Tag: Simulator User Group

The Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, June 30th was a relatively brief meeting in terms of actionable news.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for news and updates:

• There was not main channel deployment or restart on Tuesday, June 30th, leaving the servers on server release 543526, comprising further infrastructure updates to support Group chat improvements / support of the cloud uplift work.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, there should by an RC server update that includes a fix for off-line inventory offers failing. However, this update requires a viewer-side fix that should be in all RC versions of the official viewer, and TPVs will need to pick it up. Please refer to the deployment thread for further information on this update, when available.

SL Viewer

• The Love Me Render RC viewer updated to version 6.4.5.544028. Among its updates and fixes, this viewer includes:
  • A fix for BUG-225784 “BUG-225446 regression – HUDs are again affected by environment setting”.
  • Additional logging for detecting Vulkan graphics support on Windows clients.

The rest of the current range of official viewers remains as follows:

• Current Release viewer version 6.4.3.543157, dated June 11, promoted June 23, formerly the CEF RC viewer – NEW.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Arrack Maintenance RC viewer, 6.4.5.544024, issued on June 24 – this viewer uses Viewer Manager 2.0.538279.
  • Tools Update RC viewer, version 6.4.5.544097, June 25 – this viewer is built using VS 2017 / a recent version of Xcode, and Boost.Fiber. It contains no user-facing changes.
• Project viewers:
  • Mesh uploader project viewer, version 6.4.4.543141, June 11.
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

In brief

• The was some general discussion on region crossings. However, as LL are not currently working on these, here is nothing solid to report in terms of updates.
• The second half of the meeting was dominated by comparisons between the the Lab’s Copy / Paste project viewer and a similar parameters capability that has long been a part of editing objects in  Firestorm.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, June 23rd. Not much to report as it as another live music event.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for news and updates:

• On Tuesday, June 23rd, the min channel was updated to server release 543526, comprising further infrastructure updates to support Group chat improvements / support of the cloud uplift work.
• There is no planned RC deployment or restart planned for Wednesday, June 24th, also leaving regions running on release 543526.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the official viewers to mark the start of the week, leaving the current viewers as follows:

• Current Release viewer version 6.4.3.542964, dated May 29th, promoted June 2nd, formerly the FMOD Studio RC viewer – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • CEF RC viewer, version 6.4.3.543157, June 11.
  • Tools Update RC viewer, version 6.4.4.543148, June 5 – this viewer is built using VS 2017 / a recent version of Xcode, and Boost.Fiber. It contains no user-facing changes.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.4.4.543142, June 3.
• Project viewers:
  • Mesh uploader project viewer, version 6.4.4.543141, June 11.
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, June 16th.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the server deployment thread for news and updates:

• On Tuesday, June 16th, the majority of the grid was updated to server release 543337, comprising simulator-side updates that will eventually allow per-region values for Shout, Say, and Whisper distances.
  • Note: Currently these values are read only, and can be accessed via the Sim Console.
• On Wednesday, June 17th, the RC channels will be updated to server release 543526, comprising further infrastructure updates to support Group chat improvements / support of the cloud uplift work.

Voice Carry Project – Update and Re-Cap

Voices Carry is the name given to the extended chat range project. Once fully deployed, it will allow region / estate owners / managers to set the open chat range on a region (see BUG-228333).

As of the June 16th simulator update, the current values can be viewed via the Sim Console, as noted above.  the command for doing so are: “get chat_range”, “get whisper_range” and “get shout_range”.

General notes on the capability, once fully deployed:

• It only applies to local chat channel 0, and so it should not impact scripted objects using other chat channels.
• The distance set within a region will determine which, if any, of any adjoining regions can her local chat with that region.
  • For example, if you are in a region with chat distance set to 50m and you’re more than 50m from any boundary with an adjoining region, then your chat will not be relayed beyond the region.
• The distance chat is set to within a region will determine how far any chat from an adjoining region will be relayed within it.
  • For example: if a region has a chat range of 20m, and chat is relayed from a neighbouring region with a range of 100m, that chat will only be relayed 20m within the current region.
• No matter how great the chat range is set within an region, it will never be relayed further than those immediately adjoining it.
  • For example: if a Mainland region has a chat range set to 1000m, chat from it will only be relayed to the (maximum of) 8 regions adjoining it.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the official viewers to mark the start of the week, leaving the current viewers as follows:

• Current Release viewer version 6.4.3.542964, dated May 29th, promoted June 2nd, formerly the FMOD Studio RC viewer – No Change.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • CEF RC viewer, version 6.4.3.543157, June 11.
  • Tools Update RC viewer, version 6.4.4.543148, June 5 – this viewer is built using VS 2017 / a recent version of Xcode, and Boost.Fiber. It contains no user-facing changes.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.4.4.543142, June 3.
• Project viewers:
  • Mesh uploader project viewer, version 6.4.4.543141, June 11.
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

In Brief

• Extended update deployment roll-times: region owners have noted that the time taken for deployments to roll across  estates has become extended – some regions taking up to an hour to update and restart. LL believe they know what the issue is, but any fix will not be implemented until after the cloud uplift work has been completed.
• Cloud uplift: work is progressing well, although LL are not revealing which services have been migrated and which have yet to move.
  • Following completion of the uplift, all SL services will initially be in a single AWS regional zone.
  • However, LL expect to eventually have things more distributed across zones (e.g.allowing some simulators to be located closer to where their core audience is located, where there is a clear geographical distribution of users.

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, June 9th.

Simulator Deployments

At the time of writing there were no formal simulator release notes, however:

• There was no deployment to the main SLS channel on Tuesday, June 9th.
• On Wednesday, June 10th, the same RC deployment will be rolled to all of the simulator RC channels. This comprises:
  • A minor script constant fix (CLICK_ACTION_ZOOM and CLICK_ACTION_DISABLED were missing).
  • The chat range changes for channel 0.

Voice Carry Project

Voices Carry is the name given to the extended chat range project. Once available, it will allow region / estate owners / managers to set the open chat range on a region (see BUG-228333). When considering it, the following points should be kept in mind:

• It only applies to local chat channel 0, and so it should not impact scripted objects using other chat channels.
• The distance set within a region will determine which, if any, of any adjoining regions can her local chat with that region.
  • For example, if you are in a region with chat distance set to 50m and you’re more than 50m from any boundary with an adjoining region, then your chat will not be relayed beyond the region.
• The distance chat is set to within a region will determine how far any chat from an adjoining region will be relayed within it.
  • For example: if a region has a chat range of 20m, and chat is relayed from a neighbouring region with a range of 100m, that chat will only be relayed 20m within the current region.
• No matter how great the chat range is set within an region, it will never be relayed further than those immediately adjoining it.
  • For example: if a Mainland region has a chat range set to 1000m, chat from it will only be relayed to the (maximum of) 8 regions adjoining it.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the official viewers to mark the start of the week, leaving the current viewers as follows:

• Current Release viewer version 6.4.3.542964,, dated May 29th, promoted June 2nd, formerly the FMOD Studio RC viewer – NEW.
• Release channel cohorts:
  • Tools Update RC viewer, version 6.4.4.543148, June 5 – this viewer is built using VS 2017 / a recent version of Xcode, and Boost.Fiber. It contains no user-facing changes.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.4.4.543142, June 3.
  • CEF RC viewer, version 6.4.3.542757, issued May 27.
• Project viewers:
  • Mesh uploader project viewer, version 6.4.3.542535, June 3.
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

 

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the simulator deployment thread for updates.

• On Tuesday, June 2nd, the RC channels were updated with a server update, version 543116, intended to fix an expired cert that was causing problems with HTTP calls..
• On Wednesday, June 3rd, and providing there are no issues arising from the above deployment, the same server update will be deployed across the rest of the grid.

SL Viewer

On Tuesday, June 2nd:

• The FMOD Studio RC viewer, version 6.4.3.542964, and dated May 29th, was promoted to de facto release status.
• The Mesh Uploader project viewer updated to version 6.4.3.542535.

All other viewer pipelines are 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):
  • CEF Update RC viewer, version 6.4.3.542757, May 27th.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.4.3.542484, May 19th.
• Project viewers:
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9th, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22nd, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17th, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th, 2019.

In Brief

• Parcel EEP settings are still drawing complaints from some who travel over Mainland (particularly by air) who are not particularly enamoured with seeing “their” daytime settings suddenly change. However, there is a simple answer: all they need to do is apply their preferred EEP settings to their avatar before flying, and *presto* they have a constant environment in their viewer for both parcel and region crossings. Simples.
• Apparently, a rumour has been circulating somewhere that LL are “rethinking” the cloud uplift. In response to being asked if there is any truth to it, Oz Linden replied:

[There’s] no truth to the rumour at all. The only re-thinking we’re doing is how to do it better/faster.

• Group chat lag still continues to be a problem for some groups – notably those with a large membership. This appears to be related to the volume of message traffic a back-end group chat server is handling, rather than a specific issue within the chat service.
• Those wishing to test the upcoming changes to nearby chat ranges (channel 0), can do so on Aditi in the following regions: Animesh1, Animesh2 and Snark

The following notes were taken at the Simulator User Group meeting held on Tuesday, May 26th. Not a lot was discussed in terms of meaningful reportage (again), so just a short update on server deployments / official viewer updates.

Simulator Deployments

Please refer to the simulator deployment thread for updates.

• On Tuesday, May 26th, the majority of the grid was updated to server maintenance release 542403, comprising the fix for the group notice archive timestamps bug.
• On Wednesday, May 27th there will be a single RC deployment – maintenance update 542737, comprising infrastructure improvements related to the cloud migration work.

SL Viewer

There have been no updates to the official viewers to mark the start of week #22, leaving them as follows:

• Current Release viewer version 6.4.2.541639, dated May 11th, promoted May 19th, formerly the Camera Presets 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):
  • FMOD Studio RC viewer, version 6.4.3.542486, issued May 21st.
  • Love Me Render RC viewer, version 6.4.3.542484, May 19th.
• Project viewers:
  • Mesh uploader project viewer, version 6.4.2.541645, issued May 15th.
  • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9th, 2019.
  • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22nd, 2019.
  • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17th, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16th, 2019.

New Simulator Chat Range Capability

As noted in my May 16th TPV Developer meeting notes, a new ability is being developed to allow region / estate owners / managers to set the open chat range on a region (see BUG-228333). This update is only intended to affect nearby chat channel 0 (the default open chat channel).

The change has caused a certain amount of confusion. For example, will the chat range be defined by originating region or the recipient region?  For example, if you are in a region with a 100m chat range and are 10m from a neighbouring region, does your chat travel 90-100m into the neighbouring region, or will it be limited to the chat range set within the neighbouring region, if less than 100m?

Or what if you’re 10m from a region boundary, and the region has a chat range of 40m, and the neighbouring region 70m – does it mean people 50m from you in your region cannot hear your chat, but a) your chat will be relayed 70m from the region boundary in the other region,  or b) just 60m (due to the 10m between you and the region edge)?

Replying to questions like these, Rider Linden indicated that it would be the recipient region that would determine the distance chat is relayed within it, where you are close enough to be heard across a region boundary. Oz expanded on this, suggesting it would be a combination: the originating region’s chat range determining which, if any, neighbouring regions can “hear” chat from it, and the chat range in those regions determining which avatars within those regions can then hear the chat.

Rider further indicated that whatever the chat distance set, chat will never be relayed beyond the region(s) immediately adjoining the originating region. So, for example, if you have three region, A, B, and C, arranged in a single line one to the next, chat from A could be relayed in B, but not to C (and vice versa), but, depending on the chat range set in B, it might be relayed by both A and C or only in A or C, depending on the speaker’s location in B.

Hope that clears things up!

Obviously, the new capability won’t override parcel privacy settings. There is still no time frame as to when this feature will be implemented both server-side and in the viewer, which will require an additional UI element to allow the chat range to be adjusted.