Category: Second Life

March 2026 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, March 26th 2026 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

SL Mobile (Beta) version 2026.2.1086 (A) / 0.1.1084 (iOS) – March 20 – New User chatbot; support for Portuguese in app UI.

Recent Updates

  • Several releases through the latter part of February and in March.
  • Key new feature: new user chatbot  – Prima Linden.
    • On sign-up via Mobile incoming new users had been receiving a non-interactive welcome message from Prima Linden.
    • With the upgrade to a full chatbot, Prima will now respond to, and attempt to engage with, new users and answer questions.
    • This is something of a follow-on project from work done on Project Zero to provide new users with chatbot assistance. As such, there is still more work to do in tuning the chatbot for Mobile users.
    • Feedback on the updated Pima Linde is being sought (e.g. via the Discord channel).
  • Further work on language support within the App with the addition of UI support for Portuguese to cater for SL’s large population based in Brazil (as well as supporting other Portuguese speaking countries).
    • Language changes can be accessed via Menu → Settings → General → Language.
    • This is the first step to supporting the same languages as support by the  Desktop viewer.
  • In-app update notifications for Android when new releases are made.
  • A big push on Mobile App stability on Android (hence Android version numbering being ahead of iOS).

Upcoming Updates

  • WebRTC Voice usability improvements, e.g. reducing the new of steps to enabling Voice on Mobile.
    • These improvements are already available on the closed Alpha programme, and will be coming Soon to the open Beta.
  •  Localisation language improvements (e.g. the App detecting the default language used on a user’s device, and if different to that used within Mobile, ask the user if they would prefer to switch to using the device language selection, as well as support for additional languages.
  • Improvements to Chat history, making it viewable cross-platform (e.g. Desktop and Mobile, or different Mobile devices, etc.).

General Q&A

  • Question on why more existing users haven’t come over to Mobile.
    • Potentially because most existing users are comfortable with the Desktop viewer which, in comparison with Mobile, offers easier accessibility to features and settings and obviously currently have a wider, deeper range of capabilities and features (e.g. inventory, building, ease of camming, etc.).
    • Keyboard access to Desktop tends to be far more convenient to many that touch-typing on a small screen.
    • Much easier to tab between SL and other applications running on a PC than on Mobile, which can sometimes freeze during switching, etc.
    • Mobile might be more popular to some if more of a “companion app” than alternate (e.g. being able to use it alongside of the Desktop viewer when going AFK for a few minutes and still be able to monitor chat, hear Voice, respond, etc).
  • Question on what people think is the “top” feature Mobile is currently missing that is keeping Desktop users from trying Mobile (highly subjective – and acknowledged as such):
    • Responses included: Inventory access; better appearance tools; ability to interact with objects via llDialog and dialogue boxes / menus (which is being worked on, per my February meeting summary); lack of suitable hardware (not really a Mobile issue).
  • A follow-up discussion on how people would prefer to see Mobile develop – such as a focus on a single feature, and how should it be presented.
    • For example: a focus of inventory would likely be beneficial, but releasing it in a manner where it can be seen but not fully manipulated could be seen as pointless, but releasing it in a manner to match inventory on Desktop could be a major investment in terms of time required to bring it to fruition and release it).
    • Even so, Inventory remained the popular choice.
  • LL are planning to survey incoming new users on Mobile to get their feedback on the App as well.
  • A user question on testing – does LL use VPNs, etc., to simulate logging-in from different parts of the world. Answer: yes, this is done, plus the team is somewhat international – Adm Sinewave (lead Mobile developer), for example, is based in Australia.

Date of Next Meeting

Art Mysterious: Soul in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
IMAGO Art Gallery, March 2026: Art Mysterious – Soul

It is possible that Art Mysterious might be best known for his avatar profile pictures, high-quality, professionally produced and processed images suitable for display in people’s Second Life profiles, together with his landscape photography, also taken in Second Life, which is captivating for a variety of reasons – including subject, angle, use of depth of field, colour processing and more.

However, Art’s work extends far beyond these two aspects, encompassing line drawing, experimentation, real-life portraiture. Using his skills as a graphics artist, Art strives to blur the line between our digital realm in Second Life and the real world, presenting a gateway into a world of art in which graphical art and virtual spaces are combined to offer images of deep emotional content and power.

This is very much in evidence within his work as a portrait artist, whether working directly with photographs taken in-world or when bringing avatars to life through his unique avatar drawings. The latter are striking for the manner in which he strives to move beyond mere hand-drawn reproductions of images captured in-world, but seeks to reveal the inner nuances of the avatar as manipulated by the avatar’s owner; to give a suggestion of the avatar as a part of the life that sits behind the screen.

An avatar is no less “real” than a face from the physical world. It represents identity, presence, emotion, and memory within a digital space that is just as authentic for those who inhabit it. Creating an avatar drawing requires the same level of attention to detail, the same artistic interpretation, and the same responsibility to capture the subject’s essence as a real-life portrait.

– Art Mysterious on creating avatar drawings

IMAGO Art Gallery, March 2026: Art Mysterious – Soul

Within Soul, an exhibition hosted by Mareea Farrasco at her relocated Imago Art Gallery, Art presents another aspect of his work: that of an experimentalist, bringing together multiple approaches to art which take a raw drawing produced by Art, exposes it to various techniques an tools to provide a completed image, which is then displayed with the original drawing.

Starting from the initial hand-drawn sketch, Art Mysterious used modern technology and artificial intelligence to transform and regenerate the images into final ink drawings, preserving the original concept, composition, and expression. The process became a continuity between the traditional gesture and digital means, where the core idea remained unchanged, but the form was reinterpreted through contemporary tools.

– From the Artists’ description of the major pieces in Soul

IMAGO Art Gallery, March 2026: Art Mysterious – Soul

The result is a truly stunning series of images, each with its own title, several bordering on the surreal, others offering literary (and cinematic) allusions. All are rich in detail, with the more surreal pieces – AEIOU, Spirit, Core and Clone on the lower floor of the gallery – offering such a richness of imagery and potential interpretation that I’m not even going to try to offer thoughts into them, as doing so would simply spoil the experience first-hand; these are pieces which need to be experienced without any intervening filters of thought.

Similarly the more allusory are gorgeous in their presentation of ideas and their referencing culture, literature and even the human condition – The Lost Raven (quite possibly my favourite in the exhibition, given it Poe-like references), Addiction and Schizophrenia quite powerfully so.

Also to be found in the exhibition is a smaller display of Art’s beautifully engaging line art, offered for sale under the title Transylvania Collection, and which is itself captivating.

IMAGO Art Gallery, March 2026: Art Mysterious – Soul

Very much an exhibition to be both seen and absorbed – and don’t forget the video “audiobook” accompanying the exhibition.

Slurl Details

2026 SL viewer release summaries week #12

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

Updates from the week through to Sunday, March 22nd, 2026

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.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer  – Legacy search; WebRTC improvements; QoL improvements – 26.1.0.22641522367 – March 12.
  • Second Life Project Viewers:
    • Second Life Project Flat UI – 26.2.0.22829286351, March 20 -“flat” UI and font updates.
    • Second Life Lua Editor Alpha viewer 26.1.0.21525310258, February 12.
    • Second Life One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26 – one-click viewer installation.
    • Second Life Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12, 2025 – Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use webRTC voice.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Kirstens Viewer S24(5) VETR Beta 4 (Build 2955) – March 13 – release notes.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Second Life Mobile version 1086/4, March 20 – new user chatbot; support for Portuguese in app UI.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2026 week #12: SL Open Source (TPVD) meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Hippotropolis Theatre: home of the OSD/TPVD meeting
The following notes were taken from:

  • Pantera’s video (embedded at the end of this article) and my chat log of the Open-Source Developer (OSD) meeting held on Friday, March 20th, 2026, together with my chat log of that meeting.
  • Please note that this is not a full transcript of the meeting but a summary of key topics.
Table of Contents

Meeting Purpose

  • The OSD meeting is a combining of the former Third Party Viewer Developer meeting and the Open Source Development meeting. 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 and is generally text chat only.
  • Dates and times of meetings are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.

Official Viewer Status

  • Default viewer  – Legacy search; WebRTC improvements; QoL improvements – 26.1.0.22641522367 – March 12.
  • Second Life Project Viewers:
    • Second Life Project Flat UI – 26.2.0.22829286351, March 20 -“flat” UI and font updates.
    • Second Life Lua Editor Alpha viewer 26.1.0.21525310258, February 12.
    • Second Life One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26 – one-click viewer installation.
    • Second Life Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12, 2025 – Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use webRTC voice.

Upcoming Viewers

Viewer 2026.01.01 – One-Click Installer / Velopack

  • Remains the current viewer development focus, with a beta (RC) update targeting a potential availability in week #13 (week commencing Monday, March 23rd). Actual promotion to release status depends on how long the viewer may ned to remain at RC status.
    • There is one major blocker to promotion, which is being worked on, but otherwise, it is “very close” to being a candidate for release, user feedback allowing.
  • Geenz Linden noted that the repo for the viewer is getting updates to more easily ship updates for those TPVs opting to adopt Velopack as their updater.
  • Velopack benefits:
    • The move to Velopack allows LL and TPVs  to move off from VVM with the exception of cohort management, and allows LL to discontinue the old SLVersionChecker all of which should streamline the viewer install and update processes as experienced by users.
    • Velopack also opens the door to partial viewer updates  – although LL are still in internal discussions on when to actually start doing this.
  • A side effect of this viewer, when generally available, is that it will not automatically uninstall versions of the viewer using the old install / update processes, and there will be no requirement to manually uninstall such versions (although users can if they wish). The reason for this latter point is a concern that inexperienced users will simply click YES when asked if they wish to remove all their settings, etc., and thus lose them.
  • Testing of this viewer against incoming new users to SL saw a “not insignificant” increase in day 1 user retention..

Viewer 2026.02 – “Flat” UI and Splash Screen Refresh

  • An alpha version (see viewer status, above) was released on Friday, March 20th, but without the log-in splash screen updates. These will be in an upcoming update.
  • This viewer includes the “flat” UI design, font updates and WebRTC voice moderation capabilities to help align viewer-side WebRTC updates more with the server-side.
Example of the upcoming flat UI. Via: Geenz Linden / Github #4681/2

Viewer 2026.03 – Maintenance Release

  • 2026.03 will now see the return of official viewer maintenance releases, with the initial focus on viewer performance improvements, together with a focus on top crashers and regressions, up to a certain limit, so they can be kept as relatively small releases rolled out on a reasonably fast basis.
  • 2026.03 should see (partial list):
    • A backporting of the texture streaming changes at the very least, with Geenz particularly focused on getting lower RAM usage in general.
    • Kitty Barnett’s long-waiting avatar appearance fixes.
  • Geenz also hopes to get some work done on lightening the main thread burden in the viewer – which is potentially more difficult, and may take longer.
  • A hope with this cycle of maintenance releases is to put a reasonable dent in some of the debt we’ve accumulated with PBR’s release.

Viewer 2024.04 – SLVP or LUA (TBD)

  • The 2026.04 viewer release is liable to be either the Second Life Visual Polish (SLVP) release (containing all of the SSR, PBR Specular, and HDR EEP parameters work), or a SLua release.
  • Work on improving mirrors for SLVP is currently on hold whilst 2026.01.01 and 2026.02 is on the table.
  • SLVP is liable to spend a long time at alpha status (which may be why SLua moves ahead of it in the order of things).

WebRTC Deployment

  • This commenced on Wednesday, March 18th, with a deployment to the BlueSteel RC channel covering approximately 3.4% of the grid.
  • This early release allows us to verify performance, stability, and compatibility in real-world conditions before expanding further.
  • Users in the release candidate channel may experience:
    • Failure of peer-to-peer (P2) Voice calls between regions on WebRTC and the rest of the grid. These will not be fully resolved until WebRTC is grid-wide.
    • Differences in audio quality depending on being in or out of the release candidate channel.
    • Ongoing tuning and iteration as we gather feedback.
    • For more details, see: WebRTC Voice in Second Life — Limited Release Begins March 18, 2026.
  • The next, larger deployment is currently scheduled for week #14 (commencing Monday, March 30th). However, a smaller deployment might be made in week #13.
  • There are thoughts being given to next steps for WebRTC: transcription, the ability in-preferences to hear how you sound, etc. (a replacement for echo canyon), but these are subject to other priorities.
  • The existing Vivox Voice service is liable to be shut down “a few months” after the WebRTC deployment has been completed. However, no target date has as yet been decided.
    • During the deployment phase, Vivox, users on the latter will not have spatial Voice when in WebRTC regions, although they should have p2p/conference/group voice with others on Vivox regions.

General Discussion

  • Mesh Convex Hulls:
    • The new physics choice for mesh uploads is currently available on ARM Macs, and on the “to do” list for other viewers.
    • Geenz’s first choice for the role choked on a lot of content for SL, so VHACD is the choice of libraries.
    • As has been previously mentioned, the aim is to remove the Havok sub-libraries from the viewer entirely – but this a process several steps down the line.
  • There was a general discussion on performance, lightening the load on the viewer’s main processing thread (some noted above).

Next Meeting

2026 week #12: SUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Great Mother, January 2026 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 3ed, 2026 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from the video recording by Pantera, embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to Pantera for providing it.

Meeting Overview

  • The Simulator User Group (also referred to by its older name of Server User Group) exists to provide an opportunity for discussion about simulator technology, bugs, and feature ideas is held every other Tuesday at 12:00 noon, SLT (holidays, etc., allowing), per the Second Life Public Calendar.
  • The “SUG Leviathan Hour” meetings are held on the Tuesdays which do not have a formal SUG meeting, and are chaired by Leviathan Linden. They are more brainstorming / general discussion sessions.
  • Meetings are held in text in-world, at this location.

Simulator Deployments

  • No deployments are planned for the week, channels will be restarted.
  • WebRTC deployment is now planned to commence on Wednesday, March 18th with a deployment to the BlueSteel RC channel. Progression from there will likely be subject to how it settles, issues arising, etc.

In Brief

  • Rider Linden:
    • Has some Lua work waiting on him to add support for script information to inventory and the viewer. Basically, scripts will have an inventory subtype that can be either LSL or Lua and it will also have some meta data which is the VM that the script was compiled for (LSO, Mono, Luau).
    • This week he is taking care of a long standing issue with mesh uploading costs, and the fix should hopefully surface in the 2026.02 viewer release.
  • Leviathan Linden:
    • Has been working on is to try to improve login/teleport/region-cross success rate. The idea is to improve the reliability of the UDP packets that are used for viewer<–>simulator connections.
    • He has a Pull Request for this up against the viewer, although he’s not sure the core of the issue lies within the viewer. Rather he believes similar changes server-side will probably make a bigger difference.
    • Currently this work is largely complete and going through validation.
    • Once released, it will not “fix all region crossings” – as there are multiple issues with them that need to be tackled – it his work should hopefully be a further step towards improving things.
    • In addition, Leviathan has been attempting to better understand a fix proposed by Cool VL Viewer’s Henri Beauchamp to reduce the time avatars with attachments spend being a cloud. He believes the fix is the right way to go – asking the server to re-send attachment details (which currently doesn’t happen) along with texture data (which is resent when an avatar has issues “de-clouding”). He hopes to have the simulator updates for this ready for deployment after WebRTC has gone out.
  • Harold Linden (SLua):
    • Has been working to refactor some of the common Lua standard library functions that currently lead to “failed to perform mandatory yield” errors in user scripts. As a result, he hopes such errors will be fixed with the next SLua deployment.
    • He is also working on a refactor of lljson to make it easier to convert things back to proper Lua types when serialize / deserialize your data with the JSON serializer
      Working on meta problems, such as identifying Voice issues.
    • The next viewer-side update could be in “the next two weeks”.
    • Further work on SLua is dependent on the continued feedback of those using it.
    • It was noted generally that the is further work to be forthcoming (e.g. sim caps for slua_default.d.luau).
    • Harold also confirmed the Lua scripting system runs on a single thread.

General Discussion

Please refer to the video below as well.

  • SLua warning: as per my previous CCUG summary, the next Lua deployment will have breaking changes. At a minimum scripts will need to recompiling, as they otherwise will not run.
  • A general discussion on Voice roll-off for WebRTC and general voice tethering to prevent eavesdropping. When moving your avatar / camera away from others who are speak, Voice so decrease down to nothing at 60 metres. However, it has been reported that simply zooming the camera out from the current position does not result in Voice roll-off.
    • This discussion also wrapped around the limitations of Bluetooth headsets / microphones which can affect Voice quality.
  • User Tapple Gao has put forward a feature request for improved animations without resorting to a “heavy” project like puppetry. This is currently being tracked by the Lab.
  • The are issues around logging in and capability granting which can result in non-graceful disconnects and log-in failures due to capabilities failing to create.
    • Some of these issues had been fixed, but the lab acknowledged there are potential more issues that can cause the same outcome.
    • Monty noted that L and firestorm have recently been jointly poking at the problems.
    • A suggested recommendation for those experiencing disconnects / log-outs of this nature is to either wait 2 minutes before a re-try, or to try logging-in to a non-neighbouring region to the one being used at the time of the crash.
  • A general discussion on scripts and scripting and future Lua development work took-up most of the second half of the meeting.

Date of Next Meetings

  • Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, March 24th, 2026.
  • Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, March 31st, 2026.

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

2026 SL viewer release summaries week #11

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

Updates from the week through to Sunday, March 15th, 2026

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.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • This list reflects those viewers available via the first four links in the LL Viewer Resources section, below.
    • Default viewer  – Legacy search; WebRTC improvements; QoL improvements – 26.1.0.22641522367 – March 12 – NEW
    • Second Life Project Viewers:
      • Second Life Lua Editor Alpha viewer 26.1.0.21525310258, February 12.
      • Second Life Voice Moderation viewer 26.1.0.20139269477, December 12.
        • Introduces the ability to moderate spatial voice chat in regions configured to use webRTC voice.
      • Second Life One Click Install viewer 26.1.0.21295806042, January 26, 2026 – one-click viewer installation.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Kirstens Viewer S24(5) VETR Beta 4 (Build 2955) – March 13 – release notes.

V1-style

Mobile / Other Clients

  • Second Life Mobile version 1081/2, March 6 – object chat fixes.
  • Radegast client version 2.52, March 3 – release notes.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links