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General Discussion
I've started using the Firestorm Mesh Beta. I have a few pieces of mesh clothing on my modern avatar and I have to say I like the way they move. However, the Firestorm team did not want to release this version yet, they felt it was far too buggy, and only did so because their user base was begging them to release it. I've had problems with avatars going invisible - except for the prims attached to them - which is an eerie sight believe me - but this resolves when I clear cache and restart.
Whichever viewer you use, I think this might be a very good time to upgrade your computer's RAM and also, if possible and/or needed, your video card. Giving your computer as much processing power as it can work with always enhances the SL experience, of course. Although it does not feel like a "game" in many ways, it helps to remember that, at least in the sense of computer graphics and configuration, it is indeed considered a "game" and therefore looking to "gamer" specs will enhance the user experience considerably.
BTW, Tat, re: Emerald/Phoenix/accountability, the Phoenix project people, many of whom worked on Emerald, have been keeping in touch with the Labs. They certainly don't want another Emerald situation. The head of the Phoenix project has a biweekly show on Metamix TV, which keeps the user base updated about what is going on with the coding and features, etc. I'll stop now before I start sounding like a serious fangirl - Firestorm is not perfect but I find it better and easier to work in than what else is out there. As old people on the intertubes say, "YMMV".