Second Life News 2014-11 #3

Viewer Candidates

Hot Fix Viewer 3.7.4.287875 – Monty Linden is doing most of the work on this one. Fixes include problems with a FMODEX (sound) race condition and other problems. The working fixes in this one are important but are not the problems they hoped to solve.

The main emphasis here is getting the SL Viewer crash rate down. If this version can accomplish that it will move to the top of this for promotion to the main viewer.

Interesting Viewer 3.7.3.287127 – This is the viewer that has better caching and scene loading. This iteration has 12 fixes to previous versions.

Merchant Outbox Viewer 3.7.3.287344 – This has about 8 fixes, one being A Windows 7 crash when exiting the viewer. So, if you have been losing settings made recently, this may be the fix. 

Sunshine Viewer version 3.7.3.287158 – This is the version that workd with AISv3 and improves inventory loading stability and elimination of stalls. There are 2 or 3 dozen fixes. If you have avatar rendering problems, this is the RC viewer for you.

This version probably has the last of the changes to Sunshine.

Voice Viewer version 3.7.3.287288  – This RC has the Vivox update  and solves a Mac problem for iPhone headset adapter among others. Mac and Windows versions are working well. Linux is apparently a problem because Vivox does not have a new version out for Linux. They are stuck back on the previous problem version.

The Lab is working on getting a 64-bit version of Vivox. That will be for release to Third Party Viewer Developers. The Lab doesn’t have a 64-bit viewer, but is working toward a 64-bit version viewer.

Apparently a hold up on the Linden 64-bit viewer is Havok. The Lab will have to create a 64-bit version of their library that works with Pathfinding.

Google Breakpad will be coming back. As of Sunday I don’t see an RC on the page. There are already 5 and that is more than the Lab likes. It divides up the pool of testers into too small a group.

Oz says they are honing in on the last set of changes before going live with breakpad error trapping. The process is still some weeks off for most users. It has to get into RC and them make it through RC. Other candidates are, may, and likely will get ahead of it.

Candidates are being held back.

Group Ban is one candidate. Until there are some open slots in the RC group we won’t see this viewer. Plus the server side is in testing in ADITI. That allows the TPV Dev’s a chance to work with this code.

Zipper This viewer is a project. But, it will need an RC slot.

Snowstorm – This is sort of a random a collection of features and fixes. Oz wants to add another feature before nominating it for RC status.

The Oculus Viewer in beta. You may think from the Drax Radio Files and Widely Linden interview that the viewer is ready for RC status. Part of the reason it is in closed beta is from concern about allowing only give it to those that have Oculus the viewer to review it. People with Oculus could run it in Oculus mode and display it on a normal screen rendering the duel image pictures you have probably all seen.

Of course then they will bombard the Lab with all the things they did wrong in the UI… yes, without being able to actually see how it works. People are amazing oblivious… Whatever the Lab is avoiding that cluster copulation.

Oz was talking with a person using Oculus in a combat game. The word is it is so real it is exhausting. It was no longer like a person shooting in a game. It is like you are in a neighborhood shooting it out for real. It generates real adrenaline burn out.

Oz also thinks Oculus chat users are going to be learning to be touch typists.

Crash Rates

All RC have a higher than acceptable crash rates. So the Hot Fix is an important candidate for the Lab. They are hoping to find the problem and get the rates down. New candidates coming out ahead of the Hot Fix are building on the crash rate. So, the Lab is working to get crash rate down.

Oz says AISv3 is live on all simulators as of Friday…

Word from Jessica is that there are now over 50,000 downloads of the new Firestorm viewer. Ed Merryman adds that the majority of those are the 64-bit version.

Main Viewer

Currently all of the RC viewers and the main viewer are at the high end of what the Lab considers acceptable crash rates. This doesn’t surprise me since I have been crashing.

They are working on getting crash rates down as I mentioned above. But, for now we will see more crashes with the main viewer than we have at various points in the past. 

One thought on “Second Life News 2014-11 #3

  1. Pingback: Second Life News 2014-12 | Nalates' Things & Stuff

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