The Firestorm team has formally announced the forthcoming blocking of version 4.6.1 of the popular third-party viewer. The move, which is part of Firestorm’s policy of only allowing three active version of their viewer to access Second Life,
The plan is for this block to only affect Second Life, it should not prevent OpenSim users continuing with version 4.6.1 if they so wish. However, at the time this article was written, this was still being tested.
The Firestorm announcement on the blocking reads in full:
In keeping with our three-version rule, we will be applying a block to version 4.6.1 on Friday, February 20th. This block will only apply to logins for Second Life grid; OpenSim grid logins should still work. Versions 4.6.5, 4.6.7 and 4.6.9 will be the only officially supported versions, but we highly encourage all users to be on our latest release of 4.6.9.
Version 4.4.2 is still exempt from the rule due to Mac-specific issues. However, Linden Lab’s statistics from January 21st indicate that there are still around 8,000 people using this ancient, pre-fitted mesh version. Because of the volume of users who cannot see the world properly, it is harder and harder to justify allowing it to remain exempt. We will be blocking it as well before our next release.
If you are using version 4.6.1 please update as soon as possible to avoid problems logging in on the 20th.
Currently, it looks as though the next release for Firestorm should be around the end of March or early April; however, this is not an official date – the viewer is still being worked on. Therefore, eyes should be kept on the Firestorm blog for information on the next release.
Jessica is back with a further Firestorm Tool Tip Tuesday video, this one focusing on the People panel – notably the Nearby tab and mini-map functionality within Firestorm.
The Nearby Tab of the People panel is a quick and easy means of keeping an eye on what is going on around you, and the Firestorm team have, in response to requests for users, added a lot of additional functionality and options to it – so much so that getting to grips with it can be a trifle bewildering.
Jessica offers walk-through of a number of option and settings for the People Panel, including the display options, and how to configure it so that it displays the information you want. As the video indicates, all of what is referred to within the People panel is equally applicable to the Radar panel as well.
The Nearby tab in the People panel (shown here with the mini-map displayed as well), offers a wealth of options to users
An overview of some of the mini-map options follows, noting how these can be linked to options within the People panel.
As the video demonstrates, there is a lot to cover with both panels, so much so that i places the video feels a little rushed (breathe, Jess, breathe! 😉 ), however, this doesn’t detract from the amount of information provided, and if you haven’t plumbed the depths of the People panel / radar, this video offers a great introduction. You can also find more information on the options available through both the Nearby tab on the People panel and the Radar panel by visiting the Firestorm wiki’s Radar page.
Both the UKanDo viewer and Black Dragon saw updates in week #6. Each of the release contain under-the-hood (so to speak) changes, with UKanDo in particular being something of a catch-up release more than anything else, as noted below.
UKanDo 3.7.24
The last UKanDo update was in October 2014, so it’s been something of an extended period between releases for the viewer. However, there is a good reason for this: Connor Monaron, the man behind the viewer has a good reason for this: he’s been off in the United States tying the knot with his SL (and now real life) partner. So the first thing to do here is offer congratulations to Blackrose and Connor.
Obviously, being away and being focused on such a major event in one’s life means that all things viewer naturally take a back seat. As such, the new release of UKanDo, version 3.7.24.28064, released on Wednesday, February 4th, is more about catching-up with all of the recent output from the Lab. This being the case, the release see the viewer gain parity through and up to the following LL releases:
3.7.19.295700 – Monty Linden’s last round of HTTP updates, also for October 2014, which improve texture and mesh data fetching and which offers significantly faster inventory loading
3.7.20.296094 – the GPU removal update and the subsequent 3.7.22.297128 update which fixed an inherent crash issue within the 3.7.20.296094 release
3.7.21.296724 – the winter open-source contributions release from November 2014, providing improved Japanese language input, improved projectors rendering, fixes for object editing when rotating and for an OS X Yosemite full screen crash issue
3.7.23.297296 – the winter maintenance release from December 2014, which included a range of fixes to voice, texture animation, object rendering, privacy, inventory management, etc., and which included fixes to previously released changes in the way joint offsets in rigged meshes are handled
3.7.24.297643 – the Experience Tool viewer (at the time this article was written, the de facto release viewer from LL).
As well as these LL-derived updates, this release also sees UKanDo reach parity through recent RLV updates from Marine Kelley from 2.9.3 through to the latest 2.9.6.6,
So while this release many not offer anything “new” in terms of TPV updates, it does bring the viewer right up to the cutting edge in terms of formal releases from both LL and RLV, which should be more than enough to keep UKanDo users happy.
The latest version of Black Dragon, version 2.4.1.8, was release on Friday, February 6th, and is the latest in a series of nips and tucks to the viewer as Niran continues to integrate code updates from the Lab and also work on refining the UI.
The core update from the Lab with this release is the inclusion of the winter maintenance release code from the Lab’s 3.7.23.297296 release, including the fixes for previously released changes in the way joint offsets in rigged meshes are handled. This means that deformations to an avatar’s shape are more intelligently tracked, and the viewer should be able to correct them without necessarily having to have the attachment causing them removed, or requiring a re-log in order to fix.
The other major update for this release see the Friends List undergo a revision. The accordion tabs separating on-line from off-line friends have been removed, and the Friends list rationalised so that on-line friends appear at the top – their names now in blue – and an duplication of names has been removed.
with the accordion tab removed, and the list sorted so that on-line friends always appear at the top, their names coloured blue, the Friends List in black Dragon 2.4.1.8 (left) is a lot more streamlined than previous versions (right), which also saw on-line friends duplicated between the “Online” and “All” accordion tabs
The release notes also list the following updates / changes:
A possible fix for RLVa detach and re-attach issues via RLVa commands
A possible fix for a crash caused by the connection issues panel when the region becomes invalid
A viewer compile fix
Max VRAM has been changed 1024 Mb in Preferences > Display Settings
Incremental steps for Shadow Blur changed to 0.1 in Preferences > Display Settings
The connection issues panel will no longer briefly appear when logging-in with the viewer
Appearance floater outfit status colour has been changed
Worn items are now listed in italics in the Appearance floater, rather than in bold
Beacon colour has been changed to stream “blue-ish”.
Jessica Lyon was back on Tuesday, February 3rd with another Firestorm Tool Tip Tuesday video, and this one focuses on the use of the Auto-Replace function, and how it might well be more useful than people might appreciate.
As explained in the video, Auto-Replace can be found under Preferences > Chat > Text Input in Firestorm, and generally under chat in other viewer supporting the same Auto-Replace functionality. It is shipped with two lists: Spelling Corrections, which offers corrections for common spelling errors, and Abbreviations (which is the list I actually use and have customised myself).
The Auto-Replace function in Firestorm and the supplied lists
The Abbreviations list converts commonly used abbreviations such as bbl, afk, gtg, etc., into their long-hand equivalents (be back later, away from keyboard, got to go, etc.), just by typing-in the abbreviation followed by a space.
So far so good, nothing especially exciting there. But did you know, using Auto-Replace you can:
Create a custom greeting you can use when working as a greeter or host, or simply on meeting people?
Combine abbreviation entries to create statements?
Use abbreviations to display SLurls and URLs in chat without having to type them long-hand?
Export / import your lists so you can share them with friends or easily copy them between the computers you use with SL?
If you didn’t – then this video is certainly for you, as Jessica reveals all!
Note that you can use Auto-Replace like this in any viewer that supports the same Auto-Replace functionality as found in Firestorm, including the official SL viewer.
Firestorm is renowned not only for being Second Life’s most popular viewer, but also for the degree of end-user support provided by the viewer team. With multiple language support groups, in-world classes, a wiki, an in-world support regions, and so on, Firestorm offer users a broad range of support options.
On Tuesday, January 27th, Firestorm added to all of this with a new feature on their You Tube channel, entitled “Tool Tip Tuesday”. In launching the feature, Firestorm Project Manager Jessica lyon describes it thus:
Firestorm has so many features and functions most folks don’t even know about that we decided to do a series of short videos showcasing a hidden or lesser-known feature once a week.
The first of the new videos is just over six minutes in length and provides tips on getting more out of the camera, and short cuts which may help make using the camera easier. The tips include:
Use of the SHIFT and the CTRL/CMD keys with the mouse scroll wheel (if you have one!) to assist in camera movement / placement
Keyboard options to help with camera placement (e.g. CTRL-0, etc.)
Use of the main camera floaters (default and Phototools)
Saving and loading a sorted camera position (which may not be quite what you think it is!).
So why not take a look at the first video in the series and keep a note of Tip Tool Tuesday? Even if you don’t use Firestorm, you may be surprised by what you find.
Nicky Perian and the Kokua team announced the release of version 3.7.24.35047 on Tuesday, January 20th.
This updates primarily focuses on code merges with the more recent Linden Lab code base updates, and changes to the viewer’s RLV support.
The Linden code base updates mean that Kokua is up-to-date with the the following updates from the Lab:
Release 3.7.21 – Snowstorm Fall Contributions – Japanese input; improved rendering of projectors; fixes for object editing bug when rotating and for crash on exit on OS X Yosemite in full screen mode, etc.
Release 3.7.23 – Maintenance release – bugfixes and improvements to many areas of SL and fixes to previously released changes in the way we handle joint offsets in rigged meshes
Release 3.7.24 – HTTP Pipelining enhancements – reduced pipelined texture and mesh fetching timeout so that stalled connections fail quickly allowing earlier retry. Timeout value changed from 150 seconds to 60 seconds
RLVa to RLV Update
This release sees Kokua pivot away from the use of RLVa viewer code for RLV support and to using Marine Kelley’s own RLV support, as presented through her Restrained Love Viewer. Due to unavoidable events, RLV/a has fallen somewhat behind support for the more recent RLV features, and as Marine tracks the Lab’s releases through her own viewer, this switch should make RLV-related maintenance easier for the Kokua team.
As a result of this change, a clean install of Kokua is recommended, the blog post accompanying the release noting:
[The] Recommendation for a clean install is because of the different settings presented by having RLV versus RLVa in the last Kokua release … If you do not clean install you may experience a notification at viewer start about restarting to change RLV mode because the default is set to RLV off and settings in your local setting file is RLV on. You will need select off/on once more in order to sync the on/off selection. This can be avoided with a clean install.
The default behaviour for RLV is that it will not be present (i.e. it must be enabled via the Advanced menu).
Additional Bug Fixes
In addition, the Kokua team have included the fixes for the following issues:
Opensim variable size region mini-map shows the base 256×256 region only Ticket #276
Move view floater does not persist at relog Ticket #286, resolved at Ticket #318
The Firestorm team has formally announced the forthcoming blocking of version 4.6.1 of the popular third-party viewer. The move, which is part of Firestorm’s policy of only allowing three active version of their viewer to access Second Life,
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 