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
By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
The Viewer Round-up Page also 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.
Maintenance RC updated to version 3.7.3.287491 on March 6th – core updates: assorted MAINT fixes (download and release notes)
Voice viewer RC version 3.7.3.287288 released on March 5th – core update: Vivox 4.6.x update for improved voice stability and to address Mac Mavericks issues (download and release notes)
Sunshine / AIS v3 RC version 3.7.3.287158 released on March 5th – core updates: removal of old viewer-side baking code, stability and performance improvements (download and release notes)
Merchant Outbox RC version 3.7.3.287344 released on March 3rd – core updates: fixes for accurately detecting Merchant status and improves recovery for Merchant Outbox errors (download and release notes)
Black Dragon updated to version 2.3.9.6 (incorporating 2.3.9.5) on March 6th – core updates: experimental shadow blurring enhancements, UI updates (release notes)
V1-style
Cool Viewer updated on March 8th to the following versions: Stable: 1.26.10.13; Experimental: 1.26.11.13; Legacy: 1.26.8.50 – core updates: backport of LL’s sunshine / AIS v3 code; backport of potential crash fixes; backport of RLV llRegionSayTo() blocking policy; Implemented a new “ResetVertexBuffersOnLowMem” setting + more (release notes)
Mobile / Other Clients
Radegast updated on March 4th to version 2.14, and was followed on March 8th by version 2.16 which addressed a couple of issues in 2.14 – core updates: catch up with Second Life protocol changes, fixes for issues in the 2.14 release, general fixes and tweaks (release notes for 2.14 and release notes for 2.16)
While only launched on Wednesday March 5th, OnLive’s new SL Go offering for accessing Second Life from Android devices, low-end computers and TVs (additional hardware required) has already received a lot of kick-back due to its initial pricing model.
As it stands, OnLive, in something of a departure from their normal pricing models, are initially presenting the service on a pay-as-you-go offering starting at $3.00 for an hour in SL (with an initial 20-minute free trial period for new sign-ups), through $8.00 for up to three hours access, to $25.00 for up to ten hours. This is being seen as prohibitively expensive for using Second Life.
But is that really the case? Ultimately, the answer to this is both yes and no.
SL Go by OnLive: streaming Second Life to your tablet – but the pricing model is upsetting to many
On the one hand, SL Go is being presented as an adjunct – not a replacement – to people’s “normal” means of accessing Second Life; something to be used to get in-world when access via home computer and local viewer isn’t an option. This was very much underlined by Nate Barsetti, the Senior Manager of Customer Relations at OnLive, and Don Laabs, Linden Lab’s Senior Director of Product with overall responsibility for Second Life, emphasised when both appeared on a Designing Worlds special presentation shown a few hours after the launch of the service.
In such instances, a pay-as-you-go option is actually valid, as it potentially offers a better means of managing costs than something like a subscription payment system, such as OnLive’s new $14.99-a-month CloudLift subscription service, which was also launched on March 5th alongside their new OnLive Go service (of which SL Go is actually a part)..
For example, someone who find they need to access SL for, say, 4 hours a month when they are away from their home PC and viewer would have to pay a maximum of $31.00 a quarter in order to do so. But if SL Go were pitched at the same price as CloudLift, then their cost for the same 3-month period would be $44.97.
Of course, how far the pay-as-you-go payment plan remains attractive is on something of a sliding scale, and a tipping-point can easily be reached. There’s also the fact that were SL to be “rolled into” something like CloudLift, then it becomes more attractive on a subscription service as users gain access to it and other titles provided by CloudLift should they wish to make use of them. But that doesn’t negate the fact that there are genuine use-cases where pay-as-you go is potentially far more cost-effective, and therefore attractive, than a flat subscription rate.
On the other hand, however, SL Go has been presented as a means of accessing the full richness of SL on computers otherwise incapable of doing so. This suggests that SL Go could be used as a more general means of using SL than those on such low-end machines can currently enjoy – and as such, it is where the pay-as-you-go option falls flat on its face, and an alternative means of paying for the service to be used in this way is required, such as a subscription model. And OnLive aren’t actually blind to this fact.
On Wednesday March 5th, two new release candidate viewers appeared in the viewer release channel, bringing the total number of RC viewers back up to five, with more still sitting in the queue and yet to be seen, together with some project viewers as well.
Sunshine Release Candidate
The Sunshine RC (version 3.7.3.287158 – download and release notes) contains the latest updates related to Server-side Appearance (Project Sunshine, hence the viewer’s name), which comprise two key elements.
Part of the Sunshine viewer updates is aimed at improving the reliability and performance of the baking process & resolving issues, including those where an avatar’s appearance may appear to be stuck
The first of these is a code-clean-up / polish which includes the removal of a lot of the old avatar baking code from the viewer, as this is no longer required for Second Life, and the removal of a number of redundant viewer requests related to avatar baking operations. In addition, the code has performance and stability improvements and bug fixes, all designed to further improve avatar baking, such as dealing with conditions where an avatar’s appearance may appear to be stuck.
The second part of the update – which is related to SSA – is the support for the Advanced Inventory System version 3 (AIS v3). This is a set of changes which are being made both to the viewer and to the simulator software. Currently, the simulator code is only available on the Magnum RC, and will be progressing to the other RCs and the Main channel in due course. However, the viewer code is compatible with both the “new” simulator AIS v3 code and the current AIS v2 code, so this release candidate can be used freely across the grid.
The functions initially being deployed with AIS v3 (server and viewer) are mostly related to improving the reliability of outfit changes, which should also improve performance and see a drop in failure rates once the AIS v3 simulator code is fully enabled across the grid, and the necessary viewer code merged into all viewers.
Longer-term, AIS v3 has broader goals, as Don Linden explained at a TPV Developer meeting back in October 2013 (see the section titled Advanced Inventory Service (AIS v3)). These are (in part) aimed at giving more control to the viewer about what it wants to do with the inventory without necessarily having to go through the simulator when working with one’s own inventory or the Library inventory; the viewer will communicate directly with the inventory service. However, certain capabilities will remain unchanged; avatar-to-avatar inventory transactions will still be handled via the simulator, and it will still not be possible to copy personal items to the library folders, for example.
TPVs will be integrating this code so that their users will benefit from the SSA improvements, although the release of TPV updates with the code may take a little longer where there is s need to avoid the removal of the “old” avatar baking code to maintain support for OpenSim users.
Voice Viewer Release Candidate
As many who routinely use voice will be aware, there have been issues with voice for some considerable time, some of which were exacerbated recently with the release of the Vivox API 4.5, updates used in recent versions of the SLvoice.exe plugin which did not play well with earlier versions of SLvoice.
Whirly Fizzle and Ed Merryman produced a couple of videos demonstrating the issues, one of which is included below.
As I recently reported, Vivox reached out to Linden Lab to help resolve many of these issues, and a starting-point for this work was seen as getting all viewers updated to the latest version of the Vivox API (4.6.x). This release candidate viewer (version 3.7.3.287288 – download and release notes) includes the updated API in the SLvoice plugin, and is aimed at improving voice reliability and performance as well as hoping dealing with some of the significant issues users on Mac Mavericks have been experiencing.
To encourage TPVs to integrate the Vivox updates into their own offerings, the autobuild packages for generating the new voice modules for the viewer have been made available to TPVs, allowing them to test new voice builds alongside LL rather than having to wait for the Lab to build, test and release new voice plugins.
It is also hoped that once built, the new modules will be binary compatible and have no related viewer code changes, potentially allowing TPVs to offer the updates directly to their users who prefer to run older versions of a viewer, thus allowing them to (hopefully) resolve their voice issues without being forced to update their viewer if they’re not ready.
If you use the official SL viewer, and you have been experiencing problems with voice, you may want to manually download and run this RC if you haven’t been selected to receive it as part of the RC testing.
On Wednesday March 5th, Linden Lab and OnLive, the streaming / cloud gaming company announced the launch of the SL Go by OnLive (SL Go) public beta (available to UK, US and Canadian residents at the moment).
SL Go is a service which streams the SL viewer and SL content directly to the user’s computer or tablet device (during the beta period, only Android is supported for tablets). As a streamed service, it allows, subject to network connectivity, the full richness and depth of Second Life to be displayed and used on tablets and low-end computer systems and laptops. The public beta is intended to broaden the use of the service, and to obtain further feedback in order to further enhance and refine it.
As a part of the preparations for the launch, I was one of a number of journalists and bloggers given preview access to the new service in order to try it out and provide initial reviews for readers. However, if you’re rather just skip ahead to the review part of this article, you can follow this link – but if you do, be warned, you’ll be missing out! 🙂 .
News that Linden Lab were involved in developing a mobile means of accessing Second Life first surfaced in October 2013, when selected users received an e-mail inviting them to sign-up for a closed beta for a new mobile service. Shortly after that, rumours began circulating that the work was linked with OnLive. Given the viewer’s complexity and the dynamic nature of SL content, using a streaming service is perhaps the only way in which to bring the full richness and depth of the SL experience provided by the viewer to devices such as tablets. Interestingly, however, the idea for using OnLive didn’t actually come from the Lab.
Gary Lauder, OnLive’s Chairman, approached LL’s former CEO, Rod Humble, about OnLive providing SL to users through their service (Image courtesy of LinkedIn)
Instead, it actually came from Gary Lauder, OnLive’s Chairman and owner. His company, Lauder Partners, invested in the original OnLive Inc in 2009, and when that entity got into difficulties in 2012, then stepped-in and acquired OnLive in August 2012 and formed the current company using the name. Lauder has a working relationship with the Lab’s former CEO, Rod Humble, and being aware of Second Life, he approached Humble in early 2013 with the idea of forming a synergy between the two companies.
Lauder made his approach because third-person adventure games have been particularly successful for OnLive. As such, Second Life was seen as a logical choice for extending OnLive’s reach into more immersive environments while at the same time potentially offering Linden Lab with a solution for providing SL to tablet devices and to low-end desktop and laptop systems.
The task of initially investigating whether SL could be successfully run through OnLive servers was passed to Nick Barsetti, the Senior Manager of Customer Relations at OnLive. “One of my staff members and I were able to get it up and running on the service … and my jaw just absolutely dropped,” he says while discussing the service with Draxtor Despres ahead of the launch. “I said, ‘I’ve never seen it run this fast!’ It was prior to the server-side rending release [server-side appearance, July / August 2013]. And as we know, that has speeded-up local viewers quite a bit … even with that, it was running 150+ fps, and we’ve even seen it run as high as 200 fps on a private island.”
With the proof-of-concept a success, OnLive started into the core development work, with Barsetti playing a key role, being both a former Linden Lab employee (Scout Linden) and a long-time Second Life resident who has been actively engaged in the platform for seven years, notably as a community leader in a Star Wars role-play group. As such, he is intimately aware of how the viewer and platform can be used and very familiar with users’ expectations and requirements when running Second Life, and this is very apparent in his conversation with Drax, which you’ll be able to hear in The Drax Files Radio Hour on Friday March 7th.
The SL Go website (courtesy of OnLive)
SL Go is a service provided entirely by OnLive, which sits between the Lab’s servers and the user (and is, most likely, one of the contributing factors behind the August 2013 ToS changes). As such, it requires those wishing to use the service (including users with an existing OnLive account) to register at the SL Go website. Those who don’t have an account with OnLive will obtain one as a part of their SL Go registration. People with existing OnLive accounts will need to register with the SL Go website prior to being able to see SL Go through their OnLive client (computer or tablet).
Once registered, users can then purchase time credits for the service, download the SL Go app for Android via Google Play or the OnLive client for PCs or Macs in order to access SL Go.
SL Go by OnLive: streaming Second Life to your tablet
New SL Go accounts receive a free trial period of 20 minutes 7 days (see the update at the top of this article, so that they can try the service to see if it suits their needs and assess how well it runs on their home or mobile network. Once this initial 20-minute period has been used, additional time credits can be purchased at the following rates:
$3.00 for one hour
$8.00 for three hours (representing a 10% saving on the base cost)
$25.00 for ten hours (representing a 15% saving on the base cost).
As noted at the top of this article in the updates, OnLive now charge a flat monthly subscription of US 9.95 (UK £6.95) per month for unlimited access to Second Life.
It is possible that some may balk at having to additionally pay for accessing Second Life. However, as Nate Barsetti explains, there is an underlying reason for charging for the service. “OnLive is another layer placed between you and the Linden Lab network. So in order to fund this and keep it going, there is a payment model associated with SL Go.” He also believes that the potential benefits in using SL Go will sufficiently offset reservations people have about paying for the service. Time will tell on this.
As well as using SL Go on either an Android tablet or a computer system, it is also possible to use SL Go with the OnLive Games System (OGS) to connect to a television and play games using a suitable USB or wireless keyboard and mouse and / or the included games controller (which can also be purchased separately).
The Online Games System with mini-console (left) and wireless game controller (right) can also be used to access SL using a television (keyboard also required)
As part of the preview, reviewers were supplied with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 with the SL Go app pre-installed, together with the OGS and a wireless keyboard for trying SL Go on a television, and a pre-assigned OnLive account. Unfortunately, I have been unable to test using SL Go with a television as a result of not being able to connect the OGS with my home network. As such, what follows is an overview of SL Go running on a tablet and on a low-end computer system (in this case, a 2010 PC EEE 1201N with 4 GB RAM and windows 7 home Edition, 32-bit).
Even with Direct Delivery being the norm now for SL Marketplace deliveries, some SL merchants are still experiencing problems with the Merchant’s Outbox functionality. To help deal with this, the Lab issued a project viewer at the start of January 2014 which included a number of fixes for some of the issues being encountered.
On March 3rd, this Merchant Outbox viewer moved to the viewer release channel as a release candidate viewer – version 3.7.3.287344. The core issues addressed by this viewer are listed in the release notes as:
ACME-1219 Merchant Outbox viewer crashes on Exit on Windows 7
ACME-1220 User needs to click OK twice to dismiss Merchant Outbox notification
ACME-1221 Merchant Outbox Initialization fails with 404 error with new account in Merchant Outbox viewer
MAINT-2287 Merchant Outbox panel unusable and unrecoverable if outbox folder disappears
MAINT-2301 Send to Marketplace from Merchant Outbox says it fails when it doesn’t
MAINT-2452 Merchant outbox with genuine failure “409 conflict” causes all further imports to fail
MAINT-3319 Merchant outbox: Second Life 3.6.8 (282375) build – results when user has a merchant outbox misplaced in inventory.
MAINT-3320 Viewer crash when deleting trash which contains Merchant Outbox
(Note that while JIRA links are given, they will result in a permission violation warning until such time as the JIRA is re-opened, which is anticipated for later in week 10.).
So, if you have been encountering issue with the Merchant Outbox, and while it may not solve all woes, it might be worth giving this release candidate a try. Hopefully, with the release of this RC, the code should also now more readily filter through to TPVs in the coming weeks / months.
Connor Monaron issued a further updated to the UKanDo viewer on Thursday February 27th.
Version 2.7.2.27938 brings the viewer up to parity with the Lab’s 3.7.2 code base and with RLV 2.8.5.10 and offers a series of inventory-related TPV updates, some rebranding and fixes, and the ability to re-skin the viewer with the default LL viewer skin. Release notes for the update are available here.
Inventory Updates
Version 3.7.2.27938 now incorporates three additions to the inventory floater which are popular among several other TPVs:
A pair of Collapse and Expand buttons: the first of these will close all folders and sub-folders in your inventory floater; the second will open all folders and sub-folders in your inventory floater, displaying the full tree
An inventory search filter drop-down list: allows inventory searches to be filtered by criteria on the drop down (e.g. only search for Landmarks matching the search term)
An inventory Worn Items tab: displays everything your avatar is wearing, by folder.
The new (to UKanDo) inventory floater options: the Collapse and Expand buttons and the Worn items tab (l): the inventory search filters drop-down (r)
UKanDo Preferences Tab Updates
The UKanDo tab in Preferences has also been overhauled, with the options rationalised. A new sub-tab is added: Chat – IMs, which pulls together the chat / IMs related options previously found in the Miscellaneous sub-tab into a tab of their own (chat range indicators for the mini-map, notifications alignments, MUpose* and OOC options). Similarly, the Group Land Rez option is moved from Miscellaneous to Avatar (under the new Inventory heading) and also appears in the Build sub-tab as well.
UKanDo 3.7.2 sees the UKanDo tab in Preferences re-worked to make finding options easier, including a new Chat – IM sub-tab
LL Default Skin
UKanDo users can now opt to re-skin their viewer with the default Lab viewer skin. This is reported as being a part of the UKanDo 3.7.2.27938 update, but appears to work with earlier releases as well (tested with 3.7.0). Be warned, the process does require some fiddling on the user’s part:
UKanDo must be shut down
The skin folder must be downloaded from the UKanDo website download page as a ZIP archive
The user needs to locate the viewer install location (e.g. for 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\UKanDoViewer) and then rename it (e.g. “skins_old”)
The downloaded skins folder then needs to be dragged from the ZIP archive and dropped into the viewer’s install location (e.g. for 64-bit Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\UKanDoViewer)
UKcanDo can then be restarted, and will use the LL default skin.
The original UKanDo skin can be restored by following the steps above, making sure the original skin folder is renamed “skins”.
Feedback
Another small-ish update, aimed at keeping the UKanDo viewer on a par with LL code updates whilst also incorporating a few nips and tucks.
The option to change the viewer skin is a somewhat convoluted process, especially compared to those TPVs which allow you to select a skin style from within them (e.g. through a Preferences tab) and then applies the selected style with a simple re-start. Whether UKanDo will also move in that direction, remains to be seen; as it is the copying / renaming of folders following each update to the viewer could get a little tiresome for some users.
That niggle aside, a compact and useful update for UKanDo users.
Important note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read 
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 