From the Third-Party Dev UG meeting June 1, 2018 we have some news. Plus, the usual stuff.
Severs
The main channel moves up to version #18.05.25.515749. This version includes;
- Added server-side support for an upcoming capability to deliver estate information to estate owners and managers
- Internal fixes
Once the Estate Tools improvements are added to the viewer, the tools will be live. The improvements are mostly about easier editing of ban lists.
The three RC channels get version #18.05.30.515812. This version has a few user visible changes;
- Additional work to support localized Abuse Report categories
- Shaved a few nanoseconds off a check for each object update, as part of ongoing performance improvements
- Stopped logging a trivial message
- Internal fixes
Not long ago we were teased with information that not all ‘internal fixes’ are security things. Some are to support SL15B surprises.
Viewers
The RC viewer Second Life Love Me Render Viewer version 5.1.5.515528 is now the main/default viewer for Second Life™. My limited use of it has me thinking it is a bit faster, FPS-wise, then the previous version. This version has about 6 months of render fixes.
The only RC version available to users is Second Life Maintenance Viewer version 5.1.5.515527 – Last updated in week #21. This viewer had been around since week 15±. The release notes are here. This viewer fixes a couple of dozen things. The Maintenance Viewer is doing OK.
With the release of the Love Me Render we will see those updates ripple through the RC and Project viewers.
Second Life Project 360 Snapshot Viewer version 5.1.3.513006 – Last updated in week #10.
Second Life Project Animesh Viewer version 5.1.4.515420 – Released week #16.
Second Life Project Bakes On Mesh Viewer version 5.1.3.513936 – Last updated in week #14.
Third-Party Dev’s Meeting
In the pipeline are; Bakes-On-Mesh, Animesh, and the 360-Image, which is not getting worked on now, but will likely update.
A new maintenance viewer is also in the pipeline. We should see it come out of QA soon.
Also, very soon we will see a new viewer version with estate manger tools.
Meeting Index…
Sort of…
03:35 Floor opens
Resource management tools have yet to be merged. But, they are planned to be added into the experimental viewer for ACI/LI calc changes. The Lab has been collecting lots of measurements and experimenting with equations for ACI/LI. Oz says they are focusing in… but, this will be a SLOW roll out. Changing LI risks triggering massive region returns. They plan to avoid that.
One way to avoid returns and still increase Lend Impact (LI) cost is to raise the region limits. Might happen.
The Lab is currently working on the texture cache. Oz thinks the revision should make a significant performance improvement.
Changes are coming to the Camera Controls UI. The changes have been waiting on a couple of UI controls that apparently depend on EEP controls. So, EEP is being done ahead of them. We apparently have a bit to go on EEP before it releases.
Will VRAM limits get changed along with the cache work? Yes, but OZ explains experience has shown some video cards lie about the VRAM available. Of course, that creates problems. So, believing them can create more problems than using less VRAM. Translated, we will see some change but, probably not what people expect.
The Lab handles more video card than most games. So, this is a more complex problem than most consider.
There is an idea to allow users to set the VRAM use limits. They could set the limit for their card. Experience shows that also is not a workable solution. Letting users do it creates more support problems than it solves.
The texture cache’s max cache size is to be much much bigger. So, we can eat up loads of disk space, if we have it. The current limit is 10GB. I may have to upgrade to 64GB of RAM for a bigger RAM drive.
Substantial effort going into moving to cloud. That work is boring to talk about, but it is taking up time. The other big projects we supposedly know about, i.e., Bakes-on-Mesh, EEP, Animesh… It is the move to the cloud that prevents more user visible projects from moving forward.
The work on moving to the cloud is going well.
Crash Reporting there is a viewer/server branch that is experimental. The Lab is looking at using BugSplat for error reporting. If that works out, they will switch over. It is a commercial product so Third-Party viewer dev’s may choose to stay with the current BreakPad reporting. There is something going on with BreakPad. Discontinued or evolving to another system… I don’t know.
BreakPad requires the Lab to manage a large database and analytical system to track down bugs. If a commercial provider that specializes in the tasks can do a better job cheaper, then it is a win for the Lab. Less to maintain and easier tracking.
The 360 Snapshot viewer version is waiting in part for Place Pages to update. The 360 and Places Pages integrate. And partly waiting because the software engineer working on it is needed for other things. Plus, there are some graphics challenges to taken care of because of the large image sizes. They plan to get back to it.
The Land Auction System is coming along well. Users will see it this month, June. It is first to be used by Linden auctions while it is tested. Once the Lab has confidence it is solid, anyone that owns a parcel can auction it.
Auctions and Place Pages are connected. To auction land yourself you’ll need to make a Place Page… or so I hear.
Third-Party Viewers
Kokua Viewer – Kokua Release 5.1.5 – This release puts Kokua at parity with the Linden v5.1.5.515811.
Kokua comes in RLV and Non-RLV versions.
RLV – Marine Kelly has an article up about XtremRLV. You may remember once up on a time there was an XtremRLV viewer. It used some fancy foot work with your password to make it impossible for a user to login with another viewer or turn off RLV.
You might imagine what griefer opportunity that was. So, the Lindens put a bit in the Terms of Service (ToS) to prohibit that type of viewer.
So, Marine has decided to try an experiment with a ‘Hardcore’ version of her viewer. No password games or viewer brand restrictions. But some very hardcore no way to turn off RLV.
See her article Hardcore RLV for details and were to get the viewer.
Singularity – It hasn’t updated for a month, but I keep seeing people ask about where to get a newer version. Seems most people find ONLY the main release, which is a June 2016 version. The latest release is the Singularity Alpha version here, May 2018.
Note: If your blog doesn’t have an RSS feed, I am NOT notified when you post something new about your viewer. If you only update people in-world via a group, I probably won’t know about your updates.
So, if you want your viewer updates noted, you’ll have to have an RSS feed or notify me.
Other News
I found a designer named KCK in Bad Girls, AGNI. Nice clothes that fit all the main bodies, including both Slink female bodies. With fat packs for ridiculously low prices, the Harvy Dress fat pack is going for L$80. Twenty colors and 10 patterns. Wow… and it is cute. The demo looks great on me (5 min demo). Yeah, I bought it. I spent too much in that sore… but I have lots of new cute stuff.
LSL Scripting – There has been some discussion about how llName2key is or isn’t working as expected. The oddities are with Firstname Resident type names. I’m not going to get interested until last names comes back.
Steals, Deals, and Freebies – Ryan Schultz has been running two or three of these articles a week. They are some nice deals for some nice stuff. So, check out is SD&F…
Hello and thank you for the shout-out! 🙂
Here is a link to all of my posts in the category Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies:
https://ryanschultz.com/category/second-life-steals-deals-and-freebies/