Category: SL Tech

Firestorm 4.7.3: are you ready to rock?!

Posted on by Inara Pey

firestorm-logoUpdate:this release has seen further issues for those using Webroot anti-virus (problems include low FPS, high ping rates to the simulator, very slow rendering, etc.). If you have Webroot installed on your system and are experiencing issues, please try manually whitelisting the viewer’s cache folder.

Tuesday, August 18th saw the release of Firestorm 4.7.3.47323. This release comes a little later than had been planned, thanks largely to a series of last-minute blockers caused be assorted external influences (such as win 10 driver issues for Intel).

This is once again a major release, packing a huge amount into it, and which brings Firestorm pretty much to parity with the Lab’s code base. It also sees the return of the Linux 64-bit build to the fold.

Given the sheer number of updates in the release, I do not intend to cover everything here, but rather offer an overview of some of the more major / interesting changes, updates and  fixes to be found in the release.   for full details of all changes, and all due credits to contributors, etc., please refer to the official release notes.

The Usual Before We Begin Notes

For best results when installing this release:

Version Blocking

As this is a full release, expect an announcement on the blocking of version 4.6.1 and 4.6.5 to be made once the dust from this release has settled.

Log-in Screen Updates: Text Mode and Remember User Name

Login Screen > Select Mode >Text

When enabled, this disables the viewer’s 3D rendering, allowing Firestorm to be used as a “text viewer” for low-end systems and launches the viewer with the in-world view blanked out, but all of the menu options and tool bar buttons accessible HUDs (which are not displayed) and other attachments can be manipulated via the Touch option in the Inventory context menu.

The Text Mode option, accessed from the Select mode drop-down on the right of the log-in / splash screen enables you to run Firestorm without 3D graphics on a low-end system - menus and buttons will still be accessible, as will floaters. The Remember user name check box (highlighted above left) is also a new feature, restoring the functionality last seen in Pheonix
The Text Mode option, accessed from the Select mode drop-down on the right of the log-in / splash screen enables you to run Firestorm without 3D graphics on a low-end system – menus and buttons will still be accessible, as will floaters. The Remember user name check box (highlighted above left) is also a new feature, restoring the functionality last seen in Phoenix

The Remember Username check box has been added to Firestorm in response to a series of requests to bring back this functionality from the Phoenix viewer – see FIRE-5735.

Additional Log-in Screen Fixes

  • The issue of Remember Password box checking itself after a failed log-in attempt and refusing to uncheck itself (see FIRE-16535) has been fixed
  • Several focus issues within the login panel have been fixed (see FIRE-6930)

Lab Updates

The 4.7.3.47323 release brings Firestorm up to parity with the Linden 3.8.2 code base (with some additional updates from the current 3.8.3 code base). Chief among the LL updates are the following.

Viewer Build Tools Update

This release means that Firestorm is now built using the updated viewer build tools, notably Visual Studio 2013 for windows and Xcode 6.1 for Mac, with some additional tool improvements, all designed to provide improved performance and stability, as well as easing the viewer build process. Details on the new build tools can be found in my blog post on the subject, however the key points with this change are:

  • The Windows version of this viewer will not install on Windows XP systems, regardless of the Service Packs also installed  (previous versions of the release viewer would install on Windows XP system which had Service Pack 3 installed)
  • The Mac version of the viewer will not install on any version of OS X below 10.7.

Attachment Fixes

Firestorm 4.7.3 includes the Lab’s Project Big Bird fixes for a wide range of viewer attachment loss issues, which tend to noticeably occur after regions crossings (physical or teleport), such as: attachments appearing to be detached in your view, but not to others, and vice-versa; attachments appearing to have detached from you, but showing as attached in Inventory, and so on. These also fix issues such as adding multiple attachments at the same time failing to attach everything selected, and attempting to wear an outfit with too many attachments failing.

Project Layer Limits

This changes how system clothing layers (shirts, pants, under shirts, jackets, etc.), are handled. Prior to this update, an avatar could wear a maximum of 5 items of any single layer – say the jacket – at one time. With this change, an avatar can wear any combination of layers up to a global maximum of 60 – so you can wear 1 pair of pants and 59 jackets if you so wish, or just 60 jackets, etc.

Note that this change does not apply to body layers – skins, shapes, eyes, etc., for which the limit is still one of each, nor is it applicable to attachments, which retain a limit of 38 per avatar.

Experience Keys / Tools

Firestorm 4.7.3 adds the full set of Experience Keys / Tools controls and floaters in the viewer. For those not familiar with Experience Keys / Tools, I offer my own overview from July 2015.

This update means that on entering an area where an Experience is running, Firestorm users will see the full permissions request dialogue, rather than an abbreviated version.

With release 4.7.3, Firestorm users can access the Experience floater and review information on those Experiences they have allowed, blocked, owned, etc., and display individual Experience profiles
With release 4.7.3, Firestorm users can access the Experience floater and review information on those Experiences they have allowed, blocked, owned, etc., and display individual Experience profiles. Land owners can also display information on Experiences running  / blocked on their land through World > Region Details and / or the About Land tab

In addition, Firestorm gains the additional Experiences-related panels and floater options. So users can now access the Experiences floater via Avatar > Experiences, and the Region and About Land floaters have also been updated to include Experiences tabs and information.

Viewer-Managed Marketplace

Firestorm 4.7.3 incorporates the Marketplace Listings folder
Firestorm 4.7.3 incorporates the Marketplace Listings panel (Avatar > Marketplace Listings)

Viewer-Managed Marketplace (VMM) is designed to enable merchants to manage the creation and management of Marketplace product listings through the viewer, bypassing the need to use the Merchant Outbox (and have copies of items stored on the Marketplace inventory servers) or using Magic Boxes (as VMM fully supports the sale on No Copy objects). It was fully deployed in July 2015, and all merchants have had their Marketplace listings migrated to VMM, and should by now have also migrated their Magic Box listings and items to VMM.

Firestorm 3.7.3 now fully supports VMM functionality, providing the Marketplace Listings panel and hiding the Marketplace Listings folder by default.

Those still requiring information on VMM are referred to my blog posts on the subject, which also include links to the Lab’s official information resources.

Dragging Folders into My Outfits

A recent change to viewer functionality meant that it was no longer possible to drag and drop sub-folders of items into the My Outfits  / Outfits folder – see BUG 9209 (FIRE-15603). This changed caused some consternation among those who use My Outfits to order their outfits. As a result of the use-cases supplied to the Lab within the JIRA, this has been reversed in an upcoming release, and has been cherry-picked for inclusion in Firestorm 4.7.3.

Continue reading “Firestorm 4.7.3: are you ready to rock?!” →

A Bright Canopy set to open over Second Life and OpenSim

Posted on by Inara Pey

BC logoBright Canopy, the new streaming service, which allows users on low-end computers to access both Second Life and OpenSim has announced it will officially launch on Saturday, August 29th at a single monthly subscription price, which for the first 90 days (at least) will be $17.00 a month.

The service, which was established by SL users Bill Glover and his wife, Jeri (known in-world as Chaos Priestman and Beth Robbani respectively in-world),  arose directly as a result of the May 2015 closure of the SL Go streaming service provided by former on-line streaming games supplier, OnLive. What’s more, and on a personal note, I’m pleased to be able to say that this blog had a hand in bringing things about – although my involvement as a beta user hasn’t been as extensive as I’d hoped.

As a result of the cessation of SL Go as a result of OnLive’s decision to sell, I ruminated on the potential of the Lab running a streamed SL service through Amazon AppSstream. This caught Bill’s eye and imagination, prompting him to comment:

Let’s just do it ourselves! You really got me thinking. I’d can launch a service right now if I get enough folks for Beta.

Bill and Jeri Glover: heading the Bright Canopy team, and long-term Second Life users
Bill and Jeri Glover: heading the Bright Canopy team, and long-term Second Life users

Things further progressed when I wrote about Nebadon Izumi’s work in getting the viewer and OpenSim delivered over AppStream.  My article prompted Nikola Bozinovic, founder and CEO of Frame, a cloud-based service focused on delivering Windows applications to users,  to suggest his service could be used to deliver Second Life through the cloud.

Bill and Nikola quickly got their heads together, and within 24 hours, they had their own proof-of-concept running, delivering the official SL viewer over Frame via Amazon.

Bright Canopy streams SL and OpenSim directly to your web browser, offering those on low-specification computers to enjoy the full graphic richness of both platforms with (allowing for network vagaries) low latency
Bright Canopy streams SL and OpenSim directly to your web browser, offering those on low-specification computers to enjoy the full graphic richness of both platforms with (allowing for network vagaries) low latency – note the data, bottom left (via Bright Canopy)

Not long after that, and with the support of SL and OpenSim users, a small alpha test commenced, which expanded to an invite-only pre-launch beta, which again in turn gradually opened its doors wider and wider as time as progressed and issues dealt with.

Nikola Bozinovic, founder of Frame, who extended an invitation to try the service as a possible means of accessing Second Life (and other grids) from the cloud
Nikola Bozinovic, founder of Frame, who extended an invitation to try his service as a means of accessing Second Life (and other grids) from the cloud – and thus paved the way for Bright Canopy to deliver

While operating as independent companies, the synergy between Frame and Bright Canopy has been impressive, with the former working hard to ensure the latter can provide a scalable, robust service, as Bill has worked to ensure the viewer behaves itself when streamed and can support the services users expect – notably voice.

“Frame is excited to provide infrastructure support to make projects like Bright Canopy scale globally,” Nikola stated during the official launch announcement. “Bill has captured the imagination and the energy of the Second Life community. We’ve been impressed by the cooperative and open approach of the Bright Canopy team.”

One of the core benefits of running with Frame, is the company has an established track record in delivering Windows applications over cloud services (indeed, in June 2015, Frame closed a further US $10 million round of funding, such is the scope of interest in their approach). This means they have the technical expertise to be able to help Bright Canopy scale over time, and to offer the kind of delivery speeds users expect (local network vagaries allowing). The company already has a global presence itself, notably utilising Amazon’s backbone, with points of presence across the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.

Initially, Bright Canopy ran using only Frame’s presence in California. Even so, and for many in the USA and Europe, results were impressive. Later, Dublin was added to the mix, offering greatly reduced latency to beta users in Europe.  With the launch on August 29th, Bright Canopy will additionally leverage Frame’s presence on the US East Coast to again enhance the service.

One of the key aspects of Bright Canopy being partnered with Frame is that the latter already has multiple points-of-presence with Amazon around the world - so Bright Canopy can leverage these as global demands requires. At launch, Bright Canopy runs out of California, serving the USA, and Dublin, serving Europe
One of the key aspects of Bright Canopy being partnered with Frame is that the latter already has multiple points-of-presence with Amazon around the world – so Bright Canopy can leverage these as global demands requires. At launch, Bright Canopy runs out of California, serving the USA, and Dublin, serving Europe

The new monthly pricing plan, which will completely replace the hourly plan used during the beta period, has initially been set at US $17.00 a month for the first 90 days. However, Bright Canopy warn that this may be subject to increase – although they hope very much to avoid this.

The problem here is that Bright Canopy is currently being provisioned via Amazon’s Spot Instances. Normally, these are the most cost-effective way to deliver a service, but they have lately been subject to an insane bidding war, resulting in massive price spikes.

This means that Bright Canopy need to watch the situation very carefully, as Bill explained in the launch announcement:

Our early bird price is going to be an experiment for 90 days. If you’ve been following the blog, you know we’ve seen price fluctuations on the back-end, and we still need to watch actual usage of the service. $17 is a sustainable price if the instance costs return to their typical, historical values. It is not a sustainable price with the current spike in instance price. We may need to get creative with how we split instances, or we may need to raise prices. We intend to remain transparent as always and will keep you posted. Our goal is to continue to maintain a sustainable, affordable service.

If a price increase is required, it will be announced when Bright Canopy have had an opportunity to assess the best way forward, and with sufficient time for users to determine how they’d like to proceed.

Continue reading “A Bright Canopy set to open over Second Life and OpenSim” →

2015 viewer release summaries: week 33

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday, August 16th

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

  • Current Release version: 3.8.3.304115, August 18th – formerly the summer maintenance RC download page, release notes
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • No updates.
  • Project viewers:
    • Notifications project viewer updated to  version 3.8.3.304107 on August 13th – new Notifications floater separates incoming notifications into System, Transactions, Invitations, and Group. It provides a better way to view, interact with, prioritize and manage incoming notices for busy residents (download and release notes).

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Kokua  issued a test version -3.8.3.38326 – on Friday, August 14th containing fixes for issues with SL Experiences and includes the My Suitcase support from Cinder Roxley – release notes

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable branch updated to version 1.26.14.4 and the Experimental branch updated to 1.26.15.3, both on August 15th – release notes

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL project updates 33/1: server, viewer, Experiences

Posted on by Inara Pey

Eclectica; Inara Pey, August 2015, on FlickrEclectica August 2015 (Flickr) – blog post

Server Deployments

There was no deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, August 11th, following the lack of an RC deployment in week #32.

The three RC channels *should* get a new server maintenance package on Wednesday, August 12th. Details were still TBD at the time of writing, however, it is thought to be a series of updates aimed at reducing the rick of No Copy inventory item losses due to race conditions occurring between the viewer and server.

SL Viewer

There is not expected to be any viewer promotion this week given the Viewer-Managed Marketplace viewer was promoted in week #32, and both of the active RC viewers were updated to match its code base.

Avatar Complexity (aka Jelly Babies) will hopefully appear in week #33 as a project viewer, as per the Lab's timetable for the project
Avatar Complexity (aka Jelly Babies) will hopefully appear in week #33 as a project viewer, as per the Lab’s timetable for the project

However, it is anticipated that the Avatar Complexity / graphics preset viewer will appear in project viewer during week #33.

This is the viewer which enabled yo to set a rendering cost above which other avatars and their attachments will be rendered at a solid colour (aka “Jelly Babes”) in order to reduce the load on your GPU. It also provide a means by which users can save and restore different sets of graphics settings within the viewer. The idea being that users can then switch between different presets according to circumstance to help with viewer performance.

I provided a high-level overview of this viewer in June 2015, and I’ll be taking a closer look at it once the project viewer is available for people to download and try.  Currently, the main thing apparently preventing the viewer reaching a project release status is that the Lab is making some final adjustments to get the frequency of the Avatar Complexity notifications it sends to users. the viewer is designed to inform those who have avatars with a high rendering cost how many people around them are rendering them as a Jelly Baby, for example, and the balance of these messages need to be reasonable.

The viewer includes the means to create and save sets of graphics presets which can be quickly loaded according to need / circumstance to help maintain a viewer's performance
The viewer includes the means to create and save sets of graphics presets which can be quickly loaded according to need / circumstance to help maintain a viewer’s performance

Experience Keys / Tools

An issue with Experiences is that access to the KVP data store (used to store data and values for an Experience) is currently handled on the same thread in the region and object rezzing. This means that reading / writing from / to the KVP store can be impacted when a region is busy with people rezzing items, etc. Requests have been put to the Lab to move the KVP access to a separate thread, and now he has completely a number of other tasks, Simon Linden is hoping to look into this and get things separated.

In addition, the Lab is mulling options for further Experience Keys / Tools enhancements. Nothing specific has been decided, and the emphasis is that any changes made will be small, rather than anything “massive”. Without the Lab committing itself to any of them, some of the following were suggested for consideration during the Simulator user group meeting on Tuesday, August 11th:

  • Limiting draw distance within an Experience
  • Providing a means to force sit avatars on items, when required
  • Providing a means to force a user into Mouselook at certain points in an Experience and then back out of Mouselook
  • Providing a means to control set the windlight environment and prevent viewer-side overrides.

A problem with ideas like these is that the options are controlled by the viewer, and could theoretically be over-written by the user unless an RLV-like capability was implemented to prevent cheating by a user simply overriding a setting. However, the Lab are poking at ideas, and we might see further updates of some sort appearing in the future to further enhance Experiences.

2015 viewer release summaries: week 32

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday, August 9th

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

  • Current Release version: updates to version 3.8.2.303891 on August 3rd – formerly the Viewer-Managed Marketplace RC (download, release notes)
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Mesh Importer RC viewer updated to version 3.8.3.304090 on August 6th – multiple improvements to the mesh uploader + optional logging (download and release notes)
    • Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 3.8.3.304115 on August 6th – comprising some 50 updates, fixes and features (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Kokua updated to version 3.8.2.36075 on August 7th – core updates: parity to release 3.8.2 of the LL viewer (Viewer-Managed Marketplace) – release notes
  • UKanDo updated to version 3.8.2.28127 on August 3rd – core updates: Viewer-Managed Marketplace release – release notes

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable branch updated to version 1.26.14.3 and the Experimental branch updated to 1.26.15.2, both on August 8th – release notes

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Kokua 3..8.2: new tools build, VMM and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

kokua-logoOn Friday, August 8th, Nicky Perian announced the release Kokua 3.8.2.35975, which brings the popular SL and OpenSim viewer to parity with recent Linden Lab code releases, and includes additional tweaks and fixes from the Kokua team.

The release marks a considerable amount of work under-the-hood for the viewer, which is now built using the new tool chain for both Windows and Mac (with acknowledged thanks to Gavin Hird (aka Dayturn) for his work in getting the latter working). Also with regards to the new tool chain, the viewer has been available in test builds using the new tools for a while, but 3.8.2 marks the first official release.

In all the code updates from the Lab incorporated in this release comprise:

  • Release 3.7.28.300918 – new tool chain
  • Release 3.7.29.301305 – global system layer limit of 60 wearable layers in any combination
  • Release 3.7.30.302599 – DLL update to provide MSVCP100.DLL and MSVCR100.DLL which were missing from the Windows version of the viewer, and as a result causing problems for some users by their absence
  • Release 3.8.0.302622 – Experience Keys / Tools support
  • Release 3.8.1.303130 – Project Big Bird attachment loss fixes
  • Release 3.8.2.303891 – Viewer-Managed Marketplace

Experiences

Kokua 3.8.2 provides the expected floaters and tabs for Second Life Experiences. The main floater is accessed via the View menu. However, there is a slight glitch: when opening an Experience Profile from the list of Allowed Experiences, the viewer opens the Profile, but then displays an error message which suggests it is trying to add the Experience to the grid manager.

Kokua 3.8.2 does throw an error message when viewing an Experience Profile, but this doesn't interfere with things - click OK to clear
Kokua 3.8.2 does throw an error message when viewing an Experience Profile, but this doesn’t interfere with things – click OK to clear

The message doesn’t interfere with accessing Experiences or managing your Allowed / Blocked, etc., Experiences – just click OK to clear it. I’ve reported this issue to Nicky. Other than this, everything I’d expect to work with Experiences worked (albeit it in a rapid-fire test at the Lab’s PlaeoQuest). The expected Join dialogue was display, items attached as expected once permissions had been granted, and permissions were detached and permissions revoked on leaving the game play area.

Viewer-Managed Marketplace

The Marketplace Listing Panel is access via the View menu, and Kokua 3.8.2 completely removes the old Merchant Outbox (which no longer works anyway, following the VVM migration). Again, in a quick trial run using a single, uncomplicated item, I didn’t notice any obvious issues. The Marketplace Listings folder is also correctly hidden within Inventory, and the expected warnings are displayed on attempting to delete anything from the Listings Panel.

Kokua 3.8.2 provides full VMM support to SL users
Kokua 3.8.2 provides full VMM support to SL users

Other Notes

A high-speed flight across Blake Sea yielded a positive result with attachments. I neither parted company with my hair or my feet / shoes throughout – which is pretty much a given for me on any viewer without the fixes after just a couple of crossings. I did part company with my MD-900 somewhere over Dutch Harbor (so apologies if anyone found themselves getting slapped in the back of the head by a fast-moving helicopter!). However, that’s just a fact of Second Life, and not something endemic to Kokua!

There’s no RLV implementation with this release; it will likely be added in a test version in the near future.

As always, please refer to the Kokua release notes for the full list of updates and known issues.

I’ve not put this release through an extensive test; however, the time I have spent using it (roughly 5 hours on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th August), I’ve encountered no issues other than the niggly little error message thrown by Experiences, as notes above.

Congrats to Nicky and all involved on the update, and in getting Kokua shifted to the new build tool chain.

Related Links