Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, April 7th, 2024
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 7.1.4.8149792635, formerly glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 RC viewer, issued March 11, promoted March 26, 2024 – No Change.
The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting held on Thursday, April 4th, 2024.
Meeting Purpose
The CCUG meeting is for discussion of work related to content creation in Second Life, including current and upcoming LL projects, and encompasses requests or comments from the community, together with related viewer development work. This meeting is held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis.
Are open to all with an interest in content creation.
The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.
Official Viewers Status
On Wednesday, April 3rd, the Materials Featurettes RC viewer updated to version 7.1.5.8472515256.
On Tuesday, April 2nd, the Maintenance X RC viewer (usability improvements) updated to version 7.1.5.8443777128.
Both of these updates were to bring the above viewers to code parity with the current release viewer (with bug fixes to to the Featurettes viewer as well). The rest of the official viewers remain as:
Release viewer: version 7.1.4.8149792635, formerly glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 RC viewer, promoted March 26, 2024.
Release channel cohorts:
Maintenance-W RC (bug and crash fixes), version 7.1.5.8443591509, March 29.
Maintenance Y RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history + Maint Z RC integration), version 7.1.5.8448596295, March 29.
Project viewers:
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.
It is possible the glTF Maintenance-2 RC viewer might be promoted to de facto release status early in week ’13 (commencing Monday, March 25th, 2024).
Graphics / glTF
Work continues on the GLTF Featurettes viewer + support.
The view is in RC, but the simulator-side support is still working its way through the system for full deployment on Agni (the Main grid).
The RC viewer has been undergoing numerous bug fixes related to both PBR Terrain textures and Mirrors, some of which are in the most recent update, others of which will be included at the viewer continues to be updated.
The UI/UX changes required for Mirrors to overcome confusion relating to the placement of things like Mirror reflection probes (with the creation of Mirrors described a “not intuitive”) is still under discussion at the Lab and so yet to be implemented within the Featurettes viewer.
The pricing structure for uploading 2K textures is currently being finalised, although it is not ready to be formally announced.
As with other services / uploads, the pricing looks like it will be based upon subscription level (e.g. cheaper for the likes of Premium Plus / Premium than for Plus / Basic) and the overall resolution of the texture.
Further work will also be required on the back-end services to fully support the upload of 2K textures.
An upshot of this is that at the time of writing, there is a communications mismatch between the viewer and the Aditi test regions supporting 2K texture uploads, resulting in such attempts falling over.
The HDRI support (replacing the sky with an HDRI file when rendered locally within a viewer to assist creators in checking to confirm their objects render in SL as they are seen within the tools they use to create their content – e.g. Substance Painter – and any variations are not related to the shader / import pipe) is still being tweaked.
In particular, now it has been tested internally and seen as offering some potentially interesting uses over and above pure EEP settings, consideration is being given to making HDRI an actual sky setting with simulator-side support.
One aspect of this would be the ability to use the lighting effects of HDRI within EEP sky settings, thus providing more true-to-life lighting without losing the use of existing EEP settings. Another might be using HDRI maps inside buildings and structure and not having the sky setting lighting leak into the structure.
Again, it’s important to not adding back-end support for HDRI is a future implementation, rather than anything being worked on right now, and would require work on both the simulator and back-end services (e.g. a new asset type to support HDRI would be required).
Light sources: there have been requests for the likes of point light shadows (e.g. so a map on a table casts is own shadows); the ability to explicitly state whether or not a light source casts a shadow or not; ability to support shadows from multiple light sources (depending on rendering settings).
Some of this might be addressed through glTF scene import, and / or through further adoption of the glTF specification for lighting (e.g. punctual lights / physical lights – such as spotlight cones, etc.).
The work of glTF scene imports officially commenced in week #14. This work will be tackled in a similar manner to the Featurettes viewer – elements added to the viewer but placed behind debug flags until such time as they can be properly tested as the simulator support can be added (initially via Aditi, the Beta grid).
The will allow the viewer to be worked on and tested (with user testing) iteratively, rather than the work disappearing into a viewer fork that doesn’t see the light of day for months.
It was asked whether or not EXR might be a better option for SL skies rather than EEP + HDRI.
Runitai Linden noted he has experimented with EXR alongside of EEP and found that while EXR comes “close” to matching EEP skies, its doesn’t quite have the same range, whereas the HDRI lighting overlap with EEP offers easier flexibility of use.
He also noted again that the primary reason for providing HDRI support was to allow creators that means of reference checking their content between SL and their modelling tool to ensure it is appearing as expected after going through the SL upload pipe, etc., when compared to its appearance into their development tool.
Does the emissive map “knock out” the normal map if it is bright? No, but it can overpower the normal may and cause bumpiness, etc., to be less distinct.
In Brief
There was a general discussion on reflection probes and why they are limited in terms of shape (sphere or cube) and supporting other shapes+ illumination issues where probes overlap.
The shapes are necessarily limited largely as a result of performance stability.
It was acknowledged that blending lighting between probes is more a matter of improving / altering SL’s default ambient lighting model – which may well be looked at down the road.
The current advice is to – if necessary – “bomb” a scene with reflection probes – and if that doesn’t work, disable probe ambience in favour of the global ambience – it will still allow the probe radiance and so generate reflections.
Occlusion volumes: the question was asked if it will ever be possible to have occlusion volumes in SL such that a room and its contents are never rendered in a viewer until the user actually enters the room in question.
It was acknowledged that this is the kind of thing the work with reflection probes might lead to, in terms of the basic mechanics being similar from a user’s perspective.
However, there are no current plans for developing such occlusion volumes at present, and a feature request on how user might want to use them / see them as working has been requested so the idea can be more formally reviewed / considered.
† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.
The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday April 3rd, 2024. They form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the meeting, recorded by Pantera Północy, is embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks as always to Pantera for recording it and making it available.
This meeting was more a seeking feedback type of discussion than it was an update on web project projects, etc.
Meeting Overview
The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), the forums.
As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
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.
Official Viewer Search
It was noted by some users at the meeting that the official viewer takes longer to index new users so they appear within the web search People tab, whereas TPVs using the legacy search seem to index them a lot faster.
It was similarly noted that very short user / place names (3 letters of less) don’t always show up in search results.
It was asked why there is a L$30 fee for creating a Classified ad in a user’s profile / Search (short answer: to provide an additional search service of more “curated” locations over general search) and why such classifieds are not categorised (short answer: they are, via a pre-defined drop-down).
There have been some reports of the viewer search constantly requesting cookies be accepted, either on every use, or the first time Search is used during a user’s current log-in session.
In Brief
Ability for MP merchants to have their own “featured items” display pinned to the top of their store page on the first page of their MP store.
This idea has been floated by Sntax Linden a couple of times, and would allow Merchants to select items from their store (e.g. new items, best selling items, etc.) highlighted in some manner as featured items (possibly in a similarly distinctive manner to the Featured Items displayed on the MP home page).
It was met with broad approval / agreement.
LL are still looking at the way thumbnails of products are selected for display within users’ Favourite Stores lists on the MP, with a view to making it more useful to Merchants. This might be by:
Displaying thumbnails of their most recent releases, so people can use the list as a quick reference to what is new in their favourite MP stores.
Tying the selected thumbnails to the store “featured items” capability discussed above (if implemented).
General discussion on in-world store activity.
Some felt that the large volume of shopping events is having a negative impact of in-world store footfall, as people are event-focused, rather than opting to visit stores directly.
Some reported experiencing a steady decline in footfall within their stores, others no change / a potential increase in recent months.
It was pointed out that besides events, creator-merchants don’t necessarily help themselves by not updating the SLurls to their stores / items as listed on the Marketplace when they move (probably in part because there is no easy mechanism for them to do so on the MP if individual listings include SLurls).
The above led to a broader discussion on market forces, such as the fact that content creation is now for more the purview of these wishing to do so on a full-time basis (in order to remain competitive) rather than something the “hobbyist” creator can enjoy as a means of generating revenue as a means to help support their in-world activities (land tier, etc.).
Th question was raised as to whether CasperVend should / will be remained as it is now a LL property (just as OnRez and XStreet SL were purchased, with the latter going on to become the SL Marketplace).
The above included comments relating to the unfortunate / unwarranted knee-jerk reactions some users have had towards the Lab (and CasperVend users) in the wake of a certain article published within the social journalism website Medium, and which has been officially commented upon here (and, if interested, I’ve offered my tuppence worth of commentary here).
It was asked whether people have made any attempt to use generative AI in their content creation. The broad feedback was – no. This saw a series of follow-up questions:
Do people think AI tools could be useful – possibly, but not far enough developed to be sure.
Should content produced using AI tools and sold on the MP be marked as such – yes.
Are there any preferred tools already in use with content creators – not really.
This lead to a subjective (i.e. only a handful of creators) discussing how AI tools are viewed / currently used within SL (e.g. to generate vendor images).
Sntax noted that feature requests made via the Feedback Portal board for the MP /Web are recorded and used to help inform and direct WUG meetings, particularly where it is felt broader / deeper feedback on ideas is required.
A further request was made for store / brand names on within SL to be unique (as with avatar account names), to both help secure branding against copycats and also to make it easier for users to find the content they want when searching the MP.
A suggestion that when there are Marketplace issues and updates, a mechanism is put in place to pop-up a notice when users access the MP, rather than replying purely on GridStatus (+ its outlets on Social Media), as many users aren’t even aware of the latter, whilst having notices actually on the MP means they are eyeballing them directly.
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log. No video this week.
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.
They 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.
Simulator Deployments
The SLS Main channel was restarted on Tuesday, April 2nd, with the Hearts & flowers deployment going grid-wide. This mostly comprises internal (non-user visible) updates, together with these user-visible additions:
llSetLinkSitFlags/llGetLinkSitFlags – allow you to adjust the sit flags for a prim. It supports the existing two SIT_FLAG_ALLOW_UNSIT and SCRIPT_ONLY.
At some future point, SIT_FLAG_HIDE_AVATAR should also be added, so you don’t need to play an animation that squishes the avatar so they aren’t visible in something like a very small vehicle.
A feature for estate managers that will allow them to schedule automatic region restarts (see below).
A new constant in llSPP PRIM_SIT_FLAGS it will contain all the sit flag information, (including ALLOW_UNSIT and SCRIPTED_ONLY (the two older constants will still be available).
A new capability to load item inventory lists via HTTP (so items with large contents will load faster when accessed, although this will require a viewer update as well).
A fix for avatars going into an animation thrash between falling and flying when using llSetHoverHeight() from an attachment.
An adjustment to the way download weight for mesh object (how much bandwidth is required to download and view the object) which should reduce this weighting by around 15% for most in-world mesh, potentially reducing the LI of said objects (but should not be taken to mean the LI for any given mesh object is now 15% lower).
There is a known bug in this release where you always show up hovering on login… until you provide any sort of movement input at which point you drop down to stand. A fix for this is in the next RC maintenance update, which will hopefully available for deployment in week #14.
Wednesday, April 3rd, should see the RC channels restarted with no deployment.
Scheduled Region Restarts
A part of the Heart & Flowers simulator update is the ability for Private region / estate holders to schedule region restarts via the Region console in the viewer.
Schedules can be set on a Daily or Weekly basis (e.g. every day at 06:00 SLT; Monday & Thursday at 17:00, etc.)
Restarts have a “vaccination” period of +/- 5 minutes of the selected restart time, so that all regions in an estate don’t suddenly restart at exactly the same time.
Any scheduled restart can be cancelled in the same manner as existing manual restarts.
SL Viewer Updates
On Tuesday, April 2nd, the Maintenance X RC (usability improvements) updated to version 7.1.5.8443777128.
Like the end-of-week #13 updates to the Maint. W and Y RC viewers, this update was to bring the viewer to parity with the glTF / PBR Maintenance-2 release viewer.
The rest of the current official viewer in the pipeline stand as:
Release viewer: version 7.1.4.8149792635, formerly glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 RC viewer, issued March 11, promoted March 26.
Release channel cohorts:
Maintenance-W RC (bug and crash fixes), version 7.1.5.8443591509, March 29.
Maintenance Y RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history + Maint Z RC integration), version 7.1.5.8448596295, March 29.
Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.4.8270899680 – March 25.
Project viewers:
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.
In Brief
Leviathan Linden hopes to get work done on providing a vehicle flag which will prevent HUD llSetVelocity() and lllApplyImpulse() from affecting the vehicle’s speed.
This is in response to a request to help solve the problem of cheaters sitting on competition vehicles. Someone sits on the object and uses a HUD with llSetVelocity() or other calls to push the vehicle faster than it would normally go.
Leviathan Linden indicated that the Lab has encountered a couple of issues in moving the simulators to 64-bit architecture:
A script memory issue. In short, some scripts that currently work at the very edge of the memory footprint might be pushed over the limit in 64-bit, and would stop working. So the Lab needs to figure out how much more memory access by scripts is required to allow all current scripts will be able to continue working. This will require a period of extended testing to see where the issue typically occurs.
Figuring out how to pack the servers on server instances. The Lab currently runs multiple servers on one machine, and some of the machine instances are currently close to their physical memory limit already when the underpinning servers run for a long time. So the Lab needs to hunt for memory leaks and resource leaks, carry out optimisation work where necessary and possibly change the server density on deployment.
The hope (as expressed by Leviathan) is to get the transition to 64-bit server architecture completed some time in 2024.
The above information was given in response to a request for an increase in the script memory allowance for Mono scripts (a frequent request from users / creators so as to reduce the overall number of scripts within an object & the number of events passing between them to achieve a given result – an important consideration, given scripts can impact the LI of objects). A general discussion on script limits, memory allowance, etc., then followed through much of the remaining time of the meeting.
A general discussion on region crossings / teleports (such as having vehicle-initiated teleports capable of moving a vehicle + occupants across and entire region / estate (“eep!” given the complexities involved), simulator management of TPs, etc. But as Monty Linden was not present – as the Linden most intimately involved in wading through the teleport / region crossing code, most of these were unanswered in terms of certainty of response.
† 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.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week through to Sunday, March 31st, 2024
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 7.1.4.8149792635, formerly glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 RC viewer, issued March 11, promoted March 26, 2024 – NEW.
Maintenance-W RC (bug and crash fixes) updated to version 7.1.5.8443591509, March 29.
Maintenance Y RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history + Maint Z RC integration) updated to version 7.1.5.8448596295, March 29
Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.4.8270899680, issued March 25.
Second Life History at the Primitive Museum campus – blog post†
The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 26th, 2024 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. They form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript, and were taken from my chat log and the video embedded below, recorded by Pantera – my thanks as always for her work.
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.
They 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.
Simulator Deployments
The SLS Main channel was restarted on Tuesday, March 26th without any deployment.
Wednesday, March 27th, should see the Hearts & Flowers RC update deployed to the rest of the RC channels. This mostly comprises internal (non-user visible) updates, together with these user-visible additions:
llSetLinkSitFlags/llGetLinkSitFlags – allow you to adjust the sit flags for a prim. It supports the existing two SIT_FLAG_ALLOW_UNSIT and SCRIPT_ONLY.
At some future point, SIT_FLAG_HIDE_AVATAR should also be added, so you don’t need to play an animation that squishes the avatar so they aren’t visible in something like a very small vehicle.
A feature for estate managers that will allow them to schedule automatic region restarts (see below).
A new constant in llSPP PRIM_SIT_FLAGS it will contain all the sit flag information, (including ALLOW_UNSIT and SCRIPTED_ONLY (the two older constants will still be available).
A new capability to load item inventory lists via HTTP (so items with large contents will load faster when accessed, although this will require a viewer update as well).
A fix for avatars going into an animation thrash between falling and flying when using llSetHoverHeight() from an attachment.
SL Viewer Updates
On Tuesday, March 26th, 2024, the glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 RC viewer, version 7.1.4.8149792635 was promoted to Release viewer status.
On Monday, March 25th, 2024, the Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.4.8270899680 was issued.
The rest of the current official viewer in the pipeline stand as:
Release channel cohorts:
Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.4.8148263040 , March 11, 2024.
Maintenance-W RC (bug and crash fixes), version 7.1.4.8113624779, March 6, 2024.
Maintenance Y RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history + Maint Z RC integration) updated to version 7.1.4.8114240508, March 6, 2024.
Project viewers:
Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.
In Brief
Was a belated equinox party, so not a lot of discussion.
Simon Linden threw out a generic request for feedback on the viewer’s text translation capabilities. Nothing really came back from it.
† 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.
Work continues on the GLTF Featurettes viewer + support.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 