This viewer is dated Dec 4 2013 04:55:18 (Second Life Release) in Help->About… But, it just updated on my machine today as a required update. Meaning I needed to install it before logging in. I still find that annoying.
But, the release notes for Second Life Release Viewer version 3.6.13.284757 just popped up on the wiki. So I expect to see another update soon.
Changes in 3.6.13 are:
- more viewer-side control of which objects are loaded in memory at any given time
- more aggressive scene caching – viewer stores whole region in cache, not just the parts in view when you log out
- faster scene load when visiting a region you’ve never been to before
- viewer does not load object from cache that are completely hidden by scene geometry
- expanded performance metrics
I think I’ve been writing about all these features over the last few weeks. These appears to be mostly the changes and additions from the Interesting RC Viewer. They make for a much nicer user experience. Areas render much faster. The caching changes reduce the bandwidth demand.
Also repaired in this version 3.6.13 are:
- BUG-4675[c] Viewer crashes while reading chat history
- SH-4606[c] Interesting: Small objects do not load until they are very close.
- SH-4627[c] [INTERESTING RC] “Object out of range” is not detected on teleport.
- SH-4631[c] [INTERESTING RC] Parts of linked objects are not shown in new release Second Life 3.6.11
- SH-4641[c] Interesting: Incorrect amount of system memory detected on Mac
There are still some known problems:
- MAINT-809[c] [PUBLIC] Setting 16x anti-aliasing crashes Viewer in Ubuntu 11.10 with GeForce 6600
- MAINT-3200[c] WL Haze effects are inconsistent between solid and transparent objects under water.
- MAINT-3197[c] Rigged alpha attachments don’t render for impostors.
- MAINT-3198[c] Legacy bumpiness renders funny on HUD faces with custom alpha mode
- MAINT-3213[c] Brightness and Darkness legacy bump maps render incorrectly on Intel GPUs.
- MAINT-3135[c] Cocoa Viewer: Mac: Maximizing the viewer leaves garbage on the screen
- WEB-4659[c] Direct Delivery Outbox fails in Linux build
- STORM-1971[c] MAC viewer – Renaming an object or clothing item in inventory results in automatic wearing
I was using the Interesting RC Viewer, which has most of these changes and fixes in 3.6.13. I switched to the Fitted Mesh Project Viewer and have been missing the faster render.
I thought this was just the update to the Interesting RC viewer after the full release of viewer 3.6.12.
You are right. I just saw the wiki change pop.
If the 3.6.12 upgrade was mandatory, it was probably because you were running a candidate viewer that had been obsoleted; there have been a number of those lately (this is a good thing… we are able to get people out of viewers that have unacceptable problems).
The new release notes you found are for the next Interesting release candidate, which you can see on the official alternate viewers page. Whether or not that will be the next candidate promoted to the default release remains to be seen, but there won’t be another promotion until 2014.
Thanks for explaining.