Category: Simulator User Group

2018 SL UG updates #5/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

R.A.H.M.E.N.L.O.S.; Inara Pey, January 2018, on Flickr R.A.H.M.E.N.L.O.S. – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, January 30th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with server maintenance package #18.01.17.511913, which comprises internal fixes.
  • There are no scheduled deployments for either the Magnum or LeTigre RC channels planned for Wednesday, January 31st, 2018. A deployment to the BlueSteel RC has been indicated, but no deals were available at the time of writing.

SL Viewer

A new Media Update RC viewer was released on Tuesday, January 30th, 2018. Viewer 5.1.1.512264 includes updates to the built-in media support that were not quite ready to be integrated when the 64 bit Viewer (Alex Ivy) was released. These include various fixes, updates, security patches and improvements for CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework) that is the basis for the built-in web browser and VLC that provides support for video media playback. Fixes are included to Dullahan (the third-party library that uses CEF) as well as all the media plug-in code itself. As per the Alex Ivy 64 bit viewer, there is no Linux version.

Otherwise, the SL viewer pipeline remains as:

  • Current release viewer: version 5.1.0.511732, dated January 9th, promoted January 16th. Formerly the Alex Ivy Maintenance RC – 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):
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – 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. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Other Items

Joe Magarac (animats) continues to look into region crossings with vehicles. As noted in my previous update, he’s learning-by-doing, and testing ideas with a self-compiled version of Firestorm (see this forum thread for more). He currently believes he has workarounds for vehicle animations topping on a crossing and bad camera positions after a crossing. His workarounds are a scripted camera re-set of the camera and animation re-start. Not ideal, and as he noted at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, 30th January, 2018 – the preferable solution would be a server-side fix.

Part of the problem is that vehicle region crossings are extremely complex, as Simon Linden notes:

The avatar and object are disconnected, passed to the new region, then re-assembled. It’s supposed to be transparent, of course, but things get weird when any part gets slow or fails

One of the things that can go wrong is what is being referred to as a “half unsit” situation, where the vehicle crosses to the next region but the avatar is stuck in the old one and unable unsit, move or teleport, leaving only a relog as a means to recover. The problem is recognising where things break: is it a server-side problem, something in the viewer or the result of a race condition?  In theory the hand-off of a vehicle and its passengers should commence until the root prim of the vehicle actually crosses the boundary. This is to prevent avatars sitting on the vehicle in advance of the root prim being handed-off and the vehicle then turning back, possibly leaving the avatars stranded in the neighbouring region.

Simon’s thinking is that the receiving region is doing a more than it should while it waits for everything to come together, potentially attempting to move an avatar and / or run scripts before everything is available to put back together correctly. He also acknowledges that specific issues can be difficult to reproduce and so solve.

2018 UG updates #4/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tralala’s Diner – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • There was no deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, January 22nd, leaving it on server maintenance package #18.01.08.511751 with internal logging improvements.
  • On Wednesday, January 23rd, the RC channels should be updated to server maintenance package #18.01.17.511913, with further internal fixes.

SL Viewer

The Voice RC viewer updated on Wednesday, January 23rd to version 5.1.1.511952 on Tuesday, January 23rd. This brings the viewer to parity with the Alex Ivy viewer (the current release viewer), and so is offered in 64-bit for OS X and both 32-bit and 64-bit for Windows. Depending on how this version performs over the next week or so, it may be the next in line for promotion to release status.

The remaining viewers in the current pipeline remain unchanged from the end of week #3:

  • Current Release version 5.1.0.511732, dated January 9th, formerly the Alex Ivy Maintenance RC – NEW.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Nalewka Maintenance viewer version 5.1.1.511871, January 17, 2018.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – 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. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Other Items

Joe Magarac (animats) has been working to try to improve some of the viewer-side code which handles regions crossings – specifically in reference to vehicle crossings. He’s learning-by-doing, and testing ideas with a self-compiled version of Firestorm, although his work might be present in a future Firestorm release. He’s been recording his efforts in a forum thread (gaining some helpful and some less-than-helpful feedback), and providing updates at the last couple of Simulator User Group meeting. Anyone wishing to help or who can offer advice / ideas can reach Joe via the forum thread.

2018 SL UG updates #3/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

La virevolte; Inara Pey, December 2017, on FlickrLa virevolte – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, January 16th, 2018 the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the server maintenance package deployed to the RC channels in week #2.maintenance package  18.01.08.511751 comprises internal fixes.
  • Speaking at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, January 16th, Simon Linden indicated that the next RC deployment should be in week #4 (commencing Monday, 22nd January.

SL Viewer

The Alex Ivy 64-bit viewer, version 5.1.0.511732, dated January 9th, 2018, was promoted to de facto release status on Tuesday, January 16th, 2018. All other viewer in the pipelines remain unchanged at this point in time, although the Voice and Nalewka RC will be updated in due course for parity with the Alex Ivy code base. This means the viewer pipeline currently reads as follows:

  • Current Release version 5.1.0.511732, dated January 9th – formerly the Alex Ivy Maintenance RC
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Nalewka Maintenance viewer version 5.0.10.330173, January 10, 2018.
  • Project viewers:
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Other Items

  • Simon Linden is working on a new feature – due to go to Aditi (the beta grid) for testing soon – but will not be drawn on specifics at this point in time.
  • Joe Magarac (animats) has been digging into the viewer code handling region crossings in an attempt to improve avatar handing  when seated on objects and looking at the “partial unsit”issue (when the avatar becomes visual detached from a vehicle on a region crossing, but acts as if still attached (e.g. appearing seated, with any attempt to stand causing a viewer crash. He’s documented his work on a Firestorm JIRA (see FIRE-21915). Commenting on the work, Oz Linden indicates that if Joe would like to submit the change to the Lab (via the Second Life JIRA) the Lab would be interested in working with him to further improve agent  / object handling during region crossings.

 

2018 SL UG updates #2/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

D o X; Inara Pey, December 2017, on FlickrD o X – blog post

Update, January 10th: Subsequent to this post being published, the deployment plans for the RC channels were revised, and details have been add below to reflect this. My thanks to Kyouko for drawing my attention to the updated server deployment thread.

Server Deployments

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

There are no planned deployments for 2018 week #2. All channels remain on the same server release 17#17.12.01.511131. However, the Main (SLS) channel was restarted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2018.

There was no deployment to the SLS Main channel on Tuesday, January 9th, 2018, leaving it on  server release 17#17.12.01.511131. The channel was, however, restarted.

Following the original publication of this update, the server deployment thread was updated to indicate there would be a deployment to the major RC channels on Wenesday, January 10th: server maintenance package 18#18.01.08.511751, comprising internal logging improvements.

SL Viewer

The Alex Ivy RC viewer was updated to version 5.1.0.511732 on January 9th, 2018. All other viewers currently remain as per the end of week #1:

No Copy Exploits Update

An area of concern / upset for content creators has been the use of server exploits to generate copies of No Copy items. While a long-standing problem, the issue has gained a lot more coverage of late due to the frequency with people have been using various exploits to illegal copy and then sell gacha items. In November, the Lab closed one exploit used in generating No Copy items, and reported this, and the steps they put in place to help recognise when someone might be attempting to use it (see: Exciting Improvements to SL Fee Updates to Enable Even More).

Since then the Lab has continued to work on issues (see my SL project update from 2017 week #47). However, there have been mistaken claims that the Lab stated it had resolved “the” exploit, which is not the case – see the Lab’s blog post above), which Oz and Simon sought to correct in the meeting, with Oz Linden stating:

We never said we were sure we’d fixed all possible exploits, and we won’t say that because we might not know about them all.

Simon then added:

I know that statement and we deliberately and clearly said it wasn’t done. There was more work but we were making progress. I know a lot of people reading it probably wanted it to say (and mean) we fixed everything. We know we haven’t.

In terms of what more is being done, Oz said:

If I were to tell you now that we’re working on “method X” for object copying, I’d be letting people who might not know about it that it existed, and telling those who know how to use it to hurry up while the getting is good.

Other Items

  • New Linden: the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, January 9th was joined by Bugsly Linden. A new member of LL’s QA team, he joined the Lab around a month ago – and is a former Second Life resident.
  • Group chat issues: there has been a noted uptick in group chat issues. Commenting on this, Simon Linden said, “We looked into group chat recently and did a few things that should have helped. [In the meantime] for group chat lag problems, please send in a support ticket – the group name is crucial as its most likely a specific server needs attention. Also [give the] time it happens, and the region you’re on. Sometimes it’s the region’s issue.”

2018 SL UG updates #1/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Sol Existence; Inara Pey, October 2017, on FlickrSol Existence – blog post

Server Deployments

There are no planned deployments for the opening week of 2018. There are currently no DRTSIM projects on Aditi (the beta grid) awaiting promotion to the Main grid, however, there may be new RC deployments for week #2 (commencing Monday, January 8th).

SL Viewer Updates

There have been no SL viewer updates over the holiday period. This leaves the viewer pipeline as per the end of 2017:

  • Current Release version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, promoted November 29th – formerly the “Martini” Maintenance RC
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

TPV Updates

The following  third-party viewers updated over the holiday period:

  • Black Dragon updates to version 2.9.6.
  • Cool VL viewer updated to version 1.26.20.40 (stable), and 1.26.21.6 (experimental).
  • Catznip updated to version R12 on January 2nd, 2018 – see my overview for more.

My weekly viewer release summaries will resume from week #2, 2018.

SL Feature Summit

The next Second Life “feature summit” when potential projects and major updates for SL are considered / reviewed, is due to take place in February 2018. These meetings are generally held around every 6 months.

SL project updates week #51: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Cherishville; Inara Pey, November 2017, on FlickrCherishville – blog post

Server Deployments

There are no planned deployments for week #51. This will leave the grid running on server release 17#17.12.01.511131 (link to SLS summary page).  However, given the RC channels have not been restarted in the last two weeks, there may be a rolling restart for all three RC channels on Wednesday, December 20th.

SL Viewer

The Nalewka Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 5.0.10.330111 on Tuesday, December 19th. This adds a further 11 fixes and updates to the viewer since the initial release of the viewer RC.

The Project Render Viewer updated to version 5.1.0.511446 on Monday, December 18.

The Alex Ivy 64-bit RC may also get an update during the week. However, at the moment the remainder of the SL viewer pipeline remains as per the end of week #50:

  • Current Release version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, promoted November 29th – formerly the “Martini” Maintenance RC – No Change
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
  • Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

User Group Meeting Dates

With the holiday season on us, users group meeting dates are as follows:

  • Simulator User Group: next meeting: Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018, 12:00 noon.
  • Open-source development group: Wednesday, December 20th; Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018.
  • Server Beta User Group: Aditi, Thursday, December 21st, December 21st; Thursday, January 4th, 2018 – both at 15:00.
  • Content Creation User Group: Aditi, Thursday, December 21st; Thursday, January 4th, 2018 – both at 13:00 SLT
  • Third-Party Developer Meeting: Friday, January 12th, 2018, 12:00 noon SLT.
  • Web User Group: Friday, January 5th, 2018, 14:30 SLT.