Tag: Simulator User Group 2019

2019 SL User Groups 15/1: SUG; teleport disconnects

Posted on by Inara Pey

Sol Farm; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrSol Farm – blog post

Update, April 10th: as per Bugsly Linden’s forum comment, the RC regions are receiving a maintenance update – 19#19.04.09.526122, which contains additional logging to help capture data on the region crossing issues.

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, April 9th the SLS (Main) channel was updated to server maintenance package 19#19.03.28.525781, comprising the simulator operating system update and EEP.
  • RC deployments – at the time of writing, there was a degree of conflict here:
    • The deployment thread states there is no planned deployment to the three main RC channels, and all three should remain on server maintenance package 19#19.03.28.525781.
    • At the Simulator User Group meeting, Simon Linden indicated there will likely be two deployments, stating:

We’re doing last-minute discussions but will likely have updates out tomorrow in the RC channels. One won’t have any visible changes, but has some logging that might help sort out the region change issue [teleport disconnect?].

The other is a maintenance release, the most interesting thing there is some additions to llGetObjectDetails() that give Animesh information.

    • I’ll update should the deployment thread be refreshed with new information.

UDP  Asset Messaging Deprecation

It was indicated in the week #14 deployment notes that 19#19.03.28.525781 would contain the removal of UDP Asset message handling from the simulator code, meaning that anyone using very old viewers still reliant on UDP messaging for assets will not be able to receive any updates for the following: animations, body parts, clothing, gestures, landmarks, meshes and sounds.

However, testing after the deployment of this package suggests that UDP messaging is still being handled through older viewers (notably the SL Linux Spur and Obsolete Platforms viewers) and on regions on any of the RC channels or the SLS (Main) channel. Whether this is due to a back-end issue (a stale cache?) or something else, is unclear. Commenting on the situation, Simon Linden noted:

I’m not sure what’s going on … it was _supposed_ to be disabled with the update that went to the full grid today.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the current SL viewer pipelines, leaving things as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.1.1.525446, formerly the Love Me Render RC viewer, dated March 26th, promoted April 2nd.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.2.0.525891, April 4th.
    • EEP RC viewer version 6.2.0.525808, April 1st.
    • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.1.1.525409, March 26th.
    • Teranino Maintenance RC viewer version 6.1.1.525401, March 20th.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and promoted to release status 29th November, 2017 – 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. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes.

Teleport Disconnects

Teleport disconnects continue to be a problem, and the Lab is continuing to investigate, having issued a blog post on the matter on April 8th. Commenting on the situation at the Simulator User Group meeting, Simon Linden said:

Currently we know that the 2nd region and the viewer aren’t communicating as they should when it fails … it seems like you get transferred to the 2nd region OK, but the viewer just doesn’t get connected properly … The first region thinks all is well and it’s done, the 2nd gets the TP data but never starts talking right with the viewer.

Following the Simulator User Group meeting, a stress test was attempted, with groups of people teleporting between a group of three regions, with mixed results (some reported disconnects, others had no issues).

15-minute Disconnects

Older viewers have additionally been suffering with “regular” disconnects roughly every 15-minutes, which may be related to the deployment of the latest simulator operating system updates, and might be getting conflated with the teleport disconnects to some degree. However, for Singularity users, there are fixes in the works, and the suggestion is that, if possible, people try installing one of the more recent nightly builds.

2019 SL User Groups 14/1: SUG; teleport disconnects

Posted on by Inara Pey

On The Other Side; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrOn The Other Side – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, April 2nd, the SLS (Main) channel was updated to server maintenance package 19#19.03.15.525315, comprising the simulator operating system update and EEP.
  • On Wednesday, April 3rd, the three RC channels should be updated with at least one server maintenance package (details TBA at the time of writing). Updates should include:
    • The removal of UDP Asset message handling across all RC channels – see below.
    • Some changes that might help with some disconnect issues older viewers have been experiencing, and which appears to be connected to some TCP message handling between the simulator and the viewer.

Removal of UDP Asset Message Handling

The removal of UDP message handing sees the removal of server-side support for asset (inventory) messaging via UDP. All maintained viewers should be using HTTP for all asset handling – and this has been the case for a good few years for several asset types, with the last few moving to HTTP in 2017; as such these viewers will not be impacted by this deployment.

However, it does mean that anyone using very old viewers still reliant on UDP messaging for assets will not be able to receive any updates for the following: animations, body parts, clothing, gestures, landmarks, meshes and sounds whilst connected to regions on any RC channels; this includes the two legacy viewers provided by Linden Lab, the Linux Spur viewer and the Obsolete platform viewer.

In particular, and since  some specific body parts are required to render avatars, user of these older viewers will see their avatar either as a cloud or the “Ruth” avatar, and will be unable to change from it.

SL Viewer

  • The Love Me Render viewer, version 6.1.1.525446, was promoted to de facto release status on Tuesday, April 2nd.
  • The EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.2.0.525808 on Monday, April 1st.

The rest of the viewer pipelines remain as follows:

  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.1.1.525409, March 26.
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.2.0.525404, March 25.
    • Teranino Maintenance RC viewer version 6.1.1.525401, March 20.
  • 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.

Teleport Disconnects

Teleport disconnects continue to be a problem. Some are pointing to the EEP deployment as the cause, and also citing the use of derendering the sky (Advanced menu > Rendering Types > unchecking Sky or CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-6). This seems to work for at least some of those experiencing the issue. However, Maxidox and Rider Linden have been looking into this, with Rider commenting:

The sky thing is much the same as putting a banana in your ear to keep the alligators away.

In other words, while derendering the sky my offer a workaround for the problem, it doesn’t actually resolve the issue.

Simon Linden added:

It’s definitely possible that any difference in network traffic might make the system behaviour change – but I don’t think changing the sky settings produces that much network usage.

The failures I’ve investigated seem to be falling into a middle-limbo where the first region thinks it’s handed you off successfully, but the 2nd doesn’t get all the data it expects and eventually times out.

One suggestion is to keep examinations of physical region crossing disconnects separate to TP disconnect, on account of the former tending to be more generally unpredictable due to the added data being transferred (vehicle as well as avatar(s)) and the manner in which the hand-offs are made. A further possible conflation of figures is the ongoing Singularity disconnect issue.

At the moment, the Lab believe that have one statistic that may show the issue, but as it is only recorded once a day, they are waiting to gather further data from it before determining if it is revealing a possible issue / cause.

2019 SL User Groups 13/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Originalia; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrOriginalia – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • There was no deployment to the SLS (Main) channel on Tuesday, March 26th, leaving it on server maintenance package 19#19.03.07.525089. Previously deployed to BlueSteel and LeTigre, this update contains:
    • Internal fixes.
    • The Environment Enhancement Project code.
  • On Wednesday, March 27th, the BlueSteel and LeTigre RC channels should be updated with server maintenance package 19#19.03.22.525531, comprising:
    • Internal Fixes
    • Removal of UDP Asset message handling – see below
  • There is no planned deployment to the Magnum RC channel, which should remain on server maintenance package 19#19.03.15.525315, comprising:
  • The new operating system update.
  • The Environment Enhancement Project code and all bug fixes for it.

Removal of UDP Asset Message Handling

The BlueSteel and LeTigre RC deployment sees the removal of server-side support for asset (inventory) messaging via UDP. All maintained viewers should be using HTTP for all asset handling – and this has been the case for a good few years for several asset types, with the last few moving to HTTP in 2017; as such these viewers will not be impacted by this deployment.

However, it does mean that anyone using very old viewers still reliant on UDP messaging for assets will not be able to receive any updates on regions on either BlueSteel or LeTigre – this includes the two legacy viewers provided by Linden Lab, the Linux Spur viewer and the Obsolete platform viewer, neither of which contain all of the HTTP asset fetching code.

If you hear someone on a BlueSteel or LeTigre region complaining they are constantly a cloud on those region, suggest to them they check their viewer, and perhaps move to a more recent version.

SL Viewer

  • Bakes on Mesh reached RC status with the release of version 6.1.1.525409 on Tuesday, March 26th.
    • For those not familiar with this project, Bakes on Mesh is a new feature to allow system avatar baked textures to be shown on mesh attachments. Currently you need this viewer to use it.
  • The Love Me Render RC viewer updated to version 6.1.1.525446 on Tuesday, March 26th.
  • The Estate Access Management RC viewer updated to version 6.2.0.525404 on Monday, March 25th.

The rest of the viewer pipelines remain as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.1.0.524670, formerly the BugSplat RC viewer February 13, promoted February 28 No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
  • 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.

 

2019 SL User Groups 12/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Missing Whale; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrThe Missing Whale – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, March 19th, the SLS (Main) channel was updated with server maintenance package 19#19.03.07.525089. Previously deployed to BlueSteel and LeTigre, this update contains:
    • Internal fixes.
    • The Environment Enhancement Project code and all bug fixes for it.
  • On Wednesday, March 20th, the server RC channels should be updated as follows:
    • BlueSteel and LeTigre will remain on server maintenance package 19#19.03.07.525089.
    • Magnum will update to server maintenance package 19#19.03.15.525315, containing:
      • The new operating system update.
      • The Environment Enhancement Project code and all bug fixes for it.

These deployments will mean that server-side support for EEP will be grid-wide. However, the viewer is still at RC status and awaiting some final updates (including the Chrome / Chromium / CEF) fix noted below). The version with the fixes is due to go to the Lab’s internal QA later on March 19th.

SL Viewer

There have been no official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the current pipelines as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.1.0.524670, formerly the BugSplat RC viewer February 13, promoted February 28. No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • 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.

Chrome and Chromium Exploit

As noted in my TPV Developer meeting summary, an exploit within Chrome / Chromium which affects all versions except the very latest, 72.0.3626.121. This is being addressed by Linden Lab, but it will take time for the patch to filter out to all viewers – both the Lab’s own and TPVs (note that neither the Linux Spur viewer and the obsolete OS viewer will not be updated with a patch to fix this issue).

In the meantime, the current internal SL web browser is potentially vulnerable; do not use it to browse non-LL websites on it, and avoid using media on a prim from untrusted sources.

Inventory Maintenance

There will be a period of scheduled inventory maintenance between 05:00 and 07:00 SLT on Wednesday, March 20th, 2019:

During this time, residents may have issues with any inventory related activities including building, logging in, as well as avatar and object rezzing. Please refrain from rezzing in-world, in addition to transacting in-world, on the Marketplace, or on the Lindex during this time.

– SL Grid Maintenance notice

2019 SL User Groups 11/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Chesapeake Bay; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrChesapeake Bay – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • There was no deployments to the SLS (Main) channel on Tuesday, March 12th, leaving it on server maintenance package 19#19.01.25.523656. Regions on the channel were, however, restarted.
  • On Wednesday March 13th, the RC regions should be updated as follows:
    • The BlueSteel and LeTigre RCs should receive a further EEP  update with server maintenance package 19#19.03.07.525089.
    • The Magnum RC channel should remain on server maintenance package 19#19.01.25.523656, comprising internal fixes. Region on that channel should, however, be restarted.

SL Viewer

  • The Environmental Enhancement Project RC viewer updated to version 6.1.1.525044 on March 7th.
  • The Love Me Render RC viewer updated to version 6.1.1.524929 on March 6th.

These updates bring these viewers to parity with the release viewer. The rest of the SL viewer pipeline remains as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.1.0.524670, formerly the BugSplat RC viewer February 13, promoted February 28 New.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.2.0.524909, March 5.
  • 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 Notes

The meeting suggested a few misconceptions / misunderstandings with the EEP project. While I plan to have an in-depth tutorial on the subject available shortly (with the very welcome assistance of Rider Linden), it’s worth making a few points here:

  • As is widely known, EEP makes in possible for region / estate holders and parcel holders to apply EEP settings to their land (subject to region / estate level permissions, in the case of parcels).
  • However what may not be more widely recognised is that EEP also allows environment settings to be directly applied to your own avatar. When this is done, the applied settings will override any in-world settings when seen in your own viewer. This means for example:
    • Aviators can apply an environment to themselves and experience that environment across multiple regions / parcels where they might otherwise encounter multiple environments affecting their viewer during their flights.
    • Photographers can easily apply their preferred settings when taking photos no matter where they are.
    • Once applied, setting will apply until either you re-log (local settings do not persist across sessions) or you set your viewer to use shared settings (i.e. those of regions/estates and parcels).
  • Further, there are some 15 LSL commands that can be used with EEP. The majority of these can be used without restriction; however two of them – llReplaceAGentEnvironment and llSetAgentEnvironment must be used in an experience.

The Question of Script Load III

At the last two SUG meetings (March 6th  and February 27th), there were reports that the percentage scripts run seems to be falling across Mainland without a noticeable increase in script count. If true, this would indicate something is going wrong. However, making an evaluation of possible causes is difficult, and there have been requests to make some of the script-related monitoring available at region / estate level more accessible. A feature request on this has now been raised – see BUG-226501.

2019 SL User Groups 10/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Four Villages; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrThe Four Villages – blog post

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

  • There are no planned deployments to the SLS (Main) channel or the three major RC channels, these sees all four remain as follows:
    • The SLS Main channel remains on server maintenance package 19#19.01.25.523656.
    • The BlueSteel and LeTigre RCs remain on EPP server maintenance package 19#19.02.27.524820.
    • The Magnum RC channel remains on server maintenance package 19#19.01.25.523656, comprising internal fixes.
  • The current small Cake RC on Agni that is being used to iron out some transient network issues with the newest server operating system update, should receive an updated on Wednesday, March 6th, 2019.
    • There are reports that teleporting out of regions on Cake can result in a viewer disconnect.

SL Viewer

The EAM RC viewer updated to version 6.2.0.524909 on Tuesday, March 5th, 2019.

The rest of the SL viewer pipeline remains as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.1.0.524670, formerly the BugSplat RC viewer February 13, promoted February 28 New.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • EEP RC viewer version 6.0.2.524683 released on February 27.
    • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.0.2.523177, January 16.
  • 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.

The Question of Script Load II

The subject of script and script run time returned. As notes in my previous SUG meeting summary, there are some reports that the percentage scripts run seems to be falling across Mainland, without a noticeable increase in script count, which if true, would indicate something is going wrong. Speaking at this week’s meeting, Oz Linden indicated that the Lab hasn’t done anything to their knowledge that should impact script performance. One theory is that child agents could be causing issues (see BUG-225729, BUG-226298).

As also noted in the previous meeting notes, there have been requests to make Top Scripts in a region visible to parcel holders, as well as estate owners / managers. It has been pointed out that this could result in privacy / drama issues and add to simulator processing loads. A compromise idea suggested this meeting would be for parcel owners  to see script time for in-world scripts be aggregated by parcel; this would allow people to have (hopefully friendly) words with neighbours if they see issues. A request has been made for this idea to be submitted as a feature request.

Oz Linden also indicated that allowing users see their own script usage through the viewer UI is on the roadmap.