It All Starts With A Smile – blog post
Some of the notes in this update are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, July 1st. The video of that meeting is embedded at the end of this update, and references to it are indicated through the use of time stamps in the paragraphs below (note that there were some extended pauses in the meeting where there was no discussion, hence some of the time gaps evident between time stamps, where given). My thanks as always to North for recording and providing it.
Server Deployments – Recap
- On Tuesday, June 28th, the Main (SLS) channel received the same server maintenance package previously deployed to the RC channels, comprising minor internal changes and Tool Tip/Constant text fixes.
- On Wednesday, June 29th, all three RC channels received the same new server maintenance package, comprising the following fixes:
- BUG-11836 Increase max animation size – animation files up to 250Kb can now be uploaded
- BUG-6035 (non-public) LSL email registration (for receiving email from outside the region) can break without automatic recovery.
Deployments for Week #27
There will only be one deployment in week #27 (commencing Monday, July 4th), this will be to the Main (SLS) channel, promoting the current RC channel package, which due to Monday being a holiday in the United States, will take place on Wednesday, July 6th, rather than Tuesday, July, 5th.
SL Viewer
The Bento project viewer updated to version 5.0.0.317134, on Thursday June 30th. This update includes small tweaks to the avatar skeleton file, but no structural changes, and provides fixes for:
- SL-426 missing string for left pec, right pec attachments
- SL-398 issues with system eyelashes
- MAINT-6380 vertical flicker with some mesh avatars.
Visual Outfits Browser Project Viewer
[03:22] The Visual Outfits Browser (VOB) project viewer updated to version 4.0.6.316422 on July 1st. This could be the last iteration of the viewer as a project release prior to it being promoted to a release candidate status, which might be as early as week #27, pending the outcome of fixes for a couple of issues.
Oculus Rift Project Viewer
[04:19] A new Windows build for the Oculus Rift project viewer, version 4.1.0.317313 was released on July 1st (reported as being with the Labs QA team during the TPV Developer meeting) – see my update article for more.
It is expected that over the fullness of time, this viewer will progress through project and RC releases and be merged into the main viewer. The Lab currently has no plans to maintain it as a separate viewer channel.
Note that this viewer is still specific to the Oculus Rift. Support for the HTC Vive in Second Life is something the Lab “would like to be able to do”, but this viewer does not expressly support the Vive as well. If and / or when the Lab might offer Vive support in SL, and how far that support might go (e.g. will it include support for using the Vive’s room sensors with SL) is an open question at this point is time.
Inventory Messaging Viewer Promotion
[00:28] It appears the inventory messaging viewer, version 4.0.6.315555, is “almost certain” to be promoted to de facto release status on Tuesday, July 5th.
This viewer eliminates deprecated and unused UDP inventory messaging mechanisms from the viewer, replacing them with the current AIS mechanisms. The promotion of this viewer to de facto release status marking the start of a countdown towards the removal of the corresponding back-end support for these old UDP operations, which will most likely take place some time in Q4 of 2016 (final dates TBD at this time).
When it happens, it means than any viewers still reliant on the UDP mechanisms for inventory operations – such as the Lab’s Obsolete Platforms viewer (version 3.7.28.300847) will no longer work.
Maintenance RC Viewer
[03:02] The Maintenance RC viewer, version 4.0.6.316883 at the time of writing, is also doing well in its cohort, and is expected to be promoted “not to far” behind the messaging viewer – so most likely around mid-July, unless anything happens, given the Lab generally likes to leave 2 weeks between viewer promotions.
Project VLC Media Plugin Viewer
[36:23] It is hoped this project viewer (currently version 4.0.6.316258, dated June 15th) should move to release candidate status in week #27. Again, this will be for Windows only, replacing the QuickTime media plugin for the Windows viewer with one based on LibVLC. The Mac viewer will be updated to use LibVLC when the 64-bit version is released.
There have been some issues with this viewer recognising .MOV files in comparison with playing files in a web browser or a VLC client (see BUG-20024), It is believed that this is due to be down to the number of different .MOV formats the VLC plug-in in the viewer can recognise (.MOV essentially has multiple flavours) when compared to other means to play these files.
[44:56] In general terms, the Lab plan to make further media handling improvements with the 64-bit versions of the viewer, unless something significant comes up with diverts resources.
There have also been some questions over licensing of media in .MOV format, commenting on this, Oz said:
[39::08] We believe our viewer is not going to be violating any licensing terms, and you [TPV developers] will have to make your own judgements about what your viewers are and are not allowed to do. I’m afraid Linden Lab cannot be in the position of providing advice on that.
64-Bit
[15:42] Work is continuing on the 64-bit versions of the Windows and Mac viewers., with Oz again re-iterating that when ready, the Lab will provide the Windows viewer in 32-bit and 64-bit flavours and the Mac versions as 64-bit only (as do most TPVs who support 64-bit). Linux will also be provided as 64-bit only, although this isn’t a focus for the first release of the 64-bit versions, unless the Lab receive suitable Linux contributions to help them along.
Continue reading “SL Project updates 16 26: Server, viewer TPVD Meeting”
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