Category: Simulator User Group

2018 UG updates #7/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Thor's Land; Inara Pey, January 2018, on Flickr Thor’s Land – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • There was no deployment to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, February 13th, leaving it running on simulator version  18#18.01.17.511913. However, in keeping with the Lab’s policy of running channel restarts every 2 weeks, regardless of whether there was a deployment or not, the channel was restarted.
  • There will be no deployment to the RC channels on Wednesday, February 14th, and no restarts. All three will also remain on simulator version 18#18.01.17.511913.

SL Viewer

The Project Render project viewer was updated to version 5.1.1.512446 on Friday, February 9th, 2018. Otherwise, there have thus far been no changes to the SL viewer pipelines, leaving the current list as follows:

  • Current Release version  5.1.1.512121, dated January 26, promoted February 7 – formerly the Voice Maintenance RC – NEW.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Nalewka Maintenance viewer version 5.1.1.512226, January 31, 2018.
    • Media Update RC viewer version 5.1.1.512264,released January 30, 2018.
    • Voice RC viewer, version 5.1.1.512121, January 26
  • 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.

Other Items

Region Restarts Causing Disconnects?

When a region is being shut-down / restarted, a 5-minute warning is given to encourage people to leave (or they’d be disconnected on shut-down). If everyone leaves ahead of the actual shut-down time, the region will wait for about 15 seconds and then go ahead and restart. However, there has been an issue some have experienced whereby if they are the last to leave a region that is shutting-down, they can teleport away, arrive at another location – but as soon as the original region is shut-down for restart, they are logged off (see BUG-5034). Linden Lab had thought this issue to have been resolved, so a new JIRA has been requested to allow for further investigations.

Region Crossings

Joe Magarac (animats) has been doing his best to investigate some region crossing issues, documenting his work via a forum thread. He’s now produced a basic document on his findings. Most of his work is around “patching” things – using a viewer-based RLV (or a permissioned base) approach to forcing an avatar resit on a vehicle post-crossing, if unseated, for example. The Lab’s view is that they would rather work more comprehensively as improving vehicle-related crossings than trying to patch things. The problem here is that region crossings are something of a 3-corner protocol issue (the viewer, the region an avatar / vehicle is departing, and the region the avatar / vehicle is entering), making improvements more difficult to achieve, as it is likely code on all three will at some point need to be revised.

2018 UG updates #6: no meetings

Posted on by Inara Pey

Ivy Falls; Inara Pey, January 2018, on FlickrIvy Falls – blog post

This week is the week of the Second Life team’s meeting to discuss future plans. So there is very little news to impart.

  • There are no planned deployments or restarts for week #6.
  • All scheduled user group meetings are cancelled for the week.
    • The next Open-Source Developer meeting will be on Wednesday, February 14th, 2018 at
    • The next Content Creation User Group meeting will be on Thursday, February 15th, 2018, as 13:00 SLT.
    • The next Server Beta meeting (Aditi) will be on Thursday, February 15th, 2018 at 15:00 SLT.
    • The next TPV Developer meeting was set for Friday, February 16th, 2018 at 12:00 noon (same date as the next Web User Group meeting, so one or the other may move).

Further, there have thus far been not SL viewer updates, leaving the current official viewer pipelines as:

  • Release viewer version 5.1.0.511732, dated January 9th, formerly the Alex Ivy Maintenance RC – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Nalewka Maintenance viewer version 5.1.1.512226, January 31, 2018.
    • Media Update RC viewer version 5.1.1.512264, released January 30, 2018.
    • Voice RC viewer, version 5.1.1.512121, January 26
  • 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.

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.”