Viewers

General Viewer Information

Second Life Dev Viewer 3.3.2 (251752)

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The build process’ linking for the Development Viewer is not working correctly. So, the Snowstorm Page is not updating as it should. It is stuck on 3.3.2 (250772). However, there have been a number of builds and improvements in the Dev Viewer. We just can’t get to them.

However, you can get the latest Development Integration Viewer. This is not a daily use viewer. But, the current rumor is it is stable. I find it is only using 650±mb of ram. That is way down from 1.2 to 2.1mb I have seen in previous versions.

Another branch named Viewmaster is the branch the bug chasers are working on. It is said to be very very stable. Now if I can just figure out the link.

Firestorm Viewer Beta 4.0.1.27000 Review

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Yesterday the new Firestorm and Phoenix viewers were released. I think with this release the Phoenix viewer is pretty much dead. On March 21, when Direct Delivery goes live on the Second Life grid, the Phoenix 1600 release will be noticeably broken, at least the inventory panel will be. So, Phoenix users will need to upgrade to the version 1.6.1.1691.

HOWEVER, Firestorm has a Phoenix mode, soon to be named V1 mode, that is almost an exact Viewer 1.23 interface. But, with the new SL and FS features. Before you download Phoenix 1691, watch the video and then decide which viewer you want to download. I am encouraging you to go with Firestorm and click on the Phoenix mode. I’ve reached the point that I’ll soon uninstall my copy of Phoenix and I won’t be upgrading to Phoenix 1691. Firestorm is the future.

[youtube QYaf2NZZmIE]

Download & Install

Simple download, quick. Install is the basic SL Viewer install. It installs over the top of your last install. They usually have one do a clean install. They did not say anything about that in the release announcement as they usually do. I tried installing over the top. It seems to work. I hate the idea of re-downloading a 9gb cache…

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Nirans Viewer 3.3.2 (712) Review

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Niran released this version March 17, 2012. I saw Inara did a review. Our takes are different. I’ll try to skip some of the stuff she covers or at least provide more information. Also, I’m running the nVidia 296.10 version on my GTX560, which may change how some things work for me. I seem to have fewer problems now that I’ve updated.

Niran Viewer in Mayfair - Notice my shadow

Experience

The viewer is innovative. If you are looking for something different, this viewer is different.

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Dolphin Viewer 3.2.10 (23198) Released

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Today we got a new release of Dolphin Viewer 3. If you have an ATI/AMD video card, you may want to avoid this release or read carefully before attempting to use the new release.

Texture Compression

A new feature was added to help those with lower end graphics cards, those with less video RAM. Just as textures are compressed for downloading to save on bandwidth and storage space, so too are textures compressed as they are placed into video RAM.

If your card has less then 512mb of video ram, compression will be turned on by default.  If you have an ATI video card, keep it turned off.

Preferences->Graphics->Hardware settings.

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Oz Linden Interview Summary

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Wednesday Jessica Lyon, of Firestorm/Phoenix project Manager, conducted an interview with Oz Linden, the director of open source for Linden Lab. After a previous crash prone four region Phoenix Hour the week before, Jessica conducted the Interview on a private region with no audience.

The Interview Arrived

Treet.tv made the heroic effort to stream the interview. With something like 350 or so people connecting, there were problems. But, Treet.tv  was able to make a recording of the interview and it is now available on Treet.tv. See: Specials -> Episodes to find it. LINK

I’ve written a review of the audio tape. I paraphrase wording. Transcribing is tooooooooo tedious for me. May be I can find a masochist in the SL community that will do that… Whatever, be warned that I listen, decide what they said and then write what I heard. I try to be objective and accurate. But, I have my biases and prejudices. So, I include the time marks so you can listen to the parts important to you.

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Firestorm-Phoenix Debug Settings

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If one just uses the FS/PH viewer, they may never need the Debug Settings. However, knowing about these settings will allow you to customize your experience. A good example of their use is in Camera Position Tips.

The Wiki for Firestorm-Phoenix has a list of the Debug Settings for those viewers. You will find the lists here: Phoenix Debug Settings – Alphabetical Listing and Firestorm Debug Settings – Alphabetical Listing. They are not clear which list is for which viewer. Hopefully I have it right.

Also, the lists are incomplete. Settings like; FocusOffsetRearView and CameraOffsetRearView are in the viewer but not the lists on the wiki. You can find the rest of the list in the SL Wiki here: Second Life Debug Settings.