Belated Happy 2nd Anniversary!
We've been so busy lately, we didn't even realize until Monday that Sunday, Sept 2nd, was our 2nd year anniversary as a team! Time sure flies!
And what have we achieved in two years?
- Lowest crash rate ever!
This morning we got our crash rate in for our latest 4.2.2.29837 release and it's at 8.54% according to Linden Lab's Statistics!!! This is an all time record low crash rate for any v2/v3 viewer in recorded history! It even beats the current crash rate for LL's aging but stable 1.23 viewer!
- Firestorm beats Phoenix as #1 viewer in SL!
Furthermore, we also received an email through the opensource-dev mailing list from Oz Linden this morning that stated the following:
"On behalf of Linden Lab, I'd like to extend congratulations to the
Firestorm Viewer team.
Last week, Firestorm took over the #1 spot on the list of Second Life
viewers in terms of total user time, surpassing its elder cousin,
Phoenix. The Phoenix viewer still has a slight lead in number of
sessions, but Firestorm viewer sessions are on average significantly
longer - which may in turn be due in part to its substantially better
stability.
The Firestorm team has worked long and hard to support users who want
both the latest Second Life features being developed by Linden Lab and
the additional capabilities you provide, and this achievement is one you
can all be proud of. Thank you."
What does it all mean?
I use our viewer statistics as a measurement of how well we are accomplishing our goal of improving the user experience. The fact that Firestorm is now the most popular viewer in Second Life AND is the most stable viewer tells me we're doing it right!
I couldn't be more proud of our Development Team, our Support Team and our QA and Beta Testers than I am today. Achieving what we have can only be done through team effort and a lot of it! But more than that, I want to thank all of you, our users. Through the last two years you've supported us, trusted us, guided us to what we've been doing right and what we're doing wrong. You've helped set the temperature to when we're moving closer or further away from improving your experience, and we've listened. We couldn't have reached this level of success without you as well!
Thank you Developers, Support, Beta Testers and Users!
Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon
Proud Project Manager!
The Phoenix Firestorm Project, Inc
Congrats on the statistics! Hopefully a skin upgrade for the classic Phoenix in Firestorm from the traditional blue (SLV1 series) to the current Phoenix (orange/black) theme will be available in the next release!
ReplyDeleteJust sit and wait Brandon, those that love the Silver Skins may get something they have been asking for as well. winks Remember the Firestorm team has to prioritize things of what goes in, as the most Important thing.
DeleteCongratulations! I'm sure Firefox deserves its number one spot for many reasons. It certainly adds a lot to my own experience of SL.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great team you've gathered together to achieve this.
Many congratulations & a huge THANK YOU for making my SL a better place :o)x
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and Amen! Firestorm is amazing. Y'all are amazing! Thank you so much for enhancing my SL experience.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! and thanks for all your hard work :))
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time transitioning to Firestorm but I've done it and am very pleased with it. I started with Emerald and stuck with you guys all the way and I am darn glad I did!!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the team! Well done and a big BRAVO!
~CandiClawtooth~
Congratulations! Love Firestorm and I really apppreciate the live classes, helped me learn about the many options that Firestorm has.
ReplyDeleteSandicat
Congrats to the whole team. You promissed and delivered what you promissed and more, far more than we expected.
ReplyDeleteYAY! Love Firestorm and it so deserves to be No. 1
ReplyDeleteJust wish this laptop had enough grunt to run it, tho Phoenix runs on here just great.
Congrats!
i just wish when you did a search by a word in inventory it was still gold not brown
ReplyDeleteWay to go guys! Stable AND popular! How's about we get you all to start working on the GRID... wouldn't mind a little more stability on that too, eh?
ReplyDeleteThanks for an awesome viewer! 4.2.2 rawks
Dill Speculaas
Provincetown sim
Second Life
Since not one person has replied in the last thread I thought I'd try again here:
ReplyDeleteFor the past month, whenever I log in, I am an orange glowing ball. It is NOT my internet connection, and I have tested numerous other methods of making this go away to no avail. So basically I can't play SL for the past month. I just updated to the 4.2.2 release and same thing. I have a large piece of land and pay $50 tier every 2 weeks and I feel I'm wasting my money since I can't even enjoy it or the game. If anyone has any idea why this is going on I would REALLY APPRECIATE the help. I need to resolve this! I don't want to give up my land, and if I do... SL... it's my little sanctuary away from it all and I've spent countless hours perfecting every detail - but there is no point if I can't enjoy it.
And actually I believe it's been going on for more than a month. I remember this first happening when I updated to the LAST version. Anyone else experiencing this or know how to fix it? Please don't tell me to look on the boards as I already have, exhaustively.
Thank you!!!
@ 4b4cf92e-f3af-11e1-a7a5-000bcdcb8a73,
DeleteWhat you have is commonly known as bake fail. We have a wiki page that offers a step by step to fix it. http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/fs_bake_fail
Also, we have a dedicated support team with dedicated support groups where you can get answers and help to your problems. However you likely won't find help in blog comments. Please have a look here to learn how to reach our support people.
http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/getting_help
A thing missing there that you might have, is that a required item (like eyes)... might for some strange reason be missing anyway. Normally you can not unwear your eyes, only replace them for others.
DeleteI had the same problem till I noticed I was not wearing eyes anymore. So simply wear all the required items and it might help too.
Awesome, compliments.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant viewer, fantastic achievement.
ReplyDeleteJessika
I cannot share your enthusiasm for this version. It has a devastating bug that causes my system to crash whenever I save a snapshot to disc. Its a fail for me, sorry.
ReplyDelete(And by the way, I am getting so tired of captcha security that has ambiguous text and unintelligible audio)
@ 57f4f666-f712-11e1-b27f-000bcdcb8a73
DeleteDo you have Microsoft Skydrive installed on your system or any similar software, eg) Cloud Drive?
If so, this will cause you to crash/disconnect when trying to save a snapshot to disc, or performing any action that tries to access the file picker.
This bug occurs on all mesh enabled viewers.
Please see http://jira.phoenixviewer.com/browse/FIRE-6186 for this issue and there is a workaround in the comments if you dont wish to uninstall Skydrive.
I have the same problem, same bug.
DeleteI don't use Microsoft software.
I'm a Fedora Linux user saving to a local scsi drive.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell from this latest release of Firestorm I have gone BACK to Phoenix as Firestorm is now 25% fps slower than Phoenix.
ReplyDeleteParabenizo pelo trabalho de todos da equipe de desenvolvimento do Firestorm.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Firestorm to make a great viewer and to support Open sims while doing that!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jessica and team! Perhaps Linden Lab will recognize the incredible creative talent you bring to their enterprise and contract with you to become their official viewer developers! Your work is greatly appreciated by all of us who use both Phoenix and Firestorm!
ReplyDeleteAs a complete non-techie, I would like to express my unmitigated admiration and thanks for all your efforts, and everything you do for us.
ReplyDeleteI, for one, am eternally grateful.
The only problem I have as of lately is voice chat doesn't always detect my voice in either Windows 7 or Linux Mint (I dual boot). Sometimes it activates after I say half my sentence. I checked my configuration, but I don't have any active filters getting in the way. I even tried 2 different sound cards and 3 different viewers, so all I cam assume is Vivox doesn't like my computer. I can still hear myself through my speakers when SL can't. I really wish LL would switch to teamspeak's source code or make their own. Kudos to what Firestorm in itself has become though. A year ago I used to be one of those still clinging to Phoenix and Singularity, but lately since I use Linux now, Firestorm out performs them.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I use Firestorm and not Phoenix is not because I like it. In my view, Firestorm is an unfortunate step back from Phoenix towards ugly LL Viewer. The reason I have to use Firestorm is because the latest version of Phoenix with mesh support crashes on my Mac Book Pro.
ReplyDeleteSo I do not see much of a reason to be so cheerful about Firestorm.
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ReplyDeleteI would love to use Firestorm... But unfortunately I can't because the FPS is so low on my system even when setting all the graphics options to their lowest. On Phoenix viewer I can easily get 30 FPS and higher with graphics on Ultra. I can even throw in a little AA (up to 8x) and enable shadows and still get decent performance (at least 20 FPS). On Firestorm I can barely manage 10 FPS even with all the graphics setting set to their lowest =( (Yes I checked that AA is off and anisotropic filtering is off)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks to the incredible Firestorm team, you are THE BEST!
ReplyDeleteI have done nothing but get logged off time and time and time again, any time I am not on my own land. This update for me has been an utter disaster.
ReplyDeleteFirestorm beat Phoenix ?
ReplyDeleteNormal, you don't do any support for Phoenix, and Phoenix crash all times.
It's not a nice way to force the user to switch like that.
Now I use singularity, it's like Phoenix, with less crash.
Singularity ? I will check it out. Thanks for the lead !
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Singularity is just like Phoenix and it is much much faster than Firestorm! I am switching !
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the lead !
Happy Anniversary!!
ReplyDeleteI'm having the worst crash rate ever with the new Firestorm. But I am not sure if it's the viewer or Second Life issues. Is anyone else having problems editing/building? SL is constantly freezing up with I am in edit mode, often crashing, but sometimes fixing itself.
ReplyDeleteI at first thought this was a great release.. and for uh, performance.. i suppose it still is however, there has been issues with taking photos.
ReplyDeleteHUGE black lines in the photos..
not like the bug that adds tiny 1 or 2 pixel lines to photos that have shadow enabled.. i mean big fugly lines in low and high res without the shadows enabled.
i "upgraded" to the previous viewer then all those issues disappeared..
I don't know what is causing it but, i have asked for advice from others and they said to add a qn here.
also.. happy anniversary..
this is the viewer i recommend to friends.
Congratulations. I know I could not do what I love doing in SL without Phoenix.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/paintree/7342821988/ - one of my favourites, shot purely in the browser.
The lower crash rate has really improved my mood. I'm sure that shot took the best part of an hour at brutally low frame rates to set up and capture.
@Aria Pixelmaid
ReplyDeletehttp://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory - Phoenix is less crashy than Singularity according to TPVD.
@sohawtsl
http://jira.phoenixviewer.com/secure/CreateIssue!default.jspa + http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/file_a_jira - give some example shots, descibe your problem.
Congratulations, Phoenix/Firestorm team! I've been using Phoenix and then Firestorm for years now, and haven't even bothered to look at another viewer. It works, it doesn't crash, and I like it!
ReplyDeleteThis is a final user's opinion and absolutely not meant as trolling but, I really do not see a reason to congratulate that much since this very last update has really ruined my SL experience. Ever since I updated it, Changing outfits is a real pain since it just won't do it properly, it will overlap clothing objects and won't save it as I see it. rezzing objects is also another issue among others. I have tried other viewers and they seem to work just fine. I really think it's a shame this is happening and I reallly hope you do something about it because I love Firestorm and want to go back to using it and really believe what this post claims.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and I agree Firestorm is amazing. I'm using it sinds day 1 and will keep using it. Thank you for all the work and time you guys put into it and also nice work on the support group.
ReplyDeletePhoenix_Firestorm-Release_i686_4.1.1.28744 was the most stable version on my system. I use Fedora 17.
ReplyDeleteThe crash rate has gone up for me. I crash at least once per session.
I have submitted crash dumps. I hope it helps.
I am aware that you have added new code, and that's great. I am very happy with Firestorm overall and I'm grateful to everyone involved in making Firestorm. Now that the new code has been added, please if you would, please work on making FS more stable and please ask LL to tackle the crash on snapshot bug. Thank you.
Could u guys add FXAA support on Firestorm?
ReplyDeletethx and congrats for that excellent viewer.
Wrong, Firestorm is the biggest crash rate it crashes my computer so much its rediculous.. causes graphical glitches too.
ReplyDeleteDid you folks make some changes to the Firestorm JIRA?
ReplyDeleteI get very different updates on the ones I watch.
Well that's lovely and I congratulate you, but I am still - after many many attempts - unable to successfully install Firestorm. And there is no way I have yet been able to discover to get troubleshooting help. So good for all of you who can use it, but I am completely locked out. Afraid I can't congratulate you on that!
ReplyDeleteI've been a Phoenix, then a Firestorm fan for a long time now... i have a great system to run it on...but have also had problems with the latest release of slowing FPS when opening inventory, photo, notecard..etc... If i dont crash ,I have to relog to get back to my usual high framerates ..until i open another window. I've also been recieving Memory allocation errors at times. I do look forward to the next release when hopefully these issues will be addressed
ReplyDeleteI must say,i don't totally agree that stable word !!!!!! To be honest,its NOT so stable what ppls think !
ReplyDeleteI am a very pleased user of Firestorm, so I applaud you for having what is regarded as the best viewer for Second Life.
ReplyDeleteUmmmm i won't use firestorm....it always lags me to death and i am not a big lover of mesh...but alas those who don't like mesh will have to conform i guess.....it's a shame that well enough couldn't be left alone
ReplyDelete#1 spot in crash rate... ok well in all other lists that would have been the viewer with most crashes right?
ReplyDeleteThis sure fit how firestorm act for me, many times a day it crash to my desktop and the crash logger does its thing... are you getting any of them?
While you have made great strides on firestorm the only reason it is taking over number one is your stopping developement on phoenix.
ReplyDeleteStill prefer the look and feel of phoenix, firestorm feels thin and flimsy. You need to convert the graphics for the default linden viewer over to firestorm the graphics are superior to the flat flimsy look of the firestorm skins.
This version crashes everytime I try to upload an image so for me it's the least stable yet. I have never before had a phoenix or firestorm client crash on image upload until now.
Also I am waiting and quite impatiently at this point for you to give us back the ability to change the default texture on a newly created prim to a custom one of my own. Bout time this oversite was fixed.
All in all I will say firestorm has improved immensly but then so has the linden viewer now that the stupid elements that the 3rd party creator stuck in it are gone.
@Dolly Kerr
ReplyDelete1) Try Vintage skin, or just choose "Phoenix" from the dropdown at the login screen next to the Login button.
2) Crashes at upload: http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/skydrive
3) Jira for the prim default texture: http://jira.phoenixviewer.com/browse/FIRE-5836
congrats on one hand, but at the other: I believe you are steering to that. I am still a Phoenix user. I like the hud / layout from Phoenix far out the most. I think you focus to FS. Agree, it is a good Viewer, but not as Phoenix in the users way!
ReplyDeleteOh just admit it, a slight popularity advantage over a (really) old viewer... seriously?? 2012 huh? they must be ashamed by supporting such a "failed" plattaform to start with, a big strategical failure from the mere beginning. LL has been desperate these years to make the money spent on viewer 2.x model the default on every newbies heart and yet to this date is not the King but a viewer who tries to mimic (makeup) Phoenix stability and behaviour, laughts, 2008 here.
ReplyDeleteWhat??!! I don't know ANYONE that can run Firestorm! It's not stable. When I try to use it, I crash every 10 minutes...can almost set my watch to it.
ReplyDeleteDon't believe the hype that Firestorm is publishing...it's NOT stable.
All I need is a viewer that will allow multiple layers to be worn at the same time!! That's it!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou can say what you want.....i will not use firestorm.....i will stay with phoenix....it is the best viewer that was ever made and it is a shame that you stopped supporting phoenix......and that is a crying shame
ReplyDeleteI find it amusing people say "firestorm wont run" or "firestorm crashes every 10 minutes" but never sa what kind of hardware they are running. ig you are running a 2000 vintage computer its time to upgrade, really any computer before 2006 needs an upgrade.A secent computer is less than 500 dollars. Make sure youtrr software is up to date ( internet browsers, windows, java,e etc) as well. Also check in the phoenix-firestorm support group because this is NOT the place to complain something is not working right.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Firestorm team! You all rock. I love the viewer and it is very stable for me. Thanks for all you do. :))
ReplyDeleteCongrats as a whole! I however crash relentlessly every time I go to edit a mesh item. I crash on Phoenix & Firestorm. I crash on all the options firestorm has ie Hybrid. So I was forced to DL SL, which I hate. So now I am trying a clean install of Firestorm and I hope that helps
ReplyDeleteAnd then just today, Oct. 1, 2012 and not yet posted:
ReplyDelete"On 2012-09-04 07:53 , Oz Linden (*********) wrote:
>
> On behalf of Linden Lab, I'd like to extend congratulations to the
> Firestorm Viewer team.
>
> Last week, Firestorm took over the #1 spot on the list of Second Life
> viewers in terms of total user time, surpassing its elder cousin,
> Phoenix. The Phoenix viewer still has a slight lead in number of
> sessions, but Firestorm viewer sessions are on average significantly
> longer - which may in turn be due in part to its substantially better
> stability.
An update on this.... Firestorm has now passed Phoenix both in number of
sessions and in number of unique users, so it is the most popular viewer
in Second Life by all three measures!
"
.. And then just today, not yet posted....
ReplyDelete"On 2012-09-04 07:53 , Oz Linden (Scott Lawrence) wrote:
>
> On behalf of Linden Lab, I'd like to extend congratulations to the
> Firestorm Viewer team.
>
> Last week, Firestorm took over the #1 spot on the list of Second Life
> viewers in terms of total user time, surpassing its elder cousin,
> Phoenix. The Phoenix viewer still has a slight lead in number of
> sessions, but Firestorm viewer sessions are on average significantly
> longer - which may in turn be due in part to its substantially better
> stability.
An update on this.... Firestorm has now passed Phoenix both in number of
sessions and in number of unique users, so it is the most popular viewer
in Second Life by all three measures!
"
.. And then just today, not yet posted....
ReplyDelete"On 2012-09-04 07:53 , Oz Linden (Scott Lawrence) wrote:
>
> On behalf of Linden Lab, I'd like to extend congratulations to the
> Firestorm Viewer team.
>
> Last week, Firestorm took over the #1 spot on the list of Second Life
> viewers in terms of total user time, surpassing its elder cousin,
> Phoenix. The Phoenix viewer still has a slight lead in number of
> sessions, but Firestorm viewer sessions are on average significantly
> longer - which may in turn be due in part to its substantially better
> stability.
An update on this.... Firestorm has now passed Phoenix both in number of
sessions and in number of unique users, so it is the most popular viewer
in Second Life by all three measures!
"
.. And then just today, not yet posted....
ReplyDelete"On 2012-09-04 07:53 , Oz Linden (Scott Lawrence) wrote:
>
> On behalf of Linden Lab, I'd like to extend congratulations to the
> Firestorm Viewer team.
>
> Last week, Firestorm took over the #1 spot on the list of Second Life
> viewers in terms of total user time, surpassing its elder cousin,
> Phoenix. The Phoenix viewer still has a slight lead in number of
> sessions, but Firestorm viewer sessions are on average significantly
> longer - which may in turn be due in part to its substantially better
> stability.
An update on this.... Firestorm has now passed Phoenix both in number of
sessions and in number of unique users, so it is the most popular viewer
in Second Life by all three measures!
"
Very nice..you earned it.. i was kicking and screaming for along time about the new ver 2 and ver3 viewers but i will say now,this present firestorm viewer has really won me over. now.. if you could just make it simple to color your friends texts in local and group chats.. that would be icing on the cake. good work guys.
ReplyDeletecongratulations! runs like a charm on my computer... but even earlier versions hardly crashed on my system.
ReplyDeleteRunning it without any problems in ultra graphics mode, only switched off depth of field. Runs on Windows 8 Pro, only issues I run into are the same I run into with any other non-native windows 8 application...
This viewer runs perfect on my PC, with a GTX 460 1 GB, intel i3 CPU, etc.
ReplyDeleteThese People who saying its a bad viewer or its unstable, Must have Ancient Computers and never upgrades there hardware or even did maintenance on there computer at all. Even Defrag there hard drives so the files are accessed faster. If you keep getting vary lower fps, then you need to upgrade your Ancient hardware, restart your computer at least once if you keep it on all day as leaving it over night can lead to ram being used up. Eben upgrading your ram and cpu is great if you multi-task a lot.
Mine crashes every 5 minutes and I'm constantly locked up in lag. I don't know what everyone is so happy about. I'm on Windows Vista, cable modem. I usually use version 1.23 SL viewer since it's the only Viewer that is truly lag free.
ReplyDeleteSo when is the next Phoenix update? Because Firestorm is as unstable, crashtastic, resource-hogging, and difficult to decipher as it's always been.
ReplyDeleteMy computer is 1 month old...it's top of the line...max memory...all the specs that LL suggest you should have to run it. It's a crappy viewer. Professionals in the computer industry that have tried to use it also say it's crap.
ReplyDeleteThe user interface is very confusing, the frame rate is inferior to that of Phoenix on comparable settings, the font hurts my eyes, and building features that are present in Phoenix still have not made the transition to Firestorm. Yet in spite of demand for Phoenix updates the developers refuse to offer more. If this was a pay-for product the company would have gone out of business years ago.
Delete@lena liddie Then use a different viewer. Firestorm works well for many, but not all. There's no way they can account for every possible hardware combination.
ReplyDeleteLots of people like Cool Viewer for instance. For me it crashes often, glitches textures, and gives a crappy frame rate. So guess what? I don't use that viewer. I don't go on the forum for that viewer and bitch.
Hi, a big fan of this viewer thanks for all the hard work, I am a builder on sl and I use mac, there is only one area I would like to see change, the panels for the enviroment settings. I take a lot of photo's of my creations for marketplace and use the sky settings a lot, at the moment I switch to phoenix viewer to take the pics because it's quicker to click from one sky to the next and if I close the edit panel the last chosen sky remains. Also the edit panels in firestorm are way to big. All in all very happy with this viewer. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWho are you trying to kid....i have firestorm...it crashes on me all the time....
ReplyDeleteHey lena? If you're going by the system requirements page on the official site then guess what?
ReplyDeleteYour computer may be "a month old" but it is running hardware that is at least two years or more old.
That page has not been updated in quite some time.
Instead of blaming the client makers, how about you blame yourself and Linden Lab?
Yourself for getting a PC based on their outdated recommendations and Linden Lab for said outdated recommendations.
I've certainly stuck with Firestorm ever since it got to a version which didn't crash my comp (a long time ago now!) so I'd say you certainly deserve the success, and congratulations! :)
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate that you don't put out frequent upgrades. I'm still psyching myself up to dealing with the latest release -- probably I'll get it done just as the next release comes out *g*
I love firestorm. My only problem now is that I updated to windows 8 and it tells me I don't have a graphics driver installed when I try to launch the program. I have the latest driver and all the tests check out and it runs perfectly on other programs. My sister also has the same problem. I hope the next update fixes this issue.
ReplyDeleteCrash rates! Try logging in on a mac !
ReplyDeleteCome on people..please fix the NVIDIA issue as I havn't been able to log in in days.
Fix that..then boast about crash rates!
Congrats on a perfect score! I would make a sugection - noticed that you are now playing with the splash screen(opening screen) and moving the online statistics around on it - might try the lower right hand section as it seems to ba a blank area and since the SLGrid Status is on that side it would ba a logical choice. - Just a thought!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work guys and gals!