Day: August 22, 2020

2020 SL project updates week #34: TPVD summary + some uplift news

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Maps (and more!) of Second Life – June 2020

The following notes are taken from the TPV Developer meeting held on Friday, August 21st, 2020. These meetings are generally held every other week, unless otherwise noted in any given summary. The embedded video is provided to Pantera – my thanks to her for recording and providing it. Time stamps are included with the notes will open the video at the point(s) where a specific topic is discussed.

This was a very short meeting.

SL Viewer News

[0:22-2:30]

The Love Me Render RC updated to version 6.4.8.547427 on Friday, August 21st. This update to the viewer includes a number of EEP improvements and fixes (among a list of rendering fixes / improvements):

  • BUG-229107 [EEP] [Improvement] Ice level Slider Graduation.
  • SL-13539 [EEP] Large reflection on the water when facing certain angles.
  • BUG-228992 [EEP] Appearance lighting is broken when ALM is enabled.
  • BUG-228914 [EEP] Deferred Soften Shader fails to link when Atmospheric Shaders are disabled. This causes Debug viewer builds to crash.
  • BUG-228882 [EEP] Disabling glow rendering while ALM is off results in massive rendering flicker.
  • BUG-228781 [EEP] Specular color interpreted wrong (too bright) from point lights.
  • BUG-228581 [EEP] Specular map reflections are way too weak.
  • BUG-228840 [EEP] cloud texture is rendered backwards.
  • BUG-228431 [EEP] Water lighting is wrong at certain camera angles.
  • BUG-228752 [EEP] Sky turns black when render quality is lowered to Low-Mid.
  • BUG-225784 [EEP] BUG-225446 regression – HUDs are again affected by environment setting and BUG-225446 [FIXED] [EEP] HUDs are affected by Atmosphere & Lighting changes.

The rest of the official viewer pipelines remain as follows:

  • Current release viewer version 6.4.7.546539, dated August 11, promoted August 17, formerly the Arrack Maintenance RC viewer – NEW.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
    • Custom Key Mappings project viewer, version 6.4.5.544079, June 30.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, December 9, 2019.
    • Project Muscadine (Animesh follow-on) project viewer, version 6.4.0.532999, November 22, 2019.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.3.2.530836, September 17, 2019. Covers the re-integration of Viewer Profiles.
    • 360 Snapshot project viewer, version 6.2.4.529111, July 16, 2019.

General Viewer Notes

  • As noted in my CCUG summary,the Legacy Profiles viewer has been further prevented from making progress due to additional web-side changes that need to be made to enable privacy settings (who can see your feed posts) to work correctly.
  • An updated version of the Mesh Uploader RC viewer should be available in week #35.
  • [6:35-7:45] LL are running a test viewer internally with updates to address the FPS drop seen within EEP viewers on Windows when compared to non-EEP viewers (and for which one of the less-than-ideal workarounds people have been using is to disable Linden Water rendering via CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-7). While it may not completely resolve all FPS issues in EEP, it does offer noticeable improvements, and if all goes well, the updates will be merged into the current Love Me Render RC viewer.

Cloud Uplift

[2:37-3:03]

  • “Lots of progress going on” within Project Uplift (moving all SL services to AWS).
  • There will be “some posts to the LSL forum” in the near future specifically for scripters about things people should be testing. Details are scant at this point in time, but the changes are described as “not particularly scary”.

 

A Distant Edge in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Distant Edge, August 2020 – click any image for full size

Distant Edge is a Homestead region designed by Remuera Seetan as “a quiet and serene place where you can reconnect with nature”, and inspired by the rugged islands of northern latitudes – although which side of the Atlantic those islands might be is up to the visitor.

A rugged setting offering a sense of the magnificent desolation only nature can create, Distant Edge is also a place where music has helped to form it, be it through the pub / club nestling within the shoulders of the western hills, or through the presence on a lone piano overlooking a windswept southern shore.

Distant Edge, August 2020

The pub is by far the largest building on the island, although the high cliffs and peaks to the west keep this fact hidden from view from the rest of the island.

Instead, when first arriving on the deck of the landing point, sitting on the edge of the bay that cuts deeply into the island, at treated to views across the water to a cottage and windmill occupying the north-eastern headland, and of the lighthouse further along the southern headland.

Distant Edge, August 2020

Finding the pub is a matter of following a sandy path through the grass, or cheating and using the teleport board at the landing point – which means potentially missing a lot of what else the island has to offer. The latter includes the aforementioned piano within its netted pavilion, a cosy summer house, numerous places to relax on the beach or on the water or the shrine tucked away on the northern coast.

Some of the paths are marked by old railway sleepers set out across the ground while others, such as the path up to the highlands – also worth following – are far more natural in nature. The coastal areas offer a mix of beaches to walk, sloping hills and low-slung cliffs.

Distant Edge, August 2020

Reached by passing through a rocky arch, the pub offers a large deck for dancing, while the interior – a converted fish warehouse by the looks of things – offers alcohol, pool and a place to relax. Music is provided three nights a week, although I couldn’t find a schedule at the time of our visits.

Distant Edge is one of those places that doesn’t require a lot of description – it genuinely speaks for itself. Caught under a cloud-laden sky that in places is releasing rain, rounded out by a local sound scape, it offers a rewarding opportunity to explore and take photographs. Those who do take photos are welcome to submit them to the region’s Flickr group.

Distant Edge, August 2020

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