1.9.0 (18) will fix "downloading clothing" and invisible avatars on login

I have found and fixed the problem that causes invisible avatars on login. The fix will ship with Second Life 1.9.0 (1, expected some time next week.

Basically, an attempt to optimize the world map backfired. We were trying to preload some of its information on startup. Sometimes, especially on Mac (which has small network buffers), especially on lossy network connections (ie, not in our office), this would cause the avatar's shape information to be lost or massively delayed.

I'm sorry to say there's no good workaround until 1.9.0 (1. Please don't try to change your avatar's appearance until your avatar is visible - this may cause clothing items to be damaged.

James

For more info on problems in Second Life that we're aware of and will hopefully be resolving soon, please see the regularly-updated:

What about the problem with IMs ?

When will that be fixed?

I've already had to sort out 2 big communication upsets because of this issue!

Since 1.9 I am not receiving IMs when I'm offline. Other people seem to be affected too.

How about using TCP for transferring batch data instead of trying to unsuccessfully implement TCP on top of UDP? This would solve SO MANY problems with textures that it's incomprehensible that you're not doing it.

I believe Pheonix has said they want to move to TCP, but that brings a host of fun issues server-side they'd have to deal with .... it's not as simple as it looks.

Great news, James! Thank you for keeping us up-to-date! One question for completeness: Will the linux client be updated quickly, too, or will the .17 version still work until there is a final build on Linux? Please don't make the update mandatory if at all possible, until all OSs have updated clients!


Thank you for this warning! It's good to know that the problem will go away soon.

I see this problem, too. Set your IM settings to eMail, this way you will at least receive the messages you missed while being offline.

Great! I am sure you AL LL folks work as much as possible to let SL be as nice as it should be..

BUT I am at an a powerful Mac and a powerful connection (Home plus Office) and all problems are at my ”side” anyway.... I am a ghost and I am in the blue sims world.))))

The IMs sometimes come to my mail but looks as not - everytime..

The worse are when I get something IN SL..(things droped on me) it slipps into my inv. but I dont get that small frame telling me you got that and that...

Same with things I send to others...

Tks anyway.. all wil be solved in version 12,45... I am sure.-)))) (joking)...

Ummm...

What good is a can of cat food when the can isnt opened?

Ummm.....
Hmmm.....

Will this help fix the bug that randomly turns me into a female avatar after I teleport somtimes?

Its highly embarassing.

That's colloquially known as "Ruthing", because you turn into the primal avatar form named Ruth... unfortunately it's been around for ages. A more reliable Internet connection can help; but it still happens to me sometimes. I don't think there is a solid lock on what causes it but the workarounds are either to 1) go into Appearance and do NOT save and exit it or 2) relog.

Latest release notes posted by Karen Linden:



Emphasis mine.

SOURCE

ummm...at what point is this so called 'fix' supposed to come into effect? because now its even slower than before. 30 minutes and i'm still stuck in the corner of a sim with no part of my avatar showing up, teleport not availible and no objects in my inventory? thats just messed up, it went from perfect, to bad, to crappy, to unplayable, and each time it was supposed to be getting 'fixed'. ever heard of 'if it isn't broken don't fix it?' =/

I'm tempted to agree with the above, for a lot of people 1.9.0etc has been nothing but trouble. I myself haven't had problems but I know a lot of people who have, just look at this forum for proof.


Seems 'Let's implement 1.9.0!' is becoming a decision on the scale of 'Hey, let's introduce a new character, he can be called Scrappy Doo!'.

i.e. with 1.9 the average user's seen negligible improvement (force sun and the 'editing appearance' tab are about it) for a hell of a lot of bugs, which anywhere else would be non-viable- fixes are ment to fix bugs, not cause more of them than before. It's like Third Edition 40K. Caused more problems than it's worth.


Hopefully 1.9.1 will be the '4th Ed' per se.


>Editid becuz me no spel gud.

The Lindens have finally come up with a whole new definition of an upgrade!

I've downloaded 1.9.0(1 it fixes the invisible avatar sometimes but it's still taking a long time for anything to appear in the world around me!

SL is still unplayable and it is as bad as ever if anything 1.9.0 is a disaster as far as I'm concerned when are the real problems going to be fixed?

How many people does it take on these forums before the Lindens actually figure out there is a problem with 1.9.0 and stop blaming everyone else for the problems.

Once again I'll reitterate so it finally gets into the heads of the Lindens SL worked just fine on my PC before the 1.8.4 update! Since then it just has not worked!!!!!!!

I'm getting very angry about this whole situation as it really feels the Linden do not care about the customers and I'm banging my head against a wall!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow... it sounds to me like the Linux alpha runs better than the official clients! I've never seen ANY of these horrible nothing-rezzing problems. Sometimes my av doesn't render right away, but it never takes more than a couple seconds...

Of note, as of a couple of Linux client releases ago, the entire local cache was discarded by the Linux client on game session end (or so said the logfile). Might this be related?

It seems to require that the sim you are in already has received the rolling update. Just having the new optional viewer doesn't fix it.

I updated to 1.9.0 (1 as soon as it came out. Logged on (in Kitsune Valley, an island sim), and yet had the same old issues. Teleported to another sim (Magenta, on the mainland), logged off, and logged on again there. In that sim, I snapped into view instantly! After moving around a bit, to private islands, to a new sim still under construction, and to several mainland spots, I determined that the results were mixed. But they got more stable as the afternoon went on.

So... I would conclude from my non-scientific experimenting that if the new viewer isn't yet resolving the invisible avater issue for you, the sim you're in might not have been updated yet.

On the other paw, in most of the sims I visited, it still tool much too long for the rest of the world to cease being grey, featureless planes.

An improvement, but much yet to do, LL.

Hmm.. for some reason, I keep seeing the title of this thread as '1.9.0 (1 will "fix" downloadable clothing and invisible avatars on login'

Anywho, things are still the same as before for me... I'm still invisible on login every time, and my driver is still listed as outdated... even tried re-installing the old, original driver that came with the card (which is catalyst v 5.13) that had at least not been reporting as outdated. I'm also still randomly crashing et all. :/

Yeah I've been crashing after the upgrade too. Even had one where my Mac's screen went gray with a message to power off. Never had that one before.

It's a shame they can't develop a standard protocol that would allow an update on one side (client/server) and not the other. Then we could at least roll back.

"Ruthing" that hilarious. Oh well, at least I know what to call it.

Sorry for my appearance, I'm just Ruthing at the moment. I hope you understand.