There is a new Release Candidate available, and a shiny new format for our Downloads page to get it!

A new Second Life 1.20 (RC6) Release Candidate viewer is now available for download from the Test Viewers page (this is the bottom section of the page, not the primary installer in orange at the top of page).

Reminder: Release Candidate viewers are optional viewers that contain the latest round of bug fixes in the upcoming next version of the Second Life viewer. If you have been using the 1.20 (RC5), you will be required to update that installation to this latest version (RC6). But the Release Candidate is always an optional version that you may choose not to use — or better– to have installed side by side on your computer with the main viewer offered on our Downloads page or http://get.secondlife.com.

In 1.20 (RC6) Release Candidate, we have isolated and resolved the SmartHeap library error message that occurs on exiting Second Life. We’ve also patched the problem of property lines showing through avatars, objects and the ground. Here are the latest notes:

Changes:
* Changed the descriptor in Group Information window > Notices tab to “14 days” instead of 30
* Removed menu option Advanced > Character > Show Collision Plane
* Property lines are are now hidden behind objects, avatars, terrain, and water by default. When in Build mode, if ‘Tools > Show Hidden Selection’ is enabled, property lines will become visible through objects, etc.

Fixes:
* Fixed: VWR-6389: Runtime Library error after quitting Second Life
* Fixed: VWR-4580: Property lines are visible through avatar, objects and through ground
* Fixed: VWR-6896: Crash when selecting Advanced > Rendering > Info Displays > Lights (and other Info Displays)
* Fixed: VWR-7042: Incorrect tooltip for “Use built-in web browser” option
* Fixed: the spinners are broken in the snapshot UI when upload a snapshot
* Fixed: Create tool’s last 11 shapes are not the proper height (”sphere” looks like an “egg”)
* Fixed: Typographical error in Transfer permissions alert dialog
* Fixed: Crash selecting Edit > Land Owners with Basic Shaders disabled
* Fixed: crash on LLFloaterWorldMap::buildLandmarkIDLists
* Fixed: 3dConnexion device does not default to enabled with 1.20 RC 5
* Fixed: Settings in the Joystick Configuration window reset to defaults on each launch when a SpaceNavigator is connected

Localization Fixes:
* Fixed: XML resizing to repair truncated text in 1.20 localizations

Known Issues:

* As the first release of improved Joystick and 3D input device support, there are minor known issues with camera behavior and/or button-mapping behavior when using the 3dxconnexion SpaceNavigator in a combination of “Flycam” and Build modes.
* IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a known issue in the 1.20 Release Candidate on Macs using Apple’s USB Mighty Mouse and a 3dxconnexion SpaceNavigator. The Mighty Mouse will be erroneously detected as a joystick where the primary mouse button will toggle “Flycam” with unusual behavior. Therefore the support for the 3dxconnexion SpaceNavigator in Second Life does not yet extend to Macs using a USB Mighty Mouse.

We expect this to be the final Release Candidate in the 1.20 viewer series, barring any Showstoppers that you may find. Please of course continue to report any new issues large or small in the Issue Tracker, and be sure to set “Affects Version/s” to “1.20 Release Candidate”.

Thanks to all of you who participate in the RC cycle — posting reproducible steps and system environments, responding to questions, and clarifying and linking — your help to improve the Second Life viewer is greatly appreciated!

Yes, that’s right, we’re on the 5th iteration of the 1.20 Release Candidate viewer! We increased the frequency of RC releases in an effort to aggressively resolve crashes and reduce the overall viewer crash rate. Steve Linden outlined these plans here in the Viewer Crash Hunters project.

The good news is we’ve been able to find and fix a number of crashes, but the down side is that this has been a rather rocky road for the 1.20 Release Candidate. (It is only in these later iterations that we are approaching a viewer ready to be the real “candidate.”) We will work on refining the release process and do better to keep you all informed about where we are and where we’re headed. We really value your feedback and appreciate your time finding and reporting issues back to us.

Please remember that Release Candidate viewers contain the latest round of bug fixes and/or soon-to-be-released new features and can be installed side by side with the primary viewer. Please try the RC viewers only if you want to participate in the bug reporting process and identify issues before they become the default viewer.

So on to RC5! (more…)