Category: Simulator User Group

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the simulator deployment thread for updates.

• On Tuesday, March 17th, the majority of the grid (the SLS “main” channel) updated to simulator version 538236, containing internal fixes, as previously deployed to a selection of RC servers.
• An RC deployment is pending for Wednesday, March 18th, but details were TBA at the time of writing this summary. This update will apparently replace versions 538236, and 538222, both previously deployed to RC servers (March 11th).

Continuing Object Rezzing Issues

The object rezzing issues (see: Potential showstopping bug on many mainland regions. Anyone else experienced this?) is becoming more noticeable.Commenting on the situation, Rider Linden believes he may have a is resolution for the issue, stating:

I believe I was able to isolate what was going on with object rez and I think I have a solution for it. It should roll on Magnum.

This deployment should be part of the RC rollouts on Wednesday, March 17th.

SL Viewer

There have been no viewer updates to mark the start of the week to leave the official viewer pipelines as follows:

• Current Release version 6.3.7.535996, formerly the Yorsh Maintenance RC, dated February 7, promoted February 20th.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Premium RC viewer, version 6.3.8.538264, March 12.
  • EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.536347, February 11.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.3.7.536179, February 10.
  • Camera Presets RC viewer, version 6.3.6.535138, January 24.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

iOS Client

Simulator update 538222 (March 10th) saw the first deployment of code specifically in support of the upcoming iOS client, suggesting that the indicated testing period for the client may be approaching (although there are no details as yet on what form any such testing will take, and  / or if users will be asked to offer feedback).

The last detailed summary I have for the client can bee found in Second Life iOS companion app – mini update, and a key bullet point summary for the initial release could be said to be:

• The app should initially be regarded as more of a communicator / companion app than a fully-rounded client:
• It will provide a log-in option, and chat options (e.g. IM, group chat). Local chat will not initially be supported.
• It will not present you with an in-world location, nor will your avatar rez in-world.
• Seen as being useful for merchants / business owners to maintain contact with customers when away from their viewer.
• In theory, the app should work with both iPhones and iPads, although there may be some configuration differences.

Over time it will be enhanced – but additional capabilities are still TBD.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the simulator deployment thread for updates.

• On Tuesday, March 10th, the majority of the grid (the SLS “main” channel) updates to server release 537423, primarily focusing on improvements to make rolling the grid more gentle on the Lab’s non-simulator servers.
  • This update has some changes that may help improve vehicular-based  / physical region crossings. People are asked to check & report.
• An RC deployment is pending for Wednesday, March 11th, but details were TBA at the time of writing this summary. According to Simon Linden, the update shouldn’t contain any user-visible changes.

Continuing Object Rezzing Issues

There continue to be reports of on-going object rezzing issues (reported and noted in past SUG meetings), some of which appear to be specifically tied to the 53743 release whilst on an RC deployment (see: Potential showstopping bug on many mainland regions. Anyone else experienced this?). The issue is again being complicated in that it cannot be easily tied to simulators specifically on that release, because – as some of the comments on the thread note – the possibly offending script calls do not misbehave consistently between different regions on the same channel / release. 

No update was provided at the SUG meeting, but within the thread, Mazidox Linden notes:

Just to chime in here that we’re aware of this issue (as mentioned up-thread it’s not particularly new unfortunately, dating back to late last year), and using the latest information you all have provided we’re able to confirm that the issue under discussion (object_rez events never fire) reproduces in the regions mentioned, but work fine in other regions running the same code. We’re not sure why that is just yet, but we’re going to do our darnedest to find out and get a fix for this behaviour in your hands as quick as we can.

Some people have also reported of a return of breedable issues which may (or may not be) related to this problem. In short, if you are seeing issues with scripted object rezzing – file a Jira.

SL Viewer

There have been no viewer updates to mark the start of the week to leave the official viewer pipelines as follows:

• Current Release version 6.3.7.535996, formerly the Yorsh Maintenance RC, dated February 7th, promoted February 20th – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Premium RC viewer, version 6.3.8.537335, released March 3rd.
  • EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.536347, February 11th.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.3.7.536179, February 10th.
  • Camera Presets RC viewer, version 6.3.6.535138, January 24th.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9th, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22nd, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17th, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th, 2019.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Simulator Deployments

At the time of writing, there was no server deployment thread.

• There was no update to the SLS main channel on Tuesday, March 3rd.
• On Wednesday, March 4th:
  • Around 30% of the total grid (equivalent to the 3 primary RC channels) will receive an update. Again, at the time of writing, no details were available, however, Simon Linden indicated there should be no user-visible changes, but the update will include fixes to lower level code that should help with scripts running and provide some better performance transferring scripts across region boundaries as well. This update has apparently been on simulators associated with the BlueSteel RC.
  • A smaller release will also be made to some RC channel simulator, but details were not provided at the meeting.

SL Viewer

The new Premium RC viewer, version 6.3.8.537335, was released on Tuesday March 3rd, in preparation for the introduction on the new Premium Plus subscription level. This viewer sees Premium benefits information provided at login by the server for the current user and for all publicly available benefits packages. All UI and other logic is based on these values, replacing an assortment of values previously received via other mechanisms or hard-coded into the viewer. The RC also includes some UI improvements.

The rest of the viewer pipelines remain unchanged from the end of week #9:

• Current Release version 6.3.7.535996, formerly the Yorsh Maintenance RC, dated February 7, promoted February 20 – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.536347, February 11.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.3.7.536179, February 10.
  • Camera Presets RC viewer, version 6.3.6.535138, January 24.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

In Brief

• EEP: some last-minute shaders issues are being hammered on by the graphics team in preparation for EEP to progress.
• Rider Linden has a “background project” he hopes that, when he can focus on it and move it to public release, may help with simulator slow-downs that occur as avatars TP into a region.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, February 25th.

Simulator Deployments

As always, please refer to the week’s deployment thread for updates.

• The SLS (main) channel servers were updated with simulator update 2020-02-14T20:17:32.536748. It’s not clear on what this update contains, as the release notes generation process is currently broken.
• A “large load” of RC simulators are planned to be updated on Wednesday, February 26th. However, at the time of writing, the status of the release was in the air due to some last minuted investigations to determine if the updates are fit for purpose.

SL Viewer

At the time of writing, the official viewer pipelines remain unchanged from the end of week #8:

• Current Release version 6.3.7.535996, formerly the Yorsh Maintenance RC, dated February 7, promoted February 20 – NEW.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.536347, February 11.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.3.7.536179, February 10.
  • Camera Presets RC viewer, version 6.3.6.535138, January 24.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

Sansar and Second Life

While Sansar and SL are very different platforms based on different technology and capabilities, it has often been asked if / whether capabilities found in Sansar might be ported / developed for Second Life.

As a result of the recent decisions at the Lab to cease development work on Sansar, lay off staff and considered options (see: Sansar: lay-offs, rumours, and confusion and Lab seeking a “plan B” to secure Sansar’s future), these questions have been raised again, including at the Simulator User Group meeting, where Simon Linden responded:

We are going to take a look at Sansar tech and see what might be brought into SL but that’s a long-term project … nothing at all has been decided.

Whether this means the upcoming long-term graphics / rendering project mentioned in the February 21st Lab Gab session with Ebbe and Grumpity Linden (see Lab Gab: Second Life in 2020 with Ebbe and Grumpity (and Keira!) ) might look towards poking at the Sansar render engine for ideas or not remains to be seen. However, a recurring request that has cropped up vis. Sansar capabilities and SL has been the potential for a similar level of Marvelous Designer™ cloth simulation to be added to SL – although it’s unlikely this could be done without some headaches.

However, as Simon notes, any project related to what might be adopted from Sansar for Second Life is a long term thing, and LL has enough on its plate vis cloud uplift, etc.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, February 18th.

Simulator Deployments

As always, please refer to the week’s deployment thread for updates.

• The SLS (main) channel servers were updated with simulator update 2020-02-05T22:16:31.536040, providing support for the upcoming Name Changes feature.
• At the time of writing, the deployment thread indicates there is no RC deployment scheduled for Wednesday, February 19th, however according to Simon Linden speaking at the SUG meeting, there will be an RC update. so again, check the deployment thread for updates.

SL Viewer

At the time of writing, the official viewer pipelines remain unchanged from the end of week #7:

• Current Release version 6.3.6.535003, formerly the Xanté Maintenance RC, dated January 22, promoted January 27 – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.536347, February 11.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.3.7.536179, February 10.
  • Yorsh Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.3.7.535996, February 7.
  • Camera Presets RC viewer, version 6.3.6.535138, January 24.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

Brief Notes

• Script running: concerns continue to be expressed over recent changes to script behaviour designed to improve script performance within a region may be affecting the ability of scripts to run in a timely fashion when their object is rezzed. Up to a 2-second delay has been observed, although this is by no means constant for any given object. This is a known issue with the Lab, who are continuing to work to improve the situation.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, February 11th.

Simulator Deployments

As always, please refer to the week’s deployment thread for updates.

• The SLS (main) channel servers will remain on server release 2019-12-04T20:29:26.533447.
• A single RC channel deployment is planned for Wednesday, February 12th. Server update 2020-02-05T22:16:31.536040 should comprise support for the upcoming Name Changes capability.
• The remaining RC channel servers will apparently remain on server update 2020-01-23T00:43:42.535128.

SL Viewer

On Monday, February 10th, the Love Me Render RC viewer updated to version, 6.3.7.536179.

At the time of writing, all remaining viewer pipelines remain as follows:

• Current Release version 6.3.6.535003, formerly the Xanté Maintenance RC, dated January 22nd, promoted January 27th – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Yorsh Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.3.7.535996, February 7th.
  • EP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.535668, February 4th.
  • Camera Presets RC viewer, version 6.3.6.535138, January 24th.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9th, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22nd, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17th, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th, 2019.

Brief Notes

• Work is continuing to try to clear the last blockers staying in the way on the Name Changes deployment.
• BUG-228162 “Issue with experience_permissions_denied() and XP_ERROR_NOT_PERMITTED triggered when experience permissions are granted by more than one person” – appears to report an issue in granting permissions if dialogue requests are simultaneously open.