Category: SL Tech

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 20

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday May 18th, 2014

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 viewer release: update to version 3.7.7.289461- No change
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 3.7.8.289922 on May 12th – core updates: multiple fixes to Mac viewer; fixes in Recent tab, Chat, LSL editor, land management, etc; GPU table updates; crash fixes & performance improvements (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No Updates

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Black Dragon updated to version 2.3.9.8 on  May 16th – core updates: major UI changes; SL Share 2; new Snapshot floater design; Motion Blur is enabled by default (release notes)
  • CtrlAltStudio updated to version 1.2.1.41167 on May 12th – core updates: Xbox 360 controller support (release notes) – review

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer updated on May 17th, as follows: Stable: version 1.26.12.1; Legacy: version 1.26.8.59 – core updates: please refer to the release notes (downloads)

Mobile / Other Clients

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL projects updates 20/2: server, group bans

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments Week 20 – Recap

There was only one server channel deployment in week 20, which went to the Magnum RC.

This was a new sever maintenance project deployed on Wednesday May 14th, which included a bug fix for a networking-related issue that sometimes affects busy sims, which Maestro Linden described as, “busy sim hosts would suddenly run into a bunch of networking issues, where you’d see failures creating inventory, accessing capabilities, etc.” The problem can also apparently affect LSL email registration for receiving email from outside the region, causing it to break without automatic recovery.

Maestro indicated that the Lab has a hotfix for regions reporting the problems (although that number appears to be low) which involves a configuration change for the sim host, but the update deployed to Magnum (and which will obviously progress to the other sever channels) has this config change set by default.

SL Viewer

There have been no further updates to any of the SL viewers currently in the release channel or available as project viewers.  Releases are as per my Current Viewer Releases page.

Group Bans

The group ban work is inching closer to the main grid. However, it’ll still be another couple of weeks (ish) before anything visible is seen as far as this capability is concerned. As noted in week 19, the Lab will be deploying things cautiously, with an initial back-end host code update being undertaken first, prior to anything being seen on the simulator channels.

“We’re just running some final tests at this point; the server which runs the group ban service also provides some other services, and we want to check that those didn’t break,” Maestro Linden informed the Server Beta User Group on Thursday May 15th.

He went on, “After the back-end is out, we’ll want to give it a few days to verify that nothing broke because we don’t want to roll back the backend service after group ban is on server RC.”

This probably means it’ll be another couple of weeks before the server-side code appears on a server RC channel. The plan is that when that happens, a formal project viewer with the viewer-side group ban code will appear for public use.

When formal deployment to one more simulator RCs does commence, it is important to remember that until the server-code has been fully deployed across the main grid, the group ban functionality will only work as advertised on those servers / simulators / regions which have the necessary server-side code. It therefore may appear to give unpredictable results.

For example, you will only be able to effectively ban people from you group when the viewer is connected to a server supporting group bans (although they do not need to also be using the group ban viewer in order to be banned). Also, even when someone is banned from your group, they could successfully rejoin it from any simulator / region which does not have the server-side code deployed to it (leading to further confusion as they’ll appear in both your group members list and your group ban list).

Obviously, these issues will go away once the server-side code is fully deployed across the main grid. However, until such time as that has been achieved, people should be aware they may encounter what appear to be “issues” with the functionality simply because it isn’t available right across the grid.

More information will be posted on this when the project viewer surfaces and the code has been made available of a server-side RC.

SL projects updates 20/1: server, viewer, LSL and materials

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments, Week 20

There was no Main channel deployment or rolling restart on Tuesday May 13th, and neither the BlueSteel or the LeTigre RC channels will receive an update or should undergo a restart on Wednesday May 14th.

The Magnum RC should receive a new sever maintenance project on Wednesday May 14th, which includes a bug fix for a networking-related issue that sometimes affects busy sims.

SL Viewer Updates

The SL Maintenance viewer was updated on Monday May 12th to version 3.7.8.289922. This viewer includes multiple fixes to Mac viewer; fixes in Recent tab, Chat, LSL editor, land management, etc; GPU table updates; crash fixes & performance improvements.

LSL Functions for Materials

The subject of scripted control for materials was once again raised at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday May 13th. Commenting on the matter, Simon Linden said:

I am looking at it but not promising anything. We’re trying to be really careful to understand how the server and viewers will react when stressed with a lot of material churn. From what I can tell, fast-moving material-based animation will not work well … that’s likely to be throttled or blocked somehow. But supporting something like a hud or other control that could adjust the look of an object … where it’s done rarely … is definitely possible.

As noted the last time this subject was raised, there are concerns over how LSL control of materials might impact system performance, either deliberately (via rapid and multiple flipping of maps, hence Simon’s comment on throttling the speed at which changes could be made), or unintentionally, such as using them with objects which may already have a large performance impact (such as animated mesh tails).

During the meeting, there was discussion on options for animating normal and diffuse maps, remembering that they can already be animated in lockstep with their attendant texture (diffuse) map. During this discussion, Simon commented on some of the difficulties in animating  materials independently of the texture map:

The materials LSL support would include changing the offset, repeat and rotation values for the two maps, just like for regular textures. The update problem hits if you look at the way materials have been optimised between the server and viewer and how updates are sent. Materials are referred to by a number ID … so you get updates that say “this face has material 1234” on it, the viewer, if it doesn’t know what 1234 is, has to ask the server.

Now, if you change the offset … you have a new material 34356, the viewer has to again find out what that is, but this time it already has the actual specular and normal maps, so no download there.  And when you switch back to 1234, it has all the info and can draw it faster.

Summing-up the situation in general, Simon concluded, “I hope there will be something to play with eventually on the beta grid … we’ll probably want to experiment there and figure out what kind of limits are effective.”

CtrlAltStudio 1.2.1: Xbox 360 Controller support

Posted on by Inara Pey

CAS-logo Update, May 25th: Dave has released an update to the Windows version of CtrlAltStudio 1.2.1 to correct some issues with the controller not being recognised by the viewer. The updated version is 1.2.1.41169, available from the same CtrlAltStudio blog post as linked to in this article.

On Monday May 12th, Dave Rowe (Strachan Ofarrel in SL) released CtrlAltStudio version 1.2.1.41169 (Win) and 1.2.1.41167 (Mac). This brings with it a number of fixes and updates, and sees CtrlAltStudio maintain parity with the Firestorm 4.6.5, which appeared on Sunday May 11th. Most intriguingly, it includes support for the Xbox 360 controller, which appears to be aimed at reducing reliance on the keyboard for a range of tasks when wearing an Oculus Rift headset (although it is by no means constrained to just that use).

The release is for both Windows and Mac, and it is strongly recommended that a clean install is performed.

Xbox 360 Controller Support

CtrlAltStudio 1.2.1401169/67 allows you to use the Xbox 360 Controller to walk, fly, use flycam, orbit about points in 3rd person view, click on objects and use context menus with objects. It works in 3rd person view and Mouselook and can be used with normal, stereoscopic 3D, and Oculus Rift display output. However, please note that so far, this has only been tested on a Windows system.

By default, the controls are configured as follows:

Xbox 360 Controller buttons
Back: Toggle flycam on/off
Start: Toggle Left / Right Sticks between avatar & cursor movement
Avatar Movement Cursor Movement
Left Stick: Move forward / back / left / right Cursor up / down / left / right
Right  Stick: Change camera pitch and roll Zoom view
Left + Right Stick Fly down / up No Action
Back + Start: Toggle Rift or 3D stereoscopic 3D on/off
Left Stick click: Jump up / stop flying
Right Stick click: Toggle 1st person view
Left / Right Bumpers: Left or right mouse click (configurable by user)
Y button: Escape
X button: Control
B button: Shift
A button: Alt
D-pad: Not used

Once connected to your computer, the Xbox 360 Controller should be calibrated (e.g. by using the device’s properties provided via Windows’ Devices and Printers folder). It can then be enabled for use with SL by launching CtrlAltStudio 1.2.1 and enabling the controller via Preferences > Move & View > Movement > Enable Joystick and then using the Joystick Configuration button to configure it for SL.

Enable the Xbox 360 Controller and configure it as you would any joystick controller, via the Joystick Configuration options
Enable the Xbox 360 Controller and configure it as you would any joystick controller, via the Joystick Configuration options

Note that the settings displayed in the Joystick Configuration panel are not those supplied by LL; they have been adjusted to provide defaults specific to the Xbox 360 Controller.

Other Notable Updates

As well as the Xbox 360 support and parity with Firestorm 4.6.5 (reviewed here), this release of CtrlAltStudio also includes the following (again, please refer to the release notes for a full list of updates & any specific credits for them):

  • Fixed crashing with stereoscopic 3D display over HDMI when Set Output to 120Hz is checked
  • Fixed start-up in full screen overriding current display resolution so that can reliably use 720p stereoscopic 3D on a 1080p display
  • Fixed problems dragging physical objects
  • “Set output to 120Hz” display option only enabled on Windows, as it’s not used on other operating systems
  • Changed the minimum draw distance from 32m to 8m
  • Exiting flycam while in Riftlook  no longer causes the camera to start moving to the right
  • Improved the tool tips in the Rift display preferences
  • Avatar jumping at less than maximum walk speeds fixed.

I don’t actually have an Xbox system (360 or otherwise), so I cannot say how the controller works. However, Dave notes that BillyBob Snowpaw did a considerable amount of testing, so those with a controller shouldn’t experience anything untoward happening.

With Linden Lab continuing to work on the Oculus Rift integration. Given the problems inherent with using that HMD with a keyboard, it’s good to see that other options are being looked at by TPVs. while the Xbox Controller won’t help with typing, it would certainly appear to make avatar / camera / cursor movement a lot easier when used in combination with an HMD, and even with stereoscopic glasses.

Related Links

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 19

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday May 11th, 2014

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 viewer release: update to version 3.7.7.289461 (formerly the Interest list RC – improvements to how the viewer and server work together to know what scene objects to draw) on May 6th (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):
  • Project viewers:
    • No Updates

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Catznip updated to version R9 on May 9th – core updates: CHUI integration, materials processing support, initial overhaul of Preferences floater; improved camera / movement floaters; profile display updates;  bug fixes;  and more  (release notes) – review here
  • Firestorm updated to version 4.6.5.40833 on May 11th – core updates: Vivox 4.6.x; FmodEx updates & fixes; Fitted Mesh fixes; Mac Cocoa fixes; OpenSim updates; building & scripting updates; communications updates and fixes; bug fixes; and more   (release notes) – review here

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer updated on May 10th, as follows: Stable: version 1.26.12.0; Legacy: version 1.26.8.58 – core updates: please refer to the release notes (downloads)

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Lumiya updated to version 2.6.0 on May 9th – core updates: Fitted Mesh support; Request Teleport; Support for selecting avatars in 3D by touch; significant 3D performance improvements; reduced memory footprint; improved bandwidth usage  (release notes) – review here

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Firestorm 4.6.5: steady as she goes

Posted on by Inara Pey

firestorm-logoOn Sunday May 11th, the Firestorm team released Firestorm 4.6.5.40833. Given this release comes just two months after the 4.6.1 release, it does not have a huge raft of new shiny. What it does offer is a nice package of new features and updates, together with a fair few bug fixes from both the Lab and the Firestorm team.

As always, the complete list of changes, together with attributions, can be found in the release notes, and I refer readers to that document for specifics on all contributors, FIRE JIRA links, etc. The following is intended as an overview of some of the more major / interesting changes, updates and  fixes to be found in the release.

The Before We Begin Notes

  • Downloading – a reminder: while the Firestorm download server performed perfectly for the 4.6.1 release, please remember it is the only server handling downloads. So in the unlikely event you encounter delays or a slow download, please be patient / consider re-trying a little later
  • Version blocking: Jessica informs me that there are no plans to block any older Firestorm versions following this release
  • Installation: as always, a completely clean install of the viewer is recommended.

Lab Updates

This release sees Firestorm reach parity with LL’s 3.7.4 code-base, and add a number of fixes and updates from the Lab, including (but not limited to):

  • Vivox 4.6.x updates
  • Advanced Lighting Model can no longer be enabled for Mac OSX 10.6.8 as Mac OSX 10.6.8 is no longer supported by Linden lab (The ability to enable ALM on 10.6.8 was removed because it caused rendering glitches when enabled)
  • Fix for huge amounts of memory being used & viewer crashing when opening large chat histories from the conversation log
  • Fix for BUG-5537, introduced as a result of changes made to the avatar_lad.xml for Fitted Mesh. These changes caused a non-rigged mesh attachment object worn on the chest attachment point shape to look fine in the wearer’s view whereas anyone else it would appear as if the wearer’s chest was showing through the clothing item
  • Fix for crash when editing certain rigged meshes at high altitude
  • Fix for crash when uploading corrupt .DAE file (BUG-4961)
  • Fix for BUG-997,terrain texture changes caused by changing texture elevation ranges or terraforming can not be seen until after relog or teleporting out and back to the region
  • Fix for a suspected thread race crasher in the FmodEx library.

A Note on Interest List Updates

The recent LL viewer-side interest list updates are not a part of the Firestorm 4.6.5 release. As noted elsewhere in this blog, the interest list code is a non-trivial merge due to the extent of changes included alongside of the core interest list updates. It’ll therefore take a little longer for this work to appear in Firestorm.

Building and Scripting Updates

Firestorm 4.6.5 see the Build options in Preferences revised, with two Build sub-tabs (Build 1 and Build 2) under Preferences > Firestorm.

The revised Build-1 sub-tab in Preferences > Firestorm
The revised Build-1 sub-tab in Preferences > Firestorm

Build 1 (above) contains the options for setting defaults for all newly created prims (size, settings, texture, permissions and pivot point) and the LSL pre-processor options.

The Build 2 sub-tab contains the six check-boxes (Save Scripts Edited from Inventory to Mono, Save Textures from Inventory to Disk as PNG Instead of TGA by Default, etc, which had been in the previous Build sub-tab). It also contains four new options.

The new Build 2 sub-tab in Preferences > Firestorm
The new Build 2 sub-tab in Preferences > Firestorm

The new options are:

  • Limit select distance (meters) – disallows selection of objects beyond the specified selection distance from your avatar
  • Limit drag distance (meters) – when enabled, this limits the translation distance of objects in a single operation of the translate tool (metres from start point)
  • Constrain rotations to multiples of X degrees, when not using ‘snap to grid’ – all rotations via the rotation tool are constrained to multiples of this unit (degrees)
  • Preview animations on own avatar during upload – when enabled, you can preview animations during the upload process on your own avatar instead of on the avatar dummy in the upload window.

Firestorm 4.6.5 also includes the following build related items:

  • An option to prevent avatar from turning to selected object when editing (Preferences > Move & View > Firestorm > Turn Avatar Towards a Selected Object)
  •  A fix so that when previewing an animation for uploading it (in paused mode), moving the track of the slider will now correctly change the displayed frame of the animation.

Communications Updates

There are a number of new options for communications with this release, together with a number of fixes. The new features include:

voice-warn
The new multiple voice instances option should enable you to run voice on multiple viewer instances on the same computer & without generating warnings like this
  • An option to allow voice to connect in multiple viewer instances simultaneously (Preferences > Sound and Media > Voice Settings), allowing you to run voice on multiple viewer instances, and without seeing the connection warning pop-up message (shown right)
  • An option to hear voice equally from everyone, rather than being dependent upon either avatar position or camera placement. This is a useful addition for meetings, etc., where attendees may be located at difference distances from your avatar / camera position, thus impacting voice quality when they are speaking.
The new voice options in Preferences > Sound and Media > Voice Settings
The new voice options in Preferences > Sound and Media > Voice Settings
  • A new option has been added to enable the full profile of an avatar to be opened when clicking on an inspect SLurl (Preferences > Firestorm > General > Open Avatar Profile Directly When Clicking on its Name).

Continue reading “Firestorm 4.6.5: steady as she goes” →