Category Archives: Viewers

General Viewer Information

Second Life News 2019 Week #17

by

0

Since last Thursday my teleporting and crossing to other regions has deteriorated. Then today in the middle of the Server-Scripting User Group my Internet goes down. :/ I get disconnected from Second Life think I got bit by the SL bug. Then can’t relog. My computer can’t find SL… A little more troubleshooting and I realize I can’t go much of anywhere on the Internet. Call COX. They are on it. They know it is down.

Fantasy Faire : The Celestial Plain (1)

Fantasy Faire: The Celestial Plain – 2019

About 30 minutes later I’m back up according to the router diagnostics. But I can’t connect to much of any place. Oh… but my laptop can. It uses the default DNS servers and my Desktop uses Google and OpenDNS free. So, I change the DNS servers my desktop uses and all is great. SL works again and better than it has all this last week. Well dang.

So, are my disconnections from the SL server bugs or my DNS server problems or both? No way to tell.

Servers

This week the Deploys post tells us the usual server rollouts are changing. Monday, no changes. Tuesday RC Le Tigre and RC Blue Steel are to update to version 19.04.22.526534. I can’t find any release notes for this but it is very likely targeting the disconnection problem. On Wednesday the same version may roll to the Magnum and the Main Channel depending on Tuesday’s result. Thursday will depend on what happens Tuesday and Wednesday. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 Week 15

by

0

The Lab has posted “THIS IS A SCHEDULED EVENT Apr 10, 05:00 – 07:00 PDT”

Apr 8, 12:12 PDT
Scheduled – Second Life will be undergoing scheduled inventory maintenance from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM PST on April 10th, 2019. During this time, residents may have issues with any inventory related activities including building, logging in, as well as avatar and object rezzing. Please refrain from rezzing in-world, in addition to transacting in-world, on the Marketplace, or on the Lindex during this time.

This coincides with the grid update in the RC channels. So, expect problems. PS: Maybe not. Deploys says no rolls Wednesday.

Servers

Why am I crashing constantly… is a growing thread in the SL Forum. I’ve been hearing of this problem since about December-January. Then it was only older computers and viewer versions. However, it has been growing. With the last main channel grid update, the problem seems to have exploded. The Lindens have commented on it, Darn Teleport Disconnects (4/8).

On my own-

On my own-

People currently have various ideas as to what is happening and how to fix it. There currently is no fix. So, don’t be doing drastic things; clearing cache, reinstalling, clean reinstalling, reinstalling Windows… none of these things are going to fix it.

Depending on who you talk to it is Animesh that is the cause or Enhanced Environment Project or the upgraded OS the servers are being updated to or it is the move to the cloud (we aren’t there yet). Take your pick. All causes have people unaffected by the it-is-this-cause.

As some users and the Lindens understand the problem it is server side. So, all viewer brands are going to suffer the TP disconnect problem. I’ve seen it with Firestorm and the Linden’s SL Viewer.

Restarting the computer and router/gateway may help a little. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 w14

by

0

There was lots of detailed information in the third-party dev UG meeting last week. We got a bunch of information on what is happening with a couple of problems. Currently, disconnects and detachments are front lines.

Servers

From ‘How Does Your Avatar Look Today?’ 4/2019 – Click

The main channel rolls to #19.03.15.525315. This is the OS upgrade. It includes the EEP support.

The RC channels Blue Steel, Le Tigre, and Magnum will be the first version with UDP asset fetching disabled or removed. See the Tools & Tech section of the SL blog Obsolete Asset Fetch Disabled for more details.

The UDP change will mean older viewers using UDP asset fetching will stop working correctly. Avatars are likely to not render or render as Ruth/Roth. Sooner or later you will have to update…

Disconnects

The RC channels will have a change that is hoped will help with the disconnect problems people are experiencing, which seems to have started in December or January. Some think EEP is causing the disconnects. EEP is coincidental with the disconnects. The current analysis of the problem suggests it is in the TCP communication between the viewers and servers.

In the March 29, Third-Party Dev UG meeting Oz talks about the problem and why it took the Lindens so long to notice. Video Basically, the problem is not showing in the performance stats the Lindens watch.

The disconnects seem to fall into groups, those occurring during a teleport and those that are periodic (disconnect every so many minutes). People trying to chase the problem down are having problems reproducing the disconnect. They have the problem rated as #1 & #2 and have lots of people on it full time plus a QA team of remote users, meaning far from the Lab distance-wise.

There are rumors about different things one can do to stop the disconnects, change the WL/EEP sky, cancel a TP mid-teleport (cancel, open World Map – find destination region – wait for it to come up and you pop in), and others. For others the key is location, Blake Sea is a problem and Heterocera is not a problem. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 w13

by

0

WARNING: ASUS motherboard users, you have been attacked. Users in Russia (18+%), Germany (16%), France (12+%), Italy (6+%), and the USA (5+%) are the main targets.

The attack targets specific machines. It is hardcoded into the Trojan. So, checking if you are a target is easy. Check to see if your MAC address is in the list. Links follow…

Once upon a time, there was a demoness.

Once upon a time, there was a demoness.

The virus was transmitted via infiltration of the ASUS update system. As the system provides Certified patches most anti-virus programs failed to detect it. So, you may have updated and opened the doors without your AV warning you.

This story started breaking 3/25/2019. ASUS and anti-virus companies have been working on this since January 2019. ASUS has responded with ASUS response to the recent media reports regarding ASUS Live Update tool attack by Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups. They have a repair tool for the problem on that page. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 w12

by

2

Last Friday was the Third-Party Dev UG meeting. The meeting ran for 52 minutes.

RC viewers to update in week #12. As of today, not yet. Security update for Chromium revealed some problems. Google has been updating all their Chrome products with the security patch. Oz Linden is encouraging all dev’s to update. That translates to users as a reason to get the next set of viewer updates.

Grab a beer and enjoy the sunset

Grab a beer and enjoy the sunset

This set of updates takes care of a problem that is in the wild and being used. I’ve heard you have to visit a malicious website for the exploit to be used.

The EEP, BoM, and EAM versions of the viewers are waiting for server-side updates. The hope is the server updates will make it through this week (#12). Rider Linden says the plan is for the EEP simulators to roll grid wide. Currently, EPP is on Blue Steel and Le Tigre RC channels. If they advance, it will be a big step for EEP (Enhanced Environment Project).

The Lab has been doing experiments, testing, and collecting data to sort out the problem of stuff detaching when crossing regions. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 w11

by

2

Something messed up in the blog. Seems the site got a roll back. Week 10 disappeared… not sure how long it was even up. Oh well…

So, I have reposted week 10 news in the previous article.

Comic-Style - Learning how...

Comic-Style – Learning how…

Servers

No server Deploy post as of Tuesday morning. There is a 16-hour old post this morning in last week’s that says no rolls this week… So, I guess no rolls.

OH… WAIT… The post appeared just after noon.

Main channel no roll. Remains on #19.01.25.523656.

Blue Steel and Le Tigre roll to version #19.03.07.525089. The changes are Internal Fixes (shocker) and fixes to EEP.

Magnum gets version #19.01.25.523656. Just Internal Fixes.

I am seeing a few more people post about being logged off at 15 to 20 minutes. Some European people are dealing with huge packet loss. Russians are protesting Putin’s isolating the Russian Internet net from the rest of the world. Many thought it impossible. But China has done it, Google is helping. So, it looks like Putin will do it.

There is an ongoing thing with region owners notice less available script time. An investigation is on the Lindens to do list after EEP rolls out. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 w10

by

0

This is a repost. It seems to have poofed shortly after I first posted it.

We have some news… March 1 was the Third-Party Dev meeting. It ran 57 minutes… but, there was

Servers

Problems continue on the server-front. No updates on the main or RC channels. These problems are holding up viewer releases. EAM, EEP, and BoM are all waiting for server-backend stuff to update.

Any region that has run longer than 10 days will get a restart.

The server update that kills inventory UDP fetching is also held up until the server problems are solved. Actually, lots of stuff is delayed as people are pulled to work on the servers. Continue reading →

Second Life News 2019 w09

by

0

Servers

Updates were planned. A problem was discovered last minute and neither the main or RC channels updated. Simon Linden explained at the Server-Scripting UG Tuesday. The Deploys post now reflects that change of plans.

[2019/02/26 12:02]  Simon Linden: Let’s see … well, for server news, our update this morning got cancelled by another last-minute problem we discovered

[2019/02/26 12:03]  Simon Linden: That stops tomorrows updates as well, but I believe we’re planning on doing restarts of all the regions on the RC channels

[2019/02/26 12:03]  Simon Linden: … and I’m working with another colleague as we speak helping to sort that issue out

[2019/02/26 12:04]  Simon Linden: That’s my excitement for the week, so the table is open for topics or discussion

One of the things to happen with the planned update was a channel with the UDP API disabled. This would test viewers to see if they were in some way still dependent on the UDP API. Those developing viewers or if you want to test can visit Mesh Sandbox 3 in Aditi. It has the planned update running.

You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry.

You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry. Don’t worry.

Some experimenting with whether or not their viewer is UDP dependent or not have seen some odd behavior. Whirly Fizzle did some testing and reports here.

It seems you inventory will load, the list. But you cannot fetch any of the assets.

So, Firestorm 5.0.7 users have about a week left before that viewer is totally crippled and then soon blocked. Update early. Avoid problems. Continue reading →