Second Life and Virtual Worlds
Both Firestorm and Dolphin have released fixes for some problems in their recent releases.
See Firestorm Mesh Beta – optional update – the update is for estate managers and those using the Metaharper skin. A performance fix is included for those that find FPS dropping when they have several chat groups open.
Dolphin Viewer 3 has a teleport problem. It sends the request for tp twice. That is fixed. A user inface something is fixed. Chat toasts are wider.
The Firestorm/Phoenix Team is releasing a mesh capable viewer. However, the Internet connection to their site is having problems. A main trunk line was cut by some kind of construction. It should be repaired sometime Thursday. So, if you have trouble getting to the site, don’t freak.
Information about the Firestorm Mesh Viewer 3.0.1.22525 is on the blog site, if you can get to it. I find the site a little slow, but working. The download came down without a problem.
Jessica tells us that under normal circumstances they would not be releasing a viewer with this many problems. But, the demand for a mesh version of the viewer is so high, they decided to release it bugs and all. There are some serious bugs. Read the bug list in the wiki. Hot LL JIRA Issues Of The Day. These are serious problems as in Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) serious. So, read the list before you decide to install it.
During the Phoenix Hour, a weekly TV show/Video, Jessica Lyon made several announcements. Here is the summary of the video.
I had some problems finding the video. Try this link. Look for the August 23rd video.
Update: Here is a better link: Phoenix Hour August 23rd
One of the impressive things about the Phoenix-Firestorm (PH/FS) team is the documentation they are creating for their viewers. From what I see being asked in the PH/FS group and SL Forum I suspect many PH/FS users are unaware of the documentation to be found in the team’s PH/FS Wiki.
I suspect one of the most over looked yet useful articles in the PH/FS Wiki is the Migration Guide. The article is short, by my thinking, just 750 words. It does link to a YouTube video: V1’ify Your Firestorm Experience! The video runs about 12 minutes.
[youtube 3y4PH0rczJQ]
The underlying theme in the Migration Guide is to tweak the Version 2 viewer Interface to be more like the Version 1 Viewer Interface. Having this flexibility built into Firestorm allows for a more pleasant migration experience.
Shug Maitland asked me about a subject that came up in the Phoenix Hour. I’ve been busy with RL this week and not keeping up as much as usual. I had no clue what I was being asked about. I took the time to see what the New Web Profiles fuss was that came up. Also see: New Second Life Web Profiles on Demo
Link to video: July 12 Phoenix Hour
0:00 to 4:36 is about Phaylen’s bake fail.
4:36 – Jessica says Firestorm Beta 2 now has 25,000 users and growing. Jessica says they see lots of new users that have not used Firestorm before. My immediate question is how they know if you have used Firestorm before or not?
5:43 – Firestorm and Phoenix support confusion, people forget to say which viewer they are asking questions about in the support group. Remember to give them a hint when asking questions.
6:50 – Phoenix update, no date for the next release. They do plan to support Phoenix until the grid makes it obsolete. Obsolete being when it fails to render the world correctly and the Lab services it needs go off line. While Linden Lab has said they will not block series 1 viewers, they do not plan to provide the support services they need forever.
Today on the Firestorm/Phoenix blog Jessica Lyon announced that Firestorm now has more unique users than SLV 1.23. Not only are there more people using the viewer, their total time in world with the viewer is more than the time in world with SLV 1.23.
Firestorm is still in beta. So, this is a big milestone. While this comes as no surprise to me, it deserves congratulations. Congratulations Firestorm Team!
Of the 54 team members 38 are support personnel. None of these people are paid employees. The team is made up of volunteers. The viewer and support are provided for free.
In spite of the above there is enough abuse directed at the team that Jessica mentioned it in her blog post. While I have been in debates in the Myst-Uru community about online behavior and seen frustration used as a justification for poor behavior, I’ve never accepted frustration as an excuse. I think it shows a level of immaturity and a lack of ability to cope with life. In other words, such people need the help of a professional counselor.