Category: SL Tech

SL projects updates week 13/2: group bans, group chat

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments: week 13 – recap

there was only one update in week 13. The Magnum Rc received a new server maintenance project, comprising:

  • Crash mode fix.
  • Fixed a rare case in which certain users were unable to log in (BUG-5130)
  • Fix for a case in which multiple scripts in the same prim calling llTakeControls() with heterogenous ‘accept’ and ‘pass_on’ parameters would not receive a control() event correctly in some cases (BUG-5281)
  • Updated LSL syntax file to use a new schema (fixes STORM-2000) related to a viewer in testing and apart of STORM-1831.

beta-270314_001

SL Viewer

The StatTest viewer was updated on Thursday March 27th to version 3.7.5.288371. This viewer makes one change related to crash statistics gathering  has no functional changes compared to the current release viewer (download and release notes).

Also on Thursday March 27th, the Interest List RC returned to the release channel, having been temporarily removed on March 21st due to the number of RCs occupying the channel.  The return sees the viewer updated to version 3.7.5.288404 (download and release notes).

Group Bans List

Things have been a little quiet in this of late. speaking at the Server Beta meeting on Thursday March 27th, Baker Linden explained why. “I pushed a new version of the group ban viewer, but unfortunately, it’s still a tad unstable. I don’t know how I managed to mess up the merge this bad … I think I lost some code. Well, I’m sure I lost some code. So I’m trying to go back and fix all that, but it’s coming along.”

The latest versions of the test viewer can be obtained via the links on the Server Beta wiki page. This can be tested on Aditi, and the server-side code in active on Morris, where the Server Beta meetings are held (and the code for which has been updated to prevent people with group ban rights from banning themselves from the group…).

Group Chat

There was a further test of the group chat back-end changes during the Server Beta meeting on Thursday March 27th. This involved around the same number of people as the first test, with some remaining in one location and others moving between regions while chatting.

In both instances, viewer freezes were noted when swapping between the group chat sessions and between local chat and one or other of the group chat sessions. These would last between 2-10 seconds depending on the volume of chat going through the group channel session being swapped to, with the average freeze being around 5 seconds.

Commenting on progress with the work, Simon Linden said:

I’m cautiously optimistic I can increase the performance … which should help reliability. From what I can tell, it just can’t handle the load at times. At a small-scale group chat isn’t that difficult a problem but with possibly 42 groups per online AV, the numbers involved can start getting big … I didn’t write the group chat servers, but am just the lucky guy wading through it now. Like I said, I’m cautiously optimistic I can improve it. A re-write to a new engine would be a pretty large project … and has already been tried once.

 Further testing should be progressing to Agni and a large group in week 14.

 

 

 

CtrlAltStudio 1.2.0 released

Posted on by Inara Pey

CAS-logoOn Wednesday March 26th, Dave Rowe released CtrlAltStudio version 1.2.0.40751.

While the release does not contain significant updates to either Oculus Rift support or to the stereoscopic 3D capability, the version number change 1.2, as Dave notes, serves to reflect the convergence of the 1.0 and 1.1 Alpha versions, and also brings CtrlAltStudio to parity with Firestorm 4.6.1.

With regards to the latter, this means CtrlAltStudio now includes all updates found in the  Firestorm 4.5.1 and 4.6.1 releases, including a number of significant LL-driven viewer updates, such as:

  • Fitted mesh support – for those unfamiliar with Fitted Mesh, I have an overview here
  • HTTP updates for improved rendering
  • Request Teleport feature
  • Region Restart updates
  • SL Share (link to Facebook)
  • CHUI updates
  • Particle capabilities, including particle muting
  • Materials support
  • Temporary attachments no longer get removed improperly
  • and more

(Further information on the recent Firestorm releases, please refer to my 4.5.1 review and my  4.6.1 review.)

In addition to the above, the release includes a number of fixes:

  • Fixed turning off Basic Shaders while in Riftlook messing up display.
  • Fixed Kinect fly up and fly down gestures sometimes being swapped when shouldn’t be.
  • Removed –riftlook command line option which wasn’t working properly.

An important point to note, again as Dave points-out, is that this release does not include any of the Lab’s own Oculus Rift support – for the simple reason that the code hasn’t been made available for integration into TPVs.

 

SL projects updates week 13/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

SL Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread in the forums for the latest news and updates.

There was again no server deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday March 25th. Of the three RC channels, there will be no change to either BlueSteel or LeTigre on Wednesday March 26th. However, the Magnum RC will be updated with a new server maintenance project, comprising:

  • Crash mode fix.
  • Fixed a rare case in which certain users were unable to log in (BUG-5130)
  • Fix for a case in which multiple scripts in the same prim calling llTakeControls() with heterogenous ‘accept’ and ‘pass_on’ parameters would not receive a control() event correctly in some cases (BUG-5281)
  • Updated LSL syntax file to use a new schema (fixes STORM-2000)

The LSL syntax file update for STORM-2000 is part of a large project being undertaken by Ima Mechanic with assistance from Oz Linden (see STORM-1831). This work is currently awaiting the release of viewer-side changes, which have been undergoing testing by LL’s QA.

A lightly-attended Simulator UG meeting, Tuesday March 25th
A lightly-attended Simulator UG meeting, Tuesday March 25th

SL Viewer Updates

On Monday March 24th, the FmodEx Hotfix viewer (3.7.4.288138, release notes here) was updated to the de facto release viewer. The core updates in this viewer comprise:

  • Crash fix (MAINT-3703)
  • Update FmodEx library to 4.44.31
  • Additional work for MAINT-2718 (Linux viewer was using logging version of library)

Group Chat Work

During the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday March 25th, I asked Simon Linden about the outcome of the group chat tests run on Thursday March 20th, now that there’s been time to check the logs files. He said, “It didn’t have any surprises, but that was a good result. That test was mostly checking out the new statistics it gathered, which worked fine too.” He also confirmed that testing with a large group (most likely the Firestorm support group) is the next step in proceedings:

It’s been delayed a bit due to some people being out of the office. I’m hoping to do something next week … I think that’s the earliest possible. In the mean time I’m working on another layer in the back-end system that is inefficient, so I’m hoping to finish that up today or tomorrow and roll it in together.

Other Items

Revision to the TPVD Directory

The Third-party Viewer Directory received a change to the section listing viewers that report crash statistics. Whereas previously, viewers in this section had been ranked from best to worst crash rate (% of sessions that end in a crash), as from March 25th, they are now ordered from best to worst disconnect rate (% of sessions that end without the simulator seeing a logout).

Regions Size Trivia

During a discussion on vehicle design and region crossings, Simon Linde made mention of the factor that he once spent time looking at region sizes in SL. This isn’t the first time he’s mentioned this work. The last time he raised it, he went to far as to indicate that were regions ever to be resized, increasing them to 1 km a side rather than 1024 metres a side would be preferable, although this would impact the power of 2 approach taken with building SL. At the Simulator UG meeting, he reiterated this latter point, saying, “unfortunately the 256×256 region space is carved into the SL design all over … from the database to the simuators to the viewer and the messages. Changing that would be huge.”

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 12

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: March 23rd, 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
  • 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
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Sunshine / AIS v3 RC  – temporarily withdrawn on March 21 due to the number of viewers in the release channel
    • “Project Interesting” RC – temporarily withdrawn on March 21 due to the number of viewers in the release channel
    • Voice viewer RC – temporarily withdrawn on March 21 due to the number of viewers in the release channel
    • StatTest RC version 3.7.4.288282 released on March 20 – This is a maintenance release that has no functional changes compared to the current release viewer (download and release notes)
    • FmodEX Hotfix RC updated to version 3.7.4.288138 on March 18 – to correct a suspected thread race crasher in the FmodEx audio streaming library (download and release notes)
    • Google Breakpad RC version 3.7.4.288045 released on March 17 (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • No updates

V1-style

  • Cool Viewer updated on March 22 to the following versions: Stable: 1.26.10.15; Experimental: 1.26.11.15; Legacy: 1.26.8.52 – core updates: all – FMOD Ex updated to v4.44.32; added support for individual UI sounds disabling; Added support for the “delete in-world objects” UI sound; numerous code fixes and updates; added support for OpenSim/Aurora’s “VARREGION” feature;  Experimental: minor fix to the AISv3 code (release notes)

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No changes

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

SL viewer mini-update

Posted on by Inara Pey

There have been a few end-of week updates to the SL viewer release channel.

  • As noted in part 2 of my week projects update, the Hotfix RC viewer was updated to version 3.7.4.288138 on March 18th
  • Two new RC viewers entered the channel during the week in the form of:
    • The latest iteration of the Google Breakpad RC, version 3.7.4.288045, on March 17th
    • The StatTest RC, version  3.7.4.288282, on March 20th
  • Neither of the latter two include functional changes compared to the current release version of the viewer (3.7.3.287491).

Because the arrival of the Google Breakpad viewer and the StatTest viewer pushed the total number of RCs in the release channel to seven, the Project Interesting RC viewer (3.7.3.287127), the SL Voice RC viewer (3.7.3.287288) and the Sunshine / AIS v3 RC viewer (3.7.3.287158) have been temporarily withdrawn from the release channel (all were incidentally due a rebuild anyway).

Both of the latter two RCs will be returning to the release channel, most likely in updated versions, once the total number of RCs currently in the channel has been reduced.

Related Links

SL projects updates 12/2: Group chat

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments: week 12 – recap

Short and to the point: there weren’t any.

Upcoming Release Items

There are a couple of things server-side making their way towards a release:

  • Fix for login issues of agents with number display names – this is a fix an issue where users with display names made-up of numbers are unable to log-in. “It was a subtle change in a low-level library that started treating those as numbers and not strings,” Simon Linden said of the issue’s origins.
  • Fix for llTakeControls() issues with multiple scripts with mixed parameters in same prim

These fixes are liable to testing on Aditi prior to moving to an RC.

SL Viewer

On Wednesday March 18th, the Hotfix viewer was updated to version 3.7.4.288138. This now lists three core issues as being addressed:

  • Crash fix (MAINT-3703)
  • Update FmodEx library to 4.44.31
  • Additional work for MAINT-2718 (Linux viewer was using logging version of library)
A typical Server Beta meeting
A typical Server Beta meeting

Group Chat

As indicated in part 1 of this week’s report, there is work underway to try to improve group chat. A small-scale test with a dozen people  was carried out with some of the initial improvements during the Sever Beta meeting on Thursday March 20th.  “This is really a test that shows it doesn’t fall over with minor load,” Simon Linden said of it.

During the test, those present were asked to send lots of short messages at speed to two test groups while moving around and between various regions (walking, flying, teleporting).  Few issues appeared to be noted, at least none that Simon indicted he was interested in (e.g. messages showing delay between being sent and appearing), but as noted, it was a small group. In terms of what has been done with the code and plans for the future, Simon went on:

Basically I dug into the code and found some inefficient parts and cleaned them up.  I also added more metrics, so I’m hoping it can show an improvement.  I’m pretty sure it will be better, but it’s really hard to guess how much better. I’m hoping to test it on the main grid soon.  It would get put on a server and then it would affect a fraction of the groups.  I can pick one group to target and make sure it covers that group.

As chat is handled back dedicated back-end servers, no simulator or viewer change will be required to take advantage of this work as it progresses. If the logs from this initial test show nothing unpleasant or unexpected, and providing LL’s QA are happy, testing on the main grid could start in a week’s time.