A quick nag

Hello, today I am going to nag you.

There was a MystiTool update this week, so some will be transferring stuff between old and new versions of the HUD. While no-copy assets always cause headaches, the grid seems to be especially hungry right now. So, if you have any no-copy animations or other goodies to move between your inventory and objects, go slowly, in little chunks, and check often to make sure the inventory moved over properly.

If you have older no-copy animations, it would be a good idea to check with the animation seller and see if things have changed. Because the no-copy issues are so widespread, some vendors have been switching over to copy/no-transfer instead, it can't hurt to inquire about an exchange if they have done this.

Oh, and sit up straight, wipe that silly grin off your face, and don't forget to make your bed before you go to school!

Lovely new 1.25 Server change :p

24 January 2009: In the SL forum was another report of the Mono checkbox being ignored (different scripts), in that case relogging helped. So if one voodoo stabbity workaround doesn't work, try the other, and try again *sigh*.

Updating: The new problem only seems to affect compilations done on certain viewers. I see the compilation problem (namely, the compiler is ignoring the mono checkbox) under the Kirsten S16 viewer, but not the official 1.21.6 or 1.22.6 viewers. So if you are having trouble with compilation, try a different viewer and make sure Mono hasn't become unchecked.

Everything seemed fine on the beta grid last week, but something changed in the Mono LSL compiler in the version of 1.25 server that is being rolled out to the main grid. Existing copies of the MEAO scripts continue to run OK, but there is a memory error in the compiler that will prevent recompiling the core script after making changes. While the rolling restart is still underway, move to a region that is still running 1.24 if you run into this problem. No such luck, whatever changed is already affecting 1.24 regions too. I'll rearrange a couple of things to work around this lovely new SL glitch before tomorrow when the second half rolling restart happens.

To check what server version is running on a sim, go into Help->About Second Life... and look at the second paragraph, which looks like:

You are at 284947.1, 264661.8, 3501.4 in Ceilostomo located at sim5710.agni.lindenlab.com (8.2.35.12:13002)
Second Life Server 1.24.10.106829
Release Notes

The line in bold is the interesting one.

MEAO updated again, 2009-01-05

It's 2009 already? Yikes. The holiday break thing gave me some time to put together a few changes to our little AO scripts that I've been meaning to get at forever. Here's the list:

• SL hasn't been dealing well with animations following teleports for the past couple of server versions, so our kill/restart kludge is more aggressive now. I really, really hope this is the last time I have to revisit this one.
  
• New variables in the core script, autoStopShort and autoStopShortTime, to deal with stickiness in certain prejump animations. You may want to reduce the time slightly (I went with 0.5 second) if your prejumps are very short.
• There is much less llOwnerSay (yellow text) chatter now.
  
• The Settings button/command now includes the last notecard read.
• AO on/off state is preserved over relog/reattach (standalone ZHAO behavior is to force it on). Same for AutoZHAO, in case anyone is using that.
• Remove an old limitation: We now carry a list of Second Life's built-in animations. This eats a little memory but brings benefits. If you include a valid built-in animiation in your notecard, there will no longer be a warning. If an animation in the notecard really isn't found, it won't just generate a warning but it will now be removed from the active list, stopping the usual AO spam to DEBUG_CHANNEL. Yay!!
  
• Fix for an obscure ZHAO-II bug: if we loaded a notecard without a walk after loading one with a walk, haveWalkingAnim was not being set back to FALSE, so the default walk would be killed inappropriately.
  
• Internal: link messages now carry a number (linkChannel) so we can ignore irrelevant messages zooming around the HUD earlier.

To update, stop your AO, delete the old MEAO core and interface scripts plus the old READ ME - MEAO notecard, and drag the new ones in from your inventory. Or you could, you know, like, read the READ ME notecard, if you're into that kind of thing.

As usual, you can pick up the updated scripts at Xstreet SL, or in world at our gleaming superstore in Ceilostomo.

MEAO (finally) updated for Mono

Sorry for the long delay in getting this one out there. The Mono rollout on Second Life went poorly at first, but we really wanted to use it for this version, so we waited until they could whip it into better shape.

Aside from Mono and much more free space, the 2008-10-05 edition of MEAO includes "fakesit" in the menus and the command line. You may be familiar with this feature from other AOs, it runs the current "Sitting On Ground" animation no matter what the real animation state is. It's nice to have if you want to sit on a floor without pose balls, or even in the air. (The script isn't picky, you don't have to use ground sit animations on that line, go ahead and be silly!)

The other new little feature is deferred stopping, which can help smooth animation transitions in the face of network latency or overloaded sims. The old animation is stopped a short time after the new one begins, reducing the chance that Linden defaults will leak through and increasing the chance that ease in will happen.

As usual, you can get the update for free from Xstreet SL or at our little shop.

To install the update, turn the (old) AO off, delete the old MEAO Core and MEAO Interface scripts and the "READ ME FIRST - MEAO" notecard from your MystiTool, and drop in these new scripts and readme notecard. It is a good idea to detach and reattach MystiTool after this kind of change, Second Life remembers attachment changes more reliably that way and it makes sure that MystiTool and MEAO agree on channels and such. Do see older entries in this weblog about attachments with no-copy animations in them, those warnings are still very current!

Oh yes, if for some reason you want to tweak the source code, you will want to use an RC or Preview version of the SL viewer. The 1.20 and earlier viewers don't know how to compile to Mono, and at this point we really need mono to make everything fit. 1.21 "should" be the official viewer fairly soon, so hopefully this inconvenience will be short term!

Mono goodness and not so goodness

Just a quick note about the 1.24 server release. Both of the little add-ons we hand out for MystiTool, the MEAO AO scripts and Inco's chat toy, do compile and run OK under Mono.

Timing is a little different in this server release, we are going to play with potential tweaks from the last few months to see what looks best in the final product.

Meanwhile, you can recompile the existing ones if you want to play. It's fine to mix and match Mono and regular LSL scripts, so you can do this in your exiting MystiTool. You will get a whole lot more memory for stuffing in animations, but you may notice that default animations leak through. You can always go back to regular LSL if you don't care for what you see, and again we'll have something to smooth it over shortly.

*SQUEEEEEEEE!* LL finds gobs of lost inventory!

Last night, the Lindens quietly announced that they were able to recover lots and lots of missing inventory. Some no copy animations I felt bad about losing came back, so maybe you will be lucky and find some too.

What you need to do is clear your SL cache, relog, wait and wait and wait and wait for your inventory to reload. Then, have a look in your Lost and Found folder. I hope that you find the same pleasant surprises I found! This little present from LL hasn't found everybody's lost stuff, but there are quite a few happy people tonight.

See LL's blog entry for the rest of the details, they plan to make this an automatic thing in the future.

Yet another MEAO update, more notecards.

Today's little update was inspired by an old ZHAO-II bug noticed and patched by Lyssa Varun. It would display its disheartening "You cannot have more than 12 animation notecards." message before subtracting the help cards, so the limit was even lower!

If people are actually running into this limit, even one or two shy of that, then it's time to allow for more notecards in the menu.  So that's what today's update brings, you can now choose from as many as will fit in script memory.

MEAO has actually had a "secret" way to handle more than 12 notecards all along, by using the "/1 ao load notecardname" command. But now that's available to people who prefer buttons too!

The updated boxes are out at the usual spots, the vendor in our shop and at SLExchange.

To install, take the old MEAO Core and MEAO Interface scripts out of your MystiTool, and drop in these new ones. It is a good idea to detach and reattach MystiTool after this kind of change, Second Life remembers attachment changes more reliably that way.

And once again, please take care when using no-copy animations inside attachments! See our earlier entry for why.