Problem-Fix

Second Life Viewer Troubleshooting

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Over the years I have seen Second Life™ and the viewers we use change. Computers, screens, speakers, joysticks, and video cards have all advanced as well. But when things go wrong the types of problems and how to troubleshoot them has remained mostly the same. And when it comes to “which viewer” they are all the same for troubleshooting purposes.

We now have Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it is advancing. It is possible to use AI to help troubleshoot. But it can add some complication. But give it a try.

Troubleshooting with Firestorm Viewer

Here I’ll cover the basic and advanced steps needed to troubleshoot issues. Basic understanding of where a problem may exist can save you days of work… literally

Do you actually have a problem?

There are ‘problems’ and there are ‘glitches’. Problems are persistent. Glitches are transitory. They do not repeat, consistently.

Glitches are fixed by shutting down the viewer and relaunching. This is normally the first step in troubleshooting. Some glitches confuse Windows/Apple operating systems and the computer needs to be restarted, second step a issue persists. Network glitches are fixed by restarting your modem/router/gateway device, often the third step.

The point here is these steps are easy and quick.

If after the restarts the problem persists then you have a ‘problem’.

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Second Life Region Crossings 2020 – What’s Coming?

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This is an informal test and I use the word ‘test’ very loosely. I just wanted to see what the commotion about crossing in the new AWS servers was about. There is no hard data in this experiment. My computer and connection are irrelevant IMO. The Viewer is Firestorm 6.4.5 Beta, which I used because I have it setup to work with OBS.

I started my trials in Blake Sea – Half Hitch, Aditi (SLURL). If you search for the region in Aditi, include the Blake Sea part.

There is a long 1 sim wide run from Blake Sea – Azimuth to Blake Sea – Bering of 17 regions. That is a 4.352 kilometer run or about 2.7 miles for the metric challenged. Plenty of room to max out my Bandit 380R (The Mesh Shop – Map URL).

I want to mention The Rubber Bunny. That HUD on the left is made by Kaliska Dismantled of Rubber Bunny. Kaliska makes easy to modify HUDs for various boats and vehicles. I’ve bought a couple (L$49). Plus making some fun vehicles. Among them hovercraft which are a novel SL driving experience.

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Second Life: Moving/Positioning Avatars

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In 2013 Strawberry Singh posted a couple of articles (here & here) about positioning and moving avatars when setting up snapshots. This was needed for those areas where you do NOT have rez rights. Over time viewer upgrades broke those processes.

Avatar Positioning with Black Dragon

Every so often I would check to see if the problems with those processes had been fixed. With Firestorm 6.3.9 (May 2020 release date) I can move the avatar again sort of with her process.

Strawberry explained the process for moving your avatar. (Ref)

  • Open the Develop menu. Top menu, press Ctrl-Alt-Q to reveal it.
  • Then enable Develop->Avatar->Character Tests->Allow select avatar.
  • Press Ctrl-3 to open the Build Panel.
  • Right-click the avatar. Move arrows appear. Move.

Here is a video showing how it used to work. If you have a mesh avatar, right-clicking the avatar likely is not going to work. Instead, you have to right-click on your name tag. Then it works.

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Second Life – Shoutcast – Why did Song Boards die?

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Clubs and various places in Second Life™ use scripts to pull the name of the song playing on their media channel. Recently, the LL function call to request HTTP GET/PUT process changed. In doing so it broke most of the scripts used to get song names.

I must warn you ...My Thoughts are dangerous and impure
I must warn you …My Thoughts are dangerous and impure

The thread about the problem, DJ Board Display Not Working Properly, started in late May. BUG-100737 – Shoutcast receivers unable to relay on RC Magnum 17.05.23.326524 was filed soon after. By the end of the month, the Lindens had figured out the problem and were looking at a fix. BUT… the fix will require the scripts change.

If you can’t hear the screams of agony and frustration… get your hearing checked.

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Second Life – Inventory Loss Warning, Yikes!

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Have you heard about people losing inventory? Probably. Seems there is a bug on the loose that can clean you out.

I answer lots of questions on the SL Forum. I hear a constant stream of “I lost…” Mine and several other people’s best answer has been the Firestorm Wiki page: Missing Inventory. But, those steps do not work for this problem.

Today I see there is currently a more serious problem. And even worse, my best-informed authority on such matters, Whirly Fizzle, says there is no fix, for now. Ouch!

Worst Fears
Worst Fears

So, what is the bug and how are people losing inventory?

Here is what people describe happening. They get a popup saying Trash is full or overflowing. It has a button to empty Trash now. I suggest always selecting LATER. Avoid emptying trash from the popup.

They click EMPTY NOW and poof stuff they are certain was not in trash poofs away. 

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Second Life: News Bits 2017 w18

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I do bits when either there isn’t much to report or for whatever reasons I’ve missed UG meetings. This week RL work had me busy. So… its bits today. Inventory Loss Empirically, we seem to be seeing more inventory loss. Apparently Grumpity Linden was at the Thursday Beta Server UG meeting talking about the Lab … Read more