Day: July 2, 2024

2024 SL SUG meetings week #27 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Kingsand, June 2024 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday,  July 2nd, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for providing it.

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):
  • Meetings 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.

Simulator Deployments

  • No deployments for the week, but all channels will be restart per usual schedule.

Coming up as the next simulator update is Summer Fun, which is currently with the Lab’s QA team. Following that will be Picnic, which among other things will include the following LSL functions:

  • llFindNotecardText
  • llFindNotecardTextSync)

SL Viewer Updates

The webRTC RC viewer updated to version 7.1.9.9688089989 on July 1st, 2024.

The rest of the current official viewers remain as:

  • Release viewer: version 7.1.8.9375512768, formerly the Graphics Featurettes RC viewer dated June 5 and promoted June 10th.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Atlasaurus RC (object take options; improved MOAP URL handling), version 7.1.9.9620320242, June 27.
    • Maintenance B RC (usability updates / imposter changes) 7.1.9.9555137545, June 21.
    • Maintenance C RC (reset skeleton in all viewers), version 7.1.9.9469671545, June 14.

Luau Projects

These note are related to the Product and Engineering Town Hall at SL21B,when it was announced Luau VM is to be implemented on the server-side, eventually replacing Mono VM.

  • Signal Linden is putting together a technical FAQ about lua with has more detailed answers about “why lua and not [insert option]” and “how is lua faster than mono” etc.
  • Pepper and Rider Linden confirmed part of the work planned will allow for shadow execution of scripts under the Luau and Mono VMs during testing, which will ensure that all output of functions are the same.
    • This shadowing will likely be only be visible to the Lab.
    • Once LL is convinced both behave the same, the switch to using the Luau VM. At that point, the anticipated memory and execution time improvements should become visible.
    • Finally LL will allow a switch to compile either LSL2 or Luau.
  • Signal further indicated:
    • That with the switch to lauau on the back-end, code can be written in either LSL2 or Luau.
    • That both the current Lua client-side project and the announced luau back-end work, whilst separate projects will both leverage Luau, not Lau.
  • Pepper Linden confirmed LSL functions will continue to be maintained, but using Lua will allow for the creation of versioned functions for Lua scripts, providing a more flexible means to update functions without the worry of breaking content.
  • This discussion took up most of the meeting – please refer to the video for more.

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following and other topics discussed:

  • Leviathan Linden is hoping to provide an updated GameControl viewer download. It will contain no additional capabilities, but will be updated to the current viewer development branch. However, GameControl will now be behind a single UI setting which will need to be set in order to see its UI.
  • Monty Linden confirmed that the first batch of teleports / region crossings  work will now likely surface in the Picnics simulator update.

† 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.

Wandering in The Magic Hour in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Magic Hour, July 2024 – click any image for full size
This magic hour is cherished by photographers and filmmakers for the quality of the warm natural light that enhances images with a dreamy, nostalgic glow. It’s a fleeting moment that many visitors find inspiring, as it casts our world in a transient beauty that’s perfect for creating emotive imagery. 

– The Magic Hour Destination Guide description

It’s taken me a couple of visits to The Magic Hour in order to write about it – the first being a brief hop in mid-June, and the second at the end of the month; ergo, I’m hoping this piece doesn’t arrive shortly before the region gets a make-over – if it does, my apologies to Six (SixDigital), the region’s creator, and to those visiting and expecting to find it as described here.

The Magic Hour, July 2024

Six – along with Justice Vought – is one of the talents behind the former Oxygen region designs, which I wrote about in 2019 and again in 2021, a place which had a deserved reputation for being thoroughly photogenic. The Magic Hour is in a similar vein in this regard, offering beach-front setting backed by tall hills up to which the landscape climbs, the entire setting rich in opportunities for avatar and landscape photography.

The landing point sits midway between the east and west limits of the region and is tucked back toward the northern foothills as the start their climb to the off-region mountain adjoining them. Taking the form of a small beach house facing south towards the open sea, the landing point sits close to a large pool of clear, fresh water, the home of koi carp watched over by red-crowned crane. Beyond the pool, within its little island reached by a tree trunk bridge is a small house. I believe this might is a private residence when occupied by Six, so please keep that in mind when visiting.

The Magic Hour, July 2024

The southern waterfront is a mixed affair, partly sandy, a little scrubby and partially rocky, its western extent a grassland headland partially ringed by a breakwater. It is home to a stripped lighthouse, the grass around it well suited to grazing. On the eastern side, a low sandbar points out into the sea, the home of the wooden frame of a summer house, the wall and roof shingles yet to be placed (if they ever will be), the dedicate folds of net drapes instead providing a mottled shade for the sofa, tables and planets within.

Between the sandbar and the lighthouse, four slender fingers of rock point outwards from the shore, thin breakwaters made from large stones worn thin by the sea so they now resemble rough-edged that have been loosely stacked out into the water like thin strands. between the last of these and the lighthouse headland, the shingle and rocks have built up into area of shallows, several large grey boulders rising from the water like petrified sealions.

The Magic Hour, July 2024

Inland from the lighthouse stands a small wood. It surrounds the ruins of a chapel which in turn contain their own secrets and sense of fantasy. Beyond them, a waterfall feeds the land where deer and fae folk might be found.  A trail from here winds through the tress and down to where the grass rolls back towards the sands on which the landing point sits, presenting a pleasant walk between it and the chapel.

This is a simple, relaxing setting with multiple places where people can sit and contemplate or talk, or which lend themselves to photographs. As well as the deer, water birds and horses are to be found, while am ancient stone gazebo holds another little touch of fantasy and a further place to sit.

The Magic Hour, July 2024

Finished with a gentle soundscape and environmental settings in keeping with the ide of an early morning, The Magic Hours as a quiet, somewhat enchanting visit.

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