Bazzilla Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Hi, A random question, perhaps. But I was wondering is there any advantage to using the Official SL viewer over Firestorm, or vice versa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Nope. It's entirely a matter of preference. The viewer wars have been fought here for years, with active partisans on both sides. "Better" is really a matter of what sorts of features you value and which ones you think are either unnecessary or outright wrong-headed. You'll hear rational arguments for both viewers. My own advice is to load both and give them a fair trial. Not just a few days but a few weeks, side by side. Personally, I use both FS and the standard LL viewers interchangeably depending on my mood and what I happen to be doing. 13 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chic Aeon Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 The FS viewer does a lot (LOT) more than the Linden viewer. At the same time it is more complex to learn. I have used FS for over a decade and it does so many things that I feel I NEED that using the Linden viewer is painful. That being said it is probably easier for NEW folks to use the Linden viewer -- at least at first. There are classes for the Firestorm viewer, but there is still a learning curve. 11 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arielle Popstar Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Firestorm has a quick and ready support system. The official one not at all. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Ahren Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 3 hours ago, Bazzilla said: But I was wondering is there any advantage to using the Official SL viewer over Firestorm, or vice versa? You have progressed rapidly grasshopper. Use the Firestorm viewer, unlock 1,000 XP and level-up to non-noob. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aiyumei Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Isn't Firestorm even mentioned in the new users onboarding experience? If LL advertise it in their tutorial then it's kinda clear how good it is. The official viewer to FS is like using Edge to download Chrome. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) Firestorm IS the official viewer but with some tweaks. Yes there is advantage in using the official viewer. Because Firestorm is a modified official viewer, it takes them time to blend new stuff and their modified version. Users of the official viewer have the new stuff immediately, of course, but Firestorm, and other TPVs, can take "weeks or even months" (as someone put it in another thread) to get up to date. So the advantage is that users of the official viewer are always up to date, whereas users of other viewers lag behind. In use, there is no significant difference, except maybe that restrained love thing that some people seem to like. I don't know if that's in Firestorm though. Another question might be why there are so many users of Firestorm. The answer is not because it's so much better. Edited September 4, 2023 by Phil Deakins 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belindacarson Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said: Another question might be why there are so many users of Firestorm. The answer is not because it's so much better. Perhaps, perhaps not. For me, it's thf extra tweaks such as "show friends only" or being able to de render specific objects. The text mode, for when I'm just online for chatting is another superb option in it. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceka Cianci Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 In my opinion, The Firestorm viewer has more quality of life options than the official viewer.. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriele Graves Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 There are many users because there are features it provides that the official viewer does not which many people find very useful. In addition to the "Show Friends Only", the Viewer modes (like text only mode) and the almost 24x7 inworld help/support that were mentioned: Temporarily/Permanently Derender other people's objects. Builtin AO that allows many AO sets each with their individual settings. RLV (I don't use it but many do for even innocuous things like CTS Wardrobe inventory management, custom alpha layers via a clickable HUD, etc.) The Autotune graphics system that started in FS even though I believe the official viewer has now picked it up. Many useful settings in Preferences and Debug that either LL removed from the official viewer or simply never had. Local mesh to preview a mesh upload before committing to the upload costs. Builtin flight booster/assist with varying levels. Builtin Avatar Radar. Builtin Move Lock. Useful chat commands that act as shortcuts such as rezplat which rezzes a platform at the desired height and size. LSL Preprocessor which adds timesaving features to script development. There are probably more I've forgotten. Everybody I've spoken to who has used FS for a while has commented on how hard they've found it to go back to the official viewer. 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorientje Woller Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) All depends of the usage of the viewer: I am using mostly Alchemy Viewer when making my creations, because the colors aren't as washed out with this viewer than they are with FireStorm. First is Alchemy: This is FireStorm: Both with the same envirronment setting: Nam's Optimal Skin & Objects Of course, all depends on your own preferences and the system you're using. Edited September 4, 2023 by Dorientje Woller 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceka Cianci Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Another thing I like about the Firestorm viewer is it's more of an opt in, than opt out to security risks.. It comes with media auto play and things turned off rather than everything full on.. Also has the media filters already active for music stream links and media stream links and exposes the URLs in the popup, so you can check them out from your browser rather than from your viewer to see if they are bogus or safe. It always bothered me why, even after the older RZ days, that those are still full on and no media filters in the official viewer.. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeliaJ08 Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) Firestorm. Has its issues no doubt but I used it from day 1, not entirely sure how that happened (I forget) but I assume I googled "best way to access Second life" or something. I could probably switch to something else for most of the time and have played with some other viewers but inevitably I find their interfaces to be substandard and they're all (as far as I know) missing one huge feature: Area Search. One of the biggest issues I have been noticing lately is very odd "shared environment" lighting though, I assume it's that some sims have it set up wrong. Edited September 4, 2023 by AmeliaJ08 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cirleen Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 9 hours ago, Bazzilla said: Hi, A random question, perhaps. But I was wondering is there any advantage to using the Official SL viewer over Firestorm, or vice versa? A few years ago I was using Firestorm on a 14 year old computer. One day I got a message from Firestorm saying I wouldn't be able to update further because my computer was too old, so the next day I would no longer be able to use Firestorm. I downloaded and tried every possible viewer available, the Linden viewer was the only one that worked. While using the LL viewer, I noticed my computer fans hardly turned on at all. Those fans roared all the time running Firestorm because of all the extra computer processes that Firestorm runs. It was rude that Firestorm gave me no advance notice and seeing as LL viewer runs so much cooler, with absolutely no extra things that I need, I've used LL viewer since. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caitlin Tobias Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 As Rolig already said, it's preferences. And in my case it depends on what I am doing. My default preferred viewer is the official LL Viewer. I find the graphics best, clear and crisp for pictures. But when I make machinima, I switch to the FS viewer, so I can derender things and enable the 'show friends only' so I don't get to see other avatars. Just try them and decide for yourself! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Nagy Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) These kind of discussions are mainly like, should I eat my pizza with or without pineapple, should I eat a burger with or without a knife and fork in a real restaurant, should I eat my fries with mayo or ketchup, do I need an Apple smartphone or one running on Android? Pepsi or Coke? There are no winners, only fandom at both sides. The cool kids have Firestorm and promote it like a holy grail. Just like the mutilated human bodies we see around us inworld. SL has the best avatars in the business and where do we end up? Too long legs, too short arms, too tiny hands and faces, elephant butts, clothes that are so minimal they ain't sexy at all, but pornographic, gorilla shaped guys, lips thicker than 2 fingers each ..... Our wonderful Barbie world is just like high school. The cool kids voices matter more than they should. The viewers are basically the same, as Phil and others already pointed out. Firestorm has a few usable additions like the internal AO. For the rest, it is mostly a different look and feel, different names for the same functions positioned on different places. The LL viewer is per definition quicker with updates, because that is the source code for all third party viewers (TPV) viewers. And..... the thing that keeps me away from TPV's: It is use at own risk. LL does not check the code of these viewers. The developers only have to self declare that they will be good. In the end we have nothing to go for, but the blue eyes of the makers of the TPV's. Edited September 4, 2023 by Sid Nagy English, what else? 6 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 8 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said: should I eat my fries with mayo or ketchup Ketchup, definitely 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceka Cianci Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 Disregard anything any of us that prefer firestorm say, because we're just groupies!! \o/ 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriele Graves Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 11 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said: The usual stuff about FS and the people that use it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Nagy Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 1 minute ago, Phil Deakins said: Ketchup, definitely What? You're British and you don't come up with piccalilli as favorite chips dressing? 🤔 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Nagy Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 2 minutes ago, Gabriele Graves said: See what I mean? Don't mess with the holy grail. Rest my case. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Redstar Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 In almost all cases, the Official viewer will have much much better FPS. And for that, you get a horrible UI and lacking a ton of features Firestorm has to make using it enjoyable amd useful 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 The only reason I originally downloaded the Firestorm viewer once upon a time, was because it had a feature to block "group chat" if it was from people not in your friends list. This was useful at the time because of spam in clubs. Since then, I haven't used it and just use the Official viewer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriele Graves Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) . Edited September 4, 2023 by Gabriele Graves 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillFletcher Posted September 4, 2023 Share Posted September 4, 2023 This hasn't happened recently but a while back I started having issues with my inventory when using firestorm, Things I had in inventory wouldn't show up. I discovered that if I logged into the Linden viewer they would be there, and i could log into that viewer get what I wanted out of inventory then log out and back into Firestorm and the item would still be there in Firestorm. I haven't had this issue since leaving that account I was using at the time which had a large and cumbersome inventory. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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