Viewer Releases
Default viewer: Remained 26.4.0.37384746592 throughout October. This series includes Lua scripting support on enabled regions, improved communication with the Second Life Visual Studio Code extension, an experimental Linux build, WebRTC voice updates, and related maintenance.
October 29: Viewer 26.5.0.40714792196 was published as the 26.5 beta/release candidate. Key additions:
- Chat Modernization: Recent one-to-one direct messages now sync across supported desktop and mobile clients. History is available on login; existing local desktop logs are preserved and merged into a continuous conversation. Group and multi-person chats are not yet supported.
- Game Control: Native support for game controllers and joysticks. Preferences (Me → Preferences → Game Controls) allow mapping buttons and axes for movement, camera, mouselook, and cursor control; sensitivity, inversion, and dead-zone adjustments; running, crouch, and sit options; expanded flycam controls; and clearer device/status display.
- Camera and Travel: Reduced lag/wobble when focusing on moving linked objects (including seated avatars and attachments), fixes for stuck cameras after unseating or vehicle disappearance, improved follow-camera continuity across parcel boundaries, better zoom behavior, and other responsiveness fixes.
- Other improvements: In-viewer account creation, updated Destination Guide display, additional mouse-button double-click bindings, full profiles from Legacy Search, 360° snapshot sound, portable installation data storage, LEAP camera position/orientation API, microphone capture stopping when muted, clearer startup error messages, and numerous stability/crash fixes (including Linux memory reporting, gesture deactivation via links, voice device switching, macOS rendering, and various crash modes).
A Linux build was available via GitHub. The release carried no listed known issues and invited feedback on cross-device DMs, controllers, camera behavior, Linux performance, and stability.
Earlier in the month, chat-modernization project viewers and Lua Editor/Linux builds continued testing and iteration.
Third-Party Viewer Enhancements
October 26: Firestorm 7.2.5.81788 was released. It incorporates Linden Lab changes through official viewer 26.3 (including Flat UI with the Inter typeface, voice moderation on land, inventory favorites from worn objects, Windows Voice Clarity on Windows 11, mute-based conversation-history filtering, and PBR pipette support), plus extensive upstream fixes for chat scrollbars, tooltips/emojis, gestures, Linux avatar rendering, various crashes, and voice reconnection/device handling.
Firestorm-specific highlights include a major Animation Override overhaul supporting multi-layered playback: Animation Tracks (simultaneous continuous animations across a state, e.g., tail wag during all walks) and Animation Groups (sets of animations that play together for the same duration). Additional work covered inventory tab filtering, wearable favorites, build-gizmo custom colors, note card creation in object contents, contact sets, and numerous quality-of-life and OpenSim improvements. Full notes are lengthy; a clean install is not required, but settings backup is advised.
Cool VL Viewer: Stable branch reached 1.32.4.53 and experimental branch 1.32.5.23 on October 24 (Linux x86_64/aarch64 and Windows x86_64 builds). The viewer continues its weekly release cadence, emphasizing UI stability, dual ALM/forward + PBR rendering, improved texture fetching and frame-rate limiting, WebRTC voice, viewer-side Lua automation, and rapid integration of open-source fixes while remaining TPV-policy compliant and OpenSim-compatible. Detailed incremental changelogs are published with each build.
Other activity included Aurora Viewer 0.8.3 (native Apple Silicon/Mac support via Metal, improved messages and creator tools) and continued public-beta work on TRZ View (lightweight Windows-focused viewer). The official Second Life mobile app (public beta) received updates improving menu navigation, list scrolling, sign-in reliability, crash fixes, and integration with the new cross-device direct-message history.
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