Mesh and Other Upload Crashes

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There is an odd gotcha or two in the mesh Upload process. One is from cloud storage programs. If one has Skydrive or a similar software installed it can be nearly impossible to upload mesh without crashing. Some times deleting the SLM file in the folder with the Collada DAE file can solve the problem.

Another problem is the file selection window stalls the viewer. If you take too long to open a file for upload, you may be disconnected. Since the file dialog stalls the viewer, the server sees you as disconnected. At some point the server times out the connection for no activity and disconnects you.

Mesh upload does NOT have the time problem other types of asset upload have. So, you may get disconnected uploading a texture but not a mesh. On the other hand your Skydrive will crash you on a mesh upload but, may be not with a texture.

It can be confusing trying to figure out what is happening. You have to look in the viewer log to figure out which crash is biting you.

Second Life Problems

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Today, Tuesday, some time after the restarts people started to see problems. There was no software rollout today, just a restart.

There is very high packet loss of everyone. Which is an indication it is on the Lab’s end of the network. Even Lindens were seeing the packet loss. While some of them work from home or remote offices, some work at the Lab. That is even more indication that it is not an ISP or remote problem.

About 1 PM PT/SLT this notice appeared on the Gird Status page:

[Updated 1:14pm PST, 8 December 2013] We are also currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance to our homepage and related services, such as Marketplace and Live Chat. Some residents may be unable to connect or experience delays connecting to our website or any of these services during this time.  Please watch this blog for further details as we have them.

[Posted 12:52pm PST, 8 December 2013] We are aware that some regions may be experiencing performance issues and slow response times. This may also cause some residents to be unable to access some regions. Our engineers are working to correct this issue as quickly as possible. Please monitor this blog for additional updates.

You can see if you are getting bit by opening your Viewer Statistics panel (Ctrl-Shift-1). Look for Packet Loss. Mine was bouncing between 0 and 75%. Obviously that is going to cause a sluggish viewer and things are not going to work well. Chat log and groups are wacky too.

I suggest avoiding doing money transactions or rezzing No Copy items.

Second Life News 2013-2

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Sever Side Avatar Baking

This change touches many parts of the Second Life™ system, both server and viewer side. The server side changes are nearing completion and the viewer side changes are about midway, IMO.

Third Party Viewer Developers are working to get the code changes merged into their projects. This is a VERY complex task because of the changes TPV Dev’s have made and the changes from Server Side Avatar Baking. (SSAB)

Since the SSAB clock started ticking most of the time has been used to sort out merge problems. I get the impression that is getting worked out and TPV Dev’s will soon be in a place to actually run their test viewers.

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Connecting to Second Life

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People have been having problems connecting to Second Life™ for as long as I have been using SL, probably longer. As the viewer is shifted to use more HTTP protocol services some are seeing better performance and others worse performance. Whatever the case, more use of HTTP is coming.

HTTP Library

Monty Linden has been working on the communications library used with Second Life. In general we know that work as the HTTP Library. The library is a file that contains all the code to run the HTTP communications channels for the viewer.

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Second Life Deferred Render

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There is a problem with Deferred Render (L&S = Lighting & Shadows) crashing some viewers. The Firestorm Viewer team thinks most people cannot run L&S. That may say more about who is using Firestorm and Phoenix rather than SL users. But, as far as I know there are no good stats to answer the question of how many people can run L&S, at least not in regard to SL users.

As we move forward this will be a more important issue. It certainly makes a difference in how Second Life™ appears on your screen.

What it is?

Deferred Rendering is a high fidelity render of lighting and in some systems shadows. There is no limit to the number of lights that can be rendered, which is a big step up from the 6 or 8 lights we could previously render in SL.

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Olantica Grid

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I got a note that a new grid is around. If you’ve been To Olantica grid tell me what you think of it in comments.

This is an OpenSim world. Other than that I don’t know much about it. However there is a web site with a bit more information. See: Olantica – Lost Wolrd. They have a currency  So, one should be able to buy and sell between the VW and RL. That also means one has to trust them with their financial information. But, they do have free accounts.

Read the ToS. It does not inspire me to buy currency.

To point your viewer to the world use these settings:

Grid Nick: Olantica
Grid Name: Olantica
Login URI: http://olantica.net:8002/

Login In Page: http://olantica.net/splash/
Helper URI: http://olantica.net/scripts/helper/

For direct information contact the founder: Leslie Kling