2026 week #44: SUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Simulator User Group meeting place at Longfellow

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, October 27, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the meeting by Pantera is embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to her for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas is held every other Tuesday at 12:00 noon, SLT (holidays, etc., allowing), per the Second Life Public Calendar.
  • The “Leviathan Office Hour” meetings are held on the Tuesdays which do not have a formal SUG meeting, and are chaired by Leviathan Linden. They are more brainstorming / general discussion sessions.
  • Meetings are held in text in-world, at this location.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday, October 27, the SLS Main channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, October 28, the Olive simulator update will be deployed to the Breeze and Ferrari RC channels. This update includes:
    • Pepper Linden’s region crossing code improvements for vehicles – these can already be tested on Blake Sea, as the majority of those regions are already a part of the Breeze RC channel, and have been used for initial code testing).
    • The new Group Role ability to define who in a Group can post URL links to Group Chats. However, this will not be enabled until Olive has been fully deployed grid-wide. See below for more.
    • Support for the feature flag required by viewers to be able to safely send the GameControlData UDP message for the new Game_Control capability. Currently, the upcoming  viewer 26.5, (in RC/beta at the time of writing), support Game_Control capabilities, the sending of GameControlData currently must be enabled via Preferences. This will change as Olive moves to being grid-wide.
  • Providing there are no problems with Olive on Ferrari and Breeze, Olive will be deployed to all RC channels in week #45 (commencing Monday, November 2) and then grid-wide with a deployment to the SLS Main channel on Tuesday, November 10).

Updates

Also refer to the video.

New Group Ability to Define Who Can Post Links to Group Chats

Recap plus updates:

  • A new Group Role ability to allow / prevent roles within a Group from posting URL links in Group Chat.
    • Will include a “whitelist” of allowed URLs  – those anyone can post, regardless of whether or not they have the ability to do so – which will comprise trusted domains from LL – such as the Marketplace,  the SL blogs, secondlife.com, etc., and possibly others recognised by LL as well.
  • New: the decision has apparently been taken to have the ability set to allow all roles to post links by default – so Group owners / officers to remove the ability from those roles in their Group they feel should not have it.
  • Filtering of links is handled by the simulator. Messages posted with URL links by those not authorised to do so will see the message go through, but the URL will be redacted.
  • This is part of the on-going work to limit the ability of some to post scam and phishing links to Group chats.

Lua Updates

  • Harold Linden:
    • Has been focused on documentation and internal development tools (lldb and gdb helpers so we can debug crashes and such).
    • He believes that all known bugs are fixed in the _development_ version of the SLua VM.
    • However, he is waiting until some work is done to make simulator performance metrics more usable before deploying it, noting that currently, it is very difficult to track down performance regressions, and he does not want to end up in a situation where people say something’s slow, but we can’t figure out why.
    • He will likely do a server Lua refresh “just to keep things current with Nectarine”, but he is waiting on the performance metrics before doing anything more.
    • He confirmed that there is a crash in Lua memory accounting that specifically affects temporary attachments and which can result in a region crash. However, this issue will be fixed in the next release.
    • The llSetMemoryLimit() issue will be addressed in the next release as well.
  • Requests were made for better communications from LL when the new true release of Lua is made (yet again, LL’s inconsistent approach to communications – will it be Discord? Will it be a blog post? Will it be a forum post? Will it be all of these – or none? – rears its head).

General Updates

  • Rider Linden has been:
    •  Some fixes for EEP validation.
    • [Video: 12:06-12:13] A couple of HTTP fixes and enhancements for LSL llHTTPRequest, per the video, including one to remove the restrictions on the accept headers. He is still validating against RFC 9110, so it will catch bad things and invalid headers, “but the types will be wide open”.
  • Leviathan Linden:
    • Has been working on simulator crash fixes.
    • Also has some game-control bugs, both server and viewer-side, to be fixed.
  • Monty Linden has been focused on PHP2Shell.

General Discussion

Please refer to the video from 38:49-end.

  • It was asked if HTTP/2 is planned for the Asset servers at some point? The response was that whilst not planned, http/2 has been outlined, but the viewer really needs to unpin from the use of libcurl.
  • Further general discussion on Lua, including viewer-side Lua capabilities as implemented in the Cool VL viewer (and outside of LL’s Lua work).
  • User discussion on viewer avatar tag colours – more suited to the Open Source meetings.
  • A question on Voice transcription work – this is on-going (again, updates generally provided through the open Source meetings).
  • Speculation on why some Mole accounts have been changed from a last name of “mole” to “normal” last names (e.g. Oak and Pixel).
  • General discussion on improved region crossings as a result of Pepper Linden’s work.

Date of Next Meetings

  • Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
  • Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, November 10, 2026.

Firestorm 7.2.5 release overview

Posted on by Inara Pey
On Monday, October 26, 2026 (SLT), Firestorm released version 7.2.5.81788 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 26.3, with additional cherry-picked updates from upstream.

Note that the following is not a complete review of the 7.2.5 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 7.2.5 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 7.2.5.

Linden Lab Updates

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

Viewer 26.2 – “Flat UI”

Version and release notes:  26.2.0.25386466510 – May 2026.

  • Implements the Lab’s modernised “Flat UI”, including:
    • Adoption of Google Inter typeface, designed specifically for UIs, which is more readable.
    • Improved font scaling and layout handling.
    • A “flat” visual design on buttons, tabs, and menus so labels are more readable.
    • Blue highlight colour to increase visibility of selected list items.
  • Voice moderation by authorised users on their own land:
    • Region owners and estate managers can moderate voice on parcels configured to use the region voice channel (‘Restrict Voice to this parcel’ disabled).
    • Parcel owners can moderate voice on parcels configured to use their own parcel voice channel (‘Restrict Voice to this parcel’ enabled).
    • If a parcel is owned by a group and uses its own voice channel, any group member with the ‘Moderate Group Chat’ ability can moderate.
    • Those who are not land owners or Estate managers, some public test parcels have been set up at WebRTC Voice 1
  • Assorted bug fixes and improvements – refer to the official viewer release notes.
Firestorm Specific Notes for the 26.2 Viewer Updates
  • Flat UI Changes:
    • Google Inter typeface is available for all skins – Preferences → User Interface → Font → Font Scheme drop-down.
    • The complete “Flat UI” scheme is only implemented for the new AnsaStorm skin – Preferences → Skins → AnsaStorm from the Skin drop-down or from the login screen: Mode drop-down → Modern.
  • Voice Moderation:
    • A new Voice connection stats section has been added to the end of the Statistics floater – Ctrl-Shift-1.
  • General Updates from 26.2:
    • New setting to see your own group tag without seeing others: Preferences → General → New drop-down under Name Tags section.
    • New option to hide Recent, Worn and Favourites inventory tabs: Inventory (Ctrl-I) →  Gear Icon for menu → Tabs and Views → uncheck / check desired options.
Left: new Preferences drop-down for viewing Group tags; Right: new option in Inventory to set which tabs are displayed in the Inventory floater – click for full size, if required

Viewer 26.3 – Maintenance

Version and release notes:  26.3.0.31203661088 – August 2026.

  • Add inventory favourites by right clicking objects on your avatar. On Firestorm:
    • Context menu: right click → Add to Favourites.
    • Pie Menu right click → More → Inventory → Add Favourite.
  • Support for Windows Voice Clarity on Windows 11 – cancels echo, suppresses background noise, and reduces reverberation in real-time using AI.
  • New ‘mute’ based filter for conversation history – Top Menu → Comm → Conversation Log → View/sort options → Show Blocked. Hides blocked avatars from the call/conversation history.
  • PBR support for pipette.
  • Assorted bug fixes and improvements – refer to the official viewer release notes.

Upstream Fixes included with Firestorm 7.2.5

New Features for Firestorm 7.2.5

Major Feature: Firestorm Animation Override Overhaul

A significant overhaul for the Firestorm Animation Override intended to “move away from a basic, single-track animation player and replace it with a highly customizable, multi-layered animation system”. Key updates comprise the following.

Run Multiple Animations Simultaneously in an Animation State – Animation Tracks

This capability allows distinct Animation Tracks to be set for a given Animations State (e.g. Standing, Walking, etc.), allowing specified animations to continuously play across all animations within that state. For example: a tail wag against all walking animations.

Open the Firestorm Animation Override floater via the toolbar button and then:

  1. Make sure you have the required animation set selected via the drop down at the top of the AO floater (if you use more than one animation set).
  2. Select the required Animation State from the State drop-down.
  3. Click the + button alongside the Track drop-down at the foot of the animation list. The AO will display “Reloading Config. Please Wait.”
  4. When the reload has completed, a blank AO list for the Track will be displayed, per the instruction in the Track, drag and drop the required animation(s) into the Track and allow it to update.
  5. To switch between viewing the Main list of animations for the given State and any Track(s) you have created, click the Main/Track drop-down and select. Use the + button to add further Tracks (if required) as defined above.
    • To delete a Track, select it via the drop-down as described, then highlight each of the animations within it and click on the Dustbin icon immediately above the + button to delete each of them from the list. When the list is empty, the Track will be automatically deleted.
Creating an Animation Track for a selected Animations States (Standing, Walking, etc.). Animations added to the Track will play simultaneously alongside all animations played by the given State. Click for full size if required
Animation Grouping

Introduces the ability to group animations together and execute them at the same time, presenting an alternate and more powerful capability to Animation Tracks.

For example: you have a set of standing animations, a set of bento tail animations and a set of bento ear animations, and you want to associate a specific tail movement and a specific ear movement with a specific stand as your AO cycles through your Standing state. Creating an animation Group would allow you to do this, ensuring that the desired animations play together and for the same duration.

Animation Groups can be used to create pairs or sets of animations which can be added to or changed as required.

To create and use an Animation Group:

  1. Make sure you have the required animation set selected via the drop down at the top of the AO floater (if you use more than one animation set).
  2. Select the required Animation State from the State drop-down. Continue with either 3. or 4.
  3. EITHER:
    • Drag a required animation (e.g., as per the example above, a bento tail animation) and drag it to the AO floater and over the existing animation within the list to which you wish to add it to form a Group.
    • You will be prompted: Drop on Existing to Group.
    • Make sure you have selected the required animation in the list and release the mouse button.
    • Repeat the above three steps to add further animations to the same Group.
  4. OR:
    • Create a folder in Inventory, and drag and drop all the required animations for the Group into that folder (again, use the example cited above, this would be the stand animation, the tail animation and the ear animation).
    • Then drag the folder over to the required Animation State list (Standing, Walking, etc.).
    • You will be prompted: Drop Folder to Create and Animation Group.
    • Release the mouse button to drop the folder into the State list.
  5. As the AO cycles through the Animation State list (for things like stands) or the Group is selected by moving it to the top of a State List (as with walks) – all of the animations in the Group will play together, and for the defined cycle time, if applicable.
Left – the pop-up when dropping an animation from Inventory on to another in the AO Floater to create a Group (or add it to a Group). Note, as well, the drop options displayed at the top of the State List (arrowed). Right: how Animations Groups appear in the AO floater and the context-sensitive right-click menu associated with them. 

Further notes:

  • To add an animation to an existing State list without Grouping it with an existing animation:
    • Drag it from inventory to the AO Floater and onto the pop-up option Drop Here to Add, displayed at the top of the State list.
  • To expand, collapse delete or rename an Animation Group:
    • Locate the required Group in the AO Floater.
    • Right-click on it for a context-sensitive menu.
    • click on the required option.
  • Group folders can be moved up/down a State list to determine the order of play, as with animations in general.
  • To remove or delete animations from a Group:
    • Locate the required Group in the AO Floater.
    • Expand it, if required.
    • Right-click on the required animation in the Group and select either Move out of Group to move the animation back to the main State list or Delete to remove it from the Group.
    • Note: if there are only two animations in a Group, either moving or deleting one will result in either both being moved up to the main State list, or the remaining animation after the deletion being moved up. Either way, the Group will be effectively deleted.
“Always Played” Quasi-State

A new dedicated Always state meant for constantly active body parts, such as Bento-rigged ears and tails, ensuring they animate continuously without being interrupted by standard body posture changes

  • In the animation state drop-down (Standing, Walking etc.,) scroll to the end of the drop-down and select Always at the end of the list.
  • Any animations added to this state play continuously, no matter which animation state is active.
  • In addition:
    • Animations in the Always state can be optionally cycled and randomised.
    • Always state also supports animation grouping.
UI Context Menus

Adds right-click context menus directly onto the AO animation list, making editing, renaming, expanding, and deleting layout entries easier

Additional AO Updates
  • New option to clone a Firestorm Animation Overrider set:
    • Select the required AO Set from the drop-down at the top of the AO floater.
    • Click the + button directly below the drop-down.
    • Select Clone Current Set.
    • Enter a name for the cloned set in the pop-up and in accordance with the notes displayed in the pop-up.
  • New  “Find original” AO animations in Inventory:
    • Right-click on an animation listed in a State / Track list.
    • Click on Find Original.
    • Inventory will open (if not already open) and the selected animation will be highlighted.
  • Assorted fixes and optimisations, as per the release notes.
Left: cloning an Animation Set in the Firestorm Animation Override; Right: finding animation listed within the Firestorm AO, in inventory. Click for full size, if required.

Inventory Additions and Improvements

Custom Filter Inventory Tabs

Firestorm 7.2.5 introduces the ability to create up to 64 custom Inventory tabs and use them to display selected items.

  • Click the + button at the top of the Inventory floater at the end of the tabs (Inventory, Recent, etc).
  • A new Custom Tab is created.
  • Use Search / the Filter drop-drop to display selected items.
  • Right-click on a Custom Tab to:
    • Rename it.
    • Clone it to another Custom tab.
    • Hide it.
    • Close (/delete) it – this will lose any associated filtering.
  • Note that:
    • Custom Tabs will persist between log-in sessions and save their search term &and filters.
    • Support full inventory searching and filtering.
    • Hidden Custom Tabs can be revealed as a drop-down list by clicking the down arrow displayed between the default Tabs and the + button.
      • Click on an individual Custom Folder in the drop-down list to unhide it.
    • By default, when closing a custom Tab, a pop-up is displayed warning that the associated search filtering will be lost. This can be disabled by:
Top Left: the Custom Tab button; Top Right: Custom Tab displaying results for a simple search (“horse”), and options available when right-click the Tab name; Bottom: a renamed Custom Tab and the drop-down for hidden Custom Tabs. Click image for full size, if required
Wearable Favourites: Filtering via Folders

The Firestorm Favourite Wearables floater now supports filtering via different folders. This allows you to:

  • Create labelled views of the Favourite Wearables floater as drop-down choices.
  • Assign items in All Favourites to a defined custom folder by right-clicking on it within a list (e.g. All Favourites) and then selecting Assign to Folder → folder name, or by dropping them into a custom from Inventory,
  • Rename and delete custom folders as required.
  • Example use: create a custom folder for all your HUDs contained in Favourite Wearables and then filter on that when looking for a specific HUD.
Favourite Wearables Updates: 1. New drop-down list of available views showing default All Favourites; 2. Button for creating a new View – this will prompt for a folder name name; 3. New button for deleting a Favourite link from ANY view; 4. Using the drop-down to display the view of a custom folder; 5. Rename currently display custom folder; 6. Delete currently displayed folder view. 

General Notes:

  • Folders created using the Favourite Wearables floater will be listed under #Firestorm → #Wearable Favourites (locked) folder.
  • If an item is listed in more than one Favourite Wearables folder, it will only appear once in the All Favourites view.
  • If a custom folder is deleted, it will not delete the corresponding links in All Favourites or the original items in Inventory.
  • Preserves current folder view after assigning items.
Additional Inventory and Appearance Features / Updates
  • New: alphabetical and newest-first sort options to Outfits menu – top menu → Avatar → Outfits → Outfits tab → Show sorting options.
  • New:  Copy Name to Inventory context menu for copying folder or item names.
    • Right click any inventory item or folder → Copy Name.
    • Use paste to paste name into new folder  / object name field.
  • New: Hide the Inventory Library folder – will hide the Library folder in the Inventory Folder.
    • Inventory floater → Gear button (bottom left) →  Tabs & Views →  uncheck Show Library to hide / check to show.
    • Note this will also hide the Library from the texture picker when editing objects, the load sky and water picker in the day/night cycle floater, and the My Environments floater (World → Environments → My Environments).
  • New: Custom colours for avatar clouds: two new Preferences options to customise the colour of the avatar loading / bakefail clouds:
    • Preferences → Firestorm → Extras → Avatar loading/bakefail cloud colour – set Start and End colours.
The new avatar loading / bakefail colour pickers in Preferences
  • Improvement: Inventory Gear button options have been reorganised into cleaner submenus.
    • Inventory floater → Gear button (bottom left).
  • Numerous Inventory and appearance / outfits improvements and fixes – please refer to the release notes.

Creation & Building – New Features

Colour Controls for Build Gizmo

Improved access for the visually impaired:

  • Choose custom colours for the X, Y, Z movement axes and rotation rings in the Build Gizmo, and for the stretch handles on an object.
  • Customise the background colour for the position / rotation / scale information at the top of the screen when editing an object and set whether it should be shadowed or not.
  • Increase or decrease the Gizmo’s size (scale).
  • Set via: Preferences → Firestorm → Build 2 → Build X/Y/Z axis appearance.
Left: The Build Gizmo and object information; Right: Preferences options for changing the Gizmo colours, and also for scaling it, setting the background colour for the informational text and whether or not that text is shadowed.
Create Notecard in Object Contents
  • Create new notecards directly in the Contents of an object.
    • Edit object → click Contents tab → click New Notecard.
General Updates for Content Creation
  • Prim count has been returned to the Build floater and is displayed next to land impact.
  • Live byte counter added to the lower left corner of Notecards, indicating  how many bytes have been used out of the maximum of 65536 bytes. Notes:
    • When embedding items in a notecard the byte counter won’t update until there is a key stroke after the embedding.
    • The counter may vanish if the notecard floater is made too narrow to display it.
  •  Fixed local mesh skinning issue with glTF rigged mesh to ensure unweighted bones and now filtered and ensure correct remapping.
  • Fixed inconsistent texture picker preview mode

Contact Sets

  • New options for the display of Contact Sets in a Profile’s group list: in the Profile panel groups section, if the avatar is in one or more contact sets you can choose to list the contact sets either at the top or the bottom of the groups list, or not display at all.
    • Comm → Contact Sets → Configure → Global Settings → Contact sets in profile → Below groups list , Above groups list , Hidden.
  • New option for a configurable colour for off-line contacts in the contact sets lists.
    • Top Menu → Comm → Contact Sets → Configure selected contact set → Custom offline contact colour.
  • New option to hide people icons in Contact Sets lists.
    • Top Menu → Comm → Contact Sets → Configure selected contact set → Show people icons in Contact Sets lists.
  • New “?” help link to the wiki in Contact Sets configuration window.
    • Top Menu → Comm → Contact Sets → Configure selected contact sets gear menu → ?.
  • Contact Sets are now sorted by online contacts first in several Contact Sets views: by online status first (online at top), then by name for All-Sets, No-Sets, Pseudonyms and Non-Friends.

Quality of Life Improvements

  • Chat link safety improvements: labelled and bracketed chat links now have clearer hover previews, helping residents see where a link is going before clicking it. This is intended to make chat links easier to inspect and harder to misuse.
    • Hover previews for labelled chat links are now enabled by default.
    • Link hover expanding/unmasking function is now larger with an instant preview in tooltip.
    • New separate options for nearby chat and other chat contexts:
      • Preferences → Firestorm → Protection → Preview real URL of bracket links in IMs and group chat (on hover)
      • Preferences → Firestorm → Protection → Preview real URL of bracket links in nearby and object chat (on hover)
    • Added special handling for Second Life and hop links so they remain visibly labelled.
    • The Firestorm icon is now used for Firestorm trusted links, instead of the LL Eye-in-Hand icon.
  • New option to set a default fallback group tag when entering unassigned regions:
    • Display Groups (Ctrl-Shift-G) → Group Titles → Click Group to be set as Default → click Set as Default.
    • A ✓ is displayed next to the chosen default Group. Title.
    • This Group tag will then be used when entering any region without an assigned Group tag (see Firestorm 7.2.4 – Region-Based Group Activation.
    • There is also a new checkbox to toggle the option off/ on.
  • Voice capture/device handling: while voice is enabled, your operating system may show the microphone as being in use for the duration of the voice session rather than only while actively speaking.
  • Exposed colour swatch for group chat history that comes from the server – this allows changing the default “muted green” colour of the recent messages fetched from group chat servers when a group window opens.
    • Preferences → Colours → Chat Colour → Group chat history from server
  • Improved Group Titles search – the Group Titles filter field previously only allowed searching for the group role title. Now you can additionally search for region name and group name in the Group Titles filter field.
  • Your home location is now displayed in the “Teleport Home” navigation bar button tooltip.

Other Notable Updates

  • Omnifilter: a flexible, client-side message filtering and response helper built into the Firestorm viewer. It allows you to define custom rules that inspect incoming messages and, when a match is found, provide predefined actions such as text replacement or automated script dialog replies.
    • Firestorm 7.2.5 brings significant updates and improvements to Omnifilter, to extensive to cover in an overview.
    • Please refer to the release notes for Firestorm 72.5 and to the Firestorm Omnifilter documentation.
  • CmdLine: enables the use of the chat bar as a command line.
    • Firestorm 7.2.5 brings significant updates and improvements to Omnifilter, to extensive to cover in an overview.
    • Please refer to the release notes for Firestorm 72.5 and to the Firestorm CmdLine documentation.
  • Music & Media:
    • Stream title history: the number of entries is now configurable with a spinner to choose Max. Entries: added a Clear button to clear the stream title history list; added a Copy to Clipboard” button – Selected lines from stream title history can be copied to clipboard – Top Menu → World → Stream Title → History.
    • The visibility of stream title windows now persists across sessions.
  • UI Skinning and Fonts:
    • AnsaStorm Modern Skin – utilises the LL “Flat UI” – see Flat UI notes earlier in this overview.
    • New font – Inter Tight – Preferences → User Interface → Font → Font Scheme → Inter tight.
    • Inter Tight fonts have more spacing above and below the text which is causing multi-line text like Script Dialog windows to appear larger than before, so a new Preferences option has been added for user-defined line spacing: Preferences → User Interface → Font → Line spacing (requires restart).
    • Major refactoring of terminology within the UI (e.g. Blocked for Muted) – please refer to release notes.
    • Numerous updates and fixes – please refer to the release notes.
  • RLVa: various fixes, as per the release notes.

In fact, everything else – please refer to the release notes; due to matters of a late release notification coupled with RL requirements, this overview has been somewhat rushed. My apologies for that.

Bamboo’s Mundane Absurdity in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
ArtCare Gallery, October 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Mundane Absurdity

Whether you believe the expression “may you live in interesting times” originated as a genuine Chinese curse or (as is more likely the case) a mis-quote fron a speech in 1898 by British politician Joseph Chamberlain, the fact remains that we are currently living in “interesting” times, with much of what has been as the world order for the last 80-ish years apparently being turned on its head.

In times like these, we often ending up in thoughts or conversations revolving around the question of “why?” Not necessarily to obtain an answer, but purely because things are so confusing and affect us in such vastly different ways, we feel the need to utter the word.

ArtCare Gallery, October 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Mundane Absurdity

In this respect, “why?” can be a frustrating – if not outright absurd – question to ask simply because it encompasses both the literal – a need for answers – and the rhetorical.

Possibly because of this, Bamboo Barnes chooses not to ask the question, but instead create art; and so we have her latest exhibition Mundane Absurdity, which opened at ArtCare Gallery curated by Carelyna, on October 23, 2026.

ArtCare Gallery, October 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Mundane Absurdity

A collection of 2D pieces – some still, some animated – Mundane Absurdity is presented across two levels within a space also designed by Bamboo (do make sure you use the Shared Environment on visiting). However, it is not in any way some form of heavy visual treatise on either the question or the times in which we live.

Instead, it offers a series of pieces in Bamboo’s bold and expressive use of colour, framing and layering which are – ultimately – a presentation of mood and the yin and yang swing that can be found both with living through such confusing times, coupled with the swing of mood and intent within the creative experience.

ArtCare Gallery, October 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Mundane Absurdity

Thus we have by turns pieces that are clearly light and joyous, others which are perhaps more pensive in nature; others fold into them Bamboo’s familiar questioning of identity whilst others – to me at least – the enfolding of beauty / attractiveness through the simplicity of expression: a look, a smile or a pose.

To put it another way: these are pieces which both contrast the shifting of moods which grow from a common seed – our own thoughts and perceptions, actions and reactions – whilst underling the fact those shifting mood are rooted in the same seeds. Additionally, they demonstrate the fact that art can produce contrasting, expressive outcomes whilst sharing the same origins.

ArtCare Gallery, October 2026: Bamboo Barnes – Mundane Absurdity

These contrasts, rooted as they are in the “mundane” – be it the passage of daily life or the conscious decision to be “creative” – can seem almost absurd when we consider their juxtaposition. Here, they result in images which are anything but mundane or absurd, but which are both captivating in and of themselves, whilst also inviting us – if so minded – to consider what else they might have to say to us.

SLurl Details

2026 week #43: SL CCUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Hippotropolis Campsite: venue for CCUG meetings
The following notes were taken from my chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting of Thursday, October 22, 2026.

Please note that this is not a full transcript of the meeting but a summary of key topics.

Table of Contents

Meeting Purpose

  • The CCUG meeting is for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current and upcoming LL projects, and encompasses requests or comments from the community, together with related viewer development work.
    • This meeting is generally held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis, in a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • Dates and times of meetings are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.

Official Viewer Status

  • Default viewer 26.4.0.37384746592, October 13:
    • Lua scripting support (on regions with Lua scripting enabled).
    • Improved communication between the Viewer and the newly published Second Life VS Code extension.
    • Offers an experimental Linux viewer build.
    • Includes the latest WebRTC Voice and viewer-maintenance updates.
  • Second Life Chat Modernisation viewer 6.5.0.38448248489, October 16:
    • Seamless integration of IM histories between clients / devices.
    • Camera and Travel improvements.
    • Create an account from within the viewer.
    • LEAP Camera API.
    • Portable viewer storage.
    • And more.

General Viewer Notes

  • Further questions were asked on the new Group Role ability to determine roles able to post links to Group chats. All of this is covered in my week #43 Leviathan Office Hours notes. However, in terms of the questions asked:
    • The server-side support will be part of the upcoming Olive simulator updates (not deployed anywhere on the grid at the time of writing).
    • The ability will require viewer updates and back-end database updates. As such, if these are not available when Olive is deployed, the capability will sit behind a flag and only be available once this work has been completed.
    • It is hoped the viewer work will be included in the 26.5 viewer as it works through RC updates.
  • Graphics Care Package (GCP) viewer: this work is now targeting 2027 Quarter 1 (January-March time), but is still dependent on other priorities.

General Discussions

  • Questions were asked on the recent CVE vulnerabilities and the PHP2Shell vulnerabilities affecting Second Life. No response was offered for discussion other than LL are well aware of the situations and doing what needs to be done.
  • A suggestion to enable folders to have a text pop-up (similar to the thumbnail image capability) allowing creators (and users) to add notes to product delivered by folder (and to their own inventory folders). This also touched on the ability to tag inventory items, etc. These ideas were seen as useful – without an commitment to implement (at least for the foreseeable future).
  • The above broadened into a wider discussion on mesh clothing getting its own inventory icons in a similar manner to those for system layer clothing, providing support for folders within the Contents of prims.
  • A discussion on the feasibility to be able to set a face to use nearest neighbour for a texture, texture sampling, which included the glTF specification covering texture filtering.
  • No work is currently being done for materials bulk uploads, as requested in a previous meeting.
    •  This is outside of the ongoing work related to anti-phishing / scam protect/prevention, as summarised in the viewer notes, above.
  • Requests were made for more prim types / more shaping capabilities for prims (bevels, curves, etc., together with a lamentation for few newer people engaging with in-world building. LL indicated there are no current plans to expand prims in terms of shapes or shaping capabilities, and the lamentations were somewhat countered by the admission that those teaching in-world building techniques finding it hard to interest newer users in building.
  • Geenz Linden left a question for people to consider for a future meeting: given the bar for content creation in SL has got higher, but is it higher or lower when compared to platforms such as VRChat or Unity more generally?

Next Meeting

In Nomore’s Swamp in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Swamp, October 2026 – click any image for full size

Earlier in October 2026, I caught a Destination Guide entry for The Swamp by Nomore (manoji yachvili). As I always enjoy Nomore’s work, I hopped over to take a look – but was a trifle early; Nomore was still in the process of setting-up for her new installation, and promised to send over a invite once things were all in place.

True to her word, a few days ago she sent me an invitation to visit MUD, her latest art exhibition, which formally opens on Friday, October 23, 2026 at 12:30 SLT. And whilst standing apart from the region in terms of its location and overall content, MUD is somewhat intertwined with The Swamp.

The Swamp, October 2026

As such, this was going to be a review of both location and exhibition. However, because of the richness of both, I’ve opted to split them in two, and here focus on The Swamp; I’ll have a piece up on MUD in due course.

Before going further, I’ll also note that in order to appreciate The Swamp at its best, it is essential you utilise the region’s Shared Environment during a visit and have local sounds enabled. I would also strongly recommend using a PBR viewer to fully appreciate the use of materials and lighting to enhance the environment, and that if you don’t, then do enable Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) within your viewer (if not on already) via Preferences → Graphics (you don’t need to enable Shadows).

The Swamp, October 2026

The Landing Point takes the form of a hut – one of several such structures scattered across the setting – where on arrival, visitors will receive a greeting in local chat:

Welcome to The SWAMP. The ground is not stable. Water conceals what we cannot see; mud holds back whatever tries to move forward. Images emerge from the swamp like fragments of something we no longer know whether to remember, observe, or cross.

This hut includes a small memento mori to past art exhibitions from across Second Life as a part of its linking with MUD, and a small hint of one of the general theme within the setting mounted on a wall.

The Swamp, October 2026

From here, a boardwalk reaches out across the mud offering passage across its wetness and passing by a large hoarding advertising MUD.

The exhibition itself can be reached more-or-less directly from the Landing Point by stepping immediately off the boardwalk at the foot of the steps leading down to it from the hut and then stepping through the nearby teleport portal as it stands between two rock pillars. Similar portals can be found elsewhere within the setting, and form a common part of the region, whatever face it may wear.

The Swamp, October 2026

Other elements common to the region I’ll mention up-front are the horses which tend to be a mainstay of Nomore’s ground level designs – although here they have been given a look more in keeping with the theme of The Swamp -, and also the fact that the region does include Nomore’s private home sitting in the north-east corner of the region diagonally opposite the Landing Point.

As the house does have some of the public shacks and cabins sitting close by, do please be alert for it when moving north and east through the region so as to avoid accidental trespass.

The Swamp, October 2026

Further along the boardwalk leading away from the Landing Point, and sitting at the end of an arm that branches off of it, is a small motorboat which can be used to putter across the water if desired – when sat in and used, another will rez automatically at the boardwalk to replace it. Note that the boat will de-rez on standing. It’s a nice touch, but not vital to explorations.

In following this initial boardwalk, it is hard not to spot the muddy hill rising opposite to the MUD hoarding, complete with the head of a poor horse sticking out of it. Whilst a rotating sign above the horse might offering the bleak announcement No-one can help you, clicking on the horse’s head will present you with the opportunity to at least try to offer assistance.

The Swamp, October 2026

There are several other boardwalks to be found throughout the region. A couple indirectly link to the one leading away from the Landing Point via a passage over rocks or by stepping off of it as it reaches and arching bridge and then joining another, and thus offer routes of exploration of their own.

Others may start out from the various cabins and shacks in the setting only to peter out and leave visitor slogging over the mud in the direction of the darker shapes looming in the mist and rain.

The Swamp, October 2026

The shacks and huts contain a strange mixture of elements. A pair of cabins, for example, are home to what appears to be a taxidermist’s business. Another contains what might be taken as a touch of of Damien Hirst: a pig sliced into sections and preserved on display, complete with the somewhat dire warning of This is What Will Remain hanging above it and with an even more surprising scene in the room next door.

Elsewhere are indoor displays of stranger things awaiting visitors, and little vignettes which might appear out-of-place or which suggest stories of their own – own both. Also awaiting discovery are pieces of art which float in the muddy waters or lie within blocky caves to the west of the region. These again reference MUD, as does the slideshow projector lying along one of the boardwalks.

The Swamp, October 2026

The entire effect – the sounds of crocodiles in the mists, the boardwalks and wet trails winding between tangles of aged (and dying?) trees and shrubs, the tall mangroves and the way in which the building and other elements rise out of the murk – is extremely atmospheric.

This is a place mixing artistic expression which can, when combined with MUD, speak very personally to us and, perhaps, stir our own creativity through the narratives its vignettes might suggest. It is also a place that is rich in mystery and curiosity so as to make exploration engaging and worthwhile. Throughout all of it might be found places to sit and observe – some out in the open, others more hidden away; some perhaps strangely juxtaposed (the piano and the oil donkey).

The Swamp, October 2026

There are also, perhaps sentiments on the modern age to be found here; commentary on the nature of art in an age where “creativity” is increasingly about typing prompts into a box rather than actually learning creative techniques – perhaps even a degree of political commentary within some of the elements to be found here (the broken Statue of Liberty and the sign hovering between two parts of it together with the pinball machine).

But I’ll leave that for you to decide when you step into The Swamp to see what might be found.

The Swamp, October 2026

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Fading Shadows is rated Moderate

In the land of the Centaurs in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026 – click any image for full size
The Ancient Order of Centaurs is primarily a community.  Part of what we do includes roleplay but as a community we do much more. Parties, classes, field trips, brunches, bard circle, jousting, quests, Fantasy Faire, and more. You do not need to be a centaur to join our community – we welcome all creatures (even hoomans) to our fantasy-themed regions. If you would like to take part in the roleplay aspects there are some species limitations with a demi-human focus.

– From the Ancient Order of Centaurs web pages

Covering four region (with to further attached regions which are somewhat interlinked although separate), the Ancient Order of Centaurs is a four-region estate and a richly immersive environment I’ve visited a number of times but have not previously written about.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

The estate is held by Julala Fairelander who is, along with Lil Cinnamon, largely responsible for the landscaping through the four Full private regions. These are centred on Centauria, which utilises the Land Capacity bonus available from Linden Lab for Full regions and forms the public hand social heart of the estate.

Adjoining this are the three regions of the Sea of Beckoning which is – among other things – home of the Centauria Community Gallery; Mount Pelion, which includes a large fantasy commercial district and Thessaly, which is largely residential in content.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

All of the regions are open to the public, with three of them representing the great houses of the Ancient Order. However, given that there are private residences (all of which are marked as such) care should be taken when exploring either on foot or via the Teagle horses which are available at various points, so as to avoid accidental trespass.

As the description above notes people are free to visit in a variety of forms – even “hooman” 🙂 – and one of the many charms of the estate is the Petite Village. Again, this comprises private residences, but visitors can walk through it and it makes an engaging visit.

Ancient Order of Centaurs – Petite Village, October 2026

Julala has a long association with Fantasy Faire, and there are aspects of the estate which are mindful of this – wandering the commercial areas of the Sea of Beckoning I came across some of Kayle Matzerath’s (Kayle Fairelander) Lumenaria buildings, which immediately brought back memories of Fantasy Faire 2013 (and, if I’m honest, Meauxle Bureaux as well, which I recently revisited and still have a further blog post waiting in the wings).

A further aspect of Fantasy Faire can be found in one of the two adjoining regions – Lavendell Quest, sitting to the north. This is the seat of the 2025 Fantasy Faire quest. Brought at auction by an unnamed benefactor in order to preserve the quest, it now exists alongside the AOC estate under Julala’s Herb and Fable brand, and is open to anyone wishing to participate (registration with Herb and Fable required), as one of two quests currently available. The second adjoining region is also called Herb and Fable, and is designed as a training ground and welcome area for new users to Herb and Fable and SL.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

From the main Centauria Landing Point there are four named routes of exploration, together with information boards – including one which allows visitors to experience being a Centaur or riding an Animesh Centaur. Just touch the signs and follow the instructions.

Which of the routes from the Landing Point you opt to follow is entirely up to you. I particularly enjoyed the climbs up, around and through the towering bulk of Glenstorm.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

This is a network of paths, climbs, tunnels, caverns and ancient chambers, including a neat use of the Fanatik Crypt Chamber add-on – something I’ve often debated playing with but have yet done so. Here it contains several rooms of mixed use, from weapons store to an impressive wine cellar.

However, wherever you wander along the paths and trails of the estate, you’ll come across points of interest, opportunities for photography and little spots to sit and pass the time.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

As the estate’s various descriptions note, role-play is a part of the AOC community, but not central to it; however, should you come across any on-going play during a causal visit, do try to avoid accidentally breaking the flow. Role play information can be found on the AOC web pages, including backstories and pointers on developing a character. The estate also hosts various events – information on these is provided at the main Landing Point.

Rentals within the estate are provided through Julala’s Jinx brand (which also manages the AOC web pages as a part of the Jinx website). Rentals are split between “community” (pre-themed) and “Outlander” (“blank” parcels), together with commercial opportunities as well Details on differences, availability, covenant, etc., are available through the website.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

The mix of residential parcel styles – themed and “blank” – is a nice touch, offering a good degree of flexibility. However, I will admit to being a little surprised during my wanderings in spotting what appeared to be a giant inflatable octopus in the water off of one parcel and a submarine moored at another!

If you visit and get bitten by the Centaur bug (if I might use the expression!) then the Jinx store within Centauria can help get you started.

Ancient Order of Centaurs, October 2026

I enjoyed spending a solid morning wandering AOC and re-acquainting myself with the regions and taking photos. My apologies to Julala for taking so wrong to write about AOC!

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