Day: November 8, 2023

2023 SL SUG meetings week #45 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Tilheyra, September 2023 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, November 7th Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and is not intended to be a full transcript.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • They are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
  • Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

Server Deployments

  • No deployments for SLS Main channel, but the simhosts were restarted.
  • The planned Wednesday, November 8th deployment of the PBR Material simulator support to all RC channels has been put on hold pending the resolution of a late-breaking issue.
    • At the time of the meeting, the proposal was to restart simhosts on the Ferrari and Magnum RC channels, whilst BlueSteel and LeTigre (the two currently with the PBR support) to receive updated code before the end of the week.
    • Please remember: if you have anything that uses PBR materials and you rez that object (or wear it) on a non-PBR simulator,  the PBR Materials will be stripped from the object and forgotten.
As it turns out the new message introduced by Materials was generating unacked packets back to the simulator. In groups of one or to agents this isn’t a big deal… but add a user here and a user there and pretty soon you’re talking about real data, and this extra overhead was causing some performance issues on our end that would eat into script time. We have a solution to it and we are just trying to reach a consensus on how best to roll that onto the grid.

– Rider Linden, describing the issue which prevented the simulator-side PBR code deploying to all RC channels

Viewer Updates

No updates to viewers for the start of the week, leaving the official viewer pipelines as:

  • Github Actions (GHA) RC viewer, version 6.6.16.6566955269, issued October 20 (with major CEF update and number version numbering) and promoted on October 25.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:

SL Combat

  • Regarding the “Combat Committee” and requests for capabilities for combat in Second Life, Rider Linden stated:
I don’t have news on any sort of when for that. I am actively working on a proposal that I’m going to float around the lab and then bring to the community. That may end up involving creating what I’ve been calling a “Combat Committee”… because I love alliteration. I don’t think I’m going to have anything useful to report on that though until January next year. I would really like to get some tools in that would allow people to create some interesting combat systems.

– Rider Linden

In Brief

  • Requests from users:
    • An update on the recent region crossing tests (see October’s SUG summaries). Monty Linden is working on this, but has been out-of-office, so a further update may be forthcoming at an upcoming meeting once he is back.
    • Custom pivot points – a capability being considered as a further part of the glTF project, as this will enable hierarches that will make arbitrary pivots a lot easier.
    • Animation priority updates: these was going to be looked at as a part of the on-hold Puppetry project. However, any such work is unlikely to include things like changing priorities by script, as these are seen as problematic.
    • A request for new sensor functions which could better enable RP functions (e.g. detacting NPC, casting speeling), together with further requests for Feature Requests such as BUG-4329 “Feature Request: New sensor functions that are not bound to a prim’s position & rotation plus inclusion of an Owner filter” and BUG-233784 “Add sensor type LOW_SCRIPTED as an option”, and also increasing the number of objects a sensor can report on from 16 to 32.
  • Rider Linden is developing ideas for possible scripted camera control updates, and is adding BUG-6325 “More Flag parameters for llSetCameraParams()” to the list.
  • Requests are being made for those with games controller to try the pre-release Game Controller viewer and offer feedback. This is still currently Windows only, but a MacOS version is coming Soon™.

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a rooftop of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Catching a good book and a Nom Nom in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nom Nom Café Library, November 2023 – click any image for full size

So, Halloween has now passed, and we’re in the end-of-year headlong rush into winter, snow, sledding and suchlike, pausing briefly along the way at US Thanksgiving before we resume the annual end-of-year surge of wintertime activities. Because this time of year can feel like a whirlwind of Things To Do And To See, it is sometimes good to find the time to take a little breather and decompress – and that’s exactly what the Nom Nom Café Library allows us to do.

Occupying an 8192 square metres parcel towards the western end of Corsica, this is a place which literally stands head-and-shoulders above its surroundings, sitting as it does atop a flat-topped mesa rising some 90 metres above the nearby sea floor. The creation of Spooky Treat, Nom Nom Café Library is a cosy, autumnal (at the time of my visit – not sure if it get redressed with the passing seasons) setting some may recognise from the official Linden Lab June 2023 video demonstrating the upcoming SL Mobile viewer (as shown during the SL20B celebrations).

Nom Nom Café Library, November 2023
Between lush green trees, grass, and an abundance of flowers the Nom Nom Cafe Library awaits you. Relax inside with some delicious cake, a book, cats, or cuddle up at one of the various spots surrounding the Cafe. Bring your friends and loved ones over for a night at the campfire or simply enjoy some alone time. A refuge for not only the LGBTQIA+ community but also all allies, created with love. ♥

– Spooky Treat describing Nom Nom Café Library

Given its perch, the best way to reach the café is via SLurl / LM to the landing point, which will drop you onto the path leading up to the café itself. This takes the form of the Nicolina Pavilion by Cory Edo, which Spooky and modded a little to provide a comfortable main café space to the front, the walls to either side carrying a multitude of books which allow the café to more than adequately live up to the “library” part of its name.

Nom Nom Café Library, November 2023

A little service area towards the rear of the pavilion separates front from back, the latter providing something of a fireside snug overlooking the grounds behind the café. This view is also shared by a balcony area directly over the snug and reached via a little staircase to one side of the service counter. Within both the snug and on the balcony above, more books await avid readers as they sip their coffee or nibble on some of the treats also available.

Flanking the café to west and east, both close enough to be within easy reach but far enough to offer their own circles of restfulness, sit two outdoors spaces. One, reached via the cobble surrounding the café’s fountain, presents a little storytelling / reading circle  around a warm fire pit, marshmallows ready for roasting. A chalkboard to one side offers the opportunity for a little self-expression; just click on one of the pieces of coloured chalk and start drawing (and click between the colours to change them or click the eraser to wipe the board), and the place is friendly enough to have encouraged a couple of local crabs to forward the waterfront down below the café’s mesa and scale the rocky heights to enjoy a little fireside dance!

Nom Nom Café Library, November 2023

To the west, and reached by passing through a little arch arcing between two short walls, is a place of promised mystery: a circle of standing stones, some with hollows cut through them so small torch-like fires might be lit. A table in the middle offers a chance for repast – or it would, barring the fact turkeys and squirrels appear to be availing themselves of the meal; better then, perhaps to retire to the hammock on one side of the circle and partake of the cookies on offer there!

A further path leads outwards from this circle to reach another little round pavilion. It’s roof fitted with glass to ward off any rain that happens by, it encompasses wicker chairs and a sofa, all with plump cushions, being one of a number of additional places awaiting discovery among the trees and grasses covering the mesa’s head. So of these are easy to find, others might actually be easy to miss – so do take time to look around (and up!) carefully during a visit. For those who enjoy a friendly table-top game, the open space between the camp fire circle and the café (complete with its little celebration of Moles) might be just the ticket.

Nom Nom Café Library, November 2023

Finished with an accompanying soundscape and rich in the company of pets and critters, the Nom Nom Café Library makes for an engaging and relaxing visit!

SLurl Details