Category: SL Go

OnLive open SL Go Island

Posted on by Inara Pey
SL Go user? Now you can get help and personal assistance through the SL Go Island - and it's a good place for escaping the worlds, as well!
SL Go user? Now you can get help and personal assistance at the SL Go Island – and it’s a good place for escaping the worlds, as well!

Important note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read this report.

On Wednesday, February 4th, Dennis Harper, OnLive’s Product Manager for SL Go kindly invited me to preview the new SL Go island in Second Life, which is designed to offer users of the the SL Go service a in-world place they can visit should they need assistance.

SL Go Island officially opens its doors for business at 10:00 SLT on Thursday, February 5th, 2015, and is modelled along similar lines to the Firestorm Support Island, which originally opened in August 2012 (see my review on it).

The idea for such a in-world venue was originally suggested during the special Firestorm Q&A meeting, alongside the idea for the SL Go support group, which launched in January 2015.

The landing point offers information and clickable signs for obtaining assistance - and more
SL Go Island: the landing point offers information and clickable signs for obtaining assistance – and more, with the SL Go greeter bot standing alongside

SL Go island offers a rural environment, with the landing area acting as the support hub. Here information boards and signage provides initial assistance.

A main board offers basic information, while thee signs hanging from it will take visitors to the OnLive Support web page, the support forum, and – for those who have yet to try it, a link to the SL Go sign-up page. A further sign allows SL Go users who have not already done so to join the in-world SL Go support group.

However, it doesn’t end there. On the table under the main noticeboard sit s small silver bell. If a member of the SL Go support team isn’t already on the island (they all tend to spend a fair amount of time there) or near the landing point, ring it, and personal help should be forthcoming.

SL Go support staff can frequently be found at the beach bar ....
SL Go Island: support staff can frequently be found at the beach bar ….

The rest of the island, all of which has been designed by  OnLive web engineer and Second life resident Jersey Silent, is given over to walks among the trees and down to the beach. Here sits a bar (providing support is thirty work!), and if folk aren’t around the landing point, they can generally be found here. There are also a number of spots scattered around the island, make it a welcoming place for those who wish to sit and relax.

SL Go Product Manager, Dennis Harper, in-world
SL Go Product Manager, Dennis Harper, in-world

“I really like it here,” Dennis said to me as he and Jersey showed me around. “If you want to find me, I’m usually at the beach bar, it’s a great place to relax, although there’s a cool swamp on the other side, which is also nice to visit after a day at the beach. But we’ve tried not to make it anything fancy – just a place to hang out.”

“But don’t forget, for the fastest and most timely support for SL Go, visit us on SL Go Island!” He added.

Wandering the island with Dennis and Jersey, I  couldn’t help but notice the care take to keep things open, relaxed, and as welcoming as possible. Jersey’s Landscape blends content from a number of designers who are bound to be familiar to many visitors, and she’s taken a huge amount of care to provide open spaces and quiet little spots for visitors to enjoy.

So – if you’re an SL Go user and need help, or if your curious about SL Go, or if you just want somewhere new to wander and spend time in, SL Go island may offer the perfect solution!

SL Go: OnLive announce teleport issue fixed for users of SLV

Posted on by Inara Pey

SL go logoImportant note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read this report.

OnLive, the company providing the SL Go service, announced on Tuesday, February 3rd, that they had implemented a fix for the issue that prevented users of their SLV version of the viewer (the version based on the Lab’s code) teleporting anywhere when using SL Go.

As I reported on January 30th, because of the frustration the problem was causing, OnLive extended a free month’s use of the SL Go service for all users with an active subscription.

The news the the fix had been made broke on the SL Go support group when Dennis Harper, OnLive’s SL Go Product Manager announced, “I’d like to announce:  THE SLV TELEPORT ISSUE IS FIXED AND LIVE ON  PRODUCTION!”

The problem initially started around week 3, with a handful of users initially reporting problems in teleporting, but only when using SLV  – the version of Firestorm running on SL Go was unaffected. However, this gradually spread until anyone using SLV could not teleport.

By Friday, January 30th, the Lab had traced the issue down to something going wrong within the handshaking between the two simulators involved in a teleport attempt, although at that stage, what was initially triggering the problem had yet to be determined.

Further investigation revealed that a recent server-side update involving a cleaning-up of the code related to how avatars are handled during region crossings (see my week 3/1 SL project update) has triggered the issue. Essentially, the update removed the ability to have a single quote (“‘”) in the viewer’s channel name. Unfortunately, the channel used with SLV had been called “‘Onlive”, and the presence of the quote lead to teleports failing.

Once the problem had been identified, OnLive were able to make a small change to the SLV viewer via a command line change, and after some extended testing, were able to deploy that change to the production SL Go service.

As a result, any users employing the SLV viewer on SL Go (whether via computer, iPad or Android tablet)  should find teleports are once again working as soon as the log-in to the service; there is no requirement to re-download the SL Go client or anything.

I’ll have more news from OnLive ans SL Go coming later in the week.

OnLive offers SL Go users with an active subscription a free month

Posted on by Inara Pey

SL go logoImportant note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read this report.

If you’re an SL Go user, you’ve probably already seen the e-mail, but just in case you haven’t…

The company has been writing to all SL Go users to let them know that an issue in the SL Go Second Life Viewer (SLV) currently prevents teleporting (although the problem doesn’t affect the Firestorm viewer on SL Go). “SLV had been running fine for months,” SL Go Product Manager Dennis Harper informed me. “Then all of a sudden… people can’t TP!”

Why this should have happened is unclear. Nothing has been changed at OnLive’s end to cause the problem, and while the Lab has also been involved in investigations, no reason or solution has yet been determined.

As a result, OnLive pro-actively sought to contact all users with an active subscription and offer them a free month’s subscription to the service, as noted in the official e-mail, which reads in part:

We understand your frustration and apologize for the inconvenience. We will give all SL Go subscribers a free month of SL Go to make up for time lost. The next time your subscription renews, you will not be charged.
Our goal is to continuously improve the SL Go experience. We are committed to our community in Second Life and hope that you will continue to enjoy the benefits of SL Go.

Note that the offer applies to all SL Go users with an active subscription at the time the e-mail was sent, regardless of whether you prefer to use the SL Viewer or Firestorm with the service – so while the teleport issue may be a nuisance, there is something of a silver lining to the problem, thanks to OnLive’s commitment to their users.

There’s also further good news on the horizon. Not only are OnLive working as hard as possible with the Lab to fix the issue, they’re also in the process of preparing to update the SL Viewer to the most recent viewer code released by the Lab. No date is yet available for when the update will occur (as OnLive understandably want to get the current problem fixed first), but Dennis assures me they’re keen to see it deployed – I’ll hopefully have more on this in the near future.

About SL Go

SL Go is a streaming service provided to Second life users by OnLive. A subscription-based service providing the means to access Second Life from a low-end PC or Mac computer,  or via and Android tablet or an iPad with the full graphical riches of a Second life viewer running on a high-end computer. In addition, Firestorm for SL Go (currently only available for PCs and Macs) allows the same degree of rich graphics access to OpenSim grids.

If you have a need to access Second Life while away from your main computer, or if you have a low-end system on which you might like to run Second Life with all of its graphical richness, SL Go might well be worth a look. To find out more, and take a free 7-day trial with the service, follow this link.

If you already have an SL Go account, don’t forget use can also get information through the in-world SL Go support group (profile link) in Second Life.

Addendum on the Issue: At the TPV Developer meeting on Friday, January 30th, Oz Linden confirmed that as a part of on-going investigations, the Lab’s QA team have turned up the logging and have been testing the service themselves in order to generate stats on the failures.

They believe they have found the point where things go “really wrong”, which lies within the handshaking between the two simulators involved in the teleport attempt. However, what remains unknown is precisely what is going wrong between the SL Go SLV, and the simulators in order for the simulator / simulator messaging to go so wrong. OnLive’s engineers are also trying to isolate any possible cause for the issue (which does not affect users running Firestorm on SL Go) as well.  

OnLive launch in-world support group for SL Go

Posted on by Inara Pey

SL go logoImportant note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read this report.

OnLive, the providers of the Second Life streaming service, SL Go, which allows users to run Second Life from a low-end PC or Mac or and Android tablet or iPad (using a TPV based on the official SL viewer) or on a low-end PC or Mac using a version of the Firestorm Viewer, have launched an in-world support group for their users.

The idea for such a group was first discussed at the special Firestorm Q&A meeting held in December 2014 following the release of  Firestorm on SL Go (see my review of Firestorm on SL Go here). At the time, Dennis Harper, OnLive’s Product Manager for SL Go. indicated the idea was a good one, which he would follow-up back at the office.

On Friday, January 16th, Dennis contacted me in-world during the Third-Party Developer Meeting to let me know the group is now up and running, and open to anyone to join.

The SL Go Support Group is intended to provide in-world support for users of the service
The SL Go Support Group is intended to provide in-world support for users of the service

If you are an SL Go user, and which to join the group, you will find it listed as SL Go by OnLive using the viewer’s search, or you can view the web profile for the group. A number of Firestorm support staff are helping with providing cover within the group, so enquiries on either the SL Go SL Viewer (SLV) and Firestorm for SL Go viewers can be asked through it.

In passing the details to me, Dennis said, “It’s been quite a ride for us since the Firestorm release, and we’re very pleased to be able to offer in-world support to our users as a part of our growing commitment to Second Life.”

Firestorm on SL Go: a closer look

Posted on by Inara Pey
Firestorm on SL Go from OnLive: almost 60 fps in my home region on a Asus PC EEE 1201N notebook with all the bells and whistles active
Firestorm on SL Go from OnLive: almost 60 fps in my home region on a Asus PC EEE 1201N notebook with all the bells and whistles active

Important note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read this report.

Onlive, the provider of the SL Go, and the Firestorm team recently announced the addition of the Firestorm viewer to the SL Go service. I covered the news with a quick overview, and you can also read both the official press release from OnLive and the Firestorm’s team’s announcement to catch-up, if you need to.

Given SL Go has, until this announcement, only been available with a flavour of the official SL viewer, there may be some Firestorm users who haven’t really thought about SL Go or given it a look. As such, I’d thought I’d offer a little more of a detailed look.

The Preamble

Just as a quick reminder, SL Go is a third-party service which can be used to access Second Life. Rather than using a locally-installed viewer, everything is run on OnLive’s servers and then streamed directly to the user’s chosen device (PC, Mac, tablet, HDTV via OnLive’s own game console).

SL Go has been available with a version of the SL viewer since March 2014 for all of the above. The Firestorm update now extends the service to include the Firestorm viewer, initially only to people running low-end PCs and Macs, although Android and iPad flavours should be available in the future.

The service does require a subscription (to cover OnLive’s costs), which amounts to US$9.95 (UK £6.95) per month for unlimited access – and this includes accessing Second Life from your Android Tablet or iPad as well, should you also wish to give it a try (you will need to install the OnLive app on your tablet and, as noted above, you will only be able to run the SL viewer on it for the time being).

A free 7-day trial period is provided for anyone wishing to try the service without obligation, and there is no minimum term once the trial period has ended, so you can cancel your subscription at any time. Once you have signed-up, and to use Firestorm, you’ll need to download the OnLive PC or Mac client.

However, and important point to remember is that SL Go isn’t intended as a replacement for the standard viewer offerings (SL or TPV). If you have a good computer / laptop and can run the viewer to your satisfaction already, then SL Go likely isn’t for you. But, if you are using an old system and are finding SL a struggle, then SL Go may well offer a means for you to increase your enjoyment with the platform until such time as you can update your hardware.

Running Firestorm via SL Go

Running Firestorm via SL Go is a matter of:

  • Launching the OnLive client
  • Then, if you have an OnLive account (rather than just an SL Go account) – clicking My Games at the top of the client window, then selecting SL Go from the left side of the client
  • Selecting Firestorm from the SL Go service screen (see below)
  • Allowing the viewer to load.
SL Go users access the service via PC or Mac now have a choice of viewer: the SL Viewer (SLV, as OnLive refer to it) or Firestorm
SL Go users accessing the service via PC or Mac now have a choice of viewer: the SL Viewer (SLV, as OnLive refer to it) or Firestorm

A point of note here is that the OnLive client runs in a fixed 1280×720 resolution, and presents the viewer in fullscreen mode only. This means that the client is “stretched” or “shrunk” to fit other screen resolutions, and as a result there can be a loss of image quality.

This can be compensated for to some extent by switching the OnLive client to “Windowed” mode (ALT-ENTER for Windows, CMD-F for Mac), and then resizing the window by pointing down into the lower right corner of the window, holding the left mouse button and dragging to the desired size (note that the cursor will not change to a grab handle or anything, so getting it can be a case of trial and error).  The window will retain a 16:9 ratio when being resized in this way, but should hopefully offer some degree of improvement; in the case of my own Asus PC EEE 1201N notebook (1366 x 768 native resolution), it did make things clearer for me.

With the OnLive client running in "Windowed" mode, you can point to and click on the lower right corner of the client window (no grab handles will be displayed) and resize as required - the window will retain a 16:9 ratio
With the OnLive client running in “Windowed” mode, you can point to and click on the lower right corner of the client window (no grab handles will be displayed) and resize as required – the window will retain a 16:9 ratio

Once you’re logged-in to Firestorm, you should find it pretty much as you’d expect to see it on logging-in first the first time following a clean local install. As when running the viewer locally, you can set the buttons you require within the toolbar areas, adjust the font size, tweak Preferences, etc. You’ll find you have almost everything you’d expect to find in Firestorm had you downloaded and installed it: windlight options, Phototools, radar, quick preferences,  Firestorm’s conversations / chat UI, RLV/a and so on.

There are, however a few things apparently “missing”, which are purely down to the fact that the viewer is being run on an OnLive server and streamed to you. Those who have used SL Go before will be familiar with some of this, but again, for completeness here’s a breakdown of what you’ll likely note as “not being there”:

  • The Develop menu, access to debug settings through the Advanced menu, the ability to upload any content (mesh, sounds, animations, images), the ability to use local textures, or to save snapshots to disk – these are all limitations common to both Firestorm and the SL viewer on SL Go
  • There is currently no support within SL Go for 3D mouse devices such as the Space Navigator
  • You cannot save or restore your Firestorm settings; any “local” pickers Firestorm uses will not work; there is no option to set crash reporting  to the Firestorm team.
Firestorm doesn't have the crash reporting tab or backup tab in Preferences among other disbled elements
Firestorm currently doesn’t have the crash reporting tab or backup tab in Preferences, among other disabled elements

Continue reading “Firestorm on SL Go: a closer look” →

Firestorm is (SL) Go – and across multiple grids!

Posted on by Inara Pey

SL go logoImportant note: The SL Go service is to be shut down on April 30th, 2015. For more information, please read this report.

On Tuesday, December 16th, 2014, OnLive, the providers of the Second Life streaming service, SL Go, announced a new addition to the SL Go service: The Firestorm Viewer.

The announcement follows several months of collaboration between the Firestorm Team, lead by Jessica Lyon, and the folk at OnLive, lead by Dennis Harper, the results of which now mean that with immediate effect, SL Go now provides a choice of TWO viewers to subscribers and users:

  • The existing SL viewer – which OnLive are referring to as “SLV” – can be used from any Mac computer, PC, and from Android devices and iPads to access Second Life
  • AND The Firestorm viewer, initially available for Mac computers and PCs, which can be used to access Second Life and OpenSim grids.

SL Go’s pricing options remain the same whichever viewer you opt to use, and you can swap between them at any time you like, should you wish. Simply make your choice from the SL Go selection screen.

SL Go users access the service via PC or Mac now have a choice of viewer: the SL Viewer (SLV, as OnLive refer to it) or Firestorm
SL Go users accessing the service via PC or Mac now have a choice of viewer: the SL Viewer (SLV, as OnLive refer to it) or Firestorm (image via OnLive)

Since its launch in March 2014, which I covered in-depth at the time, the SL Go service has proven to be very popular with people who are using low-end systems which traditionally have problems when trying to run the viewer locally. Because the viewer is streamed from OnLive’s dedicated servers,  it’s the servers that do all the heavy processing, delivering a fast, smooth service to users, thus helping to give a new lease of life to older hardware.

Of course, because SL Go is streamed, it means that – like the SL viewer offered by OnLive – certain functionality within the Firestorm offering has either been removed for security reasons (such as the Develop menu, and no access to debug settings and content cannot be uploaded), or has been disabled (such as the option to save snapshots to a hard drive – as that would effectively mean saving them to the OnLive server).

Firestorm viewer on SL Go from OnLive - click for full-size
Firestorm viewer on SL Go from OnLive (click for full-size)

The big benefit in using Firestorm through SL Go is that – with the noted exceptions due to security issues, etc., – it brings the richness of Second Life’s most popular third-party viewer to those on older systems who have perhaps felt themselves to be increasingly edged out of Second Life, something Firestorm Project Manager Jessica Lyon commented on when discussing the release with me.

“I’m really happy about this,” Jessica said. “For years folk on lower-end systems have seen significant improvements to Second Life, particularly with how the world looks, pass them by because their systems are unable to run them. We’ve even heard from many that they simply cannot use Firestorm or any other viewer and as being pushed out of SL completely.

“This release of Firestorm through OnLive, together with the existing SL viewer, hopefully gives those people a new way to enjoy Second Life. I really hope this works for them!”

I can personally attest to that. In 2010, I purchased an Asus PC EEE 1201N notebook, which has found running a viewer like Firestorm increasingly heavy going. With Firestorm through SL, with all the bells and whistles turned-up, I’m averaging around 60 fps!

Firestorm on SL Go from OnLive: almost 60 fps on a Asus PC EEE 1201N notebook with all the bells and whistles active! (this image replaces an earlier version, after I realised I'd uploaded the wrong screen cap - one with shadows disabled)
Firestorm on SL Go from OnLive: almost 60 fps on a Asus PC EEE 1201N notebook with all the bells and whistles active! (this image replaces an earlier version, after I realised I’d uploaded the wrong screen cap – one with shadows disabled)

That SL Go does bring a new lease of life to older hardware can be seen in the fact that since the launch of the service in March, 2014, the largest take-up among users has been by those using the service through the OnLive PC and Mac clients. But those who want Firestorm on their mobile devices need not fear – it will be coming in 2015.  This is something Jessica is also looking forward to.

“A could of years ago we fooled a great many people with our April Fool’s joke of a Firestorm Mobile client,” Jessica said. “The excitement over the announcement, and the outcry when it turned out to be just and April Fool’s joke, was overwhelming. The great news is – and no joke this time! – that OnLive will be making this capability real very soon!”

And it doesn’t end there. One capability that Firestorm brings to OnLive and SL Go  users is the ability to log into other grids as well as Second Life. The version of the viewer supplied to OnLive is the OpenSim version, which means it is complete with the grid manager and start-up grid selection drop-down, allowing you to log into all your favourite grids – as I did, logging-in to Kitely and Fallingwater at the Seanchai Library.

Use Firestorm on SL Go and any PC / Mac / laptop to access your favourite OpenSim grids (click to enlarge)
Use Firestorm on SL Go and any PC / Mac / laptop to access your favourite OpenSim grids (click to enlarge)

Thus, with a single subscription to OnLive, you gain access to the entire metaverse from any low-end PC or Mac in your home.

“We’re happy to be able to empower SL Go users with more choice. They’ve told us they want a choice of viewers, so offering the popular Firestorm viewer was a natural next step.” said Rick Sanchez, VP of Product and Marketing at OnLive, at the launch of the new offering.

I’ll have a more in-depth look at Firestorm on SL Go available shortly.