Category: Second Life

The return of Bryn Oh’s Lobby Cam to Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Bryn Oh: Lobby Cam, May 2022

Sunday, May 1st, 2022 saw the opening of a new iteration of Bryn Oh’s Lobby Cam, a brand new iteration of an installation first unveiled in 2015 (see: Bryn Oh’s Lobby Cam).

As with the majority of Bryn’s work, Lobby Cam is set within a narrative universe she has created, and so sits with her two other installation currently available for public viewing: an updated version of Hand (which I reviewed in 2020), and the more recent The Brittle Epoch (reviewed here). Made possible by a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, Lobby Cam is an entirely new build – new mesh models, soundscape, scripting  – and a new narrative for visitors to follow.

My artwork in Second Life is one long narrative which began in 2009. Each new work I create is a chapter in this story, and in the case of Lobby Cam it is 110 years before the events of the Brittle Epoch and Hand which are being exhibited within the Immersiva and Bryn Oh regions.

– Bryn Oh

Bryn Oh: Lobby Cam, May 2022

As is common with Bryn’s work in Second Life, a visit to the installation commences at a set landing point. Here, for those who have visited Bryn’s work previously, a HUD can be obtained with a simple click, and will attach towards the top right of the viewer window. Those new to Bryn’s work or who have opted to previously tell the viewer to “Forget” they are a part of it, will need to join Bryn’s local Experience in order to access and use the HUD as intended.

Click the top right icon when the HUD – which is a diary – is “open” and it will minimise to free up screen space. Click the icon to expand it again.

An eccentric man discovers an impossible channel on his TV. This begins a story where you determine the ending.

– Bryn Oh on Lobby Cam

Bryn Oh: Lobby Cam, May 2022

Pass beyond the walls of the landing point, and those who remember the original Lobby Cam will doubtless recognise the sea of wheat within its fenced fields and the distant, hulking form of grain elevator 888. Originally built in Keatley, Saskatchewan in the late 1920s, the elevator formed  a part of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, although it has since been relocated and serves now as a museum. However, just as the real elevator served as a local focal point in its day, so too does Bryn’s version of it in Second Life, beckoning people to hurry towards it.

However, giving it to such a temptation will result in visitors missing some key elements in Lobby Cam. As Bryn notes, this is an unfolding story, key elements of which are formed by missing pages from the diary HUD. These are scattered on the ground in various places (such as the path leading away from the landing point and the road pointing towards the grain elevator. Clicking on one when found will “add” it to the diary (the HUD icon will turn to colour). Opening the diary (if closed) and paging through the pages by clicking on them will reveal the entries as they are “added”.

Bryn Oh: Lobby Cam, May 2022

As well as the grain elevator, there are other new elements within the installation – such as the low barn sitting in the middle of one of the wheat fields. These should all be visited, wherever they lay (so sit well out in the landscape) and touched – as Bryn notes, people should pretty much click on everything, inside the grain elevator and outside of it – as some will be interactive and offer up secrets (such as links to Bryn’s videos) or objects.

Key among the latter are an envelope, pen, ink, and paper. Collect them alongside the pages of the diary, and you can further involve yourself in Bryn’s universe by interacting with another of her characters, Fern, as she explains:

[With them you can] write a letter from the main character [of Lobby Cam] to Fern. If you click the red mailbox on the train platform you can send this message to me directly by e-mail. I will respond to all letters sent and this will end the story. Depending on what you write. I will write as Fern would reply to your message.

– Bryn Oh on Lobby Cam

Note that Bryn’s replies really are individually written in response to your own words, not pre-prepared responses. Also, please keep in mind the last time she did this, she received several hundred e-mails, so it understandably took her a little time to respond to all of them!

Finished to resemble a painting – the use of the elevator, if I recall correctly from 2015, having been inspired by a painting Bryn either saw or created (my apologies to her for forgetting which, or possibly mis-remembering), Lobby Cam is deceptive in all it has to offer, and as such, is definitely more than work seeing. For those who need additional context, both Hand and The Brittle Epoch are also open to viewing, SLurls below.

With thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their continued support of Bryn’s work.

Related Links

2022 SUG meetings week #18 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Bamboo, March 2022 – blog post

The following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. It forms 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

Please refer to the server deployment forum thread for the latest information.

  • Tuesday, May 3rd saw the SLS Main channel updated to server release 571166, which includes:
    • A new LSL function llGetVisualParams(). Returns a list of avatar appearance details for a given agent.
    • New options for llGetParcelDetails(): PARCEL_DETAILS_LANDING_POINT, PARCEL_DETAILS_LANDING_LOOKAT, PARCEL_DETAILS_TP_ROUTING, PARCEL_DETAILS_FLAGS, PARCEL_DETAILS_SCRIPT_DANGER.
    • New options for llGetObjectDetails(): OBJECT_MATERIAL, OBJECT_MASS, OBJECT_TEXT, OBJECT_REZ_TIME, OBJECT_LINK_NUMBER, OBJECT_SCALE, OBJECT_TEXT_COLOR, OBJECT_TEXT_ALPHA.
    • New options for llGetEnv(): “agent_limit_max”, “agent_reserved”, “agent_unreserved”.
  • Wednesday, May 4th should see all RC channels updated with a new new infrastructure server that sees an update to code housekeeping within the simulator, but should not result in any user-facing changes.

Available Official Viewers

The current official viewers are as follows:

  • Release viewer: version version 6.5.4.570575 – formerly the Lao-Lao Maintenance RC viewer, promoted Monday, April 18 – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.5.570983, April 26.
    • MFA RC viewer, version 6.5.5.571282, April 26.
    • Performance Improvements RC viewer version 6.6.0.570163, dated April 4, issued April 14(?).
  • Project viewers:
    • Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.569531, March 18.
    • 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 viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.

In Brief

  • The fixes for off-line Group and Friend invites were due to go to an RC update this week, but have been delayed pending further testing.
  • BUG-231582 – “Newly rezzed objects are invisible after relog under certain circumstances”: a fix is in development and should be appearing in an upcoming simulator update.
  • BUG-232107 – “Bring back fun Sim Channel Names” – the simulator RC channel names (e.g. LeTigre, Magnum and Bluesteel for the main three, plus the likes of Cake, Ferrari, etc), were all obfuscated some time back.
    • The reason for this was that people would frequently assume the simulator channel on which their region was running to be the cause of any issues being experienced, and insist their region be moved to another channel – even if that channel was using the exact same simulator release.
    • However, the obfuscation has caused an equal amount of confusion for some and added the need to constantly cross-reference simulator version numbers when troubleshooting, ergo this request has been made to revert the obfuscation, something that the server engineering team indicated they might be willing to entertain at the week #17 meeting.
  • There was an extensive discussion on making EEP more robust for estate owners by allowing better control of the environment through script objects (which essentially send out region settings every 2 minutes and request viewers switch to them). Some of this work may be addressed by Rider Linden in the near future, and details supplied when this happens.

The week with Seanchai Library – May 2nd-6th

Posted on by Inara Pey
Seanchai Library

It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. 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, May 2nd, 19:00: When They Saw

Having graduated from the juvenile education system, Ana Mia decides to join her sister as a part of Fort Hope’s Midnight Guard. Fort Hope is a stronghold, protecting its inhabitants from Earth’s alien invaders; and the Midnight Guard forms the eyes, ears and guardians of the stronghold’s Wall.

Without the Guard and without the Wall of the stronghold, the aliens would be free to harvest humanity, using their ships and the Coyotes who form their eyes and ears in opposition to the Midnight Guard.

But now things have changed. Now Ana is something more, as she notes herself:

I never expected to be abducted. But here I am, standing onboard Their ship, facing Them down for the first time in my life, seeing the true face of the Earth’s invaders from another world.
My task is simple: to act as Earth’s emissary and negotiate peace. But it is far more complicated than it seems. I know nothing of politics, and even little of persuasion, but I have no choice. I must do this to keep my friends, and my world, safe. I cannot afford to fail humanity.

Join Gyro Muggins as he reads the second volume of Kody Boye’s When They… saga.

Tuesday, May 3rd

12:00 Noon: Russell Eponym

With music, and poetry in Ceiluradh Glen.

19:00: Shady Hollow

Shady Hollow: a village where woodland creatures all appear to live together in harmony – at least until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead.

Vera Vixen is a fox with a nose for a good story;  that’s why she’s a reporter. So when the rumours of the passing of the bad-tempered member of the bufonidae family might not actually be down to natural causes, she makes up her mind to sniff out the truth, despite being somewhat new to the village and still regarded as an outsider.

But as Vera digs into matters, the more convoluted things become. Soon it becomes clear that there is more than one mystery that needs to be solved – and more than one life is in danger. Someone within the village appears to be prepared to go to any lengths to stop secrets from being revealed, and Vera finds she’ll nee all her cunning and quickness to get to the truth – and possibly avoid becoming a victim herself!

Join Faerie Maven Pralou to discover more as she read’s the first volume in Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow series.

Wednesday, May 4th: Dark

No readings.

Thursday, May 5th 19:00: Beggar’s Day: The Beggar Prince

The Kingdom of Galaway has a law – The Test of Kings –  that every heir to the throne must work a year and a day as a commoner in order to prove they are worthy of being ruler. Not a great law when you are as lazy and indulgent as Prince Larry.

He find that on his day, he must become servant to a former slave, Brishee, as she is conscripted to find the lost artefact, The Shield of Many Uses. However, the evil Percy has other ideas. Via murder and conspiracy, he intends to usurp the throne of King Willy.

Will Larry survive in his role as servant to Brishee? Will she succeed in her quest – and Larry, by extension, succeed in The Test of Kings, or will he be the first to fail, and Percy thus succeed?

The King, meanwhile, has problems of his own: why does Cruith the Crone keep stealing his chickens? Why is she always the first in line to bend his ear on Beggar’s Day?

Caledonia Skytower reads M.J. McGalliard’s first volume in the Beggar’s Day series.

Spring 2022 at Le Monde Perdu in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Luane’s World, May 2022 – click any image for full size

There are a number of places to which I enjoy making repeat visits as each year unfolds. One of these is Luane’s World, and within it, Le Monde Perdu (The Lost World), the public Full region by LuaneMeo and Gorba McMahon, which at the time of my May 2022 visit, was dressed for spring.

I’ve visited the region a number of times over the years, and have always enjoyed my time there. For Spring 2022, the design offers a setting that mixes an outer swirl of land with beaches on two of its seaward sides, which encompasses a central island sitting within waters that can reach more open waters through two narrow channels.

Luane’s World, May 2022

On my arrival, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Summer 2021 design for the region, thanks to the open nature of the landscaping, the presence of the beaches and the northern view out over water to the private residences that form part of the overall estate. There’s a sense of continuity between the two, despite this being very different in look and content – something I always enjoy when visiting an evolving region, as it gives its designs a sense of history.

The landing point includes horse and bicycle rezzers for those who fancy a ride, and teleport signs to reach the estate’s rental office, Luane’s store and the region’s second public space, Luane’s Magical World, located high overhead. I’ll also point out here that as well as the bicycles and horses, there is a little motor boat on the region’s inner waters that can be used to putter around the channels and out into the northern waters.

Luane’s World, May 2022

There are two bridges relatively close to the landing point. To the east, a small humpbacked bridge spans one of the two channels leading out from the the heart of the region, providing access to a meadow where horses graze. To the south, the second bridge reaches over the water to the central island with its more formal garden and gazebo retreat (and a further bridge that reaches the far side of the outer curl of land.

As well as this gazebo, there are several other structures scattered across the region. These take the form of a little café offering a view across the the island as it sits with its back to the landing point, a little shrine sitting in the shade of giant oaks, an old fort sitting up on a hill, another gazebo just down below it and ruins close by, the remains of an old church (the TLG Chapel Ruins that are a personal favourite) that occupies another hill across the region from the fort, and a pavilion where more refreshments might be had.

Luane’s World, May 2022

The paths around and through the region are grassy for the most part, natural flower-lined avenues ideal for walking or horse riding (although there are some using stepping stones or marked by trimmed logs. Given this is Luane’s World, there are multiple places to sit and pass the time. These can be found everywhere: on the beaches, in and on the roof of the fort, along the routes of the grassy paths, on and over the waters – and even in the air, courtesy of the region’s hot air balloon.

And, obviously, there are multiple opportunities for photography, whilst touches of art in the form of statues can also be found as you explore.

Luane’s World, May 2022

Luane’s World has always been a place in which wandering and losing oneself comes easy thanks to its rich, natural beauty and matching soundscapes. With this Spring 2022 rendition, this is all very much still true; whilst up in the sky, Luane’s Magical World retains its sense of winter fantasy for those who already miss snow-heavy scenes (and which I’ll likely visit later in 2022!).

So why not hop over and see for yourself?

Luane’s World, May 2022

SLurl Details

2022 viewer release summaries week #17

Posted on by Inara Pey
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation

Updates from the week ending Sunday, May 1st, 2022

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 6.5.4.570575 – formerly the Lao-Lao Maintenance RC viewer, promoted Monday, April 18 – No change.
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.5.570983, April 26.
    • MFA RC viewer, version 6.5.5.571282, April 26.
  • Project viewers:
    • No updates.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • No updates.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

LL launches Event region product + some thoughts

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Linden Lab

Update, June 23rd, 2022: Linden Lab has officially announced updates to the Event region product(s). Please refer to Event Regions: New Pricing and Offerings – Linden Lab and Lab announces updated Event and Event Elite Regions + pricing – this blog.

Update, June 20th, 2022: Speaking at his Meet the Lindens session at SL19B, Patch Linden, VP of Land Operations, indicated that the fee for Event regions will remain at US $599 a month & no set-up fee. Summary notes with link to the video available here. However, the comments and thoughts originally offered towards the end of this piece remain unchanged, as they are historically relevant.

The number of avatars a region can support has often been a headache for those wishing to hold large-scale events – and something the Lab has long been aware of itself. Traditionally, to host a reasonably large number of avatars at a single event in comfort (e.g. 75+), it has often been necessarily to have two or four regions, with the stage space effectively straddling them.

However, during recent months, the Lab has been testing a new region type, capable of supporting relatively large numbers of avatars. This testing has included providing the new region product to a number of events in Second Life that have high numbers of avatars passing through them.

Most recently, when speaking at the VWBPE 2022¹, event, Patch Linden indicated that the new region type – called Event regions – were definitely on the product development roadmap.

On Monday, May 2nd, the Lab officially launched the Event region type via an official blog post, stating:

Have you ever dreamed of being able to hold large scale events in Second Life? Have you ever wished you could keep the lag monster at bay during large events? Perhaps you just want your scripts to all go vroom?  Well wonder, wait and wish no more! Sporting the latest upgrades in grid technologies that have been enabled by our migration to the cloud, these regions have been tested running large events in real-world scenarios such as those really big monthly shopping events, and live performances! Our tests saw nearly 200 avatars successfully able to shop and party in these regions.

– from Linden Lab

The post lists the capabilities / options that come with the new Event region product as:

  • A maximum avatar limit of 175 per Event region.
  • Up to 30,000 land impact.
    • While this region type will support up to 30,000 Land Impact, during testing, LL identified a few cases where exceeding 20,000 Land Impact will degrade performance with a large number of concurrent visitors.
  • Extended chat ranges upon request, allowing chat to travel further across the region.
  • RaaS: Rollbacks as a Service – Request to restore your region to a previous state as needed – some restrictions apply.
  • IaaS: Instancing as a Service – Request to have your region duplicated to another region.
  • White glove Concierge service.
  • Over 20% Improved script performance.

These new regions can be ordered by submitting  a support ticket.

Pricing for these region types is somewhat surprising:

  • From now until June 6th, 2022, Event regions will be available at US $599 per month, with no set-up fee.
  • After June 6th, 2022, the fee will be:
    • US $999 for the first month (including a $100 set-up fee, which is slightly less than that for a Full region’s $120).
    • US $899 per month after the first 30 days.

I say “surprising” because while the initial “offer price” of US $599 does not sound entirely unreasonable given the added capabilities / support options, the $899 month tier most certainly does. Certainly, in terms of events, this latter price-point will likely place the cost of these regions well outside the budget of many events they might otherwise be well suited towards handling (e.g. a one-off weekend concert, for example).

Conversely, the US $599 price point, whilst high, is a lot more comfortable than US $899, and could encourage more widespread adoption of the new product across a range of potential uses over a much longer period of time among users (corporate partners, obviously, may not find the pricing an issue, if it  encompasses them).

Even so, and in terms of pure events, I would have thought something along the lines of a pro-rata system based on the proposed length of use might have been more all-encompassing.

And turning to the capabilities and options offered with the new Event region product, there is one element in the bullet list that could do with further exposition: “Instancing as a Service” – as I enquired on the forum thread related to the announcement:

  • Does this genuinely mean simultaneous instancing, on an on-demand basis (e.g. I can simply request another instance of my event to be spun-up based on the demand I’m seeing  –  and request it is taken down when demand drops below the level where it is no longer required)?.
  • Is it limited to just the one instance (as the wording perhaps implies), or multiple instances?
  • Is instancing covered by the “original” region’s tier, or is a surcharge applicable? If so, how much?

Those with a similar interest in this aspect of the product should keep an eye on the thread for any official response.

In the meantime, complete information on the launch can be found in the official blog post.

Footnotes

  1. Patch’s comments can be heard in the What’s Up at the Lab VWBPE video: