As this is Thanksgiving week in the United States, there are no deployments for week #47. The next deployment should be on Wednesday, November 30th, with a new server maintenance package to be deployed to the RC channels. While the full details of what it will comprise aren’t available, it will apparently include a fix for a data server crash which, although rare, can affect multiple regions when it happens.
SL Viewer
There have been no changes to the current viewer pipeline this week.Viewer release updates are generally a part of the no change window, however, in recent times a couple of RC / project viewers have slipped out unexpectedly. Currently, there are updates anticipated to the Bento RC viewer, but whether or not this might slip through and appear before the Lab closes for an extended Thanksgiving weekend is debatable. A new Maintenance RC is also anticipated in the near future as well.
At the moment, the pipeline is as follows:
Current Release version: 4.1.2.321518, dated November 10th, promoted November 15th – formerly the Maintenance RC viewer
Project Bento RC (avatar skeleton extensions), version 5.0.0.321598, dated November 15th – bug fixes
360-degree snapshot viewer, version 4.1.2.321431, dated November 9th – ability to take 360-degree panoramic images – hands-on review
Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Other Items
Duplicated No Copy Items
Concern is growing about people who are using region crash exploits to duplicate No copy objects (particularly those from Gatchas) and then putting them up for sale on the Marketplace. The problem isn’t necessarily new, but is spreading. Various ideas have been put forward on how the situation might be dealt with, while the Lab is also aware of the problem and investigating what might be done. However, the caution at this point is that there is unlikely to be a simple fix for the issue.
Bento Meeting
A reminder that there is no Bento meeting either this week – Thursday November 24th – due to Thanksgiving or next week – Thursday, December 1st. This means the next Bento User Group meeting will now be on Thursday, December 8th, at the usual time of 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Camp Fire Circle.
On Tuesday, November 15th, the Main (SLS) channel received the same server maintenance package as previously deployed to the three RC channels in week #45. This includes:
llGetObjectDetails() will have a new OBJECT_GROUP_TAG function (feature request BUG-20064) – when pointed at avatars it returns the group tag you see floating above them; and also OBJECT_TEMP_ATTACHED – to tell you if something is a temp attachment (feature request BUG-5195).
There is no planned RC deployment for Wednesday, November 16th.
No Change Window
A No Change window is in force in week #47 (week commencing Monday 21st November) in the run-up to Thanksgiving in the United States. This means that all four server channels should now remain on the same release through until November 30th, when a new RC deployment is anticipated.
SL Viewer
As anticipated, the Maintenance RC viewer, version 4.1.2.321518 was promoted to de facto release status on Tuesday, November 15th. The viewer includes multiple crash fixes; fixes for bugs encountered in building; fixes and improvements for the viewer UI; avatar and outfits improvements; inventory fixes; code clean-up, etc. Please refer to the release note for specifics.
The leaves the rest of the viewer release channels as follows:
Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
A further Maintenance RC viewer is anticipated, and may appear before the end of the week.
Horizons Experience
On Tuesday November 15th, the Lab introduced the Horizons Experience, a new 6-region quest-style adventure coupled with a new Mainland themed community environment. You can find out more via the official blog post, while I have a in-depth look at the new community environment and a run through the new gaming experience.
The following notes and audio were taken from the weekly Bento User Group meeting, held on Thursday, November 10th at 13:00 SLT at the the Hippotropolis Campfire Circle. and chaired by Vir Linden. For details on the meeting agenda, please refer to the Bento User Group wiki page.
There is a further RC update pending, as the Lab continues to work on reported bugs. Issues in particular which are receiving attention are:
An issue affecting some Mac systems running Nvidia graphics running out of the GL uniform buffer space. This can be fixed by cutting the number of joints per mesh, which may not always be ideal from a creator’s perspective. However, a further fix has been suggested by the alchemy viewer team, which Vir is looking at, which may be an option going forward.
An issue with the Reset Skeleton option not always un-deforming an avatar. This appears to be a permissions issue (you can generally deform your own avatar, but may not be able to properly un-deform someone else due to the permissions set on their animations). Vir is currently having a hard time pinning the issue down, and has requested than anyone able to consistently repro it with a model to drop him a line.
A further fix still to be added to the RC viewer is for collision volume joint positions which were failing to reset correctly when using Reset Skeleton.
There have been more bugs filed as a result of the Firestorm Bento pre-release and alpha version being made available to testers, which is helping to pin down the more significant issues and ensure that, where possible, fixes are put in place.
The most recent RC for the viewer at the time of writing (version 5.0.0.321250) has been showing an improved crash rate, with no significant spikes when compared to the current release viewer.
Legacy Content Deformation Issues
The deformation issue affecting some early Bento avatars and due to bad joint position overrides, as initially reported in BUG-40672 doesn’t appear to be widespread. As such, and subject to final confirmation by the Lab, it looks as though no changes will be made to the viewer to fork rendering behaviour (as discussed in my Bento update #32), which would require Bento content to be re-uploaded.
There are other bugs reported within BUG-40672 which have fixes, such as for the eye problem (again, see my Bento #32 update), the Haste Coy product problem, and the 1st Act Garou Male Avatar, and these either are, or will be in RC updates to the Bento viewer, where code fixes are required.
Firestorm Bento FPS Issue
Some people on the Firestorm Bento alpha release are reporting poor performance / low FPS when around other avatars. However, others are reporting an improved performance with the Bento version over the current 4.7.9 – although that could be a placebo effect. For those experiencing lower than expected FPS on their systems,try running the latest official Bento RC and see if the same performance issues are apparent. If they aren’t, try one of the following:
Try raising your Avatar Complexity to a high value / No Limit, as there is an odd issue on some systems where rendering a lot of “Jelly Dolls” can negatively impact viewer performance
Back-up your settings, and then reset everything to default values (e.g. as defined by the Bento RC) and check performance. If there is a noticeable improvement, gradually work through graphic settings and see if / when the updates start to impact performance. If you see a consistent impact which can be reproduced, file a Firestorm bug report.
llGetObjectDetails() will have a new OBJECT_GROUP_TAG function (feature request BUG-20064) – when pointed at avatars it returns the group tag you see floating above them; and also OBJECT_TEMP_ATTACHED – to tell you if something is a temp attachment (feature request BUG-5195).
SL Viewer Updates
The Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 4.1.2.321518 on Thursday, November 10th. This may well be the next RC to gain promotion to release status, given the Bento viewer is still awaiting a further RC update, as noted above.
The 360 Snapshot project viewer updated to version 4.1.2.321431 on Wednesday November 9th.
Avatar Complexity Issue
As noted in the Bento update, some people are experiencing FPS / performance issues on the Firestorm Bento viewer. However, there are a number of issues related to the level of detail (LOD) on “jellied” avatar attachments, which can have an impact on general viewer performance. The Lab is working on these problems, and hopefully, a fix will be appearing in a Maintenance RC at some point.
Aditi Log-ins
Some people are having issues when trying to log-in to Aditi, These are generally people who having logged-in to the beta grid in a very long time or are trying for the very first time with a particular account. If you are encountering problems, the best solution is to file a support ticket. It should generally be dealt with within 24 hours (weekends allowing), and your Aditi inventory will be synced with Agni (Main grid) as a part of the process of granting you access. You should only need to file a support ticket once.
llGetObjectDetails() will have a new OBJECT_GROUP_TAG function (feature request BUG-20064) – when pointed at avatars it returns the group tag you see floating above them; and also OBJECT_TEMP_ATTACHED – to tell you if something is a temp attachment (feature request BUG-5195).
SL Viewer
There have been no changes to the current batch of viewers in the various pipelines since the end of week #44, leaving things as follows:
Current Release version: 4.1.1.320331 (dated October 4th), promoted October 10th – formerly the VLC media plug-in for Windows RC
Release channel cohorts:
Project Bento RC (avatar skeleton extensions), version 5.0.0.321250, dated November 2nd – bug fixes
Maintenance RC viewer version 4.1.2.321183, dated October 28th – over 70 crash fixes, improvements and other fixes
Project viewers:
360-degree snapshot viewer, version 4.1.2.320965, dated October 26th – ability to take 360-degree panoramic images – hands-on review
Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Avatar Attachments Being Unexpectedly Detached
This has been an issue for a while, but has recently seen an uptick in occurrences. IN essence, and for some reason, when undertaking at TP or physical region crossing (both amount to the same thing), a “kill object” (attachment) message can be sent by the simulator.
Essentially, there is an issue in messaging between the simulator and the viewer during region crossings (physical or teleports), which can result in attachments being detached or, harder to detect, attachments being removed server-side, but remaining visible (but effectively ghosted) in your view, and which cannot be individually removed, as the simulator doesn’t recognise them as being there.
Whirly Fizzle has posted on possible fixes for the issue, including details of an experimental fix from the Firestorm team which might be included in the next release, pending Linden Lab addressing the root cause of the problems
One of the most common occurrences for the problem is having multiple items on a single attachment point (rigged meshes can often all default to the right hand, for example). So, should this problem occur, and once you’ve corrected matters (such as be a forced rebake (CTRL-SHIFT-R) or a complete change of outfit, for example), check the items affected by the problem, and if they do share an attachment point with one another or other attachments your avatar is wearing, trying relocating them to unoccupied points (this should be particularly easy to do with rigged mesh, which can be attached pretty much anywhere and render at the correct point on your body.
As always, please refer to the deployment thread for the latest news and updates.
On Tuesday, November 1st, the Main (SLS) channel received the same server maintenance package as deployed to the three RC channels in week #43. This comprises: a fix for the bug introduced in week #42 – see BUG-40735 “Paying an object with [slgaming] in the object name (most skill game machines) fails on the RC 16.10.14.320687”; two fixes for issues with the new llSit function for Experiences, and additional internal updates.
On Wednesday, November 2nd, all three RC channels are set to remain on the same server maintenance package as week #43. However, there should be a rolling restart across the RC channels.
SL Viewer
On Friday, October 28th, the Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 4.1.2.321183, and came with an expanded set of release notes offering a better overview of changes and updates. These include, but are not limited to:
You can now see your Temp attachments via Appearance > Wearing > Temporary attachments
Cut items won’t be put in Trash any more to avoid inventory loss. Instead they’ll be visually greyed out but remain in place until the next operation is performed
Rigged Mesh LOD is now size-dependent, not just avatar-dependent. Improves how LODs are swapped
In a related case, wrong bounding box location was affecting LOD calculation causing some mesh avatars to deform
PRIM_TEXT draw distance limit can now be changed up to 300m via debug setting “PrimTextMaxDrawDistance”
Avatar Complexity notices can now be disabled from Preferences > Notifications: “Warn me about my avatar complexity changes” + “Warn me if my avatar complexity may be too high” settings
A warning is displayed when trying to put too much inventory in coalesced objects and will still be blocked
A warning will be displayed when creating or wearing HUDs that can cause critical performance hits
This RC release restores weapons behaviour to same state as in the release viewer
Buying L$ links will once again open in internal browser by default
You can now “Wear-Replace current outfit” even if the new outfit is a subset of the old one
Accidentally scrolling the mouse wheel while renaming an item in inventory will now cancel renaming instead of moving the item. True for any operation where ‘renamer’ moves out of visible area
Multiple crash fixes.
Other viewers in the viewer pipelines remain as per last week:
Current Release version: 4.1.1.320331, dated October 4th, promoted October 10th – formerly the VLC media plug-in for Windows RC
Project Bento RC (avatar skeleton extensions), version 5.0.0.320815, dated on October 20th
Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Mainland LI / Prim Allowance Increase
Update, November 3rd: following the complete announcement on the prim changes and the timeline, full details on the changes for Mainland, and those to be applied to private regions are now available in this post.
As is increasingly being noticed, Mainland regions on the Main (SLS) channel received an increased LI allowance with the deployment on Tuesday, November 1st, with Full regions now having a total capacity of 22,500 LI (or prims, if you prefer).
The change in land impact (/ prim allowance) was noted in Mainland Full regions on the SLS channel as they started coming back on-line following the November 1st deployment restarts
The change isn’t a mistake, and there will be an official announcement on Thursday, November 3rd about what is going on. As noted in my preliminary article linked to above, I’ll also have more at that time 🙂 .
A panoramic image of Holly Kai Park’s events pavilion, captured in the news 360-degree snapshot viewer – click on the image to view in 360 via Flickr, and see my article here
Server Deployment
The RC deployment in week #42 introduced a bug, so there was no Main (SLS) channel deployment on Tuesday, October 25th.
The three RC all received the same server maintenance package, comprising: a fix for the bug introduced in week #42 – see BUG-40735 “Paying an object with [slgaming] in the object name (most skill game machines) fails on the RC 16.10.14.320687”; two fixes for issues with the new llSit function for Experiences, and additional internal updates.
SL Viewer
360 Snapshot Viewer
The new 360-degree snapshot project viewer arrived on Wednesday, October 26th, with the release of the first iteration of the project viewer, version 4.1.2.320965. There is an accompanying wiki page for the viewer, and I have a hands-on look.
Other than this, the viewer pipeline remains as per my TPV Developer meeting summary of October 21st:
Current Release version: 4.1.1.320331 (dated October 4), promoted October 10 – formerly the VLC media plug-in for Windows RC
Release candidates:
Project Bento RC (avatar skeleton extensions), version 5.0.0.320815, dated October 20th
Maintenance RC viewer, version 4.1.2.320804 dated October 20th
Project viewers:
None.
Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Aditi Weekend Issues
Some people trying to access Aditi, the beta grid, encountered problems over the weekend of the 22nd / 23rd October after a database for that grid failed. As Aditi doesn’t have either the same level of redundancy or the same urgency of repair that Agni (the main grid) has, the database didn’t get sorted out until Monday, October 24th.
WeeVille, Oyster Bay – blog post
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Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 