Cool VL Viewer forum

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release and a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.21 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "make PBR scale like Blinn Phong does" for textures.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a fix for "LOD textures were not taking callback discard into account".
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop pull requests "fix viewer stripping quotes off folder names" (bug introduced with the new XMLRPC code).
• Fixed the bug introduced with the new XMLRPC code (similar issue as for folder names above: improper special characters escaping), that caused the viewer to fail to log you in at the specified simulator coordinates when giving them in the "Start location" input box at login screen, or when passing them via an SLURL in the command line.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop support for the new IM "bot" flag. Also implemented a new "bot" icon in the IM floater that would appear for sessions where the interlocutor is identified as a bot. Note that this is currently untested since (AFAIK) not yet deployed server-side.
• Further improved the texture discard bias algorithm, with better max GL texture memory and minimum free VRAM margin determination. Also now account for the fact that the GL driver may not keep all bound textures resident in VRAM, even when there is enough room in the latter (causing apparent allocated bound texture memory "leak"). Exposed the free VRAM margin as a user-configurable setting in the "Graphics" tab, "GPU/GL features" sub-tab of the "Preferences" floater.
• Added a status bar indicator (the third, counting from the right side of the status bar) for the texture discard bias. This indicator reflects the memory pressure (VRAM and RAM) the currently rendered scene puts on your system (reflects also the blurriness of the textures you will see rendered: black (0) no blur, red (4 and over) lots of blur). The indicator tool tip gives you the current bias value. Clicking on this indicator also toggles the texture stats view.
• Added an orange color for stat graphs (now showing green, yellow, orange or red, depending on the associated stat level).
• Added missing tool tips and highlighting support in the scripts editor for the LSL ATTACH_HUD_* constants.
• Updated llwebrtc to resync with LL's latest release (with WebRTC voice fixes).
• Patched the GLM (header-only) "library" to avoid llgltf link-time warnings seen with some compiler/linker combinations.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release and a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.22 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Backported from LL's viewer-develop the removal of useless vertex font buffer resets for hovering text and avatar name tags (could have also been causing flickering with some OpenGL drivers).
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop fixes to boost::signal leaks in the marketplace shutdown code and in the legacy materials manager (the latter could happen on sim changes).
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a "fix for PBR texture animations sometimes not starting".
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a "fix PBR terrain sometimes not loading textures".
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a fix for textures potentially (not seen by me in the Cool VL Viewer) getting stuck in a perpetual fetching state.
• Tentative fixes (blind ones, since I cannot test them) to the bug causing estate managers and sim owners to be unable to change the access lists in the Region/estate floater.
• Linux only: recompiled Dullahan against the latest CEF 130 release.
• Build requirements change: cmake v3.10 is now the minimum version required to build the viewer.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release and a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.23 v1.32.2.24 (*) (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Fixed the bug (introduced in v1.32.1) that was causing estate managers and sim owners to be unable to change the access lists in the Region/estate floater.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a proper fix to glitches seen in batch rendering of text mixing "normal" characters with emojis. Removed my workaround (double initial drawing of font vertex buffers) for this bug.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "account for DPI changes" for font vertex buffers updates.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "fix for PBR hair fighting itself (and other fully transparent materials)". Fixed this fix regarding transparency debug render (CTRL ALT T) that shall still render those 100% transparent faces.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop support for disabling HDR shaders and reflection maps in PBR mode when using drivers only supporting OpenGL v4.0 or older.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "fix potential shift by -1 exponent in flexible objects update".
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "speed up terrain loading on teleport" (was wrongly delayed when teleport progress screen is enabled).
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop the awareness for a new notification message used by servers with the upcoming llTransferOwnership() LSL function.
• Changed the default value for the "AutoRefreshAttachmentsInSL" setting to FALSE, since the corresponding workaround ("Advanced" -> "Character" -> "Refresh attachments on sim changes") should not be needed any more (server bug considered fixed by LL).
• Linux only: updated Dullahan to compile it against and use the latest CEF 131 release.
• Linux only: updated libSDL to v2.30.9 and recompiled libndofdev against it.
• Updated FMOD Studio to v2.03.04.
• Updated meshoptimizer to v0.22.
• Minor code cleanup.

Enjoy !

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(*) Due to a bug introduced in v1.32.2.23 with the new font rendering code that could cause display corruption, I published v1.32.2.24 which partly reverts that code to a safe state, that still fixes the emojis+normal characters text rendering. All users of v1.32.2.23 should update to v1.32.2.24.

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release and a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.25 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Fixed the bug (introduced together with PBR terrain support) which caused a failure to update terrain textures using the Region/estate floater. See this message for details.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop proper GLSL #version setting in shaders for OpenGL v3 drivers.
• Now allow to enable PBR on some OpenGL 3 drivers that would fail to compile HDR-related shaders, rendering with HDR disabled instead of failing.
• Improved plugins logging. The error console channel is no more used to log debug messages, those being instead forwarded to the viewer and logged in its log file. Also implemented support for the WebRTC log sink, so that it also fowards the WebRTC log messages to the viewer log.
• Updated parallel_hashmap to v1.4.1.
• Linux only: recompiled Dullahan against the latest CEF 131 release.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.26 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "prevent erroneous edit of wrong parcel".
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a fix to "SHIFT TAB selects extra lines on script edit on reduce indent".
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop various fixes to PBR shaders to better support OpenGL-v3-only GPUs and to better render scenes using legacy sky settings. Fixed LL's code to be able to render properly (i.e. not too dark) with PBR reflections turned off. Added support for overriding manually the (future) sky settings tone map mix value via the "RenderTonemapMix" debug setting (defaults to -1, i.e. follow sky settings). Please note that these changes also imply to revert the default value for exposure used for PBR-aware sky settings to 1.0 (so if you changed the default value with former releases, make sure to set it back to 1.0 or to readjust it to whatever value suits you).
• Fixed the wrong (too bright) gamma correction seen in PBR rendering mode with tone mapping turned off.
• Now automatically disable shared GL profile threads for OpenGL below v4.0 (and hide the corresponding settings in graphics preferences), since this feature won't work properly with v3 and older OpenGL drivers.
• Added tool tips and syntax highlighting support in the script editor for the new/future TRANSFER_* LSL contants and llSetAgentRot(), llTransferOwnership(), llGiveAgentInventory() LSL functions.
• Fixed a potential use after free on HBCookiesMerger destruction.
• Linux only: adopted my CEF cookies merger for Linux as well (so far only used for Windows), instead of my former Cookies file symbolic link hack to share cookies between CEF120+ sessions.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a minor maintenance release.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.27 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Reintroduced my workaround for emojis rendering glitches, since LL's tentative fix did not cut it. But this time, the double font vertex buffer initial rendering only happens for text containing emojis.
• Changed the user's skin custom overrides sub-directory from "skins" to "cvlv-skins" to avoid any collision with skins overrides used with other viewers. The viewer will inform you once (and once only), via a notification, when you have the former "skins" override directory present but not the new "cvlv-skins" directory. You will need to either copy or rename the old directory to keep using your overrides and any Lua custom floater of your making.
• Added a Lua inventory floater XUI definition you can use with OpenLuaFloater(), and added in the latter function a parameter to allow initializing UI controls values on floater opening. For example OpenLuaFloater("inventory", "", "", true, "inventory1=|Objects") will open an inventory floater with the "Objects" folder as the root folder. See the updated Lua manual for details.
• Cleaned up the GPU table and added upcoming GPU models to it.
• Linux x86_64 only: updated jemalloc to the latest git version.
• Linux only: recompiled Dullahan against the latest CEF 131 release.
• Minor code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release and a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.28 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Added NULL and dead objects guards in an attempt to fix a super-rare crash.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop a fix for crashes encountered with some GPU/drivers when attempting to enable triplanar PBR terrain rendering.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop changes to shaders and render pipeline to get scene lighting with pre-PBR sky to render in PBR mode like they do in ALM or forward modes. Note that this is a major change to how PBR rendering works. Shadows are also now rendering properly with legacy skies in PBR mode. As a side effect "Adjust legacy to PBR" does not any more cause legacy scenes to use tone mapping (but improves sky color and saturation). For the Cool VL Viewer, it means that some default settings and some workarounds I had in place changed: the "Sun brightness" now defaults to 100% (LL's equivalent), and "Adjust legacy to HDR" is now enabled by default. Also, you cannot change tone mapping any more (from the "Advanced" -> "Rendering" -> "Deferred rendering" menu) while using a legacy sky, even with "Adjust legacy to HDR" enabled.
• Fixed (again) the gamma correction when tone mapping is off while in PBR rendering mode (and using a PBR sky). Added a new debug setting ("RenderGammaScaleFactorNoToneMap") to allow adjusting the strength of the correction factor.
• Expanded the OpenLuaFloater() function to allow a finer positioning of the opened floater and to allow using the same XUI definition with several, simultaneously open floaters. Also added new Lua specific debug settings ("LuaFloaterRect0" to "LuaFloaterRect9") to allow persistent custom Lua floater positions and sizes. See the updated Lua manual for full details.
• Cosmetic changes to the Preferences floater.
• Linux x86_64 only: updated jemalloc to the latest git version.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a maintenance release and a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.29 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Backported from LL's viewer develop fixes for potential crashes related to glTF material overrides copy.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop fixes for crashes that could happen while optimizing some mesh objects vertex and index data.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop "skip updating of reflection probes that are not the default probe when probe coverage is set to 'None'" in PBR rendering mode.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop a fix for failures, with some OpenGL drivers, to link PBR shaders due to missing vertex shader output.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop "fix for slightly transparent objects negating colors" in PBR rendering mode.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop a fix for configured tone mapping mix factor not being taken into account with PBR skies. Removed my workaround for it and restored the "RenderTonemapMix" default value to 0.7.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop "fix for stars not rendering when emissive rendering is enabled" in PBR rendering mode.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop "revert default exposure thresholds to DeltaFPS values" in PBR rendering mode; the new "RenderExposureUsesSkySettings" setting governs this behavior.
• Backported from LL's viewer develop "fix for legacy skies with bright suns not matching pre-PBR viewers" in PBR rendering mode.
• Changed the default PBR midday asset UUID (stored in the "PBRSkyMiddayAssetId" debug setting) to match LL's latest PBR midday sky (must be, like, the 5th version they make).
• Fixed the bug introduced in v1.32.2.27 and which caused the viewer to fail to detect custom skins. See this thread for details.
• Reduced the PBR sky reflections darkening factor ("RenderSkyReflectionDarkening" setting) to 15% (from 25%) for my "Fix reflections blue hue" workaround.
• Implemented a new "Viewer executable binaries and directories" floater, which can be opened by clicking on the new "Binaries and directories in use" link in the "About" floater.
• Implemented a new algorithm to limit the VRAM usage on imbalanced systems (*) when the viewer is configured to auto-detect the available VRAM amount: when a system got less than twice the amount of installed RAM when compared to its VRAM, the new algorithm limits its VRAM usage to half the installed (and usable) physical RAM. This helps to avoid physical RAM exhaustion on such systems (at least, the said exhaustion will not be the responsibility of an immoderate use of the VRAM by the viewer).
• Work in progress: implemented a new "Memory safety checks" algorithm to try and detect low free physical RAM conditions on imbalanced systems (*). Added new "MinFreePhysMemCheck", "MinFreePhysMemMB", "MinFreePhysMemPct" debug settings to control this algorithm. Sadly, this is currently not working properly, causing false "low memory condition" positives. Keep off for now.
• Adopted MagicCraftMaster's fix for a gesture shortcut display bug in the Gestures list floater.
• Updated the boost libraries to v1.87. Recompiled Colladadom against them.
• Linux only: updated libSDL to v2.30.10 and recompiled libndofdev against it.
• Linux only: recompiled Dullahan against the latest CEF 131 release.
• Linux x86_64 only: updated jemalloc to the latest git version.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

---

(*) Systems with too much VRAM when compared with the installed RAM. The viewer will consume about 1.5x the amount of used VRAM in RAM: each GL texture, vertex buffer, frame buffer, etc in VRAM is also mapped in RAM, with textures also in their non-decoded (j2c) and raw formats, to which you must also add all the meshes data, objects data, etc, meaning that a "balanced" system should have at least twice as much RAM as it got VRAM. This was not much of an issue until lately, with graphics cards bearing over 8GB of VRAM (which is good and desirable, indeed) used to upgrade old systems with only 16GB of RAM or less.

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a minor maintenance release but nonetheless a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.30 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Relaxed the VRAM usage anticipation algorithm to only kick in when the difference between the auto-detected VRAM and the computed/expected VRAM usage is not smaller than the reported free VRAM (provided such reports are available from the OpenGL driver and that you did not tick the "Disable VRAM checks" box in the graphics settings), i.e. when the algorithm is not being proven to be too pessimistic. This allows a better VRAM management and avoids some blurry textures cases when you let the viewer VRAM detection on auto ("Available VRAM (MB)" set to 0 in graphics preferences).
• Finished the implementation of the "Memory safety checks" algorithm to try and detect low free physical RAM conditions and avoid swapping or out of memory crashes (which could happen on imbalanced systems with, for example, 16GB or less RAM and over 8GB of VRAM). Added the corresponding toggle (defaulting to disabled) in the Advanced menu. This algorithm can be fine-tuned for your system via the "MinFreePhysMemPct" and "MinFreePhysMemMB" debug settings. When enabled and by default, the algorithm will try and keep 5% of your system installed (and usable) RAM free. When enabled and should the viewer be forced to increase the texture discard bias to its maximum value to try and keep enough free memory, the discard bias indicator in the status bar would blink to alert you that you need to take other measures (e.g. close a memory-hungry web browser, or reduce drastically the draw distance in the viewer).
• Changed the texture console first stats line to remove the texture disk cache usage numbers (pretty irrelevant and of no concern to the user), and replaced them with a free physical RAM stat; this new stat is also followed with an exclamation mark when the "Memory safety checks" are enabled and the viewer has increased textures discard bias as a result of a low free memory condition.
• In an attempt to avoid rare failures to restore the initial outfit on login, improved the inventory cache loading algorithm, making it so that folders found to contain broken cached links get immediately force-fetched again. See this thread for details.
• Some code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here is a new release of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

This is a minor maintenance release but nonetheless a recommended update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.32.2.31 (stable branch):

New in this release:

• Fixed a bug introduced in v1.32.2.26 and which was causing a failure to compile the PBR terrain shader with some pre-4.6 OpenGL drivers. See this thread for details.
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop a change to allow again HDR tone mapping when "RenderSkyAutoAdjustLegacy" is TRUE. As a result, made this variable default to FALSE again (toggle is "World" ->"Environment -> "Adjust legacy to PBR").
• Backported from LL's viewer-develop "skip ambient probe sampling when we are in classic mode. Ensure that our passed in ambient lighting is the only thing that gets applied".
• Added missing syntax highlighting and tool tips support for the llLinear2sRGB() and llsRGB2Linear() LSL functions in the script editor.
• Updated xxHash to v0.8.3.
• Linux only: updated libSDL to v2.30.11 and recompiled libndofdev against it.
• Linux only: recompiled Dullahan against the latest CEF 131 release.

Enjoy and happy new year !