Category: SL Tech

SL project updates 44/1: server, viewer, attachment points

Posted on by Inara Pey

Loch Noble, Pinewinds; Inara Pey, October 2015, on Flickr KiLu, Majorca (Flickr) – blog post

Server Deployments – Week #44

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

On Tuesday, October 27th, the Main (SLS) channel received the same  server maintenance package as deployed to the three RC channel in week #43. This comprised server-side improvements for delivering group notice attachments, together with some simulator crash fixes and code to prevent the uploading of “hacked” mesh content (e.g. mesh items which show a LI of 1 no matter what their actual complexity, or which spoof a creator’s name).

On Wednesday, October 28th, the RC channels should be updated as follows:

  • BlueSteel and LeTigre will each receive the same new server maintenance package, comprising a simulator crash fix
  • Magnum will also receive a new server maintenance package, comprising the same simulator crash fix as BlueSteel and LeTigre, together with a fix for a security issue.

SL Viewer

On Monday, October 26th, the Notifications viewer was promoted to the de facto release viewer. Version 3.8.6.305981 comprises the new floater for managing incoming notifications (Group, Transactions, Invitations, System).

The notifications viewer became the de facto release viewer on Monday, October 26th.
The notifications viewer became the de facto release viewer on Monday, October 26th.

Also on Monday, October 26th the HTTP release candidate viewer updated to version 3.8.6.306549, which includes fixes for the following issues:

  • MAINT-4952 Replace old http client usage with llcorehttp
  • MAINT-5283 Viewer doesn’t connect to Facebook
  • MAINT-5693 [Project Azumarill] Avatar often bakes fails on Azumarill
  • MAINT-5732 [Azumarill-RC] Viewer actually crashes when connection is lost instead of disconnecting.
  • MAINT-5780 Viewer crashes when trying to create webprim
  • MAINT-5788 Secondlife has stopped working error, after canceling TOS
  • MAINT-5791 Terms of service are not loading.

Other Items

Rigging Mesh to Attach Points – BUG-10543

In my last project update, I reported on asset upload validation checks, and the Lab’s work to move them from the viewer to the simulator (e.g. checks to ensure animations are what they say they are, further checking of mesh uploads to ensure they can be rendered correctly, etc.). the overall aim is to improve reliability in SL. However, one impact of these changes is that once implemented,  it will no longer be possible to upload mesh items weighted to attach points.

While the Lab  has never regarded this as a supported means of handle mesh attachments, it has nevertheless been widely used by creators in SL. So much so that when Firestorm removed the ability to upload such meshes from their viewer, it caused some consternation (see FIRE-17144).

Once implemented, the change should only affect new uploads of mesh weighted to attachment points, and not affected any items already uploaded and in use within SL. However, a JIRA on the matter has now been raised directly with the Lab on the issue (see BUG-10543), in which creators who use the technique can provide input and use-cases to the Lab on why the approach is used (if you wish to leave a comment, please try to make it constructive and provide examples / reasoned argument, as these work better than rants).

Commenting on the JIRA, Troy Linden has said, “We realise that there will be a lot of residents/assets affected by this and currently looking into it. Sorry for the inconvenience and worries it caused. Please stay tuned.”

Adding to this at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, October 27th, Oz Linden said:

Up until a couple of days ago, we didn’t know anyone was doing it. You’d be amazed how often that happens. So please allow us a little time to digest what we’ve been learning. It’s actually one of the great things about working on SL. While we don’t always love how people apply their creativity, we all just love seeing how creative our users are.

Region Edge Issues

There has been an occasional problem encountered along the edges of simulators in which, when terraforrming and using the Smooth option, a very thin “cliff” can be raised into the air (see BUG-5979), or where when an avatar gets close to a region, it falls  through a “gap” (see BUG-242).

Various reasons have been identified for this – as noted in the bug reports – and at the Simulator User Group meeting, Simon Linden said, “I think I found the cause of those odd region edges you sometimes see, where you can’t move in the areas you think you should at the edge of the land. It’s actually not the navmesh [which had been thought to be one of the possible causes] but it is the physics shape of the land.”

Essentially, the simulator, where no longer connected to a region which might once have been next to it, gets confused as to what it thinks should be alongside it. It then attempts to match the physics and land to what it thinks is in the “neighbouring” region,  rather than simply resetting itself.

Alchemy 3.8.5: skinning and getting under the hood

Posted on by Inara Pey

Alchemy-logoOn Sunday, October 25th, the Alchemy team announced the release of version 3.8.5.36974 of their viewer. This is an update which primarily focuses on a lot of under-the-hood updates and fixes which may not always be obvious to users, but which are intended to further improve viewer stability and improvements. However, it also includes some interesting tweaks as well, of which more below.

As always with any viewer release, please refer to the release notes for details on updates, improvements and fixes, as provided by the development team.

The first noticeable change with this release lies with the version number, which leaps from 3.8.2 from the last release to 3.8.5 – the result of Alchemy (alongside UKanDo and Kokua) pacing the Lab’s version numbers for viewer updates. The idea with this is to make it easier to quickly identify which of the recent releases from the Lab has been merged into a release from any TPV with a matching version number. So in this case, Alchemy is merged-up to the Lab’s 3.8.5 code and the October Maintenance release viewer.

The other major visual change to the viewer with this release is a new skinning option. This allows users to choose the look of the viewer UI skin, and to create their own skins, which they can use on their own or share with others, marking alchemy as the latest viewer to offer support for custom skins.

The option can be found under Preferences > Skinning, and as the release notes indicate, the viewer currently includes just two options at present, in order to keep the install size down: Alchemy’s own dark skin (default) and the Lab’s classic V3 viewer skin.  However, the release notes appear to suggest that further skins may be added to the viewer – or perhaps made available for download through the alchemy website – in due course. There will also apparently be a guide produced, offering users instructions on making their own skins.

The Skinning option, new with Alchemy 3.8.5 allows the use of custom UI skins with the viewer
The Skinning option, new with Alchemy 3.8.5 allows the use of custom UI skins with the viewer

Using a skin simply requires selecting it from the list of available options, clicking the Apply button and then confirming your selection by clicking on Yes in the follow-up dialogue box. Restarting the viewer will then apply the selected skin.

Other Updates

The Alchemy 3.8.5 refresh option allows you to refresh textures / meshes worn by yourself or other avatars
The Alchemy 3.8.5 refresh option allows you to refresh textures / meshes worn by yourself or other avatars

As well as the above, the 3.8.5 release of Alchemy includes:

  • libcurl 7.45.0, boost 1.59, the replacement of C++11 with C++14
  • ALCH-312 – a Refresh option has been added to assist with loading avatar mesh and textures
  • ALCH-278 – the Group list (CTRL-SHIFT-G) now includes an “eye” icon to show if the group can be viewed in your Profile (icon shown) or is hidden (icon not shown) – groups are hidden through the Group Profile floater, as usual
  • ALCH-270 – a message logger and builder for packet and message inspection for debugging and fixing OpenSim. This feature will be locked to developer builds
  • ALCH-297 – the Fast Timers legend is now scrollable by the scroll wheel
  • ALCH-290 – the Destination Guide now updates when teleporting between OpenSim grids
  • Numerous bug fixes and many under-the-hood changes.

There is still no RLV support for Alchemy with this release, which may disappoint some. However, what is there makes for a useful update, and ensures Alchemy stays on par with the Lab’s continuing run of updates and additions to the official viewer.

Related Links

2015 viewer release summaries: week 43

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, October 25th

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: 3.8.5.305531- no change  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):
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer updated to version 3.8.6.305942 on October 19 – provides the new Avatar Complexity options and the new graphics preset capabilities for setting, saving and restoring graphic settings for use in difference environments / circumstances (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Alchemy updated to version 3.8.5.36974 on October 25th – core updates: parity with LL 3.8.5 code base, new skinning capability, libcurl 7.45.0, boost 1.59 – release notes

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No Updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL project updates 43/2: TPV Developer meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey

Belleck House; Inara Pey, Oct 2015, on FlickrBelleck House, Oct 2015 (Flickr) – blog post

The following notes are primarily taken from the TPV Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, October 23rd, 2015. A video of the meeting is included at the end of this report, and time stamps to it are provided. My thanks as always to North for the video recording and providing it for embedding.

Deploys for Week #43  – Recap

There was no deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, October 20th. On Wednesday, October 21st, all three RCs should receive the same new server maintenance package, which include server-side improvements for delivering group notice attachments, together with some simulator crash fixes and code to prevent the uploading of “hacked” mesh content (e.g. mesh items which show a LI of 1 no matter what their actual complexity, or which spoof a creator’s name).

SL Viewers

[00:00] There have been no further updates to the SL viewer currently at RC or project status since the update to the Quick Graphics RC, which I covered in part 1 of this week’s report.

It still appears as if the next RC that will be promoted to a de facto release status will be the Notifications RC viewer (currently version 3.8.6.305981), although this won’t be confirmed until the start of week #44.

[00:37] As previously noted, the Quick Graphics and HTTP viewers still have some problems which need to be addressed before either one can proceed forward to release status. So except to see further RC updates to both of these in due course.

[00:54] The Chromium Embedded Framework project viewer is getting some good public testing, and is expected to get some “fairly frequent” updates.

[01:05] The Oculus Rift viewer currently isn’t being worked on, as attention is focused on the other viewers in the various pipelines. However, it is hoped work will resume “pretty soon”.

[01:20] There are further bug fixes and updates in progress, including some fixes for some minor regressions in the current release viewer, and these are getting fast-tracked and will be appearing in a further Maintenance RC in due course.

[15:00] It is likely that when the next release viewer promotion takes place (Notifications viewer), the Lab will block a series of much older versions of their viewer, but not the Obsolete Platforms viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, which they still plan to have available until such time as it simply stops working – although it should be remembered this viewer is already regarded as unsupported by the Lab.

Grid Status Page RSS Feed

[01:58]  In week #31 I reported that the Lab are working to update the Grid Status page RSS feed from RSS version 1 to RSS version 2. As existing web pages, etc., using the feed may need to be adjusted to accept the updated feed format, a proxy URL (http://beta.status.secondlifegrid.net/feed) has been available for testing purposes. It now appears that the switch will be thrown very soon to make the new version 2 RSS feed the default.

Inventory Updates

[02:15] As per  the Lab’s recent SL improvements blog post, the first set of viewer-side updates aimed at improving inventory reliability are being queued up ready to appear in the project viewer. however, these are unlikely to appear before the HTTP updates currently in RC reach a release status. Once the viewer-side changes appear, the Lab will start work on deprecating the outdated inventory messages which are no longer required on the simulator side.

Server-side Upload Checks  for Assets

[02:50] As a part of their overall work in trying to improve reliability within second Life, the Lab is looking to add further server-side checks to ensure viewers aren’t attempting to do anything the simulators aren’t equipped to handle, or which may cause unintended issues or outcomes, etc., for users.

This work will see the introduction of further validation checking on various asset types at upload. An example of this might be checks to ensure animations are what they say they are, further checking of mesh uploads to ensure they can be rendered correctly, etc.

[08:00] In particular with mesh, a simulator check is to be introduced to prevent the upload of mesh items weighted to all attachment points. There has been a viewer-side check designed to prevent such mesh items from being uploaded, which will in future be enforced simulator side. Existing content weighted in this way should not be “broken”, appearance-wise; but the simulator check will ensure such meshes cannot be uploaded (see FIRE-17144 for further details).

Attachment Point Validation

[04:20] Alongside the above, the Lab will be looking to introduce simulator-side attachment point validation checks. Right now, it is possible to have the viewer attach items to an avatar using points with are not correctly defined on the avatar skeleton.  This can result in other viewers showing the item randomly attached to the avatar (or possibly floating nearby – for those with long memories, think of the Emerald “attachment tail” which multiple attachments were introduced on that viewer without adequate simulator support).

To prevent this, the Lab are looking to enforce the recognised attachment points simulator-side, so that any attachments using an incorrect attach point will be mapped to a defined attachment point, and moved there. This work will be carried out incrementally, and will initially offer the changes to Aditi to allow for testing.

Other Items

Firestorm is now in Feature Freeze in preparation for the next release, which is now undergoing testing. Assuming no major blockers are uncovered, the next release should be available in November. This will be up-to-date with the Lab’s current release viewer (3.8.5.305531 – Maintenance release), and may included some additional items cherry-picked from upstream of that release. However, it is unlikely to have the new notifications updates, HTTP, Quick Graphics, etc.

Firestorm Halloween Hunt to open Gateway

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Firestorm Gateway regions: setting for a special Spooky Hunt, but merchant assistance sought
The Firestorm Gateway regions: setting for a special Spooky Hunt, but merchant assistance sought

Firestorm will be opening their new Gateway regions to the public on Saturday, October 31st, with both a special Halloween party and the launch of their Spooky Nights Hunt, which will run through until Monday, November 30th.

The Firestorm Gateway is one of up to 20 new Community Gateways which will soon be opening as a part of a trial of a new Community Gateway programme initiated by the Lab, and  which I previewed back in September.

The idea is to allow communities and groups within Second Life to build their own gateways focused on bringing new users into Second Life and to help get them started. These gateways will include web pages to attract new users to them, which will include a registration API to allow those users to sign-up to SL and create and account without necessarily having to go through the central registration process at secondlife.com.

While the hunt isn't focused on encouraging new users into Second Life, the Firstorm Gateway regions, once officially opened, are itentded to help incoming users gain familiar with SL, gain support, and experience some of the activities to be found in-world, such as socialising, flying, boating and - as shown here - scuba diving
The Firestorm Gateway regions, once officially opened, are intended to help incoming users gain familiar with SL, gain support, and experience some of the activities to be found in-world, such as socialising, flying, boating, playing games, and – as shown here – scuba diving and underwater exploring

The Firestorm party and Spooky Nights hunt do not mark the official opening of the new Gateway programme as a whole – the Lab will hopefully be announcing this is due course. However, they do present the opportunity for Second Life users to explore the Firestorm Gateway regions, five of which will be featured in the hunt, which will also serve as the first event designed to attract new users to Second Life via Firestorm’s website.

A special stage area has been created for the party on October 31st, which will feature Mankind Tracer and Nance Brody, among others. There will be more details on this announced by the Firestorm team in due course.

The Firestorm Gateway regions also include areas suitable for intdoucing people to role-play, etc. - and you can explore them once the Spooky Hunt opens on October 31st
The Firestorm Gateway regions also include areas suitable for introducing people to role-play, etc. – and you can explore them once the Spooky Hunt opens on October 31st

The Spooky Nights Hunt will take place across the five activity regions of the Gateway, and it is hoped it will provide fun and interaction for both established and new users. Right now, and in support of the hunt, the Firestorm team are reaching out to Merchants who are willing to provide goodies as hunt prizes, with Jessica Lyon, the Firestorm project manager noting:

Although it is a Halloween hunt, the hunt remains open after Halloween. You can make a spooky gift or not.

If you are a Merchant interested in supporting the hunt, please hop over the Firestorm website and the Spooky Hunt application page for further information.

As well as participating in the hunt, newcomers and visitors will be able to explore all six of the Firestorm Gateway regions, which include an orientation region for people new to Second Life and a social area where people can meet and interact (and where questions on using Second Life can be answered). In addition, they’ll be able to participate in any of the activities offered across the regions. These are designed to present a broad feel for the things people can enjoy in Second Life, and include fly aircraft, sailing, jet skiing, scuba diving, playing games, etc. In addition, they can explore a simple role-play environment, or use the sandbox area to learn the basics of building.

The Firestorm Gateway opening will focus on a Halloween party of Saturday, October 31st, followed by a month-long Spooky Nights Hunt in the 5 activity regions of the Gateway

The Firestorm Gateway opening will focus on a Halloween party of Saturday, October 31st, followed by a month-long Spooky Nights Hunt in the 5 activity regions of the Gateway

One of the most important aspects of any Community Gateway is providing volunteers who are willing to spend time in-world providing help and support for new users as they arrive. If you would be interested in supporting the Firestorm Gateway by becoming a mentor there, please send a note card with your name and relevant background information (e.g. whether you have been a mentor in the past, experience in helping newcomers and users, etc.), to Jessica Lyon.

To keep up to date with preparations for the party and the hunt, as well as with further news on the Firestorm Gateway, keep an eye on the Firestorm website. I’ll hopefully have more news on the Gateway programme itself as it is announced by the Lab and / or more Gateways come on-line.

If you are participating in the Gateway trial programme, and would like your Gateway to be previewed in this blog, please use the contact form to drop me a line, or contact me in-world.

SL project updates 43/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

WOD: Chateau Village; Inara Pey, October 2015, on Flickr WOD: Château Village (Flickr) – blog post

Deploys for Week #43

There was no deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, October 20th.

On Wednesday, October 21st, all three RCs should receive the same new server maintenance package, which include server-side improvements for delivering group notice attachments, which is hoped will provide some improvements to issues of trying to open such attachments from the group notice notifications.

The update also includes some simulator crash fixes, and while not advertised in the release notes, should also include simulator-side code to prevent the uploading of “hacked” mesh content (e.g. mesh items which show a LI of 1 no matter what their actual complexity, or which spoof a creator’s name).

As usual, updates can be found in the server deployment thread.

SL Viewer

The Quick Preferences RC viewer was updated to version 3.8.6.305942 on October 19th, most likely bringing it up to parity with the current release viewer.

Commenting on the status of the current RC viewers during the open Source Developer’s meeting on Monday, October 19th and in relation to any possible viewer promotion in week #44, Oz Linden said, “The Quick Graphics viewer has too many bugs to promote; mostly minor, but there’s no reason to go forward with it yet. HTTP has a couple of significant bugs to fix. So if I had to bet on the next promotion I’d guess the Notifications viewer.”

Expect more news on viewers following the TPVD meeting on Friday, October 23rd.

Other Items

A question was asked during the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, October 20th about making script time for in-world objects in a parcel available to the parcel holder (e.g. an extension of the region-wide Top Scripts functionality available to region / estate owners / managers). The idea here being to help parcel owners better understand how in-world objects within their parcel might be impacting simulator resources (see this forum thread and SCR-60 as well).

Commenting on the idea, Simon Linden said:

Since we send it to the viewer already, you have access to the info … You can probably get some of that info by scanning but I can see it would be a lot easier to get that in a different format. One of the limits (I’m sure you all know) of LSL is it’s not good with large data sets, so I’m not sure how you can expose that info for a large number of items … so maybe the top 10 or 25 objects on a given parcel? I can totally see the need for that to manage land.

… HUDs and attachments add a twist to it … they would probably be lumped together with the AV as they are now. I wonder if it would be easy to add something like PARCEL_SCRIPT_TIME to llGetParcelDetials()? that doesn’t give you what you want, but is a higher level for finding the parcels with the most scripts.

Those looking for such a capability are advised to raise a JIRA feature request.