Category: Viewers

Exodus 12.11.24.1: a compact update

Posted on by Inara Pey

exodus-4Saturday November 24th saw the next release of Exodus hit the download page, and Ash Qin from the team was kind enough to give me the nod – I confess, I’d lost track of the nightly builds and so have fallen well behind with the viewer’s on-going development – and access to the beta release of the build.

Exodus 12.11.24.1 is based on the Linden 3.4.2 code base, so it includes the majority of the most recent updates from the Lab, including the new Group Services code for managing and editing groups with more than 10K members, and a host of other Linden goodness.

Installation

The Windows installer weighs-in at a touch over 34MB in size and contains absolutely no surprises during the install process – as one would expect. As per usual, I did a completely clean install, which brought me to my first surprise: on start-up Exodus displayed the Steam-related “Create Account” prompt.

No, Exodus isn’t going to Steam.

This doesn’t mean Exodus is heading for Steam a-la the official viewer, just that the Steam code is now part and parcel of the SL beta viewer code, and the Exodus team didn’t see any reason not to merge it into their code, given it is only ever something established users are ever going to see once after a fresh install (and possibly not at all if they don’t perform a clean install or the team moves to an updater system – which is something they are considering).

Pathfinding

This release brings with it pathfinding, which the team had originally hoped to release a lot sooner. This includes not only the build tools associated with pathfinding (Linksets and Characters floaters, attributes in the Build and Object Profile floaters, etc.), but also includes the Navmesh visualisation code, as Exodus becomes the latest viewer to sign-up to the Havok sub-licence agreement with Linden Lab.

An impressive image of Deshima, showing the navmesh visualisation in Exodus

This means that anyone who has been using Exodus to access OpenSim grids via –loginuri will no longer be able to do so when using this release. Similarly, the optional grid selector which can be displayed on the login splash screen only lists Agni (the main grid) and Aditi (the beta grid).

The move to the Havok sub-licence also means that with this release, Exodus moves to the official mesh upload code from LL, rather than using the HACD code which has been in common use within TPVs.

Group Services

Large groups will load and can be edited with this release of Exodus

As mentioned above, Exodus gains the large group management and editing code from Linden Lab with this release, allowing groups with 10K or more members to load in the Group floater and which allow group owners and officers to edit and manage very large groups.

Again, just as a point of reference for those unfamiliar with the new code changes: these do not relate to group chat or anything related to improving group chat. That is an entirely separate project within Linden Lab (and one which may not be being actively progressed while other work is being undertaken). This is purely about using HTTP protocols (rather than the old UDP) to bring more stability to the downloading, viewing and editing of very large groups.

Viewer Updates

Alongside the updates and fixes from LL, Exodus 12.11.24.1 gets a number of updates all of its own:

  • The Flickr option on the Snapshot floater now includes an option to include the parcel name / SLurl in the description
  • You can now Paste as Link’ and Copy as Link using the right-click or CTRL-SHIFT-V and CTRL-SHIFT-C using Exodus’ built in “pastebin” functionality
  • A Copy as Link button added to the About Second Life Viewer floater, allowing the information in the floater to be viewed via the web
  • A Copy Key option added to the avatar right-click context menu, allowing for easy copying of the Avatar Key.
Two new options for Exodus: the include location option for Flickr uploads on the Snapshot floater, and Copy as Link on the About Second Life Viewer

Fixes and Changes

Exodus 12.11.24.1 also includes a number of fixes and changes from the team:

  • MOTD should work now on OS X
  • Added copy key to gear menu for avatar inspection panels
  • Colouring of certain elements
  • BMP cursors on Linux
  • Higher compression of LZMA packages on Linux
  • Curl on OS X no longer defaults to trying to use IPv6 in Curl (related to MOTD issue).

Performance and Feedback

Performance-wise Exodus 12.11.24.1 again gives very similar results on my usual review system (see the panel on the right sidebar of this page) as recent viewer releases I’ve taken a look at in the last month:

  • Deferred off:
    • Ground: 28-29 fps
    • 370 metres: 36-38 fps
    • 2875 metres: 43-45 fps
  • Deferred on + lighting set to Sun/Moon + Projectors; ambient occlusion off:
    • Ground: 9 fps
    • 370 metres:15 fps
    • 2875 metres: 18 fps

Like like Catznip R7 and the recent Firestorm beta, these figures dropped only very slightly (just 1 fps on average) if I also activated ambient occlusion in deferred; again marking the fact that for me, things seem to have improved recently over the start of the year.

Compared to other recently releases, this one from Exodus is relatively small and compact – which doesn’t lessen its overall impact; once again it places Exodus back among the leaders of the V3-based TPV pack. There are still a couple of things I’d like to see, one of them being my usual request of TPVs in general: the ability to left / right range the toolbar buttons at the bottom (or top for those that use that space) of the screen. Only one does it so far, and it is really handly having the option.

Nevertheless, nothing should be taken away from the Exodus team, offering as they do a pleasing and worthwhile update.

Related Links

Viewer release summary 2012: week 46

Posted on by Inara Pey

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 Viewer Round-up 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 as the week progresses
  • 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.  

Updates for the week ending: 18 November, 2012

  • SL Viewer updates:
      • Beta version rolled to 3.4.2.266561 on November 14 and then to 3.4.2.266995 on November 18 (release notes)
      • Development version rolled to 3.4.3.267061 on November 15
  • Dolphin rolled to 3.4.3.26620 on November 18 – core updates: Group Services code updates for editing / managing large SL groups; items from multiple creators now show “multiple” rather than “unknown” when viewed in inventory (properties); new in-world maturity functionality (dialogue warning on trying to enter a region with a higher rating than your current setting &uption for setting to be updated); code base now up to LL’s latest viewer-dev and Marine Kelley’s RLV (2.08.03.04);  – release notes
  • Firestorm released 4.3.0.30936 Beta on November 15 specifically aimed at Firestorm users who need to edit and manage large SL groups – release notes
  • Niran’s viewer rolled to version 2.0.3.2262 on November 12 – core updates: Group Services code updates for editing / managing large SL groups; UI fixes and tweaks – release notes
  • Cool VL updates:
    • Stable branch rolled to 1.26.4.39 on November 17 – core updates: bug fixes, backport (and update to) V3 font rendering; improved the logic for the font size and the anisotropic settings; minor speed optimization to the world map backported from Singularity
    • Experimental branch rolled to 1.26.5.19 also on November 17 – core updates as per main release, plus:improved logic for the font size and the anisotropic settings has also been extended to the anti-aliasing setting; bugfix to the render pipeline backported from viewer-development v3.4
    • Release notes
  • The Group Tools Installer moved to version 2.2.15.0 on November 18 – no release notes available
  • Libretto – removed from round-up page due to website being unavailable for a month and no response from creator on status (also removed from the SL Third-party Viewer Directory)

Related Links

Firestorm 4.3.0: Cry “Havok!” and let slip the goodies of update

Posted on by Inara Pey

Firestorm 4.3.0 has arrived slightly earlier than expected, in the form of an initial beta release made as a result of the implementation of new Group Services code across the main grid.

While this is only a beta, and the associated Firestorm blog post gives fair notice that it may yet be somewhat wobbly while final work on getting it QA’d and ready for a formal release is ongoing, there is more than enough in the release to make it something people are liable to be hungry for. So here’s a preliminary review of the release as it stands today, with the caveat that things may change between now and the full release, which is currently scheduled for December.

Download and Installation

The download .EXE is big – 40MB, which is unsurprising given that Firestorm packs so much into it. I’ve been running pre-releases of this version for a while now, and the size has been consistent between them and while much bigger than other TPVs and the official viewer, it hasn’t grown overly much since the last release.

The installer is actually the place where the updates to the viewer begin for Windows users, as it now incorporates:

  • A pop-up requesting whether or not the user wishes to have a Windows Start menu entry created for Firestorm during installation
  • Addition of the version string and estimated installed size to the installer
  • Addition of new OS detection code to warn if Windows Service Packs are not up-to-date and to prevent Firestorm being installed on Windows XP with
  • Publisher data, Phoenix URLs and Firestorm icon for the Firestorm entry in the Windows uninstall list
  • Automatic deletion of all previously installed skins to reduce issues arising from an unclean install
  • Addition of a DETAILS button in the installer pop-up window to allow the installation to be reviewed.

Lab Updates

Version 4.3.0 of Firestorm sees the viewer merged-up the official Linden 3.4.1 code base and the inclusion of later updates which are just filtering through to the official viewer 3.4.2 code pipe. Together these mean that this release incorporates and number of LL updates, including:

  • Recent updates and improvements to the viewer-side pathfinding code
  • Memory leak and memory crash fixes
  • Translation updates (together with further updates from members of the Firestorm team)
  • Incorporation of the official LL spelling checker (contributed to LL by Kitty Barnett to LL) and the official Auto-replace function (contributed to LL by Kitty Barnett, Jonathan Yapp, Tankmaster Finesmith and LordGregGreg Back)
  • Rendering fixes and optimisations
  • Group Services (group management) update (from the LL 3.4.2 code branch) allowing groups with more than 10K members to be edited and updated
  • Objects by multiple creators show creator details when viewed in inventory (Properties), rather than “unknown”

This release also incorporates the new LL maturity rating function which:

  • Notifies a user when trying to enter a region without having set the required maturity level in the viewer and presents the option to change their maturity setting (subject to age verification)
  • If applicable, sends a message to the person offering a teleport that the recipient is unable to access the region due to their maturity level.

Havok Sub-licence

Firestorm 4.3.0 sees the implementation of the Havok sub-licence agreement between the Firestorm team and Linden Lab. This means that this is the first version of Firestorm to be released without any support for OpenSim access. Both –loginURI capabilities and the Grid Manager functionality have been removed.

However, as Jessica Lyon has previously noted, development of the viewer will be forking, and OpenSim support will continue in the future via a version of Firestorm which excludes the code required to access the LL Havok libraries. How tailored the OpenSim version will be for use on those grids is not clear, and those who use Firestorm to access both SL and OpenSim grids should read Jessica’s comments on support in the future.

The Havok sub-licence agreement does mean that this release of Firestorm can access the new LL-supplied Havok libraries which in the first instance, enable TPV viewers to visualise and model the pathfinding navmesh.

The pathfinding navmesh can now be visualised in Firestorm 4.3.0

Group Services

The Group Services update was the main reason for pushing out a beta release of Firestorm  4.3.0.

This code allows for improved loading of membership lists of very large groups, together with improved reliability in editing such groups (i.e. assigning roles, removing people, etc.), by the group moderators. The server-side element of this code has been available on the RC channels for the last couple of weeks, and was deployed to the main release channel on Tuesday November 13th, making it available right across the main grid.

However, in order to be used, it requires additional viewer-side code. Without this additional code, the viewer will be unable to display membership lists for groups with more than 10K members (although any groups with fewer than 10K of members can still be edited using any viewer). Thus, the decision was taken by the Firestorm team to release 4.3.0 in a beta version so that users responsible for managing groups with very large members lists can continue to edit them.

Group Services update – the difference: On the left, an attempt to load a group with almost 20K of members in the current release of Firestorm 4.2.2. On the right, the same group loaded using the new Firestorm 4.3.0 beta.

In making this release, Firestorm joins Cool VL and Niran’s Viewer in being able to handle large groups alongside the official SL beta viewer. However, the remaining TPVs are likely to have updates to support the capability out in the near future (and the code will soon be available in the SL release viewer as well).

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Firestorm Beta Release: Group Services and Havok sub-licence

Posted on by Inara Pey

As a result of the release of the Group Services project code to all of the main grid this week (see my SL Projects news report), The Firestorm team have released a beta version of their upcoming Firestorm viewer update.

The new Group Services code allows for improved loading of membership lists of very large groups, together with improved reliability in editing such groups (i.e. assigning roles, removing people, etc.), by the group moderators. however, in order to be used, it requires additional viewer-side code. Without this additional code, the viewer will be unable to display membership lists for groups with more than 10K members.

To overcome this, and to allow Firestorm users who manage very large groups, the Firestorm team have released a beta version of the Firestorm viewer which includes the necessary code – as well as a lot of other updates.

Group Services update – the difference: On the left, an attempt to load a group with almost 20K of members in the current release of Firestorm 4.2.2. On the right, the same group loaded using the new Firestorm 4.3.0 beta.

Announcing the release, Jessica Lyon, the project manager for Firestorm notes, that while this is not an official Firestorm release, it will be supported by the team but requests that only those who need to manage and edit groups with more than 10,000 members download and install this release. She comments:

NOTE:
– This is NOT an official release, but we will provide support for it.
– This has NOT been thoroughly tested by our Quality Assurance team.
– We can NOT make any promises regarding how stable or bug-free it is.
– This DOES have some really cool new stuff in it!

USE IT IF:
– You need to manage large groups inworld.
– You’re tired of seeing unknown alert messages in Phoenix.
– You’re feeling brave, you live on the cutting edge and you want to get an early look at what’s coming in December’s Official Release.

This release means that Firestorm joins Niran’s Viewer, Zen, and Cool VL viewer alongside the official beta viewer in enabling large group editing.

Havok Sub-licence

This beta also includes code to access LL’s new Havok libraries. This means that it will be able to view the pathfinding navmesh, but as a result of the sub-licence arrangement, it will not be able to access OpenSim grids.

Downloading and Installing

The beta viewer is available here for Windows, Mac and Linux. As usual, a completely clean install is recommended for the most stable results.

A full review of the new Firestorm release will be appearing on these pages in due course.

A Note on Phoenix

The blog post from Jessica includes a section directed at those still using the Phoenix viewer, in which she states:

Our developers and support staff have been extremely busy trying to balance their real working and personal lives while continuing their volunteer efforts to develop SL’s most popular viewer for you. Unfortunately, most of us cannot easily compile Phoenix anymore because of missing/expired libraries like Fmod, compiler changes we’ve had to make for Firestorm, OS upgrades (Win8), etc. To update Phoenix to current LL code now would be a very, very big task and, because we are already at our limit of what we can do, there are no plans to update Phoenix Viewer to support this new group code or handle the new notification system at this time. We are, after all, only human.

This is unlikely to make popular reading in some quarters. However, as Jessica notes, the team have striven to make Firestorm’s front-end as much like Phoenix / Viewer-1 as humanly possible. While it is not possible to revert menus, etc. fully to the Phoenix format, the skinning and broad approach to getting as much of the look and feel on Phoenix into Firestorm should go a long way towards easing people willing to make the conversion a lot easier.

This does not mean the end of the road for Phoenix, but with user number falling and Firestorm proving to be a much more stable and reliable viewer which is capable of embracing viewer changes being driven out of LL, it is understandable that the Firestorm team is sounding a warning note as to the future and continued enhancement of Phoenix.

Viewer release summary 2012: week 45

Posted on by Inara Pey

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 Viewer Round-up 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 as the week progresses
  • 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.  

Updates for the week ending: 11 November, 2012

  • SL Viewer updates:
      • Beta version rolled to 3.4.1.266708 – the first release since confirming the crash issue appears to have been resolved realloc disabled  (release notes)
      • Development version rolled to 3.4.3.266625 on November 8 and then to 3.4.3.266835 on November 9
  • Dolphin released version 3-3-4-1-26336 on November 10 – core updates: pathfinding support (excluding navmesh visualisation, this is pending LL’s sub-licence); RLV has been upgraded to the latest version, 2.08.03.04; area search has been reworked and improved by Techwolf Lupindo from Phoenix-Firestorm; No further support for logging into OpenSim grids (see here) – release notes
  • Kokua rolled to Beta 3.4.1.24900 on November 6
  • Niran’s viewer rolled to 2.0.2225 on November 6 – core updates: fading chat / IMs; imported and update to Hide LookAt from Firestorm; webkit plugin tweak
  • Cool VL updates:
    • Stable branch rolled to 1.26.4.38 on November 10 – core updates: Improved Reload Selected Texture feature to allow sculpt objects to be redrawn on reload of their sculpt texture; changed anisotropic filtering graphics hardware settings so that restart is required between changes; further media on a prim (MOAP) backports and fixes, option remains disabled as work continues; changes to settings names for streaming parcel media to make them more meaningful; reverted experimental “UseNewTargetOmegaCode” setting to FALSE due to vehicle issues; removed “dead” grid from OpenSim grid selector & updated URIs.
    • Experimental branch rolled to 1.26.5.18 also on November 10 – core updates as per main release, plus: tree rendering fix (phantom trees sometimes appearing on the horizon when hovering over a parcel with trees) and tree shadows issues (bad shadows)
    • Release notes
  • Libretto – removed from round-up page due to website being unavailable for a month and no response from creator on status (also removed from the SL Third-party Viewer Directory)

Related Links

Dolphin bids “adieu” to OpenSim, says “hello” to Mini-map

Posted on by Inara Pey

dolphin-logoLance Corrimal released Dolphin Viewer 3.2.24.24816 on November 1st.

The release comprises a small number of updates, of which perhaps the most significant is the inclusion of the revised Mini-map first seen in Catznip R7.

For the most part, I have to say that I’ve never really seen the point of the Mini-map. Certainly, it has its various uses at times – role-play, combat, etc., but for me, the big let-down with it has been the map itself, impaired by an exceptionally weak background texture and god-awful zooming.

Catznip R7 revised all this, as I recently reviewed, completely overhauling the Mini-map and making it an exceptionally useful tool – and one I have been hoping would be adopted elsewhere (such as the code being contributed to LL).

Dolphin now includes the revised Mini-map in this release, and to mark its arrival, Lance has called the release his “Sailor’s Mini-map Mark 2”. It’s well-named, as the new Mini-map is a complete godsend for those into sailing and flying – and will probably be really handy for those who engage in cross-region road races.

The code includes all of Kitty’s refinements and updates, and really does make flying and sailing a joy without needing to necessarily clutter-up the screen with a lot of HUDs and having to waste space with the World Map to confirm your overall location.

Red Alert: using the updated mini-map to avoid parcels with object entry turned off

Not only does it how you your overall direction, it displays upcoming region boundaries, allowing you to make adjustments to course and speed which may help smooth the crossing (very handy in avoiding the risk of trying to make the diagonal corner-crossing between regions, which so often finishes rather badly (at least for me).

The revised Mini-map also helps avoid those pesky parcels where object entry has been turned off, showing them in red in the display, allowing sailors and aviators to navigate around them without suddenly finding themselves bouncing up against something or having their craft vanish from under them.

Other Updates in the Release:

  • Reset graphics preferences to default button in status panel, next to draw distance slider, labeled “GReset”.
  • Z offset reset button relabeled to “Z” to get room for GReset button.
  • “Refresh texture” also refreshes sculpt maps (from Firestorm).
  • “Restore inworld” now also sets the proper land group if you have “Rez with land group” switched on and are a member of that group.
The new reset graphics button (GReset) and revised Z-offset buttons in Dolphin’s menu bar

The Last Dolphin Release Supporting OpenSim

Release 3.2.24.24816 marks the end of line for OpenSim support within the Dolphin Viewer; it will be removed from future releases. That Lance would no longer be supporting OpenSim was made in a Dolphin blog announcement back in August 2012. The reason for this is the new Havok sub-licence arrangement Linden Lab have entered into, and Lance feeling he is unable to support two flavours of Dolphin for SL and OpenSim access on his own – which is a fair and reasonable decision on his part.

Should anyone wish to continue development of Dolphin to specifically support OpenSim access, Lance has created a clone of the original Dolphin repository for anyone wishing to fork the viewer, and he is also leaving the 3.3.19 release installers available for download from the Dolphin website.

Performance

This release of Dolphin sees a slight upturn in FPS rates over recent viewer reviews for me, if again using my rough-and-ride technique. With my usual test defaults (see the Review Systems panel on the right of this blog’s home page), I subjected Dolphin on my Linden Home region with three other residents (including my Alt in the same parcel) with the following results:

  • Deferred off:
    • Ground: 38-39 fps
    • 370 metres: 43-44 fps
    • 2875 metres: 55-56 fps
  • Deferred on + lighting set to Sun/Moon + Projectors; ambient occlusion on, full reflections:
    • Ground: 11 fps
    • 370 metres:15 fps
    • 2875 metres: 17 fps

I did find that running in Deferred with both lighting & shadows and ambient occlusion active within my Linden Home parcel did result is a significant drop in fps (to 5-6). A quick test with Catznip produced the same result.

Overall, a small, tidy, and welcome update.