Tag: Firestorm

Firestorm: take one

Posted on by Inara Pey

This is a look at the PRE-RELEASE of the Viewer 2-based Phoenix Firestorm Viewer. As such, certain things should be borne in mind both if you are reading this piece and / or using the software:

  • This is not intended as a comprehensive review OR comparison with Viewer 2.x OR an in-depth investigation of bugs, etc. Rather it is an initial look at Firestorm. More details examinations will come as the Viewer stabilises and more features / functions are implemented
  • If you are trying out the pre-release for yourself, please make sure you have joined the Support Group for it, and have watched the introductory video
  • Please don’t expect this review to be a comprehensive list of bugs (see above) or for the software to work *perfectly*.

Download and Installation

I use a PC, and so downloaded the Windows version of the pre-release, which installed smoothly into its own dedicated folders, well away from Phoenix .818 (my primary Viewer). This installer quoted around 116Mb of disk space being required for the Viewer – but as with Phoenix, it ended up grabbing 217Mb of space, far more than the 92Mb required by Viewer 2 or the 198Mb used by Kirstenlee’s S21. Nevertheless, the installation was fast and smooth, and finished with an option to start Firestorm directly.

It *is* pre-release!

As a precaution, I’d cleared cache beforehand, and so hit YES to fire-up Firestorm from the prompt. May not have been necessary, but did so all the same.

On starting, got a new splash screen which again – wisely – hammers home the point that this is a pre-release, and as such will not contain absolutely every function one might expect of a Viewer, nor will it always work as anticipated…

Give the status of the software, writing a blow-by-blow review at this point in time is relatively pointless; anyway, Jessica’s intro video pretty much lays out what the user needs to know in accessing Firestorm. Clearly, given it is based on Viewer 2.x, Firestorm is going to have elements that people aren’t going to like – context menus rather than pie menus; the revised camera and movement controls, etc. Some of these the Phoenix team have tried to address, others they haven’t – and nor should they be expected to. This *is* a new Viewer, based on new software – as such, things are going to change and – frankly – people should show some willing and be prepared to change as well, rather than harping on about X not being Y, and how much they like Y in Viewer 1.2x….

The Good

  • Clean UI
  • Much tidier Sidebar
  • No Sidebar mini-tabs on down the right of the screen (unless you want them)
  • Persistent Sidebar tab behaviour – unlock and move a specific tab (say, Inventory) – it will remember where it was last displayed on your screen and re-open there (rather than back in the Sidebar), just like Viewer 1.2x menus
  • Buttons to Sidebar now contained in the Toolbar, and can be independently turned off / on
  • Chat bar in Toolbar can be resized
  • Ability to remove chat “headings” so that chat resembles 1.2x (date stamp and name, no little icon as per Viewer 2.x)
  • Improved Viewer 2.x Navigation Bar and new options in the LAND heading at the top of the Viewer Window
  • Improved skin options (with more to come)
  • Google translation tool retained (moved to the CHAT tab of Preferences and appears as an icon in IM tabs)
  • RLV/a support
  • Double-click teleports, etc.
  • Nearby chat window now includes a chat entry box AND has vertical IM tabs by default

The (Currently) Missing (that I use)

  • No client-side AO
  • No Radar tool
  • No real privacy options
  • No ability to click on the LAND information at the top of the Viewer window and bring up ABOUT LAND
  • No MU poses or auto-complete
  • No build enhancements in terms of highlighting prims, changing the default appearance of new prims, etc.
  • No client tag colours
  • Display Names are not displayed if chat headers are turned off in Preferences
  • Flexibility of use with MY OUTFITS

The Buggy

  • Had initial issues with the CONTACTS list in the Chat window:
    • Not all friends appeared on first logging
    • Options in FRIENDS list (see when you’re online, locate you on the Map, etc.), did not carry over from settings made in 1.2x. Some Friends lost the ability to locate me on the Map, others that did not have that privilege under 1.2x did in Firestorm, etc. I was also unable to change the options at all
    • Both issues were cleared by a couple of relogs
  • Scrolling up in Group chat caused incoming IMs to appear to “overwrite” text I was scrolling through – this was persistent through several log-ins and tests
  • Some people have reported crashing when editing their shape or outfit – although I haven’t encountered this
  • Not all the skins work – Jessica warns that there might be issues with some of the Starlight skins, and I found that some skins wouldn’t display LAND information at the top of the Viewer windows (e.g. MetaHarper Modern)
  • Disabling the teleport screen doesn’t actually work at present

Continue reading “Firestorm: take one” →

Storming the fire….

Posted on by Inara Pey

firestorm-logoJessica Lyon over at Phoenix has announced that a pre-Alpha version of the Phoenix Firestorm Viewer will be released on Monday 31st January. Over on the Phoenix website she states:

Speaking of Firestorm!As most of you already know, we have been very busy working on the Firestorm Viewer. Most of you seem to also know that we plan to put out a “Preview” build of firestorm at the end of this month.. and most of you seem to be very eager to try it out. A lot of work has gone into Firestorm already but is mostly interface improvements and changes. It is critical that you understand the Firestorm Preview is just that… a preview, it is not yet ready for full-time use. But this will give you an idea of what’s in store in the future. If you would like to try out the preview of Firestorm at the end of the month, please join our in world group named Phoenix-Firestorm Preview Group. The build will be announced in that group and you can find help there as well.

Do understand! The Firestorm Preview build should be considered Pre Alpha! Not beta, not Release Candidat.. it is pre alpha and as such it has a lot of bugs that still need to be worked out.

To aid those eager to get their hand on it, Jessica and the team – in a move Linden Lab really, really, really should have thought of for themselves prior to the issuance of Viewer 2.0 a year ago – have released a video introduction to the new Viewer.

The highlights are:

  • Phoenix has adopted a broad Viewer 2.x front end that is robustly “clean” in its overall look.
  • They have followed Kirstenlee Cinquetti’s lead and completely re-sized the Sidebar so that it no longer takes up the entire right-side of the screen, but fits into its own window
  • The Sidebar is now accessed from a set of tool bar buttons – again like Kirstenlee’s Viewer2 hybrid, but with the buttons actually embedded in the tool bar, rather than on a floating palette – and those buttons that are not required can be “turn off” (hidden)
  • In a further improvement, the behaviour of the Sidebar is more persistent: if a specific Sidebar tab (say, HOME, is undocked, moved and closed, Firestorm will remember the last used position and size of the tab, and will reopen it again at that size and position rather than pushing it back into the Sidebar once more (one assumes this behaviour is persistent between log-ins)
  • Within the Inventory tab on the Sidebar, there is an additional button to quickly and easily open a further Inventory window – no need to remember keyboard combinations
  • The chat bar / tool bar combination at the bottom of the screen is re-sizeable, thus allowing those who wish to have more room for their chat entry to have more room – again, especially useful when the more useless Sidebar buttons are hidden
  • Viewer 1.x camera control / movement control window functionality is retained – both can be open at the same time, although both use the Viewer 2.x layouts
  • Firestorm retains the Viewer 1.2x combined window for chat / IMs and your Contacts list (avoiding the need to use the “Nearby Friends” Sidebar tab) and which includes the local chat entry bar that has been conspicuous by its absence in Viewer 2.x
  • Further, there is a PREFERENCES option that removes the space-wasting Viewer 2.x “headings” from the chat and IM windows, leaving you with the more user-friendly Viewer 1.2x appearance – and in keeping with Viewers like Phoenix 1.5.2 and Imprudence 1.4 et al, the tabs for chat and IMs in the chat window can be stacked vertically
  • Viewer 2.x’s Navigation Bar / search bar is retained, and by default includes a LAND button (sorely missed from early iterations of Viewer 2) and:
    • Includes a SKY button for quick Windlight tweaks
    • Can be controlled from the LAND display at the very top of the Viewer window, allowing you to turn the Navigation, Search and Favourites elements off or on
    • The bars are all semi-transparent, further lessening their impact on the main display window
  • Other items that are familiar to current Phoenix / other Viewer 1.2x-based TPVs will be familiar with include:
    • RLVa support
    • Ability to disable the login, logout and Tp splash and “progress” screens
    • Double-click teleporting
    • Running multiple Viewers
    • An option to quickly and easily change the UI skin (including a skin that retains the Viewer 2-style little Sidebar tabs on the right of the screen for those who like (!) them. A nice touch with the Skin option is the automatic inclusion of Hitomi’s Starlight skins (although there may be issues using Starlight with the pre-release of Firestorm)

There are some things that are potentially missing from Firestorm at present – Jessica states it currently retains the Viewer 2.x behaviour of having media streaming ON by default, something people don’t like – but this will be altered in a future release. The LAND display at the top of the Viewer window, while allowing you to turn things like the Navigation Bar off / on, appears to lack the ability to open the ABOUT LAND window if the Navigation Bar is turned off.

Overall, I have to say this Viewer has me excited. It appears to combine the best of Viewer 2.x and Viewer 1.x to present a crisp, clean Viewer environment that is highly customisable. Certainly, I’m looking forward to trying it out from Monday.

For those who wish to try the pre-release, it is recommended that you join an in-world Group that has been set-up specifically for the Firestorm release – as Jessica states, the Phoenix support network is still itself ramping-up on the new Viewer and so may not be able to provide the necessary support.