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.
Kokua updated on August 16th to version 3.6.2.29072 – core updates: parity with LL 3.6.2 codebase; implementation of LL auto-update capability; assorted updates (release notes)
Restrained Love Viewer updated on August 16th to version 2.8.5.2 – core update: invisi-prims support fix; Linux and Mac version also updated to 2.8.5.2 (release notes)
Singularity updated on August 12th to version 1.8.1.4863 – core updates: Media on a Prim (MOAP), Voice code update; Wavefront and Collada export; Web Profile and V3 Web Search support; Updated SSA code; OpenSim Hypergrid and high altitude building support, and more (release notes)
Group Tools updated on August 18th to version 2.2.20.
As always, please refer to the week’s forum deployment thread for news, updates and feedback.
As noted in part 1 of this report, there was no deployment to the Main channel in week 33, as a result of the “grey box” attachment issue appearing in the week 32 BlueSteel deployment
The Magnum RC channel remained on SSA, with no other updates
The LeTigre RC received a new server maintenance package with “under the hood changes” which should not be visible / perceptible to users. This package saw the removal of SSA from LeTigre – Caleb Linden apologised at the Server Beta meeting for the confusion this caused as the forum thread & release notes did not initially make it clear
The BlueSteel RC received further updates to the fixes released in week 32 and the fix for the “grey box” attachment issue
Viewer Updates
The CHUI RC viewer updated to release 3.6.3.279849 on August 15th (download & release notes). The Materials project viewer also underwent a further update to release 3.6.3.279904 on August 16 (download & release notes).
Server-side Appearance
As noted above, SSA is currently only enabled on Magnum for the time being. A decision will be made on Monday August 19th on server-side updates and deployments, and until then the Lab is keeping quiet as to what may or may not happen in terms of SSA enabling. However, from comments passed in recent discussions and a hint in the forum deployment thread, it would appear that if the data obtained from Magnum during the week remains solid, SSA might be considered ready for “prime time” in week 34.
The removal of SSA from LeTigre did cause some confusion, with at least one JIRA (SUN-109) being raised as a result. Given the JIRA refers to the slowness of avatar rendering, rather than to any overall failures (which shouldn’t happen anyway, given the viewer code is currently backwards compatible with the “old” avatar baking service), this tends to point to the fact that the rapid nature of SSA baking is being appreciated.
Group Ban list
The obligatory Baker Linden shot 🙂
“Group bans are coming along pretty well,” Baker Linden informed his ‘Thursday after meeting class’. He went on:
I chose to take the rest of this week to improve the code rather than continue progressing. I really hated copying an entire source file without trying to refactor it … So now it’s refactoring, cleaning up, and after that the viewer will be finished. Well, I need to add the functionality to some other subsystems and have it actually send an HTTP message but that stuff is all stubbed in anyway.
Some of the cleaning up work apparently involves removing the, umm, colourful metaphors he used when first commenting on the code to highlight those bits he wanted to poke about at. These have apparently been causing a few giggles among those able to peek into the repository!
Given the work is still ongoing, there is no ETA for a project or beta viewer as yet, and this may be delayed a little more while Baker considers the problem of group chat.
Because of the way in which group chat works, anyone who is removed from a group while they have the group chat window open is actually able to continue chatting / spamming within the group until they close the group chat window, unless the group moderator remembers to block them from chat first. This hadn’t been on Baker’s radar, and he’s going to take a look around and see what can / needs to be done to try to make sure the group ban function won’t suffer this weakness, if possible.
Singularity updated to version 1.8.1 on August 12th, as noted on this week’s viewer round-up summary. There are a lot of updates in the release, including extended import / export capabilities.
The following is a look at the principal updates in the 1.8.1 release. For information on contribution credits, please refer to the Singularity release notes.
Windows Download and Install
The new version has seen some extensive code clean-up, which may have contributed to the installer weighing-in at 5Mb smaller than the 1.8.0 installer. As always, installation was painless and quick; as this is the first time I’ve installed Singularity on my new system, I didn’t have any concerns about clean installs (which tend to be a rarity with Singularity away, as it just gets on and does the job).
Media on a Prim / Shared Media
The headline announcement for the release is that Singularity supports Media on a Prim (MOAP), the ability to see and interact with shared media (such as viewing a web page displayed on a prim, or watching a YouTube video, etc. Shared media AutoPlay is disabled by default, but can be enabled if preferred, via Preferences > Audio & Video and checking Automatically Play Prim Media.
Import / Export Options
While MOAP is the headline update for Singularity, it’s the enhanced import / export options which are liable to be of particular interest, especially to content creators.
In covering this, I’m going to stay first-off and in large, friendly letters, that Singularity respects object permissions. Therefore, it will only export those items for which you are owner and creator in full, and it will not let people run away and do naughty things.
Support for uploading .anim files has been added to Singularity 1.8.1, along with the following.
linden_ genepool Export / Import
For those working with avatar shapes, perhaps the interesting news is that Singularity 1.8.1 now supports wearable export/import in linden_genepool format. This means shapes supported in this format (saved as XML) can not only be used in Blender/Avastar, they can be re-imported into SL with the need to fiddle with the shape sliders after being modified externally using something like Blender.
Wavefront and Collada Export
Pie menu .OBJ and .DAE export options
Singularity 1.8.1 also includes the ability to export those objects to which you have full permissions (again, creations which are entirely your own) as .OBJ or .DAE files (as well as to .XML via the pre-existing Export option).
The options can be accessed directly by right-clicking on the object in-world and selecting MORE > MORE > TOOLS in the pie menu. If you do not have permission to export the selected object, the export options will be grayed out and non-selectable.
Voice Updates
Voice morphing becomes available in Singularity with 1.8.1. This subscription service provided by Linden Lab allows people to use – wait for it – voice morphing in Second Life, and has been a part of SL since the arrival of Viewer 2.1. With Singularity, options are accessed via the Active Speakers floater (requires Voice to be enabled, obviously), and the overall UI changes are shown in the image below.
Voice morphing and updates in singularity 1.8.1 – click to enlarge (image courtesy of the Singularity team)
Alongside this update is the ability to adjust your own voice volume from the Active Speakers floater.
Radar Updates and Avatar Lists Right-click Options
There have been a number of tweaks to the Radar floater with the new release, and those familiar with Singularity will quickly spot them.
This release also sees a right-click functionality added to avatar lists – such as the Radar – which allows you direct access to common actions you might want to carry out with another avatar, such as IMing them, paying them, offering them a teleport, and so on.
You can now right-click on avatar lists in singularity and carry out avatar / avatar functions (names removed from radar list for privacy)
Web Profile and V3 Web Search Support
The Singularity avatar Profile floater now includes a button (top right) which will open the avatar’s web profile in a separate panel, allowing both it and the Singularity Profile panel to be viewed independently of one another and closed independently of one another.
Singularity 1.8.1 also sees an additional tab added to the Search floater, which contains the V3-style web search capability, and an option to search from a separate floater if preferred.
V3-style web search now in Singularity
For OpenSim
For OpenSim, Singularity 1.8.1 now offers hypergrid map support and high-altitude building.
And the Rest
For a complete list of the top-line updates to Singularity 1.8.1, please refer to the release notes, which provide more information on things like LSL support updates, improvements to the script editors, the ability to start / stop scripts running in an item directly from inventory, notes on new shortcut commands and chat bar commands, an improved auto response function, performance and stability updates, the latest available SSA code updates, and more. The release notes also credit those responsible for the various updates and improvements.
No Materials
The keen-eyed may have noticed there’s no mention of materials processing support. This is because the Singularity team opted to pass on adding the support with this release. Given that Linden Lab are themselves still working on the viewer-side code, and have themselves just made a significant set up updates available to TPVs and users within the Materials Project viewer, this is actually an understandable move on the Singularity team’s part.
That said, preparatory work has been carried out in readying Singularity for materials processing support, so expect it to appear in an upcoming release just as soon as the team are satisfied LL are not about to drop a significant set of updates on people.
Volunteers Needed
One other change which has occurred with this release is that F1 no longer opens Help, although it will still open a web browser window / tab. This is because the Singularity team are thinking about picking-up a V3-style help; however, they need more hands to make this happen. So, if you are interested in giving them a hand and have the necessary skills to make it happen, please give Siana, Latif or one of the team a shout in-world.
General Feedback
As ever, a tidy set of updates incorporated into a v1-style viewer which is solid, reliable and which shouldn’t overly tax older computers. For those looking for a v1-style viewer which supports SSA (which Singularity has done since the release of 1.8.0 in April) and which offers a very credible list of additional TPV capabilities, then Singularity 1.8.1 is very much worth taking the time to look at and to take for a spin in-world.
As always, please refer to the week’s forum deployment thread for news, updates and feedback.
Second Life Server (SLS Main) Channel – Tuesday August 13th
There was no update to the Main channel. It had been anticipated that the package deployed to BlueSteel in week 32 would reach the Main channel this week, but this is not the case, for the reason given below (see the Grey Box Attachment issue notes, below),
Release Candidate Channels – Wednesday August 14th
Magnum remains with SSA enabled, but otherwise received no further updates.
LeTigre should receive a new maintenance package which “only includes a few internal bug fixes which shouldn’t show any visible changes to the residents”. In describing this at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday August 13th, Simon Linden said, “There’s one performance fix that you might see in the viewer … you shouldn’t get those situations where you see lots of ‘duplicate caps. messages”
Bluesteel should receive a new server maintenance package comprising:
A fix for the “grey box attachment issue” (non-public BUG-3547, details below)
A (further?) update to for “llListen in linked objects is listening at root instead of linked object local position *after re-rezzing the linkset*”, which was also listed in the BlueSteel release notes for week 32 (non-public JIRA BUG-3291)
The code to block avatars entering a region / objects being rezzed in a region during the last 60-seconds before a restart. In addition, restart warning pop-ups will include the region name. This was again in the release notes for week 32, so would appear to be a further update to that code
Fixes for further simulator crash modes.
“Grey Box” Attachment Issue
This is a problem whereby a grey prim appears around any passenger(s) sitting on a boat / vehicle when crossing from a BlueSteel region to any other region (including another BlueSteel region) – the driver / pilot is left unchanged. The affected avatar has no control and requires a relog, while the prim itself appears to be linked to vehicle when edited.
The “grey box attachment issue” (image courtesy of Jen Cuddihy via the SL forums)
It is thought the bug was introduced during the week 32 BlueSteel deployment, and Simon Linden indicated it was the reason there was no Main channel deployment for week 33, saying:
We didn’t update the main channel today. There was a bug found involving vehicles and region crossings that needed to be fixed, so that update will go out tomorrow [the BlueSteel RC deployment]. Basically, don’t sit more than 1 person on a vehicle when leaving a BlueSteel region, otherwise it turns you into a box :P. It happens to the 2nd (and probably more, if you had a crowd) person seated on the object.
Kelly Linden explained what was happening to cause this:
Every agent has a ‘task’ representation on the server that is the same as a prim. The bug is in sending the linked set w/ avatars to the other region: avatars after the first are losing the special avatar treatment and getting passed as a regular linked prim. So that prim is what the server thinks all avatars look like.
Simon added:
The region crossing code basically un-sits avatars from an object, sends both the avatars and object to the next region [as separate sets of data], which puts them back together. In this case, the 2nd avatar doesn’t get detached properly and things go south from there. So the 2nd avatar gets sent over bundled up with the object … which it’s not designed to do.
The additional avatars on the vehicle at the time of the region crossing essentially end-up in limbo, with data caught between the two simulators. “The regions are very confused about that avatar data by that point, I’m sure a relog would be needed,” Simon said.
An interesting side-effect of this is that the bug makes it possible to exceed the 256-prim linkset limit – sort-of. Enterprising individuals have realised that if you rez a 256-prim linkset, sit a number of avatars on it and move it across a region boundary, it will acquire an additional prim for each additional passenger over the first avatar to sit on it. However, the ability is of limited value; make any changes to the enlarged linkset, such as unlinking a child prim or trying to texture one of the greyprims, and the entire thing turns no modify / no copy – and the fix being deployed to BlueSteel should correct the problem anyway.
Server-side Appearance
Just as a reminder. There are no further SSA deployments planned for week 33. This is to allow for some back-end updates to be made to the SSA servers. These updates shouldn’t result in any visible difference to users on SSA-enabled regions, and are intended to fix a couple of scenarios where the viewer would have to re-try requests when it shouldn’t have to. The Lab wants to get these updates deployed to the SSA server prior to making any move to rolling-out SSA to the entire grid.
There have been comments on the forums that SSA “must” be encountering major problems as the deployment has been so protracted. This is not the case. Linden Lab (via Nyx Linden) have always stated that the deployment would proceed very, very cautiously because it is such a fundamental change in how Second Life functions. Even though the Lab has indicated that very, very few problems have been encountered with enabling the service so far, and the load testing on both Magnum and LeTigre (representing a little over 20% of the grid) has been very positive, they are sticking to their softly, softly approach.
Viewer Updates
As the Vivox updates became the de facto release viewer in week 32, the remaining five release candidate viewers in the viewer release channel have been underground rebuilding using the updated release viewer code base. On Monday August 12th, updates for both the Cocoa Viewer for Mac (version 3.6.3.279554 – download and release notes) and the Maintenance Viewer (version 3.6.3.279564 – download and release notes) were released.
Materials Project
The Materials Project viewer was updated to version 3.6.3.279651 on August 8th. This release lists a large number of fixes, perhaps most notably those related to problems with the appearance of alpha textures under both local lights and sunlight, and numerous issues with mesh rendering and lighting within the materials viewer. Please refer to the full list of JIRA items in the release notes linked-to above.
ALM Concerns
Concerns have been raised about performance issues as a result of having the Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled by default (as is now frequently the case for most graphics cards, as is a requirement in order to see materials in use in-world).
The amount by which ALM can affect the user experience is variable, and subject to a lot of influences, not just the graphics cards / computer system the viewer is running on. Some people with systems similar to my own (see the panel on the right for my system spec), have noted “significant” impact when running with ALM enabled on a materials-capable viewer.
Part of the problem is the “ALM” is a very broad term, and other options within the viewer can influence performance, but will not impact the ability to see materials even if they are turned off – such as having shadows set to None, for example, or having water reflections set to Minimal and turning off local lights (via debug or Phototools, for example). So part of the problem is that of communicating what can be done from within the viewer to help offset performance impacts should they occur, but which don’t limit their ability to see materials in use.
Quick ways to improve performance when running in ALM to see materials. Top left: you can uncheck Ambient Occlusion, keep Shadows set to None and drop water reflections to Minimal. Bottom Left: Using Debug Settings from the Advanced Menu, set RenderLocalLights to FALSE. Right: Firestorm / Phototools, ambient occlusion, shadows, local lights and facelights can all be disabled from the Light tab and water reflections lowered from the WL tab
On Saturday 10th August, 2013, the Firestorm team hosted a question-and-answer session so they could outline the current status of the Firestorm viewer, the issues the team are facing, and outline plans for the future, as well as address questions from the audience.
While the meeting was recorded, the Firestorm team are aware that many of their users have hearing difficulties, and / or prefer to read text. It is because of this that this transcript has been provided. When reading it, please remember:
This is not a word-for-word transcript of the entire meeting. While all quotes given are as they are spoken in the video, to assist in readability and maintain the flow of conversation, not all asides, jokes, interruptions, etc., have been included in the text presented here
If there are any sizeable gaps in comments from a speaker which resulted from asides, questions to other etc,, these are indicated by the use of “…”
Timestamps are provided as guidance should anyone wish to hear the comments in full from any speaker on the video
Questions were asked in chat while speakers were talking. This inevitably meant that replies to questions would lag well behind when they were originally asked. Therefore, to provide context between questions and answers, questions in the transcript are time stamped at the point at which each is addressed by a member of the Firestorm team
Some questions were asked and answered purely in text. These have been excluded for one of two reasons. Either a) they lacked context with the voice conversation, or b) the seating arrangements in the auditorium meant there were some questions or answers which didn’t appear in my local chat window.
Please note: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. As such, questions on technical issues relating to Firestorm and / or project-specific questions cannot be answered here unless one of the Firestorm team drops by.
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.
Updates for the week ending: August 11th, 2013 (with extras!)
Official LL Viewers
The release viewer updated to version 3.6.2.279258 (formally the Vivox RC) on August 5th (download and release notes)
Singularity updated to version 1.8.1.4863 on August 12th – core updates: Media ob a Prim (MOAP), Voice code update; Wavefront and Collada export; Web Profile and V3 Web Search support; Updated SSA code; OpenSim Hypergrid and high altitude building support, and more (release notes)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 