployment carefully, because as Mazidox  Linden commented at the server beta meeting, “It won’t change anything you should notice, and could change anything, at the same time.” This being the case, there is a standing request that as the update is deployed, those using regions running on the RC channel(s) on which it is running (see the week #15 server deployment notes in the Second Life Server forum, once published) to be extra vigilant and report anything untoward they may see / encounter.

Once this operating system update has been completed, the Lab will start work on a further update.

Other Items

Rendering Cost Calculations

[19:25] The Lab is running a background project to look at the cost of rendering a wide range of Second Life features across a range of different client systems running the viewer. The tests for this work have now been defined and are about to be put into use. Once sufficient data has been gathered, the Lab will use it to determine what might need to be done to improve the accuracy of the avatar rendering calculations with a view to making them more accurately reflect the real cost of rendering high poly count items. Changes will be communicated through forums such as the TPV Developer meeting ahead of any implementation.

[33:55] One potential project which might help with mesh avatar complexity is to allow system layer texture baking to be applied to mesh avatars. This has been the subject  of numerous discussions at the Content Creation User Group meetings (see here and here for more), and while it is still not officially adopted as a project by the Lab, they are continuing to take a detailed look at the idea,

Ban List Improvements

[28:00] This was first raised at the TPV Developer meeting held of Friday February 17th. Essentially, the region ban lists are seen as difficult to use, particularly where the ban list is extensive. There have also been requests that the upper limits for both region and parcel ban lists are raised.

Both subjects are still subject to discussion within the Lab, and while no project is currently on the cards to deal with either, it seems likely that were they to be addressed, they would be addressed together. It has been noted that one possible driver for change might be the upcoming changes being made to how Public Access is managed for regions where it is set (see above).

Windows 10 / Nvidia Shadowplay Bug

Whirly Fizzle has reported a bug which appears to have started with a recent Nividia driver update or a Windows 10 update. In short, launching the Nvidia GeForce Experience and enabling ShadowPlay on a Windows 10 system with Nvidia graphics, which tend to result in a viewer crash. See BUG-11530 for more, including a response from Nvidia on the issue.

New region and parcel access controls coming to Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

At both the Server beta meeting on Thursday, April 6th and the TPV Developer meeting on Friday April 7th, Grumpity Linden and Oz Linden revealed more about the upcoming changes to region and parcel access settings.

The server-side update for thee control are currently on the three RC channel (server maintenance package (17#17.03.31.325149) – but the changes as a whole will not come into effect until after there has been a significant UI update to the viewer.

So what is changing?

In short, the new controls – once they are available through the viewer – will mean that when a region is explicitly set to Public Access via the Region / Estate floater, parcel owners will no longer be able to unhceck Allow Public access or set other restrictive access (e.g. Group Only) in the About Land floater for their parcel – so no more ban lines on regions explicitly set to Public Access. However, parcel-level ban lists will still apply and if things like security orbs are allowed with the region in question, they will still work as well.

Note that no change will occur where Allow Public Access has not been explicitly set within the Region / Estate floater. In these instances, parcel owners will still be able to set their own access.

This change is being made for several reasons. For example, it is something many region owners (and those who sail / boat / fly  / drive through ostensibly public regions) have requested; it is also something many estates have in their covenant but cannot actually enforce; and so on.

With the upcoming changes, if an estate is set to Allow Public Access (top), parcel holders on that region will no longer be able to override the public access using the About Land access options (above). However,the parcel ban list and and installed security system will still apply

These changes mean that the viewer UI – as noted – will be undergoing some significant changes.  Exactly how extensive thee changes will be is unclear. However the Lab is conscious of the need to ensure there is no ambiguity in the controls, and that issues such as BUG-4994 which results in a parcel being set to Group access (and gaining ban lines) if both the Public and Group access options are checked, are also resolved as a part of the work.

At the Server Beta meeting on Thursday, April 6th, Grumpity Linden commented on the UI updates thus:

We are trying to find the best way to express the access sets most clearly … The UI is changing to better convey what your actual settings permit …

1) EO & EM can now force parcels to be no more restrictive than the Estate level setting.

2) UI for both Estate and Parcel access management is confusing. We’re making changes to make it less confusing. The weirdness where you check “Public access” and “Group access” and end up with group ONLY unless you also check “PIOF” and then you get group + public w/PIOF … that will not stand.

UI will grey out unavail options; also, estate level setting will include a warning dialogue to hopefully deter EM from messing with this override willy-nilly.

It is anticipated that a viewer (project or RC) with the required updates could be appearing in week #15 (week commencing Monday, April 10th).

The changes and the upcoming viewer UI updates were also discussed at the TPV Developer meeting, from which the following audio excerpts were extracted and put together.

These comments can be heard in full on the video of the TPV Developer meeting, commencing at the 4:45 time stamp.

Catznip R12: a peek at upcoming inventory management improvements

Posted on by Inara Pey

I recently received an IM from Kitty Barnett recently, asking me if I’d be interested in taking a look at some new features she’s been working on for the upcoming Catznip R12 release which is Coming Soon™.

Obviously as someone who has followed (and uses) Catznip (although not as frequently as I use Firestorm, admittedly), I was delighted to take a look. Nor was I alone, Kitty also put together a couple of articles on the features on the Catznip blog, (which you can find under the titles Three Days of Teasers Day #1 and Day #2 – a third part was planned but that pesky thing called the physical world got in the way of Kitty’s plans), and invited Catznip users to have a look.

With Kitty’s approval, I’ve summarised those two articles here – and if you are a Catznip user already, and haven’t seen Kitty’s original documents – please hop over to the Catznip blog, have a read & offer feedback.

Inventory Management

Catznip has tended to position itself as the viewer for shoppers, and with the upcoming R12, Kitty offers some enticing new features to make shopping and inventory management a lost more pleasant. She introduces the basic concept thus:

Whenever you buy or grab something you have to click that “Buy”/’Pay”/”Keep” button anyway so wouldn’t it be great if we could just do some pre-sorting right then and there?! It wouldn’t really interrupt the flow of going to an event and hovering up demos or buying things you’re sure you want since you don’t actually have to go to your inventory while you’re at the event and you’d be able to teleport home with an inventory no worse off then when you arrived.

And so with this in mind, Kitty has revised the Buy / Pay floater and the Accept Inventory floater so that they offer you the ability to select where incoming items are going to be stored in your inventory.

Catznip R12’s upcoming options to select where items your buy / receive go in your inventory. Credit Kiity Barnett / Inara Pey

The options should be fairly self-explanatory. Check Accept in and the remaining options are activated. The drop-down will display a list of folders you have opted to allow incoming items to be delivered (show in the image on the right), the browse button allows alternative from you list of folders in the drop-down to be selected, and the spanner button allows you to establish your list of destination folders. The roadmap of these various options is shown below.

What the options do. Note they are available in both the expanded floater view (centre) and the collapsed view (left) – click for full size, if required. Credit: Kitty Barnett

Note only can you select the folders into which you want incoming purchases to go, you can also set Catznip R12 to dynamically create new folders in which to place incoming items. This means, for example, that if you got to a big shopping event at one location, you can set the viewer to deliver all the demo you obtain / items you purchase into folders define by – say – the month in which you got them, and the location where they were obtained.

So, for example, if in April you go to shopping event X on region YYYY, and grab a load of demos, and then later in the month go to event A on region BBBB and grab more demos, you can have them delivered to sub-folders in your “Demos” folder, respectively labelled “April 2017 YYYY” and “April 2017 BBBB” – both of which are dynamically created by Catznip as they are needed. So even if you don’t get around to trying them for days after your visit, you can quickly and easily locate the demo items without have for fiddle around searching for folders and objects.

The panel for setting folders into which incoming purchases can be received, and the option for setting dynamically created sub-folders within that folder. Credit: Kitty Barnett

Inventory Searching

Inventory searches can be a pain. Even with the search filters, things are hardly ideal. To help improve things, Kitty has in the past added additional search options to Catznip such as Open Folder In, which considerably eases the pain for further refining searches / making items visible in folder which might otherwise remain hidden as a result of the search term / filters initially used to try to find things.

With Catznip R12, she further improves things by adding a new Contents In capability. Rather than displaying the results of a search in a separate tab, this option displays the folder(s) matching your search criteria with all of the contents visible, rather than just the items which might match your search criteria, making it much easier to see if the folder(s) contain what you are looking for (particularly where some / all of the items in the folder might not be consistently named, and so might otherwise be masked from view after a search).

The New Show Contents In presents a more refined way to see all of the contents in a folder when they might otherwise be masked by the search criteria / filter you have set. Credit: Kitty Barnett.

Finally – and not a part of the two articles by Kitty linked-to above – Catznip R12 will see further refinements to the inventory search features themselves, and highlighted in the set of images below. I’ll have more on this when the viewer is ready for release.

The Advanced Inventory filter floater for Catznip R12 in its expanded and tabbed forms.

Feedback

I’m not the world’s greatest shopper in many respects. In the physical world, I’ve reach that point in life where I know what I like to wear and am happy wearing it; shopping for fashion or trends passes me by. This is reflected in my SL time as well; I don’t go to the major shopping events, be they fashion or the gacha events. I tend to be targeted in what I’m buying.

But, that said, there are times when I can hit a store and go demo-mad, and I find it annoying that depending on how they are delivered, demos can end up anywhere in the top-level of my inventory when delivered as a folder, or get rudely shoved in Objects. I’m also slightly OCD in my inventory management and ordering.

Both of these being the case, I’ve long wanted to have the means by which I could better control what goes where when entering my inventory, rather than having to set aside time after (say) an infrequent demo splurge shunting folders and boxes around my inventory. So the new destinations options get a big thumbs up from me. Similarly, inventory filtering and searching has long been in need of refinement, so I’m looking forward to having a play with kitty’s updates in more detail when R12 surfaces.

And when might that be? Well, there is still some work to be done before the viewer is ready for a full release – but there is a chance that a preview version might be available on a limited basis in the next few days.

In the meantime, Kitty welcomes constructive input on these ideas, so again, if you have any suggestions, comments, additions, or obvious things that could be added (keeping in mind that if you’re not a Catznip user then there are already quite a few inventory/appearance features that you might not be used to) – she’d like to hear from you. Drop your comments here or  – better – on the Catznip blog posts, which I’ll again linking to below to save scrolling.

SL project updates 2017 14/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Orcadi Island – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, April 4th, the Main (SLS) channel received the server maintenance package previously deployed to the three RC channels in week #13, comprising a small update to asset metrics stats logging.
  • On Wednesday, April 5th, the three RC channels should all receive a new server maintenance package which includes a new option in the estate settings which allows parcel owners to override the public access settings for all parcels in the estate. However, this change is pending a viewer update in order to make it visible to users.

SL Viewer

The Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 5.0.4.325124 on Monday, April 3rd. This viewer as a number of updates and improvements, which I reviewed in a recent post (albeit for the earlier version of the viewer).

Outside of this, the release of the LL viewer pipeline remains unchanged:

  • Current Release version 5.0.3.324435, dated March 13th – snapshots to e-mail hotfix
  • Release channel cohorts:

    • Voice RC viewer version 5.0.4.324770 released on March 20th – several improvements to voice
  • Project viewers:
    • Project AssetHttp project viewer, version 5.0.4.324828 dated  March 30th – This viewer moves fetching of several types of assets to HTTP / CDN – overview
    • Project Alex Ivy (LXIV), 64-bit project viewer, version 5.1.0.503537 dated March 17th
    • 360-degree snapshot viewer, version 4.1.3.321712 dated November 23rd, 2016 – ability to take 360-degree panoramic images – hands-on review
  • 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.

Region Capacity and Access

On Tuesday, April 4th the Lab announced increases of between 10% and 25% on the number of avatars can enter a region, the exact percentage depending on the region type. These percentages apply to the default maximum number of avatars each type of region (Full, Homestead and Open Space), and to the limit imposed by the region owner. They also include other changes – refer to the official blog post (or my own) for further information.

Commenting on the change at the Simulator User Group meeting, Oz linden pointed out the change was made as an attempt to respond to multiple requests made at the SUG meetings for accessing full regions to be “improved”. Hints were given that the approach might be further refined  / updated in the future.

2017 Viewer release summaries week 13

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, April 2nd

This summary is 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.

Official LL Viewers

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V5-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL project updates 2017 13/2: server, viewer, Content Creation meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey

PeTOu – blog post

Server Deployments – Recap

  • There was no update to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, March 28th.
  • On Wednesday, March 29th, the three RC channels received a new server maintenance package, primarily comprising a small update to asset metrics stats logging.

Week #14 (commencing Monday, April 3rd) should see a new RC update: “New estate setting allowing estate owners to override the parcel level allow public access settings”, which I assume will be awaiting a viewer-side update once deployed – but more on that next week.

SL Viewer

The new AssetHttp Project viewer,  version 5.0.4.324828, appeared on Thursday, March 30th. This contains code for handling the delivery of landmarks, wearables (system layer clothing and body parts), sounds and animations via HTTP and through the Content Delivery Networks the Lab leverages. I have a separate report on it available here, and Vir Linden – who has been leading the viewer-side work for the project – had this to say at the Content Creation User Group meeting on March 30th:

Outside of this, the various LL viewer channels remain as follows:

  • Current Release version: 5.0.3.324435, dated March 13th – snapshots to e-mail hotfix
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Maintenance RC viewer version 5.0.4.324882 released on March 23rd – avatar rendering and other updates – overview
    • Voice RC viewer version 5.0.4.324770 released on March 20th – several improvements to voice
  • Project viewers:
    • Project Alex Ivy (LXIV), 64-bit project viewer updated to version 5.1.0.503537 on March 17th
    • 360-degree snapshot viewer updated to version 4.1.3.321712 on November 23rd, 2016 – ability to take 360-degree panoramic images – hands-on review
  • 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.

New Simulator Build Testing

DRTSIM-323 is the channel on Aditi (the beta grid) which is carrying the a new version of the simulator code using the Lab’s latest build of the server operating system. In includes the regions: Fire Ants, Bug Island and Mauve (again, these are on the beta grid). It’s still under test, and will remain that way for a while yet, although there is some limited testing occurring on the Snack channel on the main grid.

Content Creation Group Notes

Animation Transitions

Vir is still looking at the issue of animations becoming “stuck” between transitions when using  llSetAnimationOverride – an avatar freezing when it should transition from standing to walking, for example, or getting stuck in a pre- or post-jump mode (see  BUG-7488 as an example of the kind of problem). As llSetAnimationOverride is a server-side function, it would appear that something is going awry there, but pinning it down is proving difficult.

Mesh Upload Physics Type

This goes back to a very old Mesh beta (when mesh model support was being introduced to SL), and feature request CTS-571, and also related to BUG-40694. In sort, the original request was to allow the physics shape for an object to be set at upload time, rather than as is currently the case, after the upload. Allowing this is seen as a potential fix for a wide range of issues associated with mesh modelling, and could also overcome lot of the “failed to rez” inventory loss is due to the use of the lowest LOD auto-generated shape preventing a ray trace hit on the server-side when trying to place objects, as defined in BUG-40694.

While cautioning that changes to the mesh uploader aren’t currently on the roadmap, Vir listened to the discussion of the issues, and indicated he’d take a look at the upload and the problems, and possibly suggest a re-visit to the uploader might be in order depending on what he finds.

Object Permissions – Derivative Permission Discussion

Note that while the following was discussed during the Content Creation User Group meeting, it does not mean anything is about to be changed with the Second Life permissions system.

There have been a number of long-standing pricing issues with selling full permission items, such as kits to help people build content they can sell, or mesh templates for clothing and accessories which allow non-mesh modellers to enhance (via texturing, scripted options etc.) to enhance and then re-sell. So of these discussions can be seen as far back as with feature request SVC-2622.

Touching on these issues from the perspective of diminishing returns for creators of full permission kits and templates, Cathy Foil enquired whether a “derivative” permissions flag, similar to that seen within IMVU might be added to SL. This would still allow those wishing to sell full permission Copy, Modify, Transfer items to do so, but it would also allow kit and template makers to set the Derivative flag against a product (so it is Copy, Modify Derivative, for example).

This flag would allow others to buy the item, enhance it, resell it, etc., but with the caveat that the minimum they could re-sell it for would be the original purchase price. Thus, they would naturally be encouraged to sell it for more (with the potential for the original creator of the item effectively getting a “royalty” type payment of each item sold).

This sparked a lengthy discussion on a range of topics – such as adding derivative chains to the system (allowing all changes to an item by various resellers to be tracked), through the idea that such a system would encourage people to add value to the products they create using fell perm kits / templates in the knowledge their work would be rewarded, etc.

However, as Vir pointed out, changing the permissions system itself is complicated and not easy to update. Adding some kind of derivative tacking  system would as well makes any such update, even were it to be considered, vastly more complicated in scope. As such, it is not something the Lab is liable to consider.

Avastar,  MayaStar and Maya .ANIM Exporter

Avatar 2 is now at release candidate 7 for those with the product, MayaSatar has received an update covering bug-fixes and the like.

Aura Linden is still working on the .ANIM exporter for Maya (does not require MayaStar), but as she’s working on this in her own time, it’s taking a little longer than anticipated to finish off, having had to re-write the exporter using python rather than Maya’s own MEL scripting language.