Day: May 28, 2014

Upcoming SL maintenance: grid to be closed to log-ins for one hour, May 28th

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update, May 28th: The Lab reports this work is now complete.

On Tuesday May 27th, Linden Lab gave warning that there will be a period of scheduled maintenance on Wednesday May 28th which will see log-ins suspended for around one hour, from approximately 06:00 SLT.

The notice, posted to the Second Life Grid Status Page reads in full:

The Second Life Service will be closed for logins for approximately one hour on Wednesday, May 28 beginning at 6am PDT.

Residents in world will not be logged out, but may experience loss of supporting services such as search and inventory. New logins will not be accepted, and Residents in world should not attempt to transfer or manipulate L$ or valuable (no-copy) assets until the ALL CLEAR is given.

As always, if the scope or the schedule of the work changes, we will update this post.

 Please check with the Grid Status page for updates nearer the time of the maintenance.

The maintenance work is most likely the work planned for Thursday May 22nd, which had to be postponed as a result of significant issues in Second Life services encountered on Tuesday May 20th. Among other things, those issues resulted in the server-side deployments for that day being curtailed, which directly impacted planned activities for the rest of the week.

Assuming the work is the same as that originally planned for May 22nd, it would appear to be  focusing on database hardware, with the result that sims should have slightly faster access time after the work has been completed, although the emphasis has been that if this is the case, it will not be major or noticeable.

Following the problems encountered in week 21, Landon Linden issued a blog post explaining some of the causes of recent problems within the platform, which is recommended reading for those who haven’t yet done so.

Related Links

SL projects updates week 22/1: LSL functions for materials, group bans

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s a light start to project news from the lab this week.

Server Deployments Week 22

There are currently no planned deployments for the week.

Materials LSL Functions

There’s still no firm date for when this are liable to surface for testing, but speaking at the Simulator User Group on Tuesday May 27th, Simon Linden indicated the time is getting “closer”. In the meantime he re-iterated the get and set functions currently being worked upon, which remains as per my week 21 report, namely:

Get functions:

  • [PRIM_SPECULAR, integer face] returns [string texture, vector repeats, vector offsets, float rotation_in_radians, vector color, integer glossy, integer environment]
  • [PRIM_NORMAL, integer face] returns [string texture, vector repeats, vector offsets, float rotation_in_radians]
  • [PRIM_ALPHA_MODE, integer face] returns [integer alpha_mode, integer alpha_cutoff]

Set functions:

  • [PRIM_SPECULAR, integer face, string texture, vector repeats, vector offsets, float rotation_in_radians, vector color, integer glossy, integer environment]
  • [PRIM_NORMAL, integer face, string texture, vector repeats, vector offsets, float rotation_in_radians]
  • [PRIM_ALPHA_MODE, integer face, integer alpha_mode, integer alpha_cutoff]”

The same access rules will apply to materials as for diffuse (texture) maps.

Most people may already be aware that llSetTextureAnim() will apply an animation equally across all three maps applied to an object / object face. However, the Lab is not currently looking to add additional parameters to llSetTextureAnim() so that each type of map independently of the others. Offering an explanation as to why this is the case, Simon said:

I’m guessing that would be pretty ugly to implement … or would need some careful design and thought as it couldn’t create new material entries under the hood.  I think that will have to be a follow-on feature … I can imagine it might create some cool effects but it would have to be carefully done not to blow up the materials accounting.

Group Bans

Simon indicated that the remaining back-end server updates for the group ban service may have been deployed on Tuesday May 27th. If so, it is possible that an initial server-side RC deployment of the group ban code might occur in week 23, together with the appearance of the group ban viewer. however this is pure speculation, and depends on how long the Lab want to let the back-end updates run prior to making a visible code deployment. More is likely to be known following the Server Beta meeting later in the week.

Of exploding bustlines with a dollop of Sauce

Posted on by Inara Pey
Celebrity Blow Your Own Tits Off
Celebrity Blow Your Own Tits Off

In April 2014, I had the chance to try-out Maya Paris’ Sauce, an interactive piece inviting people to discover the secret sauce of relationships … via spark plugs, fish and chips and the aid of good old-fashioned red telephone boxes.

At the time, I noted that Sauce was in some ways the sequel to her equally interactive and wacky Celebrity Blow Your Own Tits off, which was originally hosted at LEA10, and I reviewed here.

However, if you missed the latter the first time around, now is the time to Come On Down to LEA25, where Celebrity Blow Your Own Tits Off is having an encore.

Celebrity Blow Your Own Tits Off
Celebrity Blow Your Own Tits Off

Tits is best thought of as a game show with a satirical edge to it, poking fun at our obsession with looks, beauty and perfection. There’s no actual host, just you (and a friend – it works best with at least two of you), and a series of interactive levels to work your way through, and wacky prizes to gain. Just follow the arrows and click, poke, prod and wear as you go!

It’s crude! it’s rude! It’s a lot of fun. What’s more, work your way through Tits, and you’ll get Sauce on top! A two-for-one deal, all done in, as the late Kenny Everett would say, the best possible taste! Enjoy!

Related Links