Category: SL Tech

Kirsten’s Viewer: a trip down memory lane

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Sunday 23rd September, Kirstenlee Cinquetti made a surprise update to Kirsten’s Viewer. It was accompanied by a short blog post:

I cannot help but find myself drawn in once more, you would think after nearly ten years of what sometimes seems like punishment you would throw in the towel.

But like I have stated in the past you catch a spark of what could be.. and once more you re-discover.

The shape or form of your time devoted to this most unusual habit is not yet set in stone, but you know you quite fancy the journey once again.

Version S22(1a) was not a major update to the viewer, and wasn’t intended to be, although it has been followed by a second release on the 26th, version S22 2.8.2 (11). Both are still very much Viewer 2 in terms of UI, and are more “tidy-ups” rather than any resumption of development.

Seeing the old V2-style UI actually brought a smile to my face. Well, not so much a smile as a big, sloppy grin. Even though I’ve never been a fan of the tabs on the right side of the screen, I’ve still missed the Sidebar in so many ways. It is ironic that by the time LL decided to remove it altogether, several TPVs had re-worked it into something that was both reasonably functional and no longer a blight on people’s use of SL – with Kirsten’s Viewer being at the forefront of many of the early improvements and Sidebar innovations.

Kisten’s Viewer: a trip down memory lane

That this isn’t a return of Kirsten’s viewer – and shouldn’t be taken as such – was made clear by Kirsten’s partner, Dawny Daviau, who chatted with me earlier this evening about the updates. “He grabbed the latest Kirstens viewer and just played a bit with it and compiled it again with just here and there an adjustment,” she explained. “There wont be any serious work anymore done as he still works and doesn’t have the time for that. It’s just refreshed, and wont get the new things LL offers now like pathfinding etc. See it as recreational work on the viewer but because we had so many requests for the viewer we put it up for the fans.”

One of the last releases on Kirsten’s Viewer included a (still unique) 3D view of the world. That’s still present in the updates – you can find the option under Preferences->Graphics->Advanced-> Misc->Toggle Anaglyph Render. You may also need to disable deferred rendering (lighting and shadows) – but if you’re able to view 3D rendering on your computer, it brings a whole new depth to Second Life.

Being based on V2, performance isn’t perhaps as good as the latest generation of V3.x viewers. On my system, it ran at around 23 fps at ground level with deferred off and Draw set to 128m. Pushing Draw up to my usual test range of 360m reduce the frame rate to around 18 fps. However, I do have an older GPU, and it did always tend to struggle with Kirsten’s, sadly. This is reflected by the fact that with deferred active, I was reduced to single digit frame rates – just 7 fps at 128m, and 4 at 360m.

There is far too much in V3.x I’ve become used to  – and dependent upon, in some respects –  to make a return to using Kirsten’s viewer full-time, but seeing these two releases was a welcome trip down memory lane, tinged with no small measure of regret at what might have been, had the Crowdfunder funding raised enough for work on the viewer to continue.

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With thanks to Nalates Urriah.

Viewer release summary 2012: week 38

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 being in adherence with 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 as the week progresses
  • 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: 23 September, 2012

  • SL Viewer updates:
    • Current Release rolled to 3.4.0.264911 on September 20 – release notes
    • Beta version rolled to 3.4.0.264785 on September 20 – release notes
  • Dolphin issued 3.3.21.24786 on September 23 – core updates: Windlight updates (some pre-sets renamed, inclusion of new pre-sets & removal of duplicates); new Reset button on machininima floater; RLV updated to 2.08.03.04; fix for Linux viewer stalling when text printed on the on-screen console (release notes)
  • Kokua rolled to 3.3.4.23807 (GM) on September 20 – core updates: Grid Manager changes and fixes. No release notes available
  • Zen rolled to 3.4.1.2 on September 20 – core updates: performance updates; Show Avatar Location in Status Bar; assorted fixes; release of Phototools options (taken from Firestorm ahead of official launch) – release notes
  • Cool Viewer the Stable branch rolled to 1.26.4.31 and the Experimental branch to 1.26.5.10, both on September 22. Core updates:
    • Stable: improved Preferences->Graphics tab layout; Fixed MultipleUpdate messages and the object import feature (both SL only); Implemented Singularity fix for SLPlugin.exe preventing media from playing (Windows only); fixed Max OS-X build system issues; fixed OpenSim crash issue / when using the status bar search box; assorted other memory and minor fixes
    • Experimental: as per 1.26.4.31, plus:fix for rendering system memory leak; fixed the deferred rendering invisprims support
    • Release notes for both
  • Pocket Metaverse updated to version 1.7.2 – September 13 core update: iOS6 support (missed from last week)

Related Links

Pathfinding: summary update

Posted on by Inara Pey

Linden Lab has been quietly working on pathfinding, clearing a range of bugs, updating the supporting documentation (some of which is still a work-in-progress) and providing more information for users aimed at clearing up misconceptions / misunderstandings. The following is a quick update on recent activities.

Lorca Linden’s FAQ

On September 18th, Lorca Linden posted a Pathfinding FAQ to the Second Life Server branch of the technology forum. While perhaps not the most high profile place in which to post the information, the FAQ nevertheless addresses a number of core issues related to pathfinding and makes a valuable read for anyone interested in using pathfinding or who wishes to understand more about pathfinding in general, rather than relying on hearsay.

One of the major misconceptions which is perhaps missing from the FAQ is that disabling pathfinding in a region will somehow “improve performance”.  In fact,m the only thing disabling pathfinding for a region does is to prevent pathfinding characters from operating; the underpinning Havok engine remains unchanged, and no Havok functionality related specifically to pathfinding is “turned off” in any way. So if there are no pathfinding characters being used within a region, disabling pathfinding will not improve the region’s performance, and any apparent improvement which may be noted is more than likely a placebo effect.

Pathfinding Tools In The Viewer

The latest release version of the SL viewer (3.3.4.264911) now includes the pathfinding tools, as do a number of TPVs, some of which I reported upon a while back, and which have since been joined by Firestorm (4.2.2.29837+); while Singularity (1.7.1+) also now provides some of the viewer-side tools / options associated with pathfinding.

Updates list of viewers monitored on this blog  which provide pathfinding support (click to enlarge)

Documentation-wise, work has been put in on cleaning up the existing wiki pages (although some are still somewhat out-of-date or difficult to follow as they presume a certain level of understanding). An updated list of pathfinding wiki documentation and related resources which I’ve previously published in the blog can be found in Related Links, below.

While there is still ongoing work in relation to a number of pathfinding bugs, the arrival of the pathfinding tools into the SL release viewer theoretically marks the point at which pathfinding might be considered “fully released” (as previously indicated by Lorca Linden). As such, it would be beneficial for Linden Lab to provide a formal blog post on the subject, including links to relevant resources such as those listed below in order to make the information more readily apparent to SL users, regardless as to how well (or otherwise) LL believe their blog is read.

Related Links

Upcoming SL projects update

Posted on by Inara Pey

There is a lot going on in terms of projects and development work in Second Life. The following is a further update on a number of key projects I’ve been following and reporting upon through the pages of this blog.

Group Services Project

The Group Services project is an attempt to improve the management and editing of large SL groups by replacing the current UDP-based service (which has capacity issues with the size of group lists it can comfortably handle) with a new HTTP-based service. The project viewer for this is already available (for Windows, Linux and OSX.), as I reported last week.

This week sees the server-side code rolled-out to all three RC channels (Magnum, LeTigre and BlueSteel), allowing the project viewer to be tested in handling very large groups (significantly larger than are available on Aditi). Note that those running viewers without the new code on any RC region will be unaffected, as they will continue to access the current UDP service.

There are still no timescales as to how long the testing of the service will last (“It’ll take as long as it takes,” Baker commented recently), or when the viewer code will progress beyond the project viewer. However, a number of things should be noted in reference to the eventual roll-out:

  • The viewer code is not being made back-compatible with V1 code by the Lab. Therefore, TPV developers using the V1 code base will have to backport the code themselves in order to use the new service
  • The initial HTTP service roll-out does not include any data compression. This means there will still be some delay in downloading member lists for very large groups with tens of thousands of members
  • Once the new service is rolled-out, which service is used is entirely transparent to the user. If a viewer with the new code is running on a region which has the server-side HTTP service, it will connect to that service. If it is on a region using the older UDP service, it will connect to that service instead
  • Once the HTTP service is fully deployed, viewers which do not implement the viewer-side code will still be able to access groups with member lists up to 10K in size via the UDP service until such time as it is switched off (which will not occur for some time after the HTTP service has been rolled-out). However, attempts to access groups with lists larger than 10K will fail.

Interest Lists and Object Caching

It’s been a while since I’ve reported on Interest Lists Object Caching, which forms a part of the Shining Project.

To recap: when you enter a region at the moment, your viewer receives a huge amount of information on what requires updating, much of it relating to things you can’t even see from your position in the region. This information is received in no particular order, with the familiar result that things appear to rez in your view in a totally random order. Not only that, but the chances are that if you’ve previously visited the region, much of the information being sent to your viewer is already locally cached – but is being ignored. The focus of this project is to both optimise the data being sent to the viewer and the information already cached on the viewer with the aim of significantly improving object rezzing times in terms of speed and order (so objects closer to you rez before those further away, for examples).

Object caching and interest list changes: easing the pain of random rezzing

Andrew Linden had hoped the project would be going to QA this week ready for roll-out to one or more RC channels in the near future, but some last-minute problems popped-up and have delayed things until he can get them sorted out. In the meantime, the code has been deployed to a number of regions on Aditi, and Andrew plans to, “Try to throw a pile of test avatars at it to stress it out. Later this week.” No viewer-side changes are associated with this work.

Materials Processing

Work continues on the project to bring materials processing to Second Life. Last week, it appeared as if the new materials – normal and specular maps – would have their own rotation and positioning options independent of any texture (diffuse) map. This week, it appears that this is the hoped for situation, but the matter is still open to question – which goes to show how fluid the project is.

The new capabilities require changes to the rendering pipeline, and details have been released on some of what this entails.

In order to work, normal and specular maps require what is referred to as per-pixel lighting (as noted in the original blog post on the subject). As such, there has been a debate on whether it would be better to develop a per-pixel lighting framework within the viewer, or work to make the current deferred rendering system more accessible to per-pixel lighting capabilities. As the latter approach will allow getting materials processing working within SL sooner than would otherwise be the case, it has been decided to go that route. Thus work is focused on making the current lighting system more configurable and able to better handle a broad range of material types (metallic, matte, plastic, etc.), together with adding support for both per-object and per material shading differences.

However, a dedicated per-pixel lighting framework does offer advantages of its own, and as such is being considered as a possible future extension to the project, which may be implemented at some point down the road. One such advantage is that could potentially be run in a non-deferred mode, which might lightening the load on older graphics systems.

Please use the page numbers below to continue reading

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Group tools: giving notice to people

Posted on by Inara Pey

Group Tools is a Windows client for Second Life specifically designed for those who need to send out group notices or IM messages simultaneously across a number of groups.

Rather than having to create individual notices for each group, or copy & paste a message multiple times into different group IM sessions, Group Tools allows you to set up a single message (with attachments, if required) as a notice, as an IM or both, to all groups you have determined should receive the information. As such, the client is aimed towards people like entertainers, large event organisers, venue owners, and so on, who may operate multiple groups which need to receive the same information, or are members of multiple groups to which they frequently send the same information.

To achieve its goals, Group Tools is designed to be used with an alt account, which is treated as an in-world bot for the sending of messages. So to make effective use of the client, you will either require an alt account which can be used in this way, or create one specifically for use with Group Tools. The bot itself needs to be a member of all the groups to which you regularly send IMs and notices (ans will require permission to send out notices in the case of the latter), and be logged into SL via Group Tools in order to send messages as required. To add flexibility, Group Tools includes the concept of an “Operator’s Group”, which allows those you trust to be able to send out notices / IMs through the bot (they do not need to be running Group Tools).

Account Registration

Group Tools is unusual in that it requires an account registration process and a licence fee payment in order to be used. The registering account should be your main account, which is used to manage your bots, and not any account you intend to use as a bot. Accounts are registered in-world at the Group Tools office.

Licence fees can be purchased on an in perpetuity basis (one payment only) or on a monthly renewable basis. For those wishing to try-out Group Tools, a free one week trail period is available, which provides access to Group Tools in full. Licence prices can be found on the Group Tools website, as can the Privacy Policy, which is a recommended read.

Registration will also supply you with a sample notecard which can be used as a template to help with formatting your own message notecards.

Once you have registered, you’re ready to download Group Tools (if you’ve not already done so), and set-up your bot(s).

Download and Install

The Group Tools download .EXE is 7.56Mb in size, and should install OK once downloaded. However, issues have been reported using Norton Internet Security, and guidelines have been posted on the Group Tools website for those who may encounter similar problems.

Control Centre

Group Tools comprises two parts: the Control Centre, used to set-up bots and log them into Second Life, and the Client Window, where specific operations can be carried out.

Launching Group Tools displays the Control Centre screen which you use to define your bot(s). Bots are set-up using the account name / password for an SL account and linking them to the registered  Master account. Account names are entered with a period between the first and last name, not a space (i.e. “Inara.Pey”, not “Inara Pey”).

Control Centre screen as it appears before any bots have been defined

Once this initial information has been entered, SAVE BOT should be clicked. This will create a dedicated bot account within Group Tools, complete with a Group Tools-specific password, which is quite separate to the bot’s SL password (and so cannot be used to log-in to SL with the bot via other means). Clicking SAVE BOT will also refresh the Control Centre screen to display a SETTINGS button next to the bot’s name. Clicking on this opens a tabbed panel (below), allowing further options to be set for the bot.

Updated log-in screen for a saved bot

The Settings tab comprises options to:

  • Set a default log-in location for the bot when using Group Tools
  • Allow the bot to automatically sit on a defined prim (useful if the bot is logged-in to a busy area and you do not what it to be an obstacle to traffic – just supply the UUID of the prim on which the bot is to sit)
  • Assign the bot to an Operators Group – see below.
  • Set whether or not Group Tools should start and log-in to SL using the bot whenever you start Windows.

The Misc tab allow you to set various options, including:

  • Whether or not the bot can accept friendship offers from anyone or just from operators
  • Whether the bot can use money
  • An automatic IM reply sent in response to incoming IMs
  • How inventory offers are received by the bot.

Once you have set / changed any of these options for a bot, make sure you click SAVE BOT to ensure the settings are correctly stored by Group Tools.

Continue reading “Group tools: giving notice to people” →

Viewer release summary 2012: week 37

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 being in adherence with 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 as the week progresses
  • 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: 16 September, 2012

  • SL Viewer updates:
    • Beta version rolled to 3.4.0.264601 on September 12 – release notes
    • Development: rolled to 3.3.5.264693 on September 13
  • Dolphin issued 3.3.20.24775 on September 16 – core updates: bug fixes including OOC closing correctly, use of “:” as umlaut when using MU* pose “:”, landmarks open from notecards correctly; new features including Groups list show number of used / free group slots; Groups hidden from profile display (when viewed by others) shown in yellow; Mac OSX build now digitally signed; RenderVolumeLOD defaults to 4.0 for High graphics; “All Friends” can now be hidden on Friends List; AO folder only created when client AO used; Object highlighting when editing can be turned off/on via ALT-H
  • Cool Viewer:
    • Stable branch rolled to 1.26.4.30 on September 15- core updates: Add fast timers from V3 backport; implemented toggleable, dual code paths for llTargetOmega() angles tracking; workaround for MultipleUpdate message bug on OpenSim
    • Experimental release rolled  to 1.26.5.9 also on September 15 – core updates as per 1.26.4.30, plus: Added the v3.4 renderer specific fast timers; Enabled invisiprims rendering in deferred rendering mode (Advanced->Rendering->Deferred Rendering menu); Fixed old style mini-map dots rendering issue (also fixes OpenGL compatibility context issue, speeding up deferred rendering)
    • Release notes for both
  • Singularity rolled to 1.7.2.2956 on September 16 – core updates: “crash fixes” (awaiting details) – release notes
  • GroupTools rolled to installer release 2.2.12.0 on September 16

Related Links