Author: Inara Pey

Eclectic virtual world blogger with a focus on Second Life, VR, virtual environments and technology.

2025 week #39: SL Open Source User Group meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Another Song of Freedom, July 2025 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from my chat transcript + the video recording by Pantera (embedded at the end of this summary) of the Open Source User Group (OSUG) held on Friday, September 26th, 2025. My thanks to Pantera as always for providing it.

Meeting Purpose

  • The OSUG meeting is a combining of the former Third Party Viewer Developer meeting and the Open Source Development meetings. It is open discussion of Second Life development, including but not limited to open source contributions, third-party viewer development and policy, and current open source programs.
  • This meeting is generally held twice a month on a Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
  • Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they are generally conducted in text chat.
  • The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.

Official Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.06 7.2.1.17108480561 – August 29 – No Change.
    • Inventory Favourites System, plus assorted new features.
    • Improvements to avatar system; camera and movement; chat; voice; content creation tools.
    • Mesh uploader updates.
    • Text & UI polish.
    • Fixes for Environment and Rendering; stability and crashes; UI.
    • System improvements.
  • Second Life Beta viewer 2025.07 7.2.2.17774206511 – Apple Silicon Support – September 26 –  NEW.
    • This viewer now ships as a “Universal Binary” that contains both the Intel and Apple Silicon versions of the viewer. It should give performance gains on the Apple Silicon version in particular.
    • Also includes various WebRTC improvements and bug and crash fixes.
    • Known issues:
      • This version does not support convex decomposition for physics meshes with Apple Silicon. This will be hopefully be corrected in a future update or release, possibly with the help of a code contribution.
      • Navigation buttons in the in-viewer browser are no longer present for marketplace and search – these will be restored in a future update.
      • Apple Silicon does not support pathfinding tools.
      • Subtle rendering differences might be noticed on certain configurations and EEP environments.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 –  No Change.

Viewer 2025.07

  • At the time of the meeting, the 2025.07 viewer was pending release.
  • The first part of the meeting involved discussions on potential routes to provide convex decomposition for physics meshes for this viewer version via open-source options, on both a short-term temporary basis and long-term solution.

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • Appearance fixes: this is being considered for the 2025.08 viewer update, and Geenz has requested feedback / discussion on via Discord.
  • [Video: 13:12-19:52] A request was made to change the LOD default as a part of the work to provide convex decomposition on this viewer. This was denied, the focus being on providing a “feature complete” version of the viewer for Apple Silicon.
    • However, this led to a discussion on how best to handle LODs and auto LODs.
  • [Video: 20:20-End] A broad discussion on dressing avatars, including:
    • Baking clothing meshes (sort-of a-la BOM) / using mesh proxies fore clothing / layering clothing, and potential for improvement performance as a result.
    • Providing a scripted means to dress avatars according to the requirements of an Experience (e.g. if someone just a mech combat experience, scripts in the experience dress their avatar accordingly).
    • “Discouraging” overly-complex avatars.
    • This discussion encapsulated general ideas, feedback, etc., and also touched on things like VRAM use, etc.
    • The latter part of the discussion strayed into texture resolution + texture compression, licensing and libraries, etc.

Next Meeting

† 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 gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.

Under the waves at Buddha Garden in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Buddha Garden, September 2025 – click any image for full size

In February 2025, I visited the always enticing Buddha Garden, designed by Gian (GianArt Clip), with the support of Viola Blackwood (see More time within a Buddha Garden in Second Life). This is a truly beautiful setting utilising the Land Capacity bonus available to Full private regions to present a place that is largely public in nature, with some private residences available for rent as well.

Given the sheer beauty of the region and the creative talent poured into it, I actually hadn’t expected it to be changing again in the short-to-medium term, so I was surprised to receive a message from Gian indicating further changes have been made, and inviting me to pop along to take a look. Understandably curious (and admittedly a little worried that the designed I’ve visited in February had vanished), I jumped across to have a look.

Buddha Garden, September 2025

My fears were totally unfounded: the majority of the region remains very much as it appeared back in February, its beauty intact. What has changed is hidden by the waters sitting to the south-east of the setting, specifically those separating Frog Island (the flat-topped island of private residences I mentioned in my February article) from the main bulk of the region. It is here, under the waves, that Gian has added a marvellous set of of what I’ll call drowned gardens, including an Ancient Dragon Theatre.

A direct SLurl is offered above as finding your way to these new features from the region’s main Landing Point is perhaps not obvious (perhaps intentionally). Should you wish to try, take the steps down from the main Landing Point building and then make a left turn, following the coast and trail under the stone archway guarded by two tall carved figures of Buddha. From here, cross the field of Sakura blossoms and go over the bridge beyond, before following the coast along the south side of the region as it passes between open water on one side and waterfalls on the other.

Buddha Garden, September 2025

Here the path passes over a shoulder of rock where more water drops into a bathing pool, before dropping down to a golden meadow watched over by a golden Buddha. A little stone bridge on the far side of this meadow offers the public way forward, but if you walk out into the waters before the bridge, you’ll find yourself slipping underwater and coming across the submerged path linking the two undersea elements, marked by tall fronds of seaweed and passing giant turtles and glowing jellyfish.

The first of these, the “drowned gardens”, are reached either by the direct SLurl given above or by turning left on reaching the submerged path – two more Buddha figures with pulsing orange eyes mark the steps leading down to the gardens in the case of the latter.

Buddha Garden, September 2025

Sitting within a natural amphitheatre, the drowned gardens are enclosed by ancient walls. Patrolled by fish of all sizes, including a large marlin, together with mantra rays and giant turtles, they feature a large shrine to Buddha, guarded by dragons and offering a place of meditation before it. Also within the gardens, seahorses dance amidst the brightly coloured seaweed and kelp growths clinging to the aged walls and the rocks of the seabed. It’s a small but tranquil setting.

The Ancient Dragon Theatre, meanwhile lies west and south of the drowned gardens, at the far end of the underwater trail. For those who teleport directly to the garden, the steps  up to the trail can be found beyond the stone gateway directly behind the Landing Point.

Buddha Garden, September 2025

Following the trail brings you close to the water’s surface before dipping down to reveal a narrow cleft in the rock. Here, fish once again swim and dance and bright strands of kelp mark the way down into the cleft to its “carpet” of coral. However, the most eye-catching aspects of the cleft are two vividly coloured and ornate Chinese celestial dragons. Standing atop of carved columns, they guard the way forward, their expressions as fierce as the the bladed weapons they hold.

Beyond these dragons the cleft broadens, coral giving way to a floor carpeted with fungal undergrowth rich in colour as it points the way between two more wardens, this time great wingless dragons. Passing these bring you finally to the Dragon Theatre, where its host is holding court amidst a circle of stone-carved Buddha figures. The theatre itself is almost completely obscured by the surrounding rock until one enters it, the central opening above the stage and its occupant allowing sunlight and moonlight take their turns illuminating the scene within.

Buddha Garden, September 2025

Mystical and attractive, these underwater elements are a fitting addition to what was already a must-see destination, further elevating its status.

SLurl Details

September 2025 SL Mobile UG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Campwich Forest grounds: location for the Monthly Mobile User Group (MMUG)
The following notes were taken from the Thursday, September 25th 2025 Monthly Mobile User Group (MMUG) meeting. These notes should not be taken as a full transcript of the meeting, which was largely held in Voice, but rather a summary of the key topics discussed.

The meeting was recorded by Pantera, and her video is embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks, as always to her in providing it.
Table of Contents

Meeting Purpose

  • The Mobile User Group provides a platform to share insights on recent mobile updates and upcoming features, and to receive feedback directly from users.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
    • The last Thursday of every month at 12:00 noon SLT.
    • In Voice and text.
    • At Campwich Forest.
  • 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.

Resources

Current Releases

Version: 2025.7.560 (Android) – July 23 / 0.1.557 (iOS) – July 22.

Forthcoming Updates

[Video: 2:50-17:55]

  • A new Alpha build is currently available for Android, and is just waiting to be cleared by Apple (if not already available by the time the post is published).
  • This alpha is viewed as being “close” to being ready for a beta release “Soon™”, and includes all current work on the Mobile product, several aspects of which are outlined below.

Avatar and Character improvements

  • Load times: a “significant” reduction in the amount of memory required to load an avatar, allowing Mobile to both load more avatars in a scene, and do so more reliably.
    • Performance in environments with large numbers of avatars should also now be improved.
    • There are still some shape changes to be completed to allow all avatars to render correctly, but this work is progressing.
  • Network connection stability:
    • As reported in the August update, because of its dynamic nature, SL Mobile requires a constants data stream, and so is far more susceptible to signal interruptions / conflicts with other apps for bandwidth use, etc.
    • Work has therefore been put into making the app more robust in how it maintains network connectivity and continues to function through such interruptions, doing all that is required of it.
    • These improvements also feed into the avatar system as well, further helping with the speed and reliability of avatar loading.
  • Under-the-hood work: general optimisations such as re-targeting download orders (e.g. increasing the download priority of avatar clothing downloads to again improve avatar downloading and rendering).
    • This under-the-hood work also includes refining code related to the loading and unloading of in-scene objects, so when moving around the world, content should load / unload more effectively, with more content in general loading.

EEP Rendering

  • A first pass at implementing EEP environment settings.
  • This is a direct port of the sky shaders used in the viewer, so that scenes should render a lot closer to how they appear on the Desktop viewer.
  • The work includes all of the lighting data, fog / haze data, etc., as well as the sky shaders.
  • Further work is required on lighting due to differences in how the Unity engine and the SL engine respectively handle lighting.

Transparency Rendering

  • Due to the need for order-independent transparency, coupled with limitations within the GPUs used on most mobile devices, SL Mobile has been unable to render “true” transparency, and has had to rely on dithering to approximate transparency.
  • One means to get around this is to use temporal anti-aliasing, which LL has been waiting on through an update to the version on Unity they use with Mobile.
  • The work on this upgrade was recently completed, allowing said temporal anti-aliasing to be utilising within the app, providing better transparency rendering without any loss of performance.
  • Until this work is fully dialled-in, there might be some light ghosting visible when panning around transparent surfaces.

Lighting / Point Lighting

  • There is a “slight incongruity” between how Unity handles point lighting (lighting placed around a scene) compared to how Second Life handles the same (the Unity rendering path prefers quadratic lights – bright up close, dim at a distance; SL is more medium-bright when close, medium-dark when further away). This resulting in point lighting in Mobile to look different to the same lighting seen in the viewer.
    • To try to address this, the lighting calculations used for such point lights has been tweaked within SL Mobile so that such lights will be rendered more closely to how they are within the viewer.
  • As a general note, updates to directional lighting may allow shadows to be re-enabled in the Mobile app, although shadow rendering is expensive, and further work in this area is required.

General Improvements

  • Multi-threading for object and content loading has been improved, which see see more effective use of the CPU cores within a mobile device.
  • Streaming audio has been completely rebuilt to avoid using a now-deprecated library within the current beta streaming audio build.
  • Improvements made to loading the world following a rapid log-out / log back in.
  • General improvements and minor adjustments to the UI. Perhaps the most noticeable of these is the temporary return of the sign-out option as a button in the menu (pending further updates down the road which will likely see it return to a drop-down option once again).
  • Improvements to how spinning objects and target_omega are handled.

Q&A Session

[Video 18:14-End]

  • Switching to another app when using the SL Mobile app and then switching back to SL Mobile can seem to take time.
    • This is partially out of LL’s hands: apps not in current use can be “moved” from active memory to free-space for other apps. Changing focus can also result in the web page used to assist in rendering the UI being suspended.
    • Both of these factors can result in a delay in resuming a session as the focus is returned to SL Mobile.
    • Consideration may be given to adding a pop-up message about possible delays when switching away from SL Mobile to another app, with a possible more in-depth examination as to what might be done to be carried out at some point in the future.
  • Inventory access: outfit sub-folder support, etc: Inventory is something being worked on, but the work is such that no major announcements as to what is being done / what to expect could be made at this meeting.
  • Message caching (e.g. people can receive messages whilst on SL Mobile, but also still see them when logged in via the Desktop viewer): there has been some movement on this, and work is continuing, although complex. Further updates in due course.
  •  Could the current SL networking calls be used with SL Mobile to save tampering with the SL infrastructure?
    • No,  because SL mobile uses different protocols in order to handle:
      • Swapping between the device’s wifi and cellular connections on the fly.
      • Disruptive connections which could otherwise result in high packet loss – something UDP would have difficulty in managing.
    • The protocols used by SL Mobile also reduce the bandwidth the app uses when compared to Desktop (e.g. transmitting the scene state to SL Mobile uses 97% less bandwidth than the viewer).
  • Does SL Mobile run better in landscape mode or portrait? There shouldn’t be any difference.

Date of Next Meeting

September LL Zoom call: an update on Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
On Thursday, September 25th, 2025 Linden Lab held a further Zoom Call with bloggers and content creators to and update on SL and respond to questions.

The following is summary of the meeting; however, as my aide mémoire audio recording of the meeting refused to play back in full post-meeting, some of the Q&A elements of meeting are absent.

 Table of Contents

Note that the order of topics does not necessarily reflect the order in which they were discussed.

New Option for Premium Plus Subscriptions

  • Due to be launched in October 2025, “Premium Plus, no Stipend” is a new option being added to Premium Plus to reduce the annual cost of this subscription level whilst retaining all of the “physical” benefits.
  • This option removes the Stipend and sign-up bonus from Premium Plus, reducing the annual cost by US $105.12 (+ any applicable taxes).
  • For full details, please see: Coming Soon: new option to reduce the cost of SL Premium Plus subscriptions.

Support Update

  • Backlog of tickets for support & trust and safety now down to “normal” levels.
  • Processes for helping users / responding to issues have been streamlined, and further staff have been recruited into the support and trust and safety teams.
  • The focus now is now maintaining the faster turn-around and keeping users satisfied with responses.
  • Support may be expanded in certain areas in the future – this is currently TBA.
The support ticket backlog as of September 2025

SL Viewer Summary

  • A note on the faster release cadence and the highlighting of new features – such as Inventory Favourites with the 2025.07 viewer release.
  • A note that the next release (2025.08) is focused on native Apple Silicon support, which should see a good performance boost for Mac users on that OS, particularly those on newer hardware.
  • Viewer notes and features are covered in my SL Viewer Summaries, Content Creation UG meeting summaries and Open Source Development UG notes (formerly the TPVD developer meeting).

SL Mobile, Project Zero and the New User Experience

Mobile and Zero: Incoming Users

  • The Lab estimates it is now able to get around 10x the people to try SL on mobile / Zero than had previously been the case.
  • This is allowing LL to try small, fast experiments with new users to help them get them started, such as with the on-going current focus on helping new users to dress / customise their avatar.
  • One of these is a new “helper” island where new users can go to for help (e.g. in dressing / customising their avatars, and Project Zero (viewer-in-a-browser). Zero is already geared for this.
  • The aim is to fully on-board new users ASAP to get them engaged.

Retention and Experiments

  • Despite the rise in initial engagement with new users trying SL via Mobile and Project Zero, overall retention of those users is still proving hard – the current figure is only around 7% of those coming into SL are actively being retained.
  • Some of the experiments mentioned in the meeting have involved dropping new users into established locations and hubs, rather than welcome hubs.
  • It was noted by meeting attendees that some of these experiments have not always gone well.
    • One cited example was the use of Ahern, which has become a hang-out for established users, many of whom have been witnessed as harassing and being abusive towards incoming new users.
    • Part of the problem here is that mentors were not aware of these switches / experiments, and so could not attend to provide support.
    • The use of Ahern in particular has now ceased as a result of this feedback.
    • It was further noted that LL are planning to involve mentors in future experiments.
  • The observation was made that established users who are already invested in the platform (as those at Ahern causing trouble appeared to be) and who spend time denigrating / insulting / trolling new users to the point of driving them away is somewhat self-defeating, in that it potentially damages SL’s ability to grow / remain viable as a product through the acquisition of new, engaged users.

User / Community Involvement

  • The question was asked if LL could offer incentives to those users (e.g. club owners) and communities able to demonstrate a track record of being able to attract new users and convert them into retained users.
  • It was pointed out that there is the Second Life Creator Partnership Programme, which includes the potential for incentives to communities, etc, and which includes things like Community Gateways.
  • Brad Oberwager offered a challenge – those who can develop and demonstrate a means of converting new users to retained users through their own means should contact the Lab to discuss ideas and possible incentives.

Coming Soon: new option to reduce the cost of SL Premium Plus subscriptions

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Thursday, September 25th, 2025, Linden Lab hosted a further Zoom call with creators and bloggers to discuss a number of announcements and initiatives, one of which was a new Premium Plus subscription option. I’ll be summarising other aspects of the meeting in due course. This article focuses on the new subscription option –  what it is, why it is being done, and when it can be expected.

What is It?

  • While Premium Plus has been been well-received, the cost of US $249 (annual billing plan) has been seen by many as being too expensive to justify.
  • To help overcome this, from October 2025, Linden Lab will be offering a “Premium Plus, No Stipend” option.
  • This subscription level will offer exactly what it suggests:
    • All of the “physical” benefits of Premium Plus (2048 sq metre Linden Home options etc.).
    • HOWEVER users signing-up to it will not receive either the one-off sign-up bonus (L$ 3,000) or the weekend stipend (L$650).
  • The new offering will retain the “Premium Plus” name for simplicity, and presented as an option within the Premium Plus subscription level.
  • By removing the sign-up bonus and stipend the new offering, when available, will cost US $11.99 per month / US $143.88 per annum (plus applicable local taxes) – a saving of US $105.12 on the annual cost of Premium Plus with stipend.
The upcoming new “Premium Plus, No Stipend” subscription option. Credit: Linden Lab
  • In addition, subscribers will be able to move between the subscription levels with immediate effect (e.g. Premium subscribers will be able to upgrade to “Premium Plus, No Stipend” without delay, and if they don’t like it, downgrade back to Premium or upgrade to “full” Premium Plus, and if a Premium Plus user opts to do without the stipend, they can switch over to “Premium Plus, No Stipend”).

Why is it Being Added?

  • As noted, it is primarily aimed at making Premium Plus more attractive to users who feel the current offering, even with the sign-up bonus and stipend, is still too expensive to justify.
  • The decision to remove the sign-up payment and stipend was made on two counts:
    • Those on both Premium and Premium Plus continue to purchase Linden Dollars regardless of their stipend.
    • Stipend payments further add to the supply of L$ in circulation, contributing to the on-going issues of a top-heavy supply of Linden Dollars impacting exchange rates, as has been previously discussed – see: Linden Dollar Exchange Rate and the Economy.
  • It is recognised the removal of the stipend will not appeal to everyone, hence why the current Premium Plus option will be remaining.
  • It is particularly hoped that the new option will encourage Premium subscribers who have previously expressed reluctance in upgrading to Premium Plus due to the cost to now consider doing so.
In a perfect world every premium subscriber would move to Premium Plus, No Stipend. Best for residents, best for creators. If that takes off, this is really good for residents and really good for creators, if people upgrade. If people downgrade, it is what it is; hopefully they don’t, but if they do, they do. But upgrading, that’s a win for the creators like no other, and its a win for the residents; we’re really giving a lot more for very little.

– Brad Oberwager, during the Zoom Call, September 25th, 2025

When Will it Launch?

  • If all goes according to plan, “Premium Plus, no Stipend” will launch in the first half of October 2025.
  • Formal announcements of its availability will be made when officially launched.

 

 

 

Alpha’s Critterflop Hallowpop in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Critterflop Hallowpop, September 2025 – click any image for full size

October is starting to rise over the year’s horizon, bringing with it – inevitably – thoughts of Halloween, pumpkins and all the associated shenanigans associated with this time of year. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a particular fan of the modern hullabaloo around Halloween, but within Second Life it can sometimes be rewarding exploring suitably themed region designs that opt to offer offer something a little different from the usual fare.

One such place is Critterflop Hallowpop, the latest iteration of Alpha Auer’s Alphatribe Island.

Critterflop Hallowpop, September 2025

Following somewhat is the tradition of Quirklewick Hollow (see my piece here for more) and Gingerbread and the Woodies (again, see my piece here for more), Critterflop takes a jump into a critter-led celebration of all things seen as Halloween related – broomsticks, pointy hats, pies, and more – coupled with a further engaging science fiction-ish twist.

As with the two designs mentioned above, Critterflop Hallowpop focuses on a village setting, one which seems to meander across a misty landscape and between autumnal trees gathered into groves close enough to one another to form a loose woodland. But as this is Alpha, the homes and houses in this village are far from ordinary: their styles are an engaging combination of ideas and looks.

Critterflop Hallowpop, September 2025

Black roofs rise to points or curves, their looks distinctly hat-like over and around white walls withing which the placement of windows and doors can suggest the idea of a face here and there. In addition, the shapes of some houses are almost organic and / or suggestive of familiar objects – a sailing boat here, a coffee pot lacking its spout there (or perhaps a lighthouse tower with a hat replacing its lantern room), a pumpkin with its oversized stalk draped by a large hat, and so on. One even sits on four sturdy legs with a beak and eyes at one end and a tail at the other, looking like a living creature, the living space with familiar door and windows forming the creature’s body.

On, in, and around these are the village’s inhabitants – cats, crows, bats, rag dolls, a sorcerer, and raccoons. They all share the space with more curious characters. Some of these appear to be little aliens coming for a visit, others – the bird-like cats, for example – suggest some of the locals either have ingenious Halloween costumes or have been tinkering with magic.

Critterflop Hallowpop, September 2025

Not that any actual dark mischief is going on here; the locals are having too much fun for that. The raccoons, for example, appear to particularly enjoy baking pies. Wander through the woodlands and you’ll find a group of them showing off their baking skills whilst sitting on giant pies. Elsewhere, in a clearing, more raccoons are demonstrating their broomstick riding skills as they circle a bonfire, watched by an appreciative audience of other racoons together with rag dolls.

All of the critters to be found within the village are available for sale and come as huggies. A market stall featuring all of them, together with framed paintings, can be found to the north-east of the setting. Just across from it is a further store area, again offer the current critters together with those from previous builds, together with her superb sculptures and unique flora.

Critterflop Hallowpop, September 2025

As ever with Alpha’s designs, Critterflop Hallowpop is charming in its engagement, and photogenic in its uniqueness and detail. On arrival, I strongly recommend locating the information giver close by the Landing Point. This will deliver a folder of information and bits – notably an introduction to the setting with ideas for enhancing your visit, and some notes on best viewing.

In short with the latter, please using the local Shared Environment for lighting; if you can, enable shadows and local lighting and push your draw distance as high as s comfortable for your system’s performance). Also included in the folder is a rezzable pack of complimentary poseballs for people to use it they wish (rezzing is open within the region, with a 120-minute return time – but do please pick up anything you might rez out).

Critterflop Hallowpop, September 2025

But above all, do visit Critterflop Hallowpop and have fun

SLurl Details