A European styled Perpetuity in Second Life

Perpetuity, October 2022 – click any image for full size

For those in the northern hemisphere who want to grab a last touch of the late summer before winter throws its chilly cloak over us, should consider hopping over to Perpetuity, the Full region held and designed by Camis and Tamara Sierota. For while the leaves there are turning golden brown for autumn, there is still a sense of summer warmth waiting to be found for a little while longer.

The last time I visited the region in April 2022, it offered the look and feel of Smalltown USA in the spring / early summer months, so a return to the region as the years starts to close out is perhaps appropriate. However, a greater reason for dropping in again is that the region, in keeping with the tradition Camis and Tamara have for presenting different settings for the appreciation of visitors, now appears to have its roots in southern Europe, with hints of Italy’s Tuscany and France’s Provence to be found nestling among its trees and overlooking its rugged shores.

Perpetuity, October 2022
A place for quiet moments and photography with areas to bring your partner or to come alone and relax surrounded by nature in all it’s beauty. Join the group to rez & support the sim.

– Perpetuity’s About Land Description

The first hint of this European styling comes at the landing point, tucked into the north-west corner of the region. Here visitors find themselves on the lower terrace of a distinctly Greco-Roman ruin, the upper portion of which stands as the remnants of an open-air baths, the water still fresh and inviting and overlooked by the weathered statues of gods or perhaps former patrons of whatever estate may have once stood within the lands south and east.

Perpetuity, October 2022

Suggestions that this was once an extensive estate are quick to locate: a broad cobbled road runs due east to where a walled villa and its outhouses sit before and a little above a broad expanse of beach. Rows of vines stand to attention on either side of this road, hinting that grapes and wine might have long been a part of the history here; and while the villa and its outhouses – like the tall clock tower close by – are clearly of far more recent times than the baths, the exposed stonework on the villa’s walls does suggest it has perhaps just material from a much older structure which may once have stood here.

The clock tower stands between two further roads that both run due south. The first dips down the undulating land to reach another Tuscan-style villa,  this one sitting on a broad paved terrace fronting the sea, a single outhouse converted into a cosy and inviting café. Where the road to this villa descends, the second road alongside the clock tower rises, hopping up a gentle slope to pass under trees and between bushes and hedges to reach a further junction, one arm of which point eastwards once more, and the second curves left and right to reach the arms of an imposing Provencial summer house.

Perpetuity, October 2022

Built from great squared-off blocks of stone, this imposing build appears to be a club or resort of some description; its three buildings sitting on three sides of a terraced pool. The largest of these buildings forms the main part of the facilities, offering a central pubic room with two small rooms bracketing it. All are open to the public, as are to the smaller buildings flanking the pool, and the pool itself.

Away to the east, the remaining arm of the road is carried over a stream by a little bridge, itself just a short walk from where it falls down the face of sheer cliffs into a bay tucked between two headlands. The smaller and lower of the latter forms a part of the resort grounds, and offers a look-out point separating the bay from the resort’s span of beach. Meanwhile, the taller of the two headlands is home to a farmhouse which appears to have been converted into more of a vacation property, the road to it running past the head of another waterfall that feeds the bay below.

Perpetuity, October 2022

As well as the cobbled roads, tracks also run through the landscape, offering further opportunities for exploration, whilst the furnished nature of all the buildings, together with the fact that they are all open to the public, provide many opportunities to sit and pass the time, particularly with a loved one / partner. For those who prefer, there are also numerous outdoor locates scattered across the region offering places to sit.

There are some rules to take note of when visiting Perpetuity – nothing onerous, just make sure you accept the offered note card on arrival -, and those requiring photo props can gain rezzing rights by joining the local Group. The note card also references bike and horse rezzers, but I have to say, I didn’t notice either in my wanderings and camming so I’m not sure it these were from a previous iteration of the region or I simply missed them; either way, it doesn’t change the fact Perpetuity remains an engaging visit.

Perpetuity, October 2022

With thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the suggestion of a re-visit.

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2022 SUG meetings week #42 summary

Green Acres, August 2022 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form 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

Please see the forum deployment thread for the latest updates.

  • On Tuesday, October 18th, the Main SLS and Events channels were updated with server release 575585.
    • This release should contain two new functions llGetObjectLinkKey (specified under llGetLinkKey) and llSHA256String.
    • In addition, a slight change to the simulator code may help with the issue of people’s on-line / off-line status not being properly reported. It  is not an actual fix for the problem, but LL would like feedback as to whether people are seeing an improvement. See : BUG-232037 for more information on the issue.
  • On Wednesday, October 19th, the simhosts on the RC channels will be restarted but remain on simulator release 575585.

Available Official Viewers

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.4.575022 – hotfix for Crash at ~LLModalDialog() – promoted September 15 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • Maintenance 3 RC viewer, version 6.6.5.575257, September 23.
    • Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version 6.6.5.575055 September 19.
  • Project viewers:
    • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.3.575529,  October 12.
    • Performance Floater / Auto-FPS project viewer, version 6.6.5.575378, October 4.
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 6 graphics improvements project viewer 6.6.2.573263, July 21.

Local KVP / “Linkset Data”

From the server deployment thread:

We have a new feature build on Aditi for a new feature called Linkset Data. This feature works similarly to Experience Key-Value store, but the data lives with the object that sends and receives the data. Only scripts in the same linkset will be able to read the data written with this feature. For more details, see the in-progress wiki pages https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_Linkset_Data. You can try out the new LSL functions related to this feature at the following Aditi Mainland regions:
  • Blake Sea – Arabian ; Blake Sea – Atlantic ; Blake Sea – Beagle ; Blake Sea – Binnacle ; Blake Sea – Black ; Gothlauth ; Jigglypuff ; Mauve ; Moonberry ; Sapas ; Smithereens
We’re looking for feedback on this new feature including bugs and input on anything that might be missing or not work the way you’d expect. Please file a BUG Jira in all of those cases

This work is currently with the Lab’s QA team, and if cleared, could be a part of an RC channel deployment in week #43 (commencing Monday, October 24th, 2022.

These upcoming release sparked a conversation on data storage and access – please refer to the video for details.

In Brief

  • BUG-232037 “Avatar Online / Offline Status Not Correctly Updating” – LL believe that have a “handle” on the where the issue is originating, but there has been no time to take a deep dive into the actual cause as yet.
  • Further discussion on making multi-region crossings by vehicle more robust.
  • A general discussion on lighting.

Tilia LLC gains strategic investment from J.P. Morgan

Tilia LLC, founded by Linden Research Inc., as a wholly-owned subsidiary specialising in virtual currencies and providing money services business solution to virtual platforms, has announced it has gained strategic investment from J.P. Morgan Payments, a part of the world’s largest bank (by market capitalisation), JPMorgan Chase.

Tilia has been running Second Life’s US $650 million dollar economy for the past seven years, handling over US $86 million is payments to users in the last 12 months alone. Tilia’s services have also been used by the likes of Sansar, Upland and Avatus, and leverages in partnerships with Unity (allowing Tilia’s API and services to be made available to Unity developers as an integrated end-to-end payment solution) and Applovin.

E. Drew Soinski, Senior Payments Executive, Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Payments joins the Board of Tilia LLC

While an (unspecified in dollar terms) minority investment, J.P. Morgan Payment’s involvement is liable to allow Tilia to increase pay-out methods and the number of currencies it can support, thus allowing it to provide a pay-out in local fiat currency for creators to pretty much anywhere credit cards work.

The deal has been in motion for almost a year, with effort being put into ensuring Tilia’s services are interoperable with those of J.P. Morgan Payments as well as structuring the overall financial elements of the deal. With its completion, E. Drew Soinski, Senior Payments Executive, Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Payments, has  joined Tilia’s board of directors, serving alongside Brad Oberwager, Raj Date and Aston Waldman, who is also the company’s CEO.

From Tilia’s perspective, the partnership means the company will be even better placed to serve the emerging stream of “metaverse”-related companies, providing a wide range of currency services.

Tilia is money into the metaverse. It’s money moved into the metaverse and money moved out of the metaverse. And why this is so important is because you cannot have this concept of the metaverse without a social economy. It is both the social aspect and the financial aspect. Those two things must work in harmony. To do money, you need some virtual token to make money work. Money has to be rock solid. That is JP Morgan. That’s the partnership. What’s the value of Tilia? You can’t build a metaverse without user-generated content. You can’t build a metaverse without social interaction. You can’t build a metaverse without some sort of financial token that allows people to build a world.

– Tilia Director (and Linden Lab Executive Chairman) Brad Oberwager to Dean Takahashi in Gamesbeat

He further noted that in strengthening Tilia’s ability to provide these services to platforms, J.P. Morgan Payments are helping to both fuel new economies that directly benefit creators participating in them, allowing such economies to step away from the route of revenue generation through the invasive use of data farming and advertising.

“This is a good thing when creators can make money. There are people around the world who make their living by building things in Second Life …  Here’s why I think it’s so important: these universes are social economies. If you don’t allow people to make money, if you don’t allow this economy to happen, if you don’t support creators, you’re going to have to rely on an advertising model to make your world work. That is a disaster. That would be the worst thing that could hit our society — an advertising-based metaverse.

– Tilia Director Brad Oberwager to Dean Takahashi in Gamesbeat

A great strength with Tilia is that it utilises virtual tokens rather than blockchain-powered crypto-currencies. This means that it is better placed to offer day-to-day virtual currency stability. Crypto-currencies are all too often treated as a speculative securities; they are therefore vulnerable to market volatility, going up and down in value by the day. Such volatility can potentially damage the foundations of any social economy using them.

Add to this Tilia now having such a well-regarded name within the financial markets / payments environment as a strategic partner further enhances Tilia’s standing and reputation – with Oberwager noting that new clients are already “lining up”. At the the same time, the partnership provides J.P. Morgan Payments with access to a market sector that might otherwise prove difficult to access.

More on the partnership can be found in the links below:

Onceagain: a broadening artistic presence in Second Life

Onceagain Gallery, October 2022

It’s been barely a Kwarting¹ since I was last at Onceagain Art Gallery curated by Onceagain (Manoji Yachvili), with my last visit being to witness the B&W Group Exhibit (see: Onceagain with black and white in Second Life); and while a month is traditionally said to be a long time in politics, the same is very much true in Second Life. This is because in the time since my last visit the gallery has been relocated from the sky to the ground, and Manoji, and has expanded, its facilities.

Now located on the ground level of its home parcel within the Peaceful Mountains region, the Gallery comprises a number of halls and buildings separated by landscaped gardens. At the time of my visit, parts of the the gallery were still in development. However, this is to be expected because, as Manoji notes herself, she is always tweaking things and making adjustments (and in fact note that the Gallery might be closed on Mondays so that she can do so in peace) – but there is more than enough to occupy the eye even should some elements of the gallery’s lands be under development.

Onceagain Gallery, October, 2022

This being the case, the new facilities,  which opened on October 16th, 2022, comprise:

  • The Main Gallery, alongside of which is the primary landing point for the Gallery spaces as whole (although the landing point is not enforced so that all remaining gallery spaces can have their own LP). The Main Gallery provides an ensemble exhibition of art.
  • The Private Collection, which as the name suggests, features art from Manoji’s personal collection.
  • The Personal Exhibition Gallery, featuring Manoji’s own work, which appeared to be under construction at the time of my visit.
  • A “Free to Rent” gallery, which was again under construction at the time of my visit, but once available, will be available subject to guidelines offered through a dedicated note card.
  • The Artist of the Month gallery, presenting the featured artist invited to display within the Gallery’s spaces – if I am understanding Manoji’s notes correctly, may be presented in one of a number of gallery space designs, as selected by Manoji after viewing the artist’s work.
Onceagain Gallery, October 2022

In addition to the above, at the time of my visit, the north side of the parcel was marked as Under Construction both for what I took to the Personal Exhibition gallery noted above, and to what appear to be three further boutique style gallery spaces and a little caravan park.

Between and around the buildings, the setting has been landscaped as a garden space, high granite cliffs forming privacy walls along two sides, and from which water falls, some of it to feed a stream burbling and bubbling its way through the land. A good portion of the garden has been constructed using Alex Bader’s always popular Zen Garden Building Kit, with the more open lawns being home to 3D art elements again from Manoji’s own collection, whilst towards the centre of the gardens sits what appears to be an office-come-bookshop / quiet spot.

For October, the guest artist is Kika Yongho who, along with Manoji, presents a light-hearted selection of images entitled I only have eyes for the Flamingo. Kika’s images are located on the upper level of the gallery (alongside the landing point), and clicking each piece will supply a note card offering something of a story to go with the image. Four further flamingo-centric images by Manoji can be found on the lower floor of the gallery.

Onceagain Gallery: Kika Yongho –  I only have eyes for the Flamingo

Those wishing to have their art displayed at Onceagain as a featured artist should contact Manoji directly for information on how to do so – with information also being supplied via note card to those using the main landing point.

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  1. Kwartang (n.). A unit of measure for time in British politics named for Kwasi Kwartang, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is roughly equivalent to three times the American political unit of measure, the Scaramucci – itself some 11 days in length. (Yes, folks, a touch of political humour to go with the time, if utterly divorced from the focus of this article.)

2022 viewer release summaries week #41

Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week through to Sunday, October 16th, 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 6.6.4.575022 – hotfix for Crash at ~LLModalDialog() – promoted September 15 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts::
    • No updates.
  • Project viewers:
    • Puppetry project viewer update to version 6.6.3.575529,  on October 12th.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Group Tools – website unreachable since January 2022.
  • Radegast – website unreachable since April 2022.
  • Speedlight: updated to v25 on October 10 – release notes.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

A journey through the Gardens of Shadowfell in Second Life

Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022; click any image for full size

October is here once more, and with it come the familiar round of pumpkins, mysteries, hauntings and region and parcel builds with a spooky twist.  To be honest, I’m not actually much for all the kafuffle that goes with Halloween, as I’ve noted in the past; however there are one or two exceptions to my overall lack of enthusiasm, of which the most notable is probably the annual Calas Galadhon Halloween build – and 2022 is no exception.

Every year, Tymus Tenk, Truck Meredith and the Calas team bring us worlds of wonder to explore in the form of their Halloween and Christmas wonderland builds as an adjunct to Calas Galadahon Park, and each year we are gifted with (generally) two regions of mystical / seasonal delight. Mixing an atmospheric setting rich in places to explore, scenes to uncover, rides to enjoy and events to attend, all knitted together by the weave of environment settings, soundscape and supporting music, these builds are always and genuinely a highlight of Second Life.

Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022

For October / Halloween 2022, the team present Gardens of Shadowfell, a journey to a realms which although probably not modelled specifically after any element of Tolkien’s mythology, carries with it something of a sense of Middle Earth during the Second and Third Ages, mixed with hints of other franchises to offer an engaging potpourri of elements deserving of careful exploration.

As with all of the Calas themed builds, this is one in which it is very important visitors not at least some of the guidelines regarding a visit, all of which can be found at the landing point – with the most important perhaps being:

  • Make sure you Used Shared Environment (via World → Environment).
  • Make sure Advanced Lighting Model is active via Preferences → Graphics).
  • Enable local sounds.
Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022

It is suggested that those who can, should also enable Shadows via Preferences → Graphics.  This is worthwhile if you can, but I would suggest you’re not losing a lot from the experience if you cannot, as the general look and feel of the regions is just as atmospheric with shadows as with. For those who would like to see Shadowfell with shadows enabled, but may find it hard going, pulling any high (128m+ draw distance down could help boost performance – particularly as the overall design of the build works with moderate draw distances.

In terms of exploration, Shadowfell offers two primary means: on foot, following the paths winding through the regions; and via tour boat (available a short walk from the landing point). I strongly recommend you take the time to use both; the paths and trails offer the most comprehensive way through Shadowfell – including a journey through the caverns; while the boat tour misses the latter, it has its own features and views of the setting that are unique. I would also suggest, perhaps, that when exploring on foot, the accompanying music track is turned off during a first visit. Instead, turn the music on for the boat tour (and for subsequent visits); in this way all of the local sounds can be fully appreciated when exploring. Finally, and as per the guides at the landing point, keep an eye out for the eye-in-hand tapestries along the routes – they offer teleport opportunities to additional sit points and locations that you are unlikely to otherwise reach.

Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022

This is a place very much of two halves: the landing point directly adjoins a walk that takes visitors through a dark realm. It’s not Mirkwood by any shape or means – but in places it carries a Mirkwoodian vibe. Here the trail winds under the boughs of bent intertwined trees and along an ancient stone path that passes over strange, misty waters on the back of stone bridges. Follow the route correct through trees and mystical quarry, and it will bring you to the entrance to the caverns.

As this entrance here is open and without a great lake before it, there is no need to ponder riddles before suddenly crying, “Mellon!” or fear what might emerge from the waters behind you. However, the first part of the route through these caverns is not as simple as may appear; and those who fail to Touch at the right place might be fooled into retracing their steps prematurely….

Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022

The caverns proper are one of those places where I wish Second Life allowed us to set music streams via altitude – for within them, we move from a suggestion of Middle Earth and Tolkien to what might be called the Realm of Ridley Scott; a place that ideally suits the music of Jerry Goldsmith, as written for Scott’s 1979 Alien (a film which, the first time I saw it a good few years after its release but still on the big screen, fairly scared me out of my knickers!). These are tunnels made to be walked to the haunting strains of Goldsmith’s theme from that film (in fact I actually did this during a visit, with a little help from You Tube, even allowing for the spiders along a part of the route and their suggestion of Mirkwood again!).

Beyond the caverns, visitors can travel onward to where the path is partially drowned; its stonework visible just under the glowing waves, stairs descending to it and rising on the far side of the water indicating it is still the way forward. Cross the waters brings you to a very different realm (and over a region crossing). If the first part of the journey gives a sense of travelling (in part) through Mirkwood, then here lies a suggestion of that great forest before it fell into darkness, and the times when it was known in elvish as Eryn Galen, or Greenwood the Great.

Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022

Here, while there are still creatures of darkness / mystery lurking, so too are sights more pleasant: rabbits might be found frolicking, whilst further on is a great and wild garden of exotic flowers and plants filled with a sense of a mystic presence. This is a place in which, gardens and ruins alike, there is an unmistakable elven feel – and more than one path to explore. It is also where several of the tapestry teleports can be found – although they are not exclusive to this part of Shadowfell. The platforms and pavilions they access offer a mix of places to sit and opportunities from private dancing.

The individual scenes to be found throughout Gardens of Shadowfell are many and varied – from the Alien-esque elements up in the caverns, to the orcs busily at work through to the zombies wandering here and there and the crocodiles waiting to waylay boat tours and more, time is needed to appreciate all of the detail and care poured into this setting – care and detail that are Ty and Truck’s annual hallmarks. And , of course there are the little touches of humour awaiting discovery – like the Gollum-like alien sneaking his precious way among the face hugger eggs, or the zombie worried about her broken nail or Mickey Mouse, who pops up quite unexpectedly with a happy greeting whilst simultaneously looking a little lost and bewildered…

Gardens of Shadowfell – October 2022

I could wibble on and on about Shadowfell, but in truth, it’s best you go see it for yourself – and check the schedule of entertainments set for the pavilion there as well!

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