Second Life and Virtual Worlds
The Linden made series of viewers
This week we got some new viewers and updates to existing ones.
SL Main/Default Viewer: 3.7.26.299635 – Appeared: 3/06 – Adds the Avatar Hover Height Slider.
RC Maintenance Viewer version 3.7.27.300636 – Appeared: 4/8 – Long list of fixes – This viewer got an update from its previous 3.7.27.300323. It has performance fixes that make using it very nice to use.
April 3rd a new RC Viewer made its way to the Beta Viewers page. Some will see this viewer replacing their current viewer, if they have Willing to update to release candidates… enabled.
This one is named: RC HeatWave Viewer version 3.7.27.300424. This is a maintenance release with 77 fixes. Normally I would use a short code to place the list in an accordion, but that feature of the web site isn’t working today as I run plug-in free. So, the long list can be found in the release notes.
We seldom get stats on how many are using which viewer. But, there is a post over on Gaming World about the Imprudence Viewer and they include the most stats I’ve seen in a long time. Or so I thought. This page just popped up in my reader, but it is dated 2/23/2015… and the data seems to be much older.
See: Gaming World Imprudence Viewer. (read on before you click) If you are clicking to the page, WARNING: be careful where you click. The page is full of ads and most clicks will speed you to someone’s ad site.
A new version of RC Maintenance Viewer version 3.7.27.300323 is out as of 3/31. I am running it. I have had had little time with it. I can’t tell if it is a problem or if the Second Life™ servers were just lagging. Whichever it was, rendering was painfully slow. Every time I moved or turned my head FPS would drop to 5 or 6.
Yesterday 3/30, RC Tools Update Viewer version 3.7.27.300242 appeared. This version is about the build tools related to Visual Studio 2013, Xcode 6.1 compilers used to build the viewer.
The Lab has released a new viewer using a new display mode. The announcement is titled: Introducing 2DSS Mode for Second Life. If you like Facebook games then this is the viewer for you.
From the Second Life™ Third Party Developers User Group meeting we have some news this week. Mostly update stuff.
Brooke Linen says testing is going well and performance is good. There is a persistent problem with viewer, sim, marketplace communication. They are working on that. Brooke is thinking a couple of weeks to solve the problem.
Jessica Lyon is deciding whether to try an include VMM or release FS without it. Being pressed Brooke pointed out they need to get two server updates through testing and rolled to the grid. Then they will start pushing the viewer. So, the road to VVM could be a couple of months long.