Second Life and Virtual Worlds
There is no roll out to the main grid this week. None of the release channels tests passed. I think this is the second week in a row they have failed. It appears the weekly restart has also been skipped.
These two release channels are to get a new server maintenance package. No details yet.
Tuesday the next server maintenance pack should roll out to a release channel. For scripters this roll will have llSetRegionPos(), the frame_number parameter for llGetEnv(), and some llSetKeyframedMotion() bug fixes. We’ll find out which channel gets the update Tuesday.
Roll outs are a bit off and the pipeline is a little dry because of last week’s network switch failure. So, I think we will see release channels roll Tuesday instead of Wednesday.
A backend feature has been added. Kelly Linden says it is a % scripts run stat. This tells one what percentage of scripts ran in the last frames as an average. We will eventually see it in the viewer. But, it has the QA pipe to make it through before we see it. Version 3.2.7 made it to the development alpha today. So, % scripts will likely be one or two versions behind that.
This new stat is the average percentage of scripts that ran in the last frames. A 100% average means all scripts are running in every frame.
For those using the LSL Editor it’s time to update. This update adds lots of constants and a function or two. This brings it much closer to the current LSL (Linden Scripting Language) state. If you don’t know about the LSLEditor, it is a third party offline editor and debugger for SL scripts. It is open source. … Read more
Kelly Linden learned that when iTunes locks up the SL Viewer can’t open… Computers are full of complications. The viewer will never get past Initializing VFS, if iTunes freezes. This is Windows. No telling what will happen on a Mac.
Kelly says the server maintenance release from Le Tigre seems to be running well. This is the release that got rolled back from the main channel once. It is good it is running well. Because this is the release we will run until next year.
The roll out means both LSL functions llTransferLindenDollars() and llGetParcelMusicURL() are on the main grid.
The rumor about more region crossing failures came up. Apparently there is no statistical data to tell the Lindens that is the case. So, unless people are filing JIRA’s it would be an invisible problem from the Linden side of the equation.
Kelly says the Lab is currently working on projects to improve region crossings. The Lab is also working on projects to reduce what Kelly called ‘up time bloat’. I suppose that is things like memory leaks and other things that tend to degrade region performance over time.
This week the code from Le Tigre/Magnum rolled to the main channel. This is a server maintenance pack. It includes the LSL function llTransferLindenDollars(). The thread that links to is now about 5 pages long. The details of the function are:
I’ll do this update and another later in the week. We have some good news and some bad news.
First, the good. It seems the kernel (3.0) upgrade is working and roll has reached 20% of the grid. We may see that roll out increasing its pace. It does mean a region restart so many regions will be seeing 2 restarts today and some tomorrow. Others will be seeing an additional restart later in the week.
Second, the Le Tigre region was rolled to the main channel. (Release Notes) Some people are reporting teleporter device problems. It seems to be associated with posJump(vector target_pos). However some people are having problems and others are not.
Kelly Linden thinks tomorrow (Tuesday) the Le Tigre update will roll the main channel. Chances are good it will work this time. It contains a large number of fixes and some improvements.
Once it rolls to the main channel there will probably be no further upgrades until next year. After this week Second Life enters a no change window and a number of Lindens take holiday.
Havok and script functions are being looked at to improve movement in SL. In the wiki is a function… well more of a subroutine… warppos() that handles movement over more than 10m. Some consideration is being given to making the function a built-in function, may be llWarpPos(). No promises.
I suspect most of you know Linden Realms opened to the general public in Second Life. If you have been to a Realm you may have noticed new features. Teleporting has changes in that you walk into a Portal and it will teleport you into the game. This is a teleport on collision feature. It is a feature we have in OpenSim scripting. It is coming to Second Life. Exactly when or how it will work is unclear. The Lindens are considering how the feature can be used by griefers and how they may limit its abuse.
There is all so the HUD that attaches automatically. Many of us are pretty sure we do not want mall owners attaching shopping HUD’s to us when we visit a mall. So, the auto-attach HUD feature is also being considered in terms of griefing.
There are also auto-run animations. Obviously those can be used by griefers to be annoying. So, those have to be considered in terms of griefing.