Category: SL Tech

SL project updates week 35 (2): parcel access controls & particle system

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments Week 35

As always, please refer to the week’s forum deployment thread for news, updates and feedback.

  • On Tuesday August 27th, the Main channel received the update package which includes the “grey box” attachment fix (issue details here), together with an update to for “llListen in linked objects is listening at root instead of linked object local position”; the new code to stop avatars entering a region / objects being rezzed in a region during the last 60 seconds before a restart, and additional fixes for simulator crash modes  (release notes)
  • On Wednesday August 28th, all three RCs received the same update package, which has a fix for a simulator crash mode, a fix for a physics-related griefing mode, and which has a new capability so that region restarts initiated by region owners occur as soon as the last avatar has left the region. This package also includes server-side support for new parcel access controls (see below) – release notes: Magnum, LeTigre, BlueSteel.

Region Shutdown / Restart

In reference to the new capability rolled to the RC channels whereby region restarts initiated by a region owner occur as soon as the last avatar leaves the region (rather than waiting for the time delay to expire), Maestro Linden indicated that the capability will eventually be extended to automated rolling restarts as well.

New Parcel Access Controls

Maestro Linden likes to work-out during meetings
Maestro Linden likes to work-out during meetings

The original post for the RC server package made reference to “estate and parcel access controls”. However, this was an error on Maestro’s part, and he sought to clarify things in a couple of follow-up posts, in which he first made it clear the new controls only apply to parcels, not regions (hence the emphasis above), and then went on to say:

The new feature is to allow a parcel to be configured to allow users to enter a parcel if they are members of the parcel’s group *or* have payment info on file.  This is meant to be a big help toward keeping griefers out, as they often will not add Payment information to their account and group limitations are often managed by the land manager.

This access configuration, which is already available at the estate level, involves enabling 3 options in ‘About Land’->’Access’:

  • Allow public access
  • Allow access only to Residents who: Have payment information on file
  • Allow Group Access: <group>

With the current release viewer (3.6.4 (280048)), this combination of settings is not possible to set in ‘About Land’; enabling ‘Allow public access’ causes ‘Allow group access’ to become disabled.  The upcoming viewer change will make these two settings independent in the UI.

He further explained:

The change is to allow group-based white listing which can parcel restriction based on payment info.  Here’s how the logic plays out:

  1. “Allow public access” means that avatars/groups do not need to be explicitly white listed to visit your parcel.
  2. The “Allow access only to Residents who: Have payment info on file” option is only available when (1) is set (this is also the classic behaviour). 
  3. The “Allow group access: <group name>” setting additionally allows group members to access your parcel, except for those on the ban list.

With only (1) and (2) set, only those with payment info on file can visit your parcel; there is no way to allow your friend/alt who doesn’t have payment info on file to access the parcel.

With (1), (2), and (3) set, you allow two sets of people in:

  • ‘trusted’ accounts, who belong to the parcel’s group
  • any account with ‘payment info on file’ (these users probably aren’t zero-day griefer accounts)

The viewer-side updates required to use these options are currently a work-in-progress. There is an internal viewer available within the Lab which is being used for testing purposes, and it is hoped that the necessary updates will be appearing in a beta or release candidate viewer in the near future.

Continue reading “SL project updates week 35 (2): parcel access controls & particle system” →

Restrained Love 2.8.5.5: “z-offset” height adjustment update

Posted on by Inara Pey

In my week 35 project updates on SSA, I brought word that both Henri Beauchamp’s Cool VL Viewer (V1-style) and Marine Kelley’s Restrained Love Viewer (V3-style) have incorporated a means developed by Henri by which the new “hover” capability from LL can be used to make on-the-fly avatar height adjustments in a similar manner to the old TPV “z-offset”.

However, a slight error with the initial release of the new “z-offset” capability within the Restrained Love Viewer (version 2.8.5.3) meant that any changes made were only locally applied; they were not being passed to the baking service for onward transmission. This meant that while you would see your avatar’s height adjust, no-one else would.

Marine has rectified this with the release of Restrained Love 2.8.5.5. If you’ve already downloaded and installed 2.8.5.3, you’ll need to update for the capability to work correctly. As with Henri’s original implementation, there are a number of up-front points to note how things work, as they have changed from the “old” z-offset functionality:

  • As with LL’s hover feature, that avatar shape must be modifiable (if not, the Z-offset won’t work)
  • There will be a delay in setting the offset and seeing the final result because each change does require viewer / server communications. Multiple quick changes to the z-offset should therefore be avoided, as they may not propagate correctly.

Marine notes that there are a couple of niggles with her implementation, and that care should be taken with height adjustments.

In addition to the time taken for adjustments to propagate through the system, you may find that when they have done so, you avatar may appear a little higher or lower than you originally set. Should this happen, don’t juggle with the slider; wait another second or two and the avatar’s height will make a final adjustment and appear as you intended.

With this update, the slider will also adjust a seated avatar as well, although adjustments don’t show-up on-the-fly; instead you have to make an adjustment and wait for it to propagate via the baking service in order to see your avatar shift (along with everyone else).

The update is available for all three versions of Restrained Love, links below.

Related Links

SL project updates: week 35 (1): server releases, group ban list, anti-griefing

Posted on by Inara Pey

Server Deployments Week 35

As always, please refer to the week’s forum deployment thread for news, updates and feedback.

Second Life Server (SLS Main) Channel – Tuesday August 27th

The Main channel received the update package which includes the “grey box” attachment fix, and which had seen previous deployment to some of the RCs. In all, the package comprises:

  • A fix for the “grey box attachment  issue” (non-public BUG-3547, see the details here)
  • An update to for “llListen in linked objects is listening at root instead of linked object local position *after re-rezzing the linkset*”,  (non-public JIRA BUG-3291)
  • 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
  • Fixes for further simulator crash modes.

Release Candidate Channels – Wednesday August 28th

All three RC channel should receive the same maintenance package 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 a upcoming viewer-side update in order to be visible to users
  • A fix for a physics-related griefing mode
  • A crash mode fix.

The release notes are here: Magnum, LeTigre, BlueSteel.

Commenting on the upcoming estate and parcel access controls at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday 27th August, Simon Linden said, “I can’t get into details on the access change but it’s not a huge one, so don’t get too excited about it. We hope to have a project viewer out in a few weeks or so that will have the new code and we can discuss it then.”

SL Viewer Updates

Release Viewer Updated

Following the Monday review meeting, CHUIStorm Release Candidate viewer was promoted to the de facto release viewer 3.6.4.280048, dated August 20th) on the 26/27th August. This viewer includes the latest CHUI updates from the Lab and a number of Snowstorm code contributions from third-party developers, including:

  • STORM-1892 – Add Apply button to the edit content permission floater
  • STORM-1910 – Count of the number of groups a person has joined, and number of remaining group slots
  • STORM-1911 – Go-to line function for the internal LSL script editor
  • STORM-1918 – Part of the group notice attachment box does not allow dropping of assets
  • STORM-1952 – Clicking “Eject” needs a confirmation before execution when ejecting members from a group

The full list of updates are available in the release notes.

The move currently leaves two RC viewers in the release channel: the Cocoa updates for Mac builds, and the next round of updates for Materials Processing, which include goodies such as correct ALM rendering underwater.

Commenting on the removal of the Google Breakpad RC viewer from the list, Oz Linden confirmed that it had been removed as it had done its job, allowing the new reporting mechanism to be tested. As the viewer contains no user-facing changes or anything outside of the Breakpad updates, it has been withdrawn, and the new stats reporting code will be integrated into the viewer code base without requiring a dedicated release.

The mesh deformer project viewer has also been removed from the viewer test builds wiki page. There is not anything untoward about this; prior to the SSA deployment the viewer was already significantly behind the times in terms of merges. As SSA has now been deployed, and the view lacks SSA support, it is currently pointless having it as a publicly available download option.

Group Ban List

Baker Linden supplied a brief update to his work on creating a function to allow group owners to ban people (e.g. known troublemakers) from joining their open-enrollment groups. Speaking at the Simulator User Group meeting, he said:

I’ve still been hooking up the viewer to the server, and can now add people to the ban list. I’m currently working on getting the ban list, which will allow me to get deleting from the ban list working. After that, it’s code cleanup, reviews, and adding server-side verification checks!

To which Andrew Linden added, possibly wryly, “Baker banned me from some groups on the beta grid. I can attest that there is progress there”!

The question was again asked if the capability will allow for banning someone for a set period of time – such as for a week. Baker confirmed that while the ability to do so won’t be in the first release, there is a code stub included which will allow him to add the ability in the future. This is likely to be the case with the ability for a group moderator to add a reason for banning someone from the group if they so wish.

Anti-griefing

As he has now moved away from Interest List work for the time being, Andrew Linden is looking into griefing vectors and ways and means of circumventing them, particularly on mainland. Some of the areas he’s looking at and mulling over in terms of possible actions are:

Andrew Linden - now looking into anti-griefing options
Andrew Linden – now looking into anti-griefing options
  • Allowing estate owners to admin parcel properties (ban lists, object options, etc), without having to take ownership of the parcel
  • Altering the “allow public to build on this land” flag to default to FALSE rather than TRUE when a parcel transitions to a new owner – this is seen as a means of preventing griefers from buildings and hiding hide malicious objects in unattended parcels which can then be used to grief the region / people in the region.
  • Nerf the use of recursive rezzing to prevent griefers getting around autoreturn by creating an object which rezzes a copy of itself, then gives a copy to the rezzed object. The original is then autoreturned, but the copy carries on before creating a copy of itself, and so on.

Andrew is particularly concerned that the third proposal might be damaging to content which may legitimately self-replicate itself (such as items placed by the parcel owner or members of the group the land has been deeded to). In order to prevent this, he plans to apply the nerfing only to objects to which the auto return would otherwise apply.

At the moment these ideas are still musings – although Andrew admitted the code for nerfing recursive rezzing has already been written – and he’ll be having further discussions at the Lab as well as looking at various alternatives / additions (one he mentioned himself was to perhaps have two auto return functions – one for objects whose owners in the region, and one for those lacking owners).

One of the problems here is that in planning to create any additional restrictions on land use, etc., is that people can always raise apparently legitimate reasons why things shouldn’t be done, or offer up ways and means of how changes can be circumvented. However, the fact remains that griefing – particularly on mainland – is once again a growing issue (as those of us have experienced only too well at recent in-world LL meetings). Therefore, change is needed. The skill in the work will be how that change is managed.

Lumiya 2.5.0: advanced rendering

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update August 29th: There have been two additional updates with Lumiya since this review was published. Versions 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 both offer the same additional functionality as reviewed here, but include further fixes for devices using Adreno GPUs.

lumiya-logoAlina has released versions 2.5.0 / 2.5.1 of Lumiya. The two versions, released on August 26th and August 27th respectively, comprises the same updates features-wise, but the 2.5.1 release includes an additional fix to correct a crash issue users encountered with devices using Adreno GPUs (such as the HTC One).

The focus for this release has been on rendering capabilities, with the 2.5.0 release notes summarising the updates as:

  • An advanced rendering mode for better visual quality
  • Limited windlight support (sky, clouds, stars, time of the day)
  • Drag-to-select pointer for easy selection of small objects in 3D mode
  • Ability to purchase objects
  • Fixed an issue with terrain not being rendered when 3D view is opened too early.

Advanced Rendering and Windlight

The number of rendering options already included in Lumiya is impressive. Advanced Rendering brings with it the ability to render in-world light and other visual effects, windlight support for clouds, night-time stars, setting the time-of-day in the world view, and anti-aliasing.

Advanced Rendering options. note that Advanced Rednering must be enabled via a separate option in the Settings menu in order to access the options
Advanced Rendering options: note that the capability must be enabled via a separate option in the Settings menu in order to access these options

The additional capabilities are added to the 3D View section of Lumiya’s Settings menu (device Menu button > Settings), although they are on by default. While they do offer some enticing options, they do make Lumiya very much more device dependent than perhaps has been the case with the client in the past.

For example, I found that with the Advanced Rendering options active, my Galaxy S2 struggled mightily to render an in-world scene, even with high quality textures disabled, max avatars dialled back to 1 and draw distance down to a minimal 48 metres. More particularly, it got very hot in my hand; something I’ve not encountered previously. Once rendered, the scene also lacked clouds (although I’d chosen a region with a cloudscape overhead on purpose), but stars were visible when switching the time to night. Because of this, I’ve not included images from my phone, but rather demo images Alina captured on a tablet device with more oomph than my S2 can manage, as they give a fairer indication of what can be seen when using the right hardware.

Lumiya has clouds - if your Android device has the power
Lumiya has clouds – if your Android device has the power

That my S2 struggled isn’t surprising. There’s an awful lot of work for a small hand-held device to manage, even with just some of the bells and whistles turned on. Just as it is unrealistic to expect older computer hardware with limited graphics performance, memory, etc., to be able to handle all the latest shiny in Second Life, it’s also unfair to expect devices which necessarily have limited capacity to present everyone with the same level of detail with all the options ticked.

Starry, starry night / Paint your palette the Lumiya way ...
Starry, starry night / Paint your palette the Lumiya way …

Drag-to-Select

Another major new addition to Lumiya in this release is Drag to Select. This comprises a small hand icon in the top left of the world view, with the label Drag to Select. Following the instruction allows you to drag the icon (which changes to an arrow) and point to objects in-world, enabling you to interact with them more easily. Releasing the icon when pointing at an object will bring up the initial interaction menu, allowing you to touch, sit, etc., depending on the object.

Use Drag to Select to interact with in-world objects which may be too small to otherwise use long touch on
Use Drag to Select to interact with in-world objects which may be too small to otherwise use long touch on

This is especially useful when using a small screen, where the finger can easily cover multiple items, resulting in some frustration when trying to long touch something for its menu. Do note, however that as the option removes your avatar from the in-world view, you can’t use it to touch your own attachments; nor does it appear to work on other avatars’ attachments.

Making Purchases

You can now shop ’til you drop with Lumiya. Simply find a vendor or object set for sale, long-touch it, and the pop-up menu includes a Buy Object item. Tap this for a final confirmation before buying.

You can now purchase things with lumiya
You can now purchase things with Lumiya (account balance blanked on purpose)

Feedback

Another interesting update, albeit it one which may well tax some devices, prompting users to disable some of the options. Seeing windlight start to arrive in Lumiya is good, and helps the client to become more of a mobile alternative to a full-blown viewer for those on the move requiring their SL fix. Similarly, having the ability to make in-world purchases adds to Lumiya’s attractiveness. I also like the new Drag to select function, although its addition is starting to make the in-world view on small screens rather crowded. Even so, I’d rather have it than not.

I understand that in-world building is on the cards for a future release of Lumiya; now that will be interesting. I presume it’ll be a capability best suited to tablet devices rather than small-screened handhelds, but that’s no reason for seeing it excluded. It just means I’ll have to go buy myself a tablet! :D.

Related Links

CtrlAltStudio: Stereo 3D and first pass at Oculus Rift Support

Posted on by Inara Pey

CAS-logoCtrlAltStudio is a relatively new viewer to appear for use with both Second Life and OpenSim. The work of David Rowe, it is based on Firestorm, and the project is revisiting the use of stereoscopic 3D in the viewer, building on the release of the NVIDIA 314.07 video driver.  More recently, David has also been working at a first pass at Oculus Rift integration ahead of LL’s own work with the headset.

Version 1.0.0.34218: Stereoscopic 3D View

A proof of concept image with CtrlAltStudio (image: David Rowe)

After various proof-of-concept and beta iterations, the 3D-capable version of CtrlAltStudio appeared on July 27th, 2013.

Version 1.0.0.34218 of the viewer (release notes) uses OpenGL quad-buffered stereoscopic 3D, and requires NVIDIA graphics drivers with 3D Vision support (314.07 or later). It also requires monitors set to 120Hz, and for the viewer to be running in full screen mode. It should work with GeForce GTS250 or better, NVIDIA Quadro cards, AMD Radeon HD 6000 or better and FireGL V7600 or better with recent drivers.

To control the 3D capabilities, David has added an additional Display Output tab Preferences > Graphics, and an additional toolbar button, labelled 3D, which toggles the stereo view on / off.

Sadly, I don’t have the glasses to test the viewer itself, so will have to leave that to others to report on how things look.

Version 1.1.0.34244: Initial Oculus Rift Support

Second Life in Oculus Rift via CtrlAltStudio (image; David Rowe) – click to enlarge

On August 25th, David release version 1.1.0.34244 Alpha with initial Oculus Rift support (release notes). This is well ahead of the Lab’s own implementation of support for the headset, and people shouldn’t expect it to be in any way a complete integration of Rift support. As David comments on the blog post announcing the release:

If you want to stick your Rift-kitted head into Second Life or OpenSim and have a look around, well now you can. I’ve added some basic Oculus Rift support to CtrlAltStudio Viewer 1.1.0.34244 Alpha: you can look around and move about but there is no UI. Full Rift support including UI will come when Linden Lab release their viewer with Rift support in the not too distant future. But in the meantime you can now at least enjoy the sights of your favourite virtual world locations.

Options for Oculus Rift have been added to the Display Output tab in Preferences > Graphics, directly below those for the 3D stereo controls.

The Display Output tab of Preferences > Graphics, showing the 3d vision and Oculus Rift options
The Display Output tab of Preferences > Graphics, showing the stereoscopic and Oculus Rift options

To use the headset with the viewer, David recommends that you first sit down, then get to where you want to be before you don the headset. Once there, wear the headset and toggle “Riftlook” (using the 3D toolbar button or CTRL-ALT-3) to look around and use the arrow / WASD keys to move, remembering that “forward” is in the direction in which the Rift is pointing when “Rfitlook” is enabled.

So if you have the Oculus Rift SDK, why not download CtrlAltStudio and give it a go. Just do remember, the viewer is still Alpha, and subject to limitations, possible odd behaviour.

Related Links

Viewer release summary 2013: week 34

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: August 25th, 2013

Official LL Viewers

  • The current release viewer updated on August 20th to version 3.6.3.279564 – formerly the Maintenance Viewer RC (download, release notes)
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
    • None at present

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

  • Black Dragon updated on August 21st to version 2.3.0 and then August 23rd to version 2.3.1 – core updates: inclusion of materials viewer RC rendering updates (ALM underwater, etc ), UI tweaks and general fixes (release notes: 2.3.0 and 2.3.1)
  • Kokua updated on August 24th to version 3.6.3.29169 – core updates: parity with LL 3.6.3 code base; implementation of .DAE format object export (respecting the SL permissions system), plus assorted updates (release notes)
  • Restrained Love Viewer updated on August 24th to version 2.8.5.3 (all versions) – core update: on-the-fly “z-offset” height adjustment ported from Cool VL Viewer; Linux and Mac version also updated to 2.8.5.3 (release notes)
  • Cool VL updated on August 24th to:
  • Metabolt updated on August 24th to version 0.9.69.0  – core updates: SL crash reporting implemented; sim Stats indicate if the sim has SSA enabled or disabled; “Attachments” button added to Object manager window; “Detach”button added to Worn Attachments window; New Protection to protect against attacks via chat, script dialogues and URL offers (release notes). Additionally, the METAnomy plug-in was updated with an SSA-related fix.

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