Category: SL User Group Meetings

Second Life project updates 40/2: viewer and misc. notes

Posted on by Inara Pey

Valyria, Calas Galadhon Halloween ; Inara Pey, October 2015, on Flickr Valyria, Calas Galadhon Halloween – opening to all on Saturday, October 3rd – blog post

Server Deployments week 40 – Recap

  • On Tuesday, September 29th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the server maintenance package previously deployed in week #39 to all three RC channels, comprising internal fixes to improve inventory performance.
  • On Wednesday, September 30th, the three RC channels all received the same server maintenance package, comprising: a fix for Region Debug Console help text and a fix for a server crash issue.

SL Viewer Updates

On Thursday, October 1st the Notification viewer updated to RC status with the release of version 3.8.5.305555. This viewer provides a new Notifications floater, which separates incoming notifications into four categories:

  • System – Displays general notifications, such as inventory transfers and friendship status changes.
  • Transactions – Displays notifications that result from Linden dollar (L$) transactions.
  • Invitations – Displays group invitations.
  • Group – Displays notices from groups you are in.

Each notification in a list can be expanded or collapsed by clicking the arrow at the bottom right of the listing. The Collapse All button to collapse any expanded notifications. Notifications can be deleted individually using the X button, or collectively for a tab using the Delete All button.

The new Notifications floater splits incoming notifications into 4 categories, as defined by the tab.
The new Notifications floater splits incoming notifications into 4 categories, as defined by the tab.

You can find out more by reading my initial overview of the viewer, provided when the viewer was first released as a project viewer.

On Wednesday, September 30th, a new Maintenance viewer RC was released. Version 3.8.5.305531 brings with it 90+ fixes, updates and feature requests. Please refer to the release notes for further details.

Mesh Uploader and Materials

The recently promoted mesh uploader viewer (version 3.8.4.305119, appears to bring with it one or two problems when using materials in uploaded mesh models. See the notes and links on Nalates Urriah’s blog for details.

Other Items

Project Azumarill (HTTP) Viewer

The new HTTP viewer, version 3.8.4.304871, released on September 8th, and known by the code name of Azumarill, has been causing some light-hearted disappointment in some quarters. It seems the viewer works so well, that for some, it spoils the game of “guess which texture will render next”, because textures can render very quickly on it!

However, these is a more irritating issue which can be encountered when using this viewer. The issue itself, which has been an intermittent problem on some viewer versions appears as an object permissions error which some people are reporting as encountering on every single log-in (see the forum thread above, and BUG-9066).

UKanDo Viewer Update

Not actually a Lab-drive SL update, but the UKanDo v3-style TPV updated to version 3.8.4.28149 on Wednesday, October 30th. The update sees the viewer gain parity with the LL 3.8.4 code-base (mesh uploader), and also RLV through to release 2.9.4. The the viewer’s release notes for details.

Second Life project updates 40/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey
Discover science and oceanography at The Abyss Observatory - blog post
Discover science and oceanography at The Abyss Observatory – blog post

Server Deployments week 40

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest news and information.

  • On Tuesday, September 29th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the server maintenance package previously deployed in week #39 to all three RC channels, comprising internal fixes to improve inventory performance.
  • On Wednesday, September 30th, the three RC channels all received the same server maintenance package, comprising:
    • A fix for Region Debug Console help text
    • A fix for a server crash issue.

Following the Tuesday restarts there were assorted reports of issues being encountered on various regions – teleport failures, external communications issues (e.g. IMs to e-mail forwards, scripted object e-mail failures, etc). These appeared to be related to possible capabilities (caps) failures on restarts. Further restarts appear to have cleared some – but not all – of the issues encountered.

SL Viewer

On Tuesday, September 29th, the mesh uploader RC viewer, version 3.8.4.305119, was promoted to be the de facto release viewer. This viewer comprises a modified mesh uploader to (optionally) improve debug output, perform name-based LOD association, and handle models with many materials. It allows models with more than 8 unique faces to be uploaded. At import, these models are automatically split into pieces so that each satisfy the current face limits for a volume.

Also on Tuesday, September 29th, the Quick Graphics project viewer updates to version 3.8.4.305380, with further fixes for issues occurring with the Avatar Complexity options (such as avatars failing to render correctly after having been previously “Jelly Babied”). However, there still appears to be some issues which may require further updates (e.g. BUG-9962) before this viewer progresses to RC status.

Other Items

FmodEx Update

The Lab has received a contribution for FmodEx which should fix the “chirp” windows 10 users hear when launching the viewer.  This requires testing and a license update for the Lab to use, but should hopefully be making its way into a viewer update at some point.

STORM-2121

Cinder Roxley identified an odd little bug recently: if an object is set for sale at L$0 from the Object Profile floater, it will revert to a minimum price of L$1.00, rather than leaving it at L$0, as is the case when setting the price via the Build floater.

Pricing an object for sale at L$0 through the Object Profile floater will force the price to L$1.00, rather than leaving it at L$0.
Pricing an object for sale at L$0 through the Object Profile floater will force the price to L$1.00, rather than leaving it at L$0.

It’s not clear how long the bug has been around, but if it has been for a while, it hasn’t caused that much of an inconvenience – possibly because price may well price via the Build floater. Cinder has already contributed a fix for the issue – see STORM-2121 – and it is unlikely to encounter issues in being incorporated in a future Snowstorm viewer.

Second Life project updates 39/1: TPV Developer meeting and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

Junk; Inara Pey, September 2015, on FlickrJunk September 2015 – blog post

The following notes are primarily taken from the TPV Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, September 25th, 2015. A video of the meeting is included at the end of this report, with any time stamps in the following text referring to it. My thanks as always to North for the recording and providing it for embedding.

Server Deployments: Week 39

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for any additional updates.

Following the RC deployment, there were some reports of issues which seemed to be related to capabilities failures with the simulators concerned, although (at least in one case) no sign of actual caps failures could be seen. It’s not clear how widespread this issue may have been, and those regions that were affected appeared to have the issue resolved with one (or more) restarts.

Server Maintenance in Week #38

The end of week #38 saw several periods of unscheduled simulator maintenance (see here for example), leading to rumours that the deployments for that week were being rolled back. In fact, as reported by Oz at the Simulator UG meeting on Tuesday, September 22nd, the issue was related to the accidental use expired server certificates coupled with some asset server issues, but no actual roll-back of simulator version took place.

SL Viewer

[0:28] There have been no updates to the current RC and project viewers during week #39. There has been a cautious optimism in the Lab that the Mesh Importer RC viewer, version 3.8.4.305119 might be promoted to the de facto release viewer in week #40 (commencing Monday, September 28th), although this may be subject to further possible delay as a result of BUG-10326.

[01:10] The project viewers currently available – Project Azumarill (HTTP updates), the Quick Graphics (Avatar Complexity / graphics presets) and Notifications viewer – are all currently with the Lab’s QA team and competing for RC releases. It is hoped that some or all should move to RC status in the next week or two. However, there is currently some doubt as to whether the issues reported in BUG-10330 affecting the Quick Graphics viewer have actually been fully fixed. A maintenance viewer is also likely to be appearing shortly, either as a project viewer or RC.

[02:35] It is anticipated that the HTTP and Quick Graphics viewers will initially have small RC test cohorts, and their deployment will be “cautious”.

[07:25] The HTTP code changes are liable to be a non-trivial merge for TPVs, particularly those which might be using code paths differently to how that official viewer uses them. As such, the Lab has produced a video explaining the HTTP changes, and the recommendation is for TPVs to watch the video and get a feel for both the changes and their context, prior to attempting any merges.

[03:05] There may be an update to the Oculus Rift project viewer (currently version 3.7.18.295296, dating back to October 2014) coming soon.

CEF Viewer

[03:18] The anticipated  Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF)  project viewer, featuring updates for media purposes, should also be appearing shortly. This had initially been tipped for a week #38 release, but is currently still awaiting QA clearance. Once available, it is liable to remain as a project viewer for an extended period to allow those with media products, etc., to both test it and update their items with HTML 5 support, as the viewer will not provide QuickTime support and will have Flash support disabled by default.

Inventory Updates

[10;00] and As I recently reported, the Lab will soon be issuing viewer-side updates to improve inventory handling. This work involves two lots of updates that will be made to the viewer. The first will remove all of the old UDP inventory messaging paths which have already been replaced by more robust mechanisms, which will then be followed by simulator-side removal of all support for these messaging paths. this work will then be followed by a two-part operation to refactor much of the inventory handling code in the viewer.

This work shares a lot of common ground with the HTTP project, as such, the first set of viewer changes are unlikely to appear until the HTTP updates within Project Azumarill have reached a viewer release candidate status. However, as this work progresses, it is liable to also require considerable care with code merges within TPVs.

Older Viewers and Code Changes

[11:10] The upcoming viewer-side HTTP changes are unlikely to have an impact on older versions of viewers currently in use. However, the inventory changes will, and are liable to “break” inventory operations on those versions of viewers that do not have the updated code. This will be particularly true with the removal of all UDP support for inventory in both the viewer and on the simulator side (which is liable to occur in early 2016).

[14:07] While there may be concern at the idea of older viewers being “broken” by the inventory changes, the Lab is keen to emphasise the work is being undertaken with the aim to improve the Second life experience, and make inventory operations more reliable than they perhaps have been.

Second Life project updates 38/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Pandora's box of Dreams; Inara Pey, September 2015, on FlickrPandora’s Box of Dreams September 2015 – blog post

Server Deployments, Week 38

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates.

On Tuesday, September 15th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the server maintenance package previously deployed to the three RC channels, comprising internal simulator fixes and a fix for BUG-9504 “Clicking on any object that affects the navmesh while in Mouselook dirties the navmesh”.

On Wednesday, September 16th, the RC channels were updated as follows as noted below.

Magnum and LeTigre

Magnum and LeTigre received a server maintenance package providing llGetAttachedList(), which returns a list of all visible attachments worn by an avatar in the same region (i.e. it does not currently include details of any HUDs)  as per feature requests BUG-9683. The wiki page for the function is still appears to be in preparation. Also completes feature request and BUG-9891.

Commenting on data relating to HUDs during the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, September 15th, Simon Linden said, “I’m likely to change that a bit in the future to maybe allow some restricted access to HUD info, so you can get info on those too, but I need to figure out the right restrictions so it doesn’t become a privacy issue … I’m concerned about it as a  privacy thing, like I give you something, you rez it, and it sends me an IM listing all your HUDs.”

BlueSteel

The BlueSteel RC received a further roll of the server maintenance package containing internal simulator fixes to improve inventory performance. These updates had previously been deployed in weeks #36 and #37, only to be rolled back due to various issues (e.g. the “zombie eyes” situation and problems with note cards and scripts as reported in BUG-10183).

SL Viewer

On Wednesday, September 16th, the Quick Graphics project viewer updated to version 3.8.4.305063, with further tweaks to the Avatar Complexity elements. On Thursday, September 17th, the mesh importer viewer RC updated to version 3.8.4.305119.

It appears that the obsolete viewer supplied for users on XP and OS X 10.6 or earlier (version 3.7.28.300847) , may cease working with anything involving monetary transactions (e.g. the Marketplace, buying L$ through the viewer, etc.), possibly by the end of the year. This appears to be the result of compliance reasons preventing the Lab from continuing to provide that backward compatibility.

llGetEnv

During the Simulator User Group meeting, Simon threw out a question and comment relating to llGetEnv:

How useful would some new items for llGetEnv() be about simulator health? … I can imagine wanting to know both temp and normal rez counts, maybe for a specific item too – like if there are 10 projectiles already waiting.

He requested a feature request be filed on the matter, which was duly filed by Lucia Nightfire – see BUG-10263, and simon requested the people add their thoughts / ideas, noting that, “simplest ones are most likely to get attention and stand a chance of getting done.” If adding to the feature request, remember to specify how any additional data requested will help improve the SL experience for those using the function.

 

SL project updates 37/2: TPV developer meeting and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

Sommergewitter; Inara Pey, September 2015, on FlickrSommergewitter September 2015 – blog post

The following notes are primarily taken from the TPV Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, September 11th, 2015. A video of the meeting is included at the end of this report, with any time stamps in the following text referring to it. My thanks as always to North for the recording and providing it for embedding.

Server Deployments – Week 37

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for additional information.

  • The Main (SLS) channel did not have any deployment / restart during the week, largely due to the fact the one deployment in week #36 was to a single channel (BlueSteel), which was rolled-back on Thursday, September 3rd
  • The three RC channels all received a new server maintenance project, comprising internal simulator fixes.

Upcoming LSL: llGetAttachedList()

The Week #38 (week commencing Monday, September 14th should have a new LSL function rolling to at least one RC channel.

llGetAttachedList() is a new function that will return a list of root keys of all visible attachments worn by an agent except for HUDs. Originally a feature request (see BUG-9683), which also lists a number of potential benefits of such a function. The wiki page for the function is still in preparation,but the function itself can be tested on the Aditi (beta grid) region of Tehama. Note that it will only work when invoked for a target within the same region. I’ll have more on this should the function make it into an RC deployment in the coming week.

SL Viewer Updates

Mesh Importer

[01:50] The Mesh importer viewer continues in RC status as the Lab continues to fix problems either found internally or by those making use of the RC viewer, although Oz notes the problems are gradually becoming less severe in nature. However, it’s still not quite ready to be promoted to the de facto viewer.

Notifications Viewer

[02:39] The notifications viewer has been getting a “lot of exercise” as a project viewer, and looks set to move to release candidate status in the near future.

Quick Graphics Viewer

[03:11] The Quick Graphics project viewer, which presents the new Avatar Complexity capability and the ability to save and re-load graphics settings more-or-less on the fly,  updated to version 3.8.4.304916 on Thursday, September 10th. There are still some further adjustments being made to the viewer, but it should progress to RC status some time in the next two weeks or so.

[46:13] One of the changes which may be made to the Avatar complexity aspect of the viewer is a further toning-down of the colour intensity of avatars rendered as “Jelly Babies”. Also, the values on the Complexity slider my be further adjusted to assist those with low-end systems.

[50:20] Some have expressed an opinion that having an “infinite” upper limit to Avatar Complexity is counter-productive, as it does little to discourage people from having complex avatars which can tax other systems. In reply to this, Oz Linden said:

I really want to emphasise this, and I hope people understand it. we’re not trying to create a standard for what is “good”. what we’re trying to do is inform people about what effect they’re having and to control the impact other people have on them,  and then let things sort themselves out.

[54:28] Also with reference to this viewer, the Advanced Graphics floater has been updated to a 2-column format in response to concerns that the earlier, large single-column floater could not be easily displayed on some laptops / lower resolution monitors.

They updated Advanced Graphics floater in the September 10th Quick Graphics project viewer, version 3.8.4.304916
The updated Advanced Graphics floater in the September 10th Quick Graphics project viewer, version 3.8.4.304916

I’ll be taking a further look at Avatar Complexity once the viewer reaches RC status.

Project Azumarill

[06:25] Project Azumarill is the name of the Lab’s new project viewer, version 3.8.4.304871, which offers a complete replacement of the under the hood HTTP infrastructure, and which impacts all aspects of the viewer using simulator capabilities.

This is essentially building on Monty Linden’s HTTP work, which was applied to the most critical paths within simulator / viewer communications, and sees Rider Linden apply the changes through the viewer, and so includes, but is not limited to the following:

  • Asset upload (Images, Meshes, Animations)
  • AISv3 inventory manipulation
  • Viewer Managed Marketplace
  • Simhost event polling
  • LSL script compilation
  • Experience management (blocking, allowing, creating).

Currently, the new code is sitting in the viewer alongside older code, although the latter will be removed prior to the viewer being promoted to the de facto release viewer. While a significant update, it is anticipated that the viewer will progress rapidly through the release process, as functionally, there isn’t that much which can be said to be new for people to play with. As such, it will hopefully go through a total of two project viewer iterations prior to becoming a release candidate, then move fairly quickly from RC to release.

Continue reading “SL project updates 37/2: TPV developer meeting and more” →

SL Project updates: 37/1: inventory reliability improvements

Posted on by Inara Pey

Mysts of Eyr; Inara Pey, September 2015, on FlickrMysts of Eyr September 2015 – blog post

At the TPV Developer meeting on Friday, September 11th, the Lab provided further information about the ongoing work to improve inventory handling and management in Second Life.

As has been reported through these pages, the Lab has been tackling a wide range of issues related to inventory, inventory management, inventory losses, etc., over the last several months. The updates given at the TPV Developer meeting were to provide information and news on both the work to help fix issues around large “flat” inventories, and on new and upcoming work in rationalising inventory related code within the viewer, with Izzy and Aura Linden providing the updates.

The video of the meeting can be seen here, and time stamps are given below to the relevant points in the video where the items are discussed.

“Flat ” Inventories

[10:15] This is something that has been mentioned through a number of project updates in these pages. However, in summary: if you have a large “flat” inventory structure with tens of thousands of items contained in single folders at a time, rather than being split between multiple sub-folders, you can experience significant issues in logging-in to Second Life, up to and including being completely unable to log-in at all.

Earlier in the year, the Lab developed an inventory transform tool which, when run, can take the contents of such large folders and split them into smaller, easier-to-load sub-folders. This tool has been undergoing testing for some time, but has now been issued to the Lab’s support teams. So, those encountering log-in issues and know they have large, relatively “flat” inventory structures can raise a support request (Premium or Basic) and have the tool run against their inventory, thus hopefully fixing  matters for them.

Inventory Code Improvements

Task Paths

[12:50] Currently, the viewer has multiple paths and mechanisms by which inventory tasks can be undertaken / completed. Aura is therefore working through the viewer code to try to rationalise how inventory is handled, ensure that older paths / mechanisms are properly deprecated / removed and replaced by newer and more robust mechanisms.

[14:20] The first set of changes Aura is working on is to remove from the viewer all of the old UDP inventory messaging paths which have already been replaced by more robust mechanisms (and in some cases already had the server-side support for them removed), but which have until now remained a part of the viewer’s code.

These changes should be appearing in a project viewer for testing by TPVs in the next month or so. This is to allow them to identify possible impacts on any dedicated inventory handling mechanisms they may use (e.g. RLV / RLV/a) which may also use the older UDP messaging paths, and address any updates they may need to made as a result.

Once this viewer reaches release status, the Lab will seek to remove any server-side support for legacy UDP for inventory operations from the simulator code. Again, this will be done in consultation with TPVs, with testing regions available on Aditi beforehand, so the Lab can again be warned if they are triggering potential problems which may need to be thought about / addressed.

Code Refactoring

[19:35] The second element in the work is a refactoring of the viewer inventory files. This work will initially rationalise inventory functions within the viewer so that they are more closely coupled with their actual purpose, rather than being more widely scattered through the viewer code, and will not involve any actual code changes.

However, a further part of the work will involve code changes, with the overall aim being to make the code a lot more readable, easier to test and maintain and understand.

Server-side Inventory Rules Enforcement

[23:32] Additionally, once the above work has been carried out, new checks will be added server-side to prevent actions which are known to cause inventory problems from happening.

For example, there have been issues where people have found themselves with more than one Current Outfit folder or with multiple Trash folders, both of which can result in complications when using the viewer. The simulator-side rules, when put into place, will be designed to prevent these kinds of instances occurring.

Time Frames

As noted, the first phase of Aura’s work – the initial code deprecation work – will be appearing in a project viewer in the next month or so, and the work will progress from there in the stages, thus:

  • Remove the deprecated inventory message paths from the viewer
  • Remove any remaining simulator support for deprecated inventory messaging support
  • Rationalise the inventory functions in the viewer
  • Refactor the viewer’s inventory code in the interests of stability, maintenance, testing and update
  • Add simulator checks to prevent folder duplications, etc

How long it will take to implement each phase isn’t currently clear, and will to a degree depend on feedback about issues discovered by TPVs, as well as the results of continued testing by the Lab.