Letter Ponnier, one of the core support staff on the Firestorm viewer, runs her own blog, which often focuses on Second Life, the user’s experience and more. Obviously, as a member of the Firestorm team, many of her posts are Firestorm-centric – but this doesn’t make them any less a worthwhile read. When it comes to understanding SL and the viewer in general, Letter has much to say that is very much worth taking the time to read.
In a recent post, she covered The Three Hours That Can Change Your Second Life. As many know, the Firestorm team run regular classes throughout the week focusing on many aspects of Firestorm and getting to grips with it. In her blog post, Lette points to four lessons the team run, three of which could lead to anyone, regardless of their viewer preference, to enjoy their SL experience a lot more and gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the viewer and Second Life.
These classes are:
Preferences 2 – covering the Graphics and Network & cache tabs – which is definitely of use to anyone using SL, regardless of viewer
Lag – a mini-class which explains the major types of lag and dispels many of the myths surrounding lag – once again useful for anyone who has ever felt their SL is suffering as a result of “lag”
Basic Troubleshooting – which may be useful to anyone who experiences issues and problem, again regardless of their viewer
Reporting Bugs, Requesting Features – which is more Firestorm-centric, but can still be useful for those using any viewer which has a JIRA-based bug reporting system.
Details on when these lessons are held can be found on the Firestorm wiki.
As well as the blog post, which provides an overview of each of the classes, Lette has provided an audio recording for those who can multi-task and wish to listen while doing over things. You can find the recording at Vocaroo.
If you are at all interested in making your SL experience more enjoyable and / or in getting to grips with your viewer, I recommend three things – take a read of Lette’s post or listen to the audio, read Lette’s blog (you’ll also find a link in my blogroll, right), and try popping along to the Firestorm lessons.
On Saturday 14th September 2013, the Firestorm team hosted another informal question-and-answer session. While the meeting was recorded, the Firestorm team are aware that many of their users have hearing difficulties, and / or prefer to read text. It is because of this that this transcript has been provided. When reading it, 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
If there are any sizeable gaps in comments from a speaker which resulted from asides, questions to other 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 were asked in chat while speakers were talking. This inevitably meant that replies to questions would lag well behind when they were originally asked. Therefore, to provide context between questions and answers, questions in the transcript are time stamped at the point at which each is addressed by a member of the Firestorm team
Some questions were asked and answered purely in text. These have been excluded for one of two reasons. Either a) they lacked context with the voice conversation, or b) the seating arrangements in the auditorium meant there were some questions or answers which didn’t appear in my local chat window.
Please note: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. As such, questions on technical issues relating to Firestorm and / or project-specific questions cannot be answered here unless one of the Firestorm team drops by.
June 2013 saw Second Life celebrate its tenth anniversary as a publicly accessible grid. Now September marks the anniversary of SL’s (and OpenSim’s?) most popular viewer as Firestorm turns three.
Anyone who takes time out of their lives to sit down and work on a viewer, providing code and capabilities to enhance our times in-world, and the support so often needed by users, is an unsung hero of Second Life and virtual worlds. It’s no easy task, as I’m sure everyone at Firestorm and other TPVs – even at the Lab – can attest; get one thing wrong and you’re liable to get chased up the nearest tree by a group of users who, if not actively bearing pitchforks, tend to have pretty barbed tongues!
In this, it’s easy to forget that every TPV, including Firestorm, is built, maintained and managed by volunteers. They don’t get paid for their efforts; they don’t consider themselves to have any better grasp of Second Life and virtual worlds than the rest of us – they, like most people, just want to have fun and at the same time they want to make SL more fun for the rest of us. I think that sometimes, in calling for this feature or that feature in a viewer and then getting the hump when it doesn’t appear, we all lose sight of that simple fact.
Join the Party!
So it’s good when an opportunity comes around which lets us celebrate the work that goes into a viewer to take the time to say “thank you” to the folks behind the work. Firestorm users will have just such an opportunity to do so on Tuesday September 3rd, as the Firestorm team throw a Firestorm Third Birthday party at the Phoenix Firestorm support island. The kick-off time is 13:00 SLT, and there is an open invitation from the team to their users to come along and join the fun (well, region limits allowing!).
If you do want to attend, please keep in mind:
It is only the one region, so headcount will be limited. Sadly, with over 200,000 users, the team can’t host a party for everyone. However, people are liable to be coming and going throughout the celebrations, so if you don’t get in the first time – keep trying
As the party is liable to be very popular, please go along as script-light as possible; it’ll help the region, it’ll help others and it’ll help you. Detach anything you can do without when dancing / chatting – HUDs, scripted attachments, etc.
The Firestorm Kustom Kitty and a Special Pendant
To further mark Firestorm’s third birthday, Jessica and the team have joined forces with KittyCatS to develop a special, limited edition non-breedable custom Firestorm Kitty. The offer is limited to one per avatar, and the kitties are No Transfer. The kitty is fully functional & rumoured to be the cat that dined on the Phoenix. Whether this is true our not, the folks at Firestorm aren’t saying!
The collectables will be available from 09:00 SLT on September 3rd through until 09:00 SLT on September 10th, via vendors in the following locations:
Note that If demand is high, you may experience delivery problems. If a vendor faisl to deliver, please follow these instructions to initiate a re-delivery.
In addition, Zuri Rayna has produced a beautiful limited edition Firestorm 3rd anniversary pendant. This is available from the Phoenix Firestorm Support island until midnight SLT on the 3rd September – and it is stunning!
So Happy Birthday, Firestorm, and many thanks to Jessica, Ed and the rest of the developers, testers, helpers and the support volunteers at Firestorm. Here’s to many more birthdays and celebrations!
On Saturday 10th August, 2013, the Firestorm team hosted a question-and-answer session so they could outline the current status of the Firestorm viewer, the issues the team are facing, and outline plans for the future, as well as address questions from the audience.
While the meeting was recorded, the Firestorm team are aware that many of their users have hearing difficulties, and / or prefer to read text. It is because of this that this transcript has been provided. When reading it, 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
If there are any sizeable gaps in comments from a speaker which resulted from asides, questions to other 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 were asked in chat while speakers were talking. This inevitably meant that replies to questions would lag well behind when they were originally asked. Therefore, to provide context between questions and answers, questions in the transcript are time stamped at the point at which each is addressed by a member of the Firestorm team
Some questions were asked and answered purely in text. These have been excluded for one of two reasons. Either a) they lacked context with the voice conversation, or b) the seating arrangements in the auditorium meant there were some questions or answers which didn’t appear in my local chat window.
Please note: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. As such, questions on technical issues relating to Firestorm and / or project-specific questions cannot be answered here unless one of the Firestorm team drops by.
Update July 2nd: version 4.4.2 has been released by the Firestorm team, and Firestorm 4.4.1 has been blocked from accessing Second Life. If you have previously installed Firestorm 4.4.1, you can install 4.4.2 without needing a clean install. If you are updating from Firestorm 4.4.0 or earlier, a clean install is strongly recommended. The downloads can be found on the Firstorm website.
Firestorm 4.4.1 was release on June 27th. However, it will shortly be superseded with Firestorm 4.4.2.
The reason for this is explained in a new Firestorm blog post, but the short version is that due to a slight mishap, some additional logging capabilities which had been enabled during the beta release of 4.4.1 and which were intended to help Linden Lab gather information for the forthcoming release of Server-side Baking / Appearance were not removed from the viewer when it moved to release status.
As a result, the system the Lab uses to gether data on viewers is now being completely overwhelmed by the amount of data Firestorm 4.4.1 is sending to it. Although it has taken a few days for the problem to be identified and the Firestorm tem notified, the result is that they are now taking some emergency corrective action:
With immeidate effect, version 4.4.1.34164 of Firestorm has been removed from the Firrestorm download page
A new version for Firestorm is being prepared for release. This version – 4.4.2 – will be no different to 4.4.1 other than the removal of the additional statistics logging code
When the new version is released, and to ensure the LL service is no longer inundated with excess data, Firestorm release 4.4.1.34164 will be blocked from accessing Second Life.
It is therefore essential for everyone who has updated to Firestorm 4.4.1 keep an eye on the Firestorm blog an update to Firestorm 4.4.2 when it becomes available. This should not require a clean install (as was the case with 4.4.1) – but please double-check with any associated blog post which is forthcoming when the release is made.
Again, it is essential that all users of Firestorm 4.4.1 update to Firestorm 4.4.2 as soon as it becomes available.
Update July 2nd: version 4.4.2 has been released by the Firestorm team, and Firestorm 4.4.1 has been blocked from accessing Second Life. If you have previously installed Firestorm 4.4.1, you can install 4.4.2 without needing a clean install. If you are updating from Firestorm 4.4.0 or earlier, a clean install is strongly recommended. The downloads can be found on the Firstorm website.
Firestorm 4.4.1(.34164) arrived as a release on Thursday June 27th. This is another major update to SL’s most widely used TPV, and one which all Firestorm users should update to sooner rather than later.
The reason for this latter comment is one which should be familiar to anyone who regularly reads this blog – Server-side Baking / Appearance (SSB/A) is a-coming.
Subject to final confirmation, the Lab plans to start deployment of the server-end of the capability on July 9th, and while it might take a while to encompass the entire grid, it will mean that anyone using a pre-4.4.0 version of Firestorm is going to start seeing increasing numbers of grey avatars around them as they travel the grid and (quite likely) finding themselves being told they are a cloud when seen by others.
Updating sooner rather than later will also greatly assist those volunteers who give up copious amounts of time to help with the in-world Firestorm Support groups. Right now, the Firestorm team estimate more than 77,000 users are still running versions of Firestorm older than 4.4.0, and thus have no SSB/A capabilities. It’s going to be impossible to supply all of these users with support and advice if they all leave updating their viewer until the 9th July or later – so please, if you are reading this review and you are using a version of Firestorm older than 4.4.0, consider updating now.
Doing so means that should you need to contact the Firestorm support team directly, because you are encountering problems and cannot find help through the Firestorm wiki or the troubleshooting index, you’ll be far more likely to receive a timely response to your request for assistance.
Even those who have updated to 4.4.0 should make the move to 4.4.1, as it includes the very latest updates and fixes for the SSB/A code from LL. Outside of SSB/A, release 4.4.1.34164 offers a number of important fixes for 4.4.0, and so it’s again important for 4.4.0 users to step up to 4.4.1 to gain these benefits.
As always, there is a lot to cover in a Firestorm release, so I’m not going to plough through everything here – the official change log provides a breakdown of all updates and fixes. Instead, this review focuses on what I regard as the key updates / changes. As always, credits for the various updates and contributions to Firestorm which are mentioned here can be found in the release change log – again, please check them there.
What is NOT in this Release
I’m actually going to start with what is not in the 4.4.1 release. It does not include the following major updates from the Lab:
The Communications Hub User Interface
Materials Processing
The reasons for this are simple. For one thing, the Firestorm team have been largely focused on fixing issues and problems with Firestorm and on getting the viewer ready for the SSB/A release. This left them with little time to get changes resulting from the CHUI release by LL integrated into the viewer, although considerable work has been carried out in refactoring the code.
Similarly, there is no Materials Processing capability included with this release. This is in part because the Lab themselves have only recently moved the materials code to a release status (and it still has a number of very visible bugs associated with it), but mostly because changes made to the viewer as a result of the introduction of CHUI affect files which are also changed by the materials project. It is therefore important that the Firestorm team implement the changes in the same order – changes as a result of CHUI first, then the materials changes.
So those wanting to use materials in Firestorm are, unfortunately, going to have to wait a while longer.
New Features and Improvements from the Lab
Note these also include work by the Firestorm team arising from LL-development viewer updates.
“Missing prims fix” – MAINT-2647 / BUG-2116 / FIRE-8950 – this should hopefully resolve the majority of issues around prims / linksets failing to render in the viewer until an action such as right-clicking on them or toggling atmospheric shaders off / on is taken
Merge up to 3.4.5 codebase plus cherry picked fixes plus server-side appearance support improvements
Major under the hood refactoring in preparation for the CHUI merge
Added RegionHandshakeReply flags for Server-side Appearance – a fix for the SUN-74 issue.
Snapshots Fixes
Firestorm 4.1.1 includes an interim fix for the issue of black rectangles appearing in snapshots taken at very high resolutions. Note that this fix is not the recently released additional fixes arising from MAINT-628 made by Linden Lab. These fixes will be included in an upcoming release of Firestorm, and so the current fix should be considered interim.
Communications Updates
Radar can now be accessed via its own button / menu option / floater for those who prefer not to access it via the People floater. The new button can be selected from the Toolbar Buttons floater, which will open the new Radar floater. Additionally, Radar can be accessed via World > Radar from the menus.
The new Radar floater (left) and optional Toolbar button, compared to Radar as it appears in the Nearby tab of the People floater
The Radar retains all functions found when displaying it in the Nearby People floater, including the ability to display the mini-map within it.
The Payment icons on the Radar / Nearby People floaters have also been updated: $ indicates the user has Payment Information on File; $$ indicates Payment Information Used.
For those who use the Friends list (Comm > Friends or CTRL-SHIFT-F), highlighting a person’s name in the list and then tapping ENTER will start an IM conversation with that person (no need to click the IM button).
For those who use Growl, dialogue messages and inventory received from object messages are now displayed with Growl. In addition, all Growl preferences check boxes will only be enabled if Growl is installed on the user’s system.
Navigation Updates
Map beacon ranges now show the distance from the avatar, not the camera
Firestorm 4.4.1 removes the 2-second delay when using the click-to-teleport functions or teleport chat shortcuts (gtp, etc.) or the Teleport To function in Radar.
A new option allows region grid coordinates to be displayed on the World Map (Preferences > Move & View > Firestorm > Show grid coordinates on the world map), which OpenSim users might perhaps find more beneficial than most SL users.
Also, map beacon ranges now show the distance from the avatar, not the camera.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 