What is Different About Firestorm as Compared to LL V2?

[Mayalily]

Hi Firestorm users!

Could you explain the differences between Firestorm and V2?

I've never used Firestorm, and I know it's hard to describe visuals into words, but could you explain a little the differences, how it's better, how it's not better? 

What features are different? 

What visuals are different?

What tools are different? 

etc....

ETA:  I've also heard users say Firestorm is more stable.  Could you explain what more stable actually means by trying to explain it to me in visual terms? 

[Void Singer]

how about just finding out for yourself.... http://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/doku.php?id=firestorm

PS:
stability is less crashes at or above the same perfomance level. it's often system dependant, so users are encouraged to try others if they have problems.

[Dresden Ceriano]

This video might help... but honestly if you really want to know what it's all about, download it and use it. There are far too many little differences for someone to write them all down for you.

...Dres

[Ceera Murakami]

With Firestorm:

• Text chat is not castrated to a 512 character limit, like V2 arbitrarily reduced it to, but can still be up to 1024 characters at a tilme, like V1.
• The local text chat window, if torn off, still has a text entry field that moves with it, unlike V2, that forces you to go back to the bottom of the screen to type your chat.
• You can tear off every one of the sidebar panes, and they remain torn off, and don't force anything back to the sidebar, where V2 forces a number of things to appear in the sidebar even if you have a torn off instance open!
• Most of the bug reports or function loss reports from V2 are fixed in Firestorm, while the V2 team at LL ignored them. For example, it's just as easy to update Friend permissions in Firestorm as in V1.

 

[Wildcat Furse]

Firestorm is very stable and much more easier to use ... *meows*

[Mylar]

I don't know about stability, but here's the list of features I use the most and really like;

I can get rid of the sidebar

Temporary uploads and inworld animation previews have saved me a *lot* in upload costs.

Double click teleport

The chat commands:

   gth #: teleports me to a certain height.

   flr: teleports me to the ground

   dd #: changes my draw distance

   rezplat: rezzes a platform directly below me (for building in the sky)

  there are a bunch of others, but those are the ones I use.

The "Nearby" tab in the people window shows more information (payment info, distance, and age of nearby avatars)

The "show look at" cross hairs has the avatar name attached to them.

That's all I can think of ATM, I know there are a lot of other features.

ETA: Many of these are carry overs from Phoenix, but still worth mentioning.

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[Dresden Ceriano]

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Roseysun Galicia wrote:

One noticeable difference is the side bar when it closes it "hides" from view until one of the options is selected on the menu bar on the bottom of the screen.

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That really depends on the skin you use... some have tabs, some don't.

@Maya: Honestly the nicest thing about Firestorm is that it's very customizable and probably it's biggest selling point is that it can be made to look very similar to the old user interface that a lot of SL residents are used to. Therefore, hopefully being easier to adapt for these users than having to switch to LL's V2 cold turkey.

There's also I lot of features being included from the Phoenix Viewer that were very popular, but being that it's still in beta, not all of them have be ported over yet.

...Dres

[Mayalily]

Oh, I tried about three weeks ago or so.  I clicked on use multiple viewers inworld and then download Firestorm.   It downloaded fine, but than I got an access denied window, so I took it out.  My computer is heading towards it's seventh year since it's build; it's getting old I know but in this economy, can't get new pc right now, plus have had house maintenance issues that were very costly.  Took a big chunk of saving for the new computer budget away.  Not to mention we experienced a near monsoon after the Japan diasater that just about ruined most people's roofs, so we have new roof to budget for now, too.  The force of the rain and the winds were near hurricane level.  It was a horrific storm and one I have never experience the like of before, so pretty much ruined parts of roofing. 

I don't want to do uninstall/reinstall stuff just to try it, so that's why I'm asking for some info here. 

All I can say is I can try again to see if I can get two viewers on my machine, but not right now.  I can try again tomorrow to see if I can get two viewers working and will get back with that answer tomorrow. 

[Peony Sweetwater]

One top of some of those things that others have mentioned - my laptop is a lot slower than my regular computer & the screen is smaller - I find that Firestorm copes better with the laptop's limited capabilities. In the end, I think it's a personal thing for most people, and it never hurts to try it.

[Venus Petrov]

Firestorm is a beta version so there are still issues that are being debugged. I know nothing about the LL V2.0 viewer other than it never worked for me (I never rezzed properly).  The Phoenix viewer is very stable as are other TPVs that you might try.

The best way to find out is to try it yourself.

 

[Mayalily]

Is it easy to understand since I'm used to the v2 LL tools?  Or would it be confusing, and how might I find it confusing? 

 

[Venus Petrov]

Here, try again.  Watch all or part of this well-produced video and see the tools in action for yourself.  Then you can compare with your V2.0 experience.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PhoenixViewerSL

 

[Mayalily]

After watching that video, I'm like huh?  Everything looks different.  It looks like I'd have to go to SL college all over again.  I hardly understood a thing she was saying as she was speaking just to fast.  It might as well have been in Japanese as I pretty much understood nothing she way saying.

Anyone have a beginner's Firestorm video to share, or are there several step-by-step videos for newcomers because all of that was Japanese to me, and I don't speak Japanese. 

[Dresden Ceriano]

Honestly, that's just not possible for me to answer... I have no idea what you would find confusing. If options confuse you then perhaps you will be confused. If, on the other hand, you like having the flexibility to customize your user interface, you might like it. It's like trying to compare Internet Explorer to Firefox... ultimately, it's just a matter of choice.

...Dres

[Venus Petrov]

You know, you can pause the video and even go backwards if something was presented too fast.  I watched it a couple of times myself.  The first time to get the overview and the second time to focus on a few things.  Do not expect to absorb it all.  In fact, if you can get your computer to open Firestorm, watch part of the vid and then go in and click the buttons..just see what happens.  You cannot really hurt anything.

[Dresden Ceriano]

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Mayalily wrote:

After watching that video, I'm like huh?  Everything looks different.  It looks like I'd have to go to SL college all over again.  I hardly understood a thing she was saying as she was speaking just to fast.  It might as well have been in Japanese as I pretty much understood nothing she way saying.

Anyone have a beginner's Firestorm video to share, or are there several step-by-step videos for newcomers because all of that was Japanese to me, and I don't speak Japanese. 

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Then you might just want to forget it and stick with what you know. If you don't want or need the options it allows you then why bother?

...Dres

[Void Singer]

well they do run their own classes on using it inworld... they use voice, so if that's an issue for you, it probably won't help.

[Mayalily]

Okay, I watched half of that.  That explained and showed the tools much better, but then my brain timed out sadly about half way through as she is talking very fast and that is a lot of info to try to comprehend in such a long video.  I'm going to have to watch that again tomorrow.  

[Mayalily]

Voice, an issue?  Not on a personal level no, technological level it could be, but that is how all things are when learning; it takes time that's for sure.

I know a person who doesn't even know where to find the tools menu on IE or that a tools menus even exists for IE.  So, I'm not that bad.  lol 

[Mayalily]

Oh yes, okay.  Yeah, I'm going to pause to understand as it goes very fast.

I will try again tomorrow to allow multiple viewers and see if I can get access.  I have no idea why access was denied unless it had to do with the software that recently went obsolete in my computer.  However, that obsolete software has been removed and other computer issues are fixed now, so let me try tomorrow to see if I can get multiple viewers working now that I've had a computer cleanup/overhaul.   

[Mayalily]

The reason I would like to try it is to see if it is more stable, and/or possibly better for my computer as my computer is heading into it's seventh year since build.   Estimated time for budgeting new computer we have set for about 18 months, so that's a ways away yet. 

Anyhow, just wanted to see if it is better/easier to run, etc., especially since I have an old clunker.  Well, it's getting there. 

[Dresden Ceriano]

Oh okay, in that case, I would like to remind you that it is still in beta and will probably more stable once it's officially released.

Allow Multiple Viewers only needs to be enabled if you intend to run more than one of the same exact viewer at the same time, which, from what you've said, I seriously doubt your system could handle.

It could be that your antivirus software is blocking it, there have been issues with false positives during installation. The other nice thing about Firestorm is that they have an excellent support group inworld (link). They should be able to talk you through it or at least give you the information to get it done yourself.

Good luck... Dres

[Mayalily]

It's possible Dres that a pc entering it's 7th year since build may find two viewers too hard to run.  I typed in Google search bar:  what is the average lifespan of a pc and came across some answers that said the average is 5 years, and for gamers 2 years.

Two years for gamers?  That's too much in this economy for me to afford to be a gamer, so I hope that is not true!  Unless they meant you have to upgrade more often if you are gamer. 

We are thinking of putting a new hard drive in as well as a new graphics chip as our heating system can handle a new graphics chip, but finding that graphics chip could be the hard part! 

Once we calculate new hard drive, graphics, plus possibly updating windows, we could be looking at about $250 dollars plus tax.  That's almost half the cost of a new pc.  Without an upgrade of windows, the cost would be around $100 dollars, if we can indeed located the correct graphics chip.

Also, I think I may have made a big goof about three days ago when I ran my spybot search and destroy (this is a new program to me so I didn't know what I was doing) but guess what I deleted double click as I thought double click was no longer necessary as I can work things with a single click.

To answer your question about what I didn't understand about the video you shared Dres, well let me tell you what I remember:  I remember her saying something about a "bridge" (did not understand?) but what I did understand is that she said to DOUBLE CLICK.  I just checked my double click in SL and it does not work; only single click. 

So is this Firestorm workable by double click only?  And if so, how do I restore double click?  When I tried to double click on the destination guide this morning, it appeared for like a nano second and then disappeared.  When I single clicked on the destination guide, it appeared.

Fluke?  Or did I make a big goof here by removing double click?  I thought double click was an outdated thing and no longer needed on pc's?  Little confused about this one as I looked for double click download and it said downloaded by six people...six people that's hardly anyone? 

ETA:  I did not understand anything else from the video you shared Dres, but Venus' video was better as it showed what tools she was working with what, but I had no idea WHY she was hiding things like home for example, etc, etc? 

And also, when I was going thru all those tickets from Microsfot and that obsolete software issue, I was getting denied for other types of downloads as well, that's why I thought perhaps it was denied as other things were denied as well that are not related to SL.  Our computer was just screwy, but it's better now. 

[Venus Petrov]

I think there may be some confusion over software called Double Click that you removed and the ability to double click to do things within the viewer.  These are two separate and unrelated things.

I suggest that you click on each tab in your preferences and look for the option that allows you to double click to wear inventory items and double click to tp, etc.  They are there (I do not have FS open right now or I could tell you exactly where they are).  It is always a good idea to click on each tab to familiarize yourself with options.  Better yet, watch and pause the vid link as you are in the viewer and look at the tabs and options ans she talks about them.

[Mayalily]

Oh, yes, I did uncheck that, as I pretty much thought double clicking was obsolete, and that is also why I removed the program called double click because I never use double click anymore.  I prefer the single click life. 

So, I can only work Firestorm with double click because she was saying "double click" and then do a _______________ fill in the blank.  Do you know if Firestorm is a double click program only because she did say double click and then do such and such.

I also don't know if I ruined my computer here by removing that program called double click, but my thought was double click is obsolete, as I work almost all things without double click?  So I don't know if I'm screwed or not.  lol

/me wonders if I need to reinstate some kind of double click on my computer, not SL?  I don't know yet? 

I guess the only way for me to find out is to recheck the double click inside viewer and see if that works or not. 

I'll get back with update report on that involving SL viewer n double clicking.

ETA, update on double click:  As far as what I can see in preferences there is only an area to uncheck double click when teleporting.  Every thing I use on SL I use single click.  Did I screw myself up here by removing double click program from my computer?  :matte-motes-crying: