Tag: Simulator User Group 2018

2018 SL UG updates #34/1: server, viewer, and mobile SL rumours

Posted on by Inara Pey

Erebos Harbor; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrErebos Harbor – blog post

There was no Simulator User Group meeting for week #34 2018, so the project notes are pretty brief.

Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates.

  • On Tuesday August 21st, the SLS (Main) channel was updated with sever maintenance package 18#18.08.10.518612, comprising an update to the HTTP delivery of off-line IMs and notifications that should ensure group notices and Friend requests are correctly delivered. This release was deployed to the main RC channels in week #33.
  • There is no planned deployment or restart for any of the RC channels, also leaving them on server maintenance package 18#18.08.10.518612.

SL Viewer

  • The Second Life Voice viewer, version 5.1.8.518593 and dated August 14th, was promoted to de facto release status on August 20th, 2018.
  • A new Love Me Render viewer, version 5.1.8.518751, was released on August 20th, containing assorted viewer rendering fixes for the following issues / requests:
    • Applying planar texture alignment to prims with diffuse and normal maps fails.
    • Align Planar Faces does not work on normal or specular maps.
    • Handle dual-graphics systems more robustly.
    • Derendering Avatar type also derenders some rezzed mesh objects.
    • Selecting mesh objects make several HUD-related items invisible.
    • Negative horizontal & vertical offset values for normal & specular maps always revert when closing build floater.
    • Add info to text debug display for cache hit rate and fetch timing.
    • Grids.xml with a single grid instead of an array in LLSD can crash viewer.
    • Objects with Alpha Masking > 0 do not rendering correctly on avatar.
    • With transparent texture and alpha masking at cut-off 1, the underlying colour shows through in small patches.
    • [DRTSIM-383] Changing the horizontal offset value also changes the vertical offset while editing specular maps in the build floater.
    • Incorrect values of Rotation degrees field with checked Align Planar Faces check box in different tabs.

The remaining SL viewer pipelines are currently unchanged:

  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Animesh RC viewer, version 6.0.0.518579, August 13.
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518305, August 7. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

SL iOS / Android Clients / Streaming SL

Speculation is running rife in some quarters that the Lab is developing a mobile client for iOS / Android following the publication of a job opportunity for a Second Life Senior Mobile Engineer.

The potential for offering a mobile (or even a streamed viewer experience through a browser) was most recently publicly discussed by both Ebbe Altberg and Oz and Grumpity Linden at the SL15B Meet the Lindens events in June 2018. I’m embedding the audio from those sessions here, together with links to the summaries of what was said, for those who prefer reading over listening:

2018 SL UG updates #33/1: Simulator User Group – Animesh in viewer RC

Posted on by Inara Pey

Cloudbreak; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrCloudbreak – blog post

Server Deployments

as always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest update.

  • The Main (SLS) channel was updated on Tuesday, August 14th with server maintenance package 18.07.20.518086, previously deployed to the RC channels and containing internal fixes.
  • On Wednesday, august 15th, all three RCs should be updated with server maintenance packager 18#18.08.10.518612. This comprises an update to the HTTP delivery of off-line IMs and notifications that should ensure group notices and Friend requests are correctly delivered.

SL Viewer

Animesh RC Viewer

The Animesh release candidate viewer arrived on August 13th, with the release of version 6.0.0.518579. For those not familiar with Animesh (anyone?) please see the viewer release notes and the links within them, or check my updates on Animesh, provided as a part of my Content Creation User Group meeting summaries.

Remaining Pipelines

Outside of the Animesh update, at the time of writing, the remaining SL viewer pipelines remain unchanged from the end of week #32:

  • Current Release version 5.1.7.517973, dated July 30th, promoted August 3rd. Formerly the Quinquina Maintenance RC viewer.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518305, August 7th. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
    • Second Life Voice RC viewer, version 5.1.8.518310, August 7th.
  • Project viewers:
    • EAM project viewer, version 5.2.0.518362, August 9th – improved region access control tools; see my overview for more.
    • Bakes on Mesh project viewer, version 5.1.7.518013 August 3rd.
    • 360 snapshot viewer, version 5.1.6.515934, June 6th.
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and  offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Region Crossings

Region crossing have been somewhat rougher recently than had been the case of late. Simon Linden had been poking at the code in the hope of making some updates, but has been diverted but other working, and is hoping to get back to things soon.

I know the viewer has very similar messaging code as the simulator and there are tweaks I want to make to that which  should help crossing issues caused by packet loss … it doesn’t always recover when a crossing goes bad, as we all know. We’re looking at that from two ways … ideally fix things so it doesn’t go bad. But if it fails, be more graceful about it … and there’s a certain amount of hope that the way we force the error is actually what happens in the random normal case.

Part of it now is even having the 2 regions and the viewer agreeing on what happens and how to deal with it … where an AV and vehicle end up and confirming all parties know the same state… I’m hoping this can at least get better if the target region can at least report to the viewer and 1st region a status for how it works out.

Simon Linden discussing region crossings at the Simulator User Group meeting, August 14th, 2018

The question was asked if part of a multiple region crossing (e.g. from the corner of one region to another, passing through the corner of a region adjacent to both) could result in the viewer talking to the “wrong” simulator, to which Simon replied, “I haven’t seen it have issues with talking to the wrong simulator, but then I’m not looking yet at the issue of a corner crossing that might quickly move to a 3rd region.”

So, no changes for the present, but the problem is still getting attention at the Lab, and there is an appetite for trying to improve things from the server-side of the equation, with Simon also noting, “It’s also a classic case of working on SL … we always want to fix things with a minimum disruption. Being able to make something better only by touching the server is a lot better than requiring a viewer update.”

 

2018 SL UG updates #32/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Ravenwold; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrRavenwold – blog post

Server Deployments

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the week, for the latest news and updates.

  • On Tuesday, August 7th, the SLS (main) channel was updated with server maintenance package 18#18.07.20.518082, containing the server-side Animesh support, and “logging tweaks”. This release was previously deployed to the LeTigre and Magnum RCs.
  • On Wednesday, August 8th:
    • LeTigre and Magnum will be updated to server maintenance package 18#18.07.20.518086, previously deployed to BlueSteel.
    • BlueSteel will remain on  18#18.07.20.518086, which contains Animesh support and internal fixes.

The SLS (main) channel deployment saw regions off-line for a longer than usual time between being taken down for the simulator code deployment and being brought back up. This was expected. According to the deployment thread, several people saw their regions restarted at least twice; this isn’t the first time this has been reported, and the situation has been referred to the Second Life Ops team.

SL Viewer

In week #31 the Quinquina Maintenance RC viewer, version 5.1.7.517973 and dated July 30th, was promoted to de facto release status on August 3rd.

As a result of this update the RC viewers were updated on Tuesday August 7th, as follows:

  • Bugsplat RC viewer: updated to version 5.1.8.518305.
  • SL Voice RC viewer: (originally released on August 1st) updated to version 5.1.8.518310. This viewer updates SLVoice with new codecs, fixes some problems with selecting audio devices, and other voice related bug fixes. It should be noted that the SLVoice executable in this viewer is not compatible with most older viewers and should not be copied to such viewers.

Also at the end of week #31 the Bakes on Mesh project viewer updated to version 5.1.7.518013, on August 3rd.

At the time of writing, the remaining viewers in the official viewer pipelines are unchanged:

  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

EEP Delay?

The Environment Enhancement Project (EEP) appears to have had a slight delay…

EEP is moving forward. There was a last-minute hiccup on the back-end and I’m tightening up some last-minute things about parcels specific settings. Rider Linden: I’m eager to get this into people’s hands.

– Rider Linden on EEP progress.

Those unfamiliar with the project, which it to provide parcel and region windlight management, as well as some additional server-side goodies, can find out more in Second Life Windlight environmental enhancements. I also provide update summaries via my Content Creation User Group summaries.

Attachment Limit Increase – Premium Perk?

It’s been indicated in some recent meetings that the Lab is hoping to reach a point where the attachment limit for avatars can be increased (currently set to 38 items). If and when this happens, it might be made a Premium membership perk.

It most likely will only be for Premium. but we’re still not ready to increase it anyway, so it’s still moot. It’s unusual for anything to be “set in stone” until it’s in the past (and not always then), but improving Premium is a major strategic goal for us, so … 

Oz Linden, commenting on the attachment limit increase at the Simulator User Group meeting,
Tuesday, August 7th, 2018

 

2018 SL UG updates #31/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

[Smash]; Inara Pey, July 2018, on Flickr[Smash] – blog post

This is a short SUG meeting update, because there was no SUG meeting on Tuesday, July 31st. Presumably Lindens are still recovering from the Linden Summer of Love Palooza Extravaganza Fête Conference Thingy (aka “SL summit”) held last week 🙂 .

Server Deployments

as always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest update.

  • There was no Main (SLS) channel roll on Tuesday, July 31st. However, those regions on the channel that were on their 14-day cycle were restarted.
  • On Wednesday, August 1st, at least the BlueSteel RC channels should be updated as follows:
    • BlueSteel should update to server maintenance package 18#18.07.20.518086, containing internal fixes.
    • LeTigre and Magnum  should be updated to a new server maintenance package, 18#18.07.20.518082, comprising Animesh and logging tweaks (note that at the time of writing, this update was not correctly chronologically listed for  LeTigre).

SL Viewer

The Quinquina RC updated on Monday, July 30th to version 5.1.7.517973. At the time of writing, there have been no other updates, leaving the official viewer pipelines as:

  • Current Release version 5.1.6.516459 and dated June 15, promoted June 21 – formerly the Pálinka Maintenance Release Candidate – No Change
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • BugSplat RC viewer, version 5.1.7.518003, released July 20. This viewer is functionally identical to the current release viewer, but uses BugSplat for crash reporting, rather than the Lab’s own Breakpad based crash reporting tools.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Content Creation User Group Meetings

The schedule for the Content Creation Meetings has been updated for August 2018:

  • No meetings on Thursday August 2nd (week #31) and Thursday August 16th (week #33).
  • Meetings on Thursday, August 9th (week #32), Thursday, August 23rd (week #34) and Thursday, August 30th (week #35).

 

2018 SL UG updates #29/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Abandale; Inara Pey, July 2018, on FlickrAbandale – blog post

Sever Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates.

  • There was no SLS main channel deployment or restart on Tuesday, July 17th, 2018, leaving regions on that channel running on server release 18#18.06.14.516450.
  • On Wednesday, July 18th, the release candidate channels should be as follows:
    • Bluesteel and LeTigre will remain on server release 18#18.07.03.517389 and will not be restarted.
    • Magnum should receive a new server maintenance package, 18#18.07.11.517746, comprising “internal fixes”.

The Main channel roll – which was to have included Animesh – was postponed, as Simon Linden explained at the Simulator User Group on Tuesday, July 17th:

We unfortunately held back this morning’s update with the Animesh roll. Late last week we found some code that is probably causing problems with the physics shapes of mesh bodies … not Animesh, but other normal mesh stuff …  Not using the correct physics shape. When building with mesh, there are a few ways to set that shape, and the Animesh code changes affected that code.

Simon Linden, SUG meeting, Tuesday, July 17th 2018.

It should be pointed out that in the context of Simon’s comments, “mesh bodies” means “in-world mesh objects, as worn mesh items doesn’t have a physics shape per se.

Deployment of the Animesh code to the SLS channel will therefore likely await the deployment of a fix for the issues encountered.

SL Viewer

There have been no Sl viewer updates / changes to mark the start of the week, leaving the pipelines as follows:

  • Current Release version 5.1.6.516459 and dated June 15, promoted June 21 – formerly the Pálinka Maintenance Release Candidate – No Change
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Quinquina Maintenance RC viewer updated to version 5.1.7.517594, on July 12.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Attachment Loss / Ghosting on Teleport / Region Crossing

Some people are reporting loss / ghosting of attachments on teleporting. The problems sees to vary in the number of teleports taken before it is noticed, and tends to take the form of others noticing an avatar is missing parts, rather than the wearer (for whom everything still appears to be worn).

It’s not clear how widespread the issue is, although it seems it has been reported a lot through the Firestorm support groups. Mazidox Linden did confirm some attachment / region crossing testing was occurring on Aditi, but it’s not clear if this is in reference to this specific problem, or to with examining / improving region crossings in general.

Firestorm has a Refresh Attachments option (Advanced menu), however, addressing the issue from the viewer is seen as a less than optimal approach, a server-side fix being preferable.

Commenting on region crossings and attachments in general, Simon Linden said, “From what I can tell with my investigations so far, most attachment problems with region crossings come down to messaging failures, and then the viewer and region(s) get out of sync and don’t recover. ” He also noted that his own testing of “double” region crossings (e.g. cutting across the corner of a region while moving between two others) lead him to want to say “stop!” at the first, and not even attempt the second until the first hand-off have completed.

At this point I want to improve the code and communications so after a crossing, both regions and the viewer can agree that everyone is on the 2nd region with all attachments and vehicles and, when something goes wrong, try to recover … At both ends, viewer and region, it should be able to realize it’s been a few seconds and things are missing or not, and then re-try.

Simon Linden on investigating region crossing, Tuesday, July 17th, 2018

As an aside, one of the reasons the Lab is working on region crossings and attachment issues beside trying to make region crossings smoother and more predictable in general, is so that they might increase the limit on the number of attachments that can be simultaneously worn (currently 38). However, as Oz Linden noted at the Simulator User Group meeting, this won’t happen until such time as attachments can remain reliably … attached.

2018 SL UG updates #28/1: simulator user group / EEP

Posted on by Inara Pey

Aphantasia; Inara Pey, June 2018, on FlickrAphantasia – blog post

Sever Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates.

  • There was no SLS main channel deployment on Tuesday, July 10th, 2018, leaving regions on that channel running on server release 18#18.06.14.516450. However, due to the “14 day rule”, region on the main channel were restarted.
  • On Wednesday, July 11th, the release candidate channels should receive server update package 18#18.07.03.517389, comprising “additional internal tweaks”.

Both of the RC updates will include changes to the Animesh code currently deployed to the RC to allow better logging of Animesh related activities.

SL Viewer

At the time of writing, there had been no SL viewer updates to mark the start of the week, leaving things as follows:

  • Current Release version 5.1.6.516459 and dated June 15, promoted June 21 – formerly the Pálinka Maintenance Release Candidate – No Change
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Quinquina Maintenance RC viewer, version 5.1.7.516813, released on June 22.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Environment Enhancement Project (EEP)

This is the project to introduce a set of environmental enhancements. Rider Linden is now engaged in internal testing a viewer supporting the new EEP capabilities, together with the server-side support. During the July 10th, 2018 SUG meeting, he provided a brief summary as to how the basics of EEP will work:

You can create what are called settings objects in your inventory. These settings objects [they are not prim-like not can they be rezzed in-world] represent either a water, a sky or a complete day cycle. We are providing interfaces that will let you set the parameters for each of these types of settings. (Very similar to the existing WL editors).

[Then,] from the context menu for a setting object you can apply it either to yourself, the parcel you are in or the region you are in. (The last two if you have rights to do so; you may also open the editor and a button there will let you apply to region or parcel as well).

Scripted support for EEP will be provided for agents (avatars) in experiences, but as I’ve noted in previous EEP updates in these pages, this scripted support will not be part of the initial EEP release, but will be added later.

Will there is now the ability to present different windlights at pre-set altitudes (to to 1,000m, then 1,000m up to 2,000m and then 2,000m up to 3,000m and 3,000m+), this may be seen as a less flexible approach that can be achieved through some third-party viewers, which allow much closer altitude zoning of windlight settings (e.g. have a windlight from, say 22m to 500m, another from 500m to 1,000m, etc.). .

The bar at Holly Kai park exemplifies a potential limitation of EEP. The bar is built-in to the base of a rock plateau, and currently, it is possible to define a viewer-side windlight that applies purely to the bar’s interior (i.e. up to a height of 32 metres above the sea floor). Above that limit (“above ground” so to speak), the parcel uses the same daylight windlight as the rest of the region. EEP’s 1,000 metre altitude zoning effectively prevents this.

How big an issue this might be remains to be seen – but it is not unfair to say there is a reasonable number of regions scattered across the grid where EEPs altitude zoning could force a repositioning of different sky builds using local windlights, should it become the only means of applying localised windlight – which might not be initially popular.

In Brief

Retrieving Grid Statistics Page via llHTTPRequest (see BUG-216320): trying to retrieve grid statistics via a script results in a 499 error, although queries via web browsers will still succeed. No remedial work has been done on this.

JIRA Bug report fields issue (BUG-1074): the fields used in the Create form for a bug report do not use the same titles as the fields seen in a filed bug report, nor are they in the same order. This makes submitting a bug report confusing for anyone not used to the SL JIRA (they can’t even look at a filed report to easily see what they sound be entering in the fields of the submission form). This is something the Lab might fix following the deployment of an upcoming JIRA update.