I Make HUDDLES™

It is time to try another release candidate. Various problems with the flight assist should be fixed now. Among them:

• The math error shouldn’t be happening anymore.
• It will remember it’s status when you turn it on and off, across different sessions.
• The problem of drifting away in certain situations shouldn’t happen anymore.

Also, follow the link to find out about the latest options with the flight assist.

The Release Candidate 4 upgrader can be obtained by clicking the green ball on animation island. As before, the object will turn your old EZ Animator Deluxe (v1.0.4 and above) into a shiny new one without you having to move all the animations. I’ve also added instructions on the web on how to do the upgrade. You can read the release notes on the web, however they may be incomplete.

If you have previously upgraded to Release Candidate 1, 2 or 3, you can just use this updater and run the process again.

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The Release Candidate 2 upgrader can be obtained by clicking the green ball on animation island. The object will turn your old EZ Animator Deluxe (v1.0.4 and above) into a shiny new one without you having to move all the animations. I’ve also added instructions on the web on how to do the upgrade. You can read the release notes on the web, however they may be incomplete.

If you have previously upgraded to Release Candidate 1 or Release Candidate 2, you can just use this updater and run the process again.

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The Release Candidate 2 upgrader can be obtained by clicking the green ball on animation island. The object will turn your old EZ Animator Deluxe (v1.0.4 and above) into a shiny new one without you having to move all the animations. I’ve also added instructions on the web on how to do the upgrade. And rather than make another long post about what the update contains, take a look at the posts I’ve tagged with Updates.

If you have previously upgraded to Release Candidate 1, you can just use this updater and run the process again.

Please note, only people who own the EZ Animator Deluxe already can get the update. If you think you own one and it’s not giving it to you, IM Keiki Lemieux.

I’m particularly interested in finding out if this version is any smoother than previous versions. If you find problems, please IM me.

UPDATE: Bugs squashed after RC2:

• Fixed and Current, 7/18: Self animation off led to repeated “Stop All Animations” in Dance or Random mode.
• Fixed and Current, 7/19: The updater itself wasn’t showing the instructions.
• Fixed 7/19: Text reads flight assist on/off instead of flight boost on/off.
• Fixed 7/19: Sit on/off status incorrect after update, fixed by reset.
• Not Fixed Yet: Hugs should turn off your AO and turn it back on when the hug is over.
• Not Fixed Yet: Minimized HUD does not remember maximized position when detached and attached again.

I’ve updated the upgrader, you might want to grab it again, if you got it yesterday, but the only real change was the one bug fix from yesterday. I didn’t think it was worth it to do a whole new Release Candidate for it.

I’ve also added a pink prism you can touch to receive some extra items you may need if you never had version 1.2.0, like the notecard with all the radio streams and HUDDLES Group Radio, the gestures which allow you to press buttons on the hud by click F2-F12, and most important, the ZHAO II Notecard converter.

I’m working on bug squashing right now. I’ve had a number of strange reports of Dancers not working properly. I’ve been going over the relevant scripts and trying to optimize them. I think I’ve had some success, but it will require some testing. Here is a list of other things I’ve changing:

• Various changes to optimize for dancing and to try to reduce lag bubble moments.
• Made a small change that allows you to choose a Dance while in Dance or Random mode, without popping you out of those modes. Choosing a macro or animation while in Sit Anywhere mode, pops you out of Sit Anywhere mode.
• Playing a macro or animation pops you out of Sit Anywhere mode. By the way, in case you haven’t noticed the new Sit Anywhere button, it’s on the AO buttons, lower right. It looks like arrow pointing down.
  
• Whitespace at the beginning of an emote should no longer be stripped.
• Sit Anywhere animation changes when you select a new one via the menu.
• Fixed a number of small problems when Hugs are not accepted.

After some more internal testing, I hope to set out a new Release Candidate by tomorrow.

What is a Release Candidate?

A version of a program that nearly ready for release but may still have a few bugs; the status between beta version and release version.

The Release Candidate upgrader can be obtained by clicking the green ball on animation island. The object will turn your old EZ Animator Deluxe (v1.0.4 and above) into a shiny new one without you having to move all the animations. I’ve also added instructions on the web on how to do the upgrade. And rather than make another long post about what the update contains, take a look at the posts I’ve tagged with Updates.

Please note, only people who own the EZ Animator Deluxe already can get the update. If you think you own one and it’s not giving it to you, IM Keiki Lemieux.

UPDATE: Changes/bug fixes as of Friday, July 11th:

• When using the button to sit anywhere (lower right button on the AO buttons), you can now change the sit using the groundsit menu.
• HUDDLE gives feedback when you change the name for emotes (/99set name Keiki).
• /99n MacroName was only working properly for the first 10 macros. It’s fixed now.

I’ve added Outrider Animations by Zach Wolfe to my list of animators who sell their animations as copyable/no transfer. Remember always look for animations that are copyable/no transfer. They are a lot harder to lose than ones which are no copy.

The other day I ran into Luth Brodie, a friend and fellow animator in Second Life. We got to talking about the state of the world and I was complaining about the Detach Bug, and how many people have been coming to me for help. I said to her, “You must be getting a lot of requests to replace animations with all the lost inventory.”

“Nope,” she said. “I haven’t been getting any requests.”

Why not? I’m sure many animators have been crushed by the number of requests for replacements. Well, it’s because Luth has been selling her animations as copyable/no transfer. Since her customers can copy their animations, they never lose them. Sure they might lose a HUD or two, but no problem. They just get a new AO, and copy the animations inside again.

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It seems to be, at least when it comes to the Detach Bug which has been eating HUDs for the last few months. As I blogged about in April, there is a way to get your HUDs and other attachments back when they disappear after detaching. But only Linden Lab customer service can do it for you.

But there were two problems.

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Do not wear or attach a hud that is sitting on the ground (rezzed in world). Instead, right click on the object and choose Take, then wear it from your inventory.

Why?

Nock Forager found a way to reproduce the detach bug and posted it at jira.secondlife.com:

1. Open build menu.
2. rez new box object.
3. rename it “Object A”.
4. Attach “Object A” to Left hand.

- Open inventory list and use filter key “object” make easier what will happen. -

5. You see “Object A” under the Objects folder.
6. Copy “Object A” and paste it in same folder.
7. Rename new “Object A” to “Object B”.
8. Drop “Object B” on floor (rez it).
9. Wear “Object B” directly from floor.

Obserbed:
“Object A” dissapear from inventory.

“Object B” appear under the Library folder as “worn on left hand”, but it just a shadow. You can’t rez it. And relogging make it completely disappear.

Should be:
“Object A” should remain under Objects folder as unweared.
“Object B” should located under Objects folder.

Notice that he is attaching these objects directly while they sit on the ground. This may not be the only way to trigger this bug, but it only reinforces what should be a law for HUDDLES users. Once again:

Do not wear or attach a hud that is sitting on the ground (rezzed in world). Instead, right click on the object and choose Take, then wear it from your inventory.

If you have suffered from this bug, please post a comment to confirm whether or not you ever wear your HUD directly from the ground.

It’s simply unacceptable that Linden Lab has no pathway for Basic users to recover lost inventory. Inventory Loss is still pervasive. There has been a rash of inventory problems in the last couple of months. Basic users who lose inventory are typically power users in Second Life. They rent land, they buy lindens on the Lindex and they are the bulk of customers who buy products from content creators. It’s appalling that Linden Lab’s official response to their plight is “go premium or go away.” Collectively they contribute mightily to Linden Lab’s bottom line, they deserve at least some minimal service when their property disappears because of Second Life’s faulty code.

There should be a quick and easy way for Basic users to request an inventory repair from customer service. They should add either a way for a Basic member to request one, or a way for all of us to run one ourselves through the website.

Please take the time to vote for this issue on the jira: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/WEB-656