Preview Second Life 1.12.1(0) 9-1-06 now available

http://secondlife.com/community/preview.php

Release Notes for Second Life 1.12.1(0) September 1, 2006
=====================================
New features:
* Estate access and ban lists boosted up to 300 entries (previously 63)
* Estate land management now allows subdividing and joining of parcels
* Right-clicking an animation allows you to play it from inventory
* The ability to stop animations has been added to the UI

Other changes:
* Added texture dimensions to all texture preview windows
* Changed the default draw distance for low end machines to improve frame rate
* Particle systems now 'muted' when a resident is muted
* Help menu now has a link to Release Notes

LSL changes:
* llHTTPRequest throttling changed
** Requests are now limited to once per second per object, per owner, per sim

Bug fixes:
* Find -> Places categories now match the ones you can select in About Land
* Fixed text for 'Land can be bought direct' at low resolutions
* Fixed scaling for several UI elements at low resolutions
* Location coordinates are now correct when the World Map is resized
* Fixed the group selection floater Search button
* System messages are no longer white (unless your Preferences are set that way)
* Inventory search ignores events that make items bold
* Removed a leftover reference to telehubs
* Improved parcel ban detection at high altitudes
* Improved performance while editing long notecards and scripts
** These improvement should prevent the freeze issues previously experienced
* Improved performance with large chat history
* Fixed World map hover tips when taking a screenshot
* Fixed group object owner ID in llHTTPRequest() headers
* Fixed an inability to leave groups on Mac/Linux
* Fixed several client crashes

Won't be there. Previews are a waste of time. LL doesn't listen to users until an uproar is created on the maingrid AFTER preview. The only reason to go to preview is to know in advance what LL plans to break.

I've filed bug reports in the preview grid, been contacted by the bug report staff, asked to demonstrate the bug, done so, and had the bug fixed before the code hit the main grid, and I'm a lazy bum who mostly flies around and tries on outfits at the preview grid PixelDolls.

Also you can check the preview forums in the archives and find clear evidence contradicting the idea that the preview grids are worthless.

Are they perfect? Far from it. Is participation there worthless? Certainly not.

We appear to have unremovable underwear baked on our skins in the preview grid.

Please go there and bug report this.

How do you know this is a bug? Maybe it's intentional. Just because it's a change from the way things are currently does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that it's wrong.

Perhaps they really are preparing to merge the two grids.

Lewis

*noddles* Did, did and did! Even posted to the relevent blog and board. My husband bug reported it also. *sighs* Now, to await responses.

Because even the Lindens aren't this stupid, Lewis? Surely, they realize that if this was something that was coming to the main grid, then they'd lose a lot of customers. This would kill SL. That concurrent number on front would drop like a rock, and with the word of mouth that would get out? *shrugs* No. I think this is a bug, or even something that is intended for the teen grid, but since we're the 'test subjects' it's being tried out on us.

Not to mention that the workarounds are too easy. Simply make the underwear layer of garments into skin textures. Maybe move the swimsuits and such to the shirt/pants layers... *sighs* Oh, that'd be clunky and I'd probably leave before I did changed my swimsuits over to the shirt/pants layers.

This is a bug I have noticed happening on the main grid as well. I made a second account a couple of weeks ago, and the underwear was baked on. (A friend had the same issue with her newbie jeans) I finally got it fixed by going into appearance mode, opening the texture picker for the skin (I *think* it was the skin, it may have been the undies picker, can't recall) and then pretended to choose another texture, but cancelled changing the texture after preview. I would be interested to hear if this works for you, if you feel like giving it a go.

Can you teleport to a mature sim? I don't seem to be able to. It's not just failing, it's loggin me out and disconnecting me from the region.

I thought that they realised the value of honest, open communication with their customers... but I was wrong.

Perhaps they're actually fed up of the notion that Second Life is all about sex, and that doesn't make as a good selling point or a particularly pleasing one for the VC's investing in it either.

Maybe they have been instructed that, if they wish to keep receiving investment, they have to take steps to moderate the 'adult content' and make the game more appealing to a wider target audience.

Lewis

I am/was in a Mature Region. The baked on doesn't come off for a region either. I managed to TP to it last night and was able to TP out and back in this morning. Still no change.

Kelly Linden just posted to the Preview thread. It's definately a bug, folks.

The slider thumb buttons in the skirt control panel are not appearing until I click in the area where they should be.

A skirt that should be for a blueberry dress is appearing as a transparent gray texture.

I think something is real messed up.

It won't let me wear shirts and pants - it only lets me wear the white panties and white bra and nothing else.

smackdown.

It won't show my little denim charm short pants.

In the space where they should be displayed in the appearance editor it doesn't even show anything below the shirt, although the texture appears in the little square labeled fabric.

I don't think I could disagree more. To do something that is totally out of character for me and give not LL the benefit of the doubt, but the workers themselves -- the poor programmer(s) probably have had numerous turnovers meaning that there's a good chance there's only a few of the original programmers left -- it's difficult to work with someone else's code when you have no idea of their train of thought when they were coding.
Considering how quickly these updates (defect fixes) are coming out, those same programmers most likely have ridiculous deadlines to meet...when you step back and look at the whole scene, it becomes pretty obvious when the quality suffers so a new version can be out asap -- most "bosses" that set/accept these deadlines don't realize that there's a balancing act between quality and quick turnaround.
Not sure why their QA department doesn't catch some of these bugs that have been found lately (that's why I don't totally like automated test scripts to do all the testing), but for other bugs - some don't even become apparent until you have a thousand different users all on the grid at the same time.

Could they use improvement? Absolutely.
Do they need to change some of their processes? Most likely.

Personally, I stay out of the Preview Grid because I'm not getting paid by LL to test their product.

Aw, HELLS yeah!

Justa small point. Phiip has commented in his blog how very LITTLE turnover in employees there has been. I forget the numbers he cited, but they were impressively low.

Not surprising in an office where you do as you like, and employee satisfaction is a great deal more important than customer satisfaction.

I'm not at all sure, either, that these employees are being forced to turn out updates quickly, or anything of the kind. It could just as easily be a function of the Love Machine, where they pass around notes of love to each other when they impress each other (and I think get a cash bonus, too).

It may be that they were forced to do things quickly, but I think it's equally likely, if not more so, a result of everyone doing exactly what they want (they are specifically not told what to do, or so Philip says), and monetizing those efforts as quickly as possible (whether in terms of love points or cash).

As a result, it's full speed ahead and damn the torpedos.

coco

P.S. Cute icon, by the way!

P.S. I'm not sure they actually have a QA department.

And I've commented about bugs in the preview (when I still cared) and been told they would be fixed.

They appeared in the main grid.

Save that thought.

Clothing changes are not showing for me without restarting the program.

The delete key is not working at all, not deleting selected objects, not deleting items in an object's inventory, and not deleting text in text entry areas.

The take copy option is missing from the pie menu.

Parts of the appearance editor interface - the buttons on the sliders - aren't being drawn at times until i click in the slider area.

Parts of the avatar body are not being displayed in the appearance editor.

Checking and unchecking the boxes for Land for Sale , Events, and other icons in the big map is not having any effect.

Yeah, they do. MichaelFrancis is part of the QA team, not sure who else is on it though.

I've noticed the clothing change issue and skins were having the same issues. Boy, are they gonna get a lot of bug reports on this preview!

I've already gotten at least one "bug confimed and entered" report from Milo Linden, who must be working on the USAian holiday weekend.