The Firestorm team have released an optional update to the Firestorm 3 Mesh Beta release. The update is to deal with a couple of issues, as explained in the official blog post:
“A new bug was brought to our attention recently that effects region restarts while using our Metaharper skin in our Firestorm Mesh Beta. Basically, the region will fail to restart and be left in a state that only LL Support can fix. We traced the origin of the bug, fixed it and have updated our download files.
“If you are an Estate Manager who performs region restarts AND you use the Metaharper skin it is strongly advised that you download our updated version 3.0.1.22566 from our download links on this page. No other skin is effected by this bug. Alternatively, you can fix the issue yourself without installing this optional update by following the instructions listed on this page. http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=fs_region_restart_bug
“We have also patched a performance issue some people may be effected by which essentially drops performance when you have many IM windows open at once. If you have performance drops while having multiple IM windows open you may find an improvement with this optional update.
“If you do not fall into the above criteria there is no need for you to update or worry, aside from what’s listed above, nothing else has changed since our 3.0.1.22525 Mesh Beta.”
If you are affected by either of the above, download the update from here.
Yesterday, the Phoenix / Firestorm team released a Beta version of Firestorm (officially called 3.0.1.22525), specifically aimed at mesh object rendering. The team is keen to emphasise that this is bordering on an “experimental” release, and urge anyone trying it out to read the accompanying release notes – of which more anon.
The release itself was almost destined not to take place; on Tuesday morning the team discovered a series of regression issues that needed to be resolved, then their service provider announced significant issues with their fibre, leaving the Phoenix servers only able to accept around 10 connections at a time!
Nevertheless, the team worked through issues and, following the fortnightly Phoenix Hour on MetaMix TV, the Beta was duly released. So – what is it like?
Starting Firestorm
The differences between this version and earlier releases are apparent from the moment you install and run Firestorm. On the log-in screen alone are three new features:
Log-in screen – new features
Log-in drop-down list: Firestorm gains the Phoenix username drop-down list with this release. If you use several alts, names and passwords can be retained by the Viewer and chosen from a drop-down list, making for easy selection. In a further nice touch, if you use the same name to log on to multiple grids, the Viewer will remember the specifics. For example, I have three entries under username: “Inara Pey”, which logs me into the SL Main grid; “Inara Pey @ Second Life Beta” which logs me in to aditi, and “Inara Pey @ InWorldz” which logs me in to InWorldz – the required Grid is automatically selected when I select the user name
Beneath the Username field is a new button – DELETE THIS ENTRY (arrowed). This removes the details of the selected avatar from your log-in records held by the Viewer – again, useful if you have multiple avatars and discard one, or if you no longer log-in to a specific grid
There is also now an option called DEFAULT SETTINGS. This allows you to select a default “UI” style with which to run the Viewer. By default, it is set to “Phoenix”. Clicking on the arrow to the right of the option displays the additional options of “V3” and “Hybrid” (boxed above).
Now, these have been described as setting different User Interface styles – and to a point, they do (setting V3, for example, will give you the familiar Sidebar tabs from Viewer 2.x/3.x); but if anyone is expecting “Phoenix” will deliver a full-blown Phoenix-esque V1.x UI will be in for a disappointment – the differences in presentation are far more subtle: “Phoenix” delivers a UI that is pretty much identical to the current Firestorm release UI, for example.
Firestorm 3.0.1 “V3” UI option
“Hybrid” refers to a new – and, I’d say cleaner – variant of the Firestorm UI developed for this release, which I’ve now set as my default (as far as possible – there is at least one issue with this release).
Firestorm 3.0.1 “Hybrid” UI option
As with the Viewer Modes in Viewer 2.x / 3.x, changing the default settings will require you quit and restart Firestorm. While this requirement is the same as the official Viewer when switching between Basic and Advanced modes, it would be nice if this could be automated if at all possible: clicking the OK button shutting down and restarting the Viewer in one convenient go.
Firestorm 3.0.1 “Phoenix” UI option
Navigation and other “Top” Bars
By default, both the Phoenix and Hybrid settings have the Navigation Bar at the top of the screen turned off, while the V3 option has it on, together with the Search bar. Speaking of the Search Bar, as there is an option to turn it off/on, it would be nice if this worked independently of the Navigation bar (currently turning Search on / off only makes a difference if the Navigation Bar is displayed). It’s a small thing, but would add to convenience of use.
The Favourites Bar is on by default in all three, and while I like the fact that in the Phoenix and Firestorm options it is on a transparent background, this may cause issues for some and it is frequently difficult to see against, say, the sky. I also like the Hybrid option’s transparency around the tool bar at the bottom of the screen; this is a nice touch and adds to the feeling that one has a greater in-world viewing area.
Of Sidebars and Pie Menus
The “V3” option of the UI obviously uses the V2.x/V3.x Sidebar and tabs, although options can be accessed from the toolbar at the bottom of the screen as well.
The “Hybrid” UI option uses the “tabless” Sidebar seen in earlier Firestorm releases, with options accessible from the toolbar buttons. In both cases, options can be “torn off” from the Sidebar and floated as independent windows, and will persist as such between log-ins.
The “Phoenix” UI option disposes with the Sidebar completely, and simply floats options in their own windows.
Both the Phoenix and Hybrid options utilise the Pie Menu by default – I would personally prefer the Context Menu were the default in the case of the latter, but I suspect I’d be in the minority for saying so! The V3 option uses the Context by default.
Major New Features
Volume Control Access
Volume Setting Controls
With this release, Firestorm inherits Phoenix’s quick-access panel for all volume control settings. Simply hover the mouse over the volume icon at the top right of the Firestorm window and the control panel will drop down.
All the expected options are there, with sliders, together with options to mute those that are frequently not used: streaming music, media and Voice.
Alongside the Quick Preferences button located down on the toolbar, this is perhaps one of the most eagerly awaited V1 TPV UI options to reach Firestorm.
Built-in Flight Assist
Adding to the client-side AO, Firestorm now sports a flight assist option. This is accessed through PREFERENCES -> FIRESTORM and then checking the ENABLE BRIDGE FLIGHT ASSIST option. As the option itself suggests, the Firestorm Bridge must be worn in order for the flight assist to work; furthermore, you should remove / turn off any other flight assist options before using the built-in flight assist, or you might experience all sorts of issues!
Camera Floater Updates
The camera floater receives an update in the new release, with the Phoenix and Hybrid versions receiving new buttons, while the V3 floater sits somewhere between the previous Firestorm version and the Viewer 3.x controls.
Camera floaters Viewer 3.x (left), Firestorm Beta, Firestorm “V3” and Firestorm “Phoenix” / “Hybrid” (right)
The layout of the new “Phoenix” / “Hybrid” floater makes it appear slightly larger on-screen, and also a little tricker to resize.
Contacts List Changes
The Contacts List has been updated to show whether friends have allowed you permission to map them / edit their items – all to the good. On the downside, a column to show Display Names has been added alongside user names, which tends to push out the size of the window unnecessarily.
Contacts List – a lot of screen space
It would be nice if there were an option to turn off either the user name column or the Display Name column in order to make the List less screen-consuming. If this could be coded, and reduce the amount of screen real estate lost to the window.
This is a summary report only, due to the circumstances of the release. A full review on the Firestorm Mesh Beta will be forthcoming, complete with a detailed list of all new features and an overview of fixes.
Following the Phoenix Hour today, the Phoenix Firestorm team have released a BETA version of Firestorm with mesh object rendering support.
The release is not to be regarded as a full release – more work is required.
Furthermore, the team has specifically requested anyone wishing to download the release to read the accompanying notesbefore downloading and trying the Viewer as there are some critical issues.
There is also a list of known bugs that Firestorm has inherited from Linden Lab. These are already known about and the team request people do not raise further JIRAs on them again, please read the list before reporting bugs.
Other points to note:
nVidia 400-series and above graphics cards may be prone to immediate crashing on running the Viewer if Basic Shaders are enabled. This again is a bug inherited from Linden Lab, and users of 400-series and above nVidia cards are asked not to enable Basic Shaders
The release should clear settings and cache as a part of the installation. If you wish to preserve chat and IM logs, and set them to the default locations, make sure you move them elsewhere first
Should settings / cache not be automatically cleared, people should go to PREFERENCES -> NETWORK & CACHE and use the button there to clear settings and cache and then relog
This release does not include the spell check option – this will be added in the final release; all effort has gone into responding to user demands to provide a version of Firestorm that can render mesh objects
Mesh uploads are not in this release – the code needs further work.
Jessica (r) and Phaylen at today’s show
The following feature are included in the release (not definitive):
There is a lot of exciting news coming out of the Phoenix / Firestorm team this week, as Jessica Lyon revealed during the fortnightly Phoenix Hour Metamix TV broadcast on Tuesday. Here are the highlights.
Phaylen (l) with Jessica
Hybrid with Mesh
The next release will be a true hybrid version for Firestorm, utilising code from the SL Viewer 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 / 2.8.3 releases. It will include the capability to render mesh objects.
There is no actual release date for the new version – although Jessica hopes it will be in “The next couple of weeks.” The version is being referred to as 2.6 internally, as this was the code it was initially based on. However, given it has now developed into a hybrid encompassing several V2 releases, it is possible the version number will change to reflect the fact Firestorm is not tied to a specific Snowstorm build.
There are a couple of “blockers” to the release, one of which is getting the spell check tool into this release. This has hit a few problems, but the number of requests that have been received for its inclusion mean that it Jessica would prefer not to release the next version until the spell check is working.
Jessica Lyon discusses Firestorm
Beyond this, there are a number of other 2.6-related targets to be met, which (I gather) include regression fixes. However, rather than delaying the release unduly, the team may opt to release 2.6 with the major additions (mesh, the spell check, etc.) as a Release Candidate, then add the remaining 2.6 targets before moving it to a Full Release status.
Viewer Modes in Firestorm
Viewer 2 introduced the concept of Viewer “modes”: Basic or Advanced. The next release of Firestorm will introduce a similar concept of “modes”, but executed very differently, in that three interface modes will be supported:
Phoenix mode: the Viewer presents a Phoenix-like UI
Viewer 2 mode: the Viewer presents a Viewer 2/3 UI
Firestorm mode: the Viewer presents its own hybrid UI
Friends List Overhaul – Contact Sets
This is something that is bound to excite a lot of people – and it is also something LL have been thinking about, going on comments at SLCC 2011.
Firestorm will include the ability to group / categorise your friends and contacts.
Called Contact Sets, the new feature allows a user’s Friends list to be organised according to individual needs (e.g. all business contacts can be put into a set, close friends into another set; individuals can appear across multiple sets, etc.).
Additionally, users will be able to set Viewer tag colours for their Contact Sets, making it easier to identify people from a Contact Set when seen in their own in-world view or when looking at mini-map icons.
The feature also includes the ability to include people not on a user’s Friends list, however:
It will not give a user any additional privileges over someone they include in this way, so users will not be able to see the online status, etc., to “non-Friends list” people in a Contact Set
Any group Teleports, conference calls, etc., will not be seen by “non-Friends list” people in a Contact Set
Other Features
The next release will include a number of additional features, including:
The Phoenix Log-in Manager will be included, allowing users to quickly and easily log-in to Second Life using any of their avatar accounts, as is currently the case with Phoenix. Once an avatar has been logged-in through the Viewer, the information is retained by Firestorm and is available from a drop-down list in the log-in screen
The Grid Manager has been improved, thanks to code donated by the Kokua project, together with some OpenSim support code, allowing Firestorm to operate more smoothly with OpenSim grids
Selection beam customisation has been added to Firestorm, allowing you to customise your selection particle beam
Auto-correct has been ported from Phoenix into Firestorm. Auto-correct is a macro-like option which can also be used as an auto-complete tool: if you have terms you frequently use, such as referencing a web page (your blog?), you can use auto-correct to set up a suitable abbreviation & when you type the abbreviation, the full text is automatically inserted into the chat / IM bar
Viewer tags gain greater customisation in terms of how you see them; custom colours can be used, rather than being restricted to a pre-defined set
Volume control pop-up (Impudence example) to be in Firestorm
The volume control pop-up common to V1.x Viewers next Firestorm release, providing users with access to all volume control sliders. This will be accessible by clicking the volume control option at the TOP RIGHT of the Viewer window, rather than the bottom right, as with V1/x TPVs
Font options are to be introduced, allow users to change the font used in the Viewer. A warning here is that the Viewer is coded around the default font size, so if you change the font, words may not correctly display
Proxy options will be included in the next release,while scripts opened and edited from inventory will be able to save them in LSL or Mono
Additional skins will be provided with the next firestorm release. In addition, there is also documentation available on how to create a Firestorm skin this includes information on a competition for new skins to be officially added to Firestorm
Display Names will offer users t the abilityo alter Display Names for other people as they are seen in their own in-world view. So if someone has used ASCII to create an incomprehensible Display Name, you can change it to some readable for yourself, with the following important notes:
The change doesn’t impact the actual user’s Display Name as they or others see it
This doesn’t in any way affect another user’s user name
The new name will appear in asterisks, and is not persistent if the person concerned later changes their Display Name to something else.
Major Bug Fixes
Log-in bug: Firestorm can crash as a result of too many chiclet notifications being received while offline. The default for the number of chiclets the Viewer can handle was raised in the current release, and this is thought to have been the problem. The permitted number has been reduced to the LL default in the upcoming release. In the meantime, those experiencing this problem, there is a work-around in the Phoenix wiki
Screen blackout / freeze on teleport: the mini-lock-up that can turn the screen black and / or freeze things following a teleport has been linked to an issue with the LL code, but a fix is to be included with the next Firestorm release.
Other Notes
The Contact Set feature will be included in a Phoenix maintenance release around seven days after the release of Firestorm
There are other V1-based Viewers successfully integrate mesh rendering into their offerings, the code might be included in Phoenix in the future.
The full presentation can be seen on Metamix TV, complete with the Q&A session. Overall, these updates are almost exactly what people have been asking for – not just with Firestorm, but of linden Lab as well when it comes to the improvements to the Friends list. As such, Contact Sets idea in particular is liable to set Firestorm head-and-shoulders above other Viewer 2.x offerings and could potentially see a lot of people switching over to it.
The Firestorm development team report that Linden Lab has confirmed Firestorm is now the third most popular viewer by number of distinct users and in terms of hours spent using SL. This moves it into third place in terms of popularity, ahead of the old official 1.23 Viewer.
According to the Viewer Directory (last updated 12th July), Firestorm sits in sixth place overall in terms of crash rates, putting it directly behind the official 2.7.2 release, and up on the official 2.7.5 release. Interestingly, the current full release of the official Viewer (2.7.4) isn’t listed.
To aid people making the transition from the Viewer 1.x environment, Phoenix have produced a new video tutorial, which is well worth a look-in:
(with thanks to CS Pfeffer for the nod on the video)
Firestorm today released a second public beta version of the viewer. The 2.5.2.16922 release came somewhat unexpectedly and added a slew of new features and bug fixes which do much to move the viewer very much closer to a prime-time release status.
Note: the following comments apply to the Windows version of Firestorm. Other OS versions may differ.
Build Tools
Chief among the new features is a full port of the Phoenix build tools, so that Firestorm now includes:
Clickable group name on build floater
Object highlight toggle on build floater
Pivot point controls
Default size and material controls
Link number of build floater (with same bugs as Phoenix)
Build options pref panel Prefs> Firestorm> Build
Copy/paste object position, size, rotation, parameters and textures
Alt, control and shift keys modify increment on spinners (Alt: x10. Control: x1/10. Shift: x1/100)
Higher precision on position, size and rotation (4 decimal places)
Phoenix’s additional path profiles and transforms types
Added button for copy keys (UUID) to clipboard
Added requirement to confirm before setting object for sale (prevents sale sniping)
Expand/Collapse button
Added always show last owner.
Other notable changes include:
Quick Preferences Button
Quick Preferences options
The inclusion of “Quick Preferences button” in the bottom tool bar that provides quick and convenient access to a host of options that can often require frequent adjustment (see right), including the ability to rapidly step through windlight sky and water defaults or select them from a drop-down menu in much the same way as can be found within Phoenix via the arrow option at the extreme right-hand end of the tool bar.
Group Pop-up Window
New Group pop-up window
It’s pretty well known that I’m not a fan of the Sidebar, which tends to be little more than a disruptive waste of space where I’m concerned – so anything that Firestorm adds that prevents me having to be tossed around the Viewer and into the Sidebar is going to get a big thumbs up from me.
So it’ll come as no surprise that the new Group pop-up window is a big hit with me. As with Viewer 1.x, it allows you to pull-up information on a Group and peruse it quickly and conveniently in a simply pop-up.
It even includes a couple of new buttons – although one of them could perhaps do with a clearer title. CHAT opens up a Group Chat window – very handy when you want to make an announcement; GROUP CALL also opens up a Group Chat window, although the function of the button is actually to initiate a VOICE call between group members. As such, the latter button might be better off labelled “Voice Call”.
Movement Controls
I’ve rarely used them, but many do like Viewer 1’s movement controls. Until now, these haven’t been offered within Firestorm as a discrete option.
This latest Beta changes that by presenting them with a toolbar button of their own, and the palette fully repositionable. This will doubtless be seen as a very welcome addition by those who prefer to use the palette.
Land Details
Another small, but to me significant, improvement is that with this release, the land name displayed at the very top of the Viewer window is once again clickable and will bring up the ABOUT LAND window. This has been one of my hang-ups with Viewer 2.x; despite having the LAND button sitting in the navigation bar (which I rarely turn off), I must admit that I’ve been unable to break the habit of pointing to the land name and clicking on it, a-la Viewer 1.x, in order to bring up ABOUT LAND. Kudos to the Firestorm team for rescuing me from the need to consciously break myself out of this habit!
Bits of the rest
Other changes I particularly like with this release are:
“Restore to last position” added to inventory right click menu
Contacts tab in Conversations is now closable
World map search results are now alphabetical
Copy outfit your wearing to text option in the worn tab on appearance panel. From gear menu, copy to clipboard.
Performance-wise, this represents, on my hardware at least, the best results to date with Firestorm. When on a sim with one or two others and draw set to 360m, I can achieve 60-65fps, easily putting Firestorm on a par with Viewer 2.6. On more crowded sims, this falls to between 45-50fps, which is still superior to the last release. What really stuns me however, is that on a sim with 5 other people and with shadows enabled, Firestom can manage 20-25fps on my machine, making it easily the best when it comes to rendering shadows for me.
Opinion
Firestom simply goes from strength to strength and this release potentially marks it as ready to move to a “final” release status.
If you’ve held-off downloading Firestorm or making the move to a Viewer 2.x-based TPV, now is really the time to start re-thinking your position, especially with Viewer 1.x search about to lose effectiveness in some areas and mesh due to be rolled out over the next 6-7 weeks. And if you’re not impressed with Viewer 2 either from direct experience or through the reports of others, Firestorm is liable to suit you right down to the ground.
The Firestorm team have released an optional update to the Firestorm 3 Mesh Beta release. The update is to deal with a couple of issues, as explained in the official blog post:
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 