Reader Submitted: A Replacement for Singularity, Linden Lab Bringing in Chat History

 

I have been using the Singularity Viewer for years as it has the kind of interface I like. However, over the last year or so, it began having problems getting functions to work, finally ending with constantly getting logged off while in the middle of building, causing lots of lost work, especially when it happened while making a new railroad rout. Unfortunately, Singularity is no longer recieving regular updates, and as a matter of fact hasn't in a very long time. So I started a search, and I found the Genisis Viewer (https://genesisviewer.org/).

It has the same interface and performs very well. I also find that it has regular updates, so updated that it is already testing in a Nightly Build, a new function being readied by Linden Lab, Group Chat History!

(https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/entry/12652-coming-soon-to-a-viewer-near-you-group-chat-history/)

What it does is that when you log on and you either open a group chat or it opens when someone types, you get to see the prior conversations up to an hour before you logged in. I'm sure we all have logged on numerous times to see someone say something, leaving you wondering "What in the world have they been talking about?" Well, you will soon have your answer, as all that was spoken before will be displaced in italics. I downloaded the Genisis Nightly Build, sperate from the regular viewer, and test drive it, and YES it works. I can't show you an example because that's busting privacy and Terms of Service, but I'll state that I was seeing all the conversation that took place before up to an hour in any group. This does not apply to your friends but not needed anyway. Right, you already know that.

I'm sure that other viewers will soon follow and have this very useful function included. As for Genesis, it is the perfect replacement for those of us who use Singularity.

Cynthia Farshore

Singularity Viewer Developer Calling For Patreon Support

One third party viewer for Second Life that got plenty of use in the recent past was Singularity. Developed to resemble the classic Linden viewer before they changed to V-2, for a time it was the second post popular viewer with only Firestorm getting more use. It would be updated every few months until February 2015. Afterwards it would be hit with a number of problems such as one developer dying and another leaving the team. It would come up with one more update in June 2016. But there have been none since. While the viewer still works, some newer avatars don't rezz properly with it, sometimes in ways that block much of the screen.

Siana Gearz, the head of the Singularity team, recently made a page on Patreon, a membership platform site that allows content creators to receive funding from supporters, or patrons. Apparently, her financial situation has gone downhill, saying, "the project has been extremely draining in part because it left me bankrupt." So she had created the Patreon page to "gauge interest to continue Singularity Viewer ...  if people are willing to pay, it changes things. You can also pledge here if you choose to support me in new endeavours, which are likely to be 3D printing related, probably firmware development."

So far (as of the writing of this article), Siana has a total of six patrons pledging $23 a month, including five "Singularitians" whom want her to concentrate on improving the viewer. More information can be readon her Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/sianagearz .

Hat tip: Mook Wheeler

Bixyl Shuftan

Singularity Viewer Updates For First Time in Over a Year

By Bixyl Shuftan

Some good news for Second Life residents whom prefer to use the Singularity viewer. For the first time since March 2016, the third-party viewer has finally updated.

While most users of Second Life use the Firestorm Viewer, the official viewers from Linden Lab having fallen out of favor from experienced residents since it gave them an overhaul in 2009 with the less than popular V-2, there one of a number of viewers available to go about the virtual world (some of which can also be used for InWorldz, Opensim, and others). In the past, Singularity was the second most popular viewer. But recent statistics on it's current popularity are unavailable. The viewer was developed with the goal of preserving the general "look and feel" of the classic Linden viewer. Inara Pey classified it as a "V-1 Style Viewer" along with Cool VL on her list of Second Life Viewers.

Singularity was updated every few months up to February 27, 2015 with a "minor patch." But then the team was hit with problems. The big one was the death of one of it's engineers, Latif Khalifa had died, word reaching Second Life's residents in early March 2016. Singularity also stated another developer had left to "pursue other interests." So the team was "hampered in our ability to update and test the viewer by a lack of infrastructure and hardware issues." While they were able to get another engineer, Mika-Pyon, and they managed to solve most of their hardware issues, they had a long list of things to update. They are still in need of someone who can update their Macintosh computer viewer.

After downloading the upgrade and trying it out, the most noticeable improvement to me was that I no longer had problems listening to others over voice. While there were still problems seeing mesh items at a distance, I didn't notice the worst of the problems I had been having. It's fair to say the mesh problem on my viewer could be due to the old graphics card.

More details about Singularity version 1.8.7, and what was updated, can be read (here).

Source: Modem World , Singularity 

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "Bryn Oh's Immersiva Sim - Singularity of Kumiko"

(Click here if the video fails to load)

By Krysta Ember on April 9, a look at noted Second Life artist Bryn Oh's "Singularity of Kumiko" exhibit.

Technical Difficulties

Computers can be buggy little things, and sometimes an attempt to fix things can backfire. A website a friend recommended to see that might be slowing down my computer instead of giving me a certain freeware program instead led to something else. What did was try to get rid of files it considered "junk," and this unfortunately included access to most of my screenshots on this computer.

What this means is work on several articles and possible articles will be delayed until I can get new screenshots of the areas in questions, at least unless I can regain access to the pictures. It's also likely there may not be more cartoons for a week or two. It depends whether or not I come across scenes with potential humor. While a darn nuisance, it's not truly devastating.

On a related matter, the Singularity viewer I've been using lately has been having some problems. At first, I would see an occasional mesh object that was invisible or stretched. While still uncommon, it's been happening more and more often. Using Firestorm seems to solve this problem. Trouble is, Firestorm is much more likely to crash on my computer, which means doing interviews on it is taking a chance.

Hopefully there will soon be an update for Singularity that will take care of this mess.

Bumps in the road in my journey in Second Life. Hopefully I won't run into one that does the equivalent of breaking an axle.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Singularity Viewer : A Lightweight Viewer for Second Life

If you're like most Second Life residents, you've moved on from the official viewer to one of the alternatives. The most popular is Firestorm, which has more users than even the official client software. But suppose this isn't running quite right for you either. Fortunately, there's other third party viewers out there. Among them, the Singularity Viewer. Wesley Regenbogen decided to give it a try recently. So what did he think of it?

Read Wesley's article in Design.

Bryn Oh Announces "Singuliaruty" Exhibit To Close

On November 1, noted Second Life artist Bryn Oh announced her work "The Singularity of Kumiko" would soon be taken down.

It is time to delete the Singularity of Kumiko exhibit sadly, but it shall remain open for a few weeks at least as I capture some machinima footage of it in case I ever get around to making a movie. ... It has been quite a success with close to 40,000 visitors since it opened and having been recently shown at the Art & Algorithms digital festival in Titusville, Florida.

 In her blog post, Bryn Oh describes running into Torley Linden, and suggested to him adding a perk for Premium members, saving a copy of a region "so that builders could click a button and bring back previous works easily. ... What it would do is allow for artists to bring back their catalogue of work easily, which would be a boon for Linden Lab as it means high quality content for their user base need not be so sporadic."

"Singularity" was opened to the public in February. Like many of Bryn Oh's exhibitions, it tells a story through three-dimensional artwork. Her style is somewhat dark and foreboding, but that doesn't necessarily mean an ending other than a happy one. "Singularity" tells the story of a girl following an automobile accident in a world where mankind has attempted to compensate for losses in his environment with the use of technology. The exhibition tells the story of what she experiences through the scenes and her messages.

Following the close of "Singularity," Bryn Oh says she will work on a new exhibition which currenrly has the working title "Lobby Camera." She is still in the process of writing and designing it, and she says it's opening will be at least a few months after Singularity's end.

To see the exhibition before it closes, head to Immersiva (14, 104, 21)

Bixyl Shuftan

EOTB: Server Side Apperance Appears This Week, Maybe Today

In the Linden Blog this week, it was announced Project Shunshine, also known as Server-Side Baking, would be rolled out onto the Grid.

This week, the server component of Project Sunshine will go live across the entire grid! This means that all the improvements we discussed in our previous post will be available to everyone in Second Life.

It’s important to remember that you need to be using an up-to-date Viewer to enjoy these improvements. If you’re still using an outdated Viewer, the server-side changes rolling out now will cause you to see some avatars as broken or incomplete. As of this week, all avatars will be using the new system and will appear broken to you if you don't update. 

Besides the official viewers, there are several third-party viewers that have been updated to handle server-side baking, such as Firestorm, Singularity, and Cool VL. For those who use a viewer not updated to handle the new way textures are loaded, in the words of Firestorm's Tonya Souther it's the "Last Call." As she sees it, if one's computer can't handle the newer viewers, it's time to get a new machine or bid Second Life goodbye for a while.

According to someone in a group chat I was in last night, Server-Side could come early as today:

A Reminder for Everyone...    SSA -Day Tomorrow.. ServerSide Appearence  Arrives Tomorrow! 
Tomorrow LL rolls out Server Side Appearance.  Anyone using an outdated viewer will have problems seeing other avatars at Arinultra  and anywhere else in Second Life.  All those WITH current SSA enabled viewers should notice a huge improvement.  This will pretty much put an end to all those endless gray, blurry, or cloudy "wardrobe malfunctions."   Up-to-date Viewers are Required such as Firestorm, Singularity or others, including the basic LL platform.

So the day some of us have been anticipating, or dreading, has finally arrived.

Sources: Linden Blog, The Tigress' Den

Bixyl Shuftan

"Server Side" Blues

Well, yours truly is down to one working viewer. With Linden Lab's "Project Sunshine" and it's "server side" baking, the result was my Singularity viewer, which hadn't offered an upgrade since May, starting to get buggy. It was freezing up frequently, rezzing slower, and crashing more often. And finally, it's starting to become unusable, freezing up when starting then crashing. So that leaves a year old version of Cool VL. More recent upgrades of this viewer for some reason won't work. And neither will Firestorm or the official viewers.

The result is well, some avatars looking like the one above. Exploring my options on what to do.

Personal Account: Finally Can See Mesh, But ...

Going about Second Life isn't always easy even for the best of computers. For my older computer, it's been getting a bit difficult lately. The good news, I'm finally able to see the mesh objects that have been the subject of so much discussion. The bad news, it seems I have a choice of two buggy viewers.

My personal account is in Extra.

Back Again

And back. I never expected a storm other than a hurricane to make such a mess.

The weather forecast that day was "Thunderstorms." What happened was 20 minutes of 60-70 mile an hour winds. Trees and power lines fell. Quarter-sized hailstones pelted some places. 170,000 lost power. One man was killed.

Ended up spending a couple nights without power. It finally came back at 5PM SL time yesterday. Just in time for an event (which I'll write later about). In the meantime, I had been planning to take the computer to the Apple place. Fortunetly the place did have power, so I was able to have the OS updated. The result for SL? Well, Viewer 2 *still* won't run. But one a friend kept telling me about, Singularity, does. So far it looks good, but I still have yet to take it to a crowded sim or a dogfight in New Fallout.

With a few days out of the picture, some things aren't going to get the look-over they would have, but at least I'm back in the news business.

Can it get any better? Yeah, around June 20th when I can be my usual foxy self for good. Fortunetly there's an event coming up, June 4 and 5, in which I can be my usual appearance then. ;-)

Bixyl Shuftan