Firestorm

I am finding that I can’t stay logged into SL for more than a couple of hours, if that long, before the viewer starts to lag out. I have mini freezes and periods where the frame rate (FPS – Frames per Second) drops to 2 or 3 and PING jumps up into the thousands of milli-seconds.

Testing with the OS ping to the SL servers at the same time I am not seeing those long times. Nor with the SL Viewer am I seeing those long ping times. Also, I had occurrences of the screen going black then coming back. There is some kind of video problem happening.

I just added the 335.23 driver to my GTX560. So, it should be good. But, doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. 

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I got to use the new Firestorm Viewer release 4.6.1-40478 64-bit. My first impressions are:

The download file size is 67.6mb. The 64-bit viewer installs in a separate folder from the 32-bit version. On 64-bit systems you’ll find the 32-bit version installing in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Firestorm-Beta. The 64-bit version installs in: C:\Program Files\Firestorm.

You can run both the 32 and 64 bit versions. I think you should be able to share the cache between 32 and 64 bit versions. But, by default the viewer uses a separate cache for the 64-bit viewer: C:\Users\[Win_Login_ID]\AppData\Local\FirestormOS_x64\ .

It also places the chat logs in their own folder, separate from the 32-bit versions: C:\Users\[Win_Login_ID]\\AppData\Roaming\Firestorm_x64.

The install created a new Firestorm icon for me. I was using the Firestorm Beta, which has a uniquely named icon. So, if you have not been using the beta, it may overwrite the 32-bit icon. So, pay attention to which version you actually start by checking the Firestorm Help→About. Or… the version info is on the splash screen too. 

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The Firestorm announced the release of their latest version of Second Life’s most popular viewer. The release came out yesterday March 12. This is a full release. Previously the 4.5 version was a beta version. Not this one, it is the main production version. Well… the Linux version is beta.

Video about PhotoTools. 20 minutes.

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You may remember Jessica had spoken at a Q&A meeting about the possibility of their server not being able to keep up with the download demand. I downloaded just fine this morning. I downloaded the 64-bit version (67mb file). It was quick. 

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There is a load of new information about what is going on with the Firestorm Viewer. Some is great and you will be happy. Some of the news is a real downer and depressing. Mac users are going to be crying. Sorry…

Firestorm Viewer Releases

From the TPV Meeting Jessica said her team hopes to have the HTTP changes merged in, QA’d and released by March 9. The key word in that is ‘hopes’. Then they will have a couple of months work to do before there next release (in May?).

By early next week (8) they will have a version of the HTTP code merged with Firestorm and out to FS beta testers. But, things are not simple. Read on.

HTTP Coming

HTTP is the project that deals with how the viewer and SL servers talk to each other. Monty Linden has been fixing the Linden code that deals with these communication problems. 

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The Firestorm team has not been announcing their Q&A meetings. At least not in such a way that a non-fan-boy would notice. But, a recent post (2/7) announces postponing the planned meeting until this coming Friday (2/15).

The time will be 4 PM SLT. The location is the Firestorm Support Island. These meetings can run long, a couple of hours or more.

Jessica Lyon says, “I expect we will have more solid info by the 15th for you along with some great news!

So our next Q&A will be Saturday, February 15th, at 4PM SLT. We hope to see lots of you there—exciting things are coming!”

This meeting comes the day after the SL Third Party Viewers Developer meeting. So, we may hear some interesting news.

At the recent Beta Server UG meeting the Lindens said again there are projects in the works they cannot talk about. When the Lab is quite this long, there is usually something up. Whether things are slow because Rod is leaving and was wrapping things up, we don’t know. I think the Lab develops plans, short and long term. So, work would not slow or direction drift because the CEO was leaving. The plans would keep everyone moving. A new CEO may change directions and priorities. That might cause a lull in releases, but I doubt it in the Lab’s case.

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