Mesh Project viewer installation interferes with other viewers?

[Maylin Murakami]

Some issues I have:

- After installing the Mesh Project viewer (Second_Life_2-6-0-218701_ProjectViewer-Mesh) all of my settings for all of my other viewers are wiped out.

- When uninstalling said viewer it purges the contents of

\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\

deleting everything.. including chat logs etc from all of my other viewers.

 

Is there any way to stop mesh interfering with my other viewers in these ways? I'm unable to continue testing mesh if it interferes with my ability to run other viewers on the same system.

[Chosen Few]

If that directory is the only problem, you could always just make a backup copy of it, and then restore it after installing the mesh viewer.

[Alisha Matova]

I sooo wish LL would fix this.. 

There is no easy work around.

  You can try installing each viewer in a differently named folder, and set Each viewers cache pointer to a uniquely named folder as well.  This fixes the odd corruption when using different viewers with the same cache but open a whole new set of issues.  Chatlogs spread around multiple cache folders for instance.. ugg.. It may however workaround LL's uninstaller regime. =)

For now, till LL fixes this(feature request below...), I save a copy of my equivalent of "\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\" into a folder on my desktop.  I can drop this folder into its correct location when ever I want to "reset" a viewer.  This was a lot easier with 1.x as only a few files and the chatlogs needed to be backed up, but I have not spent the time to see what files 2.0 needs.  So I just save the whole darn folder! LOL

This does nothing for chatlogs =/  Unfortunately.  So, LL, here is what I would like =D   A button that appears on Logout(or other places)  -oh wait, two buttons!- 

Back up settings and chatlogs to Desktop

and

Recover settings and chatlogs from desktop

One creates the folder, the other pulls from it.  Yay!

While waiting for that... =P  I suppose I could set up a thingy on my computer that backs up chat logs and settings files on a regular basis.  =)

 

ETA: or what Chosen said... =D

[Ceera Murakami]

Unfortunately, every version of 2.x wipes out the settings for any other version of the LL viewer when you uninstall it. They also interfere with some other settings just by being installed. Residents have complained since version 2.0.0 came out, and LL has done nothing to fix the problem.

You can at least prevent the wipeout by locating the Secondlife folder on vory computer, and changing its name before doing the uninstall. On a Windows XP system, that folder is at C:\Documents and Settings\LoginAccount\Application Data\SecondLife ,  where LoginAccount is the account you log onto the computer with.

If you rename that folder before installing a 2.x Viewer, for example naming it "SecondLife-old", the install of 2.x will create a new SecondLife folder. When you want to switch back, rename that new folder as "SecondLife-mesh", and rename the backou from "SecondLife-old" back to just ""SecondLife".

[Maylin Murakami]

That's egregious indeed,

 

I already knew how to set the caches to different locations and I'm doing that, however I currently cannot choose a different location for the entire "Roaming\SecondLife" directory, is this possible?

I would do this to prevent viewers from interfering with each other/breaking each other.

 

[Nalates Urriah]

Changing the chat log and settings folders via Preferences is only possible in a few TPV's. One might find a control buried in the various XML files in the viewer installation and be able to change them. But, in general, there is no easy way.

Also several TPV's use the SL settings folder to store their settings. A few create their own folders for settings and chat logs. 

Kirstens creates completely seperate sets of folders. Phoenix uses the SL Settings folder but its own cache folder. Firestorm creates it own seperate set.

All the complexities come from many SL and TPV programmers assuming everyone uses just their viewer. Over the past year that assumption seems to be changing. Kirsten's and Firestorm seem to be ahead of SL and others.

Until they all get together, backing up the AppData\Roaming\SecondLife folder is a must.

Also, hoping to bring an old settings file back to a new install to save the effort of redoing the settings or writing an older SL Settings folder over an install's newly created one, is a dangerious idea. The information kept in those files changes over time. The reviews I write on viewers and the tutorials for installing, clean installs, and problem solving typically have to cover how to deal with all these messy problems. There is no simple easy solution for those using multiple viewers.

The programmers have enough of a problem just getting the viewer to work well. Time for getting the install and uninstall working well is limited and seems a low priority for all programmers. Don't expect the issues to be fixed anytime soon. Most of us are pushing for mesh and better chat, which are where LL is putting their effort.

[Nalates Urriah]

I've found that my viewers work better if I just reinstall my primary viewer last. 

In another post in this thread I point out the problem of copying the older settings folder over a new install's folder. I think copying the folder over the new folder would probably be somewhat safer if one did not allow file over writes. Just restore the missing files. That would fix the problems with other installed viewers and not break the new install.

Lots of stuff is changing in the Mesh and Snowstorm projects. I believe one should expect changes to these files with each update. I see no reason to assume they will always be compatible and work from version to version. There is a reason that the uninstall program wipes out all the files. Whether it is for compatibility reasons, I can't say. However, for a REALLY SERIOUS clean install most people recommend removal of all the viewers and all their associated and hidden files to get rid of incompatible settings and files. Since that approach works well, saving and restoring files to new installs would seem to be risky.

The best reason for saving the files is, if one wants to save their chat logs. I would not recommend that you try to mix older versions of the chat log files with newer versions as even their format has changed in some viewer versions.