Busy RL. Work, shopping, traffic, border closed…

Servers

There is a deploys post… everything is TBD…

This is the second week for the main channel without an update. So, there will be restarts.

We probably will see an update to the RC and Snack channels. But, one will have to be at the Server-Scripting UG to get any clues.

The word from the meeting is the RC’s are getting an update with internal fixes… Simon Linden says they took out a large amount of logging code dealing with mesh. Like from back in the mesh-development days. Now that mesh mostly works, the logging is not needed.

Voice is a problem over on ADITI. They are working on that. The fix is in the pipeline.

There is some new code for region crossings. This code will limit the ‘prediction’ calcs and hopefully, reduce rubber banding. Simon doesn’t know which release will have that code. So, we likely won’t see this code until after the holidays. 

Viewers

The main viewer is version 6.0.0.520636 released in week #46. We will likely see this update once more before the Christmas holiday no change window.

Second Life Bugsplat Viewer version 5.1.9.519462 – Last updated in week #37.

Second Life EAM Viewer version 5.2.0.520057 – Moved from Project Viewer to RC in week #40.

Second Life Love Me Render Viewer version 6.0.1.521759 – New. – Previously updated in week #46.

Second Life Maintenance Viewer version 6.0.1.521757 – Released last week, #47.

Second Life Project 360 Snapshot Viewer version 5.1.6.515934 – Last updated in week #10.

Second Life Project Bakes On Mesh Viewer version 5.1.10.520711 – Last updated in week #44.

Second Life Project EEP Viewer version 6.0.0.521947 – New. Two updates in two weeks. The previous version 6.0.0.521803 updated in week #47.

Other Viewers

Firestorm Viewer – Still no update release. Soon. I expect one before Christmas.

The team does have an explanation up about SL TVs and why many do not work. It is the patent on the H.264 video encoding. The Lab is still figuring out if there is a legal-technicality workaround or whether it will ever be worth the cost to license it for their viewer. Lawyers generally work by the hour. So, this is taking time.

Without a license, the Lab has blocked MP4 playback. Third-party viewers have not licensed it and they leave the MP4 playback code out to avoid liability. So, the viewers with MP4 playback are likely pirating it and taking risks. How much risk you incur from using a pirate viewer with MP4 playback is hard to say. But, it is easy to figure out the risk of your password being stolen by a pirate is pretty good.

Firestorm wrote the article because of the recent Firestorm Pro Viewer hoax. Knowing why H.264-MP4 doesn’t work in the viewer is a good hint to which is a legitimate viewer and which a pirate-hacker’s viewer.

More FS below…

Kokua v6.0.0 – Kokua has a new version out. This version updates RLV support and fixes a login issue where parts of your avatar were missing.

RLV 2.9.24 – Marine Kelley has a new version out with the latest RLV updates and has added Animesh Support. Announcement. There are other bug fixes too.

Black Dragon Viewer – NiranV has an update out. Bunch of bug fixes and code cleanup. Plus, a new batch of warning notices for when you change a setting likely to mess things up.

BD has had Animesh support for some time now.

The UI interface in Preferences is changing… It is a nice interface. It is different from all other viewers. So, good luck finding things.

The ARC or ACI numbers have been revamped. So, you have different numbers that are ‘better’.

Cool VL Viewer – Updated 12/1 – CoolVLViewer-1.26.22.24-Windows-x86_64

Other News

Animesh – It is out. But, not yet usable as Firestorm is just moving toward supporting it. The result is most animesh creatives are waiting on Firestorm to release before marketing their new animesh creations.

But, one enterprising marketer has named him/herself ‘AniMesH’. So, when you search for animesh in the SL Marketplace you see all his stuff. Witty but annoying.

LEA – Linden Endowment for Arts – This program is getting a review and shake up. Of the current 29 regions 19 will close, evaporate. This happens January 1, 2019.

Talks are ongoing about how LEA will proceed.

All the news on this subject is on third-party sites. I haven’t seen any official Linden posts. But I may be missing them.

For the last year or so there have been questions about the LEA organization. (ref) Still, nothing concrete.

Firestorm – The beta version of the viewer with Animesh support should be out or soon will be.  One nice thing it will include is a change to the mesh-upload screen.

Bakes on Mesh – The latest version of BoM is operational on ADITI. I think this is the version they expect to be a final version. This is confusing as most of BoM is handled in backend services not in the region simulator. The backend stuff is available everywhere.

The trick is having a viewer that can use BoM. Only the project viewer can use BoM services. With any luck the project viewer will work well enough to bump up to RC status.

Enhanced Environment Project – EEP – The scripting additions server side are nearing completion, like this or next week. Then the viewer side needs to be completed. There is some tricky ‘permissions’ stuff to handle viewer side.

Slow SL Marketplace – You may have noticed the marketplace is S L O W… The Lindens are aware and are working on it.

Swaginator – This week’s (#3) is a frustrating hunt. Monday Linden Realms was lagging so bad I gave up. I returned Tuesday. My assumption is the regions have been restarted because things worked much better.

Monday I could not collect gems. I was getting slammed by traps. I couldn’t seem to get 10 meters without being zapped. Then when I left, I had to relog to get rid of the Realm’s HUD.

Once you do find the glowing tree, watch out for the nearby bear trap… and the ones on the way there. There is between you and the prize. They are surprisingly well hidden… for being out in the open.

AvaStar – Gaia is opening a Discord Channel (invite URL).

NVIDIA – They have released a couple of recent updates. They are up to version 417.22, Dec 3, 2019 – 543MB.

Land Auctions – The Lindens are still sorting out problems with the new land auction system. They plan to try a ‘soft-start’ on December 7^th. Didn’t the Japanese try that? Whatever. You’ll have an opportunity to try the system in some measure.

Christmas – It is coming! Merry Christmas to you. I have my SL house decorated. Still working on getting RL decorations up.