Why are my Meshes Showing up as Prims?

[Runitai Linden]

Short version: Update to build 236082 or later if you're seeing prims where you used to see meshes.  236082 is building now (2011-7-18 21:12 SLT) and might not be available.

Installer links here:

Windows -- http://automated-builds-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/hg/repo/mesh-development/rev/236082/arch/CYGWIN/index.html

Mac -- http://automated-builds-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/hg/repo/mesh-development/rev/236082/arch/Darwin/index.html

Linux -- http://automated-builds-secondlife-com.s3.amazonaws.com/hg/repo/mesh-development/rev/236084/arch/Linux/index.html

 

Long version:

In an attempt to make some non-mesh enabled viewers (i.e. viewers based on the 2.7.2-2.7.5 releases) display something meaningful (and not crash) when encountering mesh content, we're testing out a protocol change that is not backwards compatible with old mesh viewers.  A simulator using this protocol has been deployed to the Mesh Experimental channel, so you'll need to update to the latest mesh viewer to view mesh content on the following regions:

Mesh City 2

Mesh Sandbox 1, 20, 21, 27, 28, and 32

MeshHQ 3

 

The new viewer *is* backwards compatible with old sims, so you can use it everywhere, not just on Mesh Experimental sims.  If you're wondering how we pick which prim to show for which mesh, it's based on the number of texture entries in the mesh asset (the prim you see has the same number of texture entries as your mesh).  Your mesh object will also appear as this prim if you take it to a region that is not mesh enabled, and this is the prim that people with any legacy viewer will see in place of your mesh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dain Shan]

Thanks for the information.

Very nice to have the info before getting a WTF moment

[Drongle McMahon]

I didn't. Nearly all my meshes on the non-experimental server are showing up as empty space. Off to download!

[Drongle McMahon]

Ok now. I think Iwould rather people saw nothing, or maybe a just-visible untextured ghost, rather than great big inappropriate shapes. What are baked textures going to look like on these? This is sort of replicating the horrible sculpty blob phenomenon, but for ever! I suppose it will help to drive people away from the legacy viewers. Is that the reason for doing this? On the other hand, it will make them hate meshes first.

[Runitai Linden]

We'll suss out a better placeholder graphic in future releases, but since we don't have a time machine and can't inject code into legacy viewers, this is what meshes will look like for anyone who doesn't update their viewer.

[Drongle McMahon]

Fair enough. We'll have to try not to leave meshes around where people might be upset.

[Vivienne Daguerre]

I had posted this in another thread, but I think it is more suited to this one.

 

I decided to come in and have a look with Phoenix Viewer 1.5.2 (1102) May 14 2011 18:19:22 (Phoenix Viewer Release).

Here is me wearing my rigged mesh dress and shoes. I had to be careful of angles, because the alpha layer did not show on this viewer and I wanted to keep things PG.

Here are pictures I took of my cooking hearth and table.

These last two items are not mine, but I thought they would be good because you know what they should look like. The first are Daniel's palm trees, and the second is an ice freezer.

I think it is nice of the Lindens to try to make something better than triangles appear to those using non-mesh compatible viewers. I think trying to make them look like anything is probably a pretty tough job, and this might be the closest they can come.

In my own opinion, I would not recommend they try too hard at this. People will move to mesh capable viewers if they don't want to miss out or if they want to see the world fully. If they choose not to, well, it is their choice. It is a valiant effort to support the Luddites, but do not waste too much time on it.

[Ashasekayi Ra]

QFT

There are many items still on the mesh wishlist that need to be coded. I really hope they don't spend too much time on trying to make mesh look ok to people on old viewers. If they want to see mesh correctly, they can just upgrade.

[arton Rotaru]

I should sell this as prims. :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

[arton Rotaru]

This thread should be a sticky.

[Ariella Languish]

Hey everyone! I am on the Mesh Viewer. Where are all the menus? Preferences, inventory, etc?

 

Is there a way I can get all my menus back, including advanced? I would like to shoot machinima of a mesh build we are doing in the near future- so does Flycam work and would I be able to hide all my menus easily?

 

Sorry-- very lost!

[arton Rotaru]

Sounds like you logged on in Basic Mode. :matte-motes-silly: If so, on the Login screen, choose Advanced from the dropdown where it says Basic.

Oh, I see you got an answer already elsewhere. I shoudn't read the forums from bottom to top. :matte-motes-nerdy:

[hombra]

You've done a very good job. Some days ago I logged in into a meshenabled region I couldn't be sure whether my viewer (Viewer 2.8.0) was able to render mesh objects. Most things were sensibly displayed.