Category: Viewers

Firestorm Mac 64-bit: coming soon

Posted on by Inara Pey

firestorm-logoOver recent months we’ve seen 64-bit versions of some third-party viewers arrive, notably Singularity and Firestorm, both of which are available in Windows and Linux flavours. Their arrival has raised questions both on when we might see a 64-bit version of the official Linden viewer and  – more particularly in this case – when users might see a 64-bit Mac viewer arrive for Firestorm.

Well, the answer to this second question might be in the famous phrase, Real Soon NowTM.

Tonya Souther, a member of the Firestorm development team, brought word on Wednesday July 2nd that a 64-bit version of Firestorm for OS X should debut with the next Firestorm release – although it is liable to be a few months before that release is made.

Tonya has been building on the work started by Cinder Roxley – whom she acknowledges in the blog post – and has been getting things to a point where it is possible to compile a 64-bit version of Firestorm which will run on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.

Firestorm developer Tonya Souther
Firestorm developer Tonya Souther

A major part of this work has been in rebuilding the third-party libraries used in compiling the viewer, and Tonya explains some of the bumps in the road she encountered along the way to getting things sorted out. She also offers her own code repository for people to see what she has done in bringing everything together.

The results of Tonya’s efforts now resides in the Firestorm master repository, and will build successfully in either 64-bit or 32-bit, should anyone who self-compiles the viewer wish to give it a try.

Tonya advises anyone who does so, that in order to build a 64-bit Mac version, they must use Nicky Dasmijn’s version of the autobuild tool and specify the -m64 switch, although nothing else changes.

Tonya also goes on to state in reference to self-compiling:

If you’re switching from building a 32-bit Firestorm to building a 64-bit version, you should probably specify --clean to make sure you start fresh with everything at 64 bits. You also need to do a --clean when building for OS X from repository revisions after the change (revision 42327 or higher) if you’ve previously built for revisions before the change (42298 and lower).

As noted towards the top of this article, .DMG files for the Mac 64-bit build will probably not be made available until the next formal Firestorm release for all three platforms, so please do not request them from the Firestorm team before then. Also, and as with all 64-bit viewer versions, there will be no SL-specific version of the Mac 64-bit release when it does officially arrive, until such time as the Lab provides a 64-bit version of the Havok library used within SL-specific viewers.

Finally, and as advanced warning, Tonya notes that once the 64-bit version of Firestorm for Mac officially debuts, the Firestorm team will cease their support of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard – which is in keeping with the Lab’s ceasing support of OS X 10.6 in April 2014.

For further information, and for technical enquiries, please see Tonya’s blog post.

Related Links

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 26

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday June 29th, 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: 3.7.10.291134 June 23rd (formerly the SL Share 2 RC – ability to upload Tweets and snapshots to Twitter and / or snapshots to Flickr) (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 viewers:
    • Group Ban project viewer updated to version 3.7.11.291394  June 24th – allows certain group members to ban avatar from a group or from joining a group  When an existing group member is banned, they are also automatically ejected from the group (download and release notes)

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Black Dragon updated to version 2.3.9.9(B) on June 28th – core updates: bug fixes; ability to invert pitch controls (change log)

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer updated on June 21st – Stable release to version 1.26.12.5 and Legacy version 1.26.8.63 – core updates: please refer to the release notes

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Viewer release summaries 2014: week 25

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday June 22nd, 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: 3.7.9.290582 June 16th (formerly the MemShine RC – combining the MemPlugs memory leak fixes and sunshine AIS v3
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • SL Share 2 RC viewer updated to version 3.7.10.291134 on June 19th – ability to upload Tweets and snapshots to Twitter and / or snapshots to Flickr (download and release notes)
    • Snowstorm viewer prompted to RC and updated to version 3.7.10.291042 on June 19th – numerous code contributions including STORM-1831 Obtain LSL syntax table from simulator so that it is always up to date; STORM-1966 Block installation on old and unpatched versions of Windows  and STORM-68 Allow setting of default permissions on creation of objects, clothing, scripts, notecards, etc. (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • Group Ban project viewer version 3.7.8.290887 released on June 17th – allows certain group members to ban avatar from a group or from joining a group  When an existing group member is banned, they are also automatically ejected from the group (download and release notes)

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

  • Black Dragon updated to version 2.3.9.9(A) on June 17th – core updates: please refer to the change log
  • Restrained Love Viewer updated to version 2.9 on June 18th – core updates: new RLV camera commands (release notes)

V1-style

  • Cool VL viewer updated on June 21st – Stable release to version 1.26.12.4 and Legacy version 1.26.8.62 – core updates: please refer to the release notes

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

Restrained Love 2.9: scripted camera controls

Posted on by Inara Pey

On June 16th, Marine Kelley recently updated her Restrained Love viewer to version 2.9. It introduces a new series of camera control options, offering a range of potential opportunities for those wishing to create puzzles, mazes, immersive quests, etc., as well as being applicable to the general use of RLV!

Marine provides the details on the updates, but here in brief is a summary of the key additions, together with an  image I’ve borrowed from her blog:

  • @camdistmin and @camdistmax force the camera to stay within a range (0= Mouselook any value above 0 actively prevents Mouselook being engaged)
  • @camdrawmin and @camdrawmax simulate fog / blindfolds by obscuring the world around the avatar (not around the camera, as with the windlight settings)
  • @camdrawalphamin and @camdrawalphamax indicate the closest and farthest opacities of fog defined by @camdrawmin and @camdrawmax
  • @camdrawcolor sets the color of the fog defined by the above (black is the default)
  • @camunlock prevents the camera from being panned, orbited, etc. away from the avatar – so can prevent someone from peer through walls, etc.
  • @camavdist specifies the maximum distance beyond which avatars look like shadows (think ssing people in a mist or heavy fog)
  • @camtextures renders the world grey, other than avatars and Linden water. Marine notes that bump mapping and shininess remain untouched, as even someone blindfolded or in heavy fog can still feel their way around
  • @shownametags hides the radar, name tags, and prevents doing things to an avatar through the context – useful for games involving trying to find someone without them being betrayed by their name tag.

There are three additional camera presets added as well (left, right, top), to allow some additional camera options when @camunlock is active. There is also a new debug setting, RestrainedLoveCamDistNbGradients, to go with the camera options, as well.

RLV 2.9 adds some interested scripted controls for the camera which could have a range of uses, such as locking the camera to the avatar and controlling how far the user can see, a
RLV 2.9 adds some interesting scripted controls for the camera which could have a range of uses, such as locking the camera to the avatar and controlling how far the user can see (image: Marine Kelley)

Again, please refer to the RLV 2.9 release notes for full details of these, and the other updates with this release.

The new camera options, as noted, could have a range of potential uses, and demonstrate (once again) that RLV isn’t just about “teh bondages”  – it’s an extremely flexible extension to her viewer (note that they are only applicable to her RLV viewer at this time). Those wishing to find out more about it and who may not have taken a look at it previously, can find more information both on Marine’s blog and on the RLV API wiki page.

Related Links

 

 

Replex: A new viewer for SL and OpenSim

Posted on by Inara Pey

Replex-logoLatif Khalifa is well-known if the viewer community. Not only does he maintain the very excellent Radegast lightweight client for SL and OpenSim, he has also been a regular contributor to Singularity, the popular viewer using the v1-style UI. Now Latif is working on a v1-style viewer of his own.

Replex is still very much in the alpha phase of work; as such, there is no formal release version of the viewer, but alpha builds are available for download with the caveat that there is no official support as yet. There is, however, an in-world group where questions can be asked of other users and information exchanged. There is also an IRC chatroom #replex on Freenode where the developers can be reached via an IRC client or Freenode webchat.

The viewer itself is based on Singularity, unsurprisingly, given Latif’s close ties with that team, and there is an acknowledgement on the Replex website of their role in providing the Singularity source code. The viewer is available in Windows and Linux flavours as both 32-bit and 64-bit builds, and also for Mac in a 32-bit build.

The following is a very brief overview of the viewer; I don’t pretend to have covered all the options and capabilities; rather I’m just pin-pointing some of the features it includes.

Replex is a v1-style viewer based on Singularity
Replex is a v1-style viewer based on Singularity

As might be expected given its heritage, Replex has a default skin with a decidedly dark tint to it – although not so far towards the black default of Singularity, more a charcoal colour. The Singularity dark skin is also available via Preferences > Skins, as is the classic LL  v1.x blue skin and – something I’ve not seen in a while – the equally classic LL silver skin; this brought back some very old memories, as that was my preferred viewer 1.x skin when it came out.

The Replex change log lists recent features and additions to the viewer, and these are handily split between “Common” updates, indicating they are shared with Singularity (presumably in an upcoming release of that viewer), and those specific to Replex.

Toolbar Buttons

One of the more interesting updates from Singularity which appears in Replex is the ability to add / remove buttons from the viewer’s toolbar, a-la 3.x viewers. Obviously, buttons are restricted to the bottom of the viewer, but this is liable to be of interest to users as it allows some degree of customisation in the UI.

Change the buttosn you have displayed at the bottom of the viewer window in Replex, and coming soon to Singularity
Change the buttons you have displayed at the bottom of the viewer window in Replex, and coming soon to Singularity

Adding / removing buttons is a simple matter of opening the button chooser (View > Change Toolbar Buttons) and then checking those buttons to be displayed and unchecked those which are not wanted. There are a fair number of button options available, including debug options, windlight / sky /water / post-process effects, camera & movement controls, search options, etc. This can mean the button bar can get a trifle packed and a little hard to read if you go button bananas, but the feature is certainly a useful addition to the v1-style UI. Kudos, Lirusaito for the development work!

Emergency Teleport

Oddly enough, during the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday June 17th, a wibni (“Wouldn’t it be nice if”) comments was made about having a viewer-side capability to automatically teleport you somewhere if you happen to be AFK when a region restart occurs, rather than being logged-out.

I’ve no idea if the comment was passed as a result of someone peeking into the Singularity repository or taking Replex for a drive, because Replex has implemented this very capability using code also from Lirusaito.

Replex includes the option to define two LMs for auto teleporting you away from a region restart, should you be AFK
Replex includes the option to define two LMs for auto teleporting you away from a region restart, should you be AFK

Continue reading “Replex: A new viewer for SL and OpenSim” →

Group bans: an overview

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Tuesday June 17th, Linden Lab released the Group Ban project viewer (version 3.7.8.290887) which, as the name suggests, allows group owners (and those they nominate by role) to ban individuals from their group.

Group bans, which are enforced server-side, like parcel and estate bans, are intended to remove troublemakers from a group / prevent them from joining the group. This article will hopefully provide an overview of the group ban tools within the project viewer (and which will eventually progress to the release viewer).

The following general points with group bans should be noted:

  • By default, only a group’s Owners role has the Manage Ban List ability for banning other avatars from a group /removing avatars from the ban list
  • The ability can be granted to other roles, if required
  • Roles which are granted this ability are also granted the Eject Members from this Group and Remove Members from Roles abilities
  • The ban list for a group can store a maximum of 500 entries. When this limit is reached, some avatars must be removed before others can be added
  • Group Owners cannot be banned from a group (just as they cannot be ejected)
  • When a group member is banned from the group, they are automatically ejected and will receive the usual ejection notification, but will not receive any notice that they have also been banned
  • A user who is banned from a group cannot join it either directly or through an invitation
  • If a group member is banned while using group chat, they may be able to continue using it until they close the group chat window (this problem also exists when ejecting someone from a group when they have the group chat window open)
  • Any attempt to invite one or more banned avatars into a group, whether individually or as a part of a list, will generate the message:  Some residents have not been sent an invite due to being banned from the group.

The viewer itself includes the necessary options to allow a group owner (and those they nominate by role) to:

  • Add or remove avatars from the group ban list
  • View the group ban list
  • Add the ability to ban avatars from a group to any other roles within the group, if required.

Applying Group Bans

Avatars can be banned from a group in one of two ways:

  • By selecting them in the group members list if they are already a member of the group
  • By using the Group Ban Picker to ban one or more avatars from a group, whether or not they are already members.

Banning via the Members List

  • Display your groups list (CTRL-SHIFT-G), select the required group and open its profile
  • Click on Roles & Members to open it, and then click on the Members tab
  • Locate the first avatar you wish to ban and left-click on their name
  • If there is more than one avatar you wish to ban, press CTRL and left-click on each of the remaining names
  • Click on the Ban Member(s) button
  • The highlighted avatars will be ejected and banned from the group, and you should see the normal confirmatory notification(s) that they have been ejected.
Banning someone from a public droup via the Members tab (l), and confirming they are listed as banned on the Banned Residents tab (r)
Banning someone from a public group via the Members tab (l), and confirming they are listed as banned on the Banned Residents tab (r)

To confirm the selected individuals have been ejected and banned, click the right scroll buttons at the top of the panel to scroll / jump to the Banned Residents tab. This should display the name of all avatars banned from the group. If the name(s) of the avatar(s) just banned do not appear to be listed, wait a minute or two and click the refresh button in the lower left corner of the panel. Continue reading “Group bans: an overview” →