Stevie Basevi’s Sanctuary, February 2026 – blog post
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 31st, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from the video recording by Pantera, embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to Pantera 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 “SUG Leviathan 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
No SLS Main channel deployments for the week, but the channel was restarted.
The WebRTC deployment will be expanded to all RC regions on Wednesday, April 1st, 2026.
The next simulator release – Loganberry (can’t we have version numbers as well, aspromised?) will be deployed to Aditi.
The new server-side Lua updates (which require all existing Lua scripts to be recompiled) has also been deployed to Aditi for testing. See this document for more on this release.
These updates might start appearing on the Agni (the Main grid) “in a week or two”, with the deployment likely be timed to coincide with the issuing of the latest SLua viewer RC, and will include some additional fixes as well.
In Brief
Leviathan Linden:
Is hoping to look into the issue where, on encountering something like a high step on stairway or a physical bench or some other form of “ledge” and stopping, the avatar will start to slide sideways rather than standing still at the foot of the offending object.
Leviathan also has work going into the loganberry release, including:
Fixes for bugs related to failed simstate saves and crashes on simulator shutdown.
The server-side workaround for mesh face count. This should fix most issues except the bug where, on connecting to a viewer the edited texture face on the mesh will revert to its previous setting.
An attempted fix for the bug where trying to rez an object on a mesh surface can result in a failure to rez message – although there are still situations where this might still fail.
A fix for the bug about multiple chat events for multiple overlapping listeners in a script.
Henri Beauchamp’s suggested ObjectUpdate data fix for avatars remaining as clouds. However, as there are multiple reasons why avatars might remain cloudy besides missing attachment ObjectUpdate data, this might not fix all avatar cloud situations.
An optimisation to make running idle scripts a little faster, which he describes as, “Probably not noticeable, but is measurable”.
In addition to all this, Leviathan has spent a small portion of his “free” time trying to figure out why the game-control viewer UI doesn’t show the device config options (inverting the axis, offset, etc), but couldn’t work out why. He hopes to take another swing at it when he has more “free” time available.
Harold Linden (SLua):
Has a number of fixes in the pipeline, including one that accidentally limited how large you could make the bytecode.
SLua *might* be deployed in time for SL23B, but no guarantees this will be the case.
Region crossings: Harold hopes to have some fixes for long-existing region crossing bugs (strictly for crashes that rendered scripts unrecoverable due to script state serialization issues) with collision handlers, since he thinks he’s found the root cause.
This is similar to a issue with sensors from “back in the day”, so he has extended that fix to cover region crossings.
This fix will not resolve other region crossing problems.
General Discussion
Please refer to the video below as well.
A further discussion on Linden Water having waves, as also raised at the CCUG meeting (and which will doubtless be raised at the upcoming OSD / TPVD meeting on April 3rd, since some people won’t accepts “not an easy thing to do” a a single meeting, and need to hear it multiple times from multiple meetings).
In this case, Leviathan Linden noted, “Simulating water waves, and transmitting the oscillating surface is tough”, with others noting it would be “super costly” in terms of rendering in the viewer.
A number of other feature requests / bug issues were raised for feedback / status updates:
Extend the 10m distance for llRezObject() and llRezAtRoot() – also seen as “easy to do”, and has garnered questions from within LL as to whether or not it is even relevant any more – but again, no time frame on possible implementation. This also sparked a discussion on object rezzing via scripts.
The last 15-20 minutes of he meeting involved a broad-ranging discussion on matters of scripted agents (bot), Tiny Empires. Please refer to the video for details.
Date of Next Meetings
Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, April 7th, 2026.
Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, April 14th, 2026.
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026 – click any image for full sizeSince opening their Homestead region of Natthimmel as a destination in Second Life in 2024, I’ve become an avid follower of Konrad Rune (formerly Kaiju Kohime) and Saskia Rieko, through their many region designs over the last three years. Frequently drawing on locations from the physical world – such as Göbekli Tepe, which formed the basis for their first build (of which I wrote about in 2023), or more recently, the paired lighthouses of St. Joseph, Michigan (which I covered in late 2025).
However, some of Konrad and Saskia’s designs are drawn purely from the realms of the imagination, such as with 2025’s Ythari – The echo of silent stars (see here for more). This is also the case for their first design for 2026, which actually opened over a month ago in late February, but with personal things being what they are, I only recently managed to visit.
Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026
Entitled The Array, this build is an engaging mix of fantasy and the imagination. A place which, in many respects, defies logical description but which weaves a tale all of its own within one’s head, the notes accompanying the setting helping to open the door to imaging.
Then the vision came.
Not a dream—visions in The Array were never dreams. They were memories, borrowed from the Primordium itself.
Lira saw a vast ocean, black and endless. She saw the Primordium as it once was: a drifting seed, searching for a place to anchor. She felt its loneliness, its hunger, its ancient purpose. And then she saw something else—something rising from the deep, something that made the Choir’s harmonics tremble with fear. The vision snapped away.
Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026
The Choir scattered, their lights dimming as they drifted back into the fog. The Veins beneath Lira’s hands throbbed once, sharply, like a heartbeat skipping. Abyssara was preparing for something. Lira stood alone on the terrace, the Mist swirling around her, the echoes of the Choir fading into silence. She didn’t know what the Primordium had shown her—or why it had chosen her—but she knew one thing with absolute certainty.
The city was waking up.
– Natthimmel description, February 2026
For some reason, this description put me in mind of assorted Arthur C. Clarke short stories, including The City and the Stars. I’ve no idea why, as there is little in the way of any form of connection between Natthimmel’s The Array and that story, or indeed, The Nine Billion Names of God, another of Clarke’s stories which for some reason dropped into my thinking = although the idea of something long asleep waking to make a dramatic change in the status quo does sort-of track (with The Array having a City wakening, Clarke’s story having a deity).
Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026
To be clear, The Array owes nothing to Clarke so far as I’m aware; it was to his shorter stories to which my mind flowed for some subconscious reason. Rather, The Array is a place of glorious mystery; a city of geometric shapes bought together in a manner that is both familiar an alien, interspersed with organic growths peppered with bioluminescent stands and ripples, some of which appear connected to the buildings. Bioluminescence is also much in evidence in the plants growing from the wetland from which the city appears to be rising, the plants both familiar and also somewhat alien as well.
Some of the buildings in the city can be entered, revealing more exotic growths, whilst stairways offer routes to upper levels – although some might be a little difficult to reach, whilst deep in the city is an events space. Very little here seems to be static, lights and shapes roll across walls and floors and while they don’t move themselves, the strands and trails of bioluminescence etched into many of the walls and the twinkling of luminescence among the trees further adds to the sense of motion and life.
Natthimmel – The Array, March 2026
Lifeforms and some very Earthly technology can be found within the setting. In the case of the former, fish float in the air whilst fantasy-like gossamer creatures float and “swim” through the air in and around the city’ towers. These latter creatures seem to take two forms – one fish-like, the other more plant-like. Some are blue, some are orange, all drift apparently without a care for those who visit the city and explore, ethereally aloof in their drifting. Elsewhere, dragon-like creatures might be found, both near the Landing Point and within the city itself.
In all, a place very much worth visiting for its mystery and ability to suggest stories and tales as to its origins and future.
The Artemis 2 crew: (l to r): Commander Reid Wiseman; Pilot Victor glover; Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen; Mission Specialist Christina Koch – but who are they? Find out below. Credit: NASA
If all goes according to plan, this coming week – possibly Wednesday, April 1st – we’ll see the Artemis 2 mission lift-off from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, carrying four humans to the vicinity of the Moon, the first mission to do so in over half a century.
The journey to get to this point has been long and arduous; projects have been initiated, cancelled, re-organised and recommenced, funding has been provided, cut, renewed, reduced, extended… but the dream of returning to the Moon had remained steadfast in the eyes of enough people (doubtless aided by China’s emergence on the human spaceflight scene with their announced intent to go to the Moon), to keep political minds engaged in the journey.
Artemis 2 is very much a proving mission, aimed at ensuring the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and its European-built service module are both fit for purpose in supporting crews of four on extended missions to the Moon, as well as testing critical capabilities required for those missions which will actually deliver humans to the South Polar Region of the Moon starting with Artemis 4 – such as rendezvous and docking with the lander vehicle those headed for the Moon will use.
But who are the four people who will be aboard Artemis 2’s Orion capsule, with its “space toilet” that has so fixated much of the media? I thought I’d offer some brief biographical notes.
Commander Gregory Reid Wiseman, Mission Commander
NASA Astronaut and Artemis 2 Commander, Reid Wiseman. Credit: NASA
Known simply as Reid, and a US Naval aviator and Captain, Wiseman has already accumulated 165 days, 8 hours and 1 minute in space (including 12 hours and 47 minutes split across 2 EVAs), having flown to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-13M and as a part of the Expedition 40/41 crew between May and November 2014.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1975, Reid earned a degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, new York. In 2006, whilst a member of the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), he gained a master’s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
In 1999, Wiseman was designated a Naval Aviator and underwent training to fly the famous F-14 Tomcat. Initially based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, he was deployed prior to being deployed to the Middle East for two tours of combat duty. During his second tour of duty, he was selected to attend the US Navy Test Pilot School, where on graduation he was assigned as a test pilot and Projects Officer at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. Following this, he was assigned to carrier duty and transitioned to flying the F/A-18 super Hornet, once again seeing overseas deployments. He transferred to NASA in 2009.
Following his time aboard the ISS as a part of Expedition 40/41, Wiseman was appointed Chief of the Astronaut Office, a post he held for 2 years (December 2020 through the end of November 2022), stepping down from the post to active flight status in the hope of securing a position on one of the Artemis missions. In April 2023, he was selected to command Artemis 2.
Wiseman was married to Carroll Wiseman (nee Taylor), with whom he had two daughters, through to her death from cancer at age 46.
Victor Jerome Glover Jr, Mission Pilot
Artemis 2 Pilot Victor Glover. Credit: NASABorn in 1976 in Pomona, California, Victor Glover was a keen sportsman in his youth, playing for the California Jaguars football team as both a quarterback and running back and receiving the Athlete of the Year award in 1994. However, his father helped nurture a deep interest in science and engineering, leading him to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering in 1999 whilst attending the California Polytechnic State University, where he continued to play football as well as turning his hand to wrestling.
During the three years between 2007 and 2010, Glover earned three further degrees: a Master of Science in flight test engineering; a Master of Science in systems engineering and Master of Military Operational Art and Science, all of which were earned whilst he was a serving officer in the US Navy. He gained his aviator wings in 2001, and like Wiseman, trained on the F/A-18 Hornet. Also like Wiseman, he saw duty at NAS Oceana prior to being assigned to the USS John F. Kennedy and deployed to the Middle East as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Following this, Glover also entered the US Navy Test Pilot School, and served as a test pilot based at China Lake, California. Subsequent to this, he was sent to the US Naval Air Facility, Atsugi, Japan, and thence to the USS George Washington for a Pacific Ocean tour of duty. Throughout his military career, Glover used the call sign “Ike”, a sobriquet jokingly given him by his first commanding officer, which was said to mean “I know everything”, on account of his long list of degrees.
As well as earning multiple technical degrees, Glover also obtained a Certificate of Legislative Studies which led him being offered a role within Senator John McCain’s staff.
Glover joined NASA in 2013, and following the completion of his training, he was assigned to fly on the first operational flight (and second crewed flight overall) of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, also serving as a crew member for Expedition 64/65. The mission launched in November 2020, with Glover clocking 167 days 6 hours and 19 minutes in space, 26 hours and 4 minutes of which were spent performing four separate EVAs.
He was announced as the Artemis 2 Pilot alongside Wiseman and the other crew members in April 2023. He is married to Dionna Odom Glover and they have four daughters.
Mission Specialist Christina Koch
Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Christina Koch. Credit: NASA
Christina Koch (nee Hammock) has accumulated the most time in space thus far of any of the Artemis 2 crew – a total of 328 days 13 hours and 58 minutes; 42 hours and 15 minutes of which were spread across 6 individual EVAs.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1979, Koch was raised in Jacksonville, North Carolina. From the earliest she can remember she had always wanted to be an astronaut. Following schooling, she enrolled in the North Carolina State University, earning Bachelor of Science degrees in engineering and physics before going on to gain a Masters in electrical engineering. In 2001, whilst still studying, she was accepted into the NASA Academy Programme at the Goddard Space Flight Centre (GSFC), Maryland.
At GSFC, Koch worked out of the High Energy Astrophysics facility, contributing to scientific instruments on several NASA missions that studied astrophysics and cosmology. In 2004, Koch took a 3-year secondment with the US Antarctic Research Programme as a Research Associate, spending her time in both the Antarctic and Arctic regions. Whilst in Antarctica, Koch experienced temperatures of -79.4º C. She also served as a member of the fire fighting teams at the various bases she worked at, and also joined the Ocean / Glacier Search and Rescue teams.
Returning to the US in 2007, Koch contributed to instruments studying radiation particles for NASA missions, including the Juno and Van Allen Probes whilst seconded to the Applied Physics Laboratory at John Hopkins University. She then spent time at NASA’s sister organisation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In 2013, Koch was selected for astronaut training alongside Victor Glover. She was subsequently selected for Soyuz MS-12 as a part of the Expedition 59/60/61 crew. Koch joined astronaut Jessica Meir in the first all-female EVA ever undertaken, carrying out a series of upgrades to the power systems on the ISS across a total of three joint EVAs.
Originally, Koch was to have returned to Earth at the end of the Expedition 60 rotation. However, due to reassignment schedules, she was asked to remain aboard the ISS a further 6 months, allowing her to clock up her 328 days record in space – the longest continuous stay in space by a woman.
Jeremy Hansen (CSA), Mission Specialist
Artemis 2 Mission Specialise Jeremy Hansen. Credit: unknown
Jeremy Roger Hansen is the rookie among the crew and the only non-American. Born in London, Ontario, Hansen attended the Royal Military College, Ontario following his high school education. At RMC Ontario, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours in space science in 1999, before going on to earn a Master of Science degree in physics with a research focus on wide field of view satellite tracking.
In 2009, Hansen was accepted into the ranks of the Canadian Space Agency, training as an astronaut. In 2013 he was selected to join the European CAVES programme, becoming a “cavenaut”. The following year NASA selected Hansen to serve as an “aquanaut” aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory during the 7-day NEEMO 19 undersea exploration mission.
Hansen is married to Doctor Catherine Hansen, a distinguished expert in women’s health. Together, they have three children.
The Artemis 2 Mission Patch
The Artemis 2 mission patch
All NASA missions traditionally have a mission patch designed by the crew (with NASA management approval over the final design!).
These patches are generally symbolic in nature, often containing references to the mission or to current or past space events. In this, the Artemis 2 mission patch is no exception.
Firstly, its shape is symbolic of the Orion capsule’s general shape, indicating the vehicle as a home for the 4 crew. A stylised “A II” occupies the right side of the patch, directly over the lunar far side – thus denoting the mission’s trip around the Moon, a red ribbon running from Earth and around the Moon mirrors a similar ribbon in the Project Artemis patch, the red of the ribbon indirectly referencing NASA’s role in aeronautics – as per the red chevron in the NASA insignia). The Moon is dominant in the patch, with the Earth rising behind it.
If this particular part of the patch rings bells, rest assured it is intentional: the Moon with the Earth rising behind it is designed to evoke memories of the famous Apollo 8 image Earthrise, thus linking Artemis II with the first Apollo space mission to fly around the Moon and back to Earth.
How to Watch the Launch
Artemis 2 is due to launch no earlier than 22:24 UTC on April 1st, 2026. You can watch the countdown and launch via NASA’s livestream (commencing 16:50 UTC on April 1st).
Lunar Gateway ”Paused”
Jared Isaacman, NASA’s current Administrator, continues to shake things up around Project Artemis – and quite possibly for the better in terms of focus and goals.
As I’ve previously covered, Isaacman has already made significant changes to Project Artemis which impact both missions and hardware (e.g. Artemis 3 will now be an Earth-orbiting mission, not a lunar landing mission).
Gateway Station: a necessary adjunct to lunar research and surface operations or a funding boondoggle? Jared Isaacman appears to lean towards the latter, “pausing” the Gateway programme in favour of more direct lunar operations.
On March 24th, 2026, Isaacman informed NASA personnel and the press that the space agency will be “pausing” work on its proposed Gateway Station, the much heralded space station occupying an extended halo orbit around the Moon. For those (myself included) who could not see any practical benefits in spending time and money developing yet another (if much smaller than the ISS) space station in lunar orbit, this is welcome news.
Gateway station has always come across as an unnecessary complication in getting people to / from the Moon. It’s halo orbit means it will only be within reach of crews on the lunar surface once every seven days – which is great when you have an emergency and need to evac someone pronto and then have to rendezvous with the station in order to get them back to Earth. It will also require a lot of additional faffing around with rendezvous and docking manoeuvres and generally act as something of a boondoggle, drawing on funding that could be better spent elsewhere – such as the infrastructure actually required to establish a permanent base on the Moon.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman continues to shift NASA’s course towards the Moon – for the better. Credit: NASA
This is what Isaacman is proposing: spending some US $20 billion over a period of seven years – a good portion of that money coming from allocations that would otherwise have gone to gateway – to develop and construct a permanent base on the Moon. Isaacman also expects member states involved in the Artemis Accords to help cover a portion of the of the costs – although as I’ll come to, this might not be so easy.
No hard details on the base were given – such as location, what infrastructure will be required (such as power systems – presumably nuclear – and so on), or how delivering the infrastructure and materials required to build the base will be achieved – although presumably Isaacman will be looking to the likes of Blue Origin and SpaceX with cargo variants of the lunar landing systems.
Not everyone is happy with the move, however. Japan and the European Space Agency were already partners in Gateway and due to provide core components and elements for the station and have been gradually ramping-up for production of said elements. Neither appear to be entirely sanguine over Isaacman’s decision, with ESA issuing a terse statement that could be read as meaning they’d been giving little or no warning of Isaacman’s decision, re Gateway.
The European Space Agency is currently holding close consultations with its member states, international partners and European industry to assess the implications of this announcement.
– ESA quote via AFP in response to Isaacman’s announcement on “pausing” Gateway Station
If this is the case – that there was no in-depth consultation on Gateway’s future with the likes of ESA and JAXA, then while the “pausing” of Gateway is welcome, the handling of the announcement could be seen as somewhat less than diplomatic.
June 2026 will mark the 23rd anniversary of Second Life opening to public access – and as we’ve all come to expect, the month will mark the start of several weeks of events and celebrations running into July under the umbrella of the Second Life Birthday (SLB) otherwise know for this year as SL23B.
On Friday, March 27th, Linden Lab officially announced the dates and theme of this year’s festivities and opened applications for those wishing to create and host an exhibition within the SL23B event regions, and those wishing to perform on the event’s various stages and venues.
SL22B: The Observatory Stage
Dates and Theme
This year the SLB festivities will open on Friday, June 18th, 2026 and will run through until Sunday, July 19th, 2026. The theme for 2026 is The Golden Age of Hollywood, which the Lab describes thus:
Think classic cinema, red carpets, vintage glamour, and the magic of the silver screen. While the theme may inspire many builds and performances, exhibits are not required to follow the theme. We encourage you to share what makes your Second Life experience meaningful. Your interests. Your communities. Your creativity.
However, as has been the case over the last several birthday events, exhibitions are not confined to the theme itself, with the Lab additionally noting:
Every year, we celebrate because of the incredible Residents who bring this world to life. The birthday celebrations are an opportunity to showcase what inspires you and what keeps you coming back.
SL22B Adult: Odin’s Bar and Grill
Exhibitor Applications
As noted, exhibitor applications are now open. Key requirements for exhibitors are noted below – however, for the full list of requirements, please refer the the exhibitor application form, via the link following these notes:
Applications will be accepted through until Monday, May 18th, 2026.
There will be both General and Adult rated regions available to exhibitors.
Exhibits do not have to be in keeping with the The Golden Age of Hollywoodtheme, as noted above.
Exhibits must not be commercial in nature (e.g. no selling items, no tip jars or the solicitation of donations – this includes tip jars, etc., associated with any performers appearing within an exhibitor space), but gifts may be provided to SL23B visitors.
Exhibits must not have any large, purchased elements in their entirety. Combining elements from several different sources is allowed as long as your final display at SL23B is a unique build created by you and/or your building assistants.
Scripted agents (“bots”) are not allowed. Instead, use a welcome sign with a clickable giver script to offer up information or gift items. You may use a scripted mannequin if a representation of an avatar is needed.
Exhibits to be presented within the General rated regions of the event must be in accordance with the General Maturity Rating (e.g. no nudity –artistic or otherwise–, no Adult animations and/or gestures, furniture, etc, must not contain Adult poses / animations, etc.).
Please note: All enquiries about hosting exhibitions at SL23B should be directed to Linden Lab, not this blog.
SL22B: Astral Athenaeum
Performer Applications
Note: “performers” refers to: DJs, live musicians, singers, dance troupes, theatre groups, particle performers, lecturers, workshop hosts, and community storytellers, etc.
As noted above, performer applications are now open. Key requirements for performers are noted below – however, for the full list of requirements, please refer the the performer application form, via the link following these notes:
Applications will be accepted through until Monday, May 18th, 2026.
Submission of an application does not guarantee a performance slot.
Maturity ratings and requirements:
All performances with the G-rated estate regions must be in keeping with the Second Life General Maturity Rating (e.g. no nudity –artistic or otherwise–, no Adult animations and/or gestures, furniture, etc, must not contain Adult poses / animations, etc.).
Performers applying for slot on the event stage within the Adult rated region will be permitted more explicit lyrics and adult attire.
Set-up time, props and tip jars:
All performances are limited to one hour (including set-up time).
There is a 350 LI allowance for props and rezzable items for DJ and live music shows. A limited DJ set-up is allowed (e.g. spin table, speakers, small light emitters/effects) – but performers should not create set / backdrops that cover the entire stage.
Dance troupes or other performing groups requiring purpose-built stages might be permitted up to 1000 LI, as deemed appropriate by the Mole Coordinators.
Performers are asked to show up one hour in advance of their scheduled performance time in order to make sure everything is working and ready.
If you are more than 30 minutes late, the stage crew will call in a replacement to keep the event running on time.
DJs, live artists and people performing on the designated events stages are permitted to rez one low-prim tip jar. Donation kiosks are not allowed.
All performers are required to provide their own audio stream for SL23B. Please ensure your stream is active and tested during your pre-show setup window to avoid delays or disruptions.
The Second Life Voice feature will not be available on the stages. A limited number of performances at the auditorium stage will allow the voice feature if pre-planned.
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 and is held in a mix of Voice and text chat.
Second Life One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26 – one-click viewer installation.
Second Life Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12, 2025 – Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use webRTC voice.
Viewer Notes
Viewer 2026.01.o1
The next viewer targeting promotion to default status, currently awaiting update to beta / RC status.
Comprises the one-click installer / updater to improve the viewer install / update processes.
Has already seen a “not insignificant” increase in the retention of users logging-in for the first time during closed testing.
Viewer 2026.02
2026.02 remains on track for the “Flat” UI and font updates + plus a possible refresh of the log-in splash screen.
Currently awaiting an update to include the updated viewer log-in splash screen.
Example of the upcoming flat UI. Via: Geenz Linden / Github #4681/2
Viewer 2026.03
It has now been decided that 2026.03 will be the maintenance and performance improvements viewer.
This means the SLua and Visual Polish viewers will continue along their own tracks for release.
The SLua viewer is due a further update.
The Visual Polish viewer will be taking a longer road to release, as the Lab want to give it a “good long” soak time in alpha and beat (RC) to gather as much feedback as possible once it surfaces for general use.
2026.03 will be pulling some elements of the Visual Polish viewer related to performance, such as the texture streaming work to reduce the load where creators insist on using very high resolution textures, normal maps and (particularly) specular maps, etc., on every face, regardless of size (specular resolution in particular can be reduced without loss of detail.
Most of the performance work will be focused on trying to provide a smooth experience for those running SL on lower specification machines and with graphics set to Low to Mid quality / speed.
So a focus more on improving frame rates in the viewer, rather than trying to address features known to have a high impact on performance such as Shadows (which require higher quality / speed settings than most lower-spec systems can handle).
In this regards, the Lab has a lot of metrics (including things like hardware specifications as more specialised metrics) upon which they can draw in order to be able to drill down into general performance bottlenecks.
A further aspect of this work is to reduce VRAM usage, as mentioned in recent previous CCUG summaries.
Also being considered for lower spec systems is the ability to “turn off” or automatically disable normal and specular maps on low specification systems.
This viewer will also includes as many maintenance fixes as can be included as well.
General Viewer Notes
It is currently a toss-up between which gains priority between the SLua viewer and the Visual Polish viewer.
The official Linux flavour of the viewer will still be included in the SLua release.,
General Discussions
A feature request to Zoom in notecards, script and image views has been raised and is currently tracked, but as per usual, no estimation as to when it might actually be worked on / implemented.
Given the internal discussions that are on-going related to the viewer UI framework (XUI), Geenz Linden indicated he doesn’t anticipate the request being worked on “any time soon”.
Exactly what these discussions might be was not open for comments at the meeting.
New convex hull tool for mesh uploads:
The VHACD convex hull tool has been available on Apple OS (notably Apple Silicon) fora good while, and Geenz is keen to see this added to the Windows and Linux flavours of the viewer.
Again, the primary aim of this move is to allow LL to remove the Havok physics sub-licence requirement from the viewer.
A discussion on Linden Water and its appearance – with some wanting water to have more than one layer, to have physical waves, etc.; others wanting a “water asset” that could be applied to mesh / prim surfaces in a similar manner to textures / materials – although this latter is actually much harder to achieve and couple be considered a “multiple feature request” (e.g. fogging, a glTF-like transmission layer, etc.).
A further discussion on performance – texture LODs and the associated drop-down in the uploader (which has nothing to do with mesh LODs), etc., – but for the general user, the most salient points are hopefully included under the 2026.03 viewer notes, above.
The end of the meeting comprised a theoretical discussion on the requirements to develop a new avatar system for use with SL.
Campwich Forest grounds: location for the Monthly Mobile User Group (MMUG)
The following notes were taken from the Thursday, March 26th 2026 Monthly Mobile User Group (MMUG) meeting. These notes should not be taken as a full transcript of the meeting, which was largely held in Voice, but rather a summary of the key topics discussed.
The meeting was recorded by Pantera, and her video is embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks, as always to her in providing it.
The Mobile User Group provides a platform to share insights on recent mobile updates and upcoming features, and to receive feedback directly from users.
These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
The last Thursday of every month at 12:00 noon SLT.
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.
SL Mobile (Beta) version 2026.2.1086 (A) / 0.1.1084 (iOS) – March 20 – New User chatbot; support for Portuguese in app UI.
Recent Updates
Several releases through the latter part of February and in March.
Key new feature: new user chatbot – Prima Linden.
On sign-up via Mobile incoming new users had been receiving a non-interactive welcome message from Prima Linden.
With the upgrade to a full chatbot, Prima will now respond to, and attempt to engage with, new users and answer questions.
This is something of a follow-on project from work done on Project Zero to provide new users with chatbot assistance. As such, there is still more work to do in tuning the chatbot for Mobile users.
Feedback on the updated Pima Linde is being sought (e.g. via the Discord channel).
Further work on language support within the App with the addition of UI support for Portuguese to cater for SL’s large population based in Brazil (as well as supporting other Portuguese speaking countries).
Language changes can be accessed via Menu → Settings → General → Language.
This is the first step to supporting the same languages as support by the Desktop viewer.
In-app update notifications for Android when new releases are made.
A big push on Mobile App stability on Android (hence Android version numbering being ahead of iOS).
Upcoming Updates
WebRTC Voice usability improvements, e.g. reducing the new of steps to enabling Voice on Mobile.
These improvements are already available on the closed Alpha programme, and will be coming Soon to the open Beta.
Localisation language improvements (e.g. the App detecting the default language used on a user’s device, and if different to that used within Mobile, ask the user if they would prefer to switch to using the device language selection, as well as support for additional languages.
Improvements to Chat history, making it viewable cross-platform (e.g. Desktop and Mobile, or different Mobile devices, etc.).
General Q&A
Question on why more existing users haven’t come over to Mobile.
Potentially because most existing users are comfortable with the Desktop viewer which, in comparison with Mobile, offers easier accessibility to features and settings and obviously currently have a wider, deeper range of capabilities and features (e.g. inventory, building, ease of camming, etc.).
Keyboard access to Desktop tends to be far more convenient to many that touch-typing on a small screen.
Much easier to tab between SL and other applications running on a PC than on Mobile, which can sometimes freeze during switching, etc.
Mobile might be more popular to some if more of a “companion app” than alternate (e.g. being able to use it alongside of the Desktop viewer when going AFK for a few minutes and still be able to monitor chat, hear Voice, respond, etc).
Question on what people think is the “top” feature Mobile is currently missing that is keeping Desktop users from trying Mobile (highly subjective – and acknowledged as such):
Responses included: Inventory access; better appearance tools; ability to interact with objects via llDialog and dialogue boxes / menus (which is being worked on, per my February meeting summary); lack of suitable hardware (not really a Mobile issue).
A follow-up discussion on how people would prefer to see Mobile develop – such as a focus on a single feature, and how should it be presented.
For example: a focus of inventory would likely be beneficial, but releasing it in a manner where it can be seen but not fully manipulated could be seen as pointless, but releasing it in a manner to match inventory on Desktop could be a major investment in terms of time required to bring it to fruition and release it).
Even so, Inventory remained the popular choice.
LL are planning to survey incoming new users on Mobile to get their feedback on the App as well.
A user question on testing – does LL use VPNs, etc., to simulate logging-in from different parts of the world. Answer: yes, this is done, plus the team is somewhat international – Adm Sinewave (lead Mobile developer), for example, is based in Australia.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 