Viewers

General Viewer Information

KirstenLee S21(8) RC3 Released

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RC2 was out 6/9. RC3 fixes some of the problems with RC2. One change is this version of S21 is very stable. No crashes after hours of use. There is no typical announcement on KirstenLee’s blog. But, the new download link for the RC is on the home page.

Camera

There are some ‘camera’ issues that show up when one is trying to select objects for editing or for camera zooms. I’ve seen problems for some time in most series 2 viewers. But, this is far worse. A click to select something often selects the object behind it. Other times selecting an object launches the camera to some odd new position. Research is on going to see whasup with that.

Speed

I’m seeing some odd results on FPS (Frames per Second) rates. In my cottage or places with few avatars I get good FPS. In places with lots of avatars I drag down to 9 to 12 FPS. Even in a shopping mall with lots of textures but few avatars, I see good FPS, typically 15 to 25 FPS.

Some are seeing good FPS even when there are large numbers of avatars around. I may need to mess with my settings.

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Imprudence 1.4.0 Beta 1 Release

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Imprudence has released the first beta of Imprudence 1.4.0. This has been the Experimental version most of us have been using for some time. So, it doesn’t look any different than previous versions. However, this release represents a massive amount of effort.

If you are still using Imprudence 1.3, it is time to upgrade. If you are on Apple/Mac, there is still an image upload issue. Otherwise, there  are about a gazillion bug fixes and new features.

Mesh

This viewer has no mesh support nor does it render mesh objects.

Outfits

The series 2 viewer outfits are not supported. I simply never change clothes while using Imprudence. Changing clothes while in Imprudence seems to create problems for me. That may be an Imprudence/OpenSim thing.

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Firestorm Features Survey

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The Firestorm Development Team is running a survey on which features are most popular. See their blog post: Firestorm Feature Survey. The actual poll… survey… can be found here: Firestorm Features Survey. The survey ends Tuesday, June 28 at noon. See the survey results: Firestorm Survey

Firestorm 2.5.1.16671 Beta Viewer Released Review

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Firestorm, often called Phoenix-Firestorm, is the series 2 viewer that will replace the Phoenix viewer. The Firestorm team is endeavoring to make Firestorm a transition viewer that series 1 viewer users can use without too much trouble. Also, new users coming from Linden Lab’s viewer won’t be totally lost. Plus the viewer can be customized to be more series 1 or 2 like.

FS110815-bx
Firestorm Viewer Beta

Download and Install

(Download) The Firestorm announcement recommends a clean install of Firestorm and suggests the previous settings file won’t work with the new viewer. Unfortunately the Firestorm uninstall while asking if you want to remove all files, doesn’t. The cache files and folder are deleted. (C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Local\Firestorm\). The settings and logs files are left behind. To remove them one needs to delete the files in: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Firestorm\.

If you are into saving your chat logs, remember to move them to a safe location before deleting the folder.

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KirstenLee Viewer S21(8) RC2 Release Review

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KirstenLee Viewer Install

This morning I see KirstenLee has a new release candidate out. This one is based on Linden Lab 2.7.3 code. So, this viewer is on the very edge of the latest viewer code. The full version number is 2.7.3.8. The viewer remains Anaglyph 3D capable and it now works with my 8800 GTS card. My first impressions review follows.

Download and Install

One of the KLV users with an nVidia 460 card on driver 275.33 is experiencing crash on start. So, it is a good idea to keep your previous RC1 install package. I’m on an nVidia 8800 with driver 270.61 (per Windows driver ID 8.17.12.7061). Watching Group chat I see others are having crash problems. The crashing seems to depend on the nVidia driver version. Some have gone back to version 266.38 and say they get 3x better FPS. This very much looks to be an nVidia and OpenGL issue.

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Second Life Viewer Update Week 23

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Lots of things are breaking loose. New features are coming and new Project Viewers are being released. Some interesting stuff.

WindLight

A new Project Viewer is out that incorporates the region controls for WindLight settings. There is a SL Wiki page for the project: Windlight Region Settings Project Viewer. There are Windows, Mac, and Linux versions. Of course this viewer feature is only useful if you have control of a region. There is lots of information about the new feature and how it works on the same page.

Update: Lindens announce Project Viewer for Estate Windlight 6/13 Link

New Second Life Windlight Testers Group
New Windlight Testers Group

The purpose of this feature is to allow region owners to set the environment for their region. Residents that use the viewer’s default environment setting will see the region as the owner intends. So, you can see how regions with Windlight settings work.

The feature is incomplete. But, it allows some testing to begin. For those testing Oz Linden wants them to join the “Windlight Region Testers” group. With the newer viewers with updated search you can select GROUPS and find it. But, there is no link for use in chat or email. There is a cut, copy, and paste, if one right clicks, but they don’t work.  Annoying.

The ability to set region Windlight is already in all servers on the main grid. For those that awnt to see a region with Windlight setting changes visit: BlakOpal region, Caledon, Hippo Hollow and Hippotropolis.

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