Not much news this week. Plus I have been trying to resuscitate dying laptops. Seems to be a rash of those this week.

UPDATE: 1:54 PM PT – Le Tigre had serious problems and is being rolled back to the previous version. The regions have to be rolled back to get an earlier version of the server software. That is an automated process. Next all the regions in Le Tigre have to be manually updated to a previous SIM state prior to the problems. There are a over 1,000 regions to do. It is going to take some time.

Main Channel

There was no roll of a new server package to the main channel. Last week no Release Candidates made it to the RC channels, so there was nothing to roll.

There is a the New Lag Problem. This problem is pretty much invisible to the Lindens, meaning it is not showing up in their stats. Nor is it an easily reproducible problem. Both of those things make it invisible to the Lindens for all practical purposes. However, those running events are pulling their hair out dealing with the problem.

So, if you are an event manager or promoter, you will want to record the date and time, nearest minute, the lag hit, get as close as you can. Attend the Server Beta and Server & Scripting user group meetings (Time & Location) and provide at least the server version, region name, and date time of the problem.

Seeing the problem reported and discussed a couple of time I’ve realized the Lindens need to hear the Viewer Stats to start to understand that this is not the typical problems they hear. I explain what stats are important to know at the link above.

There is also a griefer attack running across the main grid that produces a similar ‘instant massive lag’ problem. If you see a region suddenly lag, the estate manager and land owners can check for scripted objects and possibly remove them. I don’t have the details but I understand they are hard to find. See the New Lag Problem for links to the discussion of the problem in the forum. You’ll be able to get some help from those participating in the thread.

At this point it is unknown whether this is solely a griefer problem or a problem in the software. It may be both. More information will help solve the problem.

See: Second Life Group Edit Update Week 36 for information on a Project Viewer for Large Groups. REMEMBER! This feature is in TESTING. It could be possible to destroy a group, or get unexpected results. I am sure the Lindens have tested for that, but… it is always possible they missed something.

I’ve never asked if groups are backed up somewhere. I assume they are. Betting on assumptions is high risk.

RC Channels

We did get a roll out today, Wednesday. These RC’s have failed 3 QA test and been blocked from reaching the main grid’s RC channels. This week they made it.

Le Tigre

This channel gets the Large Groups Editing fix. Simon Linden in the Server & Scripting group express the thought it would be on Magnum. Since Oskar and Coyot Linden are more involved in the roll outs and Oskar is writing the forum notice on what is getting deployed, I’ll go with his statement.

Magnum

This is a maintenance package roll out. I think this is the package that has changes to better use the new hardware the Lab is installing. I would guess it is a change from Core2 technology to the iCore processors. But, it might be an AMD change over too. I didn’t think to ask. Whatever, it is not going to provide any tangible feature change we can see. It should improve performance. But, whether we can see the performance change or not, I don’t know.

Blue Steel

This is another maintenance package with some crash mode and bug fixes, boring… but necessary and appreciated.

Beta & Dev Viewer

The Development Viewer has not been updated for a week or so. It is holding at Second Life 3.4.2-265141 Development.

The Beta Viewer is at version:  3.4.1-265134 Beta.

Both of these have higher crash rates then the main release viewer. Oz Linden did not update the Third Party Viewer Directory (10/1) with the latest Beta version’s standing. So, I may be off on that statement.

Firestorm is still the most stable viewer out. Catznip is the next most stable, but behind the SL Release and Beta viewers.

Remember. A viewer’s stability depends on what you are doing with the viewer. Some viewers have problems taking pictures. Others have problems with sound or complex mesh objects. Your case may be different then what others experience. So, experiment and find what works best for you.

Summary

I’m busy and there is not much news hitting, so I haven’t written much this week. Now that we have RC’s rolling out things should start to pick up. I am hoping they find the problem or problems in the viewer code and it begins moving forward again.

Later, this afternoon we will start to see how the new RC’s are working.