path: root/RELEASE_NOTES.txt

  Release Notes for the Imprudence Viewer
  http://imprudenceviewer.org


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  =-                       1.1.0 RC2                        -=
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   KNOWN ISSUES

     * Mac version is still forthcoming.

     * Viewer freezes permanently when playing streaming media if the
       parcel's media type doesn't match the actual stream type.

     * Viewer may freeze for a few moments when starting or changing
       music or media stream, especially for slow or dead URLs.

     * Streaming music and media may not work for some Vista users.
       Cause is unknown.

     * Local Chat (aka. Chat History) stops automatically scrolling
       down to show new chat if you click it at the same time as a new
       line of chat arrives. Manually scrolling down to the bottom
       will start it autoscrolling again.


   CHANGES

     This version of Imprudence includes the following changes (as
     compared to Imprudence 1.1.0 RC1).


     BUG FIXES

       * Fixed a nasty crash when receiving an IM, when the IM history
         had certain kinds of links in them. Thanks so much for
         finding and fixing that, Anders Arnholm (Balp Allen)!

       * Fixed the viewer crashing when opening the Top Scripts window
         (in the Estate tools). Thanks, McCabe!

       * Fixed certain types of sounds (footsteps/bumps, gestures,
         typing, and others) not being affected by volume controls.
         Thanks, McCabe!

       * Fixed inventory folders repeatedly expanding after using
         Quick Filter. Thanks, Jacek!

       * Fixed the pie menu not showing correct Touch text on scripted
         objects that had used llSetTouchText. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Fixed LSL script syntax highlighting for single line comments
         ("//" style). Thanks, Jacek!

       * Fixed the viewer not asking if you'd like to play streaming
         music. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Streaming media should now work for Linux users running the
         PulseAudio sound server (e.g. Ubuntu users). Thanks, Jacek!


     UI

       * HUD attachments now have a separate pie menu from regular
         attachments, with a layout similar to the pre-1.1.0
         attachments pie menu. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Items in Advanced > Rendering > Features use "Alt-Shift-F#"
         instead of "Ctrl-Alt-F#", to avoid conflicts with Linux
         system keyboard commands. Muchos gracias, McCabe!

       * Removed the Pause button in the music control tab, since it
         had the same effect as Stop anyway. Thanks, McCabe!


     MISC

       * A lot of cleaning and polishing GStreamer stuff under the
         hood. Thanks for all the effort, McCabe!

       * Song title and artist are printed to the debug console when
         music streams change songs. That information will be
         displayed in the UI in a future version. Thanks, Armin
         Weatherwax!

       * The Help > About Imprudence window now lists your version of
         Gstreamer. How handy, McCabe!




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  =-                       1.1.0 RC1                        -=
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   NOTICE: POTENTIALLY DISRUPTIVE UI CHANGES

     This version contains many changes to the UI, including changes
     to the names and locations of buttons and menu items. You should
     expect the UI (especially the pie menus) to feel awkward at
     first, while your brain and muscle memory adjust to the changes.
     We think you will find the new layouts to be more usable in the
     long run, once the initial re-learning period passes.

     Stick with it! :)


     In particular, please be aware of the following:

     * There have been major reorganization of all pie menus!

     * Some Advanced menu items have been moved to other locations:

        - "Advanced > Rebake Textures" is now "Edit > Refresh
          Appearance".

        - "Advanced > Disable Camera Constraints" is now in the
          "Input/Camera" section of Preferences.

        - "Advanced > High Resolution Snapshots" is now in the
          Snapshot window.

        - "View > Show HUD Attachments" is now "Advanced > Rendering >
          Features > HUD Attachments".

     * Some rarely-used menu items have been removed:

        - "Advanced > Compress Snapshots to disk"

     * Some shortcuts have changed:

        - Added Ctrl-B (View > Web Browser)

        - Added Ctrl-D (World > Create Landmark Here)

        - Removed Shift-Alt-H (View > Show HUD Attachments,
          which has been moved; see above)

     * The "Invite" and "Leave" buttons in the Groups window have
       switched positions (to move "Leave" further away from
       "Activate").

     See the CHANGES section below for details, plus other UI and
     non-UI changes in this version.


   KNOWN ISSUES

     * There is no Mac version! We need a volunteer Mac developer to
       help with this!

     * All platforms still lack voice chat. (But you can add it back
       with a simple trick...)

     * The sub-menus inside the "Advanced > Rendering" menu (i.e.
       Types, Features, Info Displays, and Render Tests) sometimes get
       hidden behind the Advanced menu when they open. This is
       scheduled to be fixed in a future version; in the meantime, you
       can work around it by clicking the tear-off stript at the top
       of the Rendering menu, moving it to the left side of the
       screen, and then opening the desired sub-menu.


   CHANGES

     This version of Imprudence includes the following changes (as
     compared to Imprudence 1.0.0).

     FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

       * Windows and Linux versions now support sound effects and
         streaming audio and video with OpenAL and Gstreamer! Thanks
         to Tofu Linden for his OpenAL patch, Unknown Linden(s) for
         their Gstreamer work, and McCabe and Jacek for pounding on it
         with hammers!

       * New "Quick Filter" list in the Inventory window. Thanks for
         adding that, Jacek!

       * New "Worn Items" tab in the Inventory window (VWR-2199).
         Thanks for the patch, Vadim Bigbear!

       * New math expressions support in the Build window's Object and
         Texture tabs (VWR-675). Thanks for the patch, Aimee
         Trescothick! See the Build Math Expressions wiki page for
         details and examples for using this cool feature!

     MENUS

       * Reorganized and improved the pie menus a lot (details below).
         Thanks, McCabe!

          - Replaced "Go" with "Inventory" in the pie menu for your
            avatar mesh.

          - Moved "Create" to "More > Build" in the pie menu for
            objects, and moved "Buy" up to the top level. "Take" is
            now always "Take".

          - The pie menu for your own attachments is now more
            consistent with the pie menu for your avatar mesh. This
            helps users with prim-based avatars / lots of
            body-covering attachments. (Attachment-specific options
            are under "More >".)

          - Renamed "Report Abuse..." label to "Abuse..." so it
            doesn't overrun the pie menu.

          - "Mute" option moved from 6 o'clock to avoid accidental
            clicks.

          - Added "Create Landmark" to the pie menu for the ground
            (IMP-38). Thanks for the patch, Armin Weatherwax!

          - Added "Report Abuse" to the pie menu for avatars besides
            yourself (VWR-8179). Thanks for the patch, Asuka Neely!

       * Moved some commonly-used "Advanced" options to more prominent
         locations (details below) (IMP-18). Thanks for doing that,
         McCabe!

          - Moved "Rebake Textures" to "Edit > Refresh Appearance".

          - Moved "Disable Camera Constraints" to be in the
            "Input/Camera" section of Preferences.

          - Moved "High Resolution Snapshots" to the Snapshot window.

       * Added menu item and shortcut to open the built-in web browser
         ("View > Web Browser", Ctrl-B). Thanks, McCabe!

       * Removed "Advanced > Compress Snapshot to disk", since it's
         useless. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Added shortcut (Ctrl-D) to create a new landmark. Also, a
         message, "You created a landmark at _____", will appear in
         chat history when creating a landmark. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Moved "View > Show HUD Attachments" to 
         "Advanced > Rendering > Features > HUD Attachments", and
         removed its keyboard shortcut.


     INVENTORY

       * Added "Restore to World" to right click menu on Objects in
         inventory (if the sim supports it) (IMP-36). Thanks, Unknown
         Linden! (This action returns the object to the location
         in-world where it was before being taken / returned to your
         inventory.)

       * Added "Discard" buttons for incoming landmarks, and notecards
         that you created (IMP-30). Thanks for the patches, Henri
         Beauchamp, and thanks to Balp Allen for pointing them out!


     BUILDING

       * High-up prims no longer fall to 256m height when moved
         outworld (VWR-9352). Thanks for the patch, Aimee Trescothick!

       * Fixed Local ruler mode being oriented incorrectly for linked
         objects (VWR-1582). Thanks, Jacek!

       * Added "Tools > Select Only Copyable Objects" menu item.
         Thanks, McCabe!


     MAP / MINIMAP

       * Friends now appear yellow on the minimap (VWR-3336). Thanks
         for the patch, Aimee Trescothick!

       * You can now double-click in the minimap to teleport to that
         location (IMP-34). Thanks for the patch, Armin Weatherwax!

       * The Map window now supports teleports up to a height of 4096m
         (VWR-7331). Thanks for the patch, Peter Lameth!

       * Minimap and Map glyph colors can now be set in colors.xml.
         Thanks, McCabe!


     OTHER UI

       * Added syntax highlighting for C-style comments ("/* ... */")
         in LSL scripts (SVC-2631). Thanks for the patch, Felix
         Duesenburg!

       * Added Home page functionality in the web browser ("Home", "Set
         As Home"). Thanks, McCabe!

       * Clicking "Set As Home" informs you of a successful homepage
         change.

       * Switched the positions of the "Invite" and "Leave" buttons in
         the Groups panel, so the "Leave" button isn't right next to
         the "Activate" button. Thanks, McCabe!

       * The "Offer Teleport" button in the IM window has been moved to
         the left, next to "Profile". Thanks, McCabe!

       * Added "Drag and drop inventory item here to send" text to the
         IM window. That functionality was already present in the SL
         viewer, but almost no one knew about it! Thanks, McCabe!

       * Added an "Ignore" button to friendship requests (VWR-4826).
         Thanks, McCabe!

       * The "invite to group" window now displays the group name in
         the title. Thanks, McCabe!


     MISC

       * Fixed the right/bottom edit arrows on HUDs not working
         (VWR-5518). Thanks for describing the fix, Zi Ree!

       * Fixed avatars being darker than prims; this matches the
         changes in SL 1.22 (VWR-8012). Thanks to CG Linden for
         pointing to the fix!

       * Lip sync for voice chat is enabled by default 
         ("Advanced > Character > Enable Lip Sync"). Thanks, McCabe!

       * The colors.xml files (for setting skin colors) now has helpful
         comments describing each entry, to help skin creators. Thanks,
         McCabe!

       * Beacons no longer stay enabled between sessions, to help users
         who accidently enable them. Thanks, McCabe!

       * The wind sound is now disabled by default, and doesn't waste
         CPU time generating white noise when it's off. You can
         re-enable wind by changing the "MuteWind" debug setting to
         FALSE. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Added TGA as an available image format for saving snapshots.
         Thanks, McCabe!

       * llLoadUrl scripts now opens in either the built-in browser or
         your external browser, depending on your preference. Thanks,
         McCabe!

       * The URL highlighter now includes closing parentheses ")" as
         part of the link (VWR-8773). Thanks, Qarl Linden!

       * Windows: Running straight from the .exe uses
         "settings_imprudence.xml" file. Thanks, McCabe!

       * Windows: Crash dump files are named with "Imprudence" instead
         of "Second Life". Thanks yet again, McCabe, you busy beaver!




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  =-                         1.0.0                          -=
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   KNOWN ISSUES

     * Still no sound or voice yet.

     * Login screen misleadingly displays the last grid you had
       selected even if you use the --loginuri command line option
       (IMP-29).

     * The menus for non-English languages still say "Second Life" in
       some places where they should say "Imprudence" (IMP-27).


   CHANGES

     This version of Imprudence includes the following changes (as
     compared to Imprudence 1.0.0 RC2):

     * Rendering: Windows version ships with OpenJPEG 1.3. This fixes
       the issue of skirts and some uploaded images appearing
       half-transparent. Thanks to McCabe and everyone who helped us
       identify and test that!

     * UI: Added support for displaying a test version identifier
       (e.g. RC2) at the login screen and About Imprudence, to help
       people tell the test versions apart. (Note: you won't see it in
       this release, because this isn't a test version!) Thanks to
       McCabe for adding that!

     * UI: Rebranded the Help menu at the login screen to match the
       main Help menu (IMP-23). Thanks to Balp Allen for reporting
       that, and McCabe for fixing it!

     * UI: The "Release Notes" link in About Imprudence now takes you
       to the release notes on the Imprudence wiki, instead of to a
       bogus page on the Second Life wiki. Thanks to McCabe and Jacek
       for doing that!

     * UI: Grid selector at the login screen no longer has a duplicate
       entry (IMP-24). Thanks to Balp Allen for fixing that!

     * Misc.: Fixed the viewer stupidly creating a 'url_history.xml'
       file in 'C:\' on Windows, and perhaps in '/' (root) on Mac
       (VWR-5808). Thanks to McCabe for fixing that!

     * Code: Patched two small memory leaks when uploading scripts
       (VWR-9400). Thanks to Carjay McGinnis and Henri Beauchamp for
       making those patches!

     * Code: Patched two minor code cleanliness issues (VWR-10759,
       VWR-10837). Thanks to Aleric Inglewood for making those
       patches!




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  =-                       1.0.0 RC2                        -=
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   KNOWN ISSUES

     * Some users have reported that system skirts (not attachments)
       and some uploaded images with alpha channels appear
       partially transparent all over, instead of being opaque
       in some places and transparent in others. You can fix this by
       upgrading to OpenJPEG 1.3. Future Imprudence releases will
       have the new OpenJPEG included in the regular download.

     * The grid selection list on the login screen displays a
       duplicate entry (e.g. two "SL Main Grid" entries). This is
       harmless, and a PITA to fix.

     * Still no sound or voice yet.


   CHANGES

     This version of Imprudence includes the following changes (as
     compared to Imprudence 1.0.0 RC1):

     * Rendering: Applied a likely fix for VWR-8920 (disappearing
       attachments when zoomed in). Please let us know in the forums
       whether this fixes the issue for you. Thanks to an unknown
       Linden for the fix, and to Strife Onizuka for pointing to it!

     * Rendering: Applied a likely fix for VWR-9358 (problems with
       palletized textures). Please
       [http://imprudenceviewer.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=66 let
       us know in the forums] whether this fixes the issue for you.
       Thanks to Angus Boyd for suggesting the fix!

     * Misc UI.: Grid selection list on the login page has been
       embraced and cleaned up. It now lists 3 options: SL Main Grid,
       SL Beta Grid, and Local OpenSim (if you run OpenSim on your
       computer). It will be made customizable in a future version.
       Thanks to Jacek for sprucing that up!

     * Misc: Fixed the debug console window always showing up. Thanks
       to McCabe for fixing it, and to an unknown Linden's testing
       code for causing it in the first place!

     * Misc: Fixed the Windows viewer crashing when clicking on
       certain links in embedded web pages (VWR-4828). Thanks
       to Nyx Linden for pointing to the updated LLMozLib!

     * Misc: Fixed the Windows installer giving an error when
       launching the viewer after installation. Thanks to McCabe for
       fixing that!

     * Misc: Imprudence now uses a separate directory from Second Life
       for storing the cache, settings, and chat logs. This fixes the
       viewer clearing the cache the first time it's run. On Linux,
       it's the '.imprudence' directory in your home directory, and on
       Mac and Windows it's the 'Imprudence' directory in your
       Application Data directory. Thanks to Jacek for doing this!

     * Misc: Fixed the Search window clearing itself out when closed
       and re-opened. Thanks to Samantha Poindexter for reporting the
       problem, to McCabe for fixing it, and to an unknown Linden's
       testing code for causing it in the first place!

     * Building: Fixed the Silver skin's Build floater not matching
       the one from the Classic skin. Thanks to Damien Fate for
       reporting the problem, and to Jacek for fixing it!

     * Code: Fixed several bits of sloppy Linden code that blocked
       compiling with gcc 4.3. Thanks to Alissa Sabre for suggesting
       the fix to VWR-9507, and Stephen Zenith for patches
       IMP-11 and IMP-12!

     * Misc UI.: Changed Group UI to use "Resident" or "Member"
       instead of "Person", for consistency (VWR-9007).
       Thanks to McCabe for sprucing that up!




  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  =-                       1.0.0 RC1                        -=
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   WHAT TO EXPECT

    * Many small usability improvements.

      The goal of Imprudence is to make significant usability
      improvements over the standard SL viewer, but for this first
      release our focus has simply been to get the project
      established. You'll find many small improvements scattered
      throughout the viewer, almost all of them programmed by SL
      Residents and submitted as patches to JIRA, but which LL has not
      (at least yet) accepted. Future versions of Imprudence will
      feature more significant improvements made specifically for this
      project.

    * New fonts.

      Imprudence uses different fonts than regular SL, because SL's
      fonts are proprietary and very expensive to license. The new
      fonts might make things seem "not quite right" at first, since
      your eye expects the old font you normally see in SL. We do
      think you'll enjoy the new fonts once you get used to them. (For
      the curious, the fonts used are Liberation Sans for the UI, and
      Bitstream Vera Mono for the script editor.)

    * No sound or voice.

      This release of Imprudence doesn't have any sound or voice
      support, because the software libraries SL uses for those things
      are proprietary and can't be used with open-source viewers. We
      hope to add back sound support using OpenAL for the next version
      of Imprudence. We're not sure yet when we'll be able to add
      voice back in.

    * Slightly slower texture loading.

      Textures may load slightly slower than they do in regular SL.
      Once again, this is because the texture software library SL uses
      by default (Kakadu / KDU) is proprietary, so we're using
      OpenJPEG, which is open source but not quite as speedy. The
      difference shouldn't be a major issue.


  CHANGES

    This version of Imprudence includes the following changes (as
    compared to Second Life viewer 1.21.6):

    * Building: You can now "Slice" (aka. Dimple / Profile Cut) the
      Box, Cylinder, and Prism prim types directly, without needing to
      switch to Sphere and back. (VWR-7827; thanks McCabe Maxsted!)

    * Stability: Several patches by Nicholaz Beresford to fix memory
      leaks and improve stability. (VWR-2003, VWR-2683, VWR-2685,
      VWR-3877, and VWR-3878; thanks Nicholaz!)

    * Misc.: The "Advanced" menu is now written in XUI, so you can
      edit shortcuts in that menu by editing the XML file, instead of
      needing to recompile the viewer from source. (Note: The file to
      edit is skins/default/xui/en-us/menu_viewer.xml) (VWR-2896;
      thanks Jacek Antonelli!)

    * Social: Added "Invite..." button to the Groups section of the
      Communicate panel, to make it easier to invite people to the
      selected group. (VWR-8024; thanks McCabe Maxsted!)

    * Building: Up and down arrows change Path Cut / Profile Cut by
      increments of 0.025 instead of 0.05, to make it easier to
      path-cut boxes in half, etc. (VWR-7877; thanks McCabe Maxsted!)

    * Misc. UI: Added "Return Object" to the Tools menu, to make it
      easier to return objects that are hard to right-click on.
      (VWR-1363; thanks McCabe Maxsted!)

    * Social: Added "Offer Teleport" button to the IM window.
      (VWR-2072; thanks Paul Churchill!)

    * Building: Added "Tools > Set permissions on selected task
      inventory" menu item, to set perms on multiple in-world objects
      and/or their contents. This will have a nicer UI later.
      (VWR-5082; thanks Michelle2 Zenovka!)

    * Misc. UI: Several usability and UI layout improvements to the
      land tools floater. (VWR-8430; thanks Aimee Trescothick!)

    * Misc. UI: Added "Flycam" button that appears when you are in
      flycam mode (using a joystick or SpaceNavigator); click it to
      cancel flycam mode. (VWR-8341; thanks Aimee Trescothick!)

    * Building: Rephrased "Select Texture" to the more accurate and
      descriptive phrase "Select Faces to Texture". (Inspired by
      VWR-5962; thanks McCabe Maxsted and Jacek Antonelli!)

    * Building: Increased maximum settable transparency from 90% to
      100% in the Textures tab. (Thanks Jacek Antonelli!)

    * Social: "Offer Teleport" buttons throughough the UI are now
      always clickable, even for avatars who are not on your friends
      list or who appear offline. (Thanks Jacek Antonelli!)

    * Misc.: Changed the application name, logo, login page, etc. to
      Imprudence.

    * Misc.: Imprudence has its own version numbers, starting at
      1.0.0. Use "Help > About Imprudence" to check the SL source
      version it's based on.

    * Misc.: Disabled FMOD, KDU, and Vivox (SLVoice) proprietary
      software.

    * Misc.: Changed fonts to Liberation Sans and Bitstream Vera Mono.


   KNOWN ISSUES

    * Windows: At the end of the installer, if you leave the "Launch
      Imprudence Viewer" checkbox enabled and press "Finish", you will
      receive an error message and it will not automatically start the
      viewer. But this does not harm anything, and starting the viewer
      yourself (e.g. from the desktop shortcut) should work fine.

    * Windows: When the viewer is started, a text console window will
      appear displaying debug information, and then be covered by the
      main viewer window. This will be disabled in future releases.
      You can disable it manually by opening "Advanced > Debug
      Settings" and changing "ShowConsoleWindow" to false, then
      restarting the viewer.

    * Windows: The viewer may crash when clicking links in embedded
      web pages, including certain sections of the Search window and
      the "Web" section of avatar profiles. We hope to fix this in the
      future. To work around it for now, just avoid clicking on links
      in embedded web pages in the viewer.

    * All Platforms: The viewer may be (very) slow to start the first
      time, as it clears the cache.

    * All Platforms: When using the Silver skin, the Tools (aka Build)
      floater doesn't have the new features (e.g. transparency up to
      100%, smaller path cut increment), and improperly displays the
      land tools brush size combo box on every build tab.