The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 14th, 2023 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
On Tuesday, March 14th, the SLS Main channel servers were restarted without any deployment, leaving them on simulator version 577734.
On Wednesday, March 15th:
The BlueSteel & Magnum RC channels will receive the Estate Level Scripted Agent Controls (aka “Ban the Bots”)
simulator update.
The Ferrari and LeTigre RC channels will be started without change.
There was no promotion to the Main SLS channel as a bug on the RC deployment made to Ferrari and LeTigre causing issues for some breedables.
Estate Level Scripted Agent Controls (aka “Ban the Bots”)
This is the simulator update referenced in the March 10th Lab Gab session – see: Lab Gab summary: Grumpity, Mojo & Patch – SL Mobile, land, bots & more – Bots and Policies).
The update includes a console variable that can be set by estate managers to either True or False. When set to True it will prevent Scripted Agents from entering regions in an estate.
This will be supported in time by a viewer UI update to allow the option to be managed more directly – but it will still be a while before this UI change surfaces in the viewer.
There will be a policy change update published soon which will further cover these changes and the operation of Scripted Agents.
Further changes have been suggested within the Lab – notably to traffic – but it has yet to be decided on whether / when these will be implemented.
Viewer Updates
There have been no official viewer updates to mark the start of the week, leaving the various pipelines as follows:
Release viewer: Maintenance Q(uality) viewer, version 6.6.9.577968 Thursday, February 2.
Maintenance S RC viewer, version 6.6.10.578270, issued February 24.
Performance Floater / Auto FPS RC viewer updated to version 6.6.10.578172, February 21, 2023.
Project viewers:
PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.578613, March 10 – This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.8.576972, December 8, 2022.
In Brief
A general discussion on scripting – such as adding a TypeScript-style support for writing LSL to script memory, use of C#, use of containers for services, LL selling AWS services through SL for scripters / scripted services, etc. This took up most of the meeting, so please see the video for reference.
BUG-227303 – “collisions makes a script stop running and revert its mono status” – this bug is still awaiting work by LL.
Currently open at the Third Eye Gallery, curated by Jaz (Jessamine2108), is a selection of pieces by Thus Yootz which might be seen as both enigmatic and also revealing.
For those unfamiliar with Thus, she is an artist based in Greece who has been active in Second Life for over 12 years as a creator, region designer, SL wedding planner, photographer and artist. She studied for a BA and MA in art over 5 years at the Athens School of Fine Arts, studying under masters such as Christakis Tassos, with her physical world art since being publicly exhibited, spanning as it does drawing, painting, etching, sculpture, and photography.
Third Eye Gallery: Thus Yootz
Within this exhibition, visitors are presented with images reflective of Thus’ broad range, with some of the pieces focused on drawing and landscape work, others of a more abstract nature, and some potentially reflective of Tassos’ work (I fount this possibly evident within The Brides and My Longing, without in any way being derivative).
These are pieces which can each be taken individually, or as a series of explorations through thoughts and emotions and reflections on life and living. But whether these explorations are purely through the mind of the artist (as might most clearly be seen in Real Life Pictures within a Picture) or, due to the pieces presented in the collection perhaps resonating with the observer, an opportunity for self-reflection on these themes, is down to personal interpretation – the artist wisely leaves this open by not imposing any liner notes for visitors.
Third Eye Gallery: Thus Yootz
I admit that – outside of the potential for echoes of Christakis Tassos within a couple of the pieces – I found myself heavily drawn to Three Dancers, Running Away Through the Magnolias and A Mountain of Blossoms for their strong oriental flavour: use of form, colour, texture, their presentation and even their titles, together with the rich vein of abstraction each carries.
But having said that these are pieces which all have something to say to the eyes that pay attention – and definitely an engaging and richly diverse selection of work from one of SL’s most versatile artists.
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library – and this week previews the launch of a very special event.
As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.
Monday, March 13th, 19:00: The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights)
Originally published in 1995 as Northern Lights, The Golden Compass forms the first volume in Philip Pullman’s multiverse-spanning trilogy His Dark Materials.
In a world resembling Edwardian England, where magic is commonplace, young Lyra Belqcqua slip into the Retiring Room at the collage where he uncle is about to give a lecture – only to witness the Master of the college add poison to the wine intended for her uncle, Lord Asriel, prior to his arrival in the room. Warning him, she is rewarded by being allowed to remain and witness her uncle’s presentation, in which he discusses something called “Dust”, shows images of the northern lights in which there appears to be a city, and something else called the “panserbjørne”.
At the same time, children within Oxford are vanishing, kidnapped by a sect called the Gobblers, for a nefarious purpose – and Lyra is determined to find out why. In doing so, she is brought back into contact with the Master – who surprisingly gives her an alethiometer, a truth-telling device – and is offered the opportunity to live with the glamorous Mrs. Coulter, which comes as a thrill.
But as the mystery of the missing children deepens and Lyra determines to follow their trail north, so she discovers that Mrs. Coulter is not all she appears to be – and nor is her Dust-obsessed uncle, Lord Asriel.
Released in 1952, John Ford’s The Quiet Man is regarded as a classic Irish-American romantic comedy / drama. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara (and assorted members of their RL families!) and Barry Fitzgerald, it is a popular choice among critics and film-lovers.
The screenplay for the film was drawn in a large part from a short story of the same name originally published in 1933 in the Saturday Evening Post, and penned by Irish author, Maurice Welsh. Together with a number of other short stories by Walsh, The Quiet Man was gathered into a single volume of his short stories, The Quiet Man and Other Stories, which dealt with many recurring characters living in rural Ireland of the 1920s, and set against the backdrop of the civil unrest which affected the country at that time, while examining the complexities and occasional intrigues of life, love and Irish traditions.
Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads Walsh’s original tale of The Quiet Man, Paddy Bawn Enright at the Glen.
Shandon Loring brings tales from the pen of Irish author Herminie Templeton Kavanagh, featuring her hero, the Irishman Darby O’Gill.
Originally published as a series of short stories in McClure’s magazine between 1901–1902, Darby O’Gill’s adventures with the faeries of Irish mythology were brought together in book form for the first time in 1903, under the title Darby O’Gill and the Good People. The tales proved popular in America, leading to Templeton Kavanagh writing a second volume of tales featuring O’Gill, entitled Ashes of Old Wishes and Other Darby O’Gill Tales, published in 1926.
O’Gill become the subject of a 1959 Disney film, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, based on the first volume of tales, and somewhat notable for the tuneful appearance of a pre-Bond Sean Connery in his 6th credited film role.
Advanced Notice: Sunday, March 19th: Seanchai Library 15th Edition
Join the storytellers and friends of Seanchai Library as they celebrate 15 years of storytelling in voice in virtual worlds. Details available soon via the Seanchai Library website.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, March 12th, 2023
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: Maintenance Q(uality) viewer, version 6.6.9.577968, promoted Thursday, February 2, 2023- no change.
Release channel cohorts:
No updates.
Project viewers:
glTF / PBR Materials project viewer, version 7.0.0.578613, March 10 – This viewer will only function on the following Aditi (beta grid) regions: Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023 – click any image for full size
Hera (zee9) is back with a further take on Scott’s Blade Runner, and the director’s transplanted dystopian ideas from Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It’s not the first time Hera has tackled the theme in a build – as I’ve covered several times in these pages – either indirectly through her Drune builds or more directly through her February 2022 Blade Runner build, which I wrote about here.
With Blade Runner Future Noir, Hera has taken the opportunity presented by a Full private region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus to greatly expand on her February 2022 vision, offering offering something which is partially familiar to visitors of that build and something which is new an unique. Combined, these elements serve to deliver one of the most immersive and integrated representations of Scott’s filmic vision to be presented in Second Life.
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023
I say “integrated” here, because Blade Runner Future Noir brings together Hera’s stunning visuals, an superb ambient sound scape and a curated music stream which perfectly reflects the the setting, offering as it does pieces from the soundtracks of both films, plus pieces from other suitable sources. As such, this is very much a setting which should be visited with both local sounds on and the audio stream enabled.
This is something very special for me. It is without doubt the best Cyberpunk sim I have created. It has all the elements that the others did not have or could not have due to space and prim limits. Blade Runner, for those who know and love it, needs no introduction.
– Hera (Zee9)
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023
From the landing point – do be sure to tat the information note card that’s available there – visitors are delivered to a subway train car, the platform beyond it offering the way up to street level and the hustle and dampness of downtown and old town Los Angeles. The street scenes here are perhaps the most familiar aspects of the design for those who have visited the February 2022 build. Familiar, but not necessarily the same; there is a wealth of details waiting to be found that was not present on that build which could not be previously included.
That detail come s both large and small: from the vehicles through to the Animesh NPCs to the posters which there familiar touches of humour – some of which are the work of AmandaBennet1967 – and signage found among the streets and buildings. The NPCs are a first for Hera’s builds, again thanks for the increased Land Capacity presented by the region. They offer a sense of life which goes beyond static NPC figures – although admittedly, seeing an LAPD officer in full amour and casually swinging what appears to be a large, automatic projectile weapon while bouncing and hopping on the balls of his feet did after me crossing the street to avoid the risk of an accidental *bang* and ricochet 🙂 .
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023
There is a great deal of familiar stuff here, but it has all been re arranged and expanded upon. There is also a great deal of new stuff, all of which you will have to find, it’s been such a long time since I put some of it in that I have forgotten where things are myself … The devil is in the detail and I have at last had a chance, and the prims , to just go way over the top. There are so many small things scattered about here now, and I could have continued had I not begun to get dangerously close, in a 30000 prim sim, of running out.
– Hera (Zee9)
As with the February 2022 build, it is possible to visit The Snake Pit – although Zhora is not present, and the club is a little more up-market compared to the establishment at which she performed. Similarly, the Tyrell Tower looms over the setting, bearing the name of its founder / owner. Within it can be found Tyrell’s office and conference area where visitors might appreciate an owl and just down the hallway can be found Tyrell’s bedchamber. Also awaiting visitors is the office level where Holden met his violent end after confusing / upsetting Leon whilst administering the Voight-Kampff test. Further within the tower is more to be found – but I’ll little your discover what that might be.
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023
New to this build is the means by which one might choose the reach the tower. Whilst the route at street level remains, those finding their way to the roof of the LAPD headquarters can use the rezzer on one of the landing pads there to call-up a police spinner and treat themselves to a Deckard-style flight to Tyrell Tower as it faces the police building across the width of the region.
Dow at ground level are some familiar and not-so-familiar locations to be visited. The Snake Pit still awaits patrons, for example – although it is again perhaps a little more up-market in looks and tone to the club which employed Joanna Cassidy’s Zhora. For those who prefer, street level offers access to the local club (just be wary of the soda beverage available in the foyer – at least, if it’s name is to be taken literally! is numerous smaller locations I don’t recall from previous builds.
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023
As well as Blade Runner, the setting apparently draws on influences from the game Cyberpunk 2077, including the apartment belonging to the game’s protagonist, V. I confess it’s not a game I’m familiar with at all, so I have no idea if the apartment I found was inspired by V’s; but I will say that for some odd reason put me in mind of the Hume’s apartment from the (sadly) short-lived series Total Recall 2070 (which, despite its title owed as much to Scott’s vision of Los Angeles as it did to Dick’s novella We Can Remember It for You Wholesale), even if the similarities are at best superficial.
Another apartment available to visitors is at of J. F. Sebastian, tucked away within the Bradbury building. Fortunately, Pris does not appear to be present, so it’s unlikely you’ll be attacked; however, it’s also worth taking a look at the floor above for another reminder of the film. I’m honestly not sure if either of these were present in prior builds, but I enjoyed discovering them both.
Blade Runner Future Noir, March 2023
When visiting, do be sure to view the region under the region’s EEP settings – the add immeasurably to the experience and help give the region a greater sense of depth than the 256 metres on the side otherwise presents. You can still also partake of a bowl of noodles at The White Dragon, which has also bee expanded upon with the inclusion of Animesh NPCs.
Should you enjoy a visit and appreciate Hera’s work, do please consider making a donation via the landing point’s bear; all L$ received go directly back into the region’s upkeep and tier – and at Hera points out, the greater the assistance, the longer Blade Runner Future Noir will remain available for everyone to enjoy.
On Friday, March 10th, 2023, Linden Lab streamed a special session of Lab Gab featuring the Office of Second Life: Grumpity Linden, Mojo Linden and Patch Linden.
The session was built around announcements and updates relating to various initiatives and product developments. Note that the following is not a direct transcript of the entire session, but is intended to record the key points discussed.
For ease of reference, timestamps are provided to the relative points within the video where specific topics are discussed, allowing readers who prefer to listen to the comment directly to be able to do so.
Grumpity Linden: heads up Second Life Product team, where she has overseen a shift to growth, a stronger, more balanced economy, movement towards better community cohesion, and an overall forward-looking approach. She originally started at LL whilst working for The Product Engine, and was involved in the development of Viewer 2 (as designed by 80/20 Studio), prior to joining LL full-time in 2014. As the Vice President of Product, she is responsible for coordinating the various teams involved in bringing features and updates to Second Life, liaising with legal, financial and compliance to ensure features and capabilities meet any specific requirements in those areas, and so on; work which can involve looking at specifics within various elements of the overall SL product, such as UI design and layout, etc.
Mojo Linden: joined the Lab in 2021 at the Vice President of Engineering, filling the shoes worn for so long by Oz Linden. A 20-year veteran of the gaming industry, he has been responsible for launching numerous games across multiple genres and platforms, and has a strong understanding of platforms, architectures, and product development and technical capabilities. In his role at the Lab, he has shown enormous openness and candour in seeking to increase the platform’s functionality and performance, and in pushing to expand SL’s capabilities.
Patch Linden: originally a Second Life resident and business owner who joined the platform in 2004, and became a Linden in September 2007. He worked across a number of teams within the company – notably within the support and product spheres, and is responsible for developing the Land Operations team, and more recently setting-up the company’s support office in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 2019, he has been Vice President, Product Operations.
Grumpity Linden holds up a mobile ‘phone showing Second Life running on it using the upcoming SL Mobile capability
Built upon Unity.
Core development of this product began in October 2022, with the aim of gaining as high a fidelity of experience on mobile as is possible.
Works on all platforms – Android, iOS, tablets, ‘phones.
The product is still very much in development, with the focus having been on graphics fidelity, including full avatar rendering.
There is some way to go before the product is ready for release – work at the moment is on smoothing out some of the rendering edge cases before moving on to adding further functionality.
Initial release is planned for late 2023 with limited functionality, which will then be iterated upon to add more and more functionality and capabilities.
Grumpity re-iterated the drive (initiated by the late Ebbe Altberg, not long after he joined LL as CEO in 2014) to lower the cost of virtual land in SL – as had long been called for by SL residents – whilst also offsetting the lower land tiers through increases in fees elsewhere within the platform.
The fee increases – as noted in the official blog post – also relate to increased costs LL has faced, thanks to the general economic situation.
The fact that the option for paying for land using L$ (restricted to Premium Plus subscribers and limited to one region only at the time of writing) is higher than the USD fee for the same is explained as being a combination of the facts that the L$ to USD exchange rate, the fact that LL have to do the lifting of conversion from L$ to LSD through the LindeX, and as such must participate in the SL economy.
It was also noted that paying in L$ means subscribers avoid being charged VAT / state sales tax / similar.
Whilst the BonnieBot website has take steps away from publishing information which might be regarded as being within Second Life under the expectation it is private (a point that Linden Lab seemingly missed in their initial responses to forum thread postings), the Lab has recognised the need for clearer / better policies and has promised to provide them.
These new policies have gone through the necessary compliance and legal reviews within Linden Lab, and will hopefully be published in week #11 (commencing Monday, March 13th, 2023).
In addition, a new set of estate / region controls are being developed to enable estate / region holders to better control the use of Scripted Agents within their land. These will be deployed “soon” – hopefully within weeks of this session being aired.
In brief: PBR essentially models the flow of light within computer graphics in a manner which mimics light reflections on surfaces in the physical world.
It represents a significant technical step forward in graphical rendering for SL (in the order of 10 years).
The core of this work is to support a new approach to material maps / surfaces either directly on products development for SL by content creators or which can be used on suitable objects within Second Life, which give they sense of physical world lighting and reflection.
In particular, it draws on the Khronos glTF 2.0 specification, and allows creators to more readily use a range of tools supporting that standard (including Blender) and also contents libraries, etc., in support of their work.
An Intel-developed scene imported by Nagachief Darkstone and WindowsCE to demonstrate reflection probes (note the reflections on the knight’s armour – these are not generated by attached environment lights but by a reflection probe within the building structure. Image courtesy of Rye Cogtail
Also included in the PBR work is reflection probes – which in simple terms enable light sources to generate reflections of an in-world scene on suitable surfaces (i.e. those using the materials system).
None of this work does not necessarily mean users need higher specification computers in order to view it; however, reflection probes can impact system performance, so the viewer will include an option to enable / disable these if they prove to be a performance hit for people.
Demos of the PBR work, including an imported Sponza scene, can be found on the following regions on Aditi (the Beta grid): Materials1; Materials Adult and Rumpus Room 1 through 4.
The PBR viewer itself – required to see the content on Aditi, is (at the time of writing) still in the Project Viewer stage (so not ready for use as a primary viewer!) and is available through the Alternate Viewers page.
The next stage of the project is to provide support on Agni (the main grid) and promote the viewer to Release Candidate status, both for more widespread testing, but there is no set time frame for this to happen.
This work does not mean LL are investing in a new graphics engine – this work, and the recent performance improvements work has been on updating and enhancing the existing graphics engine to better support users and what might be regarded as recognised graphics standards.
VR still requires a consistent 60 fps left eye / right eye), and for many; the feeling at LL is that SL is not there yet even with all the recent performance improvements.
Various initiatives – adoption of Vulkan, the Puppetry Project – should help improve things further, and LL might reconsider VR headset support in 2024.
This was a large update (lifting the search engine from version 2.3 to 8.4, and did involve some issues on deployment, which are being addressed – see: Updates to Marketplace Search.
Further fixes and improvements to the update will be deployed in due course, the first of which will be Boolean searches.
A fix for Featured Lists not updating correctly is also due to be deployed “soon”.
The avatars are now regarded as completed, and work is currently focused on developing clothing and accessories for them.
A preview version of the new, single mesh (head-to-toe) avatar, which will use by mesh clothing and Bakes on Mesh, and be open for creators to design clothing and accessories
That said, the project has taken longer to develop than had been anticipated.
There will be a dev kit for creators wishing to support the NUX Avatars. This will be launched ahead of the release of the new avatars.
The entire system is intended to be “PBR ready” in that PBR materials may not be included in the clothing and accessories released by the Lab, but the items will be capable of supporting the use of PBR materials on them.
Everyone is pretty much having fun with the SL Mobile project, and hopes were expressed that a “blooper” reel could be made available. It was also indicated that news on the theme for the 20th Second Life Anniversary event (SL20B) will be made available in due course.