Category: SL Tech

SL projects update week 36 (2): Server releases, viewer, HTTP

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments – Week 36

As always, please refer to the week’s forum deployment thread for news, updates and feedback. Deployments are a day behind the usual schedule due to the US Labor Day long weekend.

  • On Wednesday September 4th, the Main channel received the maintenance package deployed to all three RC channels in week 35, which includes Preparatory work to support new estate and parcel access controls and the new manual region restart capability which sees a region restart as soon as the last avatar leaves (release notes)
  • On Thursday September 5th, the three RC channels received the same maintenance package, which comprises  server-side HTTP updates which require a future viewer-side update. In the meantime, these changes should not be apparent in any current viewer release (release notes – BlueSteel)

Upcoming Server Deployments – Week 37

It looks likely that the HTTP updates deployed to all three RCs in week 36 (of which, more details below), will go back to just one RC in order to make way for additional packages “to get the server flow going again”.

Speaking at the Server Beta meeting on Thursday September 5th, Maestro Linden provided some information on some of the updates expected to go to at least one RC in week 37 (week commencing Monday September 9th):

  • The llXorbase64 issue reported on in my week 35 (2) report for details
  • A fix for an issue where an avatar sitting at high altitude may appear to be located at 0,0 on both the world map and mini map
  • Nerfing of recursive rezzing. Again, this was outlined in my week 35 (1) report. Under the new code, the copy of the original object will inherit the temp-on-rez and parcel time of the originating object and so be returned at the same time.
  • Fixes for a number of JSON function issues, including:
    • JSON implementation treats blank string and JSON_NULL interchangeably
    • Issue with llJsonSetValue with strings that end in ‘]’
    • RFC 4627 Non-Compliance by llJsonSetValue() with out-of-range Indices

SL Viewer News

There were no changes to the SL release viewer this week, again most likely due to the long weekend in the US.

Snowstorm Project Viewer

As reviewed earlier in the week, there has been a new Snowstorm contributions project viewer released, which includes various fixes and Jonathan Yap’s request teleport feature and a port of Cinder Roxley’s “eject from group confirmation” pop-up.

New request teleport capability - Snowstorm project viewer
New request teleport capability – Snowstorm project viewer

Interest List Viewer

Delays continue with this viewer, largely as a result of bug stomping requirements. Commenting on the situation at the TPV Developer meeting, Oz Linden said:

As you might imagine, monkeying with the interest list is full of opportunities for errors; and I think the team is really sensitive to that and trying hard not to have a bad launch. I keep hearing status updates from them, but none of them have been, “We’re going to launch the viewer right away”.

Hoz Linden then added, “They honestly are really close on the interest list, but there continue to be a string of bad bugs that need to be fixed.”

Animation Override Interface

Viewer-side hooks for LSL AO capabilities in the future?
Viewer-side hooks for LSL AO capabilities in the future?

As reported in week 34, Oz Linden is looking-in to the possibility of developing a viewer-side API / hook into the LSL AO capabilities introduced server-side earlier in 2013. Initial discussions with the Lab’s own developers seemed to go well (or as Oz put it at the time, they didn’t run screaming from the room…

As Oz will shortly be in San Francisco in the near future, he’s going to poke some more at the idea with the people at Battery Street and “see if there is something we ought to be doing.” Again, this is still a nascent idea, even with the offer of import from Kitty Barnett, and Oz went on to say:

If this is going to happen, and it is still a major league “if”, I think we would want to do it as part of a project in which a substantial improvement was made to how the viewer interacts with animation in general, and that means I would want a set of open-source devs involved in doing the viewer-side work. So be thinking about whether or not you can commit to that.

Continue reading “SL projects update week 36 (2): Server releases, viewer, HTTP” →

SL viewer gets “request teleport” feature and group eject confirmation

Posted on by Inara Pey

A new SL project viewer was released on September 3rd. The Snowstorm Project viewer 3.6.5.280476, brings with it a number of issue fixes, and includes two capabilities new to the viewer:

  • A “request teleport” feature (STORM-1838) contributed by Jonathan Yap, which allows users to request a teleport form another user (currently with caveats – see below)
  • A group eject confirmation pop-up (STORM-1952), submitted by Cinder Roxley, which some may be familiar with from using TPVs such as Firestorm.

Request Teleport

The new request teleport capability, which I first reported on back in week 4, requires both viewers to be using the code for it to work (so for the time being it is limited to the project viewer). Where this is the case:

  • Select the person to whom you wish to teleport (from your Friends list or Nearby list, etc.), and select Request Teleport
  • Enter a message in the pop-up, if required, and click OK.
Select the person to whom you wish to teleport (from your Friends list or Nearby list, etc.), and select Request Teleport. Enter a message in the pop-up, if required, and click
Request teleport: making a request

At the “other end” the recipient of the request will receive the request as an initial pop-up notification and within CHUI:

Receiving a teleport request - pop-up and CHUI message
Receiving a teleport request – pop-up and CHUI message

The recipient can than either accept the request, sending a teleport offer, or reject it, in which case no message is sent.

The teleport offer is again displayed in the requester’s viewer as both as an initial pop-up notification (below) and within CHUI.

Receiving the teleport offer
Receiving the teleport offer

Note again, that the system will only work where both viewers are running the new code (e.g. the Snowstorm project viewer for the time being). If someone on a viewer with the capability to someone using a viewer which does not have the teleport request code, the request will not be received / displayed.

Group Eject Confirmation

The group eject confirmation sees the official viewer get a new pop-up asking for confirmation when ejecting someone from a group, in order to help with issues where the wrong name is selected and ejected.

The new gtoup eject confirmation pop-up for the official viewer
The new group eject confirmation pop-up for the official viewer

Again, as noted above, the release notes for the viewer provide a full list of updates in the viewer.

SL projects updates week 36 (1): server releases, HTTP notes, anti-griefing

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the week’s forum deployment thread for news, updates and feedback. Deployments are a day behind the usual schedule due to the US Labor Day long weekend.

Second Life Server (SLS Main) Channel – Wednesday September 4th

The Main channel should receive the maintenance package deployed to all three RC channels in week 35, comprising:

  • An update to region restarts initiated by region owners or estate managers which will see the region restart after the last avatar leaves, rather than waiting for the full countdown period to complete
  • Preparatory work to support new estate and parcel access controls – these will require an upcoming viewer-side update in order to be visible to users
  • A fix for a physics-related griefing mode (see below)
  • A crash mode fix.

Release Candidate Channels – Thursday September 5th

All three RC channel should receive the same maintenance package, which comprises  server-side HTTP updates which require a future viewer-side update. In the meantime, these changes should not be apparent in any current viewer release. The updates specifically comprise:

  • When connections between viewer and web services were closed by the server, the last response was sent without a ‘Content-Length’ or ‘Transfer-Encoding: chunked’ header. Last response will now be sent with ‘chunked’ encoding.
  • Throttling actions on Capabilities URL result in 503 status codes back to clients. These responses may include a ‘Retry-After’ header with a delta time giving a hint as to when the client may retry the request. In the absence of such a header, client is expected to make ‘reasonable, best-practices’ delayed retry attempts.
  • Adds support for a new capability, ‘GetMesh2’ for fetching mesh assets with keepalives enabled.

HTTP Notes

The RC deployments look to be the first part of Monty’s continuing work on HTTP connectivity between the viewer and the SL servers. As noted in recent reports, the core focus of this work is on improving mesh fetching capabilities between the two, although Monty is also working on a number of other updates, all of which are aimed at improving the HTTP services between the viewer and the SL servers and making them more robust, as well as paving the way for HTTP pipelining in the future.

Group Ban Lists

Baker Linden continues to work on the new group ban list functionality. The focus is currently on the UI hook-ups and back-end validation checks. It will still be a while before a project / RC viewer is likely to appear, but hopefully not too long.

Anti-griefing Work

Andrew Linden continues to work on “anti-griefing” measures, reporting that the “physics-related griefing mode” which forms a part of the Main channel deployment and which is already on the three RC channels, is to prevent the use of “faux rotating megaprims”.

These are megaprims which used a physics collision exploit to knock avatars out of that region using the ‘resolve interpenetrating objects’ collision logic. “We had  some collision-bypass code there specifically for avatars, but it had been broken some time ago,” Andrew explained, the break apparently allowing the exploit. He’s now fixed the code breakage, and reports from a number of RC sandboxes is that it appears to have worked.

Other Items

There was a report made during the Simulator User Group that some LSL events are failing to execute or aren’t being queued / cued when a script is caught in a loop. details were sketchy, but a BUG report was due to be raised.

Firestorm at three: party, kitties, pendants!

Posted on by Inara Pey

firestorm-logoJune 2013 saw Second Life celebrate its tenth anniversary as a publicly accessible grid. Now September marks the anniversary of SL’s (and OpenSim’s?) most popular viewer as Firestorm turns three.

Anyone who takes time out of their lives to sit down and work on a viewer, providing code and capabilities to enhance our times in-world, and the support so often needed by users, is an unsung hero of Second Life and virtual worlds. It’s no easy task, as I’m sure everyone at Firestorm and other TPVs – even at the Lab – can attest; get one thing wrong and you’re liable to get chased up the nearest tree by a group of users who, if not actively bearing pitchforks, tend to have pretty barbed tongues!

In this, it’s easy to forget that every TPV, including Firestorm, is built, maintained and managed by volunteers. They don’t get paid for their efforts; they don’t consider themselves to have any better grasp of Second Life and virtual worlds than the rest of us – they, like most people, just want to have fun and at the same time they want to make SL more fun for the rest of us. I think that sometimes, in calling for this feature or that feature in a viewer and then getting the hump when it doesn’t appear, we all lose sight of that simple fact.

Join the Party!

So it’s good when an opportunity comes around which lets us celebrate the work that goes into a viewer to take the time to say “thank you” to the folks behind the work. Firestorm users will have just such an opportunity to do so on Tuesday September 3rd, as the Firestorm team throw a Firestorm Third Birthday party at the Phoenix Firestorm support island. The kick-off time is 13:00 SLT, and there is an open invitation from the team to their users to come along and join the fun (well, region limits allowing!).

If you do want to attend, please keep in mind:

  • It is only the one region, so headcount will be limited. Sadly, with over 200,000 users, the team can’t host a party for everyone. However, people are liable to be coming and going throughout the celebrations, so if you don’t get in the first time – keep trying
  • As the party is liable to be very popular, please go along as script-light as possible; it’ll help the region, it’ll help others and it’ll help you. Detach anything you can do without when dancing / chatting – HUDs, scripted attachments, etc.

The Firestorm Kustom Kitty and a Special Pendant

firestorm-firekitty-adTo further mark Firestorm’s third birthday, Jessica and the team have joined forces with KittyCatS to develop a special, limited edition non-breedable custom Firestorm Kitty. The offer is limited to one per avatar, and the kitties are No Transfer. The kitty is fully functional & rumoured to be the cat that dined on the Phoenix. Whether this is true our not, the folks at Firestorm aren’t saying!

The collectables will be available from 09:00 SLT on September 3rd through until 09:00 SLT on September 10th, via vendors in the following locations:

zuri_s_firestorm_pendant_gift
The Firestorm pendant (see left)

Note that If demand is high, you may experience delivery problems. If a vendor faisl to deliver, please follow these instructions to initiate a re-delivery.

In addition, Zuri Rayna has produced a beautiful limited edition Firestorm 3rd anniversary pendant. This is available from the Phoenix Firestorm Support island until midnight SLT on the 3rd September  – and it is stunning!

So Happy Birthday, Firestorm, and many thanks to Jessica, Ed and the rest of the developers, testers, helpers and the support volunteers at Firestorm. Here’s to many more birthdays and celebrations!

Related Links

Kokua and Singularity updates

Posted on by Inara Pey

Both Kokua and Singularity issued what amount to maintenance releases in the latter half of week 35, with Kokua releasing version 3.6.4.29422 on August 28th,  and Singularity releasing version 1.8.2.4929 on August 29th.

Kokua 3.6.4.29442

The release keeps Kokua on a par with LL’s code base, being built on the 3.6.4 code. The release notes identify a potential issue for Linux users with the last release, with Nicky reporting that:

A user on an older version of Linux reported an auto update issue that resulted in no working viewer. Kokua recently updated build systems from Debian Squeeze to Wheezy. While great for users that move ahead of the pack in updating their Linux distributions it left one user (and maybe more) without a working Kokua on their system. So, the request to upgrade was acknowledged and new Kokua was installed. But, it would not run then, when the old Kokua was tried it was stuck wanting to update.

Further testing revealed the issue appears to exist within LL’s Linux build as well, and a JIRA – OPEN-186 has been raised as a result.  In the interim, the team have reverted to building using Debian Squeeze.

This release also sees Kokua gain two potentially useful features – one for mentors / helpers, the other for builders.

Kokua can now optionally display the age of an avatar in the name tag. The option is off by default, and can be enabled via Preferences > Kokua > General > Show each avatar’s age in their name tag. When enabled, the option defaults to showing the age for avatars up to 28 days of age. However, this can be increased / decreased as required, with 0 meaning avatar ages will always be displayed.

The idea behind this is to make it easier for mentors and helpers identify new starters in a welcome area, so that greetings and offers of support can more readily be made.

The new avatar age display in name tags (Preferences > Kokua > General) and the new button for duplicating values for size, offsets, etc., on maps
The new avatar age display in name tags (Preferences > Kokua > General) and the new button for duplicating values for size, offsets, etc., on maps

This release also sees Kokua implement a Duplicate Values button in the Texture tab of the Build floater. This allows the settings for the size, offsets, repeats, etc., set for a texture / normal / specular map to be immediately duplicated to the other maps on an object / object face, saving the need to manually set them in turn when applying maps. If there are no additional maps applied to an object / objects face (e.g. a diffuse map, but no normal or specular), the button is disabled.

The remaining updates for the release include:

  • Sit Here or Stand Up options are now only shown in the right-click context menu for objects
  • A Teleport Here option has been added to the context menus to go with the Sit Here option
  • OXP backup crash fix to prevent selecting individual object(s) from a linkset, rather than the selecting the entire linkset, from causing an immediate viewer crash
  • Links no longer include the trailing “?” in the link when asking to load the indicated web page in notifications
  • Fixed a variable scope bug in LLVOVolume::getApproximateFaceNormal().

Please refer to the release notes for further information.

Singularity 1.8.2.4929

The Singularity release comprises a substantial list of tweaks and updates, including a change to the .DAE and .OBJ export permissions when using the viewer on OpenSim, such that if the grid on which the viewer is being used does not support explicit “export” permission, the exporter now follows the rules set by the original Imprudence exporter.

Additionally, the update includes:

  • Additions:
    • Ability to save textures from the inventory menu
    • An option to open inventory folders in a new separate window
    • An option to show landmarks on map
    • An option to hear speakers at the same volume unaffected by position
    • Show Profile button on teleport and inventory offer notifications
    • Ability to show only legacy names for speakers (in Adv. Chat > Chat UI preferences)
  • Fixes for:
    • The German translation where login notifications appeared as ‘[FIRST] [LAST] is online’ instead of showing the actual avatar name
    • The crash when opening Bumps, Pushes, and Hits floater
    • Windows, audio volume control for plugins is now working allowing gradual falloff in volume for prim media objects that are farther away
  • Improvements:
    • Updated Spanish translation
    • Legacy (pre-multiwear) wearables on some grids showed as (body part) shapes. Clothing (not body parts yet) now show with a (new) red question mark icon in the inventory, and can be used again
    • Animation uploads save the values for ease-in/out parameters for future uploads
    • Disable/Enable UI shortcut changed to Ctrl-Shift-F1 on Linux since the default Ctrl-Alt-F1 is used for switching virtual consoles. The same has been done for the other ctrl-alt-F# shortcuts on Linux
    • Imported changes from Linden viewer to introduce consistent ground texture generation and fix crashes in mesh upload.

For details on the contributors for the above, please refer to the release notes.

Related Links

Viewer release summary 2013 week 35

Posted on by Inara Pey

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: September 1st, 2013

Official LL Viewers

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-Style

  • CtrlAltStudio issued an Alpha version with initial Oculus Rift support, with version 1.1.0.34244 appearing on August 25th and 1.1.0.34256 on Sept 1st – core updates: “forward” is now the direction the headset is facing; ability to enter “Riftlook” without a headset connected; lighting rendering fix; ability to turn while seated (download & release notes)
  • Kokua updated on August 28th to version 3.6.4.29422 – core updates: parity with LL 3.6.4 code base; confirmation of Linux Squeeze / Wheezy build issue (with LL viewer as well – see: OPEN-186); ability to copy size, offset and rotation between texture maps; assorted tweaks  (release notes)
  • Restrained Love Viewer updated on August 25th to version 2.8.5.5 (all versions) – core update: on-the-fly “z-offset” height adjustment fix; Linux and Mac version also updated to 2.8.5.5 (release notes)

V1-Style

  • Cool VL updated on August 31st to:
  • Singularity updated on August 29th to version 1.8.2.4929  – core updates: translation updates; Export permissions adjusted for OpenSim; Show Profile button added on teleport and inventory offer notifications; animation uploads save the values for ease-in/out parameters for future uploads; Imported changes from Linden viewer to introduce consistent ground texture generation and fix crashes in mesh upload; + more  (release notes)

Other Clients

  • Group Tools Installer updated to version 2.2.21.0, September 1st (no release notes supplied)
  • Lumiya updated to 2.5.3 on August 27th – core updates: advanced rendering; limited windlight (clouds, stars, time of day), anti-aliasing; ability to buy goods in 3D world view; improved small item selection capability; Adreno GPU fixes (2.5.0 release notes – core updates) – Google Play , Android Pit
  • Mobile Grid Client updated to version 1.21.1194 on August 26th – core updates:IM auto answer functionality if app is in background or screen is off (enabled via settings); small bug fixes and improvements (release notes)

Additional TPV Resources

Depreciated / Discontinued Viewers

  • Niran’s Viewer – discontinued as of version 2.2.0.2701 & superceded by Black Dragon
  • SLiteChat removed from listing; no updates since 2011, removed from TPV Directory & no response from developer
  • SL Second Life Beta viewer – depreciated as of version 3.6.2.278491, July 15, 2103
  • SL Development viewer – depreciated as of version 3.5.2.274629 April 24, 2013
  • Zen Viewer – discontinued by developer and no longer available, January 27th, 2013
  • Phoenix viewer – development and support ended on December 31st, 2012

Related Links