As indicated in my update to the Firestorm 4.6.9.42969 release review in this blog, a couple of issues have been found within that release, which may affect some Firestorm users.
As a result, the Firestorm team have released a hotfix update to the viewer, which includes fixes for those issues and offers three more the team has also implemented.
After releasing 4.6.9.42969 we discovered a few bugs that affect just enough users to warrant a hotfix update. However, if none of the issues addressed in this hotfix affect you personally there is no need for you to update to it.
We have replaced the 42969 links with the new version 42974 on our download pages.
As per the blog post, unless one of the issues addressed by the fixes above affect you, there is no need to update your version of Firestorm. None of the fixes should directly impact on the elements of the viewer included in my 4.6.9.42969 review.
Update Thursday, December 11th: There will be a hotfix update for Firestorm, which will likely be made available on Friday, December 12th. This is to correct a couple of issues related to voice and RLV/a discovered with the 4.6.9.42969 release, and will likely add some additional fixes as well. I’ll have a further report available once the update is available.
On Wednesday, December 10th, the Firestorm team announced the release Firestorm 4.6.9.42969.
This is a hefty update which brings with it a lot of new functionality, together with bugs fixes and assorted improvements and updates.
As always, the complete list of changes, together with all attributions, can be found in the release notes / change log, and I refer readers to that document for specifics on all contributors, FIRE JIRA links, etc. The following is intended as an overview of some of the more major / interesting changes, updates and fixes to be found in the release.
Note that as a result of the Firestorm team’s policy to keep only 3 versions running, version 4.6.1 will be blocked, most likely early in the new year. The advice from the team is that If you are on 4.6.1, to please update now. Version 4.4.2 will continue to remain for Mac users until all the major Cocoa Mac bugs have been resolved. However, if you are not a Mac user, then there really isn’t any reason for you not to have updated, and the team again ask that you update as well.
Lab Updates
This release sees Firestorm remain on a parity with the Lab’s 3.7.8 code-base. However, a number of updates and fixes have been cherry-picked from upstream (such as the group ban functionality – see below), particularly bug fixes and stability improvements – please refer to the change log for details.
Building and Scripting Updates
The new buttons for cycling through objects in a linkset
Some additional updates and tweaks have been made to assist builders and scripters:
There are two new buttons located in close proximity to the Edit Linked check box.
These buttons cycle forward or backward through a selected linkset, in the same way as the existing keyboard short cuts. note the buttons will only be active when Edit Linked is checked
The issue of the script editor failing to open scripts in copied objects (see VWR-27512), which has affected v2 and v3 viewers, is corrected with this release of Firestorm, and the fix has been contributed to Linden Lab for inclusion in the official viewer code
The build toolbar button should no longer be disabled when it shouldn’t be.
Communications Updates
Firestorm 4.6.9 brings with it a large number of features, updates and improvements to communications. These include, but are not limited to, the following.
Audio / Voice
Parcel media and audio now have a separate auto-play option (Preferences > Sound & Media > General > Allow audio to auto-play/Allow media to auto-play). Parcel audio should now auto-play correctly on logging-in
A reset voice button has been added to Preferences to help with fixing voice issues (Preferences > Sound & Media > Voice Settings)
The new voice reset button to help fix voice issues
You can now “zoom in” on a speaker using voice to hear them more clearly (Comm > Nearby Voice > Right click a name >Zoom in)
Voice level icons in the radar are now independent from other voice level icons
Sounds used for opening scrip dialogues can now be customised (Preferences > Sound & Media > UI Sounds 2 > Script Dialog)
The viewer now automatically adds http:/ to the music URL in the parcel audio panel.
Auto-response Updates
With Firestorm 4.6.9, auto-response messages are now localised. There is also a new option for an item of inventory to be automatically sent with your auto-response messages, when set. The selected item must be COPY / TRANSFER in order for this capability to work, and will be sent when one of the following is set:
Busy / do not disturb
Away
Autorespond
Autorespond to non-friends.
To set an item of inventory to be sent with auto-response messages, drag and drop a suitable item from your inventory and into Preferences > Privacy > Autoresponse > Autoresponse Item.
Firestorm 4.6.9 allows you to send an inventory item when auto-responding into incoming IMs. The item must be COPY / TRANSFER in order for this to work
In addition, this release fixes getting an IM from yourself to yourself saying “Autoresponse sent” if somebody answers from an off-line IM via email. Also, having both “Autorespond to non friends” and “Only friends and group can call me or IM me” set no longer results in you getting two new IM sound alerts for every non-friend IM plus the non-friend receives your auto-response twice for each IM sent.
Contacts List
The Contacts List floater has been revamped to match the look of the nearby chat and IM session floater, for a smoother and unique appearance. In addition, an option to pay someone directly from your Contacts List has been added to the right-click context menu (Comm > Contacts > Right click a name > Pay).
New to Firestorm 4.6.9 as well is the ability to choose which name columns should be displayed in the Contacts List. You can now choose between choose between user name, display name, full name, or a combination of these, and you can now display full names in your Contacts List as “Username (Display name)“. Finally, a option has also been added to hide the permissions columns (whether those in your Contacts List can see when you’re on-line, map you, etc.).
All of these options can be found under Preferences > Firestorm > General.
Updates for the week ending: Sunday December 7th, 2014
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 updated to version 3.7.22.297128 December 5th (formerly the Benchmark RC update.) – release notes
Maintenance viewer RC updated to version 3.7.22.297131 on December 3rd – includes a broad ranges of fixes, including merges from the Attachments RC (3.7.21.296904) (download and release notes)
Attachments viewer RC version 3.7.21.296904 withdrawn December 3rd – merged with the Maintenance RC, above
Black Dragon updated to version 2.4.1.3 on Tuesday, December 2nd and then to version 2.4.1.4 on Wednesday, December 3rd – core updates: bug fixes (change log).
Kokua updated to version 3.7.22.35091 on Friday, December 5th – core updates: bug fixes (release notes).
Update, Thursday, December 4th: Black Dragon 2.4.1.4 bug fix update released on Wednesday, December 3rd.
It’s been a busy week for Niran V Dean and his Black Dragon viewer, with no fewer than four updates between Thursday, November 27th and Tuesday, December 2nd.
The first of these updates – which lifted the viewer from version 2.4.0.4 to 2.4.1 came on Thursday, November 27th, and was quickly followed by two bug fix updates, 2.4.1.1 on the 27th and 2.4.1.2 on Friday November 28th. Then version 2.4.1.3, also a bug fix update, appeared on Tuesday, December 2nd.
The major part of these updates, appearing in version 2.4.1, is a complete overhaul of the UI. Gone is the ability to place toolbar button up in the top left of the menu bar area, the ink blots surrounding floaters and panels, etc. Instead, the UI presents a look heavily influenced by Valve’s Steam client. The result is a striking, charcoal grey finish to floater and panels, on which the white text shows up somewhat better than it did with the previous UI, together with bold white lines denoting fields, input boxes, etc., and individual headings to sections within a floater or tab highlighted in blue, all in a manner that works quite well.
Black dragon’s 2.4.1 UI design
There are a few immediately noticeable “Niran-isms” on display: the Favourites bar, for example, is now above the Navigation bar, rather than under it, as with most viewers. There’s also a nice incorporation of the notifications icon into the navigation bar area as well, over to the right of the screen. And, of course, the Dragon menu single point-of-access to the viewer’s menu tree is retained.
Given this release was an extensive overhaul of the UI, 2.4.1 and its subsequent releases didn’t bring too much in the way of new features to viewer, which is unsurprising – there’s work enough involved in getting the UI sorted for a release. There were a few issues following the initial 2.4.1 update – hence the release of 2.4.1.1 through 2.4.1.3, but looking at the release notes, most of these seem to have been nips and tucks rather than major “oopsie” fixes.
The updated preferences panel showing the crisper layout of the new UI
In terms of LL code updates, Black Dragon 2.4.1 through 2.4.1.3 see the viewer again reach parity with the Lab’s viewer, including implementing the benchmark viewer code and HTTP pipelining (I believe).
As always, for a full breakdown of updates, please refer to the Black Dragon change log, which lists changes from the most release release (in this case, 2.4.1.1) on down.
I did encounter a couple of minor problems with the viewer – although these may well be operator induced. Setting neither the “Show Network Stats” and “Show L$ Balance in Statusbar” options in Preferences > Interface seemed to do anything for me. I was particularly keen to try the latter, as I personally find having my account balance displayed in the Inventory floater nothing short of the PITA. But, other than these, the – admittedly brief – drive I did take with the viewer revealed nothing exasperatingly unpleasant or unexpected.
Overall, and interesting and clean UI update; one which I personally prefer to the last outing.
Updates for the week ending: Sunday November 30th, 2014
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 updated to version 3.7.20.296724 December 1st (formerly the Snowstorm RC viewer – Japanese input; improved rendering of projectors; fixes for object editing bug when rotating and for crash on exit on OS X Yosemite in full screen mode, etc.) – release notes
Attachments viewer RC version 3.7.21.296904 released on November 25th – adds some fixes to previously released changes in the way joint offsets in rigged meshes are handled & fixes some issues found with adding and removing attachments after the recent AISv3 deploy. this update includes 2 further bug fixes (download and release notes)
Black Dragon updated to version 2.4.1 on Thursday November 27th, and then to version 2.4.1.1 before version 2.4.1.2 on Friday, November 28th – core updates: bug fixes (change log)
Kokua updated to version 3.7.21.35082 on November 30th – core updates: parity with LL code base releases 3.7.12 through 3.7.21 – group bans, viewer benchmarking, unified snapshots floater, HTTP pipelining, attachment fixes, etc. (release notes)
Update, December 7th, 2014: Kokua 3.7.22.35091 was released on December 5th. This update includes fixes for issue #292 noted in the review below, and for an issue with the automatic updater (issue #322.
Nicky Perian released the latest update of Kokua for SL on Sunday, November 30th.
Given the last Second Life specific release of the viewer was in July, the new release, version 3.7.21.35082 sees the SL version of the viewer bounce up to parity with a lot of recent LL viewer updates, as noted in the release notes. This being the case, please note that a clean install is highly recommended.
The Kokua 3.7.21 release sees the addition of the unified snapshot floater
In addition, the viewer also includes the following LL updates which, at the time of the Kokua release, are still at release candidate status within the SL viewer:
3.7.20 code base:
Attachments updates – adds some fixes to previously released changes in the way joint offsets in rigged meshes are handled & fixes some issues found with adding and removing attachments after the recent AISv3 deploy
GPU Benchmarking update – removes the need for the GPU table by performing a series of tests when first setting the graphics defaults for the viewer (note this code contains fixes for issues found with the original benchmarking code release in the official SL viewer)
3.7.21 code base:
Snowstorm contributions release – Japanese input; improved rendering of projectors; fixes for object editing bug when rotating and for crash on exit on OSX Yosemite in full screen mode, etc
Maintenance updates – a broad range of fixes for voice, privacy, rendering, texture animation, avatar distortion, inventory management, sounds, mouselook in Mac, and more
Group Bans now a part of Kokua with version 3.7.21.35082 – click for full size
Kokua Team Contributions
In addition the the merging and testing of recent code release from the Lab, Kokua 3.7.21.35082 includes the following contributions:
The viewer has been updated so it will no longer automatically start following a Windows install
Custom currency support has been added so that the local grid currency symbol will be displayed (original work by Armin Weatherwax)
New option to hide account balance in snapshots: Preferences > Kokua > Privacy > Do Not Show Money Balance on Snapshots (original work by Armin Weatherwax)
An option to open the movement controls has been added to View > Movement Controls.
In addition, Nicky notes:
On Linux Mint 17 32 bit, the load library path was not set correctly, and this has been amended for both 32-, and 64-bit.
The gridargs.dat file is no longer reader when starting kokua. Instead pass parameters along the command line (e.g. ./kokua –channel “‘Kokua XonXoff'”)
There are a few known issues with the release, all of which are being tracked via the Kokua ticket system. These include:
The option to display your avatar’s name in the viewer’s title bar ((Preferences > Kokua), should only be set after logging-in; if set from the log-in splash screen, they will crash the viewer – Issue #289
Teleport from SL search fails. Teleports from Legacy and Map searches work. Landmarks from inventory work. Issue #292
The YouTube media volume control doesn’t work –Issue #312
[RLVa] Names are not all gone in nearby chat list of names –Issue #314.
As indicated in my update to the Firestorm 4.6.9.42969 release review in this blog, a couple of issues have been found within that release, which may affect some Firestorm users.
