New Viewer.... Say Huh ?

1.19.0 AND 1.19.1 are mandatory. If you have an issue with WL in 1.19.1, download 1.19.0 (in the "Well Oiled Machine?" blog entry.

I was lucky and never saw the sky rings. I did hate the "viewer hangs when you try to take a piccie" bug from way back, though.

Dis is one of the first times I've been really gung-ho during the beta period, an tried stuff an gave feedback an tried to break stuff an alla dat. If anything, I know for sure dat I'll be doin it again, as I was able to really get ready for what was comin down the tube.

Mari
(Who has used every single WL version)

Mari did you have any trouble downloading the new viewer on the mac?? Like Ann, I just learned that the new one is mandatory.

The auto update did not work for me, but I was able to install fine from the "downloaded from the website" version on both Leopard (OS X 10.5) and Tiger (OS X 10.4). By brother Pygar ran 1.19.1 fine on Panther (OS X 10.3). My friend Robin also downoaded and ran 1.19.0 under Leopard (OS X 10.5) via the website. No issues from any of us.

Mari

Well for once the computer and I agree on something....Windlight should be optional!

I'm on my brother's PC, so I don't have a say on certain things, such as how much he has on it, and believe me there is a lot.

I ran SL on a draw of 512 and didn't suffer too much lag, and rezzing on occasion made me sit for a second longer, but the lag monster only crept about the peripherals of my view - I liked to think of it as a working partnership - lol. With the new viewer I find the whole system is audibly whirring. Repeated Driver fails and not responding messages, and when I try to film anything....ugh....lllaaaggggggg.

The poor PC is whimpering. I have shut SL down now (ahhh the silence of no whirring) and am attempting to find the old viewer....Im sure I was on a viewer 18. something...? oh well. I have tried normal net usage and ran a graphic intensive game of my brother (he really has no taste) and all was fine. Problem only starts when I get into SL. Could be wrong, I'm not up on PC's, but I have to be careful on my brother's PC.

Also, I'm all for realism. Photo-skins and plants and clothes, are all evolving at an incredible rate, but with the water so sharp and 'Windlighted' and the brilliant white swirls in the sky....well, I just find it makes everything look silly to me. The harsh contrast of 'reality' starkly dumped at the pixelated edges of 'virtuality' just doesn't work for me. My brother just left for work. Seeing the screen before he left, he snorted a chuckle (he doesn't get my passion for SL) and said "ha! So much for your virtual world - its a load of cartoons in the very ugly sea now! hahahhaa - enjoy" Grrrrr! I actually happen to like the look of the water, and the sky (if it were softer looking water rippling, etc) in Windlight - and I admire the technology behind it, but in SL, and next to the builds.....nope...it just doesn't look right to me.

I hated the updater to the new voice chat...on a normal screen I still hate it with a passion....but on a widescreen, it is fine, and I don't use voice chat at all. Windlight - well....I'm not so sure I'll be happy with it on any type of screen....it's just so harsh to the eye, and on this particular computer's systems.

Alicia, do you have the link to download that viewer? I would like to try it. Thanks!

oh yes...and I did miss the 2 bars at the top right of the UI. I always checked if they were black and stayed black to know if I crashed out....what happened to those in the new viewer?

Ok good...cuz I am still daydreaming devilishly here at work about making that purchase =)

The 1.19.0/1 viewer just went mandatory. It incorporates Windlight but apparently you can turn Windlight settings off.

http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/04/update-to-second-life-119-viewer-now-required/

In Preferences, under the General tab, there is an option to "Show search panel in overlay bar". Un-tick this option to get the 2 performance bars back.

1.19.0 does not include WindLight btw (although it has that annoying friends list bug).

And you can turn the fluffy clouds off, but that doesn't make it anywhere near as performant as the previous viewer with the same settings.

Luckily SL has no mirrors..

Because you get the same effect on the surface of your avatar.

Does anyone know how to cut down glare off the water. I have looked at photos taken from previous viewers. The comparison is interesting enough.

The previous viewer I had, the water looked great with the water ripple enabled. The reflections from the sun on the water was softer..... anyone know any way (without turning it to night which also looks too harsh) to take that harsh white ripple line off the water surface ?

How orange is the sunset!?! And how yellow is the sunrise !?! Lol! If this is what the 'real' thing is meant to look like - then I live in a seriously mega polluted area in RL! lol - wish we could tone that down (anyone reading this who controls the wish list ?)

Edit - preferences - graphics - check the custom box - un-check basic shaders box....and wait.... gives you old style viewer....with old style flat inky waters that you can't ripple.

Lag better with the old style viewer so may stick with it for a day or two....but I miss my decent water look, and nice coloured sunsets and sunrises

ok - another little grumbly add-on to this list - I can't move the sun in mouselook so I can position the sun/moon for photographic purposes. I've tried checking and unchecking sun sim override in the Client...errr....advanced menu....nothing I seem to click on works in there....

*shakes angry fists at Linden Labs I.T.
Developers*

Here:

http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/2007/12/release-bleeding-edge-be-v.html

Follow the install instructions and enjoy!
.

Nika - thanks for the link!



Whoops! Thanks for correcting me, Kitty! *blushes*

Me too.

Haven't updated the client since December 2007, and Nicholaz 18.5.3 BE-v has proven to be so stable that I *really* do not want to.

Sure you miss out of some of the more newer "pretty" features, but rarely crash and performance is good.



Good question.

Am dreading when it is no longer feasible to continue using Nicholaz 18.5.3 BE-v, because of client/server incompatibility or whatever, and have to start using a LLab viewer that does not have the Nicholaz patches applied

I am really hoping that Nicholaz does manage to give us something for these newer viewers before then.

His last Blog Entry, which is a month old says that the 19 series viewer going mandatory shouldn't affect the BE-v as it uses a different channel to log in.

There isn't any way to get rid of it, and LL considers it to be a feature rather than a bug.

On non-WindLight viewers, the lighting level clamps at maximum; that is, once it reaches a certain point, pumping more light into a scene has no effect. WindLight handles lighting more realistically; it is possible to overlight a scene and have colors wash out. A few bright colors wash out under the noon sun, just as they do in RL, and you can also over-light a scene with local lighting.

Unfortunately, many pre-WindLight personal lighting systems (facelights, etc.) are WAY too bright. On the old viewer, that didn't matter, because the light level just goes to maximum and stays there. On the WindLight viewer, the result is very ugly. The best fix is for the owners to adjust their lights.

The use of full-bright textures may also need revisiting on WindLight. Adding local lighting to a scene with full-bright textures can result in washed-out areas.

The WindLight sunrise and sunset colors are actually pretty accurate depictions of what the light at those hours looks like -- to a CAMERA. The human eye and brain adapt to lighting color, making the change in light color seem far less dramatic if you are actually standing there looking at things. This may be the core of the disagreement between people who love WindLight and the people who hate it. The WindLight view is cinematic; it attempts to reproduce what a camera would see under various conditions. The people who dislike it want a view more like what they see in their mind's eye after the brain has made all its adjustments.

Try taking some pictures of an outdoor scene at various times of the day, using slide film and a film camera. (Using a digital camera or a video camera might not give you the effect you're looking for, because some of them automatically adjust the white balance. Taking prints rather than slides also won't give you the full effect, because the machine that makes the prints also tries to adjust the colors.) Look at how different the colors look at the different times of day, and how much like the WindLight rendering it is.

If you really don't like the dramatic shifts in lighting color, you can tone them down with the environment editor. In future viewers those environments will be tradeable assets, so you will be able to buy (or get for free) environments that you like better.

glow!= local lighting

Glow is like a fuzzy version of full bright.