Month: June 2015

A small pilgrimage in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Tabard Inn, Second Life - your starting point for your very own Canterbury Tales pilgrimage
The Tabard Inn, Second Life – your starting point for your very own Canterbury Tales pilgrimage

One of the books I genuinely fell in love with whilst studying literature at school was Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the story of a group of pilgrims en route to Canterbury Cathedral and the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket, and the tales they tell one another in order to pass the time on their journey.

Now, courtesy of Desideria Stockton and Royce Sommer, Second Life residents can go on a pilgrimage of their own and enjoy an introduction to the Canterbury Tales and the life and times of Geoffrey Chaucer through their Canterbury Tales Virtual Pilgrimage.

A part of the non-profit Literature Alive! project run by Desideria and Royce, Canterbury Tales Virtual Pilgrimage is a modest, but engrossing activity using point-and-click to inform people about Chaucer, the society of his day, religious views, science, justice, the social classes and so on. Most of this can be obtained within the walls of the Tabard Inn, where in the book, the teller of the best tale will be rewarded with a free meal. It is also at the Inn that one can learn something of Thomas Becket, the 12th Century Archbishop of Canterbury, the reason for the pilgrims’ journey.

Find the crosses to read about 12 of the Tales, then reward yourself with a little prize from a treasure chest for each tale
Find the crosses to read about 12 of the Tales, then reward yourself with a little prize from a treasure chest for each tale

It is in the tavern that the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales can be read (in Middle English, if you like!), which acts as a good lead-in to the rest of the activity. Scattered around the grounds of the Inn are 12 wooden crosses, each one with its own treasure chest nearby. Touch the cross, and you’ll receive a synopsis of one of the Tales. Then, touch the chest if you like, and correctly answer the question it asks about the tale you’ve just read, and you can gain a little prize.

While it may sound simple, Canterbury Tales Virtual Pilgrimage is a great introduction to Chaucer’s book, the synopsis of each tale perfectly capturing its essence and, where appropriate, its humour – many of Chaucer’s pilgrims were a bawdy lot!  I confess to experiencing a flashback to classroom sniggering in reading the outline of The Millers Tale, the humour is so well captured. Also, the mix of tales presented through the virtual pilgrimage captures some of  Chaucer’s ironic finger poking at the social strata of his day.

This is the first of two new projects under the Literature Alive! banner, and I admit to enjoying my meandering through the tall grass of a summer’s field and reading the synopses. Their second is set to be The House of Usher at the SL12B Community Celebration, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for it!

SLurl Details

Alchemy 3.8.0: Experience this, and colour that

Posted on by Inara Pey

Alchemy-logoUpdate: Drake Arconis has pointed-out an inaccuracy in the original version of this review in relation top the Avatar Hover Height slider and spinner. I’ve now corrected the article to reflect his feedback.

Alchemy released their latest beta viewer on Tuesday, June 16th. Version 3.8.0.35816 is described as “another step in the road to Alchemy’s first major release and includes hundreds of new fixes and improvements over it’s predecessors.”

Quite what all the fixes and improvements are is a little hard to tell without pouring over this and the last release, as the release notes are light on details – assuming the “hundreds” in the description for the release is not hyperbole. Ergo, this review is more a set of highlights for the release.

What we do know is that this beta brings Alchemy right up to date with the Lab’s most recent 3.7.30 code base, and includes the Experience Tools updates (which, as they are at RC status in the official viewer, and there are no known issues with them, are ripe for incorporation in RPVs).

Installation

The viewer comes in Windows 32/64-bit, a Mac universal 32/64 bit and Linux 64-bit flavours via the download page, However, some Windows users may see the following message when trying to run the viewer:

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)

As per the Alchemy release notes, should this happen, please download and install one of the following two files from Microsoft:

(The above links will take you to the respective download pages at Microsoft, where you can review the file details prior to downloading.)

Experiences

Alchemy 3.8.0 supports the Lab’s new Experience Keys / Tools. This means that when you visit a location using the Experience Keys capabilities, you will receive complete information on the Experience and the permissions it requires you to give in order to join it, as opposed to the brief summary which is displayed by viewers that do not currently have the Experience Keys code included in them.

In addition, it also means you can review the details of the experiences you have joined, and those to which you may have contributed, through the Experience floaters, accessed via Me > Experiences.

Alchemy now includes support for Experience Keys, allowing users to see full details of an experience and the permissions it is requesting (l), use the persmisions floater to search for experiences and review the details of those they've joineed / to which they have contributed or those they own (c) and review the details of individual Experiences they've joined (r)
Alchemy now includes support for Experience Keys, allowing users to see full details of an experience and the permissions it is requesting (l), use the permissions floater to search for experiences and review the details of those they’ve joined / to which they have contributed or those they own (c) and review the details of individual Experiences they’ve joined (r)

For details on Second Life experiences, please read my early review of the official experiences release candidate viewer (note a more updated review of Experience Keys will be produced when the capability has been formally rolled-out).

Avatar Hover Height

Hover
The Avatar Hover Height slider / spinner can be found in Alchemy’s Quick Preferences

Alchemy 3.8.0 includes the on-the-fly Avatar Hover Height capability from the Lab. However, rather than being a slider / spinner control accessed from the avatar right-click context menu, it has been implemented as a chat command: “/hover”, followed by the amount by which you wish to adjust your avatar’s apparent height. For example, “/hover 0.1” will raise your avatar’s apparent height by 0.1 metres, and “/hover -0.1” will decrease you avatar’s apparent height by the same amount.

Update: As noted in the comment from Drake Arconis, the slider for Avatar Hover Height can be found on the Alchemy Quick Preferences (use the cog at the top right of the screen to display – see above right right or the floater itself).

Continue reading “Alchemy 3.8.0: Experience this, and colour that” →

Second Life project updates week 25/1: server, viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey

Flux Sur Mer; Inara Pey, June 2015, on Flickr Flux Sur Mer (Flickr) – blog post

Server Deployments Week 25

As always, please refer to the server deployment thread for the latest updates / news.

  • On Tuesday, June 16th, the Main (SLS) channel received the server maintenance package previously deployed to the three RC channels, comprising further Internal server logging changes.
  • There will be no deployment or restart to the three RC channels on Wednesday, June 17th.

SL Viewer

On Friday, June 12th, the Lab issued a new viewer directly to release status. Version 3.7.29.302599 offers no functional changes to the the previous release viewer, but does include two DLL files – MSVCP100.DLL and MSVCR100.DLL which were missing from the Windows version of the viewer, and as a result causing problems for some users by their absence.

As a result of this release, the Attachment fixes RC viewer (Project Big Bird) RC viewer updated to version 3.7.31.302640 on Tuesday, June 16th, and the Experience Tools viewer updated to version 3.8.0.302622.

An “obsolete platform viewer” has also been issued by the Lab. Version 3.7.28.300847 of the viewer is a “static” release of the viewer which is aimed at providing users on Windows XP or versions of OS X below 10.7 to be able to continue to log-in to SL following the upgrade of the tools used to build the viewer. As I reported at the time, the key points to note about this viewer are:

  • It will not receive new features or bug fixes
  • It will not be promoted to release status
  • It does not change the Lab’s support policy on Windows XP or versions of OS X below 10.7, and is purely – as noted – an interim offering to help people
  • It will be provided for as long as is reasonable – but not indefinitely.

 Other Items

 Experience Keys  / Tools

As noted above, the Experience Tools RC viewer has been updated to match the current release version as the Lab continue to work on the back-end services. One issue that has been encountered  – albeit it in a single case so far – is that access to the KVP store used to hold information on the experience can be delayed in very permissive areas where there is a lot of natural in-world rezzing going on (e.g. public sandboxes) – see BUG-9027. This is because access to the store uses the same resources as used for rezzing objects.

The concern with the problem is that it could have an impact of grid wide experiences. However support for running experiences on a grid-wide basis is, in the Lab’s eyes, “still some time in the more distant future”, as they are focused on the region / parcel level and ensuring the capability works within these extremes first. As such, this issue is unlikely to prevent the initial deployment of the Experience Tools capability, although the Lab will look into this particular matter at a latter date.

Combat and Damage

During the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, June 16th, the subject of damage, combat and protection within regions controls. Commenting on the matter Simon Linden said, “I’m beginning to think more and more we need regions set to different modes … something safe for general use, then raise the limits for combat (and the like) where you are freer to hurt yourself.  It’s just an idea at this point, but the one-setting-for-everything seems to always make someone unhappy.”

The problem here is that the existing Linden Damage system is seen as being somewhat inflexible, hence the development of various combat systems within SL. However, that there are so many systems now available, makes the Lab hesitant to change things, as Simon went on to explain:

We’ve talked before about working on the damage feature but I think that’s a case where everyone has their own usage, and so it would be better to have the features so others can make the damage systems they want. We probably can’t alter the current one. I’m sure somewhere somebody is using it and we can’t break their content. We could add to it, if it’s backwards compatible, but like I said, I think it would be better to hear what the CS and other system builders want to make their system nicer.

As Simon states, this doesn’t mean the Lab are about to make changes, or consider making changes where combat systems and damage are concerned; just that they are aware of the limitations within the current land settings.

That said, a recent change within the LL viewer has been noticed. Under it, damage cannot be set it the parcel level only; also, the viewer does not display the health meter on damage enabled parcels, but people can be “killed” and teleported home.  While Oz acknowledged this may be due to the Lab not fully following through on a set of changes to the viewer code, Simon also pointed out that the two-state on / off capabilities between regions and parcels has never really been fit for purpose:

Basically if you have any larger or high level setting, as well as a smaller scale (like regions vs parcels)  the higher one can’t just be “on” or “off”. It needs to be “on with override smaller settings” , “on without override”, “off override smaller settings” , “off without override” … It just doesn’t work with simple on/off settings.   You need more info about the intent on how it relates to the smaller areas

However, he again warned against anything being done on this in the near future, commenting, “if we want to fix this in SL, it means viewer UI changes, new data being passed back and forth to the simulator (which can be a hassle depending on the messages), new values in the database (which is another issue) and of course simulator changes.” In other words, were anything to be done, it would be a large-scale project, something which the Lab has yet to even consider taking on.

SL12B Community Celebration: not long now

Posted on by Inara Pey
The train now arriving (or is that leaving...?) platform ? ...
The train now arriving (or is that leaving…?) platform ? …

The clock is counting down to the start of the SL12B Community Celebration.  On Sunday, June 21st, the gates will be thrown wide, for a week of events and and attractions, after which they’ll remain open for a further week so people can tour and enjoy without the celebratory events and activities.

With the count ticking down the hours and minutes, the remaining schedule in the lead-up to the start of celebrations reads like this:

  • Wednesday June 17th (noon SLT) at noon SLT – Thursday, June 18th: Sims closed for walk-through
  • Friday, June 19th and Saturday, June 20th: Extra time for adjustments
  • Saturday, June 20th: Press day
  • Sunday, June 21st (noon SLT): Sims open!

And, of course, Tuesday, June 23rd marks the actual day of Second Life’s 12th anniversary!

If you’ve applied to be a part of the Press Day on Saturday, June 20th, you should hear about things soon, with an invite to join the press group. In the meantime, a final sneak peek video from me, also available on the SL12B website.

Share what Second Life means to you in a 12th anniversary project

Posted on by Inara Pey

To mark Second Life’s 12th anniversary, Linden Lab has launched a rather unusual video share project, asking residents to reveal some of what Second Life means to them.

The official blog post from Xiola which launches the project reads in part:

Second Life has been going strong for a dozen wonderful years and there’s a ton of things happening to celebrate. You’ll see more to come here in the Featured News Blog – but we wanted to stop and ask – “What is the meaning of Second Life?” To you – that is! This question may sound daunting – but the truth is, tapping into what makes “SL” so special to us as individuals and communities is a really amazing exercise in retrospection and self-discovery. This is your world – so what does it mean to you?

Whether you just got started, have been onboard for the full dozen years, or fall somewhere in between – we’d love to see a glimpse of your story in the “What Second Life Means to Me” video project. You don’t have to be a master of machinima to participate…

From a few seconds to a few minutes – just kick it off with this – “In Second Life, my name is …” and share your story from there! Once you have something set – share it! Upload it to YouTube and embed it on this forum thread. Together, we’ll watch the thread for new stories over the coming weeks – it should be awesome. If you prefer to express yourself in writing – share what Second Life means to you with a reply to the thread.

To get things started, and to springboard people’s inspiration, the Lab has included a number of videos from well-known names in Second Life, including Xiola and Torley from the Lab.

Each video is roughly a minute and a half long. Those they already provide a unique mix of stories and provides very personal points of view of Second Life, ranging from Torley’s extrovert and enthusiastic approach (which again reveals just why he is such a marvellous ambassador for the platform and the Lab), through to more introspective pieces, such as Xiola’s piece or Kaya Angel’s examination of creativity in Second life, and the richness it has brought to him in terms of his own creations and the people he has met.

This is a unique project everyone can share in – remember, videos are not required: you can write your own story  in a forum post if you prefer (and, I would guess, include your own pictures). Nor do you have to be a great machinima maker, or necessarily film in-world scenes.

It’ll be interesting to see who else opts to celebrate SL’s 12th birthday in this way, and reveals what Second Life means to them!

A sail boat in a bag offers fun in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Shield 1.2 by Burt Artis in my custom red / white finish, and named "Imladris"
The Shields 1.2 by Burt Artis in my custom red / white finish, and named “Imladris”

For those starting-out with sailing – which I enjoy simply for the pleasure, rather than for racing or anything – there are numerous little freebie boats available to help, of which the veritable little Nemo, which can be found in rezzers all over the waterfront in Second Life, is perhaps the most famous.

However, my attention was recently drawn to a relative newcomer to the freebie sailing market by a comment left by ZZ Pearl Bottom concerning the work of Burt Artis. My interest grew following a visit to the Three Pines Sailing School and Resource Centre, where I found a vendor for the boat, and decided to grab a copy and have a look.  And even to my untutored sailor’s eye, the boat is a heck of a lot of fun, and great introduction to sailing in SL.

My Shields boat by Burt Artis in default colours & me sitting in the default boarding pose
My Shields boat by Burt Artis in default colours & me sitting in the default boarding pose

The boat in question is a Shields sloop-rigged keeled racing boat, and is offered in a size pretty close to the physical world boat on which it is based (that has an overall length of 9.19 metres, and Burt’s is 11.29 metres). It’s a mesh build, with a land impact of 27 and is quite packed with features – including two versions of the boat itself: the original 1.0a and the more recent 1.2, which is the one I took out on the water.

For those with an technical inclination, I’m reliably informed via Maiti Yenni that the the sailing engine is based on the original Tako scripts that Kanker Greenacre published, with the WWCmod from Mothgirl. The wind system used by the boat is Zephi Boat Weather, developed by Burt and JoyofRLC Acker. Also included with the package are a set of texture and UV maps (the boat is mod when rezzed, allowing you to customise it). The whole thing is delivered in a neat little sailor’s knapsack when purchased.

Getting underway
Getting under way

On the water, the boat looks good – although barefoot sailing (or in a pair of wellingtons / galoshes!) is recommended, as the floor of the boat can get a little wet 🙂 ). The skipper should board first via the usual right-click and sit, which will place you sitting on the boat with legs dangling over the side, and displays the initial set-up menu, with instructions in the board’s note card manual.

From here, everything is more-or-less operated by keyboard and chat commands. To start sailing, simply type “raise” – this both hoists the sails and rotates you into a position inboard the boat and handling the tiller. If you’re sailing with friend, you my need to issue the “crews” or “crewp” command to get them seated correctly.

Handling-wise, the LEFT / RIGHT keys turn the boat, and the UP / DOWN keys let the sails out or take them in. Colour codes help to understand the sail settings: green – good; cyan is tight and blue is much too tight (so let the sails out); yellow is loose and red much too loose (so bring the sails in). You can also go “in irons” (steering into a headwind), indicated by the wind colour turning orange, which can happen rather quickly, killing your momentum and requiring some careful manoeuvring.

Under full sail
Under full sail

Crew and helm positions can be altered in chat to suit the sail position, using the “hp” (helm port) and “hs” (helm starboard) commands and “crewp” and “crews” (crew can move themselves using the LEFT / RIGHT arrow keys). There are also keyboard commands for setting the angle of the sails, etc., and to “wing” the jib in place of a spinnaker when downwind.

If all this sounds complicated, it’s not – a little practice gets you sailing along nicely and the commands give a good feel for sailing more complicated boats.

Texturing-wise, the maps that are provided are basic, but sufficient to nicely customise the boat for personal tastes. It took me less than 10 minutes to have my Shields 1.2 repainted and named.

My familiar red / white colour scheme applied to the shield 1.2
My familiar red / white colour scheme applied to the shield 1.2

Sailing on my own, I found the Shields 1.2 to be a delight: smooth and easy on region crossings and fast enough when “in the green” without being stupid fast and feeling like it has a secret V8 powering it. The wind system keeps you very honest, and encourages more thought on sail management than simple “raise and go” and manually changing the wind to suit needs. Region crossing with crew did result in us ending up in some odd seating positions, but these were easily corrected via chat / with the arrow keys, and didn’t interrupt sailing.

All told, this is a great boat – one couldn’t ask for more from a freebie; so if you’ve been looking for something to try that offers a little leg room and gives a good feel for SL sailing, why not give the Shields a go? Vendors are available around SL, including at the Three Pines Sailing School – just follow the link towards the top of this article, and wander down to the quayside.