Cool VL Viewer forum

Here are three(!) new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

The v1.26.5 experimental branch is now renumbered v1.26.6 as it gains a stable status. v1.26.6 is the branch you should be running everyday, unless you got an old computer that is happier with v1.26.4 (the now "legacy" branch with the v2.6 renderer which is faster (about 15% faster than the v3.4 renderer) in non-deferred rendering mode and which should run better on old/deprecated OpenGL graphics drivers).
The v1.26.7 branch is the new experimental branch that will get the newest experimental viewers' code backported to it (next on the list of such experimental code is the new avatar texture baking protocol that LL just made available to OpenSource developers); v1.26.7 currently only differs from v1.26.6 by the presence of two toggle-able (disabled by default) experimental features that were already part of v1.26.5 but have been disabled (not compiled) in v1.26.6: the mesh deformer and the new HTTP texture fetching core.

NOTE: if you don't want to redo all your settings with v1.26.6 and/or v1.26.7, just copy your ~/.secondlife/user_settings/settings_coolvlviewer_1265.xml file to ~/.secondlife/user_settings/settings_coolvlviewer_1266.xml and/or ~/.secondlife/user_settings/settings_coolvlviewer_1267.xml.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.43 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):

New in this release:

• Beacons implemented for highlighting of prims with Shared Media.
• Better beacons disabling code for RestrainedLove, when @edit=n is in force.
• Allow for longer animations (the corresponding server side code change is in this week's RC Magnum server release). The viewer will now accept to play any animation which duration is inferior or equal to 120 seconds (instead of 30s for the former limit, and knowing that even the new server version only allows for up to 60s). It also accepts to pre-validate longer animations when uploading them, but only after you change the new "AnimationsMaxDuration" debug setting. Please note that the animation duration is further bound server side (so increasing the AnimationsMaxDuration value to 120 will not make you capable of uploading longer anims that what the grid servers allow), and, MOST IMPORTANT, that AFAIK all other current viewers will fail to play animations which duration is greater than 30s (since they don't yet have raised their own limit) !
• Improved the avatar name cache fetching code so that it doesn't consume all the HTTP Curl handles when fetching large lists of avatars (e.g. large group member lists), thus preventing HTTP requests failures (avatar name, but also textures, region capabilities, etc).
• Backported speed improvements to scroll lists from viewer-development v3.4, and further optimized and improved it.
• Backported the speed improvements to large group members list fetching from viewer-development v3.4, and further optimized them (a lot !): the viewer will now no more have FPS "hiccups" (they were many and huge !) when fetching large group lists.
• Backported from viewer-development v3.4 a fix to a race condition in the mesh repository code that caused (almost never under Linux and MacOS-X, but almost always under Windows) failures to fetch the cost for and upload mesh models. As a result, the (Windows-only) "MeshUploadEnable" debug setting has been removed and Windows users may now upload meshes like Linux and MacOS-X users could already do since v1.26.2 has been out...
• Added a new feature that prevents spurious/unwanted acknowledgments when clicking on blue notification boxes buttons (those notifications appearing in the upper right corner of the screen for inventory offers, script menus and permissions requests, friendship offer, etc): now, when a new notification appears and overlaps an existing (stack of) notification(s), all its buttons are disabled for a full second (this delay can be changed via the "NotifyBoxButtonsEnableDelay" debug setting) before they are enabled: this way, should you be clicking on a button for an older notification just when the new notification appears, you don't get the wrong action taken.
• Improved the nearby media floater (new "URL" label and the URL input field is properly disabled when the selected media is not loaded).
• Fixed a potential crash bug in the texture fast cache (backport from viewer-development v3.4).
• Fixed a potential crash bug that could occur when selecting a rigged mesh (backport from viewer-development v3.4).
• Updated the statistics collection code to bring it on par with LL's viewers.
• Added a bunch of NVIDIA, ATI and INTEL GPUs to the list of supported GPUs (backport from viewer-development v3.4).
• Backported a minor rendering speed improvement from Singularity.
• More minor bug fixes, improvements and some code cleanup by me.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.0 (new stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

Same changes as in v1.26.4.43, plus:

• Removed all the legacy, non-shared-media code (i.e. this branch can't any more be compiled without shared media support code).
• Fixed an issue with the rendering of alpha and/or full bright rigged meshes (backport from viewer-development v3.4).

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.0 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and new HTTP core):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.0, plus:

• Mesh deformer code compiled in (toggle in "Advanced" -> "Rendering" -> "Enable Mesh Deformer").
• New HTTP core code compiled in (toggle in "Advanced" -> "Network" -> "Use new HTTP core").

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

These are bugfix releases that I decided to publish as soon as possible after finding a nasty bug in the viewer object cache (that could eventually cause crashes and caused rendering glitches on rezzing).

All users are encouraged to update.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.44 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):

New in this release:

• Fixed an object cache corruption (very bad) issue. Things should now rez much faster on return to already visited sims, and many object rezzing issues should be history.
• Fixed the infinite loop bug that was encountered in latest releases when the graphics settings were reset by the viewer on startup. See this thread for details.
• Fixed a 64bits binary issue (backported from Firestorm).

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.1 (new stable branch with v3.4 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.1 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and new HTTP core):

Same changes as in v1.26.4.44, plus:

• Fixed the crash bug that occurred when enabling the "Advanced" -> "Network" -> "Show Objects Updates" debug feature.

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.45 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.2 (new stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

New in these releases:

• Fixed the bug that made it impossible to take or delete coalesced objects.
• Backported MacOS-X specific changes to SLPlugin from viewer-development.
• Minor code cleanup and removal of some dead code.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.2 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and new HTTP core):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.2, plus:

• Started the backport of the server-side baking code (mainly support for extended region flags, and LLGLTexture class implementation).

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.46 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.3 (new stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

New in these releases:

• Backported the latest fixes to the new HTTP core from viewer-development and compiled the HTTP core code in these releases (i.e. the code is now considered stable enough): to enable the new HTTP core, use the "Advanced" -> "Network" -> "Use new HTTP core" toggle and restart the viewer.
• Fixed a RestrainedLove specific issue with worn clothing items not properly listed as such in inventory after attempting to remove a layer that was locked.
• In SL, allow to download baked textures via HTTP fetches instead of (usually slower) UDP-sim-fetches (backport from Firestorm). The corresponding toggle is in "Advanced" -> "Network".
• Implemented a configuration setting (toggle in the "Preferences" floater, "Cool features" tab, "Miscellaneous" sub-tab) for the double-click action on sound inventory items (either play locally, play in-world, or open the preview floater on double click), and double-clicked sounds listed in the "Content" tab of the "Edit" floater are now played locally instead of in-world.
• Made it so that the gesture sound muting doesn't affect your own gestures (and inventory sounds, since the latter play via the same code).
• Improved the Radar so that alert messages use the display names (when the viewer is configured to use them); please note however that due to the nature of those alerts (which are issued as soon as a new avatar arrives/gets rezzed), the display name might not be available at the moment the alert is issued (display names retrieval is asynchronous which incurs a delay before they are available), in which case the legacy name is used.
• The inventory link support for OpenSim grids is now enabled by default (OSAllowInventoryLinks setting set to TRUE) since all grids seem to support links now.
• Minor code cleanup and speed optimizations.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.3 (experimental branch with mesh deformer):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.3, plus:

• Backported the new llappearance library from the new baking project viewer (the library sources have been adapted to the Cool VL Viewer and compile fine, but the library is not yet in use in this release; the next step will be to use it for normal (soon legacy) bakes, then the final step will be to implement new bakes).

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.47 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.4 (new stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

New in these releases:

• Removed the "Fetch inventory on login" setting from the preferences (the background inventory fetch is now always in force on login to prevent outfit rezzing failures).
• Improved the outfit restoration code on login (now works even when a very large inventory is loading) and added notifications to tell the user whenever it is still in progress, finished or failed.
• Added highlighting and tool tips for the AGENT_BY_LEGACY_NAME and AGENT_BY_USERNAME LSL constants to the script editor.
• Added a setting to disable the Joystick initialization code (in case your joystick driver is incompatible and causes a long pause on launch of the viewer). The corresponding check box is in the "Preferences" floater, "Input & Camera" tab, "Input Controls" sub-tab.
• Added a work around (hard-coded URL building) for the (now almost systematic: great work, Lindens !) SL server bug causing failure to report their release notes URL (used in the About floater).
• Added a hack to prevent the avatar skeleton deformations at low LOD after the "Rebuild avatar" has been used. Also added a notification to the latter feature, to explain what to do to get other residents around you to see your avatar correctly rebuilt.
• Backported a fix to a crash bug in the avatar name cache from viewer-development.
• Various minor optimizations and code cleanup.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.4 (experimental branch with mesh deformer):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.4, plus:

• Finished the code refactoring backport from viewer-sunshine and now use the new llappearance library (almost there for server-side rebakes: the next and final step will be to enable them, probably in the next release).
• Temporarily disabled the "Avatar rebuild" feature that got broken by the refactoring.

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Note that since important bug fixes went into these releases, updating to them is highly recommended.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.48 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):

New in this release:

• Fixed an avatar textures baking issue. See this message for details.
• Fixed an infinite loop bug in URL requests (backport from viewer-development).
• Backported fixes to the mesh repository from viewer-development (should hopefully lower the frequency of the mesh loading issues).
• Backported many fixes to the model preview floater from viewer-development.
• Backported from viewer-development the fix to the bug that caused failures to update the position of moving child primitives when they are out of the field of view (linked sliding doors, for example).
• Fixed the bug that caused failures to update the angle of rotating child primitives when they are out of the field of view (linked rotating doors, for example). Fix by me.
• Removed useless and deprecated profiling/debugging code (LLMemType, LLPerfBlock, LLPerfStats, etc) that was only bloating and slowing down the viewer (backport from viewer-development).
• Added version stamping to crash bug marker files (to avoid reporting on next login a crash that doesn't match the viewer being used).
• Added animations restart to the avatar "Refresh" feature (available in the second level pie menu for avatars).
• Backported memory alignment fixes from viewer-development.
• Backported from Firestorm a fix to a memory leak in particle systems (fix by Nicky).
• Backported various minor fixes from viewer-development.
• Various minor optimizations and code cleanup.
• Reworked the build system: now only the viewer sources tarball and the fmod devel package are needed: the artwork and common libraries/files get automatically downloaded and extracted; also, building instructions have been added to the doc/ directory, a Linux script for building easily was added to the indra/ directory, and the MacOS-X installer scripts have been added into indra/installers/darwin/.
• Added the new "Olantica" OpenSim grid to the default grids list.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.5 (current stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

Same changes as in v1.26.4.48, plus:

• Fixed the preview colors and lighting in the model preview floater (backport from viewer-development).
• Fixed batched textures rendering issues on rigged meshes (backport from viewer-development).

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.5 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and server-side baking support):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.5, plus:

• Implemented server-side baking support (the switch to toggle it is in Advanced -> Character). See this thread for details.

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:


Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.49 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):

New in this release:

• Added the new ATTACH_NECK and ATTACH_AVATAR_CENTER LSL constants.
• Now using a freshly recompiled colladadom Linux library instead of LL's (may fix some issues with some Linux distros).
• Various minor optimizations and code cleanup.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.6 (current stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

Same changes as in v1.26.4.49, plus:

• Added the RenderGLCoreProfile debug setting to prevent the use of "compatibility profile OpenGL context" by the viewer (could *perhaps* help with some ATI cards/drivers). Backport from viewer-development.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.6 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and server-side baking support):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.6, plus:

• Added support for "local bitmaps" (backport from viewer-development with code cleanup by me) so to make for the future disappearance of the feature that allowed to upload temporary textures for test builds (the temporary uploads use the baked texture upload service that will get shut down after the transition to server-side baking is over). To use local bitmaps, use the "Local" radio button in the texture picker.
• Fixed a bug in the server-side rebaking code that could cause failed retries.
• Made the manual rebake (CTRL ALT R) more "aggressive" (now normally equivalent to opening and closing the Appearance floater).
• Backported a fix to the mesh deformer code from the deformer project viewer.

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Not a large update, this week, because I've been busy updating the Cool Products in SL, but still interesting bugfixes that should encourage you to update...

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.50 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):

New in this release:

• Reverted a buggy fix that I backported last week from LL's viewer-development and that has proven catastrophic. My own fix to moving/rotating child primitive updates is back in place and was complemented with a fix for scripted resizing child primitives that still fail to update properly in other viewers. I also added a "UseNewMovingPrimsFix" debug settings (defaulting to TRUE): you can set it to FALSE if you see issues with moving, un-damped or out of FOV root primitives or objects (and please report to me if you see any difference: note that after changing this setting, you will have to TP away and back in for it to take effect on the moving objects rendering).
• Reverted another buggy fix that I backported last week from viewer-development and was sometimes affecting parcel selection.
• Hardened the audio engine against possible crashes and race conditions. Could possibly fix this bug, even though I have been incapable to reproduce it.
• Spell checker fix: made it so that as soon as a word is replaced, or as soon as some text is copied/cut/deleted, the spell-checking is properly re-triggered on the modified text.
• Under Linux and Windows, the file and directory pickers are now threaded by default (you still can return to the blocking behavior by un-checking "Advanced" -> "UI" -> "Use a non-blocking file picker").
• Made sure that IM conferences initiated by muted residents cannot open (they did when non-muted residents posted in them, even though the originator was muted).
• Ensure that the "Content" tab of the build floater is properly refreshed (disabled) when the edited prim disappears (e.g. when deleted).
• One minor fix to the new HTTP core backported from viewer-development.
• A few minor optimizations.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.7 (current stable branch with v3.4 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.7 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and server-side baking support):

Same changes as in v1.26.4.50, plus:

• Backported from viewer-development a fix for shader compilation errors on Intel HD graphics chips.

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Again, not a large update, this week, because I've been busy updating the Cool Products in SL and no new fix (that wasn't already part of the Cool VL Viewer) made its way to any of LL's viewer branches... So, it's just polishing with a few bug fixes and a minor new feature.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.51 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.8 (current stable branch with v3.4 renderer):
Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.8 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and server-side baking support):

New in these releases:

• Repaired the "Zoom Dependent Resize Handles" feature that got broken in v1.26.4.49.
• Fixed a bug that could potentially cause avatar texture rebake failures.
• Added the missing group name label in the Group invite floater and a missing AvatarPickerSortOrder debug setting used by the avatar picker.
• Added new "<" (select previous linked part) and ">" (select next linked part) buttons to the Edit floater (it's easier and much faster to use these buttons than the corresponding "Tools" -> "Select Linked Parts" -> "Select Previous/Next Part" menu entries).
• A MacOS-X build fix by Kathrine Jansma.
• Some minor code cleanup.

Enjoy !

Here are three new releases of the Cool VL Viewer, available now from http://sldev.free.fr/:

Since a few crash bugs have been fixed in these releases, updating to them is recommended.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.4.52 (legacy stable branch with v2.6 renderer):

New in this release:

• Fixed a rare crash bug in (invalid) animations playing. See this thread for details.
• Backported a fix to a rare crash bug (occurring with some invalid volumes) from Firestorm.
• Backported from LL's viewer-beta a fix to a crash on exit during mesh downloads.
• Split the "Use non-blocking file picker" feature setting into two different debug settings for Windows (where it is enabled by default) and Linux (where it is disabled by default because of incompatible threading models between LL's pre-built GTK+ libraries used to build the viewer and newer GTK+ libraries bundled with the latest Linux distributions). Linux users that are not affected by crashes when using the threaded file picker may re-enable this feature from the "Advanced" -> "UI" sub-menu.
• Added a setting ("Advanced" -> "UI" -> "Hide TP-related floaters on TP success") to toggle the behavior of TP-related floaters (world map, teleport history, search, landmark previews...) between auto-closing on *successful* TP, or staying open. See this message for details.
• Improved the world map: 1.- You do not need anymore to validate the newly entered TP coordinates (by tabbing out of the X/Y/Z spinners) before pressing the Teleport button (this used to ignore the last entered coordinate). 2.- When clicking on the world map to select a TP destination, the Z coordinate is no more changed to the avatar's current Z coordinate while a valid Z coordinate was already set (let's say that you select a landmark from the combo box (which starts a tracker for the corresponding coordinates), and then decide to TP a bit away from the tracker point, clicking on the map won't change the Z coordinate but only the X and Y ones, as expected).
• Made the "Do not move the camera out of objects on collision" setting independent from the "Disable camera constraints" one (i.e. you can now disable the camera constraints and still have the auto-zooming on camera collision with objects active). See "Preferences" -> "Input & Camera" -> "Camera Controls" for these settings.
• Backported a minor rendering optimization from Singularity.
• Minor code cleanup and optimizations.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.6.9 (current stable branch with v3.4 renderer):

Same changes as in v1.26.4.52, plus:

• Backported from Singularity a minor fix to the deferred rendering of the sky.

Cool VL Viewer v1.26.7.9 (experimental branch with mesh deformer and server-side baking support):

Same changes as in v1.26.6.9, plus:

• Fixed a bug that was affecting the new server-side baking code and that caused crashes when invalid/crasher objects/avatars were being rezzed (missing check for out of bound texture index).

Enjoy !