Wednesday 9 February 2011

Upcoming Viewer Releases

Yesterday during our office hour we discussed an upcoming Phoenix Viewer release scheduled for this weekend, reviewed the Firestorm Preview #1 release, and talked about what to expect from the Firestorm Preview #2.
You can watch the office hour here: http://rezzed.tv/2011/02/the-phoenix-hour-8th-february-2011/

However I'll review some of the details here.

Phoenix Viewer Release update scheduled for this coming weekend. Some of the things you can expect to see in this update..
  • - 42 group auto detection from the server
  • - Showcase links now work for Windows & Mac
  • - Momentary viewer lockups have been improved
  • - Texture jumping (where textures load and then unload) has been improved
  • - Updated client tags, in the last few phoenix releases the client tag list has been failing to update, this will contain all the latest viewer tags
  • - Build in IRC functionality has been fixed so that names show up properly again. 
  • - Many other bug fixes and performance improvements

Firestorm Preview #1 was a huge success especially considering it was a pre alpha build. There are many people already using it full time! We're also very proud to say that it has an even lower crash rate than Phoenix 818!

Firestorm Preview #2 Is on track for the end of February and will be classified as an Alpha.
Some of the things we're working on for Preview #2 are...
  • - Radar to some degree
  • - Bridge and llMoveToTarget teleporting
  • - Completed Parcel WL settings/options
  • - Login manager
  • - Spell check (if we get time)
  • - Cmdline prefs page
  • - Preferences re factoring
  • - Right click > wear on inventory folders
  • - Temp Uploads
  • - Broad cast viewer effects options
  • - V1 style communications floater fix ups
  • - Re designed profile panels
  • - Accordions in many of the panels replaced with Tabs v1 style
  • - Buttons in prefs> network; to open chat log, settings, crash log location folders
  • - Proper Clear Cache button
  • - Metaharper skin has a sidebar option like grey skin does
  • - KDU for greatly improved performance, stability and texture rendering.
  • - A variety of bug fixes found in preview 1

We're very much looking forward to getting these viewers out to you and look forward to hearing your feedback.

The Phoenix Viewer Project, Inc.

40 comments:

  1. Thanks guys for your amazing work on the Firestorm project. - Linden Labs take note: this is what YOUR users have been screaming for for a year. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

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  2. Looks very promising! Thank you for keeping us informed.

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  3. Thanks, awesome! Excellent work! Is there any chance that the "Restore to last position" feature might be included in a future release of Firestorm?

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  4. Uh...I'm a bit concerned about the KDU part...I remember Emerald doing so, and I also remember that LL changed their Third Party Viewer policies to where you can't include any KDU with the viewer, that you have to use OpenJPEG for it.

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  5. Going forward, are you planning to build Firestorm off the most recent Snowstorm updates, or are you planning to build off an official LL V2 standard release? And, who bought the license for KDU?

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  6. i been using the test viewer for 2 days now and i had to get used to it, since it was just as confusing for me as V2 is.
    But it's getting better now, i still prefer the V1 layout.. But the multiple clothing layers and stuff makes it worth for me to use this.
    and it has been less laggy for me then V2 is

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  7. Words cannot express how amazed I am at the work the whole Phoenix/Firestorm team is doing. I am hopelessly hooked on Phoenix and after trying Firestorm preview I am super excited for it. It took no time at all for me to be doing things in Firestorm. This is in sharp contrast to the LL Viewer 2 series which I still cannot use as effectively. Everyone on the Phoenix and Firestorm teams deserve a standing ovation.

    Thank you from the bottom of my heart everyone!

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  8. Is there plans to give Firestorm the BASIC function of snapshots again. Snapshots are horrendously messed up on Firestorm which is why I quit using it. Being a photographer it practically forced me to stop using it very quickly.

    When I asked about this in the chat I was practically made fun of and told it was not on the high priority to do list. Kinda crazy for a basic function all veiwers have had since for a very long time.

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  9. I've been using the Firestorm preview as my main viewer since it was released. That wasn't planned, but after taking advantage of all the customization it offered, I ended up with a UI I actually like better than Phoenix. Since it seemed fairly stable and I haven't had any major building projects going on, I just kept using it.

    I'm glad to hear you've opted to purchase the licence for KDU. I've tried Viewer 2.5 and textures render noticeably faster (Its only advantage trust me.)

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  10. I ve been running Firestorm full time. I like how it cleans the "clutter" from prevous viewer and with the way you can move things around it truely feels like a custom UI for each person. Just one thing I and others miss about firestorm..Breast Physics:3

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  11. my password is too long and i cannot use it. no problem with phoenix. will the password problem be fixed or do i have to strain my poor menopause memory to learn a new one? :)

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  12. I do hope the SLplugin bug is fixed in this one.. as I miss Phoenix, and it's the only viewer that gives me that trouble (and the having to reboot entire computer after a crash is enough to make me switch temporarily).

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  13. I really hope that your #2 version fixes the problem with small prims with "KDU for greatly improved performance, stability and texture rendering." I have stopped many months ago using your viewers since they dont work correctly with small prims. I sure hope you have corrected this so I can come back to Phoenix viewers and I'll stop bad mouthing them!

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  14. I really hope Firestorm will offer the same building functionalities as Phoenix does; I'm thinking specifically in all the great features of the Edit window, that were ignored for the Firestorm version. Stripping that features from Firestorm would be a terrible step backwards.

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  15. I was super excited about firestorm preview - and thought it looked great but was only able to experience it for 20 minutes before I crashed and was unable to reopen it :(

    Made me very sad - I'm on a macbook pro so was surprised that it made my computer stall when i tried to reopen.

    Hope this is worked out for #2 preview!

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  16. Hello all i have a problem with Phoenix if i want to open the viewer i got this message: ''This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reintalling the application may fix this problem.'' fist time function but when i put to open 2 window with this viewer he appear this message, maybe it is wrong what i tipe in Properties: "C:\Program Files\Phoenix Viewer\PhoenixViewer.exe" --settings settings_phoenix.xml -set SystemLanguage en-us -multiple . the problem now it is if i reinstal again and i not change the name in properties he appear this message. can someone tell me what i can do now. ty

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  17. I think that you will do a much better job at building a better user friendly viewer for both the experienced and the novice users as well. It is a little different then the Phoenix build, but I'm sur as in everything else that the Phoenix group has been doing it will be just fine. My only concern is that I did in fact like the older skins and am running the (blue) Sapharrie skin and enjoy it's look - so I do hope that there will be an effort to get that done as well. If no-one has seen the You-Tube vid, I do recomend they do as it does show a lot of what you are up to. -BTW-Good Job Jess!

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  18. Only one statment, Please keep the current tabbed windows viewer 1 style UI. Don't go to the viewer 2 java web style. It's poorly designed and makes life harder for everyone.

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  19. There are a few things I'm noticing already in Firestorm that I'd like:
    -keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl-T doesn't open the chat window anymore, and while Ctrl-I still opens the inventory, it doesn't CLOSE it either. Also, opening the inventory this way doesn't autofocus the search box.

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  21. I can't seem to enable Wireframe anymore since the 908

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  22. I like emerald, I hope in ur next update u can include multiple clothing/tatoo layer as in V2.

    :)

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  23. Ok 1st I do want to say. That I love the new viewer 908 and Firestorm is AWSOME..Love it thanks all the Dev for all the great work.

    Now the part I want off my chest it the support group sucks. half the time they dont listen to you. Or talk about other stuff. one night it was 2 hours talking about PC VS Mac and frankly ignoring ALL the people who needed help. I myself have pretty much giving up asking for help in that group. A answer SOMETIMEs would be nice.. But I seem to NEVER get a answer or support in there when needed.

    Yar Telling

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  26. I don't know if it's been brought up yet or not, but I'd like to see an option in settings that allows users to set the program to automatically clear cache on every login.

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  27. Actually more of an idea for the next update. The ability to sort the friends list into groups.
    Friends/Family/Idiots/etc.

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  28. Add me to the list of full time Firestorm users. Kirsten's client and LL's 2.5 client both eat all available RAM on my system, slow to a crawl, and crash. Imprudence still suffers from an interaction of deferred rendering and alpha textures. Firestorm, so far at least, just works for me (and despite being a 32-bit program running on my 64-bit Linux system, works with streaming audio, which no other 32-bit Linux SL client I've tried does. Any chance you could let LL know how it's done, please?).

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  29. im having problems with my music going out on the game when im at a club. goes in and out constantly. what can i do? very frustrating. and others say its phoenix...

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  30. You know what I think would be a really useful feature would be the ability to spawn an external music player like Winamp on Windows or XMMS on Linux to stream music with. You can specify an external browser already, so it's not an impossibility to spawn an external program to handle certain types of media. When me or my DJ friends want to listen to a stream, we almost always use an external program to do it because it just plays cleaner than the internal media player. There are so many media players that are lighter on resources than the internal media player that this would be a great boon to those of us who are running DJ software, SL, and are trying to listen to our stream to monitor the quality.

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  31. I love phoenix and i think i'll love firestorm..but I too am having the trouble with music streams going in and out. Is this an official bug?

    Generally - great, responsive work tho!!! LL could take a lesson.

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  32. where can you get a chance to try firestorm

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  33. lets hope firestorm makes me crash less than Phoenix...

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  34. Is firestorm eventually gonna have audio and media stream buttons seperated like veiwer 1? (a button for each for quick access rather than one that starts n stops both)
    having to use the pref window shortcut there is annoying to keep switching im sure most would agree.. Looks good so far though!!!! keep it up :)

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  35. I use Phoenix because it is not messed up like viewer2. Now you bring out Firestorm that is just like viewer2????
    What is with that?
    The reason most use Phoenix is because it was what it was not VIEWER2.

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  36. Oops. I was mistaken; someone was playing a musical instrument for which the music is a sound effect, not streaming audio, so that was NOT what I thought it was. Streaming audio is still broken if one is running on 64-bit Linux. Still love Firestorm to death, though, and I look forward to the next release!

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  37. i like it but would like to see the same skins as the original phoenix and also would like to have the option of having the time in 12 hour time like other viewers.

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  38. also i would like to be able to change the color of the tags like in the original version of phoenix

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  39. I love the work with Firestorm thus far, but is it possible to change the color and shape of the partical beam?

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  40. Ohh thank you I love the layout of firestorm, I am wondering though is anything being done on that word limit? It is the only thing keeping me from migrating to that viewer full time.

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