Firestorm Viewer Feature

One of the preview testers for Firestorm Viewer has leaked a link to a new feature of the viewer. We may see it in a coming release, may be Sunday or some time in the next week or two. Watch the Firestorm blog. Secret Setting Check the Firestorm JIRA FIRE-9791 for information: Secret Setting.   … Read more

Second Life News 2013-14 #2

The server updates seem to have gone pretty well. There are some good things and some bad things.

Region crossings are way better. A couple of sailors and pilots have commented in the Deploys thread about how much better things are.

[youtube t8IUxCMyElU]

With this rollout the problem of some items simply not rendering has gotten worse. If one clicks on them they show up. So, the server has told the viewer they are there. But, for some reason the viewer is not rendering them. It seems the problem is showing up in Linden and third party viewers. 

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Wackadoodles

These wackadoodle people show up in so many places… it gets infuriating. I see where Jessica Lyon responded to one in the Firestorm Viewer blog. I mention this because I am impressed by her statesman like response. Well done Jessica.

The blog article is announcing the re-opening of the Firestorm Viewer’s Preview Group. This is a group that will get Firestorm’s Beta version of their viewer. The team wants people that will help them test the viewer before it goes to main release.

Just as the Lab rolls server updates to 30% of the main grid for testing in a more diverse environment so too, the FS Team needs a larger selection of equipment and driver versions running their viewer before making a final release.

So, if you are interested in helping the team, check out: Feeling Brave? If you are NOT willing to file JIRA bug reports, please don’t bother.

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Second Life News 2013-11

In late February problems in ADITI were slowing down Third Part Party work on SSAB (Server Side Avatar Baking). Nyx Linden explained that some of the problems in the SSAB pile-on test were caused by inventory failures. The problem then becomes sorting out what is an ADITI Inventory issue and what is a SSAB issue.

In any event, some significant changes have been made to ADITI Inventory. Unfortunately the changes may not save you from problems if you change your password to trigger an inventory refresh. My experience has been to keep changing your password until it corrects. But, with these changes the Lindens are saying if a password change breaks your inventory, contact them and they will fix it.

New SSAB Pile-On

Two new pile-on tests are planned for this week. There will be a test using the SSAB Project viewer, which you can download now. That test will be after the Server Beta meeting Thursday in Morris, ADITI. The meeting starts at 3 PM SLT. The test will start whenever the meeting ends, scheduled for 4 PM. But, meeting do end early. So, be early.

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Viewers Update 2013-10

It has been a while since I took a look at a number of viewers. Rather than post them separately, I’ve lumped them together, except for Nirans. I had not used it for months, so I expected lots of changes.

SL Viewers

The main Linden Viewer is still at version 3.4.5 (270263), pre CHUI (Chat Hub User Interface). I seldom use the Beta Viewer now. It is more of a fall back viewer for when a Development Viewer version has problems. This morning the Beta is at version 3.5.0 (271345). The Development Viewer had been at version 3.5.1 (270826) for about 10 days. Today it updated to 3.5.1 (271386).

I am still fighting with the CHUI update to keep it the size I WANT IT. Other than sizing problems I like the new CHUI. The new build 271386 seems to have some of the sizing problems fixed.

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Nirans Viewer Review 2013-10

Niran has said he would stop building Nirans Viewer… So, there is a new release out as of March 7, version 2.1.2 Beta (3.4.6-2512). If you don’t know, Nirans Viewer is an ongoing experiment in user interface design. Niran has a talent for figuring out new ways to do things. Sometimes the ideas are better sometimes worse, but that is how people find the good stuff. I have a challenge finding things after the menus get changed, which is why I am not a frequent user.

Nirans Viewer Preferences - Presets at Top
Nirans Viewer Preferences – Presets at Top

This version of the viewer was much easier for me to use. The defaults are more like the SL Viewer, so I am good until I need to dig into the Preferences.

One of the interesting things in this version (new to me) is the ability to save Preferences settings as different sets of presets. I think this is a great idea. Those of us that move from shopping to exploring to photography to role play… can definitely make use of this feature.

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