Recently we have seen a number of people complaining about getting disconnected, repeatedly. No one has determined if it is an SL problem or just problems local to the users being disconnected.
The main release SL Viewer today is: 3.6.12-284506. I expect that to change this week.
The RC viewers are now:
We have more project viewers this week: Continue reading
Scripting
We have a new Linden Scripting Language (LSL) function coming: llScaleByFactor(). It allows for uniform scaling of an entire linked set with one LSL call. If you size hair or shoes, you may notice the ripple of size changes as the item is scaled prim by prim. This function will provide a faster and more efficient way to accomplish the same thing.
This change will go into an RC release that is planned for January.
Server-Scripting Meeting 2013-51 – Andrew’s last meeting.
Andrew says this feature is already running in ADITI on there regions: Boardman, Borrowdale, Balance, Mayfair and Hawkshead. So, you should be able to test the function there, now. Continue reading
Second Life is now in a no change window. So, there will be no server rollouts this week. Nor will the main SL Viewer update. We might still see an RC Viewer update or two. The current no change window ends January 1. That only leaves two days in the week for changes to rollout. I don’t expect much change in that two day period.
Holidays are here and I’m busy with real life stuff. That means there won’t be much stuff in this blog for the next couple weeks.
Inara Pey has an article up about Fitted Mesh. See: Fitted Mesh: “last call” for issues; release candidate “after the holiday”. Inara points out the Lindens’ calls for feedback on Fitted Mesh. It seems the Lindens’ plans are to have a project viewer out early in the new year. Early as in just after the holidays. That makes it urgent to get your feedback regarding Fitted Mesh in as soon as possible.
This is sort of a ‘speak now or forever more hold your peace’ type of thing.
While Oz Linden has said they may make additional changes to the avatar, the window for changes to be made to the avatar skeleton is closing. Changes and fixes to the skeleton not made now will likely have to wait some time, like years. So, get the Fitted Mesh Project Viewer and make sure things work as you want.
Suggestions, changes, and feature suggestions should be made in FITMESH project section of the SL JIRA.
Avastar users should keep checking the download page for test versions that work with the new avatar skeleton and collision bones.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Tuesday the main grid will get the roll out expected. This is a small maintenance package has a fix for llGetAgentInfo() so it now detects AGENT_CROUCHING.
All three channels will get the same package. The Maestro Linden in the SL forum describes the new packages as: “ This project contains a single bug fix, related to vehicles becoming stuck in the ‘sat upon’ state (which prevents parcel autoreturn).”
This will likely be the last set of server updates until after January 6th.
Read the viewer update in the previous article for the latest viewer news.
Beach Front Reality closed as I mentioned last week. They ran about 50 regions. Ciaran has an article up: Private Sim Losses Swell Due To Large Estate Closure. Ciaran’s suggestion that the Lab should approach some of the people that owned 50% or more of a region, is something I think would have been smart.
Fifty regions at $300± per month is US$15,000 or $180,000 per year. I would think that marketing or customer service could have put someone on contacting these people and making a deal with them.
From the Third Party Viewer meeting we learn that the viewer install code has been changed to make use of RC and Project installs easier for the Lab and TPV Dev’s. Earlier I mentioned Name RC Viewer as having the program code changes that allow viewers to be more easily named. Being able to better control channel names cleans up some install problems as well as data tracking.
Third Party Viewer Meeting 2013-49
I am taking what I hear Oz Linden saying about not wanting to get into the details of this change to mean it is complex with Linden preferences driving some of the changes. As long as things work better, none of the detail matters to me.
The Maintenance RC Viewer had a really bad crash rate. It has been withdrawn and users pushed to other viewer versions. If you installed it and disabled automatic updates, you need to replace it. Continue reading
Next week (50) we will likely have a rollout to the main grid and another to the RC channels. Then we enter a no change window. We won’t see any new rollouts until probably January 7th.
The packages in the tube right now are minor packages with only a small number of problem fixes.
Viewers have the same no change window. We might see RC and Project viewers updating. But, the main release viewer is unlikely to change after next week (50).
A new version of this project viewer is out: 3.6.12.284458.
This version lists JIRA item STORM-1985 – Mesh garments don’t adapt to changes in avatar shape. One of the things mentioned in the JIRA item is FITMESH-6 and how enabling and disabling the Advanced Lighting Model changes the behavior of the viewer’s ability to render shape changed clothing items in wireframe mode. For those of us looking to see how well demo clothes are made before purchasing, this is a definite problem.
Presumably this is fixed in this version.
MAINT-3311 – Skinning to some collision volumes is broken. I can’t read details on MAINT items. But, presumably this too is fixed.
Download here: Alternate Viewer Page.
There will be a roll out Tuesday morning. The package running on Blue Steel and Le Tigre will get promoted to the main change. This is the one that includes the vehicle region crossing fix.
Wednesday there will a single package rolling out to all three RC channels. This package contains a fix for: llGetAgentInfo() so that it now detects AGENT_CROUCHING correctly for avatars who have custom ‘Crouching’ or ‘CrouchWalking’ animations (BUG-4431). There is also a crash mode that has been fixed.
Since they aren’t saying much about the crash mode, I assume it is some exploit or other security fix.
There is one RC viewer and one project viewer on the RC Viewers page. As of late Monday those haven’t changed from last week. The Interesting and Fitted viewers are it.
In the Third Party Viewers class Firestorm has moved back into first place for the most stable viewer. I say first because I don’t count Radegast as a viewer because it is not a graphical viewer in the sense that other TPViewers are. I just don’t see it in the same class.
Viewers
The GPU Table Viewer was promoted to main viewer status. So, it is gone from the RC Viewers’ page. This should fix several problems for those with newer video cards. From what I have heard, it may also have created some problems for those with cards that do not meet system requirements. But, there isn’t enough information to know. Reports in the forums are always lame.
The Break Pad Viewer is undergoing updates and doing a better job of error reporting. So, for now you won’t find it on the RC Viewers’ page. It will be back. The Lindens are getting the system figured out. But, they still are figuring out problems. Once this is in place and released it will help the Lab and TPV Dev’s find bugs faster.
TPV Meeting 2013-47
Interesting Viewer 3.6.11.283895… yep it is still out there, still getting fixes. I was using it, until Fitted Mesh came out. It does make a difference in render performance.
The Fitted Mesh Viewer 3.6.11.283899 currently includes the GPU update. I think it excludes the Interesting and Breakpad code, but I’m not sure.
All the RC and Project viewers are getting fixes. But there will not likely be any new RC releases this week as it is a no change window, US Holiday Thanksgiving Nov 28 to Dec 1. Continue reading