Nalates' Things & Stuff

Can’t Login Second Life

2011/12/022011/09/11 by Nalates Urriah

There is a known problem with login going around. It is not the only login problem. However, the Firestorm-Phoenix team and Lance of Dolphin Viewer fame have provided suggestions for those using their viewers and described the problem. There are possible fixes, if your login problem is from the Viewer 3 Bug in mesh capable viewers, that’s my name for it…

A possible fix is to login with a pre-mesh capable viewer. Once your in, you can logoff and come back with a Viewer 3 version. This problem affects all viewers using SLViewer 3 code, which is all of the new Third Party Viewers with mesh render ability. I think the problem started to appear with version 2.8.something. Any viewer prior to 2.8 should be able to clear the problem.

Another suggested fix is to change your DNS service. When making a change most switch over to the Google public DNS. You can Google for instructions on how to do that on your system. A trick they do not tell you when changing your DNS service is to ping the services you are currently using and the Google services. Place the service with the fastest ping as your preferred first choice. Make the slower of Google or your current DNS the second choice. To make your system more robust use 3 or 4 DNS addresses.

Charlar Linden Interview

2011/09/10 by Nalates Urriah

Yesterday (9/9) Kim(RL), who is Gianna Borgnine in SL, put up an audio recording of an interview with Charlar Linden. Most of us know him from the Mesh Project, at least I do. Charlar is a senior project manager at Linden Lab in charge of creators, those that make things in Second Life. The following is an index of the audio tape and my take on it.

The tape has problems and the volume is inconsistent, making it hard to listen to and understand. Charlar is, I guess, close to the mic so he can be understood.

Reed Steamroller and Draxtor Despres participate in the discussion. Unless you already know their voices, I have no idea who is who.

You’ll find the audio here: A Chat With Charlar on Metareality. There is kidding around that I have left out. Charlar seems nice enough and gives some candid answers.

Dolphin Viewer 3 Version 3.0.3.20418 Review

2011/09/10 by Nalates Urriah

Another third party viewer (TPV) releases a mesh capable viewer. Dolphin 3 Viewer is the latest. See the announcement on the Dolphin Viewer blog.

The article lists the features now in Dolphin Viewer 3. Some are features that have been in the SLViewer 2 and 3 for a time. Some are Dolphin features not in the SLViewer. The current combination of features makes Dolphin Viewer 3 one of more feature rich power-user viewers.

BIG TIP for Blocked Login

I’ve seen a number of people complaining about not being able to login. This is a problem thought to be in the Linden Lab code for version 3 viewers, basically mesh capable viewers. Once one runs into the problem it seems to be very difficult to get around it and get logged in. This problem is not Dolphin Viewer problem. It is an SL problem.

Lance provides a work around for the problem. He suggests logging in with a non-mesh viewer. Once logged in, you can log out and come back with mesh enabled viewer. Why this works probably has something to do with the mesh up load enablement flags, but that is a guess on my part.

Mesh Render Capable

The Dolphin Viewer 3 will render mesh. It will not allow you to upload mesh. Uploading requires a special set of calculations handled by the Havok Physics Engine. A TPV developer must purchase a license from Havok to use the same software the Lab licensed from Havok and uses.

Kirsten Viewer Stops Development

2011/09/09 by Nalates Urriah

KirstenLee announced that due to health issues within the RL family, development on the Kirsten Viewer will stop.

You can read the announcement here: Sad Farewell

migasun-cc2 — Image by: migasun of Flickr

The end of the Kirsten Viewer is a great disappoint for many of us. The Kirsten Viewer has been the cutting edge viewer. It built on Linden Lab technology. It has better renders and dynamic shadows than the Lab’s viewers. That cutting edge is gone.

Electricity

2011/09/09 by Nalates Urriah

I am one of those caught in the Great Southwest Blackout. Obviously I have power back.

It was interesting to start to realize what had happened. Being September and close to 9-11 concerns ran through my mind as the scope of the outage was revealed.

At home it was just power out. In the middle of the Beta Server User Group meeting chat stopped and my avatar was stuck in place. Then my battery backup alarm went off. Time to shutdown the computer. No big deal.

Went out to check the meter and look around to see if it was just me or the neighborhood. Neighbors were out checking there breakers and meters. My power comes in along an arterial street and it is not uncommon for traffic accidents to take out power for several hours. So, on a hot after noon (98F – 37C) it is time to get out and find some place with AC running and cold drinks.