This is the second of may be twelve articles on what was happening this past year, 2015.
February 2015 – 43 Articles
The RC server channels got an update to fix a teleport problem SL Go users were having.
Maison de L’amitié
Viewer-wise we were being told it would be some time before we saw Webkit abandoned and a move to Chromium Embedded Framework. Well, it is December, almost a year later, and we are seeing the change in RC Second Life Valhalla Viewer version 4.0.0.308641. So, it was some time…
The first week of Feb the main viewer was version 3.7.25-299021. The RC viewers were:
- RC Experience Viewer version 3.8.0.298001
- RC Login Viewer version 3.7.25.298971
- Project Hover Height Viewer version 3.7.25.298129
- Project Importer Viewer version 3.7.25.298441 – Getting lots of negative feedback and bug reports.
- Project Managed Marketplace Viewer version 3.7.25.298865
- Project Oculus Rift Viewer version 3.7.18.295296
- Project Tools Update Viewer version 3.7.25.298862 – This went mainstream this month. It is the viewer built with the new compiler.
In February we were noticing a slowing of updates, server and viewer, but improved communication between the Lab and users. We were also noticing slower rendering and more items not rendering.
In mid Feb we saw an RC of Login Viewer version 3.7.25.298971 release. The Lab was A-B testing login screens.
The new versions of the viewers compiled with VS2013 will be driving Windows XP users to other viewers. The Discussion on dropping support for XP had yet to heat up.
More work on and testing of Group Chat was in progress. HUD’s were detaching after teleport. Oz Linden spoke about how bad an idea cache clearing is. See: YouTube Oz on Cache Clearing @ 1:01:20.
Render Muting was in QA. We know it now as Avatar Complexity Information, which as of December was still in the RC viewer stage.
Week 6 saw the conclusion of the 2015 planning meeting. We heard nothing about what was decided. However, excitement within the Lab was said to be high. We already saw the Lab’s post on recent improvements to Second Life; Hover Height, Notifications, Mesh Import, VMM, Graphics Settings Presets, and developer tools.
Gaia Clary was asking for feedback on AvaStar.
The No Link> error started showing up.
Astrid Kaufmat was writing about Fitted Mesh not fitting and the need for a new avatar. At the time I thought there was little chance of a new avatar. But, Project Bento (Dec 2015) has proven me wrong.
A Freeze Frame bug started causing problems. Freeze Frame is a feature in the Snapshot panel. Closing the panel with Freeze enabled froze your world. The only escape was a relog.
This was the month OSGrid came back online after L O N G time offline. Later in the month more assets were recovered.
Net Neutrality and Chinese hacking was all up in the news. See: Net Neutrality Explained
Road to VR was on about social VR. Lots of people in the SL community, including me, were blogging about VR.
A handy work-around for tweaking a region’s Windlight settings was revealed by Honour McMillan. See: Changing Windlight & HDR. Designing Worlds did a series on photography with Strawberry Singh, Honour McMillan and Wildstar Beaumont. See: Second Life Photography Tips.
MayaStar was released. The Maya side of Blender’s AvaStar tool.
Shug Maitland was blogging her wondering whether SL1 could compete with SL2 (Sansar). Later in the month Oz Linden was speaking on the same point. See: Second Life Continuing … for real…
Blender released a set of free 3D brushes. See: Blender 3D Brushes – Free.
Avatar render cost continued to be a big topic in the SL Blogosphere. Avatar Render Cost 2015-07
This month we started to hear more about Windows 10.
The gamer’s blog MASSIVELY closed. The employees behind it came back with Massively Overpowered a few weeks later.