October 20, 2019, 2:10 pm
Updating Your Viewer
If you are reverting to an earlier version than you currently have installed, or need to Clean Install as part of a Troubleshooting procedure, please click here.
Before continuing it is recommended that you Backup Settings. You may skip this step if you choose, however, if there is a problem during or after the update and you do not have a Back-Up then you could lose any changes you have made to your settings.
Updating your viewer need not be a daunting task. The Method explained below is for a straightforward Update. DO NOT follow this method if you are reverting to an earlier version.
Step 1: Get the Installer
For the current release, go to the Downloads page.
If you want to install a previous release, we recommend you use the steps in Clean Install
Step 2: Remove Application
For Windows
Ideally, use the Programs & Features Control Panel [Win7, Win8.1, Win10], or Add/Remove Programs Control Panel to remove the Firestorm application. If you have a Firestorm folder in your Start Menu, check for the Uninstall link there.
For Mac
Navigate to Applications and trash the Firestorm App.
For linux
The Firestorm install directory will be wherever you extracted the download archive. Typically this will be in your home directory somewhere, such as ~/Phoenix-Firestorm_*. Delete this directory and everything inside it.
If you used the install script as root, look in your /opt directory. You will need to su root or sudo rm to delete the firestorm directory there.
Step 3: Install Firestorm
Having done all those steps, you may now install Firestorm. Installing Firestorm is done in pretty much the same way as any other application on your computer.
For Windows
Run the downloaded installer. The 32-bit installer will offer you the chance to change the destination directory; the 64-bit installer shows the destination when you click the Options button.
The installer will create a shortcut icon on the desktop.
Note: The 32-bit installer offers you an option to start the viewer when it's done, and you should choose No. Choosing Yes tends to cause problems for some people, especially if they restore during that session. The shortcut is the preferred way to launch the viewer.
For Mac
Find the .dmg file you just downloaded and double-click it to mount it. Then drag the Firestorm app icon into your Applications folder. More detailed instructions can be found here
Note: Apple's Gatekeeper software may initially prevent your opening the viewer, depending on your Gatekeeper settings. If it does, there is a simple way to change it: See “How to open an app from a unidentified developer and exempt it from Gatekeeper” on this page. Once you have allowed Firestorm to open via this method, Gatekeeper will not flag it on subsequent launches (until you reinstall Firestorm again).
For linux
Extract the downloaded tar.bz2 or tar.xz into any directory and run the firestorm script inside that directory to launch it. You can optionally install by running the install script inside that directory. And you can optionally create a desktop launcher. Refer to the README files for more information.
If you are installing on a 64-bit Linux system, you will need to install some 32-bit libraries. Refer to this page for guidance on required compatibility libraries.
If you use the Nautilus File Manager and double clicking the firestorm launch script opens the script in an editor, you will need to modify how Nautilus handles scripts.
Flash Player
Go to Adobe Flash Player, select your operating system, then select the appropriate flash player.
Important Notes
With a new version comes new code, new settings etc. Your settings can become corrupt and important information can become “scrambled”. When installing a different version of the viewer, using settings from the previously installed version may cause undesirable behavior in the viewer. If you experience issues after performing a straight update please
Back-Up Your Settings and then
Clear Your Settings.
If you are experiencing issues after updating via this method, you may be asked to perform a full
Clean Install by our support team.
If you have heavily modified settings and you are concerned that they may cause an issue on updating and/or restoring them, you can take the precautionary measuring of
Filing a Jira and attaching a zip file of your settings. *Please Note*: if taking this step please allow a minimum of 72 hours for this to be checked and responded to.
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October 21, 2019, 8:03 pm
Toolbox Window - Edit/Build Mode - Texture Tab
![Texture Tab - Edit/Build Mode]( "Texture Tab - Edit/Build Mode")
This page covers the Texture tab of the toolbox window in Edit and Build modes. This tab is shown in the image to the right. The upper section of this window is described here.
In Edit mode, fields will be unavailable if the object is not modifyable.
NOTE: The term “Object” is used to refer to a single unlinked prim, or to a linked set of prims.
Note that the overall properties of a linked set are the same as the properties of the root prim.
NOTE: All of the texture parameters described below apply to all selected faces of an object. If you have not selected any explicitly, then the entire object will be affected by any changes made.
Color Picker: Opens the
color picker, which may be used to tint the object.
Transparency: This allows you to make the selected face(s) or object(s) partly transparent. The value is expressed as a percentage, with the maximum being 100% (totally transparent).
Glow: Causes the object to glow. Note that Glow does not imply light; Glow is a very different visual effect. Glow can vary from 0 (totally off) to 1.
Full Bright: Check to exclude selected faces from external lighting and shadow effects and render them at full, neutral brightness. Commonly used on screens displaying media and information signs. And often overused to ill-effect on plants and buildings.
Then there is a drop-down menu which allows you to select what kind of information the prim (or prim face) will show: a texture or media.
Materials
Seeing, and therefore editing, Materials requires that Advanced Lighting Model be enabled. This can be doen in Preferences→ Graphics -> General.
Use this mode to apply standard textures to an object. Aside from that, you can also apply bump (normal) and shiny (specular) images for added effects1). This combination is known as materials.
The drop-down to the right allows you to select which of these three types of images you are working with. Depending on the current seelction, the options immediately below will vary.
Texture (diffuse)
Texture Picker: Opens a window from which you may select a new texture to used for the texture shininess.
Or you can leave that blank and use one of the old-style values (low, medium, high) - or none.
Glossiness: This controls the “glossiness”, or the roughness, of the reflected light on a surface. The lower this value is, the “rougher” the light reflectance is, while the higher the value the “sharper” the light reflectance is. When the normal map’s alpha channel is present, the specular exponent map contained in it is modulated by this parameter.
Environment: Modulates the intensity of the environment on the surface as a whole.
Color: Tints the light reflected from the object; this value is combined with any value from the color for the pixel as specified in the Specular Map, if any.
Texture Channel Encoding
How the renderer will treat each color value in a texture image channel.
| Parameter | Red | Green | Blue | Alpha |
|---|
| Diffuse Map | Red | Green | Blue | selectable; see alpha mode |
| Normal Map | Normal X Axis | Normal Y Axis | Normal Z Axis | Specular exponent |
| Specular Map | Red | Green | Blue | Environment intensity |
Media is usually applied to single faces of a prim, so before starting, select a specific face.
Click the Choose… button to select a media URL. The media settings window opens. Specify the URL to display and select other parameters as appropriate.
To change the URL, click the Choose… button again; to remove the media altogether, click the Remove button.
The Align button automatically stretches and aligns media to fit the face(s) it's displayed on. Align relies on the Size setting in Media Settings to determine the correct aspect ratio.
Mapping
The remainer of this tab of the Toolbox applies both to textures and media.
Mapping: How textures are mapped onto the object. A typical use for Planar is reducing distortion on angled surfaces. There is a Torley tutorial on planar mapping
here.
Horizontal/Vertical Scale: Sets how many times the applied texture is repeated. Use Flip to reverse the texture's orientation.
Repeats / Meter: Sets how many times the texture is repeated per meter.
Rotation: Rotates the texture on the selected face(s) or object(s).
Horizontal/Vertical Offset: Shifts the center of the texture relative to the center of the face. Generally used to align textures across objects.
Note that if you select a specific face, you can press and hold the Control key to manually drag the texture across the prim face.
Align planar faces: This can be used to align textures of different prim faces, a very handy tool. It requires that the faces have Planar texture alignment. Select all the faces, then click this box. The textures will align to the last face selected.
Synchronize materials: If you enable this, then any changes made while editing (for example) the bumpiness parameters will also be applied to the other two (texture and shininess).
Then there are two buttons:
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October 22, 2019, 12:13 pm
Firestorm - Older Releases
Firestorm 6.2.4 (57588) Release
Firestorm 6.0.2 (56680) Animesh Release
Firestorm 5.1.7 (55786) Release (Opensim Only)
“n/a” in the table below means “not available”; see the boxed note above.
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October 22, 2019, 4:42 pm
How to Replace Your Firestorm.exe in Windows 10
If you have certain Intel HD graphics, and have upgraded your PC to Windows 10, your graphics card will not be fully supported by Intel. If you have this issue, you will be unable to log in. You will get the following error dialog box:
Firestorm is unable to run because your video card drivers did not install properly or are out of date, or are for unsupported hardware. Please make sure you have the latest video card drivers, and even if you do have the latest, try reinstalling them. If you continue to receive this message, contact the Second Life Support Portal
This is not a function of the viewer, but instead is a function of the drivers provided by Intel for your computer. However, we have developed a workaround that should help most users with this issue continue to have the ability to use the Firestorm viewer.
Note: This fix is only available for 32-bit versions of Firestorm.
Even if you have a 64-bit version of Windows 10, and usually use the 64-bit version of Firestorm, you will still need to use the 32-bit viewer.
The fix is not required for Version 5.1.7, but is still available as an option.
There is no fix that will work with the 64-bit version.
Important: Do
NOT run in Compatibility mode.
Uninstall any
64bit versions of Firestorm.
Download and install the
32bit version Opensim version of Firestorm; you will be replacing one file, not the entire install.
Downloads Verify that your graphics card is one of the affected versions. You can find a table of affected versions here:
Graphics Drivers Supported Operating Systems, but most frequently we have seen Intel
HD 2000 and Intel
HD 3000. You should be able to verify your graphics in the system info of your computer.
Below, download the 32-bit OpenSim version to your computer. You will need to unzip the file and save it on your computer in a location you will remember.
On your computer, open File Explorer. (If it isn't on your taskbar you may need to use the search to find it.) When you open it, select the View tab at the top of the page and check the box on the right hand side that says File Name Extensions.
In File Explorer, navigate to This PC then Local Disk (C:) (or the location you normally download Firestorm, if it differs) and then navigate to Program Files (x86). Open Program Files (x86), locate the Firestorm folder, and open it. In the Firestorm folder, locate the Firestorm-Release.exe file and delete it.
Replace it with the Firestorm.exe file that was in the zipped folder you downloaded from the web site.
You should now be able to run Firestorm on your PC.
Downloads - Firestorm 5.1.7
Note: When using this workaround your Help–> About Firestorm panel will show your
OS as Windows 8 rather than Windows 10.
See
this page for documentation on Firestorm 6.0.2 (56680) and earlier.
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October 24, 2019, 5:07 pm
Issues with the Firestorm LSL Bridge
NOTE: If you are on Firestorm 4.4.2, the bridge will not work, unfortunately.
NOTE: The Firestorm bridge will not be created if you are on a parcel which has scripts disabled. If this is your case, please find a parcel where scripts are enabled for you and try to create it manually:
top menu bar, Avatar → Avatar Health → Recreate
LSL Bridge.
There are some known issues with the Firestorm bridge:
If you have the bridge recreating on each log in or each
TP, this is likely related to your connection. So, please make sure your bandwidth is set correctly, per
this page - and please follow the steps exactly.
If you need to get rid of excess bridges that may have accumulated due to this frequent recreation, proceed as above.
If the bridge won't create, check to make sure that your inventory is fully loaded–specifically, the Library folder. The bridge uses an item from the Library, so if the Library is not loaded, bridge creation could fail.
If the Library will not load, and you cannot find the item “Rock - medium, round” in the Landscaping folder, clear your Library cache file per this page:
how to clear cache.
Attempting to wear the bridge manually while it is being created can “break” it. When bridge creation begins, you will see a message in local chat; when creation is complete, you will see another message. During this period, do not attempt to do anything with the bridge; allow it to finish.
If you use another viewer after Firestorm, the Firestorm bridge will display a message to local chat. It should, however, recognize that a different viewer is being used, and not repeat this message again. Should it happen that the message repeats, simply detach the bridge while in the other viewer.
If you are wearing a bridge from an older version of Firestorm, the bridge will (correctly) detach but a new one will not be made. To have a new one generated, use the
top menu bar, go to Avatar → Avatar Health → Recreate
LSL Bridge. This will “clean up” any old bridges and make a new one.
If the bridge is persistently unable to finish recreating itself, even on script-enabled land, and you have already relogged and tried Avatar → Avatar Health → Recreate
LSL Bridge several times, try clearing your
inventory cache in Avatar → Preferences → Network & Files → Directories; click the “Clear Inventory Cache” button there and relog.
If you see a message such as
#Firestorm LSL Bridge v2.24 whispers: OpenCollar in local chat, then the bridge script was reset while it was worn. Make sure you are on script-enabled land, then on the
top menu bar, go to Avatar → Avatar Health → Recreate
LSL Bridge.
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October 24, 2019, 6:09 pm
Bakes on Mesh
IMPORTANT: We cannot, and will not, provide support for specific products. For those, please ask in the
support group for the mesh body/head you use, or if no group exists, contact the maker.
Introduction
In essence, Bakes on Mesh (BoM) allows you to “wear” system skins, tattoos and clothing on mesh avatars. It achieves this by “baking” these system layers onto the mesh. More details on this and how to use BoM has been amply covered elsewhere.
FAQ
I See People with Strange Colored Splotches
If you have not yet updated to the BoM-capable version of Firestorm, then people using BoM will appear, to you, to have solid colored bodies with text on them, or splotches of color. You will need to update the viewer to see them properly. Firestorm viewers versions up through 6.2.4 do not support BoM.
Does My Mesh Body/Head Support BoM?
Have a look here or contact the creator.
My Mesh Body/Head Doesn't Support BoM - What Do I Do?
You can continue to use appliers as you did before; there is no requirement to migrate to BoM. However, if you wish to use BoM, ask in the product support group or contact the maker of the body/head to ask how you might use BoM with their product.
My Mesh Body/Head Supports BoM. Can I Wear Any System Skin?
In theory, yes. In practice, however, the body/head UV map (i.e., the “layout” of the skin) may not be a perfect match, and you may see stretching. In particular, you may have problems with the hands, feet, and finger- and toenails. Always try demos before buying!
Can I Continue to Use Appliers?
Maybe… it all depends on the body. Some BoM-compatible bodies may remove the onionskin layers. So for this, contact the support group to ask.
Why Is My Mesh Body All Red?
You are probably still wearing an alpha layer; with BoM, this will make your avatar red. Remove the alpha layer.
Recommended reading:
Video by Strawberry Linden: “Getting Started with Bakes on Mesh in Second Life”:
Since those pages cover all the basics, repeating it all here would be redundant. Instead this page draws attention to some specific issues, and adds additional information.
An unofficial list of products supporting BoM natively may be found here (we do not maintain that list).
Support Groups
A partial list of support groups where you can go for product-specific help for mesh bodies and heads. If your product's group is not listed here, use viewer search (Ctrl-F), or contact the maker.
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September 30, 2019, 7:41 pm
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September 30, 2019, 8:25 pm
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October 26, 2019, 3:01 pm
Discord
This window allows you to connect your SL account with your discord account. Once connected, Discord will show your SL online status next to your name, and optionally, your location in SL (see below).
NOTE: You need to have the Discord client installed and running for this to work.
Both Discord and Firestorm must be running with the same access level (ie, user or admin).
1) ![]()
Settings
Automatically connect on login: If enabled, you will be connected to Discord each time you log into
SL.
Share username: Enabling this option will display your username and display name as part of the game information.
Connect: Click here to manually connect to your Discord account.
Share name of regions with following content rating to Discord: Here you can select whether or not to display your in-world location in Discord.
Don't share region names to Discord if they are listed below: Specify regions which you never want shared. Note that this requires the region name only and must be complete; full
SLURL's and partial name matches will not work. To remove a region from the list simply select it in the list and then click the
- button at the bottom of the window.
Initial Set Up
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