Category: Viewers

2016 viewer release summaries: week 3

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 24th

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 4.0.1.310054, January 15 – no change download page, release notes
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer updated to version 4.0.2.310097 on January 19 – combines the Project Azumarill RC and Vivox Voice RC updates into a single viewer  (download and release notes)
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer updated to version 4.0.2.310127 on January 20 – 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 (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions) version 5.0.0.310099 released on January 20 – adds 90+ bones to the existing avatar skeleton (download and release notes).

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.9 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.7, both on January 23rd, 2016 (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2016 viewer release summaries: week 2

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 17th

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 4.0.1.310054, January 15 – formerly the Maintenance RC viewer download page, release notes
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer version 4.0.1.309943 released on January 14 – combines the Project Azumarill RC and Vivox Voice RC updates into a single viewer  (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

  • UKanDo updated to version 4.0.1.28170 on January 16th – core updates: merge with the SL 4.0.1 Maintenance release viewer (release notes)

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.8 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.6, both on January 16th, 2016 (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2016 viewer release summaries: week 1

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 10th

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 4.0.0.309247, December 17th – no change
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Project Azumarill (HTTP updates) RC viewer updated to version 4.0.1.309333 on January 6th – a complete replacement of the under the hood HTTP infrastructure within the viewer (download and release notes)
    • Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 4.0.1.309460 on January 5th – core updates: some 38 fixes and improvements, including updates for some regressions introduced into the viewer with the current release viewer (download and release notes)
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer updated to version 4.0.1.309320 on January 5th – 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 (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.7 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.5, both on January 9th, 2016 (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Group Tools version 2.2.35.0, originally issued December 12, re-issued January 5 with a request for a clean install.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Firestorm 4.7.1 to be blocked from January 7th

Posted on by Inara Pey

MadPea and Firestorm: working in collaboration to enhance the experience those new to Second life have with the platformFirestorm have announced that as from Thursday, January 7th, Firestorm viewer 4.7.1 is to be blocked from accessing Second Life, and those using 4.7.1 are being encouraged to update to a more recent version (or revert to 4.6.9 for the time being if using Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.6) ahead of the block coming into force.

The move is in keeping with Firestorm’s commitment to Linden Lab to only have 3 versions of their viewer (allowing for specific issues which might otherwise come us, as has been the case for Mac users, who have had to face a series of (apparently) Cocoa related issues impacting their ability to use viewers incorporating these updates) active at any given time.

As noted in the announcement, this means that only Firestorm 4.6.9 will remain available for those still using Windows XP or versions of OS X older than 10.7, and this will be blocked some time after the next release of Firestom, which currently looks to be set for some time in February.

Those needing help in updating their version of Firestorm can find it on the following Firestorm wiki pages: backing up and restoring your settings and Updating Firestorm.

2015 viewer release summaries: week 53

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, January 3rd

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version: 4.0.0.309247, December 17th – no change
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • No updates
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V4-style

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: Stable version to 1.26.16.6 and Experimental branch to 1.26.17.4, both on January 2nd, 2016 (release notes).

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Black Dragon 2.4.4.6

Posted on by Inara Pey

Blackdragon logoBlack Dragon, the v3-style viewer by NiranV Dean updated to version 2.4.4.6 (aka version 4.0.1.36965) on Tuesday, December 29th.

The update primarily comprises a re-working of the viewer’s preferences floater, with Niran noting, “while the display preferences tab has gotten quite some upgrades and consistency changes, all the other panels were left out… until now.”

The most noticeable change is that several more of the tabs now have a slider to the right, the result of options which had previously been presented in two columns now appearing in a single column. As well as this, some options have been moved around to present a more logical top-down flow, as has previously been seen in the Display option tab, and with radio buttons replaced by combo boxes.

Niran has been re-working the Black Dragon Preferences floater, offering an approach to the tabs which matches the top-down flow seen within the Display options tab (click to enlarge)
Niran has been re-working the Black Dragon Preferences floater, offering an approach to the tabs which matches the top-down flow seen within the Display options tab (click to enlarge)

The result is a more logical flow, but currently comes at a cost  – the aforementioned increase in sliders on the right of some of the tabs. However, and here’s where an assumption on my part comes in – I do wonder if this might only be an interim thing, and whether Niran will be adding  expanding sub-tabs, again in the same style as the Display tab – as possibly evidenced by the inclusion of one such sub-tab in the Sound and Media tab.

The Sound and Media tab includes a sub-tab expansion option - a sign that expansion capabilities are to be added to the Preferences tab
The Sound and Media tab includes a sub-tab expansion option – a sign that expansion capabilities are to be added to the Preferences tab

Niran also notes that this release was to have contained the Project Bento avatar skeleton updates, but these have been left out. This is probably a wise decision; Bento is still in formative beta testing, and could be subject to changes throughout the next few months, as such the viewer code (and server-side support) could undergo change. As it is, Bento support is best witnessed on Aditi.

This is clearly a tidying-up, rather than a major update. however, it continues Niran’s work in offering a consistent presentation of the UI within his viewer. Also, given that the Lab prefers TPVs do not make significant releases over the holiday period, keeping the updates to UI clean-up is probably no bad thing.

And it certainly makes a nice little Christmas present for Black Dragon users.

Additional Links