second-life-viewer
Latest
New Second Life Windlight release - 1.18.6.76116
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. More details and a list of fixes and changes after the fold. Major highlights include fixes for ambient lighting and avatar illumination - essentially, avatars under Windlight don't suck anymore. There's an interesting extra issue has popped up with this release for many users, however.
New Second Life Windlight release - 1.18.6.75762
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. More details and a list of fixes and changes after the fold. Major highlights include some fixes for nVidia and ATI under Windows Vista, fixes for tree lighting and vanishing geometry, and an otherwise unmentioned merge with the new authentication/login system in the 1.18.6 code-branch.
New Second Life release candidate 1.18.6(RC1)
Linden Lab have just released a new release candidate view for Second Life, the second in the 1.18.6 series (release candidates start counting from zero, so this is RC1, rather than RC2). This release fixes a nasty crash, and the inability to mute popups from llLoadURL, the readability of age-verification status, and issues with inventory that led to apparent (but not actual) loss of items.
New Second Life Windlight release - 1.8.5.75173
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. More details and a list of fixes and changes after the fold. Lots of fixes to snapshots (crashes, aspect ratios, anti-aliasing) and water issues in this release.
New Second Life release candidate 1.18.6
Linden Lab have just released a new release candidate view for Second Life, the first in the 1.18.6 series. This one incorporates the start of the new login system that there has been much ado about in development circles recently, as well as age-verification. That's a big deal.
New Windlight preview released for Second Life [updated]
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. More details and a list of fixes and changes after the fold. The one that you'll probably most enjoy are fixes to shiny surfaces.
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.
Second Life viewer 1.18.5 released
Second Life release candidate viewers seem to be on relatively rapid cycle recently. It seems like just yesterday that the first release candidate for 1.18.5 hit the streets [actually, it was sixteen days ago], showcasing the new search system. 1.18.5(3) is available right now for download (we use and recommend the use of a download manager) as the new official viewer. Windows users can expect about a 35MB download, Linux users around 45MB, and Mac users around 67MB (essentially double, because of the Universal Binary format).
Windlight: what all the fuss is about
When the old Windlight First Look viewer for Second Life was withdrawn there were assorted howls. Then, after it recently returned in a fresh First Look viewer, the cheers outweighed the grumbling of "Oh great, features instead of bugfixes" despite the fact that there's been a significant shortage of new features compared to bugfixes in the last year and a half. When an updated release-candidate viewer that contained a slew of bugfixes for some irritating problems, a lot of folks just plain didn't want to download it, preferring Windlight to bugfixes. So, what is it with Windlight? %Gallery-11032%
Second Life release candidate available, but not announced
Sharp-eyed Gwyneth Llewelyn has spotted that there's a new Second Life release candidate viewer available for download today, through the Amazon S3 service that Linden Lab uses for delivery. The viewer appears to be datestamped 21 November, though it's not yet been announced or linked off the Second Life website yet, though. We're guessing that it got waved-off at the last minute (perhaps because of the holiday, perhaps because of bugs) and may possibly be replaced with a fresher version before a final announcement goes up.
Contentious Second Life update next week
Linden Lab have announced a server-side update to the Second Life grid that will take place across two days, specifically Tuesday 27 November, and Wednesday 28 November. The first day will see a core services update, followed by a rolling-restart of the grid simulators the next day. The upgrade is to support an upcoming feature in viewer 1.18.6 - and that's where things get a bit ... sticky.
New Second Life release candidate 1.18.5(RC1)
Linden Lab have just released a new release candidate view for Second Life, the second release-candidate in the 1.18.5 series - perhaps confusingly dubbed RC1 (the previous one was actually RC0). This viewer incorporates several fixes to search, restores the teleport function to the context menu for landmarks, allows for-sale to be unchecked from objects that can't (for various reasons) actually be sold, and corrects a few glitches with the user-interface. The viewer is available from the optional downloads page as usual, and we recommend the use of a download manager to grab it faster - without one, you're in for a bit of a wait.
Linden Lab publishes viewer frame-rates
Linden Lab have been collecting data on Second Life viewer frame-rates and have compiled them into a handy little chart - Okay, so it's a handy big chart. The chart shows the 100 most widely used GPUs, approximate frame rate ranges and medians. Of course some of this data will vary a little. People with more capable hardware tend to crank up the settings until things start to visibly slow down, so we expect the higher-end hardware to show a bit lower as people flip on a lot of extra rendering options and crank up their draw-distances.
New Second Life release candidate 1.18.5
Linden Lab have just released a new release candidate view for Second Life, the first in the 1.18.5 series. This one primarily incorporates the new search system, about which you'll be hearing plenty more shortly. This release fixes Korean language support issues under Leopard, some appearance editing problems, fixes for lag-calculations outside the USA, and the source bundle has some assorted build fixes. The viewer is available from the optional downloads page as usual, and we recommend the use of a download manager to grab it faster - without one, you're in for a bit of a wait.
Dazzle preview updated
Dazzle (the Linden Lab project for updating the appearance of the Second Life viewer, and not the fashion brand) just got a fresh update, minutes ago. Benjamin Linden has just announced that fresh preview files are now available, and that they are looking for additional feedback on the proposed changes in progress. A description of the project, links to the preview files and so forth can be found on the Second Life wiki, along with a space for feedback on the visual update.
Electric Sheep looking to contribute portions of OnRez viewer
According to Chris Carella and Giff Constable, both of the Electric Sheep Company, have indicated today that the Electric Sheep Company is looking to contribute bug-fixes and some modifications back to the open source Second Life viewer. While the Second Life viewer source code is mostly under the GNU Public License (version 2), however the viewer is actually dual-licensed, with proceeds from the commercial license being used to help fund further development.
New Second Life viewer release: 1.18.4
The cycle of release candidates and bug-fixes has largely come to a close, with only a single bug-fix listed between the last release candidate and the new official Second Life viewer release (a fix to Sculptie LoD rendering, that was causing sculpted prims to take on the shape of fearsome potatoes). Release notes have been posted to the Second Life wiki. The new viewer can be downloaded now. We recommend the use of a download manager, if you want to get it quickly. The release-candidate cycle for the next version will be starting up shortly, for all you bleeding-edge fans.
Linuxworld on the Second Life viewer
Linden Lab's Second Life viewer, is available for a variety of platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux in varying degrees of support) - and the source code is out there. There's a Solaris version kicking around out there somewhere too. Linuxworld takes a brief look at Second Life, and a rather longer one with the viewer, speaking to notable open-source community members as Jason Giglio and Callum Lerwick, Tofu Linden of Linden Lab. The piece touches on licensing issues that are impeding voice support under Linux, blocking issues with closed-source video drivers (most notably with ATI, though nVidia are also implicated), OpenJPEG versus JPEG2000, codebase-forking and more.
Optional update to OnRez Second Life Viewer
Metaverse developers, Electric Sheep Company have released an optional update to their custom Second Life viewer, the OnRez viewer, which was developed in conjunction with the recent CSI:NY launch in Second Life. The optional update has two minor ease-of-use tweaks, relating to voice calls and the integrated Web browser, plus a number of bug-fixes including (thankfully) adjustments to the color scheme for improved readability, and the ability to use the search system for two-letter region names. The OnRez Second Life viewer can be downloaded from the usual place.
