Viewers
After my Tuesday morning post I found the main release viewer updated to 3.7.4.288138. This was the Hotfix RC viewer compiled Mar 15 2014 and released some time Monday.
Image by: Reema Xue, Flickr
I am finding this viewer runs pretty fast (30+ FPS) when few people are around. Add a dozen people and it slows down horribly. I’ll need to spend more time with it and try it around other groups, but in the little time I have had it, that seems to be a pretty consistent experience.
RC Viewer
- Google Breakpad Viewer version 3.7.4.288045 – This is a version with an updated crash/error reporting system.
- Merchant Outbox Viewer version 3.7.3.287344 – This version has fixes for problems with the Outbox.
- Stat Test Viewer version 3.7.4.288282 – The release notes say this version has no functional changes compared to release 3.7.3.287491. The 3.7.3.287491 maintenance release contains a couple of dozen crash fixes, bug fixes, performance improvements, memory leak and corruption fixes, and minor features.
Project Viewers
Zipper Viewer version 3.7.2.286810 – This is the fast install viewer.
Viewer Crash Rates
Inara reports (link) that third party viewers will no longer be ranked by crash rate. Instead they will be ranked by the percent that log out cleanly, disconnect rates. Crashing viewers do NOT log out cleanly and therefore fail to send a disconnection notice. Technically there is no difference in what is being reported in the TPV Directory just how the Lab counts.
The difference is in what is classed as a crash and measured. The change will probably change crash rates reported. The SL Viewer has dropped back in the rankings. That suggests this counting change has a significant effect.
The 200,000 minutes of use for a viewer version in any one reporting period needed for a viewer to be ranked has not changed. If a viewer version does not get minimum use it is dropped to the second section of the directory.
Unfortunately which version is being reported on in the rankings is not provided. Firestorm has 3 versions running at any one time. We assume the latest version is the most popular and the one being reported. That seems a safe enough assumption.
Nor are OS differences indicated. We know that Mac’s are said to be crashing, but that seems to be on versions 10.6 and older OS versions. XP only has 2 weeks of support left, then it is an unsupported system. It won’t be blocked by the Lab but we know it has high crash rates. Vista and Win7 32-bit systems have high crash rates (is there a 32-bit Win7? I’ll have to check.). Win7 & 8 64-bit versions have far lower crash rates regardless of which viewer is run.
Griefer WARNING
Seems SL is said to be warning people not to open a gift named: RADAR FREE V44. This seems to be a 2009 griefer trick. The latest news I see on it in the SL forums is 2010. The SL Enquirer has a recent alert up about it.
I think someone is recycling an old griefer trick. There doesn’t seem to be anything new here. Still don’t wear or open the gift. Delete it.
Thank you so much for keeping us all in the loop. It’s great to get a view of fixes/improvements, etc. from the inside – and so appreciated.
Win7 does indeed have a 32-bit version. Many of our lab computers (I work for a Cal State University) have the 32-bit version simply because many older Epson printer drivers are not compatible with the 64-bit version. I also have clients who have older motherboards and can only run the 32-bit version. Actually, I find Win7 32-bit more stable than Win7 64-bit, but prefer the 64-bit version for my standalone gaming computer.
Thanks again for a great blog. This is my \go to\ site for tech updates in the world of SL.
Thanks for the kind words.
I run Win7 32 bit on my new computer and using Singularity – my crash rate is pretty much Zero.
And yeah… what Raven said ! Visiting this blog has become part of my daily routine.
Thank you.
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