1.4 Release Notes

Second Life 1.4.0 June 15, 2004
===============================

More detailed information on the new features in Second Life 1.4 can
be found in the starter guide that can be found at
http://secondlife.com/download/guides.php

Audio
-----

Audio in Second Life has been improved, with a rewrite of the core
audio engine. New features and improvements to existing features
include:

- HTTP audio streaming on a per-parcel basis. You can specify an HTTP
audio stream on a parcel from the parcel properties pane, which will
be played on a parcel if the user has enabled streaming audio.

- Audio can now be localized to your parcel by checking the "Local
Sound(?)" check box in the parcel options dialog. This is the
equivalent of putting that parcel inside a soundproof box - no outside
sounds will be played in the parcel, and none of your sounds will be
heard outside of the parcel.

Bug fixes and improvements include:

- Mute no longer requires a restart to take effect, and will properly
stop transfers of audio data.

- Sound preloads should no longer dramatically decrease the
performance of viewers in the area.

- Much improved prioritization of audio downloads.

- Improved prioritization of playback priority - in particular, looped
sounds should work much more effectively.


New Vehicle modes
-----------------

- Camera/mouse-driven vehicle control -
vehicle turns in direction of camera.

- Camera can be either object-relative (look to the left and vehicle
keeps turning left) or world-relative (look to the north, and vehicle
turns to the north).


Custom Animations
-----------------

- You can upload animations from Poser 4 or 5 by exporting .BVH files

- Various settings can be changed for the animation, at upload time
only.

- New script call - LLGetAnimationList() returns a list of all active
animations.

- Animations can be triggered by scripts by name if and only if they
sit in the object inventory.


Custom Gestures
---------------

- Gestures have been changed significantly for the 1.4 release. They
now reside in your inventory as items, and can be copied and traded.

- Gestures can now be composed of multiple steps, which can be
animations, sounds, chat, and pauses.


XML-RPC
-------
- XML-RPC has been completed and integrated into the 1.4 release. See
Preview guide and scripting documentation for more information.


Object Transmission
-------------------
- Transmission of objects to you from the servers is much improved,
with better allocation of bandwith by importance of the object.


Inventory
---------
- Faster inventory downloads.

- Separate library for common items. Inventory items that are shared
by everyone are not stored in an Inventory Library.


Improved Build Tools
--------------------
- Object position/rotation/scale always visible (which one you see
depends on which tool is active).

- Rotation now works at 1 degree increments, from 0 to 359 degrees.

- New rotation snap tool allows you to quickly align object axes along
world axes.

- Streamlined all manipulator tools (only important information shown)


Scripting Language Changes
--------------------------
- LSL state changes to the same state no longer trigger either
state_exit or state_entry events.

- Fixed a compiler problem where repeated compiles weren't cleaning
out all temporary data.

- Fixed texture typo in llSetPrimitiveParams.

- Parenthesis weren't evaluating to the correct type.


Private Islands
---------------

- You can set the sun position to a fixed location on your estate.

- It is now possible to have different terrain textures on different
simulators.

- There are now access/ban lists for estate owners.


Minor Changes/Bug Fixes
-----------------------

- Bandwidth settings are now a single slider, from 50 to 1000Kbps in
50 Kbps increments. The default is 300Kbps.

- There is no longer an "Audio Download" indicator - there is now a
separate graph in the debug panel for "Asset", which keeps track of
how much bandwidth is being used to download audio files and animation
files.

- Paying someone via the "Find" directory now includes the user to be
paid in the dialog.

- Hovering the mouse over land with no scripts allowed shows "No
Scripts" in the tooltip.

- Delete key behavior changed. If focus is in a text editor and delete
will actually delete something, then delete the text. Otherwise try to
delete selected object in world.

- Land selection highlight now correct when selecting land across a
simulator boundary.

- There is now a "Partner" field in your profile.

- Officers can modify group parcel access even if the group isn't
currently set as active.

- Improved fast UI update mechanism.

- "Recenter every click" option has been deprecated.

- Teleport blocked message is more informative.

- Fixed bugs that would occasionally result in incorrect updating of
terrain at edges of simulators.

- Added one new tree type.

- There is now a nighttime brightness slider in the
Preferences/Display panel.

Various scripting language fixes:
- if (vector) should now work properly
- for (i=0,j=0;...) should work properly
- script interface now includes integer in XML-RPC return message
- fixed torus parameters in llSetPrimitiveParams

Will there be any release notes posted for any of the 5 updates since 1.4 was released?

- Neo Rebus

You can find them listed here