Kirsten released a new viewer version today… well yesterday now that I’ve been playing with it for hours. I’m always eager to see Kirsten and Emerald releases. Mac users can use this release too.

New World Notes has a machinima video up showing a unique use of Kirsten’s shadows, Playing With Kirsten’s Second Life Shadows It is one of the really neat displays of shadow use, shown below. See NWN for details on the machinima.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCGr2X1GFLk]

The new nVidia 400 GPU’s are supported. Awesome.

Planar Texture Alignment Tool added… planar textures are a pain in rear… I do them trial and error. It is tedious hiding seams and getting things to match up.

A Hovertext adjustment feature has been added… It’s setting are in Preferences -> Graphics [Advanced] [Viewer] – I’m using [ ] to indicate tabs and -> for menu picks.

Google translation feature was added in (28), which was apparently a test build… ummm… may be Kirsten means it was more testy than most? 🙂 Kirsten is already the bleeding edge, which I thought sort of made all the releases a test. You turn it on and off in Preferences -> Chat.

In version (27) the Linden style Multiple Attach Points were added The idea here is an avatar can only have 32 attachments. That is an old limit from way back when. We have only been able to attach one attachment to an attachment point. With multiple attachments we can attach more than one attachment to the same point. So, I can were sunglasses and my nose piercing with both attached to my nose. Way neat. I’m still limited to 32 attachments. This multiple attachment feature is optional. One can turn it on or off in Preferences -> Setup – at the bottom.

Version (28) had some problems with multiple attachments. I ran into the same problems with Emerald. Attachments get wacky. I suggest you detach everything from your AV before turning on the feature. Also, use copy enabled attachments. Make a copy then try.

Kirsten points out that some new features are dependent on server updates. The version 1.40 server update is slow coming. Linden Lab is having problems with it, which is not unusual. There are new features and Havok 7 is being added. Word is that Havok 7 is a big improvement for performance. We’ll see.

Several problems in version (28) have been fixed. The chat emotes in (28) were causing some problems. Annoying for role players. A xml glitch in graphics preferences fixed. Script Autosave should be working.

Some are noticing parts of the photos they take having lines through the image where the brightness suddenly changes. A work around is to match the image resolution to your screen resolution. However, I’ve noticed on screen…

There is also a problem with Anti-Aliasing being on or off. If I understand the problem, closing preferences causes anti-aliasing to reset. So, sometimes one will need to leave preferences open and take their picture.

In Actual Use

Resizing the viewer window was a problem. When I first logged in while waiting for my clothes and stuff to download I tried to resize the viewer, click and drag. Locked up and pegged the CPU’s at 100%. So, restart. I resized the window before logging in. That again drove the CPU’s to 100%. Whoa! As I switch away from Kirsten’s Viewer to type and come back there is lag… as I am typing this, one CPU core is pegged at 100% and the other is at about 10%-20%. When I flip back to the Kirsten window nothing happens for a few second, other than the CPU jumping from 20% to 100%. Then in about 5 seconds the window pops to the front.

Trying to open Preferences and change setting before logging in was a pain. Lag was awful and I hadn’t even logged in. I still can’t find a clear cache setting in the viewer. So, I closed S20 and cleared the cache. You can open Preferences and Setup you can see where the cache is. Navigate there and discard everything. Probably good things to do before you install the new version. That fixed my problems. Now before login my CPU cores are at 5 to 15%. Way better!

Logged in and getting good performance, 27+FPS.

OMG… my attachments are wacky and I don’t even have multiple turned on. My DCS2 HUD is wacked again. Fixing it was a pain. A bit of research and I find this is a server version problem. As the SL 2.1 viewer and LL server software updates are supposedly ahead of TPV’s. So, there is some inventory thing going on. For multiple-attachments to work right one has to be where the right server software is running.

This could explain why Kirsten and Emerald viewers tend to rez you with the last set of clothes you were wearing with that viewer. That could prove embarrassing if you logon to your last location…

Textures are a problem… ugh. Bunches are not loading right… well… it was just slow. I’m too impatient.

The bottom bar is customizable… I don’t remember that. In Preferences -> Graphics [Advanced] [Viewer] there are check boxes to add and remove buttons.

The Build, Push, Damage, Fly, and Script enabled are in the top menu on the right side. Nice.

Some people have had problems with Search. I suspect that has more to do with Linden Lab than Kirsten’s Viewer.

Getting to Appearance is a drag. It’s an SL 2.0 thing. When one right-clicks on their AV they can Change Outfit, Edit My Outfit, or Edit My Shape. Pick any one and you can get to the others. Everything that has been around is there, just arranged differently.

I tried shadows… bummer… my nVidia 8800 GTS is not handling them well in this version. My screen goes black, not responding, and then begins a pattern of flashing showing the mini map and menus and then going totally black. Relog, retry, and the same thing. I have to crash out of the viewer.

I do think the textures are sharp and crisp, more so than with other viewers. I think there are some settings that just make things look better with this viewer.