Category: Second Life

Dinosaurs and Coconuts in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022

Cica Ghost carries us through the end of July and into August with her latest installation, which opened on Friday July 29th, 2022, bringing us a touch of Jurassic Park meets The Flintstones in another easy-on-the-eyes-and-brain piece.

Dinosaurs and Coconuts comes with a quote from the Dalai Lama – Once a year, go somewhere you have never been before, and this is a setting that surely offers us the opportunity to do just that.

Like Jurassic Park, this is an installation that presents avatar the opportunity to witness the great reptiles of an prehistoric era as they go about their business. Scattered across the landscape visitors might find armoured dinosaurs mind of those common to the Cretaceous period (Taohelong, Dyoplosaurus, Struthiosaurus, et al); sauropod-like dinosaurs that bring to mind those of the Jurassic the Late Cretaceous periods (such as Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus and the truly enormous titanosaurians); and two-legged carnivores suggestive of the infamous velociraptor genus.

Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022

However, this is no trip down Archaeological Lane; Cica’s dinosaurs are not intended to be reflective of the great beasts that once called the world their own. Rather they are here to offer a lightness of mood and sense of fun, as demonstrated by their expressions and the tip towards the fantastical among some of them. This sense of fun is further emphasised by the landscape in which the are located; a place in which Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble may well find familiar were they to walk into it, with its stone-hewn houses and  cobbled-together wagons and caravans of stone and wood.

Some of the latter sit on the ground, others upon stilts and trestles. Quite who built them is open to debate; no sign of early Man here – although the local technology has clearly reached the point where the wheel is understood, as is the concept of the see-saw and that of the bridge (a concept a couple of the local raptors perhaps have yet to grasp, befuddled as they appear to be by the stretch of water which divides them, despite the bridge that sits close by…).

Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022

At least one of the mysterious locals has even reached a point of understanding matters of ecology, a small windmill jutting through the roof of one stone house, presumably to supply power, and rudimentary garden spaces have been established to help give a sense of homeliness with some of these dwellings.

But it is the dinosaurs who hold sway here. From small to large (and in some cases I do mean large), they all have characters of their own, given life by a subtle sense of expression that suggests some of the thinking going on behind their eyes. Even the raptor-like dinos look like they’d be more interested in fun over hunting.

Cica Ghost: Dinosaurs and Coconuts, July 2022

Quirky and fun, and with a number of places for people to sit (or carry out handstands!), Dinosaurs and Coconuts is another fun installation from Cica, and the Dinos are available to buy though the little shop within the region.

Oh, and the coconuts? Just keep an eye on the local giant palm trees – and be careful not to stand too close to them!

SLurl Details

2022 RFL Renaissance Festival and Sci-Fi Expo dates and details

Posted on by Inara Pey
via SL Renaissance Festival

The dates and initial details of the Relay for Life 2022 Renaissance Festival and Sci-Fi Expo, both of which take place in Second Life, have each been made available over the course of the last month, as have initial registration details, etc.

Both the Renaissance Festival are focused on raising funds as a part of the Relay for Life Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign, and the dates for both events are as follows:

  • Renaissance Festival: Friday September 23th through to Sunday, October 2nd, 2022, inclusive.
  • Sci-Fi Expo: Friday, October 14th through to Sunday, October 23rd, 2022, inclusive.

Renaissance Festival

The Renaissance Festival offers something for everyone interested in the medieval / renaissance period. It will take place across multiple regions – or kingdoms, presenting a wide range of activities, including: shopping, role-play, auctions, tournaments and entertainment.

The theme for this year’s event is The Silk Road, and t following registration opportunities are now open:

  • Special Events Sponsorship – show your support by sponsoring the event via one of these special packages.
  • Merchants – a range of packages with assorted options. All fees are a 100% donation to the American Cancer Society.
  • Role-play packages – designed for  Medieval / Renaissance / Norse & Similar Genre Roleplay Regions & Guilds & Alliances & Groups who wish to have a presences at the SL Renaissance Festival. Packages are prices at LS $2,500 each.
via SL Sci-Fi Expo

Sci-Fi Expo

With the theme of Voyage to the Stars, the 2022 Sci-Fi Expo promises to carry visitors aboard The Nexus, a mobile space station and one of the crowning jewels of the United Earth Council fleet, as it continues its journey of exploring the vast uncharted reaches of interstellar space.

Applications are now open for the following:

  • Exhibitors – with packages ranging from L$1,500 to L$50,000. Please read the FAQ below the package descriptions when applying. Applications available through until October 10th.
  • Events and Perfromers – DJs, singer, dance troupes, and entertainer as invited to apply for a performance slot at the epxo – with applications open through until October 10th.
  • Bloggers – applications are open through until October 1st, and the application page also outlines requirements bloggers are asked to meet.

About Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the American Cancer Society’s premier event to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer. But it’s more than just the name of a walk – it describes the amazing progress we’re making together to defeat this disease. Since 1993, 4 million walkers have raised more than US $280 million through Making Strides. In 2007 alone, nearly 500,000 walkers across the country collected more than US $50 million to help fight breast cancer. Learn more here.

Further Links

Kids These Day in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova): Kids These Days

It’s been over a year since I’ve written about the work of Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova), perhaps one of the most engaging visual artists within Second Life. Part of the reason for this gap is that I understand Lex has been on something of a hiatus. Even so, his most recent installation opened back towards the beginning of July, and to my shame, I came very close to missing it.

Kids These Days takes as its topic the changing face of childhood; of the truth that even in so-called developed nations, children are all to prematurely being made to “put away childish things”, and deal with the “realities” of life. Before they are old enough to understand who they are, they are being forced to focus on “who they want to be”; before they can really understand if who they want to be reflects who they actually might be, they are being cajoled into confined tracks of thinking and discourse, channelled into taking decisions that are ill-equipped to understand – or which are patently harmful to their core self.

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova): Kids These Days

Of course, for many children the world over, this is very much a fact of life; they are from the earliest age forced into marriage and/or to bear children or take up arms on the basis of tribal or ethnic fealty. Day in and day out, they are forced into situations we in the west correctly view as abhorrent. But until now, those of us in developed nations have managed to remain aloof to all of this secure in the belief it couldn’t happen here.

Only it has; as noted, kids these days are subjected to pressure beyond their years. Some of this can be blamed on “the Internet”, and that dark and mysterious world beyond the computer and mobile device screen, and the increasingly role of the toxic and utterly partisan worlds of social media.

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova): Kids These Days

But more insidious than this is the fact that in many respects adults and parents are now making the situation worse for; just take, as two example: the matter of gender and the matter in which many on the religious right are determined to suppress any and all acceptance of anything but “male” and “female; and the blatant disregard the majority of adults today have for the environment, thus forcing those for whom we should be stewards in safeguarding the world, to fight for a future world where they can live without fear of climatic or other repercussions.

All of these ideas are explored within Lex’s Kids These Days through a series of individual, but interconnected vignettes. Some of these are – in his trademark and captivating way – on a massive scale, while others are of a more natural avatar-based size – and perhaps as a result, easier to miss.

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova): Kids These Days

Some of the latter might bring to mind the innocence the “childhoods past” – the locomotive suggesting playing with toy trains; a blanket set with cushions, parasol and the delights of a panic representing carefree family days out, adventures by car to new worlds to explore; the presence of cars themselves referencing time when teenager years were about engines, racing, personal freedom and escape, and not – as is all to frequently the case today – a focus of political activism or having to “rebel” in order to be recognised. Others offer commentary on the pressures piled on kids today – the demands that they “gain the keys of success” and “unlock their potential”; demand that all too often leave youngster forced to bear of drag weights of expectation they are ill equipped to carry.

The larger vignettes, meanwhile, offer a more immediate focus, speaking as they do to the central theme. Here we find pieces depicting the way technology can carry young minds to concepts and worlds they are ill equipped to handle. Scattered around the landscape stand Crow Demons, symbolising the many predators – criminal, psychological, familial, political, and so on, waiting to prey on young minds and bodies. And, in the midst of them stands a clown-like pied-piper, representing adults the world over touting their pipes of conformity over their young.

It is among these that Lex offers his clearest and most succinct observation about the future of kids across the globe being born into the world of today, a sentiment that should stand as a warning to us all for the way we continue to abuse our offspring.

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova): Kids These Days

Kids These Days is rich its visual expression and powerful in the manner in which it presents its subject. It is also – for those like me who are confirmed admirer’s of the artist’s installations and regions builds – a place that offers numerous Easter Eggs to Lex’s past works, some of which where build when he was known by a different name(!).

SLurl and Link

An Endless: Birdlings Flat in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Endless: Birdlings Flat, July 2022 – click any image for full size

It was back to Endless:, the Full private region held by Sombre Nyx for me recently to witness her latest design inspired by a physical world location. For this build she has turned to the southern hemisphere, and a country for which I have a certain fondness; for reasons I’ll not bore you with here.

Birdlings Flat takes its name from a settlement in Canterbury, New Zealand, at the eastern end of Kaitorete Spit and the southern end of Lake Forsyth, where the lake discharges to the sea. It’s a place of rugged natural beauty named for the Birdling family, the first European settlers to farm the area.

Endless: Birdlings Flat, July 2022

In her About Land notes, Sombre describes the setting thus:

Inspired by a small and isolated coastal settlement in the South Island of New Zealand, Birdlings Flat offers wide vistas, unkempt fields, a pebbled coastline strewn with driftwood, a sprinkling of science, and a chance to find stillness.

However, prior to the arrival of William Birdling and his family, the area was called Te Mata Hapuku, with Birdlings Flat nowadays used to specifically in reference to the  pebble beach on the ocean side of Kaitorete Spit, a location well known as a place to find small agates and a variety of other attractive rounded pebbles.

Endless: Birdlings Flat, July 2022

Designated as a rural settlement, the area actually thrived for a time as a centre of farming, even gaining its own branch of the local railway, connecting the area to the nearby town of Lincoln to allow for easier shipment of goods and produce. This line became known as the Little River Line when it was extended to another settlement (called by that name in the 1880s), and while the line was closed in 1962 and the tracks torn up, the route today is known as a public walking and cycling track called the Little River Rail Trail.

Over the years, the area has seen various uses – it is popular for those carrying out coastal studies, and the the waters are known for the presence of significant number so Hector’s dolphins and can be used by southern right whales, while during certain times of the year, fur seals and (occasionally) elephant seals can be found along the pebbled coast.

As well as coastal studies, the area was once used by the University of Canterbury for meteorological studies, the university establishing a weather station there for several years. Birdlings Flat has also been used for launching sub-orbital sounding rockets, using the US-built Arcas (All-Purpose Rocket for Collecting Atmospheric Soundings) system. These launches also fall under the prevue of the University of Canterbury, which also established a radar station in the area to monitor rocket flights and the airspace around the launch area.

Endless: Birdlings Flat, July 2022

The latter forms a part of Sombre’s build, which encapsulates the small, rural nature of the location and its tiny community (in 2018, the local population was just 195) whilst also capturing the rugged nature of the landscape and life along this coastal area  simply but perfectly. It’s not a setting one needs to wax lyrical about, because it speaks very eloquently for itself, and exploration and photography within it are both a delight.

However, in order to reach Birdlings Flat, visitors must go via the region’s Landing Point, and this once again presents visitors with the opportunity to visit not one, but two settings within the region. This is because Sombre is once again joined by Jackson Cruyff, who offers people the chance to visit his Forest.

Occupying a sky platform some 2,000m above the ground-level setting of Birdlings Flat, Forest presents a wooded environment somewhat mindful of the North American continent rather than anywhere antipodean; a place left to the wilds and where assorted animals and wildfowl might be found wandering and / or circling over head. It’s a place where people can simply roam and find refuge, and also – for those who look – places to sit and contemplate.

Endless: Birdlings Flat, July 2022

Two easy-on-the eye settings; one offering a rich depth of background on one of the more remote parts of the physical world few of us are likely to have the opportunity to visit.

SLurl Details

2022 SUG meetings week #30 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Making Memories, June 2022 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, July 26th, 2022 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

No deployment plan notes were available on the forums at this time of writing this update.

  • On Tuesday, 26th, and in an extended deployment period, simhosts on the SLS Main channel were updated to simulator version 573176, comprising infrastructure updates.
  • On Wednesday, July 27th, all RC channels will be restarted, with those simhosts currently not on it also being updated to simulator version 573176.

The hardware configuration changes being introduced are intended to improve the deploy strategy and automate some operational tasks going forward; there’s no changes that might impact runtime performance.

This means that the anticipated new scripting items (llSetEnvironment and llReplaceEnvironment and a new flag STATUS_DIE_AT_NO_ENTRY will now not be deployed until week #31.

  • llSetEnvironment and llReplaceEnvironment are for EEP, and work across a region, they cannot be applied to single environments set by altitude.
  • STATUS_DIE_AT_NO_ENTRY will behave like STATUS_DIE_AT_EDGE but for when an object enters a parcel, and will eliminate the “can’t move object to” popup if an object with copy perms has the flag set to TRUE when it attempts to enter a no-entry or full parcel.
    • This should mean creators can make bullets, undulating worms and whatnot that do not result in spam) which will behave like STATUS_DIE_AT_EDGE but for when an object enters a parcel), won’t be deployed to any RCs until week #31.

Those wishing to test these functions can one so on the regions Jigglypuff, Flareon and Mauve on Aditi).

Available Official Viewers

No official viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the current crop as:

  • Release viewer: version 6.6.1.572458 – formerly the Maintenance M(akgeolli) RC viewer, promoted June 29 – no change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Profiles RC viewer, version 6.6.2.573372, July 21.
    • Izarra Maintenance RC, version 6.6.2.573282, July 20.
    • Nomayo Maintenance RC (Maintenance N) viewer, version 6.6.2.573023, July 11.
    • Maintenance Optimisations RC version 6.6.2.573065, July 7.
  • Project viewers:
    • Love Me Render (LMR) 6 graphics improvements project viewer 6.6.2.573263, July 21.
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
    • Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
    • Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
    • Copy / Paste project viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

In Brief

  • More general discussion on region crossings, larger region sizes, altering ground level to allow for deeper oceans (i.e. below sea level = negative values). This also touched on BUG-227303 “collisions makes a script stop running and revert its mono status”, which the Lab is apparently in the process of picking up.

Firestorm 6.5.6: maintenance refresh!

Posted on by Inara Pey

 

On Monday, July 25th, 2022, the Firestorm team released version 6.5.6 of their viewer.

This is very much a maintenance update for Firestorm rather than a major release; the focus is very much on bug fixes rather than new features.

That said, it does bring Firestorm closer to the official release viewer, incorporating as t does the April and May official viewer releases code – so with this release, Firestorm embraces multi-factor authentication.

 Table of Contents

As per usual, this article is a not a full blow-by-blow breakdown of absolutely everything in this release, but it does include notes on some of the more significant updates and fixes people are liable to find useful, and some general notes.

For a complete breakdown of changes, please see the official release notes for Firestorm 6.5.6.

Installation

  • There is no need to perform a clean install with this release if you do not wish to.
  • Do, however, make sure you back-up all your settings safely so you can restore them after installing 6.5.6.

Linden Lab Updates

This release brings Firestorm up to parity with the following Linden Lab viewer releases:

  • Lao-Lao Maintenance Release viewer (version 6.5.4.570575, dated April 18th, 2022) containing numerous bug fixes).
    • One notable fix in this viewer is for photographers, correcting as  it does – BUG-231868 “[MAINT J+K] 360 Snapshot tool fails to save file to computer (Mac and Windows)”
  • The MFA Release viewer (version 6.5.5.571282, dated May 4th), which rolled multi-factor authentication to the viewer – see below for more.

In addition, Firestorm 6.5.6 includes support for the release of Premium Plus (increased Group allowance, etc).

Multi-Factor Authentication

Firestorm 6.5.6 incorporates Linden Lab’s viewer-side Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) code. This provides additional security to your Second Life account both through the web (e.g. trying to view your billing info or transaction history, trying to cash out (“process credit”) money out of your account, trying to change the e-mail address associated with your account, etc.), and in accessing your account using the viewer. It is entirely optional, and you do not need to use it if you don’t want to – although usage is recommended.

You can find out more on MFA in general by following the links below:

Inclusion of MFA in a viewer means that anyone who has opted to use MFA

  • Will, the first time they use Firestorm 6.5.6, have to use their preferred authentication method (e.g. Google Authenticator) to generate a new token (6-digit code) and enter it into the viewer when prompted (after entering their user name and password).
The MFA prompt for a token, which will be seen in Firestorm 6.5.6 (and other viewers supporting the Lab’s MFA code) once every 30 days.
    • Note that some authenticators generate their token as 2 groups of 3 digits (e.g. XXX  YYY). Where this is the case, you can enter the code with or without the space.
  • This token will remain valid for 30 days, as noted above, so you do not have to provide a token every time you log-in to the viewer.
    • However, after 30 days, the prompt will once again be displayed at log-in, and a new token code will have to be generated in the chosen authentication method, and entered into the viewer in response to the prompt.

If you have not opted to use MFA, or if you later opt to disable MFA on your account, you will not be prompted to provide any authentication code.

Firestorm Updates and Improvements

Phototools

The Shared Environment button on Phototools works with Firestorm 6.5.6

A minor, but nevertheless issue with Phototools since the introduction of the Environmental Enhancement Project (EEP) capabilities into Firestorm has been the fact that the Shared Environment button (Phototools → Env) has never been properly hooked-up to the EEP controls.

It’s a niggle I pointed to at the time that Firestorm released with EEP incorporated but – and shame on me for not doing so – I never got around to raising a bug report on it.

Fortunately, Spartaco Zemenis did Jira it (see FIRE-31688), with the result that the button has now been properly hooked-in to EEP and clicking it (as with clicking the X button alongside of Personal Lighting) will now revert your viewer’s environment settings to those set for the region / parcel you are current in.

And the difference between the two? X will perform a transition between whatever your current environment settings are and those used within the region / parcel; the Shared Environment button will simple switch the viewer to using the local environment settings without any transition effects.

Skin Updates

  • The Legacy Skin has been removed as a result of being unmaintained for so long.
  • The Starlight and Starlight CUI have been updated, and now includes a fix for FIRE-30839 “Camera window not fully opaque at 1.00 and doesn’t have StarLight & Silver Blue support”.

Other Updates and Fixes

Updates

  • The “Avatars Nearby” list in the performance floater now respects display name/username choice (set via Preferences → General).
  • New physics warning to the mesh uploader when model dimensions are too thin. Mesh-based physics reverts to convex hull when any single dimension goes below 0.5m, so new warning added should this occur:
    • One or more dimensions is less than 0.5m, only hull-based (analysed) physics shapes will work correctly.
  • Debug Setting update: BrowserWebSecurityDisabled – disables web security features in the built-in Web browser.
  • Firestorm Bridge now uses HTTPS by default.
  • BUG-231970 “LOD generation does not trigger a refresh” (also fixed in the lab’s Performance Improvement viewer).
  • FIRE-31074 “Double Click Teleport Stuck On, And Ignoring Modifiers”.
  • FIRE-31552 “Glowing, 100% transparent prims no longer glow”.
  • FIRE-31687 “Overlapped windows when you create a pick on the Places floater”.
  • FIRE-31689 “Wrong folder is shown when creating a LM”.
  • FIRE-31322 “[Linux] Growl notifications do not show in Gnome 41 or Gnome 42 (Desktop Environment)”.
  • FIRE-31758 “RLVa: Area Search shows nametags when restrictions in place”.
  • FIRE-21700 “Full bright not adhering when gamma changed”.
  • FIRE-31719 “Store camera view fails in Flycam mode”.
  • FIRE-31406 “FS 6.5.3.65541 Guidebook pane while loading clips content too much”.
  • FIRE-31472 “When using the Improve Graphic Performance floater some aspects will not work when Framerate Limiter is active”.
  • Nearby blocked avatars should no longer cause the viewer to randomly hang.
  • Adds a warning toast as a reminder when there is a scripted followcam active that might stop a camera reset when trying to use SHIFT+ESC to reset camera view.

Crash Fixes

  • FIRE-31474 “Importing linkset crashes while uploading textures” .
  • FIRE-31653 “Pressing CTRL + F with “banned” list open in any group profile crashes the viewer to desktop”.
  • FIRE-31482 “Crashing To Desktop While Using [Legacy events] Search”.
  • FIRE-31718 “Preprocessor crashes viewer on recursive #include”.

Third-Party Library Updates

  • FMOD Studio updated to 2.02.06 (Windows, Linux, Mac).
  • KDU: updated to v8.2 for Linux.
  • Glib for Linux updated to  2.56.0.220911433-linux64_bionic-220911433.

OpenSim Updates

  • Fixed: FIRE-31567 “[OpenSim] Wrong delayed rebakes on all teleports/login”.
  • Fixed: FIRE-31581 “[OPENSIM] TP between grids on different voice services causes infinite loop”
  • Inventory handling improvements, including:
    • Fix for FIRE-31634 “[Opensim] Inventory doesn’t load on some grids”.
    • Fix for FIRE-31674 “[OpenSim] Inventory validation warning for Suitcase folder”.
    • Allow inventory validation to work in OpenSim with old and grandfathered inventories, without being fatal.
    • Better inventory validation reporting.
    • Make the inventory reporting more user friendly.
    • Make the options for fixing clearer.
    • Make the nagging notification optional.
    • Make sure the correct UUID is used for the inventory library in OpenSim
  • Fixed:  FIRE-31628 “[Opensim] Collisions sounds cannot be disabled”.
  • OpenSim vari-regions:
    • Try to defend against grid owners who insist on misconfiguring to have more the one neighbour per region edge.
    • Fixed Firestorm crash due to abuse of vari-regions.
  • Added Grid Status support for OpenSim “GridStatus” and “GridStatusRSS”  – Top menu bar → Help → Check Grid Status.
  • Reverted some of the changes made to prevent calling card duplication, as the method has changed and the viewer is now responsible for creating calling cards after friendship has formed.

Future Releases

In the past, the Firestorm team has tried to maintain a two-month QA cycle: starting a month after a release, QA on the nest would start with beta testing. This would be followed in the 6th week of the beta cycle by the issuing of a “Release Candidate” for additional testing the the Firestorm Preview Group. Due to the numbers involved in the Preview Group, issues would be found very late in the QA cycle, leading to delays in the release being made.

To try to prevent this in the future, Firestorm is moving to a process of pre-release building being issued to the Preview Group on a weekly basis, monitored by the QA team, working with the Preview Group users in determining what is a bug that should be reported vs what may be an artefact of something unrelated, like a user setting, that can be corrected without the need for exhaustive bug reporting and testing. This will hopefully result in a more frequent release process.

Related Links