Category: Simulator User Group

][Octopussy][ goes Cuba, July 2019 – blog post

Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for recent news and updates.

• There was no deployment to the SLS (Main) channel on Tuesday, August 27th,  leaving it on server maintenance package 19#19.08.06.529800, containing internal fixes.
• On Wednesday, August 28th, the core RC channels should be updated as follows:
  • BlueSteel should be updated with server maintenance package 19#19.08.23.530348, comprising the simulator deployment improvements recorded in the Lab’s official blog post:  Simulator release channel improvements, and my own blog post Lab notes updates to SL simulator deployments.
    • Among other things, this update will see the RC channel name be removed from Help > About in the viewer (it will simply be recorded as “Second Life Server”), and the channel name will no longer be returned for LSL enquiries.
    • Note this is the RC channel name that will be changing – both the simhost name and the simulator version will still be visible, contrary to comments in the forums. Also, simulator version number will remain available to LSL; it is again, just the channel (sim_channel) that  will always return “Second Life Server”
  • Magnum ad LeTigre should receive server maintenance package 19#19.08.23.530380, very helpfully referred to as “Maintenance fixes” and “Maint Train woo woo chuga chuga chuga chuga”
  • There will be a further small-scale RC deployment that will (if I understand things correctly) comprising the script usage improvements  –  the smaller deployment being cautionary after things went sideways when an attempt was made to deploy these updates to an RC channel in week #34.

SL Viewer

The Bakes on Mesh viewer was promoted to de facto release status on Monday, August 26th, with the release of version 6.3.0.530115. You can find out more here:

• The Bakes on Mesh viewer is live! – official blog post.
• Bakes on Mesh – a primer – this blog.

As a result of this promotion, the Umeshu Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 6.3.1.530411 on Tuesday, August, 27th, bringing it to parity with Bakes on Mesh. This will likely be the next viewer to be promoted to release status in around 2 weeks time.

The rest of the viewer pipelines see no change at the start of the week and remain as follows:

• Release channel cohorts:
  • EEP RC viewer, version 6.4.0.530150, August 19th.
• Project viewers:
  • Project Muscadine viewer (Animesh enhancements), version 6.4.0.530100, August 19th
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, June 5. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
• Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, promoted to release status 29th November 2017 – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
• Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

In Brief

• The planned changes to RC deployments (see the blog post links above) has caused some drama, partially due to people misunderstanding that the RC channel names will be less obvious, as noted above – but not the simulator / simhost names.
  • However, it is true that the downgrading of ready access to RC channel names will make it harder for users to recognise which channel they are on – which could made testing capabilities and features harder, given that people are not so familiar with simulator versions and simhost names.
  • The flip side to this is that in some respects, the Lab doesn’t want people to know which channel they are on to stop preconceptions about issues, etc., they may encounter (e.g. “I was on Magnum, which has X release on it, and I have this issue – so it MUST be X that is at fault!”) – and according to Oz Linden, they would like to see more testing of new features on Aditi ahead of any main grid RC deployment.
  • To help people understand what is being released, the simulator version release notes are promised to be “more informative” in future and where relevant. That said, “Maint Train woo woo chuga chuga chuga chuga” isn’t exactly setting the bar that high in terms of informative release notes.
• There is a reported issue with experiences whereby any scripts compiled to an experience prior to simulator version 19.08.06.529800 will not recompile on 19.08.06.529800 or later. The issue is further described thus, following any attempt to recompile:
  • Checking Properties for the recompiled scripts will show no compiled experience. Plus shift-copying or using the edit menu to copy or dropping an experience script in a host, will all result in the experience being completely lost from the script compile. However, llResetScript() doesn’t trigger the loss.
• A bug report has been raised on group chat lag (BUG-227477). The Lab is aware of this and has left the report open for further input from those experiencing issues. Constructive and informative feedback is clearly being sought, along the lines of the comments thus far left.

Hallig Norddeich, Nibbevegen 1, July 2019 – blog post

Server Deployments

Note: at the time of writing, the server deployment release notes had yet to be published. This article will be updated when they are available.

• On Tuesday, August 20th, the SLS (Main) channel  was updated with server maintenance package 19#19.08.06.529800, containing internal fixes, and previously deployment to the RC channels in week #33
• There was a change to the RC deployments in week#33.
  • Server maintenance update containing improvements for script performance and that had been due to be deployed to the BlueSteel and LeTigre channels, was found to have an 11th hour bug that prevented deployment.
  • Instead, BlueSteel and LeTigre received the same deployment as had been planned for Magnum –
  • server maintenance package 19#19.08.06.529800, containing internal fixes.
• As a result, on Wednesday, August 21st, the RC channels should be updated with at least one server maintenance update, 19#19.08.07.529856, containing the script run improvements. However, at the time of writing, and pending the publication of the release notes, it is not clear if this update will be going to all of the RC channels or just a selection.
  • Should this deployment also go sideways for the script improvements updates, those interested can test performance on the Aditi DRTSIM-406 channel at the Jigglypuff region.

SL Viewer

The EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.4.0.530150 on Monday, August 19th, 2019.

The rest of the official viewer pipelines remain as follows at the time of writing:

• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • Umeshu Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.2.4.529755, August 7th.
  • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.3.0.529185, July 11th.
• Project viewers:
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, June 5. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
• Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, promoted to release status 29th November 2017 – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
• Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

In Brief

• Despite the lack of deployment of the script improvement code in week #33, some have reported that overall script performance on some regions appears to have improved. The Lab has picked-up on these reports, but has no explanation as to what may have happened to improve things.
• At the CCUG group meeting on August 15th, it was stated that a Linden at a recent Web User Group (WUG) had hinted the SL wiki was to be gradually deprecated in favour of the knowledge base. However, at the SUG meeting, Oz Linden indicated that this isn’t necessarily the case:

If I proposed killing the wiki, there a Lindens who would show up with pitchforks…rest assured that it is well defended. One of our background-priority projects that is getting some attention is updating the wiki software, actually … no predictions when that might happen, but Someday™.

• A major impact felt by regions is that of avatars teleporting into / out of a region. Some work was done to improve things a while ago, particularly around avatars leaving a region, but the Lab is aware of the issues of avatars coming into a region causing it to slow down / freeze – and this is now described as “moving up” in the Lab’s hit list of issues to tackle.
• There was further discussion around the idea of limiting script use to the parcel level in order to prevent individual parcels taking up all of the script resources for a region. However, as noted in my week #33 summary, this is perhaps much easier said that done.

Otter Lake, June 2019 – blog post

Server Deployments

• There was no deployment to the SLS (Main) channel on Tuesday, August 13th.
• On Wednesday, August 14th the RC channel should be updated as follows:
  • BlueSteel and LeTigre should be updated to server maintenance update 19#19.08.07.529856, containing internal updates which should see improvements to the percentage of scripts running per CPU cycle (particularly for Full regions) and reduce the portion of a cycle given over to idle scripts.
  • Magnum should be updated to server maintenance update 19#19.08.06.529800, containing internal fixes.

SL Viewer

The Love Me Render viewer, version 6.2.3.527758, formerly the Rainbow RC viewer dated June 5th, was  promoted to de facto release status at the start of the week.

The rest of the official viewer pipelines remain as follows at the time of writing:

• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • Umeshu Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.2.4.529755, August 7th.
  • EEP RC viewer, version 6.4.0.529247, July 12th.
  • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.3.0.529185, July 11th.
• Project viewers:
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, June 5. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
• Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, promoted to release status 29th November 2017 – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
• Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

In Brief

Scripts

• Script usage is still seen as possible cause of contention (e.g. because one parcel owner is consuming all script resources within a region). A means has been suggested for changing (see BUG-225391), but the Lab see the issue as complex and so wanted to get improvements such as those being initially deployed to the BueSteel and LeTigre RC channels issued first before potentially digging more deeply into the question of script usage and allocation.
• How clear a picture does the Full private region Top Scripts give for script usage in a region? Obviously, it can help, but as Mazidox Linden noted: “I do something similar all the time. It doesn’t give you the fine grained details you’d imagine for our set-up however. For that I use other (mostly internal) tools/techniques.”
• It’s been suggested that script information could be extended to parcel level. This is something the Lab has indicated it is musing doing – but no firm plans to implement any changes if the Lab go in that direction have been indicated. It is also a complicated issue, as Simon Linden summarised:

So how would you treat someone with 1/4 of a region and a club [and] 50 avatars come to see a popular performer, and the other 3/4 are empty at the time? Give [the club] all the script time? Or leave 75% for the  …  other land?

Region Memory Bloat

As a reminder: a region can suffer significant memory bloat during repeated terraforming. Simply put, this is the result of the navmesh (part of the region’s physics) being reformed during the terraforming. This can have numerous impacts: overall performance can be affected, as can rezzing objects. Nominally,  if a Full region’s memory allocation hits approx 900 Mb, or a homestead 230 Mb, it will shut down rezzing (if the underpinning simulator gets within ~90% of its memory limit (256MB for a Homestead & 1024MB for a full region) it will disallow rezzing).

So, if you are running a region that starts reporting issues with rezzing and have been terraforming, consider a restart (or requesting a restart from support).

Tyraina, June 2019 – blog post

SL Feature Summit

This week is the week of the Lab’s Second Life feature summit. This is the time when engineers, developers and product managers for Second Life get together in person to discuss and plan the next several months of Second Life’s development.

This means that most / all of the Second Life user group meetings for the week are cancelled.

Next Meetings

The following table outlines when the next SL user group meetings will likely take place.

User Group	Next Meeting
Simulator User Group	Tuesday, August 6th
Governance User Group	Tuesday August 6th
Open-Source Development	Wednesday, August 7th
Content Creation	Thursday, August 15th
Concierge & Land	Thursday, August 22nd
Server Beta User Group	TBA – possibly Thursday, August 1st

Server Deployments

Again, due to the Second Life Feature Summit, there are no planned server deployments for this week. However, channel restarts may occur in accordance with the Lab’s 14-day restart policy.

SL Viewer

It is likely that there will no updates to the current pipelines for the official viewer this week, again as a result of the SL Feature Summit, although some of the RC viewers have updates either queued ready for, or getting close to being ready for, update. In the meantime, the pipelines remain as follows at the time of writing.

• Current Release version 6.2.3.527758, formerly the Rainbow RC viewer dated June 5, promoted June 18 – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Love Me Render viewer, version 6.2.4.529302, July 15.
  • EEP RC viewer, version 6.4.0.529247, July 12.
  • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.3.0.529185, July 11.
  • Umeshu Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.2.4.528492, June 27.
• Project viewers:
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, June 5. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
• Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November 2017 – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
• Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Lotus Bay, June 2019 – blog post

Server Deployments

There are no planed deployments for this week, leaving the major simulator channels on server maintenance package 19#19.06.14.528215, comprising internal changes.

• Note that a deployment to the Magnum RC on Wednesday, July 17th (simulator package 19#19.07.10.529179), was subsequently rolled back as a result of a bug being discovered during deployment.
• Region restarts may occur in accordance with the Lab’s 14-day restart policy.

Also, there will be no simulator deployments in week #31, due to the Lab’s internal Second Life Feature Summit.

SL Viewer

There have been no LL viewer updates as of the time of writing this update, leaving the pipelines as follows:

• Current Release version 6.2.3.527758, formerly the Rainbow RC viewer dated June 5th, promoted June 18th – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Love Me Render viewer, version 6.2.4.529302, July 15th.
  • EEP RC viewer, version 6.4.0.529247, July 12th.
  • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.3.0.529185, July 11th.
  • Umeshu Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.2.4.528492, June 27th.
• Project viewers:
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, June 5th. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
• Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, promoted to release status 29th November 2017 – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
• Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

In Brief

• Aditi log-ins remained problematic during week #29 / the start of week #30, but the Lab believes the issues to now be resolved – see BUG-227357.

Android / Lumiya  / Mobile

Since the last of the UDP asset messaging deprecation, users on the Lumiya Android app have been unable to use certain functions – notably in relation to the in-world view the app has, changing their outfits, using animations / AOs, etc.

The problem here is that Lumiya needs to be updated to HTTP for asset data fetching across the board; unfortunately, with the developer out-of-contact, this (like the issue of the app remaining unavailable on the Google store) is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

Currently LL is developing an iOS “companion app” – and there have been calls for the Lab to re-direct this work towards Android. However, these requests overlook two key points:

• The initial versions will be for chatting and messaging only – which can still be done with the Lumiya app.
• While the capabilities of the iOS app will be extended over time, the Lab has not committed to what additional capabilities will be provided or a time frame of when they will be provided. so whether or not a 3D world renderer of the type seen in Lumiya will be a part of any future expansion of the app is open to debate – as is any time frame in which it might appear.

Therefore, even if work were move from iOS to Android – it actually wouldn’t resolve the specific pain point Lumiya users are currently feeling (unable to change their appearance, use animations, etc), in the short or medium term.

It has also been suggested that LL should provide a streaming solution. However, the issue here is cost (the one operating streaming service for SL – Bright Canopy  – costs US $1.70 per hour, for example). LL currently (and most likely correctly) believe streaming costs for SL are above levels user would be willing to play. They would rather wait until said costs have (hopefully) come down in the future.

Next SUG Meeting

Due to the Lab’s internal Second Life Feature Summit taking place in week #31, there will be no SUG meeting on Tuesday, July 30th. The next meeting will therefore be Tuesday, August 6th, 2019.