Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, September 8th, 2024
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 7.1.9.10515727195, formerly the Altasaurus RC, promoted August 26.
Performance boosts. Memory management has been optimized and users will experience a higher FPS across various systems. A comprehensive range of bug fixes are also provided. This includes better PBR material handling and resolving frequent crashes. See the release notes for more.
UI for scheduling region restarts now available via a new button located in the Region/Estate floater. (Note: there is currently an issue with scheduled region restarts working correctly and a fix is due to come in the next server release).
Grauland / Primary Colors, September 2024 – click any image for full size
Cube Republic gave me a poke in the ribs recently to suggest I hop back over to Jim Garand’s Grauland to see what Jim has done since my last visit. As I’ve frequently noted, I enjoy visiting Jim’s work and writing about it, but the first time I popped over to visit this iteration, I was interrupted by a bout of “real life” and didn’t have time to see much. Fortunately, the past few days have enabled me to hop back, so here we are.
With Grauland / Primary Colors, Jim takes us into the American heartlands (at least going by one of the billboards) and an industrial setting of a chemical plant of some description. It appears to be producing vivid primary colours for who-know-what purpose (perhaps they are for painting prims shipped from the Prim Rig in the ANWR Channel 😀 ).
Grauland / Primary Colors, September 2024
Sitting alongside a busy road, the complex is impressive and speaks to a slick operation. The bulk raw materials arrive by rail to be dropped from their hopper cars as they sit on elevated track. From here, they’re bulldozed into piles so that articulated yellow loaders can scoop them up for transfer into more hoppers where they can be conveyed to huge tanks. Once in these, they appear to be dissolved into a a liquid mix, and so pass onwards through associated processing (including the burning-off of waste product) to eventually end up in tanker wagons as finished goods, ready to be hauled of along the very same rails they arrived on.
Part of the processing also seems to involve deliveries by road through the plant’s main gates, the materials stored in a small warehouse on that side of the grounds. Everything appears to be watched over from the vantage point of a control room sitting to one side of the main plant on four stout concrete legs. Although, looking at the screen savers on a couple of the PCs in the room, staff there would appear to at times have their minds on things other than monitoring systems!
Grauland / Primary Colors, September 2024
Throughout the tanks, risers, piping, silos and whatnot are ground-level and elevated walkways and catwalks offering visitors the opportunity to explore the complex in detail, whilst the surrounding hills make it clear the place is well inland and away from the sea. Exactly where it might be is left to the imagination; one of the billboards hints it might be along Route 66 and maybe in Missouri – why else the advert on the board? – But this is pure supposition on my part, although said ad did allow me to learn that “The Best Fudge Comes from Uranus” really is an advertising slogan for a tourist attraction on US Route 66 in Missouri.
This is a setting with a lot of subtle detail built-in; the screen savers on the computers suggests the desire to break with the cycle of mundane duty when at work; the condition of some of the towers and storage tanks give the impression of age while the colour-coding on some of the pipes gives a further sense of authenticity, as do thinks like the first aid equipment at the gate house. Some of the controls in the main building have some curious labelling – but such is the way of things when building a scene in Second Life, and certainly nothing to complain about.
Grauland / Primary Colors, September 2024
With the landing point (which includes the teleport up to Jim’s M1 Poses store) located in the north-west corner of the region, this is a setting that spreads itself out before you to the east and south as you arrive, begging to be explored (and I liked the way the north edge of the region has been raised to suggest spoil tips from the plant that have been in place so long, the local grass has claimed them even as they denote the edge of the walkable region and the start or the encompassing region surround).
Opportunities for photography abound through the setting, particularly for those who appreciate a more industrial background to their avatar studies. So with that said, I’ll leave you to hop along and see for yourselves.
Now open through until Sunday, September 22nd, 2024 (inclusive) in Second Life is the 2024 edition of the Spoonful of Sugar festival in support of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the globe-spanning non-profit organisation delivering emergency and humanitarian aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and similar.
Also known as Doctors Without Borders, MSF was originally founded in Paris, France in 1971 and is entirely self-governing; the support and treatment it provides is given on the basis of need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. It is often one of the first organisations to have feet on the ground wherever and whenever humanitarian aid and medical support is desperately needed, and since its founding, MSF has grown to a movement of 24 associations, bound together as MSF International, now based in Switzerland. Thousands of health professionals, logistical and administrative staff – most of whom are hired locally in respect of the care they give around the world – work on programmes in some 70 countries worldwide to provide medical and social care & support for a staggering 10+ million people annually.
Since its own establishment, the SOS event has raised more than US $100,000 for MSF’s global work, in keeping with its mission statement.
We believe the simplest form of compassion is to simply care for the life of another. And we believe medical care to be the most fundamentally basic means by which to do that.
– The Spoonful Of Sugar Festival Mission Statement
Spoonful of Sugar 2024 (September 7th-22nd)
This year, SOS is taking place across a total of six regions with the theme of En France!, with five of the six regions very much focused on MSF’s founding city of Paris. Four of these regions present the core shopping elements to the event, each one presented as scene featuring the kind of French townhouses and business façades found along places like the Champs-Élysées, surrounding a central area representative of I. M. Pei’s glass-and-metal Louvre Pyramid, located in the Palace’s Cour Napoléon.
With pairs of these regions sitting to either side, the two central regions are more open in their design. The first forms the main landing point and activities venue for SOS, and is dominated by the Eiffel Tower and the park below it, into which has also been placed a giant Ferris wheel, which I take as representing the 60-metre wheel at the Tuileries Gardens. This region – SOS Uber Global – is connected to two of the shopping regions by bridges, with a further bridge connecting it to the other central region in the group.
The latter is mindful of rural France, and is home to various spaces given over to breedables, landscaping and gardening – and most notably, a special 10th anniversary art display presented by Harmonic Sanctuary, founded and operated by Harlow Jones Blues (harlowjones) and Jess Blues (JessBlues).
Une Célébration Du Pays Basque, spoonful of Sugar 2024 (September 7th-22nd)
Une Célébration Du Pays Basque “takes you on a journey through the stunning landscapes and rich culture of the Basque region of France”. Centred on a watermill similar to those which might found in the region, and here offered and in homage to Jess’ father, who was born in such a building. The exhibition offers a rich and engaging collection of images in celebration of the French Basque region – the landscape, the people and the lifestyle, with an additional display of art located in the cave to one side of the gallery building.
Beyond this, the setting continues as a place to explore and spend time within, and I recommended taking time to pick up a note card from the information board at the gallery’s landing point. It contains a wealth of information that’s worth the time taken to read it – and remember that much of the art (produced by Jess and Harlow) is offered for sale exclusively at SOS, with a goodly portion of the cost going directly to the event.
Spoonful of Sugar 2024 (September 7th-22nd)
The best way to find out about all that’s going on at SOS 2024 and which stores are where within the region is via the official website, where you can find the schedule of entertainment, and the region list page with SLurls directly to all stores and points of interest. The base of the Eiffel Tower is the location for the event’s raffle, and also a place where Animesh mime artists can be found performing (this is Paris, after all!), with a select of low-cost items with 100% of all proceeds going to the event right next to them. I didn’t notice any hunt this year – but might have missed it in my travels.
As always, Spoonful of Sugar is an event well worth visiting. Even if you don’t find anything to buy in the shopping regions, the donation kiosks will welcome your Linden dollars, and you can be absolutely sure that your money is going to a very worthy cause.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 