Day: April 2, 2019

2019 SL User Groups 14/1: SUG; teleport disconnects

Posted on by Inara Pey

On The Other Side; Inara Pey, February 2019, on FlickrOn The Other Side – blog post

Server Deployments

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

  • On Tuesday, April 2nd, the SLS (Main) channel was updated to server maintenance package 19#19.03.15.525315, comprising the simulator operating system update and EEP.
  • On Wednesday, April 3rd, the three RC channels should be updated with at least one server maintenance package (details TBA at the time of writing). Updates should include:
    • The removal of UDP Asset message handling across all RC channels – see below.
    • Some changes that might help with some disconnect issues older viewers have been experiencing, and which appears to be connected to some TCP message handling between the simulator and the viewer.

Removal of UDP Asset Message Handling

The removal of UDP message handing sees the removal of server-side support for asset (inventory) messaging via UDP. All maintained viewers should be using HTTP for all asset handling – and this has been the case for a good few years for several asset types, with the last few moving to HTTP in 2017; as such these viewers will not be impacted by this deployment.

However, it does mean that anyone using very old viewers still reliant on UDP messaging for assets will not be able to receive any updates for the following: animations, body parts, clothing, gestures, landmarks, meshes and sounds whilst connected to regions on any RC channels; this includes the two legacy viewers provided by Linden Lab, the Linux Spur viewer and the Obsolete platform viewer.

In particular, and since  some specific body parts are required to render avatars, user of these older viewers will see their avatar either as a cloud or the “Ruth” avatar, and will be unable to change from it.

SL Viewer

  • The Love Me Render viewer, version 6.1.1.525446, was promoted to de facto release status on Tuesday, April 2nd.
  • The EEP RC viewer updated to version 6.2.0.525808 on Monday, April 1st.

The rest of the viewer pipelines remain as follows:

  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself):
    • Bakes on Mesh RC viewer, version 6.1.1.525409, March 26.
    • Estate Access Management (EAM) RC viewer, version 6.2.0.525404, March 25.
    • Teranino Maintenance RC viewer version 6.1.1.525401, March 20.
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

Teleport Disconnects

Teleport disconnects continue to be a problem. Some are pointing to the EEP deployment as the cause, and also citing the use of derendering the sky (Advanced menu > Rendering Types > unchecking Sky or CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-6). This seems to work for at least some of those experiencing the issue. However, Maxidox and Rider Linden have been looking into this, with Rider commenting:

The sky thing is much the same as putting a banana in your ear to keep the alligators away.

In other words, while derendering the sky my offer a workaround for the problem, it doesn’t actually resolve the issue.

Simon Linden added:

It’s definitely possible that any difference in network traffic might make the system behaviour change – but I don’t think changing the sky settings produces that much network usage.

The failures I’ve investigated seem to be falling into a middle-limbo where the first region thinks it’s handed you off successfully, but the 2nd doesn’t get all the data it expects and eventually times out.

One suggestion is to keep examinations of physical region crossing disconnects separate to TP disconnect, on account of the former tending to be more generally unpredictable due to the added data being transferred (vehicle as well as avatar(s)) and the manner in which the hand-offs are made. A further possible conflation of figures is the ongoing Singularity disconnect issue.

At the moment, the Lab believe that have one statistic that may show the issue, but as it is only recorded once a day, they are waiting to gather further data from it before determining if it is revealing a possible issue / cause.

Celebrating van Gogh in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
ArtCare Gallery: Vincent van Gogh

Currently open at the ArtCare Gallery, curated by Carelyna Resident, assisted by Kurk Mumfuzz and Yany O’Real, is a celebration of art marking the 166th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh’s birth.

This is at first appears to be a most unusual exhibition, in that the gallery space is given over to large cubes, on four faces of which are reproductions of many of van Gogh’s paintings, while the inner walls of the gallery space carry a repeated reproduction of his 1888 painting, Starry Night Over The Rhone.

The reason for presenting the paintings on large cubes is presented at the landing point by a cube bearing a quote from van Gogh, “I would rather paint on big cubes, but I can’t carry them”.  Also at the landing point is a brief biography of van Gogh, that provides a broad thumbnail of his artistic output and the tragedy of his life.

ArtCare Gallery: Vincent van Gogh

Some of the reproductions include The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise (1890), The Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing (1888), Olive Grove (1889), The Cottage (1885),  Still Life with Lemons on a Plate (1887), Pietà (1889), several of his self-portraits, and a two-walled reproduction of The Starry Night (1889). Between the cubes and walls are several settings suggestive of café spaces, possibly a reference to van Gogh’s mixed view of such places, of which he once said, “I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime” whilst referencing his 1889 painting, The Night Café.

It is the range of paintings present here that makes this an interesting exhibition: while some of van Gogh’s more famous paintings are shown (notably, perhaps, the Starry Night paintings), so to are perhaps lesser-known studies, such as from several of his collections: shoes, flowers, people at work, and so on, while there is a balance between his oil and watercolour works. There are also possible references to some of the less considered aspect of van Gogh’s life, such as his relationship with religion, as seen through Pietà.

ArtCare Gallery: Vincent van Gogh

My only complaints are that the use of the cubes, coupled with their size means that viewing some of the works on offer can be difficult. my second is that the paintings are presented without any supporting information – and given the selection on offer, some additional note cards / panels offering insight into some of the themes of van Gogh’s work could encourage a greater appreciation of his work.

Nevertheless, this is still an exhibition worth seeing for anyone with a love of van Gogh’s work. And I confess that while visiting it, I was once again reminded of another tribute to van Gogh’s work, that of Robbie Dingo’s Watch the World. Made far back in 2008, it takes viewers of on a time-lapse journey through the in-world recreation of The Starry Night. The build itself has long gone, but is commemorated in a couple of videos from Robbie, and I’m embedding the 2008 version, presented to Don McLean’s 1972 hit, Vincent, here.

SLurl Details

ArtCare Gallery (Prychek, rated: Moderate)

 

SL16B: applications open for exhibitors, performers and volunteers

Posted on by Inara Pey
Courtesy of Linden Lab

June 2019 marks the 16th anniversary of Second Life fully opening its doors to the public (and, as I’ve previously mentioned, Linden Lab’s own 20th anniversary as a company). As is the tradition, the anniversary will be marked by the Second Life Birthday event, marked by exhibitions, music, entertainment and more taking place across the SLB regions.

On Monday, April 1st, 2019 Linden Lab opened the doors to applications from exhibitors, performers, presenters and volunteers, with the blog post reading in part:

SL16B is coming this summer … This year, we are excited to return to being more involved in the organisation of all the events. In addition to the official Music Fests, costume parties,  and Shopping events, of the last few years, we’re also returning to our roots and participating more in the development and planning of the main SLB celebration.

The 2018 SL15B Auditorium

Those wishing to apply to be involved in SL16B as exhibitors, performers or volunteers should follow the links below.

Notes for the above applications:

  • When entering times in any of the above forms, please ensure you used Second Life Time (SLT).
  • The closing date for all of the above applications is Wednesday, May 15th, 2019.

In addition, on March 14th, 2019, Linden Lab announced the SL16B Shopping Event (read here for more). Those wishing to apply to be a part of this event as a merchant should complete the Merchant Application form, no later than Saturday, June 1st, 2019.

The SL16B Shopping Event: scheduled to run throughout the shopping period, this multi-region shopping event is now accepting applications from merchants. Those wishing to participate should ensure they have applied by June 1st, 2019.