Second Life and Virtual Worlds
Oz Linden tells us they are making progress on the 64-bit version of the Linden made Second Life™ viewer. Also, they are cleaning up a lot of stuff in the process.
There is a small possibility of having a project version of the 64-bit version out before the full no change window break.
The new voice update is likely after the first of the new year. It fixes some things and improves voice diagnostics.
Lots of people are saying the new Firestorm Viewer 5.0.1 is faster than previous versions. My personal experience is it is. But, what I really want to know is it faster than the default Linden Viewer 5.0.0. Here I find the results a bit mixed.
The image shows my front porch where I did some of the testing. In the image starting on the left I have 3 Firestorm and then 3 Linden viewer numbers. The first FPS from ground level at my house is labeled FS 5.0.1 and shows an FPS of 78.3. The number was bouncing between 75 and 84 FPS.
Yesterday in my SL News I mentioned the rumor that the Firestorm Dev Team would release version 5.0.1. The viewer hasn’t updated since August 2016, four plus months. It did release late Tuesday. Once word spread the Firestorm site overloaded, I think, and has been down on and off ever since.
You can expect that behavior to continue today.
The main channel got a server update today, Tuesday. This is the package that ran on the RC chnnels last week. The changes:
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the RC channels will get a new package. It is described as having: Improved internal server logging.
The main viewer updated to the Project Bento viewer last week, 5.0.0.321958. No change from last week.
RC Second Life Maintenance Viewer version 5.0.1.322219 is an update from last week’s 4.1.3.321792. This probably just catches this version up with the Bento release.
Second Life Project 360 Snapshot Viewer version 4.1.3.321712 No change from last week.
Rumor is Firestorm will release TODAY….
Today I see Firestorm has posted the release notes to Firestorm version 5.0.1 (52150). They are a work in progress. They include a link to an article on Inara’s blog, which is not yet live. It’s just a place holder link. So, it is looking like a release is imminent.
According to the notes as written now they say Firestorm will have all the features of Linden’s 5.0.0 release plus some features and fixes from ‘upstream’ versions, meaning I suppose Linden RC versions.
The 5 numbering in the version means it WILL be Bento supporting. While that is no big thing for most users today, as there is little Bento content on the grid, it is big in that it moves Bento ahead in a huge way.
The RLVa features have been updated to version API: RLV v3.1.4 / RLVa v2.0.3.50527. They have linked to a page with the details of that update. For most users this only means we’ll soon see RLV collar and relay updates soon.
The current Release Notes page has lots of work remaining to be done. I don’t see it being possible to complete it today. But, that may not prevent a viewer release. However, I think it suggests the release date may be a day or few away. I’m betting between now and the 18th.
Those using the Preview version of this coming release are liking it. Rumors are some are seeing performance improvements and few crashes. My 4.7.9 version crashes almost every time I use it for over 30 minutes. Fortunately, mostly only on exit.
Cheap is good. Thrills are… well… thrilling. So, where do you get yours? Thrills…
I was playing around and got a notice that the Cheap Thrills show was about to start. For whatever reason, I decided to check it out. I was impressed.
I took the opportunity to video the show. It lasts an hour. I didn’t want to make an hour-long video. So, I edited out lots of the show. But, there is enough to give you an idea of what it is like. I took out some of the more interesting parts… I didn’t want to spoil the surprises.
The show is impressive. SL tech is put to surprisingly good use. Slick presentation. A few very good illusions are used. The choreography obviously requires some serious animation effort.