Solid Gold
Sunday, December 21, 2008 1:14:25 PM
Here comes the most stable, most usable, most feature rich and rock stable viewer for virtual worlds around. And it just has been updated once again.
It is the Cool Viewer in the long established version 1.19.0.5 R58. Clean, fast, efficient and rock stable. It has all the latest security updates, bug fixes, feature add-ons, and of course it has Marine's latest RestrainedLife. It can only be gold after 58 releases (!). And I call it Solid Gold
.As always you need to install first the official LL viewer (that's an older version!):
1.19.0.5 (non Windlight renderer):
http://download-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/Second_Life_1-19-0-5_Setup.exe
Then download the latest Cool Viewer installer of the same version as the LL viewer you've installed just now:
http://coolviewer.googlecode.com/files/CoolViewer_i686_1_19_0_5_Release_58_exe_xml_only.exe
Run the installer and select your install path (here usually "C:\Program Files\SecondLife" and install CV into this folder and replace all existing files.
Please start CV with the included Cool Viewer.lnk shortcut, but take note that you may have to adjust the properties to match where you've installed the viewer.
In case you have problems with updating an existing/older version, please follow these steps:
Assuming you already use a SecondLife viewer, otherwise you would not be here , you should follow the following steps.
1. Make sure your hardware/software is ok
If you crash, something may be wrong with your PC, like a for instance a faulty memory module. Could also be some virus. So I suggest you run a full system check first for hardware and software. I remember Everest (http://www.lavalys.com) was a good free utility but there are many more out there. Also run a virus and spyware scan.
2. Always do a clean install
If your computer is ok, you should do a fresh installation. Get the official LL viewer running first. That means do first a complete uninstall of your Secondlife viewer. Afterwards delete all files in your "user_settings" folder. That you can find here:
WinXP: C:\Documents and Settings\<you>\Application Data\SecondLife\
Vista: C:\Users\<you>\Appdata\roaming\secondlife\
Please also check for .xml files in your <avatar name> folder in the same directory and delete them.
Now install the official LL Secondlife viewer and get it running properly.
3. Install the Cool Viewer
To install the Cool Viewer, you need to get the CV archive with the same version as your Secondlife viewer you just installed. Extract the complete archive over your installed viewer. You can use for instance WinRAR or WinZIP which are common tools on almost every PC. Guess the internal Windows ZIP should work too. Replace all files, not only the SecondLife.exe. If you still don't know how, unpack the CV archive to a temporary folder and copy all (!) files manually into your Program Files\SecondLife folder. You will be asked if you want to overwrite existing files. Answer always "yes".
After all, start the Cool Viewer with the included Cool Viewer.lnk shortcut. You may want to replace the shortcut in you Start Menu with the new one too.
Source archives (GPLed):
http://coolviewer.googlecode.com/files/src_1.19.0.5_58.tar.gz
Enjoy!
Boy







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Anonymous # Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:50:41 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:00:21 AM
Please make also sure you start CoolViewer.exe, not the older SecondLife.exe. Names have changed.
Anonymous # Tuesday, December 23, 2008 8:35:08 PM
Anonymous # Wednesday, December 24, 2008 9:18:49 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Thursday, December 25, 2008 6:23:20 AM
If you use the old SecondLife shortcut it will crash too, may be the other reason.
Anonymous # Thursday, December 25, 2008 4:03:49 PM
Anonymous # Wednesday, December 31, 2008 7:27:15 AM
Anonymous # Friday, January 2, 2009 5:12:06 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 3, 2009 2:13:50 PM
Anonymous # Sunday, January 4, 2009 7:12:09 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Sunday, January 4, 2009 9:23:11 AM
You need to use the same version of the SL and CV. That is either 1.19.0.5 or 1.21.6.0. They are linked to together in the "Current Releases" posting or for 1.19 you find it in the first posting here. Install the official SL viewer first, then extract all files of the CV over it and replace all files. That's all
Anonymous # Wednesday, January 7, 2009 12:00:05 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Wednesday, January 7, 2009 5:27:23 PM
I don't have Vista so I can not test it, perhaps someone else could try if all works?
Anonymous # Thursday, January 8, 2009 1:18:09 AM
Anonymous # Thursday, January 8, 2009 1:19:01 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Thursday, January 8, 2009 2:32:05 AM
You can try to rename CoolViewer.exe into SecondLife.exe, but I don't see how this could make a difference. It's pretty much the same build as R10 with some additional patches. Both are compiled with the same libs under VS2003.
I will try if I get something similar. Using 175.19 driver here, thats the last working one without the palletized textures problems.
Anonymous # Thursday, January 8, 2009 3:16:37 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Thursday, January 8, 2009 3:42:10 PM
There is no Communicate window in Cool Viewer. You have separate Chat and IM tabs as it was in the old UI. They behave like the bloated communicate feature, but are separated for better usability and control.
To get the Chat window with a input typing field you simply need to go to Preferences, Cool Features and unselect "Use the 'old style' chat history window". Then restart and click on Chat / History.
Anonymous # Friday, January 9, 2009 8:39:19 PM
BuccaneerBraveheart # Friday, January 9, 2009 11:22:11 PM
(ver 1.94). When I tried the Cool Viewer (ver 1.96) the frame rate jumps off the cliff(1 or 2 FPS) using nvidia driver 175.16. Why I can't get past the old viewer 1.94 is driving me mad.
Any help? Thankyou!... Buc
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 10, 2009 6:35:29 AM
I made some tests and could partly reproduce a low framerate. However only at the first start of the viewer. The second and subsequent starts gave me the full FPS. This was tested with an just updated 177.15 driver (Lenovo laptop).
What I then did was installing the RC on that machine. This wiped out my whole Application Data/Secondlife folder with all settings inside. Bit strange behaviour previous viewers did not show, but obviously the Lindens also know that old settings may screw things up.
After this I had to reconfigure also the 1.21 and 1.19 viewers and bingo, no more slow down.
So if you experience low FPS, please completely delete the whole Secondlife folder under Application Data (back up your avatar folders first if you have logged chat and IM's you want to keep).
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 10, 2009 6:38:35 AM
The 1.19 has no windlight renderer, that should make it better suitable (faster) on older hardware / slower graphicscard.
If you have a machine up to date I suggest to use 1.21, the graphics look better. But there are certain issues with slower loading of textures compared to the 1.19.
Why don't you try both, you can install them in parallel in different folders.
Anonymous # Tuesday, January 13, 2009 8:50:41 AM
Anonymous # Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:25:25 AM
Anonymous # Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:48:31 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:50:18 AM
You probably missed to overwrite some files. There has been a change in R44 and R12 introducing a new handling of date/time formats. It's not enough to just copy the .exe into the existing directory. Please try to extract the archive again and replace all files. You should get a prompt / warning from Windows when doing so.
Anonymous # Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:45:27 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Wednesday, January 14, 2009 2:04:58 AM
Please do the following:
1) Uninstall Secondlife
2) Delete the Secondlife settings folder completely (backup chat and IM logs first)
WinXP: C:\Documents and Settings\<your account>\Application Data\SecondLife\
Vista: C:\Users\<your account>\Appdata\roaming\secondlife\
3) Install the official viewer, make sure it works
4) Extract the CV archive and replace all files with the ones in the archive
5) Start CV with the included Cool Viewer.lnk shortcut
Anonymous # Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:31:36 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:59:01 PM
These are all for english only, please try that.
Anonymous # Wednesday, January 14, 2009 5:15:04 PM
Anonymous # Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:07:08 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Thursday, January 15, 2009 1:57:58 AM
I had a similar effect before at the first start. It was somehow related to old settings. You can check that with the framerate in the statistics window. What I think helped was to delete the Applications Data/Secondlife folder (what the RC automatically did during installation). But I'm not sure if it also changed some settings in the registry. Afterwards it worked fine. If you try this please make sure to backup your chat and IM logs first.
NakitaKaul # Thursday, January 15, 2009 3:25:03 PM
Thanks for your help! The problem was finaly simple to resolve: Usually my WinZIP always extracts with 'Use folder names' set True. So I never check this and you do not realize it when extracting. This flag was cleaned out (I do not know why) and so, the whole stuff got copied into …\Program Files\Secondlife\
Astonishing: CoolViewer 1.19 was installed the same way. And it did run – at least well enough so that I supposed the problems were implementation problems…
Concerning German: After the correct installation I erroneously had German on once and it did run. Maybe not all stuff will work correct, but it would be a mistake to assume that it does not run at all.
Last comment:
Boy you write: "… when SL and RLV still work it means you did not replace the files…" If it is really true that both progams can not coexist in the same folder, then I prefer the old way of naming: My CoolViewer.EXE ws named 'SecondLive.EXE. So please change that back OR delete SecondLife.EXE. It's just more secure this way, as there will be a problem when a user starts Secondlife by means of Start -> Programs.
Nakita Kaul
P.S.
The driver problem (http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=76090) will be resolved in 1.22! https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-7957 Shame on LL: solution was published 26-Jun-2008… They could have included that in a later version of 1.21 too…
Boy Laneboylane # Thursday, January 15, 2009 7:09:33 PM
I'm happy you could fix all and got it running.
Regarding the naming, there is a simple issue with the trademark of "Secondlife" that does not allow to use this without explicit permission. I therefore removed all direct references to "Secondlife" and "SL". I know it's impractical but nothing I can change.
http://secondlife.com/corporate/brand/trademark/
Anonymous # Saturday, January 17, 2009 12:43:12 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:53:04 AM
Please try first to update to the latest catalyst version. If that doesn't help people suggested to turn down the texture memory in graphic settings to 512MB. Another possible solution was to set RenderVolumeLODFactor in Debug settings to a higher value like 4.
I had a lot of problems with a X800 card before and moved to the nVidia camp. So I can't verify if that really fixes it.
Anonymous # Saturday, January 17, 2009 7:19:34 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 17, 2009 7:24:41 AM
Yes, that's how it works when you are blocked
For details about different features please have a look at Marine's API:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/RestrainedLifeAPI
Anonymous # Saturday, January 17, 2009 11:14:31 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 17, 2009 11:33:44 AM
In fact the deletion of the app settings happend when I installed the RC. It automatically deleted the whole folder without warning. There may be also some registry settings it changed, but thats just a guess.
As I said I could reproduce some slowdown, I got it fixed, but I can not reproduce what fixed it besides the installation of the 1.22.5 RC.
Slow texture load is a major issue in 1.21 and 1.22 viewers. Many people have problems, have a look at http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-8503. Parts of it were fixed in the latest 1.22.6.0 RC. You may want to give that version a try (first post in my blog).
Anonymous # Saturday, January 17, 2009 5:08:52 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Saturday, January 17, 2009 5:36:19 PM
Anonymous # Saturday, January 17, 2009 7:42:12 PM
Boy Laneboylane # Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:19:48 AM
Anonymous # Sunday, January 18, 2009 4:06:18 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Sunday, January 18, 2009 6:08:17 AM
Anonymous # Monday, January 19, 2009 2:33:51 AM
Boy Laneboylane # Monday, January 19, 2009 3:16:58 AM
Nice side effect. But I think we can live with that. Probably Nicholaz viewer's would give you a similar message.
I did not invent this trademark BS but we have to live with it. I'm trying not to be vulnerable there.
Anonymous # Monday, January 19, 2009 3:41:37 AM