Category: Viewers

2015 viewer release summaries: week 42

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, October 18th

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: 3.8.5.305531, October 13 – 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):
    • Notifications RC viewer updated to version 3.8.6.305981 on October 14 – new Notifications floater separates incoming notifications into System, Transactions, Invitations, and Group. It provides a better way to view, interact with, prioritize and manage incoming notices for busy residents (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Black Dragon updated to version 2.4.4.3 on October 17th – core updates: CEF integration, merge with current LL release viewer.
  • UKanDo updated to version  3.8.5.28153 on October 14 – core updates: merge to latest LL viewer release.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No Updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2015 viewer release summaries: week 41

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, October 11th

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: 3.8.4.305119, September 29 – 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):
    • Project Azumarill (HTTP updates) RC viewer version 3.8.5.305771 released on October 9 – provides improved performance and stability. Impacts include: asset uploads, AISv3 inventory manipulation, VMM, Experience management, LSL compilation, Simhost event polling, etc.  (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • Project Valhalla (CEF media update) project viewer version 4.0.0.305703 released on October 7 – replaces the ageing LLQTWebKit system used in the Web media plugin with a shiny new one based on the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) that supports modern web technologies (download and release notes)

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • No Updates.

V1-style

  • No updates.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No Updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

CtrlAltStudio updates to Oculus SDK 0.6

Posted on by Inara Pey

CAS-logoOn Saturday, October 3rd, the Oculus Rift supporting CtrlAltStudio viewer updated on Windows to version 1.2.5.43397.

The release sees the viewer reach parity with the Oculus SDK 0.6. However, it is not at this point being regarded as a “formal” release, as David Rowe, the viewer’s developer, notes that it requires additional user testing.

David lists the other changes of note with the release as being:

  • The viewer works in both direct and extended Rift display modes
    • If using extended mode you no longer need to drag the viewer onto the Rift’s screen before toggling into Riftlook view
    • If you switch between direct and extended Rift display modes, you’ll need to restart the Oculus Configuration Utility and the Oculus VR Runtime Service.
  • Advanced Lighting Model no longer needs to be enabled in order for Riftlook to work
  • The hardware cursor used in previous versions has been replaced with a basic cross hair software cursor. It may not look pretty but it should still work as before
  • There’s a new “Mirror Rift display to desktop” option in Preferences > Graphics > Display Output
  • The scale of the UI depth Display Output option has been altered to work with the updated Rift rendering
  • A “Mirror Rift display to desktop” Display Output option has been added
  • The following Display Output options, which are no longer available in the Rift SDK,have been removed from the viewer: Timewarp, Timewarp waits, V sync, and Pixel overdrive
  • If you install over the top of a previous version you’ll probably want to press the “Reset” button for the “UI depth” Display Output option.
The 1.2.5.43397 updates sees the removal of the Timewarp, Timewarp waits, V sync, and Pixel overdrive from Preferences > Graphics > Display Output, and the addition of a new Mirror Rift display to desktop option
The 1.2.5.43397 updates sees the removal of the Timewarp, Timewarp waits, V sync, and Pixel overdrive from Preferences > Graphics > Display Output, and the addition of a new Mirror Rift display to desktop option

As always, for a full list of changes and updates, please refer to the release notes.

David also goes on to note:

I can achieve a pretty smooth 75 FPS experience on the Rift if the scene’s not too complex, though only if I have my main monitor set to 120Hz. If I set it to 60Hz I only get a somewhat juddery 65 FPS on the Rift. I haven’t looked into this yet and am keen to hear how other people get on. Note: You can use Ctrl+Shift+1 to display a statistics window in Riftlook.

The release doesn’t see the viewer updates to a more recent Firestorm code base than 4.6.9, and there is no corresponding Mac release at this time.

Related Links

2015 viewer release summaries: week 40

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending Sunday, October 4th

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: 3.8.4.305119, September 29 – formerly the Importer 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):
    • Quick Graphics RC viewer version 3.8.5.305528 released on October 2 – 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)
    • Notifications RC viewer version 3.8.5.305555 released on October 1 – new Notifications floater separates incoming notifications into System, Transactions, Invitations, and Group. It provides a better way to view, interact with, prioritize and manage incoming notices for busy residents (download and release notes)
    • Maintenance RC viewer version 3.8.5.305531 released on September 30 – 90+ fixes, updates and feature requests (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • CtrlAltStudio Alpha Windows viewer updated to version 1.2.5.43397 on October 3rd – core updates: parity with the Oculus Rift SDK 0.6.0.1-beta (download and release notes)
  • Kokua updated to version 3.8.4.37073 on September 28th – core updates: parity with the LL mesh importer viewer code (3.8.4) and RLV 2.9.14 (release notes)
  • UKanDo updated to version 3.8.4.28149 on September 30th – core updates: parity with the LL mesh importer viewer code (3.8.4) and RLV 2.9.14 (release notes)

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer updated as follows: stable branch to version 1.26.14.8, experimental to version 1.24.15.7, both on October 3rd – release notes

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No Updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Kokua 3.8.4: mesh uploader and RLV updates

Posted on by Inara Pey

kokua-logoOn Tuesday, September 29th, Nicky Perian announced the release of Kokua 3.8.4.37073,  which brings the popular SL and OpenSim viewer to parity with both recent Linden Lab code releases and with Marine Kelley’s RLV, and includes additional tweaks and fixes from the Kokua team.

This release comprises a considerable amount of work by the Kokua team, although the visible functional changes may not seem that great to some users. In particular, RLV has undergone extensive updates and testing over the last few months, as the team have worked to bring Kokua up to parity with the most recent RLV releases and ensure there are no issues or breakages elsewhere in the process.

The Lab code releases in the viewer comprise:

The Maintenance release comprises over 50 fixes and updates covering a range of topics and issues, including: crashes, snapshot bugs and issues, group ban bugs, avatar mute & block bugs, texture editing issues, rendering issues, UI bugs and simplification, performance improvements and localisation updates.

The mesh uploader updates, which became the de facto SL viewer release also on Tuesday, September 28th, comprise a modified mesh uploader to (optionally) improve debug output, perform name-based LOD association, and handle models with many materials. It allows models with more than 8 unique faces to be uploaded. At import, these models are automatically split into pieces so that each satisfy the current face limits for a volume.

Please refer to the Lab’s release notes for both of these releases (provided via the links above) for full details on the updates they contain.

The RLV updates bring Kokua fully up to par with RLV 2.9.14, released on September 17th, and includes merges with RLV releases 2.9.7 through 2.9.13.

The Kokua team updates comprise:

  • A fix for inability to disable HUDs in snapshots Ticket #345
  • A fix for custom snapshot sizes not working when saving to inventory Ticket #350
  • Inclusion of hover height adjustment for OpenSim use Ticket #352  – note this is currently inactive, as it is pending server-side support in OpenSim.
  • A fix for high memory usage and crashes when connected to Avination Ticket #349.

I confess to not having have that much time to drive this release due to my schedule being a mess. My apologies to Nicky on this, who provided me with advance notice on the release at the weekend, but I was unable to act on it.

Related Links

 

2015 viewer release summaries: week 39

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday, September 27th

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

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

  • Coll VL Viewer updated as follows: stable branch to version 1.26.14.7, experimental to version 1.24.15.6, both on September 26th – release notes

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No Updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links