Dolphin Viewer 3.2.10 (23198) Released

Today we got a new release of Dolphin Viewer 3. If you have an ATI/AMD video card, you may want to avoid this release or read carefully before attempting to use the new release.

Texture Compression

A new feature was added to help those with lower end graphics cards, those with less video RAM. Just as textures are compressed for downloading to save on bandwidth and storage space, so too are textures compressed as they are placed into video RAM.

If your card has less then 512mb of video ram, compression will be turned on by default.  If you have an ATI video card, keep it turned off.

Preferences->Graphics->Hardware settings.

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Oz Answers TPV Policy Questions

Innula Zenovka post a link on SLUniverse to an Question and Answers page where Oz Linden answered residents questions about the new TPV Policy. Cummere Mayo start the thread here.

See: Questions about new TPV policy. (Questions only please.)

The most controlversal and misunderstood part of the policy is the idea of what is meant by SHARED EXPERIENCE. So, the number one question is: What is meant by shared experience?

The pertinent part of Oz’s answer is:

A shared experience change is one that modifies the definition of the elements that make up the virtual world, or how they behave, in such a way that users on other viewers don’t experience the same virtual reality.

This rule does not affect changes to rendering, user interface, or the controls a viewer offers for interacting with the world.

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Dolphin Viewer Update 3.2.8.23163

There is a new version of the Dolphin 3 Viewer out. Dolphin Viewer Download.

This version of the viewer removes Qarl’s Mesh Deformer.  You probably know that Mesh Deformer 0.2 is out and is included in some viewers. Nirans ran into some problems getting it to work. It seem Lance did too. With some question about the new viewer policies it seems Lance decided to leave it out of this version. He plans to put it back in when the Deformer is further refined.

There is a WebKit upgrade in the Linux version… I doubt Linux users follow this blog, so I seldom have much about Linux here. But, this is one of the noted changes in the release annuncement.

One nice feature added to the Dolphin Viewer is the ability to use all of the keys on your keyboard for gestures. If you have made gestures, you know that in the SL Viewer and several others you are restricted in which keys you can assign to a gesture.

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#SL Viewer Policy Follow Up

A part of the Server/Sim/Scripting User Group meeting was taken up with discussion of the viewer policy changes. It seems some of the changes have been in the works for some time. Now that they are on the verge of being implemented the Lab made the public announcement.

Viewer Identification Tags

Tankmaster Finesmith said, “So, as one of the [Firestorm] TPV devs, we’ve know for a few months now that LL has wanted to brake the viewer tags. Today [Friday] we got word that LL will be braking them next week.”

So, Jessica is right, the viewer type ID tags will be turned off next Tuesday and Wednesday. Presumably the code to do that has already made it through QA process.

Simon Linden was the meeting chairperson or facilitor and I’ll quote him several times so I think this statement is important as a framework. He said, “…I’d like to preemptively explain that I’m a coder working on the server, so I’ve mostly been out of this loop. I’m not a lawyer, from marketing or product, etc. etc.” I suppose that means we need to keep what he says in some sort of perspective.

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#SL Viewer Shock Wave

I saw today that Linden Lab has announced revisions to their Third Party Viewer policy. The Firestorm/Phoenix tema has already posted a reaction. They are also planning to discuss the changes at their next Phoenix Hour, planned for Feb. 28 at 2 PM SLT/PST.

I think Jessica phrases their take on the meaning of the changes in a pessimistic take. However, she may well be right. It is hard to know. You can read her take on the changes on the Firestorm/Phoenix blog. See: New additions to the Third Party Viewer Policy.

You can see the policy change announcement here: Third Party Viewer Policy Changes.

These changes, if intended as Jessica takes them, will be explosive. I see the changes impacting Firestorm and other viewer negatively. Exodus and Nirans viewers may become ineligible to connect to the grid. If so, I’m sure this will create a massive amount of blow back.

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Dolphin Viewer 3.2.4.22939 Released Review

A new version of Dolphin Viewer 3 (DV3) is out. This one has a power user feature for inventory, show/hide links. I’ll get to that. The ability to change LookAt is added. There is drama there. New inventory API has been added. This is the one that sort  of breaks V1 viewers that have not been upgraded. Subsequent shift-D snapshots save in the correct file format. Plus other fixes.

Dolphin Viewer 3 Look At Beacons

Download

File size is 27mb. Download is fast.

Install seems to have changed and seemed quicker, may be multi-tasking just makes it seem that way today.

Experience

Links Explained

Links… these are great. In inventory I often have items that are no-copy. Yes, I try to buy only Copy-ok items. But, some things are just too cute to pass up. Whatever, links allow me to place ‘apparent’ copies of no-copy items in more than one folder.

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Dolphin Viewer 3.2.3 (22899) Released Review

A new version of the Dolphin Viewer 3 (DV3) is out. This release includes code from the Lab’s Shining branch and version 3.2.6. The fixes from the Shining branch should correct OpenGL compatibility problems for those with newer graphics cards.

Shadows in Dolphin Viewer 3

The compatibility issues have been around since mid 2011 and became a serious problem for those using nVidia 460 cards. See: nVidia Driver GTX 460 Problems. As more people updated to new 400 and 500 series cards we saw more problems. I think since the 3.2.3 versions we have been seeing fewer problems. But, there is supposedly more of the shining fixes in 3.2.6 than any of the previous versions. Whatever the case, I’m not having problems with my GTX560.

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Dolphin Viewer 3.2.2 (22185) Released

This release has a couple of notable changes. The ability to set a default material for prims you rez has been added. The feature is from the Firestorm Viewer code. And the new V3 avatar button now works in Dolphin.

The Dolphin Viewer Forum is here.

The release announcement page and link to the download is in the Dolphin Viewer Blog.

Dolphin 3 Install

Download and Install

The download is typical. The stalled copy panels still appear. But, they now close when you start the viewer. Their failure to close was a problem in my Vista 32. So, the install is nicer.

Experience

The viewer performs in the 10 to 15 FPS range, for me. If you have not seen the thread in the SL forum about viewer performance check out: How Fast is Your Viewer? – Second Life. If you haven’t already, add your information.

As best I can tell there are not earthshaking changes or additions to this version. The viewer is advancing at a steady pace.