Day: November 8, 2022

2022 SUG meetings week #45 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cap Thunderbird, September 2022 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, November 8th, 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

At the time of writing, a server deployment thread had yet to be published.

  • On Tuesday, November 8th, the Main SLS and Events channels were restarted without any simulator update being deployed leaving them on simulator version 575585.
  • On Wednesday, November 9th, simhosts on the RC channels will again updated with simulator release comprising the new Linkset Data capability (see below for more).
    • Whilst originally deployed on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022, this release had to be rolled by on Friday, November 4th, 2022. See BUG-232866 “Each parcel is using the Region’s environment instead of the Parcel’s environment settings”.

Available Official Viewers

No changes to the current set of official viewers at the start o the week, leaving the list as:

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.7.576223 – MFA and TOS hotfix viewer – November 1.
  • Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
    • VS  2022 RC viewer, version 6.6.8.576310, issued November 4 – utilises Visual Studio 2022 in the Windows build tool chain
    • Maintenance P (Preferences, Position and Paste) RC viewer version  6.6.8.576321, November 3.
  • Project viewers:
    • PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.576331, issued on November 3.
      • This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
      • There are unconfirmed reports that GPUs are running noticeably hotter with this viewer than other viewer.
    • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.3.575529,  issued on 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.

Linkset Data (LSD)

  • Linkset Data is a new collection of script functions and one optional event that reads and writes key-value-pairs to a small 64kb table of data that is part of a root object.
  • It works similarly to Experience Key-Value store, but:
    • It does not require an underpinning experience – 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.
  • Important Note for the initial deployment:
    • Like all scripts containing new LSL functions, scripts running LinksetData calls will only run on regions running version 2022-10-27.576126 or newer (so only the RC channels to start with).
    • However unlike some other functions if you move an object containing Linkset Data (or teleport wearing an object containing Linkset Data) from a region that supports the capability to a region that does not support it, all Linkset Data stored with the object will be lost, even if you go back to a region that supports the feature.
    • This limitation will no longer exist once the back-end support for the capability has been deployed to all regions on the Main grid.
  • Further information on LSD can be found in Linkset Data (LSD) – a new feature for Second Life by NeoBokrug Elytis  in this blog.

In Brief

  • BUG-232037 “Avatar Online / Offline Status Not Correctly Updating” – this is unlikely to be addressed until 2023, as the remaining simulator update slots for 2022 now have updates assigned to them.
  • LL believe that they may have a fix for the Group chat issue of open Group chats appearing to freeze in their viewer tab, requiring the chat be closed and re-opened. The fix is being tested on Aditi.
  • The meeting revolved around a discussion on LSDFindKeys and sorting – please refer to the video for details.
  • llGetSimStats is getting “new fangs” (essentially everything from the Statistics floater is being added). The update is to be deployed in the New Year. Further information available in the meeting video.
  • Extended chat ranges within regions: this is described as “still in the works”. Apparently, there have been concerns about privacy on the viewer side which mean that, until addressed, extended chat range will remain a Linden only function.

 

Time in Tempelhof in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tempelhof, November 2022 – click any image for full size

A fair while ago – January 2014, in fact – I dropped into the Full region of Tempelhof and spent time exploring and taking photos. However, I didn’t actually get around to writing about it. So it’s about time I put that to rights.

To be honest, I have no idea if Tempelhof today is under the same management as it was in 2014 – not that this is particularly important, admittedly. However, in its current iteration, the region has been designed by Misty Payne with the region’s group created by Caps Wertmuller. Utilising the Land Capacity bonus available to private Full region, the setting is most easily defined through its About Land description:

Once a highly fashionable coastal resort – now run down and forgotten by the world. Come see what’s left, explore – and pick a home here if you want to be part of our BDSM community – we often have interesting vacancies.
Tempelhof, November 2022

While the comment on the region being home to a “BDSM community” may initially put some off, I’ll just note that this is not in any way overt, and the public aspects of the region can be easily enjoyed.

What we do have is a setting which carries within it shades of World War Two. At the dockside, for example, sits a military Kübelwagen, whilst across the region sits a coastal defence bunker and accompanying blockhouse, sitting diagonally opposite a smaller waterfront area, the entrance to which lies blocked by the carcass of a Kriegsmarine U-boat, whilst two more are moored at the main quayside.

Tempelhof, November 2022

Given the signage on the buildings, it is clear this is somewhere in Germany or along the country’s coast. Perhaps it might be a  part of Berlin’s Westhafen – even if this is in the Mitte borough rather than that of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, as might be suggested by the region’s name; or perhaps it isn’t intended to represent any single place. Whatever the case, it is an atmospheric setting.

The outer sides of the region represent the core of the town, with cobbled streets, running between places of business and manufacturing and a mix residential properties, whilst the bulk of a theatre looks like it may have recently been struck by munitions of some description – although whether bombs or the result of shelling is unclear.

Tempelhof, November 2022

The centre of the region along with the east side is more open and rural in appearance, roads giving way to rutted tracks, houses mixing with trees and fields, ponds and the odd folly or two. The roads and tracks offer the most obvious routes for exploration and wandering – however, do remember that there are private residences scattered across the region, and not all of them might be houses standing in their own grounds so do be cautious about entering the buildings – not all may be open to the public.

Despite the possible wartime nature of the setting, there are multiple signs that life here is continuing as usual: the waterfront café  is still open for business, fishing boats still appear to be plying their trade out of the little port, and the waterfront red light bar remains open for business (or should that be morale?!).

Tempelhof, November 2022

Richly detailed throughout, with plenty of opportunities for photography and exploration, Tempelhof offers a lot to see – and, potential for those so interested – the potential of a place to live.

SLurl Details

 

Camels and Chameleons with Cica in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Camels and Chameleons, November 2022

November brings with it another foray into whimsy with Cica Ghost, as she offers an installation entitled Camels and Chameleons – which you have to admit is an interesting combination of beast and reptile!

As with recent installations from Cica, this one is extreme easy on the eye to view and offers gentle exploration on foot. The largely flat landscape offers a desert-like suggestion with adobe-style walls and structures for the most part not too far removed from the kinds of environments one might reasonably expect to find both camels and the desert varieties of chameleon common to the more arid parts of Southern Asia. These are interspersed with cacti which, whilst not common to the lands in which camels might be found, are certainly found within the more arid parts of the California, into which Chameleons have been introduced.

Cica Ghost: Camels and Chameleons, November 2022

Of the two types of creatures, the camels are the most numerous, with two of the three recognised “true” species represented: the single-humped Dromedary (aka Arabian camel), which accounts for around 94% of all camels and which is common to the Middle East, the Sahara Desert, and South Asia, and the two-humped Bactrian camel, common to Central Asia, including the historical region of Bactria, and also found in remote areas of north-west China and Mongolia.

Exactly which species of Bactrian is represented isn’t entirely important, but given their short-haired nature, I preferred to think of them as being the rarer Wild Bactrian of China / Mongolia. The chameleons, on the other hand, are fewer in number, and I can’t help but feel Cica perhaps missed a trick in not blending them more with some of the landscaping / other features within the setting (allowing for their size, of course).

Cica Ghost: Camels and Chameleons, November 2022

I qualified the structures within the setting above, because whilst most of them are styled in a manner in keeping with the desert / arid environments in which camels tend to be found when roaming free, there is a rather novel structure towards the centre of the installation. Comprising blocks and towers that are, at first glance vaguely reminiscent of a Middle-Eastern fortification, it also has a slight other-worldly feel to it, with some of the blocks suspended in mid air on horizontal planks bridging the gaps between other blocks, and many of them sprouting deadlock-like growths of cacti from their tops.

Rounded out with another quote from Dr. Seuss, Camels and Chameleons also includes a range of  places to sit and / or dance (including on a camel or tow!) and offers a further opportunity to appreciate Cica’s art in a whimsical and light setting.

SLurl Details