RC vs Mono - Is there hope?

I cannot use the RC 1.20.6(86925) at all. .2 to 1 fps. I tried the Mono version 1.20.6(87323) and everything was back to normal, 25 fps.

My questions is why? I can use any version of 1.19xxx with normal preformance but when I get into the 1.20xxx versions I die. The Mono version seems to be fine. I have seen a few complaints with extremely poor performance with the RC but not many. Are just a few of us plagued with this problem, and also, if the Mono version is working correctly, can I expect the performance to eventually increase as this becomes the RC?

The mono version is newer code so if it's working for you then odds are the next RC will work ok. (but who the hell knows)

BTW it Looks like 1.20.7 will be out soon (I have downloaded/compiled the latest source and I'm running it right now... it's getting much better)

Lots of fixes in the Release Notes:

New features and changes:
* Pasting multiline clipboard content into Chat will show a Paragraph symbol at newlines
* Moved "Set Window Size" options from File menu into Preferences > Graphics
* New users are rendered as a cloud, rather than naked, before they choose a gender
* Directly interacting with a muted resident will unmute them, with a note logged in the Chat history (VWR-1735)
* Fly button is now shown as disabled when you are sitting
* Group Info > Notices tab explains the storage limits of 200 notices and 14 days
* Added OpenGL monitoring via Advanced menu > Rendering > Debug GL option to turn on extra rendering error checking and help reproduce crashes
* Added beta support for basic voice lipsync for voice visualization (VWR-4794) - via Advanced menu > Character
* Changed resident names to be interactive in Chat/IM:
** Clicking on resident names in Local Chat will open their Profile page
** Clicking on resident names in a Group IM will open an individual IM

* Added four texture constants for referencing in llSetLinkTexture in scripts:
** TEXTURE_BLANK, TEXTURE_DEFAULT, TEXTURE_PLYWOOD and TEXTURE_TRANSPARENT
** Note: Scripts using these constants will run in all Second Life viewers, however previous versions of the viewer will not be able to edit and recompile scripts using the new TEXTURE_BLANK constant; older versions trying to compile such a script will report "XX,YY) : ERROR : Name not defined within scope."

* Thread monitoring to catch freezes
** A new thread monitor will detect when the viewer application frozen for a period greater than 10 seconds and possibly force a crash with detailed logs

* Improved internationalization support:
** Make 'System Default' language option work on Linux and Windows.
** Make unicode system font support good on Linux

* Improvements to Search
** Search > Popular Places is replaced by a Search > Showcase tab that points to the website Showcase
** Search > Places and Search > Groups use web-based search
** Classified ads have a drop-down menu to indicate Mature or Not Mature content

Changes:
* VWR-4794: Basic voice lipsync for voice visualization
* VWR-4204: Clicking on names in Chat/Group IM history should open Profile page or IM
* VWR-463: Blank is a pre-defined texture in client, but not in LSL
* Updated library version for openssl
* New users are shown as a cloud rather than naked until they choose a gender.
* Move "Set Window Size" options from File menu into Preferences > Graphics
* Make clothing-still-downloading dialog into an ignorable alert dialog
* Internationalize additional hard-coded viewer strings to a strings.xml file
* Search > Popular Places is replaced by a Search > Showcase tab that points to the website Showcase
* Convert Search > Places tab to use HTML search
* Convert Search > Group tab to use HTML search
* Search: Require Mature/Not Mature 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

Fixes:
* 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
* 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-6399: llMapDestination should still show teleport map -- Teleport / Map screen changes in 1.20 RC0 need to be undone
* Fixed: VWR-4860: WindLight: Planar texturing renders incorrectly in 1.19.0 (79674)
* Fixed: VWR-5963: LLImageGL:etClamp 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.
* 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: llrender.cpp export
* 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: Orientation Island HUD select language texture is wrong for English in 1.20
* 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: crash in LLMediaImplQuickTime::load
* Fixed: crash on LLViewerParcelMedia::update
* Fixed: Pop-up menu width should try to accomodate the longest menu item (within reason)
* 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: 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: stop bundling libexpat with the linux viewer
* Partial Fix: Pasting multiline clipboard content into chat loses newlines

Localization Fixes:
* Fixed: VWR-7168: A typo in base (en-us) version of mime_types.xml
* Fixed: VWR-7153: An typo in en-us version of alerts.xml file makes an <ignore> text of unlocalizable
* Fixed: VWR-7087: Japanese "About Second Life..." file includes an invalid UTF-8 character

If you don't get any more specific advice, I'd consider comparing the various performance settings. The installation kits are often inconsistent in the way they preserve or don't preserve settings.

Hmm I thought mono was all serverside, does this mean you script in mono instead of LSL?

Oh crap, my viewer sometimes hangs for more than 10secs whilst it is garbage collection or something and then it comes back to life again and carries on - this sounds like it will force a crash when that happens - I hope not.
No, no, no I hate web based search - its crappy and awkward. *cries* I hope these don't make it in to the released viewer

No still only in LSL - i have not read anything to say there is ever an intention to change to another language such as C#. Mono is not even a language - just a language runtime.

There was some extra debugging foo in RC6 all around textures, that can't have been helping performance.

The old places and groups search had to go. They were running off the database that keeps giving us transaction failures and all that fun stuff.

Not talking about the database - I don't care what database they are switched to - its the web interface - its awful and awkward. They could have kept the same interface and changed the back end only.

No... the mono viewer just ads a button that says use mono for this script. It just so happens that the mono/beta viewer is slightly newer.




Actually this is a good thing if you want those freezes to stop. When the viewer forces a crash it can get information about what caused the freeze to happen and hopefully fix the problem.

It's a third party product, there is only so much custom stuff they can do in so much time. Perhaps you could file a jira requesting some kind of framed results page if you are attached to the old interface?

Newp sorry, having a crash instead of a 15-20sec hang is not good nor preferable under any circumstances. Obviously it will wait at least 10 secs before deciding to shutdown the viewer then it will take much longer to get back on. Then I will have to rez again etc... Newp, leave me with the very occaisonal hang.

The released version is not for helping LL test the viewer and where the crashes might be, thats what the RC and Betas are for. The released viewer is for using and to be as stable as possible.

Those hangs are not because of any fault in the viewer they are when memory is low and the (SmartHeap) garbage collector needs to clean up - if you are going through memory trying to free up objects then you cannot have the viewer doing anything else at that time - or its not a good idea to anyway. Unless they change the way memory is handled by the viewer these hangs will always happen when memory gets too low or fragmented.

Very little point once they have made up their mind - the amount of open JIRA's mean that support would have to be incredibly high even to get noticed and there are far more important problems they should be focusing on. I just wish that they would not keep changing the user interface - everytime it changes it gets that little bit less usable and useful

Why do they have to force a crash in order to send a report? When the system detects a freeze , send the report without forcing a crash.

Very good point Suzanne

ZOMG RUTH IS GONE!

I noticed some weird particle clouds while teleporting around, and finally it clicked that this was the new unrezzed avatar, a glowing misty egg.

I'd read about a change like this weeks ago, but assumed it was a joke or some far off maybe someday kind of thing.

R.I.P. Ruth we will miss ye not.

I really miss the "boxheads", classic SL!

Well, it does say "*possibly* force a crash". In some instances (like, say, locking up the entire graphics card) I'd definitely prefer that the client commits suicide (and reports it), rather than having to reboot the entire machine. Let's see how this functionality actually works before complaining.

YAY! 1.20.7 is supposed to fix the missing skirts bug!

Screenshot?

Meanwhile, this is the best news all month: VWR-1735: Directly interacting with a muted resident should unmute them

An Ahern full of Ruths:


Close up:


An avatar impostor with Ruthed eyes:


Not captured here, but these things leave little trails of cloudy puffs when they move, just like Son of Stimpy.

Oh yes, and when you first log in or teleport, you will sometimes see yourself emerging from one of these clouds.