On Tuesday, December 6th, the Main (SLS) channel was updated with the same server maintenance package deployed to the three RC channels, comprising internal simulator changes.
On Wednesday, December 7th, the three RC channels will received the same new server maintenance package, which includes the following feature requests:
BUG-6377 – llGetObjectDetails(id,[OBJECT_ATTACHED_SLOTS_AVAILABLE]) – Returns a value that is number of attachment slots allowed by the server minus the number of attachments worn by avatar. Returns 0 if avatar is not in the same region or if UUID is not an agent.
BUG-40871 – llGetEnv() constant “region_object_bonus” – returns the object bonus set for a region.
SL Viewer
On Monday, December 5th, the Project Bento viewer, version 5.0.0.321958, was promoted to de facto release status. See the official blog post here and my post here.
This leaves the current viewer pipelines looking as follows:
RC viewers:
Maintenance RC viewer, version 4.1.3.321792, dated November 30th – some 42 fixes and improvements
Project viewers:
360-degree snapshot viewer, version 4.1.3.321712 dated November 23rd – 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
Mesh and Texture Rezzing
People have been noticing increased delays in object mesh and texture rezzing, with fingers being pointed at the Lab’s CDN supplier(s). Raised at the Simulator User Group meeting, it prompted Simon Linden to comment it could be a CDN issue, and re request was passed for the Lab to have a poke around at things.
Duplicated No Copy Items
Raised a couple of weeks ago, this is an issue where region crashes are being exploited to create duplicates of No Copy items (i.e. the duplication is happening server-side, rather than the objects simply being copied using a viewer, making them indistinguishable from the original), with the duplicated item – mostly obtained through gachas – then being put up for sale on the Marketplace.
The Lab is continuing to look at the problem, but as yet, no answer / solution has been identified.
The majority of the notes in this update are taken from the abbreviated TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, December 2nd. The video of that meeting is embedded at the end of this update. My thanks as always to North for recording and providing it.
There was no deployment of a server maintenance package to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, November 29th, leaving it running on the same build as week #47 – 16#16.11.02.321369. However, the channel did undergo a rolling restart in order to update all private regions on it to the new land impact allowances – see my expanded report for more.
On Wednesday, November 30th, all three RC channels received a new server maintenance package, comprising internal simulator changes. This deployment also saw all private regions on the three RC channels updated with the new land impact allowances.
No Change Window
[01:51] The Christmas and New Year 2016/17 No Change window has been confirmed as running from Friday, December 16th 2016 through to Monday, January 2nd, 2017. There will be no planned server deployments or major viewer releases during this time frame.
SL Viewer
Project Bento RC
[00:23] On Thursday, December 1st, the Bento RC viewer updated to version 5.0.0.321958, which primarily includes a further fix for a rendering bug related to bad skin weights in some mesh avatars, which hadn’t been entirely fixed with the last update.
Unless something completely unexpected crops up in the next few days, and providing the RC performs well, this viewer could be promoted to release status early in week #49 (week commencing Monday, December 5th). Should this happen, it is likely that Firestorm will issue their own Bento update roughly a week later.
Maintenance RC
[09:46] A new Maintenance RC arrived in the release channel on Tuesday, November 30th. Version 4.1.3.321792 includes some 42 fixes and improvements including the following:
Abuse Reporting:
When you’re trying to file an abuse report and you crash – the floater will stay open and all information we were able to save will persist.
There is a new toolbar button: “Report Abuse”
Appearance:
Appearance floater will now remember your last selected tab across logins. You like your Outfit Gallery? Enjoy! You don’t like it? Enjoy something you prefer …
Pay floater:
You can now add an optional payment message when you send money, and it accepts UTF8 (via Ansariel Hiller).
360 Snapshot Project Viewer
[29:07] Issues have emerged with the latest version of the 360 snapshot project viewer (4.1.3.321712, dated November 23rd) and the back-end web viewer, with people reporting:
Images captured using the latest version of the viewer will not load into older versions of the web viewer (pages remain suck on the gear cogs).
Images captured using any version of the viewer will not load into the latest version of the web viewer (which also uses a different folder hierarchy for the location of ZIP files).
The Lab indicates that some of these issues can be corrected by adjusting the image resolution in the snapshot floater to take pictures at a lower resolution.
[13:27] Right now, effort is being directed towards the 64-bit viewer’s media handling, it is therefore unlikely further work will be carried out on the snapshots viewer until 2017.
64-bit Viewer
[10:35] The Lab has successfully built 64-bit versions of the viewer that launch, but is “wrestling” with assorted issues in the new build pipeline. Discussions on the build process are largely taking place on the open-source development e-mail list, but the related wiki information will be updated to reflect the updates, and the use of a new configuration repository for setting all the correct build switches, etc., once the Lab is more confident with the build process. The target for a project viewer remains Real Soon NowTM.
[12:50] The 64-bit viewer will also include the changes to the viewer update process and how the process is managed. These will appear in the 64-bit version after the initial release has been made.
Viewer Release Notes
[10:09] A relatively new feature introduced to the official viewer, and which is now finding its way into version 4.x TPVs is that when opening a newly installed version of the viewer for the first time, the release notes are displayed in a pop-up, to help encourage users read about what has changed.
Voice Updates
[12:40] There are still bugs to be addressed in the next set of SL Voice updates, and the Lab wants to have these addressed before the updates are released at a project viewer.
SVC-7532 Roll-Back
[14:03] After all the investigations into the recent llTakeControl issues, include the “Horizons gun issue“, which was recently fixed, the Lab has looked more closely at the overall issue of weapons breakage in general, which was introduced as a result of SVC-7532. The conclusion drawn is that the “fix” for the issue should not have been implemented, and the issue as reported in that JIRA should have been marked as “expected behaviour”.
As a result, the Lab will be reverting the change. This means that TPVs should not need to offer a menu / preference toggle to allow users to switch between behaviour modes when using weapons depending upon how the weapon has been scripted. However, this does mean that touching things in Mouselook may not work if you are under the control of an attachment using llTakeControl.
The change to revert SVC-7532 will most likely go into an update yo the new Maintenance RC viewer.
Other Items
Proprietary Licensing
[18:30] There is an issue with proprietary licensing, apparently related to music and MP3 decoding and issues around it successor, AAC, and possible patent infringement. The discussion has been going on elsewhere, and I’m currently not au fait with the problems.
Community Gateways
[22:34] The updated registration API for new users, which features the latest avatars, etc., was made available to those in the Community Gateway programme in August / September (London City was one of the first in the programme to implement the updated API). Firestorm is dealing with some issues in updating their own landing pages to point to the new API.
Last 2016 TPV Developer Meeting
This was apparently the last TPV Developer meeting for 2016 – although one has been appearing on the calendar for December 16th.
There was no deployment of a server maintenance package to the Main (SLS) channel on Tuesday, November 29th, leaving it running on the same build as week #47 – 16#16.11.02.321369. However, the channel did undergo a rolling restart in order to update all private regions on it to the new land impact allowances – see my expanded report for more.
On Wednesday, November 30th, all three RC channels should receive a new server maintenance package, comprising internal simulator changes. This deployment should also see all private regions on the three RC channels also updated with the new land impact allowances.
SL Viewer
On November 23rd, the Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions) RC viewer updated to version 5.0.0.321760. This primarily comprised a fix for SL-534, a continuously growing bone error (aka “the Viagra bug”), and to bring the viewer to parity with the current release version.
Also on November 23rd, the 360-degree snapshot viewer updated to version 4.1.3.321712, maintaining parity with the current release viewer.
Grid Status Changes
The new Grid Status page is now in operation, complete with new RSS feeds and subscription options – see my expanded report for more.
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.
La Digue du Braek, Muppets Island – blog post
