Category: SL Tech

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 5

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: February 2nd, 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 Viewer Round-up 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
  • By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
  • The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
  • The Viewer Round-up Page also 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.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: no change (version 3.6.13.284995, formerly the PackageFix RC)
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Fitted Mesh RC updated on January 27th to version 3.7.0.285669 – core updates: latest updates to the Fitted Mesh project (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • No updates

V1-style

  • Cool VL:
    • Available for: Windows, Linux
    • Stable version: 1.26.10.9 – February 1st
    • Experimental version: 1.26.11.9 – February 1st
    • Legacy version: 1.26.8.46 – February 1st
    • Release notes (all) – core updates: backports from Singularity incl. fix for crash on mesh uploads, an NVIDIA-specific optimisation to vertex buffers handling, fix for issues with animations using the Avatar Center joint, additional “minor” fixes and optimisations; OpenSim updates, incl: InWorldz crash fix when using Edit > contents > New Script, Kitely login URI updated, fix for rezzed objects edited scripts not being saved; backport of LL’s Quicktime media plugin improvement; assorted fixes and optimisations
  • Singularity updated on Tuesday January 28th to version 1.8.5.5617 – core updates: Fitted Mesh support; HTTP updates; new “mouse move” capability; significant updates and improvements to graphics and rendering; underwater shadows; Mouselook and camera placement improvements; numerous fixes and enhancements (release notes)

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL projects updates 5/2: viewer, GPU table, Rift, Leap Motion

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments: week 5 recap

  • On Tuesday January 28th, the Main channel received the server maintenance project previously on the three RC channels, which contains a single fix for a crash mode.
  • On Wednesday January 29th, all three RC channels received a new server maintenance project, which includes a crash mode fix and a fix for llModifyLand() modifying the wrong location in region, when called in a child prim – see part one of this report for further details.

SL Viewer Updates

The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting of Friday January 31st, a video of which is included below. My thanks, as ever, to North for the latter.

Fitted Mesh

As noted in part one of this report, a new version of the Fitted Mesh viewer arrived in the release channel as an RC on Monday January 27th. Version 3.7.0.285669 includes a number of fixes, included a hoped-for resolution for FITMESH-6 and FITMESH-20. However, there is an issue with the fix, as reported by Latif Khalifa of the Singularity team, and which the Lab has confirmed.  The viewer will therefore have a further RC update in week 6 (week commencing Monday 3rd February).  If the new RC proves stable and reliable, then the Fitted Mesh viewer will be looked at as a contender to go to release status.

Interest List

Despite having been reported as having a much improved crash rate, the Interest List RC, version: 3.6.14.285213 released on January 14th, still appears to be reporting higher than expected crashes. The Lab is not 100% convinced the crash measurements are correct, and they may be measuring high. This is being poked at, but means in the interim the viewer will remain an RC.

HTTP Viewer

The HTTP RC viewer, version 3.6.14.285253 released on January 16th, is performing well and now stands as the strongest contender for the next promotion to the de facto release viewer.

Maintenance Viewer and GPU Table

The Maintenance viewer, version 3.6.14.285499 released on January 23rd has generated interest due to the inclusion of MAINT-3131 “Death to GPU Table”.

Essentially, the GPU table is used to define your graphics card to the viewer and the default graphics settings which are applied as a result when you first start the viewer. As many will be aware, the GPU table is manually maintained, and as a result is not a very effective mechanism for managing GPU evolution.

MAINT-3131 is part of ongoing work which the Lab hopes will eventually eliminate the GPU table. Discussing the work, Oz said:

The idea is to do two things: ask the [graphics] driver [on a local system] what version of OpenGL it supports, and use whatever capabilities that can be relied on to find that out;  and then to measure the performance of the GPU by doing a series of memory bandwidth tests. Basically copying big blocks of video memory back and forth a few times and seeing how long it takes. The theory is that it ends up being at least as good a predictor of what the GPU is capable of as we’re currently getting by the guesses in the GPU table, and maybe better.

The code linked to MAINT-3131 is believed to be the code needed to carry out the memory bandwidth tests (and likely recording the results), the idea being that it can be monitored to note how well it measures the performance of things the Lab believe they understand, and see if it handles them more effectively / efficiently. Should this work proceed the way the Lab hopes, then the hope is the GPU table can be removed from the viewer in the future.  It is thought that the bandwidth testing, which will likely only take place when or shortly after the viewer has launched (and then only after the GPU identifier string has changed), will be a “pretty good proxy” for measuring a GPU’s performance a GPU compared to just asking the OpenGL driver what it can do.

Continue reading “SL projects updates 5/2: viewer, GPU table, Rift, Leap Motion” →

Singularity 1.8.5: Fitted Mesh, “mouse move” and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

singularityThe Singularity team have issued a new release of their viewer – version 1.8.5.5617 – which brings with it a host of new features, options, additions and fixes. There’s quite a lot packed into the release, so this is another overview of the updates, rather than an in-depth review.

Fitted Mesh

With this release, Singularity now supports Fitted Mesh. Reading FITMESH-6,  I believe I’m correct in saying this release includes the fixes from Runitai Linden which addresses those issues and FITMESH-20, although there may be a couple of outstanding points in the fixes.

Sadly, I can’t test the viewer against the fitted mesh test articles the Lab supplied to me in order to preview the release of the original project viewer as I, um, managed to accidentally delete said assets *cough* …

“Mouse Move” and Additional Mouselook Options

I emphasise “mouse move” is my term, not that of the Singularity crew, although it pretty aptly describes the function. Most people are probably familiar with the fact that we can left-clicking and holding the button down, it is possible to turn our avatar. In Singularity, it is now possible to point to your avatar, left-click (and hold) the left mouse button and then right-click (and hold) the right mouse button, move around.

This may sound odd, given the various ways avatar movement can already be achieved, but as I use a trackball, I have to say I found it particularly effective in moving around (although fingers did tend to get a little tired when moving for extended periods, but that’s more to do with the position of my trackball, rather than a problem with the implementation. I can see the option potentially being useful when moving around game / combat environments and when used with “worn” means of transportation.

Mouselook Options

Version 1.8.5 includes the ability to select which parts of the UI to show when in Mouselook. The options are floaters, menu bar and notices and can be toggled on / of via check boxes in Preferences > Input & Camera >UI Hidden in Mouselook. Note that checking items means they will not appear in Mouselook.

Select which UI elements you wish to hide / se when in Mouselook
Select which UI elements you wish to hide / se when in Mouselook

Also, when operating in Mouselook, you can now ALT-Tab  between Singularity and other open applications and back without getting thrown out of ML.

Camera Updates

There are a couple of very useful camera updates with this release:

  • Allow alt-camming and terrain parcel selection from farther away, easing tasks such as partitioning regions and zooming around
  • A Reset Camera Preset Angle to Default option has been added to the View menu for undoing changes made to camera angle by CTRL and/or SHIFT+scrolling. In relations to this, the release notes additionally state: option to change camera angle through this method is now off by default, and that if your camera angle had been messed up in the last release, this option can spare you a full reset

Underwater Shadows

Merfolk and those into underwater exploration can now have their time beneath the waves enhanced as  Singularity will now render shadows underwater (requires ALM and shadows to be enabled via Preferences > Graphics).

Underwater shadows
Underwater shadows

Rendering  / Graphics Updates

This release sees some significant updates to rendering / graphics, including:

  • Fixes to shader compilation problems and standards compliance issues
  • Enhanced support for Intel GPUs on Linux
  • Enhanced support for Nvidia cards (NVAPI) which among other things allows automatic use of discrete GPU in dual GPU systems
  • SSAO separated into its own shader allowing speed optimization by running it at a lower-than-native framebuffer resolution
  • Several improvements to the performance of the rendering engine.

Other Bits

The release also sees:

  • Support added for the new LSL linkset scaling functions (: llScaleByFactor, llGetMinScaleFactor, and llGetMaxScaleFactor)
  • Improved performance of glow and ribbon capabilities
  • Ability to display cost per sq. m. for parcels on sale on the map
  • Ability to resize the Appearance floater.

There are also a number of bug fixes and other enhancements, so please refer to the release notes for a full run-down of everything from the team.

Feedback

Quite an extensive update from the team again, and one which should more than satisfy Singularity users. The addition of Fitted Mesh, enhanced support of particle capabilities and the linkset scaling are liable to please a lot of people, and the list of fixes for issues should also keep users happy.

As noted above, I quite like the new “mouse move” option in third-person view; using my trackball meant I could wander around and adjust my camera height somewhat to give me a good variation when looking ahead a lot more easily than when using the cursor keys (which is usually how I move). This proved very useful when negotiating confined spaces, such as inside my boat. The underwater shadows are also a pretty (literally and figuratively) cool addition.

All-in-all a very tidy release, and kudos to the Singularity team.

Related Links

SL projects updates 5/1: server releases & fitted mesh

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments Week 5

Main (SLS) Channel

On Tuesday January 28th, the Main channel received the server maintenance project previously on the three RC channels, which contains a single fix for a crash mode.

RC Channels

On Wednesday January 29th, all three RC channels should receive a new server maintenance project, which includes a crash mode fix and a fix for llModifyLand() modifying the wrong location in region, when called in a child prim.

Speaking at the Server Beta meeting on Thursday January 23rd, Maestro Linden described the llModifyLand() fix thus:

For example, if a child prim is offset by <8,4,0> from the root prim, then calling that function in the child prim will try to modify the terrain at <8,4,0>  of the region,  which may or may not work depending on who owns the parcel.

The fix is to make it modify the land underneath the child prim (which of course follows the same permissions rules – you can only modify land owned by the script owner.

SL Viewer Updates

The Fitted Mesh RC was updated on Monday January 27th with the release of version 3.7.0.285669.  This includes a number of additional fixes, include those for FITMESH-20 and FITMESH-6, which can be summarised as:

  • FITMESH-20: certain non-rigged mesh invisible with ALM disabled
  • FITMESH-6: worn mesh which is not rigged to the collision bones is seen to stretch away towards the 0,0,0 point of the region the avatar is standing in when using the Fitted Mesh

An interesting emerging issue with Fitted Mesh – which likely won’t delay its eventual promotion to release status – is that it prevents the Firestorm Bridge from attaching.

The Bridge is a is a scripted object which is used by the Firestorm viewer for a number of functions, notably: Move To Teleport, Flight Assist, Script Count, some radar functions, and Movelock. The problem here is that the Bridge uses a dedicated attachment point (127), which doesn’t seem to be supported or allowed in the Fitted Mesh viewer code. It is currently unclear as to how this might be resolved.

There has yet to be a promotion to the defacto release viewer. If there is to be such a promotion this week, it would seem likely that the Interest List RC would be the one to make it.

Other Items

Viewer Script Debug Window

During the Simulator UG meeting on Tuesday January 28th, Jonathan Yap asked, “Has any thought ever been given to a script debug window? t would let you input commands to trigger events etc.”

Kelly Linden, chairing the meeting in Simon Linden’s absence, replied:

Short answer is yes it has been thought about. A lot of what you expect from a debugger is very difficult in LSL and harder in LSL-on-Mono, such as most of looking at the actual state of the script. Being able to trigger events is an interesting idea but I think it has some security concerns if not handled very carefully.

So, to elongate  Kelly’s initial short answer, while it has been thought about, it’s not something that is likely to happen any time soon.

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 4

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: January 26th, 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 Viewer Round-up 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
  • By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
  • The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
  • The Viewer Round-up Page also 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.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: no change (version 3.6.13.284995, formerly the PackageFix RC)
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Maintenance RC version 3.6.14.285499 released on January 23rd – core updates: assorted MAINT fixes, refer to the release notes for details (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Dolphin updated to version 3 3.5.99 (30446) on January 25th – core updates: latest Viewer-release vode and RLV, Sailor’s Mini Map V2, avatar name in the title bar, bug fixes

V1-style

  • Cool VL:
    • Available for: Windows, Linux
    • Stable version: 1.26.10.8 – January 25
    • Experimental version: 1.26.11.8 – January 25
    • Legacy version: 1.26.8.45 – January 25
    • Release notes (all) – core updates: “Use legacy names” added to the “Options” tab of the radar; FMOD Ex updated to v4.44.30; code cleanup; fix for rare crash bug.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL projects updates week 4 (2): server, viewer, webkit

Posted on by Inara Pey
Maestro Linden's disco-themed Server Beta meeting venue (stock)
Maestro Linden’s disco-themed Server Beta meeting venue (stock)

Server Deployments Week 4 Recap

As always, please refer to the deployment thread in the forums for the very latest news.

Server Deployments in Week 5

Details on the deployments for week 5 (commencing Monday January 27th) have yet to be finalised. However, it appears there will be a new server maintenance projects targeted at the RC channel, which Maestro Linden outlined during the Server Beta meeting on Thursday January 23rd:

We’ll have another small maintenance project going out next week which includes another crash fix and a fix to llModifyLand(), [where] the bug is that calling it in a child prim modifies the wrong land.

For example, if a child prim is offset by <8,4,0> from the root prim, then calling that function in the child prim will try to modify the terrain at <8,4,0>  of the region,  which may or may not work depending on who owns the parcel.

The fix is to make it modify the land underneath the child prim (which of course follows the same permissions rules – you can only modify land owned by the script owner.

Unless another project pops-up in the interim, it is likely this update will be deployed to all three RC channels in week 5.

SL Viewer Updates

A new Maintenance RC viewer appeared in the release channel on Thursday January 23rd. Version 3.6.14.285499 includes some 43 MAINT related fixes and updates, as listed in the release notes.

All other viewer RC, project and the release viewer remain unchanged, per my notes in part one of this week’s report.

HTTP Work – Monty Linden

Monty attended the Server Beta meeting to provide some more information on the HTTP project work.

“Basically, my hope is to move http operations to a domain where ping time has far less impact on experience as well as just doing HTTP better,” he said of the current work, the benefits of which are currently in an RC viewer – version 3.6.14.285253. “And that is happening.” (See Monty’s blog post on the subject.)

HTTP Pipelining

This work was slightly sidetracked as Monty got involved in issues around third-party libraries (see below). However, pipelining is seen as the first major step that will give the Lab some ping time independence, and it is likely that it will involve some server-side work.

“The server work will be small, a change in fairness policies,” Monty stated by way of a broad explanation, “and throttle implementation but that isn’t set in stone yet.”

Third-party Library Work

The work on the third-party libraries has been covered in a number of recent HTTP project updates. These are the used in building the SL viewer, including zlib, libpng, openssl, ares, libcurl, boost and SDL, all of which Monty has been rebuilding, as well as “tweaking” colladadom, openjpeg, Google-mock and llqtwebkit.

The aim is to ensure that these libraries are up-to-date, and are probably managed and maintained and correctly used throughout the viewer build process.  This work should help, longer-term with any move by the Lab to 64-bit viewer builds, and should be of benefit to those TPVs already building 64-bit variants of their viewers.

Webkit Woes

Webkit is a third-party library used within the viewer for a number of tasks. For example,  it powers the built-in web browser, and is used to display profiles (unless you’re using a viewer supporting legacy profiles). It is also used with like Media on a Prim (MOAP) and many in-world televisions.

There have been an increasing number of issues with Webkit. The libraries used within SL are out-of-date, for example, something which has caused the Lab and TPVs a considerable amount of pain.

More recently,  users have been encountering issues when trying to view YouTube videos via the built-in browser or MOAP, reporting that they are seeing an error message informing them that  “You’re using Safari browser on Windows that we’ll soon stop supporting” (BUG-4763 and FIRE-12642), or reporting they have sound but no video (FIRE-11057). An Adobe engineer has commented on the latter Firestorm JIRA, explaining the problem, and has indicated he has contacted Linden Lab as well.

It’s unclear as to how this matter will be handled going forward. While Monty has prodded at Webkit as a part of his additional work on third-party libraries, and overall fix may not be that straightforward. As such, it appears the way forward in dealing with the video issues is currently unclear.