Second Life and Virtual Worlds
General Viewer Information
Today, Tuesday 10/17, the main channel gets a new feature and security update. The new feature is the script function llSitOnLink( ), which requires an Experience Key as it is a ‘forced’ sit. The documentation for it is here. As of this morning I can’t find the function in the SL Wiki’s LSL Portal… Search only returns the mentions in the server release notes.
There is no mention of the security update in the release notes for this package.
If you use the Linden viewer, you may have found your search windows open when you log into Second Life™. It has happened to me. It’s a “What’s with that?” experience. Surprising. Not exactly what I want.
Next is the “How do I turn THAT off?” There is no Preferences setting or Debug Setting.
For the past few weeks I’ve been using Firestorm 4.7.9.50527 and Linden 4.1.2 and 5.0.0.320160 (Bento). These versions are much better than the pre-September versions that were out. I suppose some of the improvement is my change to a newer computer with 32GB of RAM. But, I still crash.
This version of Firestorm is much better than the previous version. I have found that if I am online for more than an hour I will likely crash on exit. This means if I change any Preferences, I need to relog after making the change or backup the settings (recommended). When FS crashes it does not save the settings so, changes in the session are lost.
With the release of the VLC viewer (4.1.1.320331) we will see the video market in Second Life start changing. It as of today, it hasn’t changed much. As it has in most of the rest of the RL world. So, with 4.1.1 we will have a better experience with YouTube and other services.
NOTE: On starting the 4.1.1 viewer I started crashing. I changed regions and all seemed OK. Before I logged off I got a notice that a newer version was available: 4.1.2.320461. I’ve installed it and it seems to be OK.
There are no rolls to the main channel today.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, a new package will roll to the RC channels, all three get the same package.
This new package has more minor internal changes, supposedly security and crash fixes along with changes to data logging. More interesting is the addition of the new scripting function for forced sit. I find the deploys notice and the release notes in disagreement. But, recent Server Beta UG meetings have been discussing the forced sit function. So, I expect it to be in the package.
For more details, see: Second Life: New Forced Sit Coming
The former main viewer was version 4.0.8.319463 with the Visual Outfits Browser. Today we got version 4.1.1.320331, the VLC RC version of the viewer. This is the one that switches how streaming media (video) is handled in the viewer.
I am looking forward to checking out how it works. I haven’t used this RC. I also removed QT for security reasons, I’m on Windows 10.
Now it is up to builders and content providers in Second Life™ to change their content over to more modern streaming formats.
RC Second Life Bento Viewer version 5.0.0.320160 – This RC version also updated this week from version 5.0.0.319893. Changes are bug fixes. The Bento feature is unchanged.
RC Second Life Maintenance Viewer version 4.0.9.320231 – This is a new version to, updating from 4.0.9.320038. I have details of this version in last week’s news. Second Life News 2016 w40.
Updated: Nov 8, 2016
Kate Amdahl has posted an article titled: A Better Way to See in Second Life. It is inspired by Penny Patton’s articles on Scale and camera positions: The Improved SL Camera.
These tips came out in 2011. They inspired me to write my version: Second Life Camera Position Tips. I never run a viewer using the default camera position these days. I change them first thing.