Second Life Windlight update pushed out

The First Look release of the Second Life Windlight project has been updated with a number of bug-fixes wrapped up in a tasty new First Look viewer. What the heck is Windlight all about? Check out our feature on it here.

The First Look browser is a beta-test browser that runs against the main (Agni) grid. If it eats your inventory, your files and your dog, that's at your own risk. The viewer will available from the First Look downloads page eventually, but right now the only way to get this new version is via the annoyingly slow built in auto-updater, as you log in – if a viewer download takes you 1-2 minutes with a download manager, the auto-updater will take you at least 15 minutes.

Bug fixes this time include a fix to the illumination of avatar eyes, crashes on ATI hardware when occlusion culling is enabled, fixes to particle systems, fixes to hi-res screenshots, and adjustments to the avatar imposter system.

Open Windlight bugs (sorted by number of votes) can be seen here – currently the count stands at 150. Certain issues like shininess, while already noted as 'fixed internally' (and thus closed), have not apparently made it into this update yet. We're not sure when they are expected.