Month: April 2015

UNIA to launch on April 20th: MadPea asks,”are you ready?”

Posted on by Inara Pey
MadPea launch poster
MadPea launch poster (courtesy of MadPea)

It all started as a Dream.

In November 2012 I wrote the first draft of the plan. UNIA would be groundbreaking. UNIA would be our first fully interactive and immersive adventure with 1st person shooter elements. UNIA would be delivered in stages pushing the limitations of Second Life and showing game designers what is possible to do in this virtual world.

In January 2015 I was wondering if I had tried to bite off more than one could chew.

Thus Kiana Writer, head of MadPea Productions frankly opened a blog post in February 2015. In it, she outlined some of the trials an tribulations that she and the MadPea team have encountered in trying to bring UNIA, an immersive games that is huge in scope.

The downs have been many – but so has the overall up; so much so that the launch date has been set – UNIA opens its doors to Second Life residents on Monday April 20th.

Are you awake? Are you in a nightmare? What awaits you in and beyond the farm?
Are you awake? Are you in a nightmare? What awaits you in and beyond the farm? (image courtesy of MadPea Productions)

To prepare for the launch, and over on MadPea’s brand new blog (make sure you update any bookmarks if you haven’t already), Kiana provides a prologue to the main story. It’s written from the perspective of a main character – Emily – who, having departed a wedding, awakes to find herself strangely dressed, feeling physically, in a barn somewhere with a dead body …

“You must come with me right now!” someone yells and when I look into the direction of the voice I notice a rope ladder dropping down right in front of me. “Drop that hand and climb up, you must hurry!” the voice continues. For some reason I do as I’m told and take a last look at the body on the floor before putting my bare foot on the ladder and starting to climb.

At the top I face a tall, heavyset black man in his 40s, all dressed in military gear. I haven’t said a word to him and it seems as if I don’t have to. He knows what I’m going through.

…And thus the player is launched into a world that is both nightmare and terrifyingly real, and with a secret lying at its heart…

A year ago, I was one of a number of people privileged to be taken on a personal tour of the UNIA sets and puzzles within UNIA, with Kiana and another of the MadPea talents, RAG Randt. What I saw back then was mind-bogglingly good, and the team have since had almost a year to improve, tweak, update and enhance. Thus, I have little doubt that UNIA is going to live up to expectations in its depth of immersion, its content, and it engagement with players.

Dark secrets await discovery within the strange world of UNIA
Dark secrets await discovery within the strange world of UNIA (image courtesy of MadPea)

As a part of the run-up to the launch, MadPea are running a special challenge, which is introduced thus:

We’re getting closer and closer to release, and as that time draws near, what are you up to? How are you passing the time? Are you preparing, buffing up your muscles, working out your brains? Are you eating a lot of pastries? Are you snoozin’ all day to rest up for your marathon play session?

On offer is the chance to receive the UNIA Gold Package when the adventure opens on April 20th. This includes the game HUD, triple shield, uniform (generously donated by Damien Fate from FATEplay) in three colours, and a gold lock pick for a pistol.

To be in with a chance to be awarded the Package, all you have to do is:

  • Take a photo of yourself in-world as you wait for UNIA arrive, using the notes above as possible guidelines).
  • Add the snapshot to a note card entitled “Preparing for UNIA! – [Your Avatar Name]” – please make sure you give you avatar full legacy name – not your display name
  • Include a brief description of your snapshot in the note card – no more than 144 characters!

Send the completed card to RaffiGirl Koffenbaum in-world. Favourites from those received will be posted on the MadPea blog on alternate days, like this one. Refer to the challenge blog post for the criteria the MadPea team are looking for in submissions in order to select their favourite, who will be awarded the Gold Pass.

Will Grandma help or hinder as you make your way towards UNIA's startling secret ...? (image courtesy of MadPea)
Will Grandma help or hinder as you make your way towards UNIA’s startling secret …? (image courtesy of MadPea)

You can also get ready for UNIA by helping the MadPea team and Draxtor Despres film a brand new promotional trailer for the game.

If you’re willing to have video footage of your physical self included in the new promo video, and are lucky enough to be selected, you could also be rewarded with the UNIA Gold Package. See the MadPea video promo blog post for more information on what’s required.

Finally, you can also get yourself ready by watching  the current trailer for UNIA, and by keeping an eye on the new MadPea blog for upcoming news and information on the game.

“UNIA has been a game more than two years in the making,” Kiana confided in me as we talked about the upcoming launch. “And one thing we’re aware of is because of that, some of the locations might seem a little dated in setting. Cornfields, for example seem to be everywhere in Second Life today, when two years ago, you could count the number in SL on the fingers of one hand! 😀 .”

Well, cornfields may have multiplied in SL since the start of 2013, but there is still only one UNIA. As such, I don’t think Kiana has anything to worry about on that score; from April 20th, people are going to be too immersed in the story and game play to think about the number of fields or any kind they’ve seen in Second Life!

SL project updates week 15/1: server, viewer, HTTP Inventory reminder

Posted on by Inara Pey
... and don't miss out on the merfolk's beach, complete with pier and fun fair!
Don#t forget you can plunge into learning about SL’s extensive merfolk and undersea community this week, thanks to the folk at Fanci’s Deep and the Safe Waters Foundation. There’s undersea tours, dances, dolphin rides, shopping opportunities, freebies and a whole lot more. You can even visit the mer beach and fun fair (above)! To find out more, read the blog post on the event, which runs through until April 11th

Server Deployments Week 15

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread in the forums for the latest information and updates.

  • On Tuesday, April 7th the Main (SLS) channel will receive the server maintenance update previously deployed to the three RC channels. This is primarily focused on trying to prevent  inventory loss issues, and sees UDP inventory messaging deprecated (see HTTP Inventory, below, for more important information)
  • On Wednesday, April 8th all three RC channels should receive a new server maintenance package comprising:
    • A fix for a server crash when rezzing an object
    • A minor change for CDN configuration
    • Adjusted internal server configuration.

SL Viewer Updates

A new release candidate viewer was released towards the end of last week. The HeatWave viewer, version 3.7.27.300424. This is essentially the maintenance RC viewer with an additional URI parser fix to prevent a viewer crash bug, but has retained a project name to differentiate the two RCs from one another.

 HTTP Inventory

With the Tuesday deployment (noted above), the main grid now only supports HTTP Inventory fetching. This means you must have the HTTP Inventory option enabled in the viewer (it can be found under the Develop(er) menu).

Should you disable it for any reason, you will encounter two issues:

  • Your avatar will not render, but will remain a cloud
  • Should you refresh your inventory for any reason (clear cache), your viewer will never complete the process of inventory fetching.

Unfortunately, and coincidentally, the Main channel deployment on Tuesday, April 7th came at a time when asset server / inventory issues were being experienced across the grid, and inventory database maintenance was carried out as a result.

Note that from Tuesday, April 6th, you must ensure HTTP Inventory is enabled in the Develop menu (sometimes called the Developer menu in TPVs) in order to help avoid inventory and / or avatar rendering problems
Note that from Tuesday, April 6th, you must ensure HTTP Inventory is enabled in the Develop menu (sometimes called the Developer menu in TPVs) in order to help avoid inventory and / or avatar rendering problems

These issues and the maintenance may have masked any problems some people may have been having purely as a result of HTTP Inventory being disabled in their viewer.

Therefore, if you are encountering problems with your avatar remaining a cloud, or your inventory failing to load, please try the following steps to see if they resolve your situation:

  1. Make sure you have the Develop(er) menu enabled in your menu bar at the top of the viewer. Press CTRL-ALT-Q if you cannot see it.
  2. Click on Develop(er) to list the menu options.
  3. Make sure there is a tick in front of the HTTP Inventory option.
  4. If HTTP Inventory does not have a tick in front of it, then it is disabled. Click on it to enable it (and display the tick).
  5. Closed the Develop menu and re-log.
  6. Hopefully, following your re-log, your avatar will render / your inventory load properly.

UDP Inventory Messaging Deprecated

The reason for this is that the Lab has now deprecated the “old” method of inventory messaging (referred to as UDP messaging). However, if you disable the HTTP Inventory option in your viewer, the viewer will still attempt to use the “old” method, and thus you’ll have problems.

There are plans in hand for the Lab to remove the HTTP Inventory option from the viewer, and some TPVs may opt to remove it ahead of any update from the Lab. Until that time, it is essential you keep the option enabled to assist with the smooth functioning of your inventory.

Experience Keys / Tools

Not a lot to report on this project. Simon Linden has been working on the Key Value (KVP) database store used by Experiences. This work appears to be related to the Lab working to ensure the when deployed Experience Keys / Tools can be properly scaled to meet the anticipated demand for them. Commenting in general terms on the work, Oz Linden said during the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, April 7th, “if we are as successful as we’d like to be with Experiences being adopted, it would run into problems. So we’re trying to solve them before we get to that point.”

Whimsically Naked at The Living Room

Posted on by Inara Pey
Whimsically Naked - The Living Room
Whimsically Naked – The Living Room

Opening at 12:00 noon SLT on Tuesday, April 7th 2015, at The Living Room, is a new exhibition of art by Whim (Whimsical Aristocrat), which will run through until the end of the month.

Whimsically Naked comprises – as part of the title implies – a series of nude studies featuring Whim and her models in a variety of carefully posed setting and lighting conditions – which may make the exhibit slightly NSFW.

Whimsically Naked - The Living Room
Whimsically Naked – The Living Room

“Given the time and money I expend on buying clothes in SL, the choice to photograph subjects without clothes might indeed appear a bit whimsical,” Whim notes, in reference to the other half of the exhibit’s title.

“I have long been an admirer of artistic nude photography, and with advances in the lighting model and avatar appearance I feel the technical barriers between creation of realistic art nude images in second life and in that other life are collapsing. This creates the opportunity for me to explore the interplay of posed bodies with careful lighting, creating artistic images portraying emotional states.”

The result is a display mixing colour and monochrome images, primarily of women, but with a couple also featuring the male form. All are striking in execution and presentation, and do indeed underline the narrowing boundary between what can be achieved photographically using models in-world and what can similarly be achieved in the physical world.

Whimsically Naked - The Living Room
Whimsically Naked – The Living Room

Whim notes that having a strong emotional content in her images is of key import to her, and that she’ll use the tools available to her in order to express emotion and engagement within many of her images. Looking at those presented within this exhibit, it is fair to say the emotional content in them is undeniable; as is the power each image has to capture not just a moment or pose in time, but an entire story.

Lazarus Doghouse will be on-hand at the opening of Whimsically Naked, and The Living Room will be presenting a number of events throughout April as well:

  • Thursday, April 16th – live music with:
    • 17:00 – Whirligig Rutagaga
    • 18:00 – Laidback Celt
  • Friday, April 24th 10:00 SLT: Plowies PJ party, featuring Beth Odets
  • Thursday, April 30th, 13:00: Whimsically Naked closing party with OBLEE

Related Links

Responding to Berry’s double threat (don’t worry, it’s a challenge!)

Posted on by Inara Pey
Music is something I enjoy in the physical world and in SL
Music is something I enjoy in the physical world and in SL

Strawberry Singh posted another Monday Meme which piqued my attention. This time ten questions have been set, each of which ask respondents to list two things (hence the “double threat” aspect).

Two online screen names you’ve had: Inara Pey is now pretty much my on-screen persona nowadays. Prior to her, I had another, which I used when writing for various D/s lifestyle websites whilst active in that community. And no, I’m not telling 😛 .

Two video games you’ve played: I’m genuinely not into video games. There’s a Wii in the house (seldom used nowadays), and the most I get up to on the computer is playing backgammon on-line occasionally (I love playing backgammon and carrom in the physical world!).

Two things you love about Second Life: You can go wherever someone’s imagination  (including your own) can take you, and you can get to share activities, interests and fun with people you might otherwise might never get to know.

Cantrip De Savor, Aloha Sunset Beach; Inara Pey, January 2015, on FlickrI love the way SL allows us to share in one another’s imaginations (location – Cantrip De Savor – blog post)

Two things you’ve done in Second Life: Two things I’ve loved doing in / with Second Life are: one, learning to create stuff; and two, learning about the platform itself – how it ticks (and at times why it doesn’t), and what goes into to keeping it going.

Two things you still want to do in Second Life: Learn to script decently, and maybe get into mesh design (non-clothing).

Two things you like about your Second Life avatar: Her look and the fact she doesn’t need to spend time each day on a rowing machine to keep her figure (or is that envy?!).

Two of your Second Life Pet Peeves: One has to be the degree of negativity expressed towards LL by people who, by their own statements, tend to show they actually have zero understanding of how complex a platform SL is to develop, deliver and maintain or the costs involved in doing so.  The other is … bad regions crossings.

Two things you did as a newb that you’re embarrassed of: Only when a newb? I’m constantly doing things I’m embarrassed about 🙂 . OK, well one would be the belief I had that if I could see it on the map, I could fly to it, which no amount of bouncing at region / estate boundaries could dissuade me from. Another would be originally thinking I had to rez prim hair in-world in order to somehow adjust it to fit.

Two of your closest friends in Second Life: Spikey and Kellyanne.

Berry asked that we choose two bloved items from our inventory. I'm cheating. As I love flying and sailing / boating in SL, I'm pointing to my boats and 'planes :D
Berry asked that we choose two beloved items from our inventory. I’m cheating. As I love flying and sailing / boating in SL, I’m pointing to my boats and ‘planes 😀

Two of the most beloved things in your inventory: My boats and planes 😀 . OK… technically that’s more than two individual items, but I  love the freedom they give me.

Fantasy Faire: ease the waiting

Posted on by Inara Pey

There is now a little over two weeks to go before the largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life opens its gates once more, for ten days of commerce, special events, live music concerts and more, all to help raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life.

Thursday, April 23rd 2015 and will run through until Sunday, May 3rd, 2015 inclusive, the Faire will welcome everyone with a love of fantasy the creators the performers, the designers, the enthusiasts and curious. Across ten themed regions, there will be much to explore, to see and do – but it is still some two weeks away before we can all do so.

So how can the time be made to pass a little easier as the anticipation mounts? The Faire’s organisers have offered a 5-point plan to Faire Happiness:

1. Follow the Fantasy Faire blog

As much as bloggers across the community try to keep pace with news and updates, the best place to get the latest information really is from the Faire’s own blog pages. So if you’ve not bookmarked it or are not following it for updates – now is a good time to start: there’s going to be lots of news and information flowing through it in the coming weeks.

2. Follow Fantasy Faire on Social Media

Fantasy Faire has its own Facebook page –  and the organisers would love to get at least 500 likes on the page before the Faire opens, and you can keep up with news by checking on it.

Don’t forget as well that Fantasy Faire is also active on Twitter, Plurk, Pinterest and Flickr!

3. Take the Why I Relay Challenges

contact Catalina Staheli and become a part of the Why I relay portrait challenge - and perhaps feature in a special exhibition at the Faire!
contact Catalina Staheli and become a part of the Why I relay portrait challenge – and perhaps feature in a special exhibition at the Faire!

We all have our reasons for Relaying, and the Faire already has a challenge open to bloggers  – whether they apply to be an official blogger or not – to write about why they Relay.

However, if you feel the words escaping, you, but still wish to express why you Relay in a picture, Fantasy Faire volunteer blogger Catalina Staheli is offering a challenge of her own. She’s offering anyone who contacts her in-world to arrange an appointment with them and then take their photo as they hold a card expressing their personal reason on why they Relay.  Catalina says of the idea:

This past month, Fashion 4 Life jumped in and all of the Miss SL candidates offered their most couture looks incorporated into the reasons why they relay. I’m going to issue a challenge! I wanna see Fantasy Faire blow them out of the water with amazing looks, outfits, and designs as you show why you relay for life. Let’s see what you can do to showcase just how amazing, imaginative, vivid, and colourful Second Life can be!

Those portraits taken so far can be seen on Catalina’s Flickr stream, and she’s offering the service free of charge, and all participants will receive full perm copies of the their own portraits to use howsoever they wish.

What’s more at least some of the pictures might very well make an appearance in the Fairelands themselves. A possible exhibition of portraits is being planned – but if you’d like your own image to be included, be sure to drop Catalina a line sooner rather than later; April 20th has been mentioned as the deadline for the pictures that want to make it into an exhibition.

4. Sign-up To Help with the Faire’s Literary Festival

Deep within the 2015 Fairelands will lie an enchanted glade, the home to a series of literary activities. Stage readings, workshops, story-telling sessions, discussions groups and more, all focused on the theme of fantasy will be found here. But, in order for it to be found, it needs bards and poets, speakers of words, tellers of tales and weavers of verbal magic.

There is an open invitation to all who enjoy spinning a yarn, telling a tale, reading a story, reciting poetry and more, to join in this literary event, a new feature for Fantasy Faire. If you would be interested in doing so, please complete this simple form, and the Storytellers of the Faire will be in contact with you.

5. Nominate Your Choice for the King, Queen and Chancellor  of the Faire!

When it comes to Fantasy, we all have our favorite characters. Some may be good – Gandalf or Harry Potter, Belle or Menolly.  Or maybe we love the dark side – Maleficent or Steerpike. Or maybe we enjoy the conflicted – Jaime Lannister or Mrs Coulter. Now is your chance to nominate those you most enjoy, good, bad, conflicted or others, to be the Faire’s King and Queen.

And there’s an election for Chancellor as well, for characters from fantasy who have no elements of human appearance. So nominate your choice today, be it Archimedes the Owl, or Ratty, or Pegasus or perhaps even Smaug himself. The choice is yours!

The winning human characters will be crowned King and Queen of the Faire during the fabulous Fantasy Faire Ball, which will take place on Friday, May 1st, between 17:00 – 19:00 SLT, and will also see the announcement of the Faire’s Chancellor!

Find out more and complete the nomination form on the Fantasy Faire blog.

Further Information and Related Links

2015 viewer release summaries: week 14

Posted on by Inara Pey

Updates for the week ending: Sunday, April 5th, 2015

This summary is published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy. This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.

Official LL Viewers

  • Current Release version updated to version 3.7.26.299635 on March 24th (formerly the Avatar Hover Height viewer) download page, release notes, wiki page, AHH overview
  • Release channel cohorts (See my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • HeatWave RC viewer version 3.7.27.300424, released on April 3rd – core updates: the same fixes and improvements as the Maintenance release, with an additional fix for a URI parsing issue (download and release notes)
    • Maintenance RC viewer updated to version .7.27.300323 on March 31 – core updates: multiple fixes and improvements (download and release notes)
    • Tools Update project viewer version 3.7.27.300242 updated on March 30th – core updates: builds Windows and Mac viewers using the new tool chain and autobuild process and also incorporates the revised viewer log-in screen (download and release notes)
  • Project viewers:
    • Attachment fixes project viewer (Project BigBird), version 3.7.27.300377, released on April 1 – core updates: a number of fixes for various attachment issues (download and release notes)
    • Avatar Layer limits project viewer updated to version 3.7.27.300098 – allows users towear up to 60 wearable layers (jackets, shirts, tattoo, alpha, etc.) in any combination  (download and release notes)

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V3-style

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable branch updated to version 1.26.12.37, Experimental to version 1.26.13.6 and Legacy branch to 1.26.8.92, all on April 4th (release notes)

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links