Genesis Change Log R8

An active participant in Second Life's Third Party Viewer Program.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory/Genesis

Download page: https://genesisviewer.org

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Solutions

MP  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/255951

Nightly Builds

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September 25th, 2023 (Build 956)

- Retirement plan for defunct Nightly Builds.

September 24th, 2023 (Build 954)

- Temporary Asset Blacklist: Upon TP remove temporary blacklisted assets from list.

- Nightly build retirement for very old and extremely superseded defunct betas.

September 23rd, 2023 (Build 950)

- MultiFactor Authentication (MFA) if MFA.dat should ever become corrupted, request a new token.

- Do not record anything to log file relating to MFA for additional security.

- Better explanation of threading settings Prefs > Genesis > Texture Management

September 22nd, 2023 (943)

- New Feature: Temporary Asset Blacklist (needs refinement).

- New Feature: Ability to enable/disable rendering of "sim water" from Genesis button. With water disabled most users will see a significant frame rate boost.

- Background work for splash screen.

September 4th, 2023 (Build 939)

- Genesis now supports MFA, Multi Factor Authentication.  See the SL blog.

- Further refinement to Object Area Search, added Cam-To (look at).

- Fixed: Bug introduced in 922 - If favourites bar is disabled, exiting mouselook re-enables it.

September 1st, 2023 (Build 929)

- Added additional logging to the log file to analyse transit of login process.  Nightly 929  build users with slow logins, please send us your genesis.log file so we can fix this.

August 16th, 2023 (Build 927)

- Experimental GenxTextureCache is now accessed in its own thread. (Default is False).

- Experimental multi-thread decoding is now available and contains an explanation on the Preferences page (Genesis > Texture Management).

August 15th, 2023 (Build 924)

EXPERIMENTAL code to test threaded decoding for texture fetching and discarding of partials.

Prefs > Genesis > Texture Management.

Genesis defaults to 1 thread and Partial texture rendering enabled.

Your PC can run at least 1 thread per core but beyond that, you will need to find the best setting for your particular computer.

You will likely see a performance gain by unchecking "partial texture rendering", when increasing threads above 1.

click to enlarge

To find your starting point, in Windows: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager. Select the Performance tab to see how many cores and logical processors your PC has.  You should set your threads to either the amount of cores you have or logical processors, whichever is the higher value. The 'sweet spot' is likely to be somewhere in between your amount of threads and logical processors.

Note: If you leave threads at 1, you should also leave partial rendering enabled (Default setting for both).

 

August 13th, 2023 (Build 922)

- Mouselook crosshairs: Using OpenGL, the size of mouselook crosshairs can now be increased/decreased  GenxCrosshairSize (factor) See Prefs: Input.

- Don't show the favourites bar when in (M)ouselook.

August 12th, 2023 (Build 918)

- Added "Use the legacy font" to Preferences: Genesis> Main. 

When enabled Genesis will use the smaller DejaVu font that supports a much wider range of high/extended ascii characters (unicode) commonly used for display names that use arabic letters.   Left unticked, Genesis will continue to use its existing clearer and larger font, which doesn't support the full unicode range.

debug value: GenxUseLegacyFont 

Caveats:

Genesis is optimised for the existing font, so when switching to Deja Vu, you will most likely need to also adjust (FontsDPI) Preferences > Genesis > Adv. Features "Screen font DPI."

Apply and Save.

You need to restart the viewer when switching between fonts.

You need to restart the viewer when changing sizes of fonts.

Should you lose any windowed floaters from your screen by changing these settings, see the section called "I've accidentally dragged my chat floater off screen", in FAQs

- Added checkbox for debug value EnableAORemote in new AO Engine

- Optimisation work and code cleanup for Object Area Search.

- Removed additional debug logging for Area Search as no longer required.

August 7th, 2023 (Build 911)

- Object Area Search, re-imagined. Capitalising on search capability commands at our disposal.  This is a test and is disabled by default.  To enable, go to Debug and set GenxAreaSearchFloater to true and restart the viewer.

August 5th, 2023 (Build 909)

- Updated Genesis Concierge members shown in their profiles.

July 30th, 2023 (Build 907)

- Estate Management tools: Increased banned agent limit from 500 to 750.

- Estate Management tools: Increased estate manager limit from 15 to 20.

July 29th, 2023.  (Build 905)

- Reverted to original Object Area Search floater whilst we debug performance issues on new style.

- New update splash.

July 29th, 2023.  (Build 894 Pulled)

- Build 894 with new Object Area Search Floater has been pulled.

- Estate Management: Increased banned agent limit from 500 to 750

- Optimisation and Rework of Area Search, bringing it in parity with SLV and capitalising on search capability commands at our disposal.  (Caution!  Needs further refinement to make less intensive use of memory).

Crossed through items failed QA and will appear in a future build.

Additional notes:

Yesterday having outgrown our previous server, we relocated to a new host.  We are aware of an issue where MS Edge will not permit the download of the viewer.  These are teething issues on our new server and we are working on them. In Edge, please mark the download as safe to proceed with it, or download using any other browser.

Historians Note..

"GenesisViewer Resident" is 365 days old today.

Although the first release of Genesis Viewer wasn't until November 1st, last year, the birth of this account denotes the beginning of the Genesis Viewer project.

Please take a look at his new Marketplace store here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/255951

Migrating to a new host

[Now completed] Friday, July 28th, 2023.

Popularity comes at a cost and we have outgrown our existing hosting service.

This has manifested in our nightly builds recently being chronically slow to compile and queue's for downloads. Through Friday expect downtime on our website genesisviewer.org as we migrate to a new bionic server, better, stronger, faster and will greatly increase our capacity and speed.

New Genesis Release 1.7.880

We very much hope that our current Genesis testers will continue to use the Nightly Builds. It is thanks to their testing that we can find and fix issues quickly. Those on the Nightly build will always get features and fixes quicker than the Releases.  This release build is identical to the Nightly build of the same number.

Genesis Viewer, SEVENTH Release 1.7.880

Main improvements since: 1.6.799

Download:  https://genesisviewer.org

For a log of all that has transpired from the last version to this version, please see the Nightly build notes listed immediately below this story.

New:

- Substantial rework of internal AO engine.  It now supports multiple configuration settings for different AO's and will remember the last AO setting and persist upon relog.

- New snapshot floater brings Genesis inline with SLV style snapshot previews and refresh.

You can toggle between old and new style.  Debug GenxSnapshorFloater = True / False

-  Ability to change screen font size via a slider in Genesis > Adv. Features.  Default is 104. Setting this to either 96, 104, 112 will give the equivalent of small medium and large.  Mileage will vary because of the multitude of different screen sizes everyone uses.

- Stop Animations, handy one-click to stop now added to the bottom user toolbar next to media options.

- Avatar distance can now be displayed in with the avatar name, group bubble over the avatars head.   Genesis > Tags: Show Avatar distance.

Changes:

- Viewer now supports the uploading of 30 second WAV files (previously 10 seconds).

- Genesis Viewer now supports long password up to 16 characters, SL grid maximum. (previously 12).

- Changed debug value to display IM in chat console (IMInChatConsole) along with local chat, to False (previously true).  User should have to opt-in to see IM in with local chat (not out).

Fixes:

- Fixed font issues in certain floaters, most notably "build" so land impact and group settings no longer truncate.

- Fixed very long text truncating in blue dialog boxes.

- Fixed seeing holes in terrain caused by archaic inherited hard coded region "assumptions".

- Fixed: there should be no need to scroll Profile tabs to use "notes" when using default size screen font of 104 dpi.

- Fixed: unlimited zoom via camera constraints.

Genesis Change Log R7

Genesis:  A high performance, low memory footprint viewer for Second Life.  For Windows 10/11 (64 Bit) . 

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory   

An active participant in Second Life's Third Party Viewer Program.

Download page: https://genesisviewer.org

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions and Solutions

Nightly Builds

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July 15th, 2023 (1.7.880) (compiling at at 5am SLT)

- This version will be the same at 1.7.880 RELEASE

- Area Search: Added ability to search by name, description and groups

- Install banner cosmetics

- Debug changes: Make new AO floater the default,  

July 2nd, 2023 (867)

- Added new Genx2 skin, buttons with icons in Genesis teal colour.  Asking the community to help with mods for this skin.

- DPI size of text in chat floaters now in increments in 4, not 8.

- Changed debug value to display IM in chat console along with local chat, to False (previously true).  User should have to opt-in to see IM in with local chat (not out).

June 25th, 2023 (863)

- Fixed: Don't start AO Engine when opening AO Settings if AO is not set enabled.

- Investigating: TP disconnect (#323) To understand why the simulator sometimes assumes you have left the region and closes the connection before the teleport-out has completed.  Added temporary additional TP tunnel info to genesis.log to help us track causes of this issue when users share their log files with us.

June 22nd, 2023 (861)

- Further streamlining of internal AO engine.

- Fixes: AO engine - when notecard is null label now shows empty string.

- Remember last active AO notecard setting and persist on relog.

June 19th, 2023 (855)

- Fixed Multiple AO's (Build in AO engine) was not remembering your last chosen AO at login.

- Fixed French toolbar overlay.

June 16th, 2023 (852)

- Fixed buttons in Create/Edit object that were truncated as a result of the font change in 842.

This weekend we will be working on "applying some EEP settings to yourself make the viewer immediately crash to desktop".

June 15th, 2023 (848)

- Reverted an original font to better supports more Extended High ASCII (Unicode) characters than its predecessor. Less 'square blocks' in elaborate display names (for those who have not already installed Korean and Chinese language packs).

- Fixed "powered by" font issue.

- Changed, Prefs: Genesis: Font Size to use multiples of 8 on slider and set upper and lower limits to prevent an unusually large or small values from messing up the display.

June 14th, 2023 (846)

- Support for multiple AO set-ups.  Nightly testers please help us test this to make sure we got it right!  Thank you.  (See here)

- Moved position of stop animations on bottom bar.

June 10th, 2023 (842)

- Added ability to change font in floater size for Chat, Profiles, Search etc). Prefs >  Genesis > Adv. Features.   Use the slider to adjust between 88, 96, 104 (default), 112, 120. Too large a number will cause certain floaters to invoke tabs, for example  "notes" tab on profiles will scroll if you choose a very large value for the font size, but mileage will vary considerably depending on the users screen resolution.

June 2nd, 2023 (836)

- Fixed text in dialog boxes for very long text. Thought fixed in 828.  Redone.

- Reworked edit floater and fixed Land Impact truncating to 2 digits.

- Fixed: Holes in terrain at the bottom of the sea.  Due to some bizarre inherited hard-coded region configuration.

- Increased password length maximum from 12 to 16 characters (the maximum SL permits).  The 12 character limit was an old OpenSim limit we had overlooked.  Since Genesis does not support OS, the length can now be extended to 16.

May 22nd, 2023  (830)

- New Snapshot floater is set active.  Debug: GenxSnapshotFloater  True by default.  Set false for old styles floater

May 21st, 2023 (828)

- Fixed font size in dialog so text doesn't disappear behind the user input box. Issue remains on 830.

May 20th, 2023 (826)

- Genesis now supports uploading of 30 second WAV files at 44.1 kHz.

- Laying foundations for the reworking of Area Search.

May 13th, 2023 (824)

- Tweaked Preferences menu to suit new font.

May 8th, 2023 (822)

- New Feature: Ability to show avatar distance from you in name/group hover-text.

Preferences > Genesis > Tags:  Show Avatar Distance.

- New Feature, Snapshot floater rework: Ability to resize snapshot floater for larger or smaller preview. To try this, set Debug: GenxSnapshotFloater to True

- Begin Area Search rework.

 

- Fixed need to scroll tab profiles to "notes" using new font.

May 8th, 2023 (810)

- Replace default Roboto font with clearer Inter-Font from Google. We could all do with a bit of help seeing things.

- Begin foundation for snapshot window rework

- Begin foundation for ability to see Avatar distance from client via name tag

May 4th, 2023 (808)

- Added tool-tip to hit-boxes so we don't forget the shortcut key we created for it.

- Moved "stop anims" icon on the toolbar. Next to the music slider was not good!

- Began reworking on Area Search.

- Development Team has opted to use American English for the viewer,  Z's instead of S's and no U's in things like colour.   Release notes will probably continue in English English.  This is because the demographic for SL is heavily weighted in USA so we're going to use Englishification, lest you think we can't spell.

April 22nd, 2023 (804)

- Added a stop animation button to UI next to media play/pause

- Fixed: unlimited zoom via camera constraints. 

Genesis Viewer at SL20B

Come and have a cuppa and relax at the Genesis Viewer exhibit at Second Life's 20th Birthday.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLB%20Enchant/152/146/24

New Genesis Release 1.6.799

We very much hope that our current Genesis testers
will continue to use the Nightly Builds. It is thanks to their testing that we can find and fix issues quickly. Those on the Nightly build will always get features and fixes quicker than the Releases.  This release build is identical to the Nightly build of the same number.

Genesis Viewer, SIXTH Release 1.6.799

Changes since Release: 1.5.764

Download:  https://genesisviewer.org

New:

- Estate Menu : Ban The Bots facility  Estate setting, tick box for "must not be a scripted agent" (defaults to false).  To ban bots except your own, add your bots to the Estate Access list.

- Search in Preferences.  Enter a keyword in preferences and relevant option tabs contained your word will highlight.  So handy, this is the main reason for this release. 

- Added Bounding Boxes to Preferences > Genesis > Adv. Features

- Added Hit Boxes for combat  > Genesis > Adv. Features (also Alt+Shift+B)

- Play Bento Animation on idle when no AO active. No more splayed fingers.  Prefs > Genesis > Adv. Settings.

- Added "Turn Around Speed" setting for combat gamers in Prefs > Genesis > Adv. Settings. It sets the speed that your avatar turns direction.

Changes:

- Updated language packs: German, French, Italian, Portuguese. 

- Play Bento anim on idle, Debug set to True.

Fixes:

- Hit boxes are no longer drawn around your own avatar to avoid them appearing in mouse-look.

- Console Window and Debug Console setting no longer persists to next session, thus ending the problem where a user turns it on and doesn't know how to turn it off again.  Re-log will now 'fix it'.

- Fixed Inherited Bug:  Object Edit "Ruler" world/local/reference drop-down arrow now changes between the options. Previously you needed to click the word itself (not the arrow).

- Repaired XML alignments for language packs so text is not longer than space provided in floaters.