The main channel is now running version #18.01.17.511913. The version ran on all three RC channels last week. It is reported in the wiki as having Internal Changes. Mazidox Linden described it at the Server Beta UG as, “This week we promoted a couple of things to RC on Agni including DRTSIM-367 (internal fixes) and a version of the service that handles avatar bakes, built with the new version of our OS.”
Shhhhh
The bake service is not actually a simulator change. It is a change in a backend service. The server and service have to work together. So, there is probably some simulator change. But, maybe just in which API it uses to bake the avatar.
The Linux Operating System (OS) the Lab uses in its server gets updated every so often. They have been (are?) in the process of another OS update.
Firestorm released version 5.0.11.53634. The download is here.
Controversy and Confusion
There are some controversial changes in this version of the viewer. I think the controversy is from confusion which is from ignorance.
The issue is about the Level of Detail (LoD) setting RenderVolumeLODFactor found in the debug settings (Ctrl-Alt-D=Menu Advanced->Debug Settings). The Firestorm Team has explained why they are making the change. See LOD and The Upcoming Firestorm Release The What and Why. It gets all technical, but it is an accurate description of how SL works.
Gate Of Hell
The TL:DR is that high RenderVolumeLODFactor settings have your computer spending time drawing complex things which are so far away they only take up one or two pixels on your screen. Does it matter if a jacker has a dozen buttons if the whole jacket is so far way it can be drawn in 4 pixels and is just a tiny tiny spot on your screen? If you can’t see the buttons, why draw them? LoD is about making these optimizations and providing better performance.
Doing all the useless drawing of thousands of pixels to average them down to 4 pixels for your screen lags your render process and slows the SL system because all that detail has to be downloaded. Dumb move.
There is some interesting news. Not much but a bit.
The Alexy Ivy Viewer was updated in week #2. This is very likely its last update in the RC stream. The next step for Alex Ivy is a promotion to the main viewer.
Oz Linden expects that to happen in week #3. Of course, this depends on not finding any show stoppers in testing.
When Alex Ivy promotes, Oz plans to publish a blog post to encourage people to update to 64 OS. The difference in crash rates is HUGE.
Cold Coffee
The Maintenance Viewer is there…
The Voice Viewer has no known problems. So, it will be the next likely to promote after Alex Ivy.
The 360-Image Viewer is out there… Oz says it is verging on becoming an RC version.
The Animesh Viewer is expected to move to RC status in a couple of months. If you are following the Content Creation UG meetings you know not much new information is coming out. The project is into the ‘make things work correctly’ phase. So, no changes or additions.
The Rendering Viewer is fixing render bugs.
Oz tells us will be a new media update branch. Things like CEF will be getting updates.
Also, another round of tool updates is planned. The Visual Studio version the Lab I suing is 1 version behind.
HTTP, when Alex releases the Lab will be depreciating all non-HTTP API’s. Older viewers not using HTTP will lose functionality.
The Lab will start work on ACI in a couple of weeks. Oz says they plan to fix bad incentives. Some things are calc’s to cost too much and some cost too little. So, they’ll be tweaking the ACI.
No word on a Firestorm release date. But, Firestorm is limiting LoD settings to <=4. Higher values will NOT persist. Plus, they are adding warning and advice not to change because of some notecard advice in the Debug Settings.
Oz says they found backend problems in the group notices system. Partially fixed. Memory leak. Restarting the servers solved most issues.
28:30 – Oz talks about Linux 64-bit viewer. TL:DR – There is one, but it doesn’t work.
EEP – Rider Linden is making the EEP assets. Once done, test regions in Aditi will come up. So, the project is progressing.
Hamlet has an article about Stevie Davros’ enhanced skies. In 2011 Firestorm added a feature that allows replacement of Second Life™ clouds. Thank you for the computer code, Cinder Roxley. Back then Vincent Nacon was creating new cloud images for this feature.
Stevie Davros Dramatic Skies
So, this feature is not new nor limited to Firestorm. JuicyBomb wrote a tutorial NEW CLOUDS FOR SECOND LIFE, May 2013, for those using the Linden Viewer. The instructions are good for any viewer.
Not much has changed since then. I just checked in the Linden Viewer 5.1.0 and there is still no provision for selecting a different cloud texture. So, it is still a manual change.
Crap. I’m coming down with a cold… sniffle, sniffle, hack, hack… need more chocolate. So, I’m browsing through the Second Life™ related blogs finding things I think are neat.
Christmas is sort of over. We are on to the post-Christmas battery buying days and OMG, why-did-they-think-I-would-wear-this returns…
Second Life is in a ‘No Change’ window. Many Lindens are off work this week. So, there is little news. There is however a Friday post from the Lindens in Featured News: Unboxing 2017 and Looking towards 2018 in Second Life! Worth a read.
without thinking of anything
Other than saying they will make Second Life™ better in 2018, they don’t say much about what is coming. If you have been reading here you know of some things.
I used to do reviews of the events of of the year. It is a bunch of work. So, Inara is doing her year-in-review: 2017 IN REVIEW – PART 1. I’ll leave that work to her. I am thinking of doing a review in video… If it proves fun, you’ll see it. If it turns into work, I’ll probably abandon the project.
