Trinity Dejavu of the Catznip viewer team provided me with a brief update on things relating to the viewer. The team have been working on the next release of Catznip (R9), and are already starting to look beyond it to future versions.
“We’re starting our beta test programme for R9 and beyond,” she told me on Thursday April 3rd, “And we’re going to move to a release often and early policy rather than a HUGE update once a blue moon.”
Catznip R9 has been in development for some time and is approaching a point where it will be released in the near future. With R8 having been released in July 2013, the news of a more rapid release cycle is going to be good news for Catznip users.
Catznip runs both alpha and beta testing programmes, and details of both can be found on the Catznip wiki. However, in short:
The alpha group is to test very early versions of the viewer, and membership is by invitation only
The beta programme is not designed as an early means of gaining access to the viewer. Like alpha versions of the viewer, betas of Catznip are also liable to be incomplete, may have stability issues and will not be suitable for use as a primary viewer.
Those wishing to join the beta programme must be willing to comply with the following:
Use Catznip as their primary viewer
Be willing to undertake extensive (and repeated testing) of the viewer and viewer features
Have an account on the Catznip JIRA and be able submit reports
Be willing to allow the viewer to submit detailed crash reports to Catznip (see the team’s privacy policy)
Be willing to accept forced updates and have personal settings wiped
Preferably have a dual-boot Windows / Linux system and know what GDB is.
Instructions on how to sign-up as a Catznip beta tester can also be found on the Catznip wiki.
In reference to the next release (R9), the Catnip wiki states:
Catznip R9 is mostly feature complete, there are a couple of little bits we really want to get in if we can … The OSX version may be slightly delayed … cross your fingers.
Catznip R9 will have materials, new particles and fitted mesh from Linden Lab.
The major delay in getting the release prepped and out has been down to CHUI (LL’s Communications Hub User Interface), which had a number of unexpected impacts on viewer performance. As a result, Catznip have implemented a new chat interface, which they describe as:
Using a mixture of R8 and the best CHUI elements. The new chat interface is fast and tight with all the bells and whistles you expect (and maybe .. a few brand new ones).
There is currently no release date for the R9 version, but I’ll hopefully carry a review when it is launched.
On April 1st, the Firestorm team released and April Fools video in the spirit of their 2013 “Firestorm Mobile” hoax.
As fun it was, there was a secret within the joke which many – including me – missed at the first watching of the video, largely because we didn’t follow the suggestion and manually type the URL at the end of the video into a web browser.
For those who may have missed things, and to provide a frame of reference, I’m including the video in this post as well.
Jessica Lyon contacted me just after I’d published a post on the Firestorm and Catznip April Fools and gave me a proper “Gotcha!” So, having taken the time to stay quiet on the matter, as Jessica requested (and in order to go wipe the egg from my face!), I’m here to say, as many Firestorm users have been poking me about over the last 24-hours, that the Firestorm Dynamic User Interface isn’t a joke. It’s here. I’m using it. What’s more the Firestorm team have now blogged to confirm it.
The viewer,Firestorm 4.6.1.40484 is available for download for Windows only, and will run on both Second Life and OpenSim.
It really isn’t an April Fools – Firestorm 4.6.1.40484 really does allow you to move some floaters outside of the viewer window!
Now, the viewer – as Jessica and the team wish to express loud and clear – isn’t the finished article. It’s currently experimental, and as such, subject to unpredictable behaviour. It is not recommended for use as a primary viewer.
There are also some other points to note:
Not all of the floaters in the viewer may be capable of being pulled out of the viewer window. Those that can appear to float “above” the viewer window, rather than “in” it
Not all of thefloaters work smoothly at this time, and may be subject to jumping and / or, flickering, and options on menus associated with them may not be accessible as a result. There may be other issues, such as:
You cannot drag / drop items from the Inventory floater in-world
Conversations in the communications floater tabs may not scroll soothly
Floaters outside of the viewer window cannot be resizedYou cannot resize those floaters which can be moved outside of the viewer window
Torn-off menus cannot as yet be floated
The conversations floater can be pulled out of the viewer – but if you detach a specific IM tab, it will bounce back into the viewer window and cannot currently be dragged back out
Discussing the viewer with me after pointing out I’d been had with the April Fools video, Jessica said:
The intention is that we want to release this code in the hopes that ALL open-source developers out there, TPVs included, will pick it up. fix it, improve it, expand its capability and most importantly SHARE it with one another. It is my hope that this may become a catalyst to renew interest in viewer development among inactive developers and that ultimately this will open a whole new realm of possibilities for SL viewer technology moving forward.
We will not be assigning the gentleman’s agreement on this… it’s too important to make this about credit. I don’t care who releases it first as long as the code is shared equally. We will also work on improving it, but I think this should be a community effort.
Having detachable floaters like this has been one of the Holy Grails for the SL viewer, and has long, and oft been requested. However, the Lab has generally taken the view that to get something like this working would take a considerable amount of effort. The Firestorm’s team work is therefore very much pre-proof-of-concept, as their blog post on the matter indicates:
Firestorm DUI is little more than a very early proof of concept that a dynamic user interface is in fact possible with Virtual World viewers … our very own Nicky Dasmijn managed to come up with this in a relatively short amount of time, and we hope that it will translate to this functionality being available in a reasonable amount of time …
So, if you haven’t already taken it for a test-drive, and remembering the Firestorm DUI isn’t a release, and there may be issues with using it, and that it is not supported by Firestorm at this point in time. So again, when using it, please do notuse it as your primary viewer.
Please don’t report any issues with the viewer here; I’m not a part of the Firestorm team, and cannot help you. As mentioned above, the DUI viewer is currently unsupported!
On Friday March 28th, the Kokua viewer updated to version 3.7.4.32111. This sees the viewer come to parity with the SL viewer code releases through to 3.7.4.
This means that Kokua now has:
FmodEx updates (SL viewer 3.7.4.288138)
The most recent MAINT fixes (SL viewer 3.7.3.287491)
The HTTP updates (SL viewer 3.7.2.286707)
In addition, the viewer includes a number of TPV code additions. Note that attributions are given where known.
Avatar Shape Import
You an import previously saved shapes (XML) via the Edit Shape floater
This option, from Firestorm, allows you to import an .XML avatar shape from your computer to your inventory.
Shapes are imported via the Import button on the Edit Shape floater.This opens a file picker window, allowing you to navigate to the folder in which the required shape has been saved, and then import it into Kokua.
When importing a shape, please note that it will replace the existing parameters for the shape you are currently wearing, and will be saved on exiting Edit Shape.
If you wish to retain the original shape, make sure you use the Save As button at the bottom of the floater, opposite the Import button, before you import a shape.
If you do forget to save your original shape to a new file name before importing a shape and replacing it, you can use Undo Changes to revert to your original shape. You can then use Save As to create a copy of it in your inventory, prior to re-importing your new shape.
Note that shapes you create can be exported to XML via the Develop menu (Ctrl-Alt-Q) > Avatar > Character Tests > Appearance to XML.
Attachment Inventory Edit
This is a popular TPV capability by Kitty Barnett.
Got a small attachment embedded in your avatar, or which you’ve dropped rather than detached, and cannot find? Go to your inventory, locate the object, right-click on it and select Edit. The edit crosshairs will be displayed over the object, allowing you to reclaim or reposition it.
Other Items of Note
Restore items to last position (from Firestorm): if you return an object to inventory by mistake, or delete it from in-world, subject to region permissions, you can now restore it to its last known position by locating it in inventory (use the Restore Item option if it is in your trash can) and then right-clicking on it and selecting Restore to Last Position. Again, note that this will only work if you have rezzing permissions at location 0,0,0 in the region
Maximum Frames per Second (MaxFPS) debug setting (from Firestorm): sets a maximum threshold for viewer frame rates to ease loads on GPUs and reduces the amount of viewer / server traffic. A value of -1.0 sets MaxFPS to off. As a rule, the human eye cannot discern differences in refresh rates above 60 fps
A number of defaults have been altered: Draw Distance Range is now 0 -1024 metres for all slider locations; Object Mesh Detail maximum is increased from 4 to 8; Limit Select Distance is off; Disable Camera Constraints is on; the left toolbar button area is set to align buttons at the bottom
The Advanced Build Constraints menu entry is removed and the debug entry is defaulted on due to conflicts and duplications between the Build constraints code and limit overrides set by server-side awareness of Aurora code
OpenSim legacy search fixed so that searches which fail to yield a result advance to “Not Found” rather than remaining at “Searching”
Crash logging is on but, reports are not being sent. This will allow more detailed crash reports that users may attach to issue tracker reports.
Another compact update for Kokua helping it to maintain parity with emerging SL viewer capabilities and feature while at the same time absorbing several more useful TPV viewer capabilities.
As noted in part 2 of my week projects update, the Hotfix RC viewer was updated to version 3.7.4.288138 on March 18th
Two new RC viewers entered the channel during the week in the form of:
The latest iteration of the Google Breakpad RC, version 3.7.4.288045, on March 17th
The StatTest RC, version 3.7.4.288282, on March 20th
Neither of the latter two include functional changes compared to the current release version of the viewer (3.7.3.287491).
Because the arrival of the Google Breakpad viewer and the StatTest viewer pushed the total number of RCs in the release channel to seven, the Project Interesting RC viewer (3.7.3.287127), the SL Voice RC viewer (3.7.3.287288) and the Sunshine / AIS v3 RC viewer (3.7.3.287158) have been temporarily withdrawn from the release channel (all were incidentally due a rebuild anyway).
Both of the latter two RCs will be returning to the release channel, most likely in updated versions, once the total number of RCs currently in the channel has been reduced.
On Saturday March15th 2014, the Firestorm team hosted a meeting and Q and A session to discuss the recent 4.6.1 release, provide updates on a number of issues, and answer audience questions.
While the meeting was recorded, the Firestorm team are aware that many of their users have hearing difficulties, and / or prefer to read text, so this transcript has been supplied on their behalf.
When reading, please remember:
This is not a word-for-word transcript of the entire meeting. While all quotes given are as they are spoken in the video, to assist in readability and maintain the flow of conversation, not all asides, jokes, interruptions, etc., have been included in the text presented here
In the interests of readability, topics in the transcript are not necessarily presented chronologically compared to the video. For example: questions asked during the various updates, etc., are presented in the Q and A section of the transcript, rather than at the point at which they were asked (unless directly relevant to the topic being discussed). Similarly, topics of discussion which came up during the Q and A session, but which were not tied to specific questions, have been placed under their own subject heading outside of the Q and A section
If there are any sizeable gaps in comments from a speaker which resulted from asides, repetition, questions to others etc,, these are indicated by the use of “…”
Timestamps are provided as guidance should anyone wish to hear the comments in full from any speaker on the video
Questions /comments were made in chat while speakers were talking. This inevitably meant that replies to questions would lag well behind when they were originally asked. To provide context between questions and answers, questions in the transcript are given (in italics) at the point at which each is addressed by a member of the Firestorm team, either in voice or via chat.
Please note: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. I am not an official member of the Firestorm team, and technical or support issues relating to Firestorm cannot easily be addressed through these pages. Such requests for assistance should be made through the in-world Firestorm Support groups or at the Firestorm support region.
The TL;DR Summary
The following is a brief summary of topics discussed. Timestamps in braces refer to times in the video where the relevant commentary can be heard. All sections are expanded upon in the main transcript – click on the timestamp to go to them.
[0:0015] viewers are often subject to flase flagging by anti-virus programs as carrying a potential virus / Trojan. With the Firestorm 4.6.1, Norton anti-virus in particular had issues with viewer, prompting a positive response from Norton’s support
[0:14:32] Mac issues update: work is being done on some Mac issues within the Lab, but there is no major project to address problems some users are having. Firestorm are somewhat stymied in dealing with issues due to both a lack of developers / developers with free time and because some of the issues are beyond their ability to resolve
[0:31:00] Windows XP officially reaches its end-of-life on Aprial 8th, 2014. What does this mean for users on XP using Firestorm?
[0:38:25] Even running a 32-bit viewer on a 64-bit OS yields stability improvements, although if you have a 64-bit version available, it’s obviously preferable to use that on a 64-bit OS
[0:57:40] Firestorm are often critiqued on the frequency of releases. The team are moving to imporve things to a 3-monthly cycle, and there are reasons why a more frequent cycle may not be feasible
[1:21:05] It remains that Firestorm will not offer nightly or weekly builds, because there are significant support issues
[1:27:32] The team already try to release based on feature sets, however, a time-based cycle offers potentially better management of releases in keeping with the needs of the developers, QA and support
[1:35:21] The target will therefore be a 3-monthly cycle of major releases, with possible interim releases with bug fixes or for special features, such as might be the case with the group ban functionality
[1:58:53] With a target of a 3-monthly release cycle, it is probable that the next 2-3 releases are going to be primarily focused on incorporating features and capabilities coming out of the Lab, simply because there are so many of them: group bans, SSA updates, AIS v3, interest list, voice updates, etc.
[2:01:55] The new download server has performed admirably with not craches or other issues.
[1:55:40] Firestorm classes – with a new release just out, don’t forget there are Firestorm classes which cover all the new features, including things like the updated Contact Sets
Questions and Answers: including information on clean installs / re-installs; using settings back-ups; troubleshhoting issues; the status of voice improvements; why group limits are unlikely to increase in the near future; helping Firestorm support, etc.
Update: Shortly after release, Jessica Lyon dropped me a note to say the Vivox files didn’t actually make it to the release, but will now be made available via a separate download.
On Wednesday March 12th, the Firestorm team released Firestorm 4.6.1.40478, bringing with it a lot of features, fixes, updates and enhancements.
The complete list of changes, together with attributions, can be found in the release notes, and I refer readers to that document for specifics on contributors, FIRE JIRA, etc. The following is intended as an overview of some of the more major / interesting changes to be found in the release.
The first thing to note with this release is that it is, with the exception of the Linux 64-bit version (which is beta), a full release, not a beta or alpha or anything else.
So, if you’ve been avoiding trying 4.5.1 because it was a beta release, now is the time to consider updating. Do make sure when doing so that you take a look at the Firestorm 4.5.1 release notes, which provide a lot of information on that release as well which will of benefit to you as you gain familiarity with 4.6.1. You can also read my review of the 4.5.1 release here.
Downloading – a Reminder
This will be the first release of Firestorm following changes at Google forcing Firestorm to discontinue using Google’s download service (see the Download Server section of my Feb 15th FS meeting transcript for an explanation). This means that all Firestorm downloads starting with this release are via the team’s own download server.
As this is the only server the team has at their disposal for downloading the viewer, you may experience some delay / issues when attempting to download the viewer due to the volume of downloads the server is handling, particularly during the period following the release announcement. Should this occur, the Firestorm team request a little patience, and if you can, to consider re-trying a little later.
Installation
As always, a completely clean install of the viewer is recommended.
Windows 64-bit Installer
Those who have previously installed the windows 64-bit version will be aware that the installer could be painfully slow. With this release, the Windows 64-bit installer has been overhauled, and should be appreciably faster, and also includes some additional tweaks:
Added estimated installation size (200 MB)
Add/Remove panel icon (shared with 32bit installer for simplicity)
Added website URLs (shown in the bottom section of the Add/Remove panel)
Viewer and Installer Blocks
The release of 4.6.1 means that all versions of Firestorm prior to 4.4.2 will be blocked from accessing Second Life in around a week’s time. Additionally, and in reference to the Windows version of Firestorm, note that:
The 32-bit installer blocks the installation on any Windows operating system below Vista, except for 32-bit Windows XP with Service Pack 3
the 64-bit installer blocks the installation on Windows 64 bit on versions older than Windows XP with Service Pack 2.
Updates from the Lab
This release brings Firestorm to parity with many of the Lab’s more recent updates, highlights of which include:
Code parity with Linden Lab’s 3.7.2 code base
Fitted mesh support – for those unfamiliar with Fitted Mesh, I have an overview here
Temporary attachments no longer get removed improperly
… and more
Request Teleport
The Request for Teleport option (show from the People floater) and request.
A feature contributed to the SL viewer by Jonathan Yap, Request Teleport allows users to pass a request to others asking that they be teleported to their location.
I covered the capability when it first appeared in an SL project viewer in September 2013, so in brief:
Select the person to whom you wish to teleport (from your Friends list or Nearby list, etc.), and select Request Teleport
Enter a message in the pop-up, if required, and click OK.
At the “other end”, the recipient of the request will receive the request and can either accept the request, sending a teleport offer, or reject it, in which case no message is sent
If the request is accepted, the sender see the usual teleport offer pop-up.
Note that Request Teleport is not a replacement for Firestorm’s “teleport to” capability, which remains unchanged.
SL Share and Facebook
The four tabs of the SLShare floater (as seen on the SL viewer), which allow those who want to share their SL times via their Facebook account
SL Share is a means by which those who have no issue with linking their SL account with their Facebook account can do so and send messages, photos, etc. to their Facebook account.
This was a feature released by Linden Lab again in September 2013, and I provided an overview at that time. however, it is probably worth repeating a couple of core points:
The feature is opt-in, and available to those who have no problem linking their SL identity with that of their Facebook identity
It has proven very popular among many users who have no problems doing so
It’s not about the “Facebookisation” of Second Life or trying to “make” SL users also use Facebook.
Region Restart Updates
The region restart updates comprise two main elements:
The new on-screen region restart warning, accompanied by a sound and camera shake
A new region restart warning notification, which is displayed in the centre of the viewer window every minute, on the minute, for the last five minutes prior to the region restarting, and which includes a countdown (in seconds) until the regions restarts
A camera-shaking warning which occurs every minute, on the minute for the last five minutes prior to the region restarting, causing the world view to shake., and which is accompanied by a region restart sound.
Note that both the new format notification and the camera shaking can be disabled / enabled as follows:
New region restart notification: Preferences > User Interface > Toasts > Use new region restart notification
Camera shaking: Preferences > User Interface > Toasts > Don’t shake my screen when region restart alert message is shown.
In addition, teleports to regions which are in the final 60 seconds before a restart will be prevented and the viewer will display a message in the format: “The region you’re trying to enter is about to shut down”.
Phototools
Phototools is updated to version 1.2, bringing with it a lot of enhancements, including:
An option to enable / disable screen space reflections (when shadows options are enabled)
The removal of legacy specular highlight and camera aspect ratio controls
Additional sliders/spinners and controls for RenderShadowBias, RedershadowBiasError, CameraMaxCoF, FSRenderShadowSplitExponentY, FSRenderShadowGaussianX, FSRenderSSAOEffect and FSRenderShadowGaussianY
Increased editable value ranges for many spinners allowing greater control
Numerous other updates and amendments.
Details on the Phototools floater can be found here.
In addition, William Weaver, who first developed Phototools, has produced a series of video tutorials on using the floaters, the latest of which is provided below, which also looks at some of the most recent updates:
Contact Sets
Contact Sets, which allows Firestorm users to group their friends / contacts into groups or categories (friends, business contacts, members of s specific RP group, etc.), has been completely revised with this latest release of Firestorm.
Contact Sets now form an additional tab in the Conversations / Contacts floater, and as well as the familiar means of accessing it (via the Contact Sets toolbar button, or by Comm > Contact Sets or by pressing CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-C), it can now be displayed by any of the following methods, and then clicking on the Contact Sets tab:
Via Comm > Conversations / CTRL-T or via the Conversations toolbar button
Via Comm > Contacts / CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-F
Via Comm > Friends / CTRL-SHFT-F or via the People / Friends toolbar button
Contact Sets is now integrated into the Conversations – Contacts floater (image courtesy of the Firestorm team)
The new layout is tidier and more integrated into the Firestorm UI, although a couple of options – such as the Rolodex functionality – are no longer present. New buttons provide a more intuitive approach to managing Contact Sets, and include the able to display friends and contacts using their Display Names or even set your own aliases for them (only visible in your Contacts Sets tab).
An overview and instructions on using the new Contact Sets can be found here.
Trinity Dejavu of the Catznip viewer team provided me with a brief update on things relating to the viewer. The team have been working on the next release of Catznip (R9), and are already starting to look beyond it to future versions.
