Day: August 6, 2019

2019 SL User Groups week #32/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Small Town Green; Inara Pey, June 2019, on FlickrSmall Town Green, June 2019 – blog post

Server Deployments

  • There are no planned deployments for week #32.
  • The update(simulator package 19#19.07.10.529179), intended for the Magnum RC originally deployed and then rolled back on Wednesday, July 17th (the roll-back the result of a bug being discovered during the attempt at deployment), will likely be re-deployed to at least one RC channel, during in week #33 (commencing Monday, August 12th.

SL Viewer

The Love Me Render viewer updated to version 6.2.4.529638 on Monday, August 5th.

At the time of writing the rest of the official viewers remain as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.2.3.527758, formerly the Rainbow RC viewer dated June 5, promoted June 18 – No Change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.2.3.527749, June 5. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17, 2017 and promoted to release status 29 November 2017 – 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.

In Brief

Lumiya / Android Client

No major change in situation: aspects of Lumiya – notably in relation to the in-world view the app has ( changing their outfits, using animations / AOs, etc.) – have not been working since the last of the UDP asset messages were removed from the simulator. Calls are still being made for the Lab to work on an Android client, given they are developing an iOS client. However, as I noted in week #30:

  • The initial versions of the iOS app will be for chatting and messaging only – which can still be done with the Lumiya app.
  • While the capabilities of the iOS app will be extended over time, the Lab has not committed to what additional functionality will be provided or a time frame of when they will be provided. Simply “diverting” development from iOS to Android (assuming LL has the in-house skills for Android development) will not really change that; ergo, it’s unlikely a change in development at this point in time will overcome the current Lumiya issues.

Other Notes

  • Simulator performance:
    • Some region holders are reporting improved performance in their regions over the last 2-3 weeks. Nothing has been altered on the back-end to account for this.
    • Some region holders are conversely reporting frequently degraded physics performance in their regions that requires frequent restarts to overcome. If this is occurring with a recently terraformed region, the suggestion is to check for any “land leveller” prims that may have been buried in the terrain.
  • Ghosted attachments: issues of attachments being “ghosted” – that is, failing to render whilst still being attached or remaining rendered (in your view) when they have been detached (“killed”) as a result of a teleport seem to be on the increase. The problem appears to be with attachment “kill” messages being incorrectly sent, or with multiple “kill” messages being incorrectly received. It’s not clear how / when this might be dealt with.

Images of Heaven is Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Heaven

Heaven by Oema and Van Loopen is not a new exhibition, having been open since May 2019 – but it is one that will be closing at the end of August 2019, and I’ve been meaning to write about for a while. It is a multi-media installation involving hand-drawn images, mobile sculptures, music and an ethereal setting, which Oema describes as follows:

Heaven was born from the idea of bringing together some of my drawings depicting female faces. At first, Van Loopen and I had no idea how to create an original structure that could accommodate drawings … In addition to the church and the drawings, we thought of creating special media effects to be placed so that the visitor, enabling multimedia, could be fascinated by the lights, movements, shapes, colours, and sounds in sync.

Heaven

Placed against the nave walls towards one end of the ruined cathedral, Oema’s drawings are presented in monochrome, each one very much a focus on an emotion and / or a response. They sit framed within evocative titles, the words of which – assuming they are read by visitors via a right-click edit – add to their depth and potential interpretation by the observer.

The images face in towards the central isle of the nave, where sculptures by Noke Yuitza are animated to turn slowly amidst a gentle blizzard of light and shapes that dance as if given life by the music to which the installation is set – music and lyrics specifically chosen to form an active part of the installation, and which should be enabled and listened to.

Heaven

It’s an immersive, engaging installation. The visitor, after following the instructions close to the landing point, is undeniably drawn into the piece, particularly if the titles of the drawings are viewed. But at the same time, so little is actually revealed about the subjects themselves; on whom are the images based? Avatars? People from the physical world? Friends? Family? Entirely from the imagination? No clue is given, heightening our involvement with the images and the installation as whole.

SLurl Details

  • Heaven (LEA 1, rated: Moderate)

Drune IV: an Aftermath in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019 – click any image for full size

In January 2019 we visited 2019-XS by zee9. At the time, I noted:

The region has an adult edge to the role-play, and is intended as an extension to her previous (and now departed) build Drune. I’ve not seen that design, but will say that while compact, 2019-XS has a certain ambience that is hard to define, but has seen me make three visits to it in order to fully appreciate the ambience and setting.

Well, we’ve recently had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in Drune design, as zee9 2019-XS has been remodelled into the fourth chapter in the series, Drune IV: Aftermath.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

Maintaining much of the look and feel of 2019-XS (and previous Drune builds) in terms of general layout, Drune IV Aftermath presents an environment in which it is clear that, as the region name suggests, some form of cataclysm has befallen the city.

The once pristine roads, neon-lit by business signs, cleaned by robots and home to electric vehicles, now lie broken and slowly being overcome by plant life. Power cables hang and lie in disarray, and the once bright buildings are slowly being overcome by vines and creepers.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

Exactly what has come to pass is hard to say: is the disaster man-made or natural? Did the city bring it upon itself, or has some external factor played a role? These are the questions that roll through the mind in exploring the elevated walkways, the roads and the alleyways.

But it is clear that human life has not entirely abandoned the city. Some of the street lights still work, and free-standing floodlights illuminate stairways and other areas, drawing their power from generators that must have some form of fuel supply or means to be recharged, even as more light is shed from many of the windows peppering the tall towers.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

More signs of habitation can be found along the shadowed streets, where makeshift stalls have been set-up by people trying to eke out a living. Some of these are lit by neon signs, again suggesting an operating power source, while others rely on lamps suspended from the beams of the elevated road sections.

The lifestyle of those who remain has perhaps taken a turn towards post-apocalyptic hedonism, going  by some of the market stalls, while a nightclub similar to that found within 2019-XS appears to still be in use. It sits at street level almost in reflection of another dance space sitting atop the tallest of the city’s towers. Elsewhere, follow the faint sounds of a piano playing and you may eventually be led to the entrance of what might once have been a plush club, but which now sits behind broken doors, squatting in its own gathering mould.

Drune IV: Aftermath – August 2019

The region used to be open to free-form role-play, and while I’ve no idea if this is still the case but the region certainly still captures elements of a range of sci-fi / cyberpunk films, including the likes of Blade Runner, Neuromancer, and Strange Days and even, despite its presentation of nature victorious, the Fifth Element. And even without the role-play, Drune remains an engaging visit.

SLurl Details