Nalates' Things & Stuff

Imprudence Experimental Viewer 2011.4.2 Review

2011/04/032011/04/03 by Nalates Urriah

Imprudence has release a new version of their viewer, version 2011.04.02. They are still calling this an experimental version. I’m not sure that makes any difference at this point. This version has the ubiquitous bug fixes and some NEW FEATURES.

Download & Install

I noticed the announcement about an hour after it was posted. Trying to download the 35mb file was a problem. I was getting about 100k/sec download. I canceled and retried, still painfully slow. I got a copy of the SL Beta viewer (25mb) in about 5 seconds. So, it’s not my network. Slowly it improved, but not much. By the time you are reading this the rush should be over and you’ll have a faster download.

The install remains the same as previous versions. You have the option to associate SLURL’s with Imprudence.

Massive TP Failure

2011/04/01 by Nalates Urriah

WARNING Rumors are circulating that recent changes to SL servers have created a massive problem with a 100% failure rate including complete loss of inventory. The network connections that transfer you from one region to another are failing. TP’s to certain places consistently fail. Rumor is that if you manage to TP your inventory does not go with you. … Read more

KirstenLee’s S21(6) Released Review

2011/04/012011/03/31 by Nalates Urriah

Today Kirsten released a new version of the S21 viewer. This is not a release candidate. I suppose we can call it a production version. Whatever we call it, it is out and we can use it. Kirsten S21 Download The Mac and Linux versions will be up soon, if not already.

Download and Install

The download size is 29 mb. The install is typical of the S21 viewers. There are no special instructions from Kirsten about installing. The previous version must be uninstalled before the install will proceed. The uninstall process is built into the install program. That keeps things simple and easy. The cache is removed. The settings are retained.

Network Performance Tip

2011/03/31 by Nalates Urriah

As residents of SL we get lots of information about tweaking our systems for better performance. Mostly we get information about the viewer and its settings. We are often referred to various network speed testing sites, like www.speedtest.net, to test network performance. But, seldom are residents told about tweaking their DNS resolvers. So, here is some information on tweaking your DNS settings.

Windows Network DNS Benchmark Tool — DNS Benchmark Tool

SL Viewer Ranking Update

2011/03/30 by Nalates Urriah

Today I see the Wiki page on Third Party Viewers (TPV) was updated last night. We now have more information on how the Lab ranks the viewers. Plus they make a good point about variables I did not consider.

SL Viewer Crash Rate — Crash Report? - Image by: ♥ellie♥ @ Flickr

Oz Linden added that a viewer’s crash rate is the percent of that viewer’s sessions that end in a crash. So, whether there are a thousand people using the viewer or ten thousand, the rate is representative of that viewer. This means there is no popularity factor in the number. More users of a given viewer will make the viewer’s rate more accurate and representative.

New Mesh and Render Complexity Tool

2011/03/292011/03/29 by Nalates Urriah

Nyx Linden has created a new tool that allows one to examine render complexity. When the tool is activated it colors objects in the area Blue, Green, or Red for low, moderate, and high complexity. The lower the complexity the faster things render.

Second Life — New Render Complexity Tool

This tool is based on the newest render complexity algorithm. According to Nyx the algorithm is not yet built into the Mesh Project Viewer. So, we may see differences in the values given in the mesh upload dialog and the Render Complexity Tool.