A Summer’s Reality Escape in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Reality Escape, June 2026 – click any image for full size

I received a personal invite from Tripty (triptychlysl) to hop over and visit the latest (at the time of writing) iteration of her Full region design, Reality Escape. This is a destination I’ve enjoyed visiting ever since I first dropped in over three years ago, so I was only too happy to grab my camera and hop over as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

As I’ve noted in writing about Reality Escape in the past, this is a setting which always delights in the way it presents something new to see and enjoy with each iteration, but which also retains certain elements and motifs from design to design which give it both a sense of continuity between iterations and also a sense of welcoming familiarity. These elements and motifs are appropriately summed up in the regions sub-title: Books, Coffee & Chairs – something else I’ve likely mentioned in the past adds to my attraction to the region: one of my favourite pastimes is curling up in my “reading armchair” with a good book and a nice big mug of coffee with the beans freshly ground and the milk suitably steamed!

Reality Escape, June 2026

For summer 2026, Tripty presents an island setting into which the surrounding waters have made their way. The result is a rocky-edged landscape broken up by broad bays reaching into it, the waters seeping into the low-lying areas to form wetlands rich in pond grass, frogbit and floating islands of marsh vines. Whilst none of the land is truly broken up into individual isles – tongues of grassy rock connect one to the next with steps providing routes between the mores elevated parts of the landscape and those loser to the water – travel over the waters is facilitated through the use of stepping stones and little bridges of various forms.

The Landing Point, sitting on the south side of the setting, once again takes the familiar form of a deck leading up to a little coffee house, with Tripty’s welcoming signs greeting new arrivals. This all sits on a little headland of grass-covered rock which the encroaching waters have tried very hard to separate from the rest of the land only to be frustrated by a dry causeway pointing northwards and inland, a dirt-topped path along its back inviting visitors to follow it.

Reality Escape, June 2026

On the west side of this headland lies the largest body of water to work its way inland, a fallen tree trunk forms a makeshift bridge (complete with warnings about drinking and driving and not parking on its narrow width!) to pass over the water alongside the coffee house, connecting as it does to stepping stones dancing their way across the mouth of the bay to reach a further low-lying headland.

This second promontory is curtained into two halves by a tall trelliswork hanging with vines. To one side, where the stepping stones connect to the land via a novel means, the waters become shallow enough for the pond grass and frogbit to grow, giving the water’s edge that wetland feel. The hull of a large boat sits low in the waters here, its interior turned into a garden space whilst its hull helps to shelter the shallows and encourage the plant growth across the water’s surface. Whilst the ground closer to the promontory is largely dry, two hippy-like gnomes look like they are trying to encourage the wetlands to spread, a hosepipe held by one ready to release tap water. a VW van serving as a flower planter sits in the grass close, but whether it once belonged to the hippy gnomes is up to you to decide.

Reality Escape, June 2026

The far side of the vine-draped trellis offers a further flat-topped space where a garden party, books, and even a quiet snooze on a hammock might be enjoyed, the trellis work with its vines combining with a curtain wall of rock to give this western side of the setting a sense of peaceful separation from the rest. However, it is at its northern end connected to a broad ribbon of beach running back eastwards to join with the rest of the region. Backing this beach and facing the bay as they look back towards the Landing Point coffee house, are the chair arches which are another motif that links each new iteration of Reality Escape with its predecessors.

Further to the east the land is again mixed, tongues of low-lying, flat-topped rock providing grassy walks around and across another inlet cutting its way inland, together with elevated plateaux forming the region’s “highlands”. Here again, bridges and stepping stones help to keep the feet dry when exploring – the most visible of the former reached on one side by the most novel of chair stairs. This latter bridge overlooks a large structure mindful of both an A-frame building and a greenhouse, under and within which everything is set for a tea party, although the sole guest is a Siamese cat rather than the Usual Suspects one so easily associates with tea parties…

Reality Escape, June 2026

The cat is one of several quietly keeping an eye on Reality Escape, recording all comings and goings with that attitude of curious indifference domestic felines so casually exude. They are not the only animals to be found within the setting, and Tripty’s considered use of wildlife and birds within her designs always bring them further to life, adding both a deeper sense of nature and at time little touches which help bring a smile to one’s face.

Nor are animals and birds the only touches which help bring Reality Escape to life; there is obviously the unique use of chairs, but there are also numerous small touches and elements awaiting discovery, be they the the crescent Moon sitting on the water or the hints of witchcraft and magic present on a table and below the angled rocks of a cairn (and so easily missed as attention is inevitably drawn  to the large tent close by, within which fortune telling, tarot readings and even, perhaps, elixirs and potions are offered) or the many places to sit and pass the time both on the land and on the waters.

Reality Escape, June 2026

One of the many things I appreciate with Reality Escape is the sense of peace it carries within it; nothing about the region is overblown, nothing feels out-of-place. From the lay of the land through the inclusion of the familiar elements to the soft and subtle presence of the soundscape, it all just works. In doing so, it carries a sense of restorative power; a place where the mind can be cleared, the imagination lost in wonder, the heart offered peace and the chance to share. With open rezzing (auto-return set to 30 minutes) the region is also ideal for photographers looking for a location which offers an engaging backdrop for their creativity.

So, whether you are seeking a place to rest, a place to wander with the freedom of your own imagination or a place to spend time with a friend – Reality Escape is the place to visit. My thanks to Tripty for the invitation to once again drop in!

Reality Escape, June 2026

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“Here” with Bamboo, in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Artsville, June 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Ko Ko Ko Ko

“This exhibition is a summary of the last fifteen years of my work as an artist; mostly as a Second Life artist.” Bamboo Barnes says of her exhibition Ko Ko Ko Ko, which opened at Frank Atisso’s Artsville in Second Life on June 1st, 2026.

Occupying three sky platforms – one forming the entrance level and the other two the gallery levels, all linked via a teleport system which also connects back to Artsville’s ground level – this might be said to be something of a retrospective of Bamboo’s art, although I found myself looking on it more as an introspective celebration of her work.

Artsville, June 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Ko Ko Ko Ko

That I use the term “introspective” with regards to Bamboo’s work should come as no surprise; her work is rich in both her use of colour and framing and in her ability to offer reflections of her inner self; reflections that very often chime with our own, becoming something personal to both artist and viewer.

“Celebration” is equally valid in that the pieces within the exhibition do reflect the many facets of Bamboo’s art; art which has developed and changed over the years whilst remaining indelibly Bamboo. In this it also celebrate the fact that many of these changes have caught Bamboo herself by surprise, as someone who acknowledges that in life, she is uncomfortable with change.

There were times when my work took unexpected turns. Maybe it was inevitable. I came to love those changes in my creative path — otherwise I would not have continued loving my own art.

Bamboo Barnes

Artsville, June 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Ko Ko Ko Ko

Discomfort with change is also something that resonates in all of us. Few people like uncertainty in which the outcome cannot be foreseen; we’re often far more content to maintain the status quo. But without change we risk atrophy – and that is a state which cannot be applied to Bamboo’s art. It has grown and changed over the years, often in the most subtle of ways, each new experiment or turn of style adding to the sum total of her ability to express, to touch, to engage with us.

Bamboo notes that the term “ko” carries multiple meanings, whilst “koko” can mean “here”. I’m personally please that she is here in SL, quietly creating images and art, gently prompting us to consider who and where we are through the prism of her own self-reflection.

Artsville, June 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Ko Ko Ko Ko

SLurl Details

June 2026 SL Web User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Web User Group meeting venue, Denby

The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday June 3rd 2026. These notes form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. Pantera’s video is embedded at the end of this article, my thanks to her for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), and the forums.
  • As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
    • On the first Wednesday of the month at 14:00 SLT.
    • In both Voice and text.
    • At this location.
  • Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Web Services Updates

The focus of work for the past month has been mainly on under-the-hood updates and preparing for upcoming releases. This work includes:

  • Authentication/email service upgrades.
    • Aimed at providing better security.
    • Also includes a migration to LL’s own e-mail service.
    • This work is about to go to QA for testing.
  • The refresh of the web-base land / region purchasing pages is now going through QA. This is seen as the second part of the Land Portal overhaul which started with the refresh of the Linden Homes pages.
  • Search updates:
    • Improvements being made to web search. Once this work is deployed, the team will focus on fine tuning things like search results.
    • Work on adding the ability to search by region on the web-based world map is now in progress.
  • Marketplace: work:
    • The Responsive Marketplace Homepage is due to go through QA.
    • There is a review of Marketplace listings in progress, aimed at de-listing (not deleting) items where the creator has not logged-in to SL for a considerable period and the item hasn’t generated any sales. Part of this work is also to automate the de-listing process.
    • General Marketplace background work.
  • Under-the-hood upgrades to the new user join flow.
  • The web team has been reviewing their general workflow as a whole and how work is managed (some of it with a view to automating suitable tasks, such as the MP listings clean-up mentioned above).
  • The cookie prompt constantly appearing in places like the viewer Web Search tab and which can pop-up in SL web services  where it may not be required (or actually feeds a cookie to the viewer) is acknowledged as being too aggressive, and there is a review underway to ensure it only appears when required.

Trust and Safety Town Hall / User Group

  • There have been internal discussions on LL’s Trust and Safety team should hold Town Hall meeting or start their own User Group meeting.
  • Trust and Safety is responsible for ensuring a safe and secure environment for users by enforcing community standards, addressing user reports of misconduct, and protecting user privacy. They also manage issues related to user safety and the integrity of the virtual economy.
  • A request was made for topics to discuss (presumably to help determine which would be more beneficial: a Town Hall or a regular UG meeting). The primary topic suggested concerned Marketplace / phishing scam links, including:
    • Providing a Firestorm 7.2.4 like capability to unmask URLs pasted into in Group chat / chat / IMs using square braces – see here for more).
    • More controls for Group owners to manage the use of links, etc., within their Group chats (e.g. limiting links to “safe” sites – gyazo, Flickr, and similar; the ability to specify if a Role within the Group can post links; support for whitelisting links, etc.).
    • As a part of this discussion it was noted that LL is looking:
      • To add further account security options beyond the recent e-mail verification push.
      • To broaden of MFA options (to further encourage users to protect their accounts against hacking & the risk of their accounts a) being rubbed of any L$ balance; b) being used to to drop phishing links to all groups associated with the account).
  • This discussion became quite protracted through the meeting from around 10 minutes in through to around 25 minutes, but the general consensus was that a Town Hall or regular UG meeting would be useful.

General Discussion

  • In light of recent (over the last year?) issues with the Second Life wiki going down, with a request for a monthly downloadable package of the wiki to be made available for those interested in viewing it offline.
    • It was acknowledged the wiki has in the past been badly hit with LLMs and bots data-scraping and causing it to fall over; however, it is believed that countermeasures to prevent the problem have been put in place. Those still seeing the wiki being down for extended periods should file a report via Canny.
    • Offering a downloadable version of the wiki was seen as problematic as the information within it is subject to change; however, there might be other options for making the information available (subject to priorities), and a Canny report was against requested.
    • This resulted in a general discussion on the wiki – such as perhaps having a compressed (and regularly updated) archive available for people to view; encrypting IP address for those making active edits to the wiki, etc.
  • The above led to a wider discussion on the general visibility of various SL web-based properties and their general use, including the fact that many users never even use their Second Life dashboard at secondlife.com/my, as it is not known about / is not seen as dynamic / informative enough (Something I’ve raised directly with LL numerous times).
    • There is a review in progress to see if various web pages like the dashboard could be refreshed/ updated.
  • Items raised but outside of the Web Teams responsibility:
    • A request was made for a limited sandbox area to be included in the SLB regions to allow folk to a) rez gifts, etc.; b) take part in impromptu building classes and similar.  This was seen as a good idea for future SLBs, and will be taken back to the Lab.
    • The suggestion was made that some means of identifying Lab-managed regions should be added to the viewer Legacy Search (e.g. the Places tab), so that things like “official” sandboxes appear as the first returned following a search on such, thus assuring users the destination is “safe” (as much as a sandbox can can “safe”!) for them. This was seen as something that could perhaps be implemented within the Web Search.
    • A conversation on allowing a switchable (by region holder / estate managers?) option to enable region-wide chat. This was seen as useful in welcome hubs, etc., where incoming users can often arrive, ask a question via chat and then wander out of range before getting a reply – and then miss it, leading to them thinking they are being ignored.

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, July 1st, 2026.

An Everbloom island in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Everbloom, June 2026 – click any image for full size

I came across the setting of Everbloom whilst nosing through the Destination Guide to see what caught my eye. The work of Carolina Jackman (CarolinaSchnuti), it occupies Homestead region which, at the time of my visit, was very rural in nature and dressed for summer, making for a suitably seasonal visit.

A place to breathe.
Let your soul unwind as the evening sun bathes the terrace in warm golden light. Surrounded by blooming gardens, gentle sounds of nature, and peaceful animals, you’ll find the kind of tranquillity that is so often lost in everyday life.
Sometimes happiness needs nothing more than a croissant, a quiet moment, and the perfect view.

– Everbloom About Land description

Everbloom, June 2026

Then Landing Point for the setting lies on the region’s east side, where a bay cuts a shallow V-shape into the landscape. Across the region and on its west side, the smaller of two beaches steps into the land, working with the Landing Point bay to give the impression of a thick neck of land joining the two larger and more circular half-isles to the south and north.

Adding to this idea of a neck of land between the two half-isles is a raised boardwalk strung across the grassland like a necklace. It almost reaches the sands of the little beach when it veers south around the edge of a large pond and provides access to the buildings sitting on this half of the island.

Everbloom, June 2026

These buildings comprise a little farmhouse and barns huddled close to the swinging arms of a windmill. They sit on the lowland meadows, overlooked by what at first appears to be a large house but which is in fact fact a café-bakery with a small residence on it upper floor and a garden market sitting on its broad terrace. It is reached via a wide stairway just of the end of the broadwalk, at the foot of which is a little cupboard of wearable hobby horses for those wishing a slightly different means of trotting around the landscape.

To the north, the land is a little higher and crowned by a single-storey villa. This can be reached quite freely as one explores, but a series of wooden stairways climb the gentle slope up to it, a spur of the boardwalk pointing the way towards them.

Everbloom, June 2026

The villa is furnished as a house, but appears open to visitors. A terrace to one side of the villa looks out over another gentle slope running down to the setting’s larger beach as it sweeps around the north-west coastline of the island.

Outside of the boardwalk and steps mentioned above, there are no man-made paths through the setting: people can simply and comfortably wander as they please, allowing mood and feet carry them through the landscape to see what they might find, be it somewhere to relax on the beaches or enjoying refreshments at the café-bakery or sitting at one of the many other places on the ground or suspended from tree branches in the form of swings.

Everbloom, June 2026

Additional life is brought to the setting through the presence of heron and flamingos. However, rather than simply strutting around the waters or watching for fish from the shore as is so often the case in region designs, Carolina has opted to add a dynamic edge to her birds by having groups of both taking to the air as if startled, causing some already airborne seagulls no small surprise as well. When exploring the island, these little vignettes give the feeling that simply in exploring, a visitor has surprised the birds, causing them to hurriedly take to the air.

And talking of taking to the air, visitors can also do so during a visit, courtesy of a bubble rezzer just a short walk north from the Landing Point. Click to rez a bubble, sit in it and off you go, PAGE UP / DOWN to climb and down and your movement keys to steer yourself and move forwards / backwards.

Very much living up to its About Land description, Everbloom makes for an engaging, picturesque visit.

Everbloom, June 2026

SLurl Details

Second Life Hair Fair 2026

Posted on by Inara Pey
Via Hair Fair

The 2026 Second Life Hair Fair opened on Saturday, May 30th and runs through until Sunday, June 14th, 2026. As with previous years, it is being run to raise money for Wigs for Kids, with every purchase seeing a percentage donated to the cause while the Bandana booths and Donation kiosks donating 100% of all proceeds received.

As with recent years, the event takes place across six regions, appropriately called Blonde, Brunette, Foils, Noirette, Redhead and Streaks,  all laid out in a loop around a central boulevard. So, no matter where you arrive or whether you head left or right, you can easily pass through all of the regions and pass all of the stores. The landing zones for the regions are located at either end of the the loop (Blonde & Streaks; Foils & Niorette), and towards the middle of the boulevard for Brunette and Redhead.

If walking isn’t your thing, signs along the boulevard allow you to rez and ride a “prim bus”: just click to rez, sit to ride and hop off when you see something of interest.

Hair Fair 2026
As is usual for Hair Fair, the shopping regions are lightly decorated in order to minimise viewer-side lag that might otherwise be created by having a significant amount of extra object and texture rendering. The list of participating merchants can be found on the Hair Fair website, while for those who may not find something they wish to purchase, donation kiosks are available to help support Wigs for Kids, or there are the Bandana Booths mentioned above.

SecondLifeTime Premium and SecondLifeTime Premium Plus Membership Auction

Linden Lab has donated one SecondLifeTime Premium membership and one SecondLifeTime Premium Plus membership to Hair Fair 2026. These memberships are just that: lifetime access to all the benefits of the Premium or Premium Plus subscription tier for life – without any recurring subscription fees!

These two membership options are being auctioned across the duration of the 2026 Hair Fair event. To bid:

  • Visit the auction boards at the Fair.
  • The minimum bid increment is L$100.
  • Make sure you read the auction notes in full and select the correct board.
  • 100% of the proceeds of the auction will go to Wigs for Kids.
Hair Fair 2026 – SecondLifeTime Auctions

About Wigs for Kids

For more than forty years Wigs for Kids has been providing hair replacement systems and support for children who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, Alopecia, Trichotillomania, burns and other medical issues at no cost to children or their families. The effects of hair loss go deeper than just a change in a child’s outward appearance. Hair loss can erode a child’s self-confidence and limit them from experiencing life the way children should. With an injured self-image, a child’s attitude toward treatment and their physical response to it can be negatively affected also.

Wigs for Kids helps children suffering with hair loss look themselves and live their lives. Families are never charged for the hair replacements provided for their children; Wigs for Kids rely completely on both the donation of hair and / or money to help meet their goals.

Read more about Wigs for Kids mission, and discover how hair can be donated.

URLs and SURLs

Firestorm 7.2.4 release overview

Posted on by Inara Pey
On Monday, June 1st 2026 (SLT), Firestorm released version 7.2.4.80712 of their viewer.

This release brings Firestorm into line with most of the recent releases of the official Second Life viewer (SLV) up to and including release 26.1.0, with additional cherry-picked updates from upstream.

Note that the following is not a complete review of the 7.2.4 release and all the changes made therein; it focuses on the more visible and user-facing updates. Those requiring a list of all changes and updates, including all bug fixes, etc, should refer to the Firestorm 7.2.4 release changelog, which also provides all proper credits for the work.
Table of Contents

General Notes

Installation

  • Only download Firestorm from the Firestorm website. Do not utilise any other third-party site purporting to offer the Firestorm viewer, and remember Firestorm will never ask for log-in credentials in order to download a release version of their viewer.
  • There is no need to perform a clean install with this release if you do not wish to.
  • Do, however, make sure you back-up all your settings safely so you can restore them after installing 7.2.4.

Linden Lab Updates

This release brings Firestorm to full parity with the following recent official viewer releases from Linden Lab.

Viewer 26.1.0 – Stability and Legacy Search

Version and release notes:  26.1.0.22641522367 – March 2026.

  • The ability to hide transparent reflection probes via Build Menu → Options → Highlight Transparent Probes or pressing ALT-SHIFT-T.
  • Quality of Life improvements:
    • Gestures (Comm Menu → Gestures or CTRL-G): now includes a sortable “Status” column. Click the leftmost column to move all active gestures to the top of the list.
New Gestures ordering column will re-order gestures for either active to top or inactive to top (requires Firestorm’s Show Active Only at the bottom of the floater to be disabled)
    • Camera controls have multiple improvements, including better aspect-ratio handling and a shortcut for panning the camera downward.
    • Improved outfit list performance, especially for larger wardrobes.
    • Restored support for avatar cloth: Developer Menu → Rendering → Render Animated Avatar System Cloth.
  • Bug fixes.
  • Elements already offered by Firestorm:
    • Re-implementation of Legacy Search, added to the World menu (Firestorm has been utilising a Legacy Search capability, however please read Search-Related Updates / Improvements, below).
    • Ability to search the Resident Chooser using Agent ID (agent key).
    • Ability to save Snapshot to Inventory at 1024×1024 as a selectable resolution.

Viewer 26.1.1 – Special Note

  • The Second Life viewer release 26.1.1.23806384790 (April 2026) implemented a new one-click installer feature for the official viewer.
  • Firestorm is not implementing this feature, so nothing from this release is relevant to Firestorm users.

Upstream Fixes included with 7.2.4

  • WebRTC:
    • Fixed WebRTC connection’s task outliving the connection (LLVoiceWebRTCConnection) – Github issue.
    • Fixed WebRTC voice being muted after quickly toggling the Speak button – Github issue.
    • Fixed incoming WebRTC voice audio being disrupted after editing audio settings – Github issue.
    • Fixed voice-disabled parcel does not immediately transmit audio after joining a p2p call – Github issue.
    • Fixed P2P text chat timeout on WebRTC regions and delay voice renegotiation on disconnect – Github issue.
  • General fixes:
    • Fixed “Quick Jump” sometimes being enabled when it shouldn’t be (due to race conditions with AGENT_CONTROL_FINISH_ANIM when chaining jumps). This corrects a issue for the Ponygirl community, where use of Quick Jump is usually banned; see FIRE-34049.
    • Fixed alpha debug overlay blend and mask conflict – see FIRE-36474.
    • Fixed PBR materials with alpha mode BLEND and alpha value of 0 are not highlighted – see FIRE-36363.
    • Fixed the default save location on Mac is the Resources file of the current viewer – see FIRE-36609.

New Features for 7.2.4

Avatar Alignment and Facing Tools

To facilitate better alignment for facing other avatars for things like hugs and kisses – or simply as a courtesy when chatting – or for fine-tuning facing a specific direction, Firestorm 7.2.4 implements new tools and avatar alignment / facing options.

  • Avatar Alignment Compass:
    • Accessed via a new toolbar button.
    • Provides options for turning your avatar and facing specific directions (per the diagram below).
The Avatar Compass for aligning your avatar to a given point (or nearest avatar), and the toolbar button used to access the Compass
  • Face Nearest Avatar toolbar button

    Face Nearest Avatar: a new toolbar button which will turn your avatar to face the nearest avatar to you within 20 metres. This is supported by the following Face Towards Avatar option found on the following menus / floaters (avatars must be within 20 metres):

    • Context / Pie menus: when right-clicking on a nearby avatar.
    • People floater: when right-clicking on the name of an avatar.
    • Radar avatar list: when right-clicking on the name of an avatar.
    • Minimap or Radar minimap: when right-clicking on the green dot for that avatar.
  • General Notes when trying to align your avatar with another for hugs, etc:
    • One person right-clicks on the other avatar and selects Face Towards Avatar.
    • The other person does the same to get both avatars initially aligned.
    • The first person right-clicks on the other avatar again and selects Face Towards Avatar to fine-tune alignment.

Region-Based Group Activation

  • Allows you to set a Group to become automatically active when entering a region.
  • Accessed via the Groups panel (Comm Menu → Groups or CTRL-SHIFT-G).
  • To set a Group to become active for a region whilst physically within the region:
    1. Open the Groups panel in your viewer and click on the Group Titles button to display the Group Tiles floater.
    2. Click on the required Group name in the Group Tiles floater to highlight it.
    3. Click the This Region button.
  • To set a Group to become active in a region when not in said region:
    1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above.
    2. Click on the Type Region button.
    3. Enter the exact region name in the pop-up prompt, and click OK to apply.
Setting a Group to become active on entering a region. 1) From the Groups panel (CTRL-SHIFT-G), click Group Titles to open the Groups floater. s) In the Groups floater click a Group name to highlight it. 3) If you are within the region in which the Group is to be active, click This Region; if you are elsewhere in SL, click Type Region and enter the region name at the prompt, then click OK
  • To remove Group selection when visiting a region:
    • Open the Groups panel in your viewer and click on the Group Titles button to display the Group Tiles floater.
    • Click on the required Group name in the Group Titles floater to highlight it.
    • Click the Clear Region button.

Added Protection: Disable URL Masking

  • Preferences → Firestorm → Protection → Disable square-bracket links in chat (URL stays visible).
  • When enabled, square-bracket links sent in chat, IM, group notices and object text from other Residents are not collapsed into a single labelled link – the actual URL is shown and linked.
  • This helps reduce phishing where the visible label hides a different destination.
  • Built-in viewer text (notifications, preferences, etc.) is not affected

Other Notable Updates / Improvements

Preferences Updates

  • Group IM Tabs by Conversation Type: it is now possible to order the appearance IM tabs in your Conversations floater by type.
    • Go to Preferences → Chat → Chat Windows.
    • Check Order IMs by Type and then select your preferred IM order from the drop-down, where:
      • Groups, Conferences, IMs will display all Group IM tabs first, then any Conference session IMs then any person-to-person IMs.
      • Groups, IMs, Conferences will display all Group IM tabs first, then any person-to-person IMs then any Conference session IMs.
      • And so on through the displayed drop-down list.
    • Once set, any incoming IMs will be appended to the relevant group of tab (so any new Group IM will appear at the end of the grouping of that type of IM), rather than just appearing at the end of the list of open IM sessions.
    • Alternatively, you can check Add New IMs First ad have new IM tab open at the top of their respective grouping.
    • Once set, the ordering will persist across log-ins until changed. 
New Preferences options and drop-down for ordering the appearance of IM tabs in the Conversations floater
  • Updated options for de-selecting chat: you can now opt to de-select chat in third-person viewer and / or when in Mouselook after sending a message –  Preferences → Chat → Typing → Deselect Chat after Sending Message + sub-options.
  • Sounds & Media:
    • The “Buttons” sliders in Preferences → Sounds & Media → Sounds and the volume control drop-down (top right of the screen) have been renamed to “Interface” for clarity.
    • Preferences → Sounds & Media → UI Sounds has been refactored from 3 individual panels (UI Sounds 1, 2, 3) into a single scrolling list of UI sound options. Also added to the panel is:
      • The ability to double-click on a sound entry to hear a preview of the sound.
      • The ability to right click a sound entry and Copy sound UUID
    • A new option to play a sound when someone uses nearby chat: Preferences → Sound & Media → UI Sounds → New Nearby Chat Message.
  • Viewer colours and Opacity: new option to set semi-transparent menu backgrounds:
    • Preferences → Colors → Miscellaneous → Menus Background Opacity.
    • This controls the opacity of context menus and top menu bar background where 0.0 = fully transparent and 1.0 = fully opaque.
  • Time format updates:
    • New Time Format drop-down in Preferences →  General →Time Format to change the appearance of chat timestamps between 12-hour and 24-hour formats.
    • This option includes a link to User Interface → Top Bars → Time Format to direct those wanting to change the the format of the time ( 12-hour or 24-hour) displayed in the the viewer window’s clock display (top right corner of the viewer).
    • Preferences → User Interface → Top Bars → “Time Format” has been renamed to “Clock Format” to better indicate it refers to setting the clock’s time format.
Time / Clock Preferences options: Left – the new option for setting the format for time stamps in local chat, etc, together with a link to: right – the renamed option for setting for format of the clock in the top right of the viewer window.

Search-Related Updates / Improvements

  • LL and Firestorm Legacy Search:
    • Linden Lab’s implementation of Legacy Search is used by default in Firestorm 7.2.4.
    • To continue to use the Firestorm Legacy Search implementation:
      1. Open the viewer’s Debug Settings floater (Advanced Menu → Debug Settings).
      2. Enter FSUseFSLegacySearch into the floater’s search filter.
      3. Enable the TRUE radio button.
      4. Close the Debug Settings floater.
      5. Close and re-open the Search floater if required. On re-opening Search, the Firestorm Legacy Search floater should be displayed.
    • To switch back to used the LL Legacy Search floater, repat the steps above, but set FSUseFSLegacySearch to FALSE.
    • The following have been added / ported to the LL Legacy Search implementation to offer matching functionality with the Firestorm Legacy Search:
      • An Open Profile button has been added to the People / Group searches.
      • Ability to search via Agent ID in People Searches.
    • There are multiple additional fixes and improvements to Legacy Search – see Legacy Search in the changelog.
Firestorm 7.2.4 uses the LL implementation of Legacy Search (left), with some additional refinements – such as an Open Profile button for People searches (ringed). The Firestorm Legacy Search, with numerous improvements and clean-up, can be used via the FSUseFSLegacySearch debug setting
  • Area Search: Copy functionality added to Area Search results using keyboard shortcuts to copy selected rows from the Area Search results list to the system clipboard in tab-separated format.
    • CTRL-C: copies selected rows to the clipboard.
    • CTRL-A: select all items in results list.
    • Copied information is in tab-separated format for easy pasting into spreadsheets, can paste directly in Excel/Google Sheets, and includes header row with column names.
  • Gesture floater: a Search field has been added to the Gestures floater (Comm Menu → Gestures or CTRL-G).
  • World Map Region Search: region maturity rating (G, M, A) has been added to the names of regions returned in a search.

Firestorm Animation Override and Avatar Poser

Multiple update to the above, for details please refer to the following changelog entries:

Building and Scripting

Contact Sets Updates / Improvements

  • Drag and drop capability:  enables dragging-and-dropping name into a Contact Set from the Friends list and calling cards. See FIRE-31146.
  • Names can now be moved between Contact Sets.
    • Contact Sets → Move This Avatar to Another Contact Set.
    • See FIRE-34543.
  • Search/filter field has been added to Contact Sets.
    • Contact Sets → Filter people bar.
    • People → Contact Sets → Filter people bar
    • See FIRE-17568.
  • People in your Contact Sets can now be highlighted as such in your Friends list.
    • Contact Sets → Configure selected Contact Set → Custom Colors → Color friends list entry based on their Contact Set.
    • See FIRE-32748.
  • Sort Contact Sets by people’s On-line status:
    • Contact Sets → Configure Selected Contact Set → Sort by Online Status.
    • See FIRE-21531.
  • Set custom Autoresponse messages to Contact Sets.
    •  Contact Sets → Configure selected Contact Set →select one of:
      • Use custom Busy-mode Autoresponse for This Set.
      • Use custom Autoresponse-mode message for This Set.
      • Use custom Non-friends Autoresponse for This Set.
    • See FIRE-17006.
  • It is now possible to bulk apply Set Alias in Contact Sets. See FIRE-31777.
  • Contact Sets are now supported in the Avatar Picker. See FIRE-34809.
  • If an avatar is in one or more of your Contact Sets, you will see those Contact Sets listed below their Groups list when viewing their Profile. See FIRE-32401.
  • Quality of Life Contact Sets improvements and fixes.

And the Rest

For information on RLVa updates, OpemSim updates, skinning & translations, performance and stability updates, viewer build Improvement and Fixes in the changelog for details.

Feedback

I’ve been using the various beta release of this version of Firestorm – and most notably 80712 since it was made available and have found it as stable and reliable as the previous release version. While I’m not aware of specific performance boosts (and so this could be purely subjective). this version does appear to load my home location in SL a lot more smoothly than 7.2.2.80036. Of the new / updated features, I like the Firestorm implementation of LL’s Legacy Search – if only because I no longer have to click over the the People tab (my usual Search option) when opening the floater. The avatar alignment / facing addition is rather neat and the region-based Group activity is handy for making sure rezzing rights are maintained when hopping around regular haunts where I have said rights.

As to the rest, I leave it to you.