Pathfinding Server Rollout

Pathfinding  is rolling out on all regions today and may have an impact on the performance of your regions as well as introduce some new bugs.   INFO: What is pathfinding? Click here

Pathfinding  & Region Performance
Once your region has been updated today, it will have Pathfinding running on it. Until your region has been optimized, this may have a performance impact. Linden Lab has assured me the impact will be at worst 4ms on main regions and 1ms on homesteads and at best won't be noticed. In layman's terms, this is around 18% max of region performance. In order to optimize your region, you will need a viewer with pathfinding tools; currently these tools are only available in a LL Beta Viewer.

Your options will be to A) optimize your region; B) turn Pathfinding off on your region; or C) do nothing. Instructions for the first two options below...

Note: Only Region Owners and Estate Managers can work with Pathfinding. 
Only Region Owners and Estate Managers can enable/disable Pathfinding on a region. Parcel owners can optimize their parcels on a Pathfinding enabled region. 
Instructions to optimize your regions:
Download the LL Beta Viewer (Win, Mac, Linux) and go through the process of optimizing your region / parcel.

Turn Pathfinding off
1. Get sim console open.
Phoenix: Go to the top menu bar, Advanced > Consoles > Region Debug Console. (Press Ctrl-Alt-D to enable the Advanced menu if you do not already have it enabled.)
Firestorm: Go to the top menu bar, Develop > Consoles > Region Debug Console. (Press Ctrl-Alt-Q if you do not have Develop menu enabled.)

2. In the console window that opens, type (without the quotes), "set dynamic_pathfinding false", and press enter.

3. Restart your region.

Note: More information about Pathfinding can be found here: 
http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/pathfinding

New bugs you should be aware of!
Along with Pathfinding come changes to the Havok Physics engine, which have introduced some new bugs we think you should be aware of, including issues with some vehicles, physics, phantom and sculpts. You can view the list of issues we are aware of at the following link. None of these issues can be fixed by our support team:
http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/pathfinding_server_bugs

Note: Unfortunately there are quite a few Linden JIRAs on this list that have been set hidden from public view. There is nothing we can do about that beyond offering a description of the issue. 

Questions & Answers from Linden Lab 
Yesterday I sent a list of questions off to LL and received the answers back this morning. These questions and answers may be of interest to you, as well, so I've put them online here.
http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/pf_questions

Sincerely,

Jessica Lyon
Project Manager
The Phoenix Firestorm Project, Inc.

P.S. Please pass this blog post along to all the region owners you know!

Permalink http://phoenixviewer.blogspot.ca/2012/08/pathfinding-server-rollout.html

Technical problems (Resolved)

The problems with the website download links and erroneous update notifications on Phoenix and Firestorm Viewer login screens have been resolved.

Again, our sincerest apologies for any confusion and/or inconvenience this may have caused.

The Phoenix Firestorm Team

Technical problems

We've been experiencing some technical problems today with our website resulting in false 'new release notifications' as well as broken download links on the website. We are currently working to resolve these issues and will update this blog once we are back to normal.

To be clear, there was not a Firestorm or Phoenix viewer Release today, the latest firestorm version is 4.1.1.28744 and the latest Phoenix version is 1.6.1.1691. The login screen notifications were in error.

You can still find download links on our wiki page in the meantime.
http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/downloads

We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience.

The Phoenix Firestorm Project, inc.

What's Next? Pathfinding!

A great success!
Firestorm 4.1.1.28744 has turned out to be a great success -- one of our best, in fact! We went from near the bottom of the Third Party Viewer Directory (meaning we had a comparatively higher crash rate) to the top of the list with the lowest crash rate according to Linden Lab stats! This could change as more people adopt 28744 and as other TPVs improve their crash rates as well, but we are quite pleased nonetheless. And special thanks to all of you who are allowing your crash reports to be sent, as we've managed to fix a whole bunch of other crashes we weren't even aware of, meaning the next release will be even more stable!

What's next...Pathfinding!
We've decided to release LL's Pathfinding work in Firestorm in two stages.

Stage 1 (next release).
Pathfinding Tools. Not to be confused with the Havok library, which is used to display Navigation Mesh (NavMesh), the Pathfinding Tools are what you will need to optimize your regions once Pathfinding goes live.

Unless LL changes the current plan, when Pathfinding goes live, all regions will have pathfinding enabled by default, and all objects that contain scripts will be treated as "Movable Obstacles." Movable Obstacles will have an impact on region performance, so region owners will need to optimize their regions by setting scripted objects that don't move to "Static Obstacles." To do this, you will need Pathfinding Tools!

So our plan with our next release is to get Pathfinding tools out as soon as we can. This will be based on our 28744 release + post 28744 crash fixes + LL Pathfinding code. There have not been many new additions beyond that since the release, and this is for the best: we expect this code will destabilize the viewer to a degree, since it will be a large merge, and we’d rather base this version on a solid release than on a wild card.

Stage 2 (follow up release).
Release with the Havok Library for NavMesh. Havok will be used to enable viewing of NavMesh, display of object types and AI Preview of object paths. So the second Firestorm release from now will have Havok + stability fixes to the previous release + more of our own goodies.

How soon?
Great question, and a very tough one to answer since there are many factors involved that we have little control over. Like...
- LL's timeline to release Pathfinding;
- How much Linden code we have to merge into Firestorm;
- How many regressions and new bugs we pick up from that merge;
- How long it'll take us to fix them, etc.
But we want to get these out as soon as we possibly can once it's live on the grid.

Confusing Pathfinding is confusing!
If all this Pathfinding stuff sounds complicated and confusing to you, you're not alone. Unfortunately, though, region owners in particular are going to have to understand this stuff at least on a basic level. Fortunately! LL has some documentation on it, which I've linked throughout parts of this post (indicated by colored text). But I will also post links at the end of this post to LL's documentation and an early video. For more information I would encourage you to google "Second Life Pathfinding."

What about Phoenix?
Currently there is no time for us to squish pathfinding tools into Phoenix, as Firestorm is keeping us very busy already. Region owners using Phoenix will still be able to disable/enable pathfinding on their regions using the console, but for all else they will need to switch to Firestorm, to LL’s viewer or to another viewer supporting Pathfinding tools.

Pathfinding Links and Documentation
NOTE: Some of this documentation may change or be out of date as Pathfinding is still under development.
What is Pathfinding (early LL video): http://tinyurl.com/8xo3vsu
Pathfinding quickstart guide: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Pathfinding_Quick_Start_Guide
Pathfinding tools: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Pathfinding_Tools_in_the_Second_Life_Viewer
Pathfinding NavMesh: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Pathfinding_NavMesh
A Visual Guide to NavMesh: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Visual_Guide_to_Pathfinding



Jessica Lyon
Project Manager

Major Firestorm Viewer Update!

Firestorm 4.1.1.28744!
Get it from the  Downloads Page and please do a  clean install  to avoid performance and stability problems.
Instructions here.

In our last blog post we said we would have two separate builds for this release -- one for OpenSim and the other for Second Life -- to comply with requirements for using Havok. This is still the plan for the future, but it's postponed because Pathfinding isn't ready and Havok isn't available yet. And so for this release only, you get OpenSim goodness included!

FULL of Awesome Update!
This Firestorm update is HUGE with regard to features, fixes and improvements, and it brings us to 99% feature completeness compared to Phoenix. Almost four months in the making it is easily one of our biggest updates to date. Not only that, but it's thoroughly quality tested by our revitalized Quality Assurance team using new structured test procedures by more than 100 dedicated beta testers! They've been REALLY busy!

Focus
This update puts a lot of focus on the needs of builders, scripters, estate managers, average to advanced users and of course V1/Phoenix diehards by providing...
- New Features and Tools for builders, scripters and estate managers.
- More options for legacy V1 features/behavior
- Greater flexibility, functionality, performance and Stability for everyone!

But rather than bore you with chit chat, let me just point out a very small sample of what you get with this update! You can see the full  Release notes here.


- Up to date with Linden 3.3.3 code base.
- RLV 1.4.6
- New Permanent Derender / Asset Blacklist   
- Sound Explorer
- Right click > Script Options!  Epic!
- OpenSim Prefs Panel  and expanded grid manager.
- Loads of new tools and improvements for Builders!  Click to check that out!
- LSL PreProcessor  It's back!
- Enhancements to client AO so it can be enabled/disabled via scripts.  Long requested! We aim to please!
- Increased text buffer size to allow for larger copy/pastes and longer messages in IMs and Local chat.
- Temp uploads for snapshots returned
- Ctrl or Shift + Mouse scroll wheel to change default camera position! So awesome!
- Profile, script info button and estate kick functions added to Top Scripts and Top Colliders floaters
- Support for 1024×1024 terrain textures
- Keyboard shortcut hovertips over Toolbar buttons
- Texture size display for all objects and attachments!  (Develop Menu>Render Metadata>Texture Size)
- Crash Logging!  And yes we WILL be fixing crashes with these so please send them!
- Option to use different search terms between inventory / Recent / Worn. (Prefs>Firestorm>General>Allow separate search terms..) HUGE!
- Option to display Received Items folder as regular folder in inventory or standard V3 display (Prefs> Firestorm>General>"Show received items folder...")
- Option to use V1-style inventory Accept/Decline messages (Prefs>Privacy>"Use legacy inventory offer...").
- Growl for Mac, Windows and Linux!
- New windlight settings
- Fixes for Linux-specific problems
- LOADS of crash, stabilization and performance fixes/improvements
SO MUCH MORE!

Support
Please be patient with our support staff as they will be very busy, as they always are during a release and can only do so much.

4.1.1 Classes!
We've got newly updated classes as well now to teach you how to use all these new features, preferences, options and goodies. We highly encourage you to come check them out -- lots of new stuff to learn! Check them out here

Don't forget to clean install!!

Wow what a release! Have at it, folks! Enjoy and we'll see you in world!

Sincerely,
The Phoenix Firestorm Team!

Progress Report

R&R
Let me start by saying it's been a crazy amount of work for everyone getting Firestorm to where it is. After the release of 27000 myself and many of the developers were suffering from what is clinically known as  'Burn out'. We needed some time off... I needed some time off. For me it was about 6 weeks away before I started feeling ready to return to  cat herding, while some others took less, and some are simply enjoying the fresh air of this most wonderful time of year.
But fear not because we are back in gear now and shifting into overdrive!

New developers!
I'll start off the good news with the announcement and welcome to two new developers to our team.
Holy Gavenkrantz  has been a regular code contributor to Phoenix then Firestorm since very early on and I felt it only made sense to draw him in as an official developer. You see... after so many patches from a contributor it begins to only make sense that we ask if that contributor would like to join us. (hint hint)
Then there's  Armin Weatherwax (Arminweatherhax Resident in SL), formerly from Imprudence/Kokua. Armin was the main developer on the Kokua viewer for a long time and when I heard he was a free agent I approached him immediately. Armin really knows his stuff and we're very excited to have him on board with us!
Welcome to the team guys!

OpenSim 
We've recently discovered that Firestorm has become the favorite viewer for other grids. I personally have had a LOT of grid owners approach me asking for improvements to Firestorm in OpenSim. Well, it just so happens that 'other grids' are where Armin excels, in fact I've put Armin in charge of that area from this point forward. In other words, Firestorm is going to extend its focus and improve support for other grids, however I must point out.. we cannot 'offer support' for other grids since there is just no way to stretch our support team out that thin into other grids. But what about the  Havok sub-license terms  stating the viewer cannot connect to other grids while having Havok?  Well we've thought about that and decided we're going to offer TWO versions of Firestorm. One for Second Life with Pathfinding Havok goodness, and one for other grids without Havok. We'll have more news about that soon.

New Release coming
More skins and skin customization improvements, new Windlight effects, Growl, Build floater improvements and options, ctrl/shift mouse wheel for setting custom default cam positions, brought back "remove scripts from selection", LSL PreProcessor!, improved functionality to estate tools, improved mouselook functionality, sound explorer, permanent derender, asset blacklist... loads of bug fixes, improvements and new features! The list goes on and on and on with too many to list! It's all coming folks!
But when.. you ask?  Well, we're getting close to the end of our 4.1.1 release targets which means we're getting very close! However, we're also kind of waiting for LL's pathfinding goodness so we can release with that stuff as well. As usual I cannot give you a release date, but I'll risk saying.. shortly after LL releases their pathfinding stuff, we'll release the next epic Firestorm update!

Things are moving along, it's all happening! Stay tuned!

Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon and the team.

P.S. We hope to see you at our  SL9B  Exhibit!

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Advertising on our MOTD

As I'm sure most of you have noticed we've been promoting the SL9B community birthday event on our message of the day (MOTD) which displays during the login process. The SL9B is a not for profit community event hosted by residents for residents to celebrate Second Life's 9th birthday. This year there are 20 regions generously donated by residents and businesses in SL for the benefit of the community. Linden Lab has chosen to not participate in the event this year... This event still has a few openings for exhibitors, volunteers and performers. Better be quick!

On May 25th we also advertised for a not for profit, live charity concert event where 100% of the proceeds went to help rebuild Joplin, Missouri, a town devastated by an F5 tornado last year. The concert was a live real world concert by TheFollow streamed into Second Life.

Prior to that we advertised the Burn2 event (originally named Burning Man). It was renamed to signify the withdrawal of LL's sponsorship and participation of this long running and very popular community event. It is also a not for profit event hosted by the SL community for the SL community.

You may be starting to see a pattern in what events we advertise for.
- Not for profit, community events organized, hosted and/or sponsored by the community.
- Or charity events that benefit good causes.

The idea behind what we agree to advertise for and what we don't are simple. If it's going to benefit you financially either directly or indirectly (publicity stunt).. we're not going to advertise it. However if it's purely for residents, hosted by residents with no profits or financial benefits either directly or indirectly to you or those involved, we will consider it. We have always been, and will always be.. about the community.

We cannot however advertise religious events or anything that may offend or exclude other races, creeds, cultures or persons. For example, yesterday we were asked to promote Memorial Day and while I support troops all around the world 100%, it is an American event which other countries do not participate in. That makes it exclusionary and not something that qualifies for us to promote.

If you have a community event that you would like promoted on our MOTD you can send a request to jessica.lyon@phoenixviewer.com for consideration. We do not charge for advertising nor will we accept any benefits, financial or otherwise. Though you can expect we may attend your event ;). Please provide your in world name, and details to the event. All events we advertise for are required to have a website we can link too.

Note: we do not promote anything on the login page itself. Just the Message of the day.

Sincerely,
Jessica Lyon