Category: SL Tech

Text clients reviewed 4: SLiteChat

Posted on by Inara Pey

Note: SLiteChat was announced as “end of lifed” in July 2015.

We’re all familiar with the Second Life Viewer in one flavour or another. But what about the non-graphical “lightweight” clients that are available for accessing SL when using a “full” Viewer isn’t always an option?

Like the Viewer, these “lightweight”, or text-only clients come in a number of flavours, some of which  – Libretto, Metabolt and Radegast – I’ve previously looked at in terms of the Windows platform. SLiteChat is another such client, available for Windows, Linux and Mac, and it gets the Pey treatment here.

SLiteChat

  • Platform(s): Windows / Linux / Mac (Windows reviewed)
  • Version reviewed: 1.6.3

In terms of overall functionality, SLiteChat sits on the Libretto side of the scales – if all you need is a rapid means of logging-in to SL and conversing and carrying out some basic tasks, it is ideal. It installs smoothly from the .EXE (binaries also available), and when launched – unlike the first three clients I reviewed in this series – doesn’t present you with a log-in screen. Instead, the application window is displayed, with a prompt for you to log-in.

Buttons

  • Exit: closes the SLiteChat window and quits the application
  • Login: displays the log-in floater
  • Logout: logs you out of your chosen grid, but leaves the SLiteChat application running
  • Teleport Home: when logged in, this will tp you to any home location you have set (or to your default logging-in point if none set)
  • Preferences: displays the Preferences floater
  • Check for Updates: will poll the SLiteChat website for any available updates.

Logging-in

Clicking the Login button displays the logging-in floater.

Enter the name of the avatar you wish to use to log-in to your grid in the First Name / Last Name box (in the case of Second Life, those without a last name should enter “Resident” after their first name). When logging in, note that:

  • All names and passwords entered into the client are recorded, and can but automatically entered into the fields during future log-ins by clicking on the down arrow at the right side of the First / Last name box and selecting the required avatar name
  • Log-in names are stored by grid; so if you log-in to multiple grids, select the grid first, and this will enable a list of avatars used to date to log-into that grid when the arrow to the right of the First / Last Name field is clicked.

The Grid drop-down (shown above) contains a pre-defined list of grids, which is slightly out-of-date at present.

Once logged-in, the full set of menu options becomes available to you

  • File: Provides the Login, Preferences and Exit options prior to being logged in, and Logout, Teleport Home, Preferences, Export Saved Conversations and Exit options when logged-in
  • View: allows you to toggle the Friends and Group windows on / off individually or together (if one is turned off, the other will expand to fill the space; if both are turned off, the chat display area expands to fill the space)
  • Friend: allows you to:
    • Search for a Friend: opens a floater window, enter the name of the person you are seeking in the top and their name is display in the main window. Entering a first name will display a list of matching first names. Highlight a name in the list to either send and IM or a Friendship request
    • Remove a Friend: left-click on a name in your Friends list and use this option to remove them as a Friend.
    • IM a Friend: left-click on a name in your Friends list and use this option to IM them – a separate tab will open in the main chat and message display area.
  • Group: this menu option is currently inactive
  • Help: Displays the Help floater and checks for updates to the application whether or not you are logged-in.

Friends and Group Lists

The Friends and Group list windows each have their own buttons and options.

The options are pretty self-explanatory, with the action buttons mirroring those found in the Friend and Group menus (with the caveat the latter menu options remain greyed out in the 1.6.3 release). As noted above, closing one or other window will automatically expand the other to fill the space, while closing both will expand the chat / message display area into the space. It’s also worth nothing that friends are automatically displayed alphabetically (first name) and split between online and offline.

Preferences

The Preferences button / menu option (under File) displays a floater of personal preference options for the client.These options are all fairly self-explanatory, although not all appear to be functioning properly.

  • The Google translation option no longer runs, probably as a result of the API for that service becoming a paid-for option
  • The options to save conversations (alongside the FILE -> EXPORT SAVED CONVERSATIONS) do not appear to be functioning.

Website

The SLiteChat website provides download links and basic documentation – including how to install, for those that would prefer to download the binaries – and a very good FAQ on common issues.

Use and Opinion

SLiteChat does precisely what it says on the box, and provides a clean, quick text-based client. It equals Libretto in most respects, although some functionality doesn’t appear to be entirely there at present. In the case of Groups, and the Group menu, this isn’t a problem, as the Group window action buttons all work. Some of the Preferences options do appear to need further work – either that or I was having a bad tech day when playing with the client. The Grid list needs updating, somewhat as well – and it would be nice to have the ability to add your own preferred grids to the list.

I’ve no idea where development stands at the moment – this release dates back to February 2011; I’ve IM’d the developer and will update here with more info should it come through.

However, none of the above stop SLiteChat from being a good, lightweight alternative to accessing SL when you’re unable to use your Viewer, and is certainly capable of letting you stay in contact with friends in-world.

Cool VL Viewer gains mesh support

Posted on by Inara Pey

Fresh on the heels of Astra 1.5.10.(2) gaining mesh rendering support, Henri Beauchamp has issued an experimental release of the Cool VL Viewer, also with mesh rendering support.

As with all versions of the Cool VL Viewer, the experimental release requires Snowglobe 1.4.2 to be installed first, with the CL VL package then installed over it. This is smooth enough, taking just a few seconds to complete. Once installed, the Viewer can be loaded using the Cool VL Viewer icon not the Snowglobe icon.

Given it is one of the longest-running TPVs in SL, Cool VL Viewer comes with  everything you’d expect of a TPV, and I’m not going to repeat the impressive list of features here – as this item is about the mesh rendering (although I should point out the release also includes full support for dynamic lighting and shadows).

As with Astra 1.5.10.(2), I used the SL mesh sandboxes to test the Viewer and took a look around – starting with Don Linden’s familiar examples and Oskar Linden’s black duck in the background.

Mesh samples in Cool VL Viewer

As can be seen, they all rendered well in Cool VL Viewer for me, although there is an issue that Henri is aware of at present. Sometimes mesh objects get stuck in the lowest level of detail (LOD) setting, causing them to appear semi-rendered. In the case of in-world objects, a quick right-click fixes this.

Mesh objects LOD issue – right-click on the object to resolve

Sadly, the same solution doesn’t work on mesh clothing worn by others, which may also get stuck in the lowest LOD rendering. However, as this is only an experimental issues of the Cool VL Viewer, things should hopefully improve as the code is refined.

There is currently no upload option for mesh at present, so those wishing to upload will have to use either the official Viewer 3 or Kirstenlee’s S21 (build 9 and above); this is currently a fact of life for the majority of third-party Viewers, although the situation may obviously change in the future.

If I’m honest, the LOD issue was not something I encountered in testing Astra 1.5.10.(2) and mesh at the sandboxes – but Cool VL Viewer does score over Astra 1.5.10.(2) in that it is a recognised Second Life Viewer with a pedigree people know and love; this is liable to make this version very popular, and any bugs in the current release are, as mentioned above, bound to be worked out.

Cool VL Viewer 1.26.1.0 also scores over Astra 1.5.10.(2) at present in that it is also available as a Linux download.

So if you are a confirmed V1.x user, either on SL or OpenSim, and want to see mesh, why not give it a go? Just please bear in mind that it is currently experimental, as as such, may be subject to stability issues, so don’t get mad with Henri if it does!

The Links

Astra – a Viewer 1-based TPV with mesh rendering

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updated August 31st: Those working on Astra 1.5.10.(2) have asked me to point out that this release is still experimental, and can be unstable at times – see comments at the end of this piece.

Viewer 1.x and mesh are not things we’re used to seeing together where Second Life is concerned. However, with mesh also making its presence felt in OpenSim, it was likely that code to render mesh in a Viewer 1.x TPV would come about at some point.

Astra Viewer is an open source Viewer linked to Astra Grid / Aurora-Sim out of Pleiades Consulting of Canada. The current release, 1.0.0 is available from the Astra Viewer website. However, there is a 1.5.10 release for Windows that can be obtained from the Aurora-Sim repository that is of interest because it can render mesh objects.

It’s unclear as to how widely available this release of Astra is supposed to be; I e-mailed the individual listed as a the main coder for the version several days ago as to use, etc, but have so far failed to receive any reply. However, news of its availability is spreading through Twitter.

Astra 1.5.10 does have almost everything you’d expect from a V1.x-TPV: client-side AO, RLV/a support (accessed from the Advanced menu, a-la Imprudence), radar, V1 avatar physics, V1 shadow rendering, etc. But it’s the mesh rendering that is of interest, and it’s good.

As mesh support is (for me at least), hard to find out in OpenSim land*, I admit that I *did* sneak into Second Life using Astra in order to test it. I’m not sure if this was entirely against the rules – SL is included in Astra’s Grid Manager, but I have no idea if Astra has been self-certified under the requirements of Linden Lab’s Thirf-Party Viewer Policy. It doesn’t appear on the TPV Directory – but this actually isn’t necessarily indicative of non-certification, as certified Viewer do not have to be listed in the Directory.

Leaving that aside, I have to say, the code works fine, as the image below shows.

Two of Claudia222 Jewell’s magnificent mesh sculptures rendered in Astra.

There’s no upload option in the Viewer at present, tho. Whether this will be added in time, I have no idea.

Another view of one of Claudia222’s creations, captured in the Asta Viewer.

Overall, Astra is pretty much what you’d expect from a 1.x Viewer. The Grid Manager selection is short (defaults to AnSky Grid on initial start-up), but adding new grids follows the usual format, and as such, isn’t a hurdle to overcome.

As I said above, it’s not clear if the Viewer has been self-certified for SL use (I’ve e-mailed the perople developing it, but haven’t heard back as yet), but given the amount of resistance to the likes of Viewer “3” within Second Life, the existence of the code to render mesh objects in the 1.x Viewer is liableto be of keen interest of 1.x TPV developers.

In the meantime, those on Windows wishing to try out Astra 1.5.10.(2) on suitable OpenSim grids can find it here.

* Francogrid and OSGrid have mesh-enabled regions.

(With thanks to Latif Khalifa).

Firestorm: major updates on the way

Posted on by Inara Pey

There is a lot of exciting news coming out of the Phoenix / Firestorm team this week, as Jessica Lyon revealed during the fortnightly Phoenix Hour Metamix TV broadcast on Tuesday. Here are the highlights.

Phaylen (l) with Jessica

Hybrid with Mesh

The next release will be a true hybrid version for Firestorm, utilising code from the SL Viewer 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 / 2.8.3 releases. It will include the capability to render mesh objects.

There is no actual release date for the new version – although Jessica hopes it will be in “The next couple of weeks.” The version is being referred to as 2.6 internally, as this was the code it was initially based on. However, given it has now developed into a hybrid encompassing several V2 releases, it is possible the version number will change to reflect the fact Firestorm is not tied to a specific Snowstorm build.

There are a couple of “blockers” to the release, one of which is getting the spell check tool into this release. This has hit a few problems, but the number of requests that have been received for its inclusion mean that it Jessica would prefer not to release the next version until the spell check is working.

Jessica Lyon discusses Firestorm

Beyond this, there are a number of other 2.6-related targets to be met, which (I gather) include regression fixes. However, rather than delaying the release unduly, the team may opt to release 2.6 with the major additions (mesh, the spell check, etc.) as a Release  Candidate, then add the remaining 2.6 targets before moving it to a Full Release status.

Viewer Modes in Firestorm

Viewer 2 introduced the concept of Viewer “modes”: Basic or Advanced. The next release of Firestorm will introduce a similar concept of “modes”, but executed very differently, in that three interface modes will be supported:

  • Phoenix mode: the Viewer presents a Phoenix-like UI
  • Viewer 2 mode: the Viewer presents a Viewer 2/3 UI
  • Firestorm mode: the Viewer presents its own hybrid UI

Friends List Overhaul – Contact Sets

This is something that is bound to excite a lot of people – and it is also something LL have been thinking about, going on comments at SLCC 2011.

Firestorm will include the ability to group / categorise your friends and contacts.

Called Contact Sets, the new feature allows a user’s Friends list to be organised according to individual needs (e.g. all business contacts can be put into a set, close friends into another set; individuals can appear across multiple sets, etc.).

Additionally, users will be able to set Viewer tag colours for their Contact Sets, making it easier to identify people from a Contact Set when seen in their own in-world view or when looking at mini-map icons.

The feature also includes the ability to include people not on a user’s Friends list, however:

  • It will not give a user any additional privileges over someone they include in this way, so users will not be able to see the online status, etc., to “non-Friends list” people in a Contact Set
  • Any group Teleports, conference calls, etc., will not be seen by “non-Friends list” people in a Contact Set

Other Features

The next release will include a number of additional features, including:

  • The Phoenix Log-in Manager will be included, allowing users to quickly and easily log-in to Second Life using any of their avatar accounts, as is currently the case with Phoenix. Once an avatar has been logged-in through the Viewer, the information is retained by Firestorm and is available from a drop-down list in the log-in screen
  • The Grid Manager has been improved, thanks to code donated by the Kokua project, together with some OpenSim support code, allowing Firestorm to operate more smoothly with OpenSim grids
  • Selection beam customisation has been added to Firestorm, allowing you to customise your selection particle beam
  • Auto-correct has been ported from Phoenix into Firestorm. Auto-correct is a macro-like option which can also be used as an auto-complete tool: if you have terms you frequently use, such as referencing a web page (your blog?), you can use auto-correct to set up a suitable abbreviation & when you type the abbreviation, the full text is automatically inserted into the chat / IM bar
  •  Viewer tags gain greater customisation in terms of how you see them; custom colours can be used, rather than being restricted to a pre-defined set
  • Volume control pop-up (Impudence example) to be in Firestorm

    The volume control pop-up common to V1.x Viewers next Firestorm release, providing users with access to all volume control sliders. This will be accessible by clicking the volume control option at the TOP RIGHT of the Viewer window, rather than the bottom right, as with V1/x TPVs

  • Font options are to be introduced, allow users to change the font used in the Viewer. A warning here is that the Viewer is coded around the default font size, so if you change the font, words may not correctly display
  • Proxy options will be included in the next release,while scripts opened and edited from inventory will be able to save them in LSL or Mono
  • Additional skins will be provided with the next firestorm release. In addition, there is also documentation available on how to create a Firestorm skin this includes information on a competition for new skins to be officially added to Firestorm
  • Display Names will offer users t the abilityo alter Display Names for other people as they are seen in their own in-world view. So if someone has used ASCII to create an incomprehensible Display Name, you can change it to some readable for yourself, with the following important notes:
    • The change doesn’t impact the actual user’s Display Name as they or others see it
    • This doesn’t in any way affect another user’s user name
    • The new name will appear in asterisks, and is not persistent if the person concerned later changes their Display Name to something else.

Major Bug Fixes

  • Log-in bug: Firestorm can crash as a result of too many chiclet notifications being received while offline. The default for the number of chiclets the Viewer can handle was raised in the current release, and this is thought to have been the problem. The permitted number has been reduced to the LL default in the upcoming release. In the meantime, those experiencing this problem, there is a work-around in the Phoenix wiki
  • Screen blackout / freeze on teleport: the mini-lock-up that can turn the screen black and  / or freeze things following a teleport has been linked to an issue with the LL code, but a fix is to be included with the next Firestorm release.

Other Notes

  • The Contact Set feature will be included in a Phoenix maintenance release around seven days after the release of Firestorm
  • There are other V1-based Viewers successfully integrate mesh rendering into their offerings, the code might be included in Phoenix in the future.

The full presentation can be seen on Metamix TV, complete with the Q&A session. Overall, these updates are almost exactly what people have been asking for – not just with Firestorm, but of linden Lab as well when it comes to the improvements to the Friends list. As such, Contact Sets idea in particular is liable to set Firestorm head-and-shoulders above other Viewer 2.x offerings and could potentially see a lot of people switching over to it.

Viewer “3”: a quick road test

Posted on by Inara Pey

So, yesterday mesh arrived (except for folk on the BlueSteel RC channel, who still appear to be waiting for mesh to be rolled-out), and  – as I predicted in my report on the roll-out, Viewer “3” jumped very quickly from Beta to the main Viewer download channel.

For those hoping Viewer “3” was bringing with it some radical departure from Viewer 2 (and I did actually hear and read speculation from some who had not actually taken a look at the new version while it was in Beta), sorry folks, that was never the aim.

Elevating the Viewer from 2.x to 3.x was never about bringing out a whole new Viewer (or even radically improving what was there already), but simply about marking the arrival of mesh. In fact, other than a muted blog post in the In-World section of the official blog (actually promoted to Featured News as I wrote this article) and a couple of Tweets, it’s actually been the only sign from Linden Lab that mesh has rolled out. While I appreciate (very sincerely) that LL included a link to this very blog in their announcement, I’m nevertheless somewhat baffled at the low-key approach.

So what does “Viewer 3” bring us.

Well, pretty much what Viewer 2.8 had, with some bug fixes and, of course, the inclusion of various mesh features.

Performance-wise, I’ve personally found it to be reasonably comparable to the likes of Firestorm on my main PC. The frame rate for a reasonably busy sim (i.e. more than a handful of avatars) comes in at around 32-37fps. On a sim where I’m just one my own or with one or two others, this bangs up to 45-48fps. It doesn’t rock the way Viewer 2.7 did for me, but these figures give a pretty smooth performance.

With shadows enabled, things aren’t so good. I crash to around 5-8fps with just one or two on the same sim. Any more than that and the frame rate bottoms-out at around 2-3. This is pretty chronic compared to Firestorm with shadows enabled, and a lot worse even than some earlier iterations of Viewer 2.

The usual annoyances remain: lack of location co-ordinates in the navigation bar, overly clunky movement / camera control pop-ups, frustratingly confusing toasties, etc. (although in fairness, all Viewers based on the V2 code have this), absolutely crappy IM / chat windows (please, please, LL, take a leaf out of the Firestorm book), yadda, yadda.

As previously mentioned, the update includes an option to allow region / sim owners to allow / disable mesh on a sim. IMPORTANT UPDATE: please see the end of this article of the latest status of this option.

Region option to allow / disable mesh

The can be found bby clicking on the WORLD menu option, then navigating to PLACE PROFILE -> ESTATE / REGION, as shown above, and then clicking on the REGION tab. The option should be available for  estate managers. However, at present the option still has a bug that means it will fault back to ALLOW on clicking APPLY. Ciaran Laval has raised a JIRA on this: VWR-26727, which has been moved to SH-2341 – please make sure you WATCH it.

When it comes to uploading mesh objects, the option can be found in the BUILD menu, alongside the other upload options.

Mesh upload options

A couple of things to bear in mind here:

  • You’ll have to have completed the Mesh Upload Status tutorial and have Payment Information On File to upload mesh objects
  • It would appear that if the land is set to a Group with object entry / rezzing is restricted to that group, you may find the mesh upload option is not displayed unless you are a member of that Group (this was certainly my experience, testing on both my own land and a sim belonging to a friend whose Group I’m not a member of).

I ran a couple of upload tests without incident (although the meshes were not that complicated, and I didn’t play with the defaults that much, as they’d already been optimised for SL). I gather others have found problems.

Other than this, there is little more to say about Viewer “3”. Others have experienced crash and frame rate issues, but in using it for some 3 hours, with plenty of teleports, etc., I didn’t encounter any technical issues. usability issues, yes; but not technical. Again, the official Viewer, in whatever version number it sits under, has a long, long way to go before it reaches the level of convenient use offered by the likes of Firestorm – at least where the non-mesh aspects are concerned.

Update 25th August, 2011

In a comment on the revised JIRA, Charlar Linden states:

Charlar Linden updated SH-2341:Status: Expected Behavior  (was: Open)   Resolution: Not Applicable – thanks – this flag would have no effect, and is being removed soon.

So it would appear the option to disable mesh is not intended to be a part of the Viewer.

Mesh: the roll-out

Posted on by Inara Pey

[POSTED 8:22PM PDT Aug 22, 2011] Rolling restarts for regions on the main Second Life server channel will be performed on Tuesday, August 23rd at approximately 5:00am PDT. Please make sure to save all builds and refrain from making purchases during this time.

Mesh: transformative? (w/thanks for Claudia222 Jewell)

With this simple notice, mesh commenced its roll-out to the remaining portion of the Main gird that has yet to see it (approximately 70%), as per the server release notes.So, assuming all goes well, the entire Main grid will be mesh enabled from today.

This isn’t the end of the mesh project, but really the beginning; thing’s are going to suddenly change overnight – it’s going to take time for mesh to make its presence felt, and as Linden Lab themselves admit, there will be further updates, revisions and improvements ahead.

As a result of this, we can doubtless expect the Beta “Viewer 3” to go to full release status shortly (if not today as well), which brings with it mesh support with some added features. Please see the update at the end of this article.

For those wishing to see mesh, issues still remain: the code for rendering mesh objects has yet to be incorporated into a number of third-party 2.x Viewers, and it unclear as to whether the code can be backported into the 1.x code.

In the meantime – a video from rockerfaerie featuring some of Claudia222 Jewell’s remarkable mesh art.

Updates

At 1300 SLT Nyx Linden confirmed the following:

  • All channels of the Main grid now support mesh except the BlueSteel RC channel (which one assumes will get mesh during the RC channel restarts on Wednesday 24th August)
  • The Default official Viewer is now Viewer 3 (currently 3.0.0.238864)

More on Mesh

Update 25th August

The “additional feature” referred to in this article was the ability to disable mesh rendering in a region. However, in commenting on a JIRA raised in relation to the capability, Charlar Linden stated:

Charlar Linden updated SH-2341:Status: Expected Behavior  (was: Open)   Resolution: Not Applicable – thanks – this flag would have no effect, and is being removed soon.

So it would appear the option to disable mesh is not intended to be a part of the Viewer.