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.
Default viewer 26.3 – 26.3.0.31203661088, August 10, promoted August 17 – quality of life improvements; performance improvements; bug fixes – No Change.
Second Life Lua Editor RC / beta viewer 26.4.0.34502396632, September 11 – NEW.
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 Modernization viewer 26.3.0.33643480083, September 4 – NEW.
Improved chat (IM) history retention, including integration between the viewer and SL Mobile; on desktop, any existing local history and newer message history are brought together into a single conversation..
General Viewer Notes
26.4 was initially released on September 9, but suffered a high crash rate, with one crasher in particular needing a hotfix, resulting in the release of the September 11 update as listed above.
Graphics Care Package (GCP) viewer:
Work continues with bug fixing within the viewer.
Additionally, server-side work is underway to provide support for the new glTF parameters (e.g. IoR, Specular, and possibly, depending on further internal testing against viewer performance, some of the glTF Transmission capabilities).
If included, the latter will enable pseudo water prims – that is prims that have the appearance of Linden Water, but not the native attributes such as buoyancy, underwater haze, etc.
Once this server-side work is completed, the plan is to put up a region on Aditi (the Beta grid) so that the GCP (when available) and the new glTF parameters can be tested.
GCP includes the ability to have more than two shadow-casting light projectors in a scene (although the default remains at 2).
Initially (at least) this will be a Debug setting, not a Preferences option, as setting the value too high can result in murdering the viewer’s frame rate.
This update includes a fix to the long-standing bug that the number of projectors casting shadows is not correctly calculated.
Confirmation that game_control is now entering the queue for inclusion into a viewer update, but no confirmations as to when this is likely to occur or which viewer update will see it surface.
General Discussions
Raise the maximum lighting radius beyond 20 meters was raised, together with the positives and negatives to it (the latter being one parcel with extended lighting overpowering neighbouring parcels + the idea of making lighting (like sounds and avatar visibility) so it can be limited to the parcel boundaries.
It was also suggested that better static shadow mapping could eliminate many of the problems such an extension might cause.
This led to a brief description of the issues of adding capabilities such as point lighting shadows and static shadow mapping to SL (in short: adding the required parameters to the existing protocol “is a little bit painful right now”, and requires the cleaning-up of some technical debt).
As such, improvements to lighting without it being a nuisance to other users is not impossible, it’s just not a current focus.
Introducing Opacity Control for BoM Layers was raised, and Geenz indicated that there are numerous improvements which could be made to Bakes on Mesh (BoM), such that it is fast becoming a project or group of projects in its own right.
One of the first could be a clean-up of the UI/UX around BoM in order to make it less cryptic and easier for lay users to understand / use.
This led to a more general discussion on how capabilities and features in Second Life have often evolved and options for improving aspects of BoM and avatar attachments (e.g. making creators define the default attach point at upload, rather than simply leaving it undefined and the right hand being selected as the default). This took up much of the latter half of the meeting.
A request was made for the ability to bulk upload glTF materials. This is not something currently under consideration, but could be explored in the future.
Work is continuing on improving texture streaming – although LL are anticipating “some noise” to be made about some of the behavioural changes involved with this work once it surfaces (which is one of the reasons a quality drop-down selector for textures is being included in the viewer).
This led to comments that textures should perhaps show an “average” colour when loading, rather than just being grey.
Geenz also suggested it would be nice to have some form of mechanism which could better sample / size textures on upload as well.
A request was made to make the options to rescale the viewer UI more obvious – particularly for incoming new users with vision impairments – was made. This will be looked into (no pun intended), and might possibly be done through something like a further “Accessibility drop-down” in the two right of the viewer (where the Graphics and Camera presets, etc, are already located), or even via auto-detection (as is already done for MacOS under high definition mode).
Whilst not content creation related, it was indicated that the simulator Snack RC to contain Pepper Linden’s region crossing improvements (see my recent Leviathan Office Hours update for further information) will be deployed in the next week or two, and will likely include regions on Blake Sea.
As many know, I like in-world building and kitbashing and I’ve been known to bore people to tears blithering on about various versions of my main island home over the years. And I’m about to do so again 😀 .
For the last few years I’ve focused on building various homes using the Marcthur Goosson’s NO Cottage Bizar (and excellent design for considered kitbashing); but I’ve also attempted a more “subterranean” residence on a number of occasions, without ever really pulling it off in a satisfactory manner. However, following my recent re-visit to Sharon Edwyn’s, utterly stunning Goddess Temple, I found myself inspired to have another go.
Isla Myvatn: stairs to Zen Garden
As I live in Second Norway, craggy, rocky islands are not that unusual. Add to this the fact I have rock and cliff kits from Alex Bader (Studio Skye), Fanatik and – particularly in terms of this build – Cube Republic, I was well placed to start hacking at an idea.
These allowed me to take the basic form of the island on which the NO Cottage Bizar has sat for the past few years and both extend it somewhat and build it out ready to “hide” an underground home, a set of PBR textures from Studio Skye allowing me the blend the rocks from the various kits to give a more unified look to the rock strata.
Isla Myvatn: new house
For the main house structure, I used the Cyber Apartment by Sari6t. This is actually quite ripe for kitbashing in its own right; however, here I used it as a template to map out the floor layout and walls, building these from prims and mesh kits. This allowed me to gradually remove elements of the skybox apartment until only the large front panoramic window and its seating area, together with a hexagonal window were left for integration into my build.
The other element I utilised for the living space was the Empty version of the Fapple Nicolas Skybox (available in-world only), elements of which formed the wall décor (pseudo closets, drawers, etc.) in the bedroom area.
Isla Myvatn: pool area
And here is where I owe the largest apology to Sharon: Goddess Temple features an absolutely gorgeous subterranean bathing area, complete with a large waterfall dropping into a pool behind it. I fell in love with it on sight, and wanted to have something similar.
I have actually converted the NO Cottage Bizar into a pool house in the past, but that wouldn’t work here, so it was back to the magic of the prim to start building and linking a swimming pool and a nook in which to relax. I loved Sharon’s use of a waterfall and statue in the design, so just had to follow suit; my excuse being I have several statues from ArtemisGreece I like to include in my home designs and the pool area seemed perfect for them (with a couple in the house area as well).
Isla Myvatn: pool area
Admittedly, it took several attempts to get the pool area right, but overall it worked out, allowing it to form a space of its own whilst also linking house area with the passages to the front and rear outdoor spaces.
The water for the pool came via the Studio Skye PBR water kit, with an exclusion surface to hide all Linden Water from the pool (given it was effectively at ground level). A Small Waterfall set via Sasaya Kayo’s HPMD in-world store was used both inside the pool area and on the outside rocks as well.
Isla Myvatn
As noted, external texturing large came via Studio Skye, whilst inside, the wall, floor, ceiling, etc., textures all came from ARTSY PBR by Aria111, together with various furnishing items (I think I have about half her store sitting in inventory!). As everything I use is Modify (I almost never buy No Mod items!), the retexturing was relatively easy, other than the monotony of calculating repeats and offsets so that those needing it (floors and ceilings) looked seamless.
Also for the exterior of the island I turned to a mix of Cube Republic and Krystali Rabeni for plants and trees.
Isla Myvatn: new house
These, together with another idea I “borrowed” from Sharon, allowed me to build up a woodland over much of the island that wasn’t exceptionally LI heavy. The trick here being to plant a fair number of trees (I chose wild elm from Krystali) and then filling out the ground under them with foliage taken from other trees and linking it with ground cover to construct large “mats”, as it were, of undergrowth to give the impression of a dense wooded area with underbrush.
Of course, I had to include the Studio Skye Zen Garden, again with some of the rocks repainted in PBR and at least a part of the TLG Chapel Ruins by Marcus Inkpen (in fact the latter might actual see the re-inclusion of further elements!). These almost always form a part of my island / home designs.
Isla Myvatn garden
Furnishing throughout came from different sources; suffice it to say we all have our own preferences, and I’m not going to bore you further with mine. All I will say is I skimped on the photos to a fair extent by using those from my own SL travels.
The complete LI for the house structure + pool comes to 131, which includes all pictures, wall hangings, bookcases, bedroom and wall panelling, rugs, water, etc., which I’m pretty pleased about, having only just over 1219 to play with (and around 200 of that goes on my favourite boats alongside the quay.
Isla Myvatn: new house
So, having bored you to death with this, I’ll now wander off to find something worthwhile to do 😀 . Once again, my thanks and apologies to Sharon Edwyn for the inspiration & blatant stealing of her ideas!
Corsica Southern Coasters: Maison De La Chouette, September 2026
Owl Dragonash alerted me to the fact that the Corsica South Coasters celebrates its fourth anniversary in September 2026, and that news prompted me to hop over and renew my own acquaintanceship with the work of this community and take another wander through a few of its locations.
As the name suggests, Corsica South Coasters (or CSC) is a group of residents focused on the southern coast of the Mainland continent of Corsica. Those with an interest in art in Second Life are likely already familiar with the group, if not in its entirety, then quite possibly through gallery spaces such as NovaOwl, Maison De La Chouette, or Cloud Galleries – all of which are popular art destinations (and have also featured in my own coverage of art in Second Life!).
Corsica Southern Coasters: Enchanted Forest, September 2026
Indeed, my first exposure to the wider group actually came in September 2022, when Owl invited me to be a part of the Art Trail that winds through the group’s lands along the Corsica coastline.
Corsica Southern Coasters: Maison De La Chouette and NovaOwl (centre left and right respectively) plus the beachfront, together with residences September 2026
However, CSC is not just about art in Second Life; it is a vibrant community offering places to visit, opportunities to learn, venues and events to enjoy music, the chance to meet new people and make new friends, locations from which to set out boating and sailing or flying or driving – and a whole lot more.
So much in fact that the best way to get a feel for CSC’s activities, events, locations, and so on is via the CSC website; and rather than repeat what it has to say about where to go and what to do, I’m simply going to focus on some of my favourite places CSC offers to visitors.
Corsica Southern Coasters: Tourist Centre and Tea Garden, September 2026
Places like the aforementioned Port Emyniad. Generally the end point for the Art Trail, this little fishing village with its Welsh-sounding name is watched over, conversely, by a native of Scotland: Nessie. The home to several boutique galleries and offering a rezone for boating, it also sits as an entrance to the Enchanted Forest.
This is a simply gorgeous area designed by Nessa Nova (perhaps most well known for her Lost Unicorn and Storybook Forest (with Natalie Starlight), which I’ve also covered in these pages numerous times). Climbing the hills of Emyniad, the forest offer trails and paths to wander, places to rest and a great sense of peace and beauty.
Corsica Southern Coasters: Enchanted Forest, September 2026
The CSC Art Trail actually skirts the edge of the Forest as you follow it from its start at the Tourist Centre, so keep an eye out for it as you follow the trail up and around its meandering and charming way.
The Tourist Centre is actually one of the ideal places to start explorations. Overlooking the coastal reaches of the group’s lands – where both NovaOwl and Maison De La Chouette sit – the Tourist Centre sits within a tea garden and presents a wealth of information and – for those who don’t fancy walking the Art Trail and /or Hiking route –a horse rezzer.
Rabbits and bears, oh my! Corsica Southerner Coasters: Emyniad Hollow, September 2026
The hiking trail will take visitors up into the hills of South Corsica. It passes by way of the Dinkie and main Camping Grounds and also a number of what I think are private residences – so be cautious about trespass (although they are set back from the trail).
And that’s another point about CSC: it’s not just a series of locations tended by Second life users; it’s a group and linked set of settings and parcels where members of the group – and those with whom they’ve forged relationships with – also live. This gives CSC a personal nuance and sense of place.
Corsica Southern Coasters: Enchanted Forest, September 2026
In this regard, I thoroughly recommend reading Owls’ fourth anniversary article on CSC; as a founder and active member, she is far better placed to write about the group, its activities and history than I could ever manage in a month of Sundays!
Instead, I’ll note that another place to look out for when exploring is CK’s Butterfly Conservatory, established by another CSC founder, CK Ballyhoo. Small but delightfully charming, it sits along one of the many trials winding through this part of South Corsica and just off the Art Trail walk. If following the latter keep an eye out for Books and Coffee – the Conservatory overlooks it and can be reached via steps climbing up from the road there.
Corsica Southern Coasters: Butterfly Conservatory, September 2026
Given CSC’s location, not only is it a place for exploring or starting a journey, it can be a destination as well, accessible by air (CSC have their own airfield, although it is admittedly appears a little isolated when landing there), and as a waterfront location, can be reached by boat (and has rez zones for both). It is also on Corsica’s Circuit La Corse as well, so can easily be reached via road.
CSC’s fourth anniversary is officially on Tuesday, September 15, 2026. To mark the occasion, there will be three-hour celebration commencing at 11:00 SLT at NovaOwl, and an invitation to all to attend is extended by the CSC community.
Corsica Southern Coasters: NovaOwl, gallery and event space – where the CSC group celebrates their 4th anniversary on September 15, 2026
Whether you attend the celebrations or not (sadly, for my they clash with a couple of things), do be sure to pay CSC a visit. There is genuinely a lot to see. My heartfelt congratulations to Owl, CK, Uli and the CSC community as a whole on reaching four years with CSC and growing it into a positive, friendly community; may there be many more celebrations to come!
The Annex at Nitroglobus, September 2026: Dido Haas – Interim
I’m not sure exactly why Dido Haas selected the title Interim for the title of her exhibition at The Annex of her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, which opened on Monday, September 7, 2026. Perhaps it is because she has had to fill a sudden gap in the gallery’s calendar; I’ve no idea.
The one thing I do have an idea on, is that the title drastic undersells what is a richly engaging exhibition of personal – and slightly NSFW given the nature of some of the images – exhibition I cannot help but feel should have been called Intimacy.
The Annex at Nitroglobus, September 2026: Dido Haas – Interim
I say this because each piece – most featuring Dido herself as the model – is a study in intimacy, both personal and shared. Further, all are presented in monochrome verging on chiaroscuro, giving them a depth which reaches beyond a level of engagement that might be achieved using colour, heightening their personal nature.
The personal element comes in the framing of the majority of the pieces, which feature solo images of a naked, or near naked Dido. They present a woman at ease with her one body; someone who has an intimate relationship with herself.
The Annex at Nitroglobus, September 2026: Dido Haas – Interim
By intimate, I do not mean sexual; I’m using the term in its broader, personal and special meaning. These are studies of a woman entirely at ease, so to speak with her body, her skin – her very appearance. It is not prideful or driven by hubris or sense of self beauty / worth, it simply is.
At the same time, the use of long, black gloves does tip the balance of intimacy a little. There has long been something of a sexual suggestiveness in the wearing of long, opera-style gloves, one that can run over into the realm of fetishism.
The Annex at Nitroglobus, September 2026: Dido Haas – Interim
Thus, through their use in several of the images here, Dido is more overtly encouraging observers to share in the intimacy of her nakedness; the placement of her hands on her body becomes more overt in the suggestion of sexuality, making it possible for the observer images their hands are the black on the white of her naked flesh in a personal – although not necessarily sexual – moment of joint intimacy.
This idea shared intimacy is further offered through three of the pieces featuring a partner in poses which – again – are by no means sexual. But which suggest very personal shared moments together. Again, perfectly framed, these three set the observer as both a passing voyeur of these moments and as the possible partner.
The Annex at Nitroglobus, September 2026: Dido Haas – Interim
The result is a beautiful, engaging collection of images carrying a finely layered richness of interpretation which reaches far beyond the exhibition’s title to captivate the observer.
The Simulator User Group meeting place at Longfellow
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, September 8, 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, and to Erik Mondrian for the chat transcript after my ISP suffered issues and disconnected me from the world.
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
No deployments this week, but all simhosts will be restarted.
The Nectarine update now looks like its deployment to an RC channel will not be for another week as it continues through QA.
Simulator support for Lua looks like it will be part of a simulator update after Nectarine
The next two simulator releases after Nectarine are currently referenced as Olive and Plum – with Olive possibly being the vehicle for Lua release, but this is still TBC.
Game Control
Game_control has a new pre-release viewer version, but further work on the viewer code is required.
One element of this is that there are now two code elements for flycamming – the SpaceNavigator support and now game_control support. Leviathan would like to reconcile these into a single code set for both options.
There was a reminder that game_control is not grid-wide on the Main grid (Agni).
So anyone using the pre-release viewer must disable the “Send GameControl Data to server” option in the game_control preferences – or face being booted from any region sans game_control support.
The above will still allow use of a controller for general movement (avatar and camera (including flycam) and the mouse.
The full UDP message set required for game_control should be part of the Nectarine simulator update (so no need to disable anything once this has been fully deployed to the Main grid).
Leviathan also noted:
That game_control should support any controller that is supported by SDL3 (simple direct layer).
Full documentation on game_control has yet to go to the SL wiki.
It’s not clear how game_control will interact with SL Experiences – although views were expressed that in terms of movement, etc, it should work.
Leviathan would like more feedback on the game_control work, but understands this is difficult given the viewer is only available as a pre-release, and simulator support is limited to the Beta grid (Aditi).
The latter two points led to some description of the control options and modes, control semantics, etc., and a more general discussion on game_control through most of the rest of the meeting – please refer to the video.
Region Crossings
Pepper Linden’s region crossing improvements will not be formally included in the next simulator update (Nectarine).
They will therefore be ported to a subset of simulators running on the Snack RC channel as previously reported.
Update: at the Content Creation User Group meeting, it was indicated that the Snack Channel deployment will likely be be in the next 1-2 weeks, and will include Blake Sea regions.
These updates do not, contrary to rumours, make region crossings “faster”; they do, however, make them more stable and predictable.
The above means that if you are using an avatar with many scripted attachments and on a complex vehicle – you will likely complete region crossings in good order rather than crashing (or something), but it may take as long as prior to Pepper’s stability fixes.
Making region crossings “faster” remains a separate area of work the Lab will at some point start poking at.
One hope here is that the implementation of Lua scripting will help over time (once live) could help speed things up due to its (rumoured) faster serialization/deserialization of scripts.
General Updates
This was a light meeting, as the past weekend was a long weekend in the US (Labor Day), so many LL staff were out of the office on either side of it.
Leviathan Linden indicated that the fixes for avatars moving more than usual when standing on moving surfaces and for “crouch-slide” will be in the Nectarine simulator update.
There was a further discussion on variable walking speeds, with the following being noted:
It would require an an overhaul of the avatar locomotion graph and likely updates to game_control.
development of suitable animations and scrioted control capabilities to properly sync animations with walking speeds.
A further request was made for a way to make general data on active / on-line regions available (e.g. via .CSV file) – the information being requested being region names, associated estate names, global grid coordinates, height map and aerial view (without sky-based ads). Leviathan indicated he’ll take the request back to the
The Dancing Rabbit Café, September 2026 – click any image for full size
Since 2022, I’ve run an occasional series on the coffeehouses and cafés of Second Life. I’m by no means the first to do so, and it is a popular subject. Most recently, the September 7, 2026 Destination Guide highlights featured The Dancing Rabbit.
This is a café I dropped into back in May 2025 whilst touring TNC Commons. I had intended to include it in a future piece on coffeehouses, etc., but it has remained on a pile of short pieces awaiting an article to sit within. This being the case, I decided to hop back and update my photos of The Dancing Rabbit – and found TNC Commons has been hugely updated.
The Dancing Rabbit Café, September 2026
The Dancing Rabbit sits at the eastern end of TNC Commons (TNC standing for The Nature Collective), and within its own roadside parcel of just 592 sq metres just off Atoll Road in Heterocera.
However, that small size is enough to fold into itself a delightful courtyard café space flowing out from a simple and cosy little café/coffeehouse.
The Dancing Rabbit Café, September 2026
This is a very much a social space for those wishing to join in events. Every other Monday (the next –at the time of writing – being September 14) playing host to a coffee and co-working morning from 08:00 SLT.
There are also impromptu and informal “busking” events featuring live music, as well as more formal music events as well. Details about events can be obtained from the info boards mounted on the cafe’s iron fences or via the local in-world Group.
TNC Commons, September 2026
The west side of the café’s courtyard provides access to the grounds of the TNC commons. At the time of my 2025 visit, the setting was a curious mix of buildings, trails, open spaces and circled in part by a set of tram tracks.
All of this has now gone, and the setting is much more natural in extent, rich in woodland, flowing streams, bodies of water, waterfalls and hideaways for visitors.
TNC Commons, September 2026
Which is not to say anything has been lost or gained either way; both the former build and this one had and have unique charms. However, I would perhaps suggest that within its autumnal air, the current TNC build leads far more into the idea of community and sharing.
This is evidenced by the fact that tucked away within the natural setting of the common and along its paths are trails is a little theatre where movies under the stars might be enjoyed; there’s a TNC book club for the readers among us, and more.
TNC Commons, September 2026
I’ll also add a side note here: TNC events take place at a range of locations, not just at TNC Commons, so do be sure to check-out their website.
Also note that TNC Commons can also be accessed via its own roadside entrance, which sits alongside its Landing Point.
TNC Commons, September 2026
Largely the work of Emm Rhys Cerulean (Emm Evergarden), supported by members of the extended Cerulean family – particularly Teagan Cerulean in the case of caring for The Dancing Rabbit – TNC Commons is part of a general directional change within the TNC group, as Emm notes:
The Nature Collective has been lovingly redesigned and returned to its roots with a more immersive, nature-focused experience. In Bloom celebrates the season of renewal and invites visitors to slow down, wander, and reconnect with nature in Second Life.
TNC Commons, September 2026
Within the TNC grounds is plenty of nature conservancy information to be found, both in the form of information boards and more informally through some of the smaller settings awaiting discovery.
At the time of my re-visit, wanderers could participate in the free-to-enter Great TNC Mushroom Forage (find 10 edible mushrooms and win a prize) and take a bee quiz among other local activities.
TNC Commons, September 2026
For my part, I simply enjoyed wandering around and keeping an eye out for the wildlife – squirrels, owls, deer, foxes, heron, geese – even a couple of little opossums keeping an eye on things – as well as assorted birds, butterflies, bees and (of course!) the rabbits.
One might also include a moose and a beaver in the local population, but these were strictly of the cuddling variety and I didn’t come across any of their living brethren!
The Dancing Rabbit Café, September 2026
Whether you start your visit at The Dancing Rabbit or come to it by way of TNC commons during a visit, do be sure to stop at the stone rabbits in the small garden lying between TNC commons and the café and touch them for a notecard to learn a little bit of the history of The Dancing Rabbit, and why Emm and the team from TNC are carefully preserving and caring for it.
But above all, take the time to wander, explore, take in the atmosphere and just breathe.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 