Second Life Wolfpack Viewer version 5.0.10.330113 – This is another update from late in week 51. This is the main viewer with special error tracking code. If you crash a lot, try this version. The crash reports the viewer sends will have more information. That will lead to a faster resolution of problems.

This version will replace the main viewer when installed. Enable ‘Willing to use RC versions’ before installing.

Snow Bunnies

Second Life Project 360 Snapshot Viewer version 5.1.0.506743 – no update since week #27. This is the Charley Brown and Lucy’s football viewer.

Second Life Project Animesh Viewer version 5.0.10.330058 – Last updated in week #49.

Second Life Project Render Viewer version 5.1.0.511446 – released week, #50.

I downloaded and installed this version. It is a ‘project’ viewer so it installs in its own folders. It won’t interfere with your main Linden viewer.

As to speed, it is slower than Alex Ivy. I got the 64-bit version of ‘Render’, as it comes in both 32 and 64. I was getting 52± FPS with Render and 80± FPS with Alex Ivy.

I haven’t used this one much. But, first use I crashed after a few minutes. On second use I was on a little less than hour and no crash.

The release notes explain:

This Project Viewer includes several fixes to the Rendering pipeline (always a little scary). Please report all issues to us in Jira, we’ll be watching for them.

• This viewer is now built from the Alex Ivy (64bit) branch
• There is no Linux viewer available for this build
• All known issues for the Alex Ivy Viewer apply to this build
• Improvement to mesh LOD calculation (account for CTRL+0)
• Improvement: Agents that render as jelly dolls should have their attachments render at 0 LoD to prevent loading higher LoD complexity in memory thus deterring crashes -> debug setting RenderAutoMuteByteLimit has to be > default of 0 for this feature.
• Bug: Mesh avatar deforms constantly – was due to bounding box / LOD swaps
• Bug: Some mesh turned invisible when camera is moved – was caused by fix for MAINT-6125.
• Bug: Setting one avatar to “Do not render” causes all avatars to become impostors

There are 11 known bugs. One of those crashes the viewer if an animated Bento-tail is in the scene. First, it reduces the viewer to 4 FPS then crashes the viewer. So, this is likely not a viewer you want to use. It is out so those that enjoy helping with testing can work with it.

There are some other annoying bugs. So, this is not a recommended viewer. If you are having render-related problems, this is not your solution.

Third-Party Viewers

Firestorm didn’t make it out, which I suspected would be the case. But, I hoped. So, now I expect it in early January.

Black Dragon has a Christmas release out. NiranV has added a lot of fixes. It sounds like most of the fixes from the various Linden RC viewers are included. So, this may be the most robust viewer out now. We will have to use it to know.

NiranV needs money. So, a donation system has been added for those that enjoy using the viewer.

Cool VL Viewer released a version 1.26.20.39, Dec 16. The release notes say:

• Fixed a crash bug in the JPEG image decoder (affecting 32 bits releases or 64 bits releases with private memory pools compiled in and used).
• Backported from LL’s viewer-neko a fix to a potential crash bug in the mesh repository (affecting mostly 32 bits releases).
• Backported from LL’s viewer-neko a fix to “render stalls in object heavy regions”.
• Backported from LL’s viewer-neko a fix to “new head attachment slots are not rendered invisible in mouse-look”.
• Backported from LL’s viewer-neko a fix to “Breasts Bounce increases at low fps”.
• Backported from LL’s Axon viewer an improvement to Collada files importing: “allow underscores to substitute for spaces in uploaded meshes; this allows rigging to some attachment points that will not otherwise work”.
• Some code cleanup and minor optimizations.

Also, there is an experimental branch that supports animesh. Animesh is not on the main grid yet. So, this is of minor importance in my thinking. The ‘experimental’ viewers are just a bit farther down the page at http://sldev.free.fr/.