Release Notes/Second Life Release/1.20

Release Notes for Second Life 1.20.15 Jul 24th, 2008

 » For a brief overview, see the 1.20 Welcome Page «

New features:

• An improved architecture under-the-hood for the user interface (UI) which now supports:
  • Ability to customize text color of Instant Messages
  • Enhancements to the UI texture rendering system and UI art assets (stored in the \Skins\Default\Textures folder):
    • Ability to reference textures in XML by filename rather than UUID
    • Support for non-powers-of-two textures as UI art assets
    • Support for PNG textures as UI art assets, instead of just TGA/J2C format

• The viewer installs with a choice between two color themes ("skins") for the User Interface:
  • This can be changed in Preferences > Skins (It requires a restart of the viewer to take effect.)
  • A new "Silver" skin refreshes the visual design of user interface with a lighter color scheme and improved UI graphics

• The Tools menu is now hidden by default:
  • It displays in the top menu bar ONLY when editing/creating objects in build mode:
  • To enter build mode: click on the Build button, or right-click and select Create.
  • Existing tool short cuts (CTL + 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) all still work to select a specific tool, and will also activate the Tools menu.

• Improvements to Search:
  • Classified ads have a drop-down menu to indicate Mature or Not Mature content
  • Search > Popular Places is replaced by a Search > Showcase tab that points to the web-based Showcase
  • Search > Groups now uses web-based search which dramatically improves relevant matches on multi-word queries, and reduces load on the central database
    • NOTE: The new Search > Groups does eliminate the ability to sort results alphabetically or by Group member count, as was possible in Viewer version 1.19.1.

• Improved internationalization support:
  • Improved unicode system font on Linux
  • The Preferences > General > Language: 'System Default' option works on Linux and Windows.
    • If you have a non-English language Operating System, and have not previously selected "English" as your chosen language option in the viewer, this viewer will default to your Operating System's language!

• Clicking on resident names in Local Chat or IM will open their Profile page
  • The color of clickable resident names uses the same color as URL hyperlinks in chat. These may be changed in Preferences > Text Chat > color picker for "URLs"

• Newly created avatars without a gender, or any avatar where "clothing is still downloading", are rendered as a cloud rather than naked/wrong body shape

• Added beta support for basic voice lipsync for voice visualization - via Advanced menu > Character > Enable Lip Sync (Beta)

• Fly button is now shown as disabled when you are sitting

• LSL scripting for object glow
  • A prim's glow attribute can be controlled by scripts. Additional documentation is found at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LlSetPrimitiveParams

• Improved Joystick and 3D input device support:
  • Integrated a new open source library created by 3Dconnexion designed to integrate multi-axis input devices with Second Life
  • Joystick devices can now control the Avatar, Edited Objects, or the Flycam (View menu > Joystick Flycam)
  • Added a "Joystick Setup" window to the Preferences > Input & Camera tab; for adjusting multi axis input devices
    • The settings are currently optimized for Logitech's 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator but should be tunable for any joystick or 3D input device

• Added Camera smoothing preferences in Preferences > Input & Camera
  • Camera Follow Distance is renamed from the old 'Camera Springiness' in previous versions. The parameter determines how far behind the camera follows your avatar when you are in motion. Range: 0 - 10 scale
  • Camera Transition Time: This the amount of time it takes for the camera to move from one camera point to another -- for example when you option-click on something to change focus. A lower value causes a more instant 'snap' to the new camera position; higher values mean a slower, more gradual transition. Range: 0 - 4.0 seconds
  • Camera Smoothing: This setting applies a smoothing factor to all motion. Smoothing keeps the camera from making abrupt movements (like when your mouse slips) - for example if you bring the camera to an abrupt halt, it will glide to a landing instead of stopping instantly. Range: 0 - 9 scale
    • A value of 0 returns the camera to its previous, unsmoothed behavior.

• Added five texture constants for referencing in llSetLinkTexture:
  • TEXTURE_BLANK is the non-transparent blank texture, equivalent to UUID "5748decc-f629-461c-9a36-a35a221fe21f"
  • TEXTURE_DEFAULT is the default plywood texture, equivalent to UUID "89556747-24cb-43ed-920b-47caed15465f"
  • TEXTURE_PLYWOOD is the default plywood texture, equivalent to UUID "89556747-24cb-43ed-920b-47caed15465f"
  • TEXTURE_TRANSPARENT is a fully transparent texture, equivalent to UUID "8dcd4a48-2d37-4909-9f78-f7a9eb4ef903"
  • TEXTURE_MEDIA is the default Media texture, equivalent to UUID "8b5fec65-8d8d-9dc5-cda8-8fdf2716e361"
  • Note: TEXTURE_DEFAULT is a synonym for TEXTURE_PLYWOOD
  • Note on Compatibility:
    • Scripts using these constants will run smoothly in all Second Life viewers, however previous versions of the viewer will NOT be able to edit and recompile scripts using the new constants. Older versions will report "(XX,YY) : ERROR : Name not defined within scope" when trying to compile such a script.
    • If you are using an older version of the viewer that does not support the TEXTURE_ contants and want to edit and recompile scripts with a TEXTURE_ constant, then you have to revert to the earlier LSL requirement to use the UUID of the texture you want to use.
    • The TEXTURE_TRANSPARENT texture will be gray unless you view it with a viewer that supports this transparent texture (viewer 1.20.10 or above).

• Thread monitoring to catch freezes for beta/Release Candidate versions of the viewer:
  • A new thread monitor (also referred to as a Watchdog) will detect when the viewer application frozen for a period greater than 20 seconds and possibly force a crash with detailed logs
  • Thread monitoring is only enabled on beta versions of the viewer, and for Windows only
  • Thread monitoring can be disabled by choosing to never report crashes, or with a command line setting "--set WatchdogEnabled 0"
  • The threshold timing of the thread monitor is set in the file /app_settings/settings.xml under the key "MainloopTimeoutDefault"

Changes:

• Added: VWR-4794: Basic voice lipsync for voice visualization via Advanced menu > Character > Enable Lip Sync (Beta)
• Added: VWR-4204: Clicking on names in Chat/Group IM history should open Profile page
• Added: VWR-1735: Directly interacting with a muted resident will unmute them, with a note logged in the Chat console
• Added: VWR-7893 create a Classic skin for the viewer
• Added: VWR-5059: add option to switch between a Classic and Silver theme from within Preferences
• Fixed: VWR-463: Blank is a pre-defined texture in client, but not in LSL
• Fixed: VWR-6315: Intentionally removed the File > Record Movie to Disk option
• Added: VWR-2600: Added option to enable Full-Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) in the viewer
• Added: VWR-442: Require confirmation when inviting a new group owner
• New users are shown as a cloud rather than naked until they choose a gender.
• Hyperlinks can be clicked on to the Message Of The Day
• Added: Camera smoothing preferences in Preferences > Input & Camera
• Added means to detect laggy avatars with Advanced > Rendering > Info Displays > Avatar Rendering Cost
• Added means to visually mute laggy avatars, when avatar imposters is enabled
• Updated library version for openssl on Windows libraries
• Added thread monitoring for beta versions of the viewer
• Added a setting switch to completely disable thread monitoring
• Moved "Set Window Size" options from File menu into Preferences > Graphics
• Make clothing-still-downloading dialog into an ignorable alert dialog
• Internationalized additional hard-coded viewer strings to a strings.xml file
• Search > Popular Places is replaced by a Search > Showcase tab that points to the web-based Showcase
• Converted Search > Group tab to use web-based search
• Search requires Mature/Not Mature to be set in Classifieds
• Make strict GL debugging toggleable on-the-fly via Advanced menu > Rendering > Debug GL option - turns on extra rendering error checking and help reproduce crashes
• Renamed "Auto-snapshot" to "Auto-refresh" in the Snapshot feature
• Load the initial avatar outfit earlier in the startup process to avoid Ruth effect at Orientation Island
• Added the new TRANSPARENT_TEXTURE constant's target texture to the inventory Library
• Critical message window should not say "Critical message", because it is the Community Standards document
• Removed First Use dialogs for sitting and movement key binding during Orientation Island
• Set the default visibility of the mini-map to off for new users
• Changed the reference in Group Information window > Notices tab to to explain the storage limits of 200 notices and 14 days
• Removed menu option Advanced > Character > Show Collision Plane
• Renamed link to "Forgot your name or password?" on viewer login page
• Made minor language tweaks to World Map: "Online Friends" and "Landmarks"
• Allow the background color for Inventory treeview control to be set in colors_base.xml
• Added nVidia MCP78 to gpu table
• Changed llLoadURL to open pages in external browser in Viewer 1.20.
• Removed voice setup wizard from Viewer
• Removed "Detecting hardware" from first-use startup to save 10 seconds of start time
• Removed "Start Gesture" from menu bar
• Removed "do you want streaming audio" dialog
• Display the Camera and Movement controls by default
• Added online offline notification to open IM windows
• One-click sit should not be available if you are already sitting
• Replaced "(hippos)" and "(waiting)" with "(Loading...)"
• Print the name of the missing gesture in the error message
• Made running more intuitive by double-tapping forward
• Moved the right justified text on the splash screen just a bit to the left
• Moved the Statistics display (Ctrl+shift+1) to be in a floater
• Made login progress bar an indefinite status indicator
• Added an option to turn off all group titles to make name tags smaller
• Small UI tweaks to the "near me" floater for usability
• Added new debug setting "TutorialURL" to change the URL used by the Tutorial window
• Added new debug setting "SkinCurrent" is used to persist the chosen skin, to avoid crashing older builds

Source Changes:

• The settings system has been significantly revamped. llcontroldef.cpp has been replaced with an XML file controlling all settings values: app_settings/settings.xml
• The command line parser has also been revamped. All but a few special arguments are now associated with control settings and controlled by the file app_settings/cmd_line.xml
• Added 3DConnexion library export
• Updated llkdu.dll for 1.20 OSS export

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed: VWR-3529: WindLight: Saving snapshots to disk crashes viewer
• Fixed: VWR-2633: Some groups can't be accessed from Communicate window and only show in profile
• Fixed: VWR-6889: Unable to leave group when role has no allowed abilities
• Fixed: VWR-6800: Eliminate memory leaks in llcharacter/llmotioncontroller.cpp
• Fixed: VWR-2051: Regular viewer freezes since update to Voice viewer
• Fixed: VWR-1715: Macintosh: cyclic short-term freezing of display, getting worse over time: does not respond to commands, eventually change of POV attempt crashes app
• Fixed: VWR-5895: slowly rotating llTargetOmega child prims stop rotating when you move away
• Fixed: VWR-6107: When uploading animations the Ruth model appears dimly lit and unshaded
• Fixed: VWR-104: Unused class LLVertexProgramGL should be removed
• Fixed: VWR-2778: System skirt textures turn invisible on wearing
• Fixed: VWR-2272: Fly button doesn't work while sitting
• Fixed: VWR-2404: Lossless texture compression on small textures is not lossless
  • Also Fixes: VWR-2968: Sculpted prim: Alphachannel data can bork your sculpt
• Fixed: VWR-5807: Wild rotations of linkset while using the editor in Local Ruler Mode via CTRL key
• Fixed: VWR-6056: Animation viewer does not play animations on upload.
• Fixed: VWR-4860: WindLight: Planar texturing renders incorrectly in 1.19.0(79674)
• Fixed: VWR-5963: LLImageGL::setClamp may affect random texture (making repeating textures on objects non-repeating)
• Fixed: VWR-7061: Trivial UI grammar error in the title of the "Script Warning/Error" window
• Fixed: VWR-6186: Second Life is leaking Objective-C objects at startup
• Fixed: VWR-3598: Non-group owned objects appear to belong to the group of the last selected object, no matter the owner/group.
  • Also Fixes: VWR-2982: Shifting selection from one object to another causes group information to be carried from original
• Fixed: SVC-1241: Dead code in lscript_execute.cpp
• Fixed: VWR-4057: Multi-line chat display bug - first character in line missing
• Fixed: VWR-3857: Script (LSL) editor shows non Latin 1 characters as square boxes
• Fixed: VWR-2275: Linux 1.18.3 Won't Link
• Fixed: VWR-3813: gtk_check_version() API changed to return const gchar * - causes gcc ERROR
• Fixed: VWR-1735: Directly interacting with a muted resident should unmute them
• Fixed: VWR-2142: Parcel voice icon doesn't reflect disabled status if voice isn't used
• Fixed: VWR-5853: Double-Clicking on vertical edge of Inventory/Gesture window destroys the floating window.
• Fixed: VWR-2448: Snapshot Preview tool should respect 'Quiet Snapshots to Disk'
• Fixed: VWR-1352: A strange copy operation of LLStyle
• Fixed: VWR-6016: FMOD problem: update3dPosition error
• Fixed: VWR-7682: Typo on Teleport Failure dialog
• Fixed: VWR-4580: Property lines are visible through avatar, objects and through ground
• Fixed: VWR-7042: Incorrect tooltip for "Use built-in web browser" option
• Fixed: VWR-1843: Inappropriate to offer a default folder name with non-ASCII characters for Make Outfit
• Fixed: VWR-5869: Broken BVH Animation upload causes dialog / interface error, and crash
• Fixed: VWR-6668: Eliminate inconsistent help text for Preferences > Graphics panel
• Fixed: VWR-6286 Changed the method LLControlGroup::loadFromFile to only load values of settings that are persistent
• Fixed: VWR-5080: Certain color combinations of Silver skin are hard on visually impaired (and the not-visually-impaired)
• Fixed: VWR-380: Resized Flexible Prims Render Improperly
• Fixed: VWR-6251: Snapshots no longer able to capture the full screen.
• Fixed: VWR-5929: Some UI translation texts are ignored because of missing names in XUI files
• Fixed: VWR-6430: Comment area of "Debug Settings" floater (dialog box) is aligned badly
• Fixed: VWR-6232: Tap-Tap-Hold Running should be an 'Advanced' character preference
• Fixed: VWR-5812: Some media sizes will be placed on the wrong size texture when played by the viewer
  • also Fixes: VWR-5357: A particular .MOV file decodes wrong
• Fixed: VWR-6386, VWR-6384, VWR-6385: Clean up duplicate and malformed sibling names in en-us xml
• Fixed: SVC-1072: Havok 4 -- Objects can exist up to 4096 meters up, but scripted rez above 1024 meters fails silently
• Fixed: SVC-747: Estate Banned Residents list doesn't increment higher than 252
• Fixed: VWR-5498: WindLight Release Candidate doesn't rembember correct size of IM window between sessions
• Fixed: VWR-747: Texture preview should not have constrained aspect ratio
• Fixed: VWR-3984: WindLight: Certain snapshot options incorrectly capture a part of the screen
  • Also fixes: VWR-4586: New snapshot dialog makes it impossible to upload snapshots at correct aspect ratio
• Fixed: VWR-3438: WindLight: Glow (including water reflections) shows through HUD objects
• Fixed: VWR-4616: Snapshot, clicking on more removes current pic
• Fixed: VWR-1405: llMapDestination does not work as designed for OS X/Intel viewers
• Fixed: VWR-3625: Highlights don't affect non-root prims
• Fixed: VWR-2113: Mac Auto Updater "hides", giving appearance of failing
• Fixed: VWR-2755: duplicate PARCEL_FLAG_RESTRICT_PUSHOBJECT line in keywords.ini
• Fixed: VWR-4903: Show avatar's name in the "Eject" and "Freeze" confirmation screens
• Fixed: VWR-6066: "Are you sure you want to clear you browser cache" in Preferences>Web>Clear Now has a typo
• Fixed: VWR-5656: Secondlife icon missing in Linux version 1.19.1 RC1
• Fixed: VWR-3633: Avatar impostor of not-yet-rezzed avatar not appearing
• Fixed: VWR-6350: Word "Flycam" appears in Flycam Mode, does not disappear with UI
• Fixed: VWR-5364: Media URL Set > Cancel button does not cancel
• Fixed: VWR-5453: Rendering issues concerning objects viewed across water plane when Water rendering is turned off
• Fixed: glow is rendered on property lines and selection silhouettes
• Fixed: LLImageJ2C should be able to tell you what en/decoding implementation is being used
• Fixed: Residents That Have Been Granted Modify Rights Can TAKE the Objects.
• Fixed: Estate tools in non-english UI cannot change maturity level of islands from PG to Mature.
• Fixed: Agent Limit spontaneously resets to zero
• Fixed: Web control code does not correctly reject sl:// links
• Fixed: Wait before printing missing gestures if the name isn't yet available
• Fixed: LSL call to open place dialog to move user around without opening map
• Fixed: Cannot close Buy Land floater when (waiting for data) from web site
• Fixed: the Active Gestures list does not appear alphabetically
• Fixed: Preference Help button is not pointing to the correct url
• Fixed: Occlusion crash on SIS cards
• Fixed: lowest avatar detail is higher than before
• Fixed: Avatar Impostor sprites have opaque black edges
• Fixed: impostors tilt
• Fixed: impostors need to update once after they stop walking
• Fixed: Can't drag custom colors in color picker to the color palette
• Fixed: Age Verified Account cannot access plots blocked for age verification
• Fixed: can not take hi-res snapshot with size bigger than 4000 by 4000.
• Fixed: Overlapping text on the Build tool > Object tab
• Fixed: Pasting multiline clipboard content into Local Chat loses newlines
• Fixed: Allow the --set option to be specified multiple times on the command line
• Fixed: Fix the URL used by crash_logger for pre login crashes
• Fixed: The viewer's crash logger needs to trim very long SecondLife.log files before sending.
• Fixed: Parcel tag overlaps image on Sell Land floater if longer than 36 characters
• Fixed: llrender.cpp export
• Fixed: Clean up log messages in viewer to make crash logs more readable and useful
• Fixed: Create secondlife:///app/ URL to open my groups panel
• Fixed: Create secondlife:///app/ URL to open create groups dialog
• Fixed: Display a message if LLWebBrowserCtrl blocks a secondlife:///app/* url
• Fixed: Abstract common glTexParameter calls
• Fixed: Double-clicking border of communicate window makes window unrecoverable
• Fixed: Command line parser bug parsing "--multiple true" at beginning of a command line.
• Fixed: --loginuri is not being handled correctly
• Fixed: Grid selection drop-down on login screen does not take priority over -loginuri when selection is first opened
• Fixed: Pop-up menu width should try to accomodate the longest menu item (within reason)
• Fixed: Can't change values with debug settings floater
• Fixed: Focus > Zoom button can't be re-selected
• Fixed: Debug Permissions displays overlap
• Fixed: Objects with no group tagging show group tags of previously clicked items
• Fixed: Typographical error in Transfer permissions alert dialog
• Fixed: On Person-to-Person voice calls, the volume slider overlaps End Call button
• Fixed: VWR-2645: Source typo RELEASE_FOR_DOWNLOAD should be LL_RELEASE_FOR_DOWNLOAD
• Fixed: stop bundling libexpat with the linux viewer
• Fixed: g++ 4 viewer compile issues
• Fixed: Dead code removal createLegacyWearableFromAvatar
• Fixed: Internationalize LLFloaterCamera / llcameraview.cpp
• Fixed: Eliminate some unused xml files in skins\xui\en-us and language folders

Crash Fixes:

• Fixed: VWR-5697: RC 1.19.1 crash on startup with Vista UAC enabled
• Fixed: VWR-7723: crash on LLImageGL::setSubImage line 780
• Fixed: VWR-3822: ATI crashes on startup when in 16 bit color mode
• Fixed: crash on LLViewerImageList::removeImageFromList
• Fixed: crash on LLViewerImageList::updateImagesUpdateStats
• Fixed: crash on LLSpeakerMgr::findSpeaker
• Fixed: crash on LLAudioData - llaudio/audioengine.cpp
• Fixed: crash on LLGroupNotifyBox::moveToBack
• Fixed: crash on LLPieMenu::show
• Fixed: crash on LLFloaterWorldMap::buildLandmarkIDLists
• Fixed: crash on LLDrawable::destroy
• Fixed: crash in LLFolderViewFolder::setSelection
• Fixed: crash on LLSurface::resolvePatchRegion()
• Fixed: crash on LLViewerRegion::setCapability
• Fixed: crash from infinite loop in wearables (LLWearableList::processGetAssetReply)
• Fixed: crash in LLMediaImplQuickTime::load
• Fixed: crash on LLViewerParcelMedia::update
• Fixed: crash on LLFloaterWorldMap::buildLandmarkIDLists
• Fixed: crash from glMapBuffer returning 0
• Fixed: crash in LLVOVolume::sculpt - newview/llvovolume.cpp
• Fixed: crash in LLFace::renderSelected.
• Fixed: crash in LLImageRaw::copyLineScaled
• Fixed: crash in LLImageBase::generateMip
• Fixed: crash in LLFloaterIMPanel when starting conference
• Fixed: crash with attached obj using Avatar Rendering Cost
• Fixed: Linux crash parsing command-line arguments
• Fixed: crash on LLVertexBuffer::destroyGLBuffer
• Fixed: crash on LLUIImageList::onUIImageLoaded
• Fixed: crash on LLViewerJointMesh::updateFaceData
• Fixed: VBO related crash on ATI R100 cards

Localization Fixes:

• Fixed: VWR-7153: An typo in en-us version of alerts.xml file makes an <ignore> text of unlocalizable
• Fixed: VWR-7086: floater_buy_land.xml still contains messages regarding First Land
• Fixed: VWR-7731: erroneous Japanese translation of "Select tool"
• Fixed: erroneous German translation for "Active Speakers"
• Fixed: put cleanly-formed Portuguese files (Beta) back into the viewer
• Fixed: some text overlaps in Buy Land floater in Portuguese
• Added: new translation strings for German, Korean, Japanese
• Fixed: Update the viewer credits in About>Second Life...

Known Issues affecting version 1.20:

• This 1.20 Viewer will not run on a Mac PowerPC that is running Mac OS X 10.3.9. The minimum requirements for running Second Life is using Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher. Please see http://secondlife.com/support/sysreqs.php for more information.
  • The 1.19.1 Viewer still supports the Mac PowerPC that is running Mac OS X 10.3.9.

• There is a known issue in the 1.20 Viewer on Macs using Apple's USB Mighty Mouse and a 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator. The Mighty Mouse will be erroneously detected as a joystick and the primary mouse button will toggle "Flycam" with unusual behavior. Therefore the support for the 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator in Second Life does not yet extend to Macs using a USB Mighty Mouse.
  • WORKAROUND: You must use a different mouse in order to use a 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator in Second Life without problem.

• Second Life is currently unable to run under native Korean-language Windows XP if the WindowsXP username uses default Korean characters
  • WORKAROUND: create a Windows XP username on this computer that uses Latin characters. We are investigating this issue!

• VWR-6363: In the 1.20 Viewer, there are known issues with camera behavior and/or button-mapping behavior when using the 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator in a combination of "Flycam" and Build modes under some circumstances.

• VWR-5749: When running Second Life in Full Screen mode on computers with some NVIDIA graphics cards, you may be unable to scroll up/down on webpages that are shown inworld. This includes the web-based interfaces of Search > All tab, and Search > Groups tab. We are investigating this issue.
  • WORKAROUND: You must run Second Life in a window to avoid this problem. Go to Preferences > Graphics > Run Second Life in a window.

• VWR-7779: On some Macs, there are reports of periodic and cyclic freezing of the computer when running Viewer 1.20.
  • WORKAROUND #1: One workaround is to reduce the Draw Distance below 128m in Preferences > Graphics tab > Custom > Draw Distance (slider). Also if you have Disabled Camera Constraints from the Advanced menu, behavior is improved if you do not Disable Camera Constraints.
  • WORKAROUND #2: One workaround that may help is to use an additional argument "-set YieldTime 20" in the Arguments.txt:
    • To set this argument, right-click (or control-click) the Second Life application and choose "Show package contents".
    • In the resulting finder window, open Resources and in there should be a file named "arguments.txt". Open in text edit, add the argument to the end of the line in there and Save.
    • Close the text edit and run Second Life application.
    • This causes the viewer to sleep for 20 milliseconds every frame. It will slow the frame rate down a little, but may help with freezing.