Update your viewer!!

The Phoenix Firestorm Viewer team has been telling people for some time now that Phoenix will at some point become next to unusable. A significant number of people have listened and moved to a modern viewer, some have not yet. If you are one of the latter, I suggest you reconsider and update very soon as Linden Lab has announced a tentative date for starting to switch on SSA (server side appearance).

The following is a quote from Nyx Linden
“We currently are not aware of any major release-blocking bugs and are starting to look at scheduling the roll-out process. We have a number of QA passes and tests to run through before we can get the final greenlight to do so, so we are currently targeting July 9th as the earliest date at which we will enable SSA for a significant portion of the grid (a server RC channel). Please note that if we find additional bugs in the meantime, or run into other scheduling difficulties this date could be pushed back. We will not be going to RC before this date however.”

So the clock is now ticking much louder than it was, time is getting short. I strongly suggest you  update to a SSA capable viewer. Those on Firestorm 4.4.0 will be fine although there will be a release very soon with a few additional fixes to the SSA code in it. When it comes out please update as soon as possible. Those on Phoenix and other older viewers all I can say is update to a modern viewer now. If you choose to move to Firestorm we do have classes to help you get used to it as well as our Wiki and inworld support groups.

Materials and Firestorm

Linden Lab released the new Materials  capable viewer yesterday and people are asking if it is available in Firestorm yet. The short answer is no it is not.  The next question is when will it be available in Firestorm. The short answer is when its ready.

Why is it not available yet? Well to start with until LL releases something like this it is against the TPV rules, no TPV is allowed to release a new LL feature until it is released by them. Secondly while Materials is a very cool feature the fact is that it still has some significant bugs that LL is working on fixes for.Such as the following
Glowing water:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-197
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-201
* https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-137
Most notably seen on hairs that comprise of solid and alpha parts. On non materials viewers, this hair would appear all black as it should be https://jira.secondlife.com/secure/attachment/71955/Snapshot_015.png
On materials viewers, the alpha parts render much lighter
* Some objects render with black textures – various different bugs for this, most notable any object that has transparency and glow render as black
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-175
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-193
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-186 – black HUDs
* Legacy shiny is “too shiny”
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-182
* Projected light is broken when shining on objects that have transparency
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-194
* Mac users on 10.6.8 cannot enable ALM or they have severe rendering issues
Black rings in the sky: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-196
Shiny objects and reflections render as white glow: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-171
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MATBUG-198

Thirdly, the Firestorm developers are still working on the merge to the previously released CHUI code. That needs to be done before they can merge the Materials code.

We do plan on having Materials in Firestorm, but it will not happen overnight. In fact it may take sometime before it is available in Firestorm as there are several things that need to be done before that code can be added, then tested and released.

Firestorm Classes

You may have heard that the Firestorm support team holds free classes that explain the preferences, menus and some of the features in the viewer. Features like the built in AO, and Contact sets which is one of the least known but extremely useful features in the viewer. We also have a couple classes that can apply to any viewer. There is a class on lag that can help you understand and even reduce the effects of lag in some cases.  There is also a basic troubleshooting class that can give you some ideas on finding out where your problems originate.

So why should you consider attending the classes? Aside from the obvious fact that you may learn what some of the preferences do and learn to set up and use some of the cool features, we’ve found that those who do come out wind up having a lot fewer issues with the viewer and SL in general. There is also an open question and answer session after the classes where you can ask about anything at all, including help on issues you may be experiencing.

You can find the class schedule on our wiki at http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/firestorm_classes The schedule gets updated progressively. Class notes for all of the classes are always available at our main classrooms at   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phoenix%20Firestorm%20Support/250/6/4001

Why is Firestorm crashing on me?

There have been a number of complaints about the latest release of Firestorm (4.4.0). I personally have had more crashes since starting to test the 4.4.0 build and thanked the Firestorm developers for making a crash bug just for me.  I seldom crashed before starting to use the 4.4.0 build and found myself crashing once or twice a day minimum. That means there is a bug in the viewer, right? Well, let me tell you a story.

I run two PCs here — my main PC and one for streaming music — neither of which could be considered new or powerful. I have been using “Mouse Without Borders,” a software setup that lets you use one keyboard and mouse on multiple computers. To make a long story short, my streaming PC was down for a day, and I noticed that I did not crash at all that day. Next day, with the streaming PC running, it was back to crashing for me. A light went off in my head, and I get out the extra keyboard/mouse combo that I have, hooked it up and disabled Mouse Without Borders and ran that way for a week, with no crashes that were not related to Windows itself. Then just to be sure I re-enabled MWB and logged in to SL. You have already guessed that I crashed haven’t you?

Now, I am no expert despite what some may think (I describe myself as an information junky with a clue). It took me months (literally) to find out why I was crashing and, to be totally honest, it was pure luck that I did.

So, what exactly is my point? We have known for a long time that some programs will conflict with parts of the viewer code. Having Skydrive installed for example caused users to crash when uploading a pic. Just because you have not had problems in the past does not mean you won’t (I have used MWB for a couple of years now).
So the mystery got solved, and I am no longer crashing as much. The message I’m trying to get across here is that just because Firestorm is crashing, the reason may be someplace else on your computer. The fact is that if you make up your mind that you are crashing because of the viewer you may never discover the real reason for the crashes.

Linden Lab Support,,,,,,,,

Okay this is a two part rant here, with both parts being about Linden Lab’s support.

There are occasions when a user needs to get help from LL’s support to fix an issue. They will ask you to login on a LL viewer if you are using a third party viewer. While this may not be something you want to do I can totally understand why they require this. I would no more be able to help a user on a LL viewer than they can a user on a TPV. So my advice is simple,, just install and login on their  viewer. Get the problem fixed and then log back in on the viewer of your choice.

There are several types of support issues that only Linden Lab can resolve. Unfortunately support for non premium members is  quite limited. I can understand why LL would limit support for non premium members as it costs them money, and they are in this to make money. Where I have a problem is when the problem itself is actually totally on their end. Cases where it has nothing to do with anything the user has done. Ghosted avatars and certain inventory issues for example. I have filed a JIRA requesting Linden Lab reconsider this policy and would like to encourage you all to read it, watch it and possibly even comment on it, regardless if you agree with me or not.

Phoenix/Firestorm Support

We get complaints about support a fair amount. Some of them may be justifiable, others are not. So let me explain what you do get as far as support for the Phoenix Team’s viewers.
The Phoenix Support Team is made up of volunteers who help people out because they like helping people. They are all reasonably knowledgeable about not only the viewer but about Second Life in general. That said, they do not have all the answers. So if they
do not have an answer that may be why.
They are sometimes percieved as being rude as well, and in some cases that is true. While the following is no excuse, it may help users understand why that happens on occasion.
The team members deal with answering the same questions repeatedly, answers that are on the Wiki. They deal with chat lag as well which as we all know is frustrating.
They also deal with frustrated users whose patience is worn thin because they cannot get their problems solved. Try listening to people complain about things for several hours a day and see how that makes you feel. Then add in the fact that a full 50% of
the issues we deal with are either the fault of the users PC or settings, to say nothing of grid or server side issues.
In short, the team is not perfect. The support is free, just like the viewer. In my opinion you are getting as good support as you get for most things you actually pay for.

Bandwidth settings,,,,,

The Phoenix Support team gets lots of people reporting things like “I can’t teleport and I’m only wearing 29 scripts”. When asked what their bandwidth is set to they say “I maxed it out” or set it higher than the default,  Probably because more is better right? Well I’m going to tell you right now, it ain’t so. many of these peoples issues disappear once they  drop their bandwidth to  one of the setting recommended by the Phoenix support team. They generally recommend maximums of 500 for any wireless connection, 1000 for hardwired DSL connections, and 1500 for any faster hardwired connection. See this page for a more detailed way to  determine bandwidth settings. Lette Ponnier from the team has a great analogy that I am going to unabashedly steal for this rant that explains it well.

So you have a keg of beer that you want to bottle. You get the keg , a bottle and a funnel and start pouring it in the bottle using the funnel. If you pour it slowly then you don’t spill any. Pour too fast  however and the beer spills out and you waste beer. You could try a bigger funnel, but will still wind up spilling beer if you pour too fast, and everyone knows that wasting beer is bad. (Don’t like beer? Substitute  your favorite beverage)

The same works with bandwidth, if you try get too much then some will be lost. That means the information sent to you from the servers may get  “spilled” and lost, and thus  cause issues. Now I know that someone out there will say “I have maxed my bandwidth and have no problem”. Well good for you, but not everyone will have the same results. The suggestions that the team makes are from observation of what works for the majority of people. Just for the record, it is not just teleports that are affected by  your bandwidth setting, that is just the most common one i see. So please do not max out your bandwidth as in most cases you will only be  creating issues,, and Second Life already has enough of them if you have not noticed.

Firestorm or Phoenix?

So,, by now you probably all know that we have a new Phoenix release out that lets you see and upload mesh. Its out  and available for all that want it. I personally will not be using it. Firestorm is my viewer of choice now, and frankly I would  encourage everyone to use it rather than Phoenix.. Have both installed and take your time getting used to Firestorm if you have to. Most people i have talked to say the same thing. “It took a while to get used to it but now i can’t go back to Phoenix” is something I have heard quite a bit. Personally I would have been content to let 1185 be our last Phoenix release as it was the most stable release we put out. However you wanted it and now you have it. Please be aware that eventually all V1  based viewers will be less and less usable as LL adds new features that are V2 based, and turn off services that the V1 code uses. The Phoenix team has always been about  giving you choices and that is what they have done once again. My choice is  Firestorm and I hope you will all give it try.

Clean Installs…..

The support team will often tell people to do a “clean install”.  Sadly a fair number of people don’t seem to understand what that is, or why they should do one. So todays rant is about clean installs,, the how and why they are needed.

First what we mean by a clean install. When you install  Firestorm there are 3 folders  created (for windows at least). One is in the programs section on your PC. Using an uninstaller usually gets rid of that one. Note that i said usually, it never hurts to check that that folder is really gone after running the uninstaller. A second folder is  created for your cache, and a third for your user settings and chat logs. It is important that you either delete or rename these folders so that they are not used by the new, clean, install  Please do NOT use any of the old files from those folders, that defeats the purpose of a clean install.. There are full instructions on the wiki (you did RTFW right?) at http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=fs_clean_reinstall .

Okay so why do we ask you to do a clean install?  Well, when we do a new release there are almost always some major changes. Skin changes, new settings and preferences, all sorts of changes. If  for any reason  the old files are there then you may wind up with a problem. Then you may end up asking for help and get told “Please  do a clean install” anyway. Yes we realize its a pain to have to redo all your settings, as a matter of fact we know the pain far better than most of you may think. As a so called “perk” of being on the team we get to test  builds almost everyday. This means doing a clean install to make sure that any issues with that build are actually related to that one, not some leftover from a previous install. When we get  close to a release we may have to test  more than one build in a day. The mesh beta release for example. There were four,, yes 4, builds  put out for testing in one 24  hour period, and that meant  four clean installs in one day. So trust me when we say we  know the pain of resetting your settings.

So please, when you are asked to do a  clean install, make sure you do. It will make things simpler for both you, and the support team.

 

RTFW,,, (Read The Fine Wiki) ,, please

Okay so we have this wonderful resource out there  called a Wiki. We have a lot of documentation about our  viewers there. Information on the menu items, preferences, descriptions on  some of the features in them, and a great troubleshooting section.

So,, want to know what something does,, go to the Wiki  http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=start for Phoenix  specific questions, or for Firestorm http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=firestorm , and find what you want. Question about the AO? The answer is there in the user guide section. Having a  problem? See the troubleshooting Guide or one of the other links in the getting help section. The Wiki is searchable too, see the text  box on the top right if the page? Type in the term you’re looking for and hit search.

The Wiki contains almost all the information we have about our viewers. Our support team uses it, along with our JIRA, as a resource. It is  kept pretty much up to date. This means that new issues and their solutions are added there all the  time.

So I urge you all to raise up your voices with me as I say “RTFW” ,, and practice what you preach. 🙂