Category: SL User Group Meetings

SL project updates 41/2: TPVD meeting, attachments & Interest List issues

Posted on by Inara Pey

Ironwood Hills; Inara Pey, October 2015, on Flickr Ironwood Hills (Flickr) – blog post

The following notes are primarily taken from the TPV Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, October 9th, 2015. A video of the meeting is included at the end of this report, although the opening few minutes of the meeting are missing. Because of this, I’ve included an audio file as well to cover the opening of the meeting.  Time stamps to both the audio and the video are provided, and my thanks as always to North for the video recording and providing it for embedding.

Please note that any extraneous noises on either the audio or the video are the result of an open mic in the meeting itself, and not from myself or North

Server Deployments: Week 41 – Recap

As per the server deployment thread, there were no scheduled deployments / restarts for the three RC channels during the week, while the Main (SLS) channel received the same server maintenance package deployed to the RCs in week #40.

SL Viewer Updates

 

[00:00 – 02:10 on audio]

CEF Project Viewer

On Wednesday, October 7th, the Lab issued the long-awaited project viewer utilises the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) for media handling – and more – in Second Life. Version 4.0.0.305703 sees CEF replace the ageing llqtwebkit functionality for media management in Second Life (also see my separate update).

[13:25 video] The emphasis from the Lab is that if you use web media in-world test your products / projects / uses thoroughly with the CEF project viewer, and make sure you continue to test as the project viewer is updated, in order that specific issues encountered can be reported and looked at while the lab is still developing the viewer.

It also appears that QuickTime media may still work on this viewer, rather than being disabled, as had been indicated in my last TPVD update. However, this should not be taken to mean either QuickTime or Flash will be supported by the Lab going forward, or that media using them will be viewable by all users. CEF, HTML 5, etc., are the future of media in SL.

Other Viewer Updates

On Friday, October 9th the HTTP updates viewer (project Azumarill) was promoted to release Candidate status with the release of version 3.8.5.305771. This viewer provides improved performance and stability. Impacts include: asset uploads, AISv3 inventory manipulation, VMM, Experience management, LSL compilation, Simhost event polling, etc.

Currently, it appears as though the Maintenance RC viewer, version 3.8.5.305531, is in line to be promoted to the de facto release viewer in week #42 (week commencing Monday, October 12th).

An update for the Oculus Rift project viewer (currently version 3.7.18.295296, and now almost a year old), is still expected, but it is subject to other work being undertaken at this point in time.

Attachment Loss on Region Crossings

[03:44 audio;  00:00 video]

The Lab recently carried out extensive work to reduce the number of attachment loss issues occurring as a result of issues caused directly within the viewer itself (project Big Bird). However, while this work fixed a lot of issues, some still remain, particularly during region crossings, whether physical or via teleport (see BUG-7761 as an example).

Essentially, what happens when moving from one region to another is that all of the attachments on your avatar must get new IDs from the simulator to which you are moving. The viewer then has to associate these new IDs with the attachments you are wearing, and the locations where those item as actually attached. In doing so, it attempts to preserve continuity  by keeping things where they were according to the region you’re leaving, and then updating them with the information it receives from the new region.

A problem I sometimes encounter when flying / boating is returning home and finding one of my scripted mesh shoes has been detached at some point during the trip
A problem I sometimes encounter when flying / boating is returning home and finding one of my scripted mesh shoes has been detached at some point during the trip

This obviously involves a lot of messages being passed back and forth between server and viewer – and the more attachments you have, the greater the number of messages being passed back and forth.

Additionally, if the attachments are scripted, further messages relating to script states, etc., also need to be passed relating to their state, etc., which adds to the load. Finally, all of these messages may use different transport mechanisms to pass between server and viewer.

This means there are many opportunities for messages to arrive out-of order due to race conditions, etc., or to be dropped and lost because of possible network issues and some messaging mechanisms not having a retry option, etc. It is these problems which tend to result in issues with attachments being removed, etc.

The Lab is interested in trying to eliminate as many of these problems as they can (allowing for the fact some might be related to your network connection, and possibly outside of their ability to control). However, in order to do so, they first need to identify exactly what is going on, and this requires examples of attachment losses, etc., that are consistently reproducible (e.g. attachment type X will always detach when crossing between regions Y and Z, for example). It is these kinds of consistent examples which are proving hard to find – so if you do know of one, please raise a JIRA outlining it step-by-step.

Continue reading “SL project updates 41/2: TPVD meeting, attachments & Interest List issues” →

Second Life project updates 41/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Trace too; Inara Pey, September 2015, on Flickr The Trace Too – blog post

Server Deployments, Week 41

A light week this week. As per the server deployment thread, there will be no scheduled deployments / restarts for the three RC channels during the week. The Main (SLS) channel will, however, receive the same server maintenance package deployed to the RCs in week #40.

SL Viewer Updates – Quick Graphics Viewer

The Quick Graphics viewer reached release candidate status on Friday, October 2nd with the release of version 3.8.5.305528. This is the view which provides the new Avatar Complexity options and the new graphics preset capabilities for setting, saving and restoring graphic settings for use in difference environments / circumstances.

The revised Advanced Graphics floater for the RC, first seen in later iterations of the project viewer
The revised Advanced Graphics floater for the RC, first seen in later iterations of the project viewer

One of the more visible changes within this RC for those who may have used the initial project releases of this viewer, but not the more recent iterations, is that the Advanced Graphics floater has undergone further changes, and is now presented as a two column floater, rather than the single huge floater seen in the first releases of the viewer.

In terms of the graphic presets as well, it should be noted that this RC update does not appear to resolve BUG-10398 “Graphics preset changes to None each time the Advanced Graphics floater is opened, even when no changes are made”.

The colours used for "Jelly Baby" avatars exceeding a user's complexity limit have been further toned down in the Quick Graphics RC update
The colours used for “Jelly Baby” avatars exceeding a user’s complexity limit have been further toned down in the Quick Graphics RC update

For Avatar complexity, the RC update sees further tweaks to the default Complexity value you will see displayed in the Advanced Graphics floater, which is based on your system’s capabilities. The colours used for avatars which are “Jelly Babied” for exceeding your Complexity setting have also been further toned down so that they are not quite so glaring.

However, a number of Avatar complexity issues still appear to be unresolved with this release, and which appear to be related to avatars with very high attachment byte sizes (the 4th value displayed over avatar heads by the viewer when showing Avatar Complexity information):

  • BUG-9962 – Avatars often permanently stuck as jelly babies even when Max complexity = No Limit
  • BUG-10401 – Blocked avatars are always fully rendered when imposters are disabled & other odd new behaviour with blocked avatars
  • BUG-10330 – Some avatars remain invisible until imposters are disabled.

Note: I’ve seen a couple of comments in some group IMs and elsewhere suggesting some people are under the impression this viewer should produce faster in-world rendering (presumably because of the”quick graphics” project title). This isn’t actually the case; however, and depending on variables outside of the Lab’s control, much improved rendering should be seen when using the project Azumarill viewer.

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.