Month: June 2022

Looking at the SL Performance Improvements Viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

The Performance Improvements Viewer has been the default release viewer from the Lab for the last couple of weeks, and the code is starting to find its way to TPVs. This is a viewer specifically designed by LL to provide a smoother user experience in terms of things like rezzing / rendering times, better FPS.

The viewer represents a lot of work on the part of the Graphics team to improve data handling (including moving various data elements between threads, removing low update processes to their own threads rather than having them stall the main rendering threads, etc., all of which is intended to make the viewer feed more responsive as you move / teleport around SL.

As such, I decided to try a series of basic comparative tests between the Performance Improvements viewer, a version of the official viewer without the code updates and Firestorm (as my TPV of choice at the moment), just to gain a rough indication of how the changes made to the viewer perform. These tests comprised:

  1. Logging-in to my Home location with empty caches, recording the time from clicking the log-in button through to everything loading in my field of view.
  2. Logging-in to my Home location with it locally cached on my hard drive.
  3. Completing a walk around my Home location, recording FPS at the same 9 locations, three times each with Shadows OFF and Shadows ON, and taking an average of all the FPS times recorded.
  4. Teleporting to a busy region (15+ avatars) that is not pre-cached locally (but should be cached at my nearest CDN node(s), given it is a place I visit daily).
  5. Re-teleporting to the same location, now locally cached.
  6. Completing the same walk around the selected location, recording FPS at the same 5 locations, three times each with Shadows OFF and Shadows ON, and taking an average of all the FPS times recorded.

The table below summarises my findings:

Firestorm SL Viewer – No Improvements Code SL Performance Improvements Viewer
Home log-in uncached 42.06 sec 27.94 sec 24.00 sec
Home log-in cached 22.34 sec 21.98 sec 20.00 sec
Home walk – no shadows 25.5 FPS 34.5 FPS 53.57 FPS
Home walk – shadows 17.4 FPS 21.4 FPS 42.8 FPS
Uncached location TP 55:41 sec 49.37 sec 44.27 sec
Cached location TP 46:61 sec 35.03 sec 17.57 sec
TP location – no shadows 28.9 FPS 29.25 FPS 45.54 FPS
TP location – shadows 13.5 FPS 22.8 FPS 38.8 FPS

Obviously, there is always going to be a lot of subjectivity in such tests like these, which are dependent upon factors such as the specs of the system running the viewer(s), what else is running at the same time, Internet connectivity with the SL services and to the nearest CDN node, etc. However, in carrying out the comparisons above, I attempted to achieve something of a common basis by:

  • Using the same settings across the three viewers (e.g. camera and graphics pre-sets; the same RenderVolumeLOD factor; the same attached EEP settings for a consistent environment; the same complexity setting & max no. of non-imposters, etc.) – with the acknowledged caveat that the Performance Improvements viewer would automatically default to Shadows ON for me, based on my system’s capabilities, so needed some adjustment during some tests.
  • Ensuring all tests were carried out back-to-back to minimise extensive changes due to avatars of different complexity coming  / going / moving around.
  • Closing all other apps I had been running on my PC to maximise the available resources available to all of the tests.

In addition, and for completeness (and as requested by Lance in the comments) – here are my system specifications – which are also available in the link on the right column of this blog.

But even while subjective, I think the results tend to speak for themselves, and there is no denying the qualitative frame speed increase with the Performance Improvements viewer, particularly with shadows enabled.

How quickly these updates are adopted by TPVs is down to their release schedules; but for the official viewer, this marks the first major release of updates intended to improve performance that is currently in flight, with the Performance Improvements Floater viewer (which includes the Lab’s take on auto-FPS function functionality similar to that found in Firestorm) currently at product viewer status.

The Performance Improvements viewer can be downloaded via the Viewer Download page, and the release notes are here.

Within the Void in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Void, June 2022 – click any image for full size

In May, Cube Republic passed me a Landmark to a place I’d never heard of – The Void – A Full region designed by Ninavah Snowflake and home to The Void and Minttea in-world stores. As I’m curious about stores that offer places to visit outside of their central business, I found time to take a look – and found something of an engaging, innovative setting.

Before going further, I’d like to stress a few things:

  • This is a review of the public spaces of the region, it’s neither a recommendation of endorsement of the products sold in either store, none of which I’ve viewed, much less purchased.
  • To access the region, you need to join the region (you will be offered the chance to join on trying to teleport view the SLurl given in this piece). This is necessary as the Experience runs the interactive elements within the region.
  • Some of the teleport and other effects use both light and motion, so those sensitive to bright / flashing white light or rapid motion / flashing should take care.
  • Make sure you have Advanced Lighting Model (ALM – Preferences → Graphics → make sure Advanced Lighting Model is checked).
The Void, June 2022

Accepting the Experience (if you haven’t already) will deliver you to the initial Landing Point; just follow the arrow to the portal and walk through it (be warning: flashing effects!) to arrive at the main hub. This is a setting where geometry is king, and which carries within it hints of Tron and Tron Legacy. Rendered almost entirely in black and white, this artificial landscape exists as islands over a grey body of water, below which machines sit.

Above the water, the setting is dominated by a gigantic cube rotated through 45º degrees to rest on edge on one of the flat islands. Limned in white neon-like light as with the rest of the setting, it is home to the Void / Minttea main store lobby and teleports, and sits flanked by two far more modest islands – one the home of Atherium, and the other, the Portals – which will be the focus of the rest of this piece.

The Void, June 2022

Three teleport disks are ranged before you on arrival, each clearly labelled. However, they are not your usual touch / sit teleports; they are instead collision-triggered. Walk onto / close to one of them and your avatar will be caromed into the air with a vivid, screen-saturating flash and somersaulted through the air, camera capturing the move from several angles. This can be a little unsettling the first time, but you will arrive at your destination safely.

Atherium is pretty much a Traffic Trap – visitors are asked to register with an obelisk that put me in mind of the MCP in the original Tron (albeit without the CGI and lights) and either remain close by or within the region as a whole in order to win the opportunity to pick from a (long) list of rewards.

The Void, June 2022

The Portal island, however, offers the opportunity to walk through three additional portals to further locations. These are:

  • Archive: enter a dark world where a console lit by two arrows pointing in opposite directions awaits. Approach it, and the room around you will turn white, revealing which computer-like objects hang overhead, together with scrolls of hieroglyphs. Use the arrow’s to “page” through the scrolls and touch a scroll to gain a dialogue of diary entries that form an evolving story – each entry will appear in local chat when selected.
  • Muses: a field of green under an azure sky of white fluffy clouds; a place to relax.
  • Dreamscape:   The most engaging element: walk the bridge across a misty void to the far wall. Touch the wall and enter the Chamber of Muses. Touch the device at the centre to rez a number of scenes – and watch the chamber literally spin them into being (with a certain amount of bright light / flashing).

Finding your way back from any point is simply a matter of finding the archway (Portals) or teleport disk.

The Void, June 2022

Immersive, unusual, and cleverly scripted / presented, The Void makes for a visually impressive, unique visit, whether or not you are hunting for movement  / flight / swimming assistance or other avatar accessories.

SLurl Details

2022 SUG meetings week #23 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Perpetuity, April 2022 – blog post

The following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 7th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. It forms a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.

Server Deployments

See the server deployment thread for any updates.

  • On Tuesday, June 7th, the SLS Main and Event channel servers updated to simulator version .572237, which includes fixes in support of the upcoming Premium Plus capability.
  • Wednesday, June 8th should see the RC channels will be restarted without any code deployment.

Available Official Viewers

There have been no official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the current crop as:

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.0.571939 – formerly the Performance Improvements viewer, dated May 25th – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Nomayo Maintenance RC (Maintenance N) viewer, version 6.6.1.572179, June 1.
    • Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.6.571575, May 12.
  • Project viewers:
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
    • Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
    • Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

In Brief

  • Region crossing issues were raised, with some defining them as “the” immersion-breaking issue of SL – a claim that is subjective, based one a person’s particular. Responding to the problem, Rider noted that what is needed is a top to bottom evaluation on the entire transfer protocol. This will take resources that are working on other projects.
  • The above led to further discussions on the issue of vehicles hitting a parcel ban  / ban lines are “bounced” (see: BUG-231802 “Prevent vehicles from entering parcels their riders cannot access”). This work is still pending. However, it in turn saw a general discussion on overly-aggressive security orbs, vehicles, fire-breathing chickens and parcel bans in general, with different viewpoints expressed, per the video, in which it was noted the above Jira won’t help with aggressive orbs.
    • An issue of point here is an property-holder’s right to protect their privacy either on the ground or in skyboxes) versus the ability for vehicle users to pass through (particularly by air) to travel through multiple connected regions.
    • The problem is, trying to regulate orb systems so that, for example, all conform to a minimum time delay before ejecting trespassers, would have to be retro-active, and next to impossible to ignore.
    • BUG-225227 “Report Cause of Teleport to Scripts” entered the last part of the conversation, and looks like it will be put back in the “under consideration” queue for feature requests.
  • BUG-227303 “collisions makes a script stop running and revert its mono status” was brought up for the Lab’s attention once more.
  • BUG-6477 “Feature Request: Script operational function or constant for allowing all functions using list inputs to typecast list values to expected types”

Loss, life and strength, Alone in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Mihailsk
There are moments in life when you feel like you are losing everything; the laughter, the joy, in short the colour disappears from your life. You are ALONE, nude, mourning about what you lost. You have to find the strength to stand on your own feet again and find the light in the darkness that surrounds you.

– Mihailsk, June 2022

With these words, Greek photographer-artist and observer of life Mihailsk introduces guests to his exhibition Alone, which forms the June exhibit at Dido Haas’s Nitroglobus Roof Gallery. As might be gathered from his intro, this is an exhibition that leans into darker feelings and emotions: loss and loneliness, depression and hurt, whilst also offering a sense of hope beyond the shadow and pain.

The fourteen pieces Mihailsk presents are extraordinary in the depth of life they each offer. All are finished in black and white, using deep shadow and nudity to tremendous effect. But while nudity is present, it is not excessively NSFW, (although caution might be best employed with a couple of the pieces). Nor is its presence in any way gratuitous; rather, it is essential to the exhibition’s theme and tone.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Mihailsk

This is because – as Mihailsk notes – nudity is the most physical manifestation of helplessness / being alone. When nude, we have nothing by which to hide our condition; we are literally and metaphorically laid bare to the world and our scars are openly visible; scars that are not necessarily physical, but certainly emotional (and represented here by the tattoos, marks and drawings present on Mihailsk’s torso and face). Thus its use within these images is a literal expression of naked emotion.

Similarly, the use of shadow and monochrome project feeling and mood. The shadows are perhaps most obviously representative of depression, feelings of darkness, loss and being lost. At the same time, the use of shadows to obscure eyes (together with eyes being closed) speaks again to sorrow, loss, and emptiness.

Contrasting with this is the use of light, both directed and visible. Through the pieces, whether indirect and lighting Mihailsk’s body and face, or direct in the form of beams of light falling across him or the presence of a ceiling light, give a sense hope for the future, and happier times will come again. More particularly, its presence within the images literally pushes back against the darkness, bathing Mihailsk in a sense of warmth, a visual reference to the fact that bad times do come to an end and that – to borrow from another expression – our darkest times come just before the brightest.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Mihailsk

This hope is further expressed through pose. Nowhere is the figure slumped or huddled; instead, the poses all contain one or more suggestions of strength: a muscular outstretched arm, a seated back that is straight, not curved in defeat; the fluid movement of dance, and so on. Thus, they further add to the sense of hope for the future, that our inner strength will allow us to survive and to move forward as we seek the light of better times.

Accompanying the art are two quotes from Greek writer and poet Anastasios-Pandeleïmon Leivaditis and Belgian poet and novelist Eleanore Marie Sarton, both of which perfectly encapsulate the spirit of the exhibition. This can be found on the gallery wall, while lighting by Adwehe has been provided to add further atmosphere to the piece (make sure Advanced Lighting Model is enabled).

Rich in metaphor, meaning and very real emotion, Alone is an exhibition of enormous personal depth, but which offers a richness of feeling that it resonates strongly with anyone who has experienced one or more periods of loss and / or darkness.

SLurl Details

This week with Seanchai Library – June 6th-10th

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.

Monday, June 6th, 19:00 Dandelion Wine

The inventor who almost took the pleasure out of life by building a Happiness Machine; the young reporter who fell in love with an alluring lady of ninety; the old gentleman whose last act was listening to the clang of a green trolley car going round a corner, two thousand miles away.

These are just a few of strange and vivid people who entered the secret world of a twelve-year-old boy during one enchanted summer when he discovered the fact that he really was alive…

“The summer of ’28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma’s belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.”

 

Tuesday, June 7th

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym

With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Beggar’s Day: The Beggar Prince

The Kingdom of Galaway has a law – The Test of Kings –  that every heir to the throne must work a year and a day as a commoner in order to prove they are worthy of being ruler. Not a great law when you are as lazy and indulgent as Prince Larry.

He find that on his day, he must become servant to a former slave, Brishee, as she is conscripted to find the lost artefact, The Shield of Many Uses. However, the evil Percy has other ideas. Via murder and conspiracy, he intends to usurp the throne of King Willy.

Will Larry survive in his role as servant to Brishee? Will she succeed in her quest – and Larry, by extension, succeed in The Test of Kings, or will he be the first to fail, and Percy thus succeed?

The King, meanwhile, has problems of his own: why does Cruith the Crone keep stealing his chickens? Why is she always the first in line to bend his ear on Beggar’s Day?

Caledonia Skytower reads M.J. McGalliard’s first volume in the Beggar’s Day series.

Wednesday, June 8th: Seanchai Flicks

A special for Star Wars month as the Seanchai cinema space plays host to videos and throw popcorn around!

Thursday, June 9th: Thursday Night Science Fiction

With Finn Zeddmore.

2022 viewer release summaries week #22

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week ending Sunday, June 5th, 2022

This summary is generally 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.
  • Note that for purposes of length, TPV test viewers, preview / beta viewers / nightly builds are generally not recorded in these summaries.

Official LL Viewers

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.0.571939 – formerly the Performance Improvements viewer, dated May 25th – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Nomayo Maintenance RC (Maintenance N) viewer, version 6.6.1.572179, June 1.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • MetaChat updated to version 1.2.9138 on June 4th – release notes.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links