Changes have been made in how abandoned land on the main land is handled. I’m not into buying SL land so, I’m not sure exactly how it has been working. However in the Simulator User Group the Lindens were discussing changes to the system. (link)
When tier is not paid land goes into an abandoned status. For three days the land is in a BUY BACK grace status. The owner can buy the land back for L$0 cost. The precise timing is a bit fuzzy. As I understand once the computer systems mark the land abandoned, the counter starts. No one knows exactly when the counter starts, or at least they didn’t say. As best I can tell there is no way for a resident to predict when someone will abandon land, unless the owner tells them. Even then I suspect there is no way to know when the computer will update the land’s status.
Today a new release of the Firestorm Viewer Preview is out. This viewer is alpha, or even pre-alpha, software. So, only attempt using it if you want to experiment and help the Firestorm Development Team. The download link is available through the Firestorm-Phoenix Preview Group. The announcements have warnings one should read, so I’ll not providing a link to the download. If you want the viewer, join the group. If you want to know some things about the viewer and then decide, read on.
Download & Install Firestorm Viewer
The download size is about 26mb. You are warned to uninstall the previous Firestorm Viewer be installing. The Firestorm Viewer uninstall program with the previous version does a good job of removing the install. The cache and cache folder are removed, the program files and folder are removed with the option to preserve any files you may have added, and the skins are removed. You have an option to save (default) your chat logs or remove those too.
I did not have to manually remove any files. The uninstall and new install gave me a working viewer.
Once removed, I installed the new Preview 2 Viewer. I tried running it but got 1.4 FPS on the initial startup. Ugh. Reboot time. After the reboot I get 40 to 67 FPS in my cottage with the default settings from the install. So, do a reboot after you install.
The install changes the default handler for SLURL’s changing it to Firestorm Preview. So, clicking an SLURL in your browser, if you haven’t customized your browser, will call Firestorm. If you want to change your registry to change your default viewer see: Emerald Viewer vs SLURL. Otherwise, just reinstall your favorite viewer. The last viewer installed generally becomes the default handler for SLURL’s
If you have read my other reviews, you’ll know I’m not a big fan of the media filter because it is so annoying to use. The result is most people are just going to turn it off, at least I do. Only the paranoid people will put up with the pesky popups.
Dolphin Viewer 2 now has what I think is an important change in how one can use the media filter. Now just domain names can be used in white listing and black listing sites rather then complete URL’s. This should make use of the filter much less annoying. One can now white list “.shoutcast.com” and all the various URL’s based on shoutcast.com will be white listed. You will stop getting pop ups on any parcel using shoutcast.com. Be warned: that leading dot is important. Without the leading dot the entry shoutcast.com will match badguyshoutcast.com and igotushoutcast.com. Be careful how you enter list entries.
The complexity of version numbering for viewers and the code dumps coming from Linden Lab make clearly telling you what version and features your likely to encounter nearly impossible. There has been a load of code added to the S21(6) and changing to RC3, while logical to a developer, doesn’t really tell the user the extent of the changes. I think of Release Candidates as less about features and new code than about bug fixes. This new version is more about new code.
Channelwood in Kirsten S21(6) RC3 with Shadows
Kirsten puts it very in the release announcement writing:
S21(6) is now a superset of Viewer-Development, Viewer-Mesh, Viewer-XMPP and Viewer-Social 😀
It has been a monster to get everything working, however the result is a viewer of epic cutting edge niceness.
I don’t know what is called when beyond the Bleeding Edge of tech development, but whatever that is, is where this viewer is.
The Kokua-Imprudence team has a new Experimental release of the Imprudence Viewer out and ready for download. The big fix in this release is media features and voice. Lots of people have been running into voice problems. The team thinks the other big feature is media filters, the new feature everyone turns off…
Linux users will find new versions and more Ubuntu support.
Media Filter
If you don’t already know, cause you are …like living under a Geico insurance rock… RedZone was able to track users via IP Address by using fake media. This filter is somewhat like a firewall that allows you to stop the viewer from contacting selected URL’s. Once people use it they find the feature so annoying they turn it off. The annoyance comes from the popup popping every time you cross a parcel boundary to ask if it can contact the parcel’s media site.
A new release of the Singularity viewer is out. The Singularity Viewer download instructions and link are on the Singularity web site. Details of changes and the release notes are there too. Also the viewer has made it on Linden Lab’s SL TPV List. The viewer is in the second set of viewers where they are listed alphabetically.
Download & Install
Download file size is about 28mb. The instructions say to uninstall any currently installed version of the viewer. The uninstall program in version 1.5.3 does not clear the cache or remove the Singularity settings files. I chose to manually delete those files. The settings are in a file at and named: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\user_settings\settings_singularity.xml
The cache is located in: C:\Users\[user_name]\AppData\Local\SingularityViewer\
The Program Files folder for Singularity is removed.
The install is quick and no options are offered, so it is as simple as it can get.
However, the install associates SLURL’s with the Singularity Viewer. There is no option or choice, it just does it.
