Category: SL Tech

2024 SL SUG meetings week #31 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Magic Hour, July 2024 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday,  July 30th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log. Pantera videoed the meeting, and the recording is embedded at the end of this piece – my thanks, as always, for her work.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • The SLS Main channel was restarted on Tuesday, July 30th 2024.
  • On Wednesday, July 24th:
    • The BlueSteel RC is due to (again) receive Summer Fun simulator update, which includes the initial Combat 2 updates from Rider Linden. Hopefully this third attempt will see it stick.
    • The remaining RC channels will be restarted.

SL Viewer Updates

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • WebRTC Voice RC, version 7.1.9.10084807842, July 26.
    • Atlasaurus RC (object take options; improved MOAP URL handling), version 7.1.9.9981869229, July 22.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.9.9555137545, June 21.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.9.9469671545, June 14.

WebRTC Voice Update

Summary

  • Replacing the use of Vivox for Voice in SL with WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”).
  • Benefits:
    • WebRTC is something of a “defacto standard”, with features such as automatic echo cancellation, better noise cancellation and automatic gain control, etc., and offers much improved audio sampling rates for improved audio quality
    • WebRTC will be supplied within the viewer using a library and wrapper. This will mean no requirement to run a third-party voice plugin (SLvoice.exe, as supplied by Vivox) going forward.
    • The switch to WebRTC also opens the door to adding new features and capabilities to SL Voice, some of which have been long-requested.
    • Care is being taking to address potential security issues (e.g. preventing eavesdropping, exposing users’ IP address (by using an internal proxy server), etc.).
  • Feature requests for WebRTC made via the WebRTC board on the SL Feedback Portal are being evaluated and some are being actioned, together with issues being investigated.
  • LL will be looking to Linux devs to help give feedback on how well WebRTC is working on their Linux viewers.

Status

  • The plan remains to potentially make a switch-over to WebRTC on the back-end in August.
  • This is dependent upon third-party viewers picking up the WebRTC updates from LL and incorporating them.
  • During the transition period, viewers will connect to either Vivox or WebRTC voice, depending on the service available to them. As such most voice services should be uninterrupted.
  • HOWEVER, during the transitional period, there will be some short-term issues around peer-to-peer, Group and ad-hoc voice connections between those on regions running the two different voice services (Vivox and WebRTC).

In Brief

  • A further conversation on Lua(u), including supported data types and whether an integer type will be added to LL’s implementation. The answer may be no, going on the Lua FAQ.
  • There is a reported uptick in vehicle region crossing issues in the Blake Sea regions, but more than anecdotal reports are required (e.g. information such as timestamps, agents, and regions need to be properly reported which incidents occur.
  • Changes related to avatar teleports are due to be included in the Picnic simulator update, which should start deployment as Summer Fun reached the Main SLS channel (or shortly thereafter).
  • Monty Linden has some event-queue fixes to bring to life, and would like to get them up on Aditi as a pilot test for various viewers.
This is a re-writing of a fundamental service between viewer and server.  *Not* the LSL scripting event queue – communications event queue between viewers and simulators (we have lots of things called ‘event queue’).  [The] discussion is deep inside this [forum] topic for the interested.

– Monty Linden

  • Concern was raised over recent changes to llSensor doubling the number of objects returned, causing some scripts to receive more data than they are designed to manage, resulting in increased stack heap collisions.
    • It was requested that when fundamental changes are made to a function like this, they are used within a new function, rather than changing the existing function. This sparked a conversation on what a new llSensor function (“llSensorPlus” or whatever) might include / work.
    • It was further equested that if llSensor is being updated, news flags / filters are added (e.g. HAS_SIT_TARGET, TOUCH_EVENT, SOUND_EMITTER).
    • A Canny feature request on the latter was requested, with examples of how the flags might be used.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL viewer release summaries week #30

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, July 28th, 2024

This summary is generally 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 Current Viewer Releases 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. This page 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.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts:

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No Updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable branch updated to version: 1.32.2.7 (PBR) on July 27 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Mobile Grid Client version 1.25.1298, July 25 – release notes.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2024 SL SUG meetings week #30 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
A Place Between the Rocks, June 2024 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday,  July 23rd, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log. Pantera videoed the meeting, and the recording is embedded at the end of this piece – my thanks, as always, for her work.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • The SLS Main channel was restarted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024.
  • On Wednesday, July 24th:
    • The BlueSteel RC is due to (again) receive Summer Fun simulator update, which includes the initial Combat 2 updates from Rider Linden.
    • The remaining RC channels will be restarted.

SL Viewer Updates

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Atlasaurus RC (object take options; improved MOAP URL handling), version 7.1.9.9981869229, July 22.
    • WebRTC Voice RC, version 7.1.9.9688089989, July 1.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.9.9555137545, June 21.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.9.9469671545, June 14.
  • Project viewers:
    • None.

In Brief

  • Combat:
    • Rider Linden reminded people that Thursday, July 25th will be the final meeting of the Combat User Group, and will take the form of a combat session to take place on the Concord combat region (not Lexington, as previously indicated). Those wishing to participate and who have suitable Combat 2 weapons they are willing to share are asked to bring them to the meet-up.
    • Change defaults for health_regen_rate and damage_throttle has been implemented:
      • The damage throttle is now off by default, the the default for the throttle is 1 point/6 seconds.
    • In addition: post death invulnerable agents should no longer be able to inflict damage directly. However sitting will remove that invulnerability.
  • The discussion on possible issues with llGetMass(), wherein a objects mass will not remain constant if it is resized and its density changed (via llSetPhysicsMaterial) to compensate has resulted in a new feature request  – llOverrideMass(float new_mass) – being raised. This triggered a further discussion on mass / density calculations, specifically in reference to vehicles and passengers.
  • A general discussion on scripting, rezzing, updating object (/rezzer) contents.

 

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL viewer release summaries week #29

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, July 21st, 2024

This summary is generally 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 Current Viewer Releases 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. This page 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.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Atlasaurus RC (object take options; improved MOAP URL handling), version 7.1.9.9981869229, July 22.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No Updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable branch updated to version: 1.32.2.6 (PBR) on July 20 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2024 week #29: SL CCUG summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nong Han Kumphawapi, June 2024 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, July 18th, 2024.

Meeting Purpose

  • The CCUG meeting is for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current and upcoming LL projects, and encompasses requests or comments from the community, together with related viewer development work. This meeting is held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis.
  • In regards to meetings:
    • Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.
    • Commence at 13:00 SLT on their respective dates.
    • Are conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
    • Are open to all with an interest in content creation.
  • The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.

Official Viewers Status

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • WebRTC Voice RC, version 7.1.9.9688089989, July 1.
    • Atlasaurus RC (object take options; improved MOAP URL handling), version 7.1.9.9620320242, June 27.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.9.9555137545, June 21.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.9.9469671545, June 14.
  • Project viewers:
    • None.

WebRTC Voice Update

Not strictly a Content Creation tool / subject, but of import to SL as a whole.

Summary

  • A project intended to move Second Life away from reliance on the Vivox voice service and plug-in, and to using the WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”). Roxie Linden is leading this work.
  • Key benefits:
    • WebRTC supports a wide range of real-time communications tools in common use (e.g. Google Meet), supporting audio, video and data communications, and is thus something of a “standard” approach.
    • Offers a good range of features: automatic echo cancellation, better noise cancellation and automatic gain control, much improved audio sampling rates for improved audio quality.
    • Opens the door to features and capabilities to voice services which could not be implemented whilst using Vivox.
  • In addition:
    • LL are are of some of the security concerns around WebRTC voice (e.g. risk of eavesdropping, exposure of users’ IP addresses, etc), and is actively working to block these through the use of an internal proxy service.
    • LL will be looking to Linux devs to help give feedback on how well WebRTC is working on their Linux viewers
  • Feature requests for WebRTC should be made via the WebRTC board on the SL Feedback Portal.

Status

  • There is a Release Candidate viewer available on the Alternate Viewers page. Thus is expected to be the next viewer to be promoted to de facto release status.
    • This promotion is liable to occur ahead of the planned simulator deployments (see below), allowing time for TPVs to adopt the code.
  • Currently, LL is looking at August for a potential deployment across all of SL on the server-side.
    • This will follow the usual approach of roll-out to the simulator RC channels first, then to the SLS Main channel.
    • As a result, there will be some short-term issues around peer-to-peer, Group and ad-hoc voice connections between those on regions running the two different voice services (Vivox and WebRTC).
    • Depending on how the deployment goes (e.g. first to a single RC, then multiple RCs, then the SLS Main channel), it is hoped that any such issues will only be for around 2 weeks.
  • Viewers adopting the WebRTC code prior to or during this deployment period will be able to process both WebRTC and Vivox voice, so outside of the possible short-term issues during the back-end deployment mentioned above, voice services should not be interrupted for users.

Graphics / glTF

Transmission / IOR

  • Geenz Linden continues to work on Transmission and Index of Reflection (IOR). This will provide:
    • Both refraction and “blurry” refraction suitable for things like frosted glass surfaces.
    • Dispersion, allowing chromatic aberration, allowing the RGB channels to “separate out” based on a certain factor.
    • Volume, allowing an object surface to be tinted at different surface thicknesses.
  • There are still some bugs to be resolved with this work, after which it will be folded into the main viewer development branch, but is currently tied to the work on mesh import, but may be separated out.

PBR Terrain Painting

  • This is the next planned project for Cosmic Linden, and is in the very early stages of planning, so things are subject to potential change.
  • Currently, the thinking is:
    • The four PBR materials currently used for PBR terrain would remain available for use / painting.
    • The painting element would allow a user to define how these materials are mixed (via a paint map), rather than having to rely purely on the the existing height map.
    • The paint map is likely to initially be on the basis of one blended texture at region level (not parcel), although the resolution of the texture is still TBA at the time of writing.
    • The permissions for terrain painting will be based on ability to edit the height map (if you can alter the latter through the Region settings, then you’ll be able to use the terrain painting capability).
  • This effectively means:
    • Users who have terrain editing permissions will be able to use the existing terrain texture system, using the height map (terrain elevation) to define which textures are visible, and the “blending” between them. or – if provided at the region level – access the PBR terrain paint map and use that to define the terrain (e.g. where grass, dirt, rock, etc., appears),  without having to use terrain elevation changes.
    • Use of the paint map will still be based of the X,Y positioning of terrain (as with the current height map), but all allow for actual blending of materials, rather than just creating transitional noise between textures set for different elevations, as with the height map.
  • Terrain painting will be a significant departure in how terrain texturing has been managed, requiring a new entity to be introduced. This is also still being thought through, but it is unlikely it will be a new asset type stored on the asset servers.
  • LL prefer to limit terrain painting to the four available slots at region revel, rather than allowing fully customisable swatches / slots at parcel level, as the latter presents “non-trivial issues” for terrain texture handling /loading.
  • Two further ideas being discussed in relation to terrain but not on the implementation road map are:
    • Implementing a means by which a prim can act as if it is part of the terrain, and inheriting the materials of the terrain on which it is placed, whilst allowing the geometry of the prim to be still be manipulated.
    • Instead of using terrain, provide a means by which “something else” (something created external to SL and then imported) as terrain. However, it idea is described as “more pie in the sky” thinking.

glTF Scene Import

  • No update, as Runitai Linden is out of the office.

(Non-Ambient) Lighting

  • Punctual lights is a glTF extension that has recently been folded into the main specification, defining the use of lighting sources (house light, table lamps, street lights, etc.).
  • Geenz Linden is working to implement punctual lights, but they will be tied to the node hierarchy for glTF scene imports.
  • Longer term, they hope to use the extension to enable punctual lights to render shadows (so, if your table lamp is a punctual light, it will cast shadows).
    • However, the extension is currently ambiguous as to what parameters should be used to define/ constrain such shadows, so this aspect of the work is liable to take longer to achieve, and may be dependent upon how other companies implement punctual lighting shadows.
    • In the meantime, Geenz does have some ideas on handling shadows from point and spotlights, which might leverage the work done on reflection probes.
  • In discussing the adoption of glTF punctual lighting, Geenz further noted:
    • There are some notable differences between glTF lighting and SL’s physically-based lighting model and also with the capabilities of lighting projectors as they are currently in SL.
    • As such, trying to unify punctual lighting with SL’s existing lighting / projectors could lead to content breakage.
    • Because of this, it is likely that as punctual lighting ins introduced, the existing lighting system will cease to be significantly enhanced, and pretty much left as-is, with the focus shifting to enhancing the punctual lighting system.

General Notes

  • Cosmic has also been completing work on support for PBR terrain texture transforms. This is s subset of the texture manipulation options (scale, offset, rotation, etc.), available with texturing prims, and is per material.
  • A request has been received to get planar face alignment to be functional for PBR, and this is defined as something the Lab wants to resolve “soon”.
  • Order-independent transparency is not something on the current road map, as it is seen as “too performance costly” to implement.
  • There is some potential for performance improvements / optimisations for mirrors.
    • Currently, whilst the mirror surface is planar, the reflection probe generates reflections for a full 180º in front of the mirror, not all of which might be required.
    • It might therefore be possible to adjust this to angles more appropriate for such viewers, making them slightly more performant – but the improvement will not be huge.
    • It should be remembered that mirrors can also be turned off (or have the update rate reduced) through Preferences by those feeling a mirror they are closes to and is active is too big a performance hit.
  • There have been multiple calls for Linden Water to be restored to its pre-PBR looks. Geenz noted that while making improvements to the appearance of Linden Water are not out of the question, the fact that Linden Water is not glTF compliant makes what can be done more difficult.

Next Meeting

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

2024 SL SUG meetings week #29 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Endless: Antipodes, June 2024 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday,  July 16th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log. No video this week.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Simulator Deployments

  • The SLS Main channel was restarted on Tuesday, July 16th, 2024.
  • On Wednesday, July 17th:
    • The BlueSteel RC is due to be updated with the summer Fun simulator update, which includes the initial Combat 2 updates from Rider Linden.
    • The remaining RC channels will be restarted.

Upcoming Simulator Updates

The simulator that we currently have on deck is Picnic, I cut that on Friday and should be getting it deployed onto Aditi in the next day or so. Next up is Barbecue. I believe that it already has a find text for notecards in it. I’m going to be taking another shot at llRotateAvatar.

– Rider Linden on upcoming simulator updates

SL Viewer Updates

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • WebRTC Voice RC, version 7.1.9.9688089989, July 1.
    • Atlasaurus RC (object take options; improved MOAP URL handling), version 7.1.9.9620320242, June 27.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.9.9555137545, June 21.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.9.9469671545, June 14.
  • Project viewers:
    • None.

Simulator-Side Lua(u) Project Update

In Brief

  • Rider Linden reminded people that Thursday, July 25th will be the final meeting of the Combat User Group, and will take the form of a combat session to take place on the Lexington combat region. Those wishing to participate and who have suitable Combat 2 weapons they are willing to share are asked to bring them to the meet-up.
  • As per the most recent (to this meeting) TPVD meeting, the project to replace Vivox Voice with WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”) will  – subject to third-party viewer readiness – be deployed across the Main grid in August and the switch thrown.
  • Pepper Linden noted LL has deployed some map server changes which fixes issues with region surrounds in tile generation, as well as old stale tiles.
    • Part of this work has involved fixes to the Akamai cache retention period.
    • This should mean that rather than the system caching region tiles for many days and serving them to viewers, it should now only cache up to 12 hours. This means that in a worse case scenario map tiles displayed in the viewer should be no more than 24 hours behind.
    • The request to be able to call up map tiles via their UUIDs (like textures) was again made. This might be in the work queue.
    • Garfield Linden re-iterated his tangential project to bring maps.sl.com up to parity with Maps-in-the-viewer, and make it Mobile friendly. A Leaflets update for this has just been made, and will be expanded upon at the end Web User Group.
  • There is a reported bug in  the core viewer code which causes glTF overrides to be cleared while the cache has not been yet saved by a neighbour region. As the simulator does not resend glTF data after the initial connection, the viewer’s object caches ends up with corrupted glTF cache entries from the affected region.
  • There appears to be an issue within llGetMass(), wherein a objects mass will not remain constant if it is resized and its density changed (via llSetPhysicsMaterial) to compensate. This resulted in an extended discussion on the subjects of mass and density under LSL adjustments.
  • The subject of implementing a variable walk speed on the simulator locomotion graph was again raised – an request raised a number of times at CCUG meetings. This was crossed with a discussion on avatar rotation by LSL in line with Rider’s hopes around llRotate Avatar and controlling avatar motion in general.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.