Category: SL User Group Meetings

2025 week #15: SL SUG meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey
Zaanse Schans, January 2025 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 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 of the meeting and Pantera’s video, embedded at the end of this piece.

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.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • 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.

Simulator Deployments

  • This week will see all channel restarted without and deployments.

Upcoming Deployment

This next simulator update will be called Elderberry. Among other things, this should include:

  • A new option to llDerezObject – DEREZ_TO_INVENTORY, which returns the targeted object to inventory and saves its current state (e.g. has the same behaviour as Build → Object → Save Back to Object Contents.
  • llIsLinkGLTFMaterial  – which can can determine if a face on a linked prim is PBR.
  • REZFLAG_DIE_ON_NO_REZZER – which will cause a rezzed prim to die if its rezzer is no longer present in the region.
  • Updates to llSetColor and llSetAlpha to work with PBR.
    • llSetAlpha will have a caveat: if alpha  is set to >0.85, it will switch the overrides to opaque; setting under that value sets them to blend.
    • This is because there seem to be some serious rendering issues with blend mode and an alpha near 1, per this image. Rider Linden added:
Also. It bears repeating… since I forgot. BP colours (what you set with llSetColor) are in sRGB space. PBR is linear. I’m doing the conversion internally so it should be the same colour in both cases.

SL Viewer Updates

  • Default viewer: 7.1.12.13550888671, formerly the ForeverFPS, dated March 1, 2025, promoted March 5th – No change – crash and performance fixes; Water exclusion surfaces and water improvements.
  • Second Life Release Candidate viewer 2025.03 version 7.1.13.14174767759, April 2nd.
    • New UI element for water exclusion surfaces: Build / Edit floater → Texture Tab → Hide Water checkbox.
    • The maximum amount of Reflection Probes can now be adjusted to better accommodate low VRAM scenarios.
      • Values will be set automatically depending on your chosen graphics quality. OR
      • Use Preferences → Graphics →  Advanced Settings →  Max. Reflection Probes to manually set.
    • An issue with being unable to see Sky Altitude values in the Region/Estate window has now been resolved.
    • Preferences → Graphics → Max. # of Non-Imposters has been renamed Max. # of Animated Avatars for clarity.
    • Bug and performance fixes and memory optimisations.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha, version 7.1.12.13907344519, April 2nd.

In Brief

Please refer to the the video for details on the following.

  • A request was made to have changes to releases on the SLua test regions on Aditi added to the release notes mechanism so that those using the regions can see when / why things are going to change or are going to change.
    • This is going to be looked into. In the interim, Rider Linden is going to try to to provide notification of updates to the Second Life Discord server.
  • World → Show → Land Owners has been broken since the release of PBR such that all owners, regardless of type are only shown as red, rather than in different colours based on ownership (see Land owners colour).
    • No update in fix status.
  • Add flag to llSetLinkSitFlags, SIT_FLAG_INVISIBLE is described as on the to-do list, and will likely be a viewer-side change so the flag is respected.
  • A status update was requested for work on providing a means to ease issues of ban line collisions and vehicle loss, and having the simulator provide more timely information on parcel access permissions before a vehicle is on top of a parcel in which access is denied for the avatars riding it.
    • This is something Rider Linden is hoping to get to in the simulator release after Elderberry).
    • The discussion broadened through the when and how the simulator should provide parcel information to the viewer – e.g. in general or on demand, and what information could be provided, having a mandated delay on security systems on the Mainland to prevent the enter parcel / immediate teleport / ejection situation.
  • Still no news on when the Mainland legacy EEP setting (now seen as dim and murky post PBR deployment), although it is believed the Moles are working on Mainland region settings.

† 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.

2025 week #14: SL CCUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Hippotropolis Campsite: venue for CCUG meetings
The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log of the Content Creation User Group (CCUG) meeting of Thursday, April 3rd, 2025.

Please note that this is not a full transcript, but a summary of key topics .

 
Table of Contents

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 generally held on alternate Thursdays at Hippotropolis.
  • Dates and times of meetings are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they are conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.

Official Viewer Status and Updates

Viewer Status

Upcoming Viewers

  • The current version of 2025.03 will remain in soak for the next few days in the hope that it will be ready for promotion to de facto release status “in the very near future”.
  • The April release – 2025.04 – is provisionally targeting:
    • The glTF mesh uploader (based on the current .DAE mesh uploader and doing pretty much the same). Again, please note that this is not the full glTF scene importer which has been discussed at previous CCUG meetings; that work is being broken down into smaller, more easily managed projects.
    • Possibly – and subject to confirmation – re-enabling subfolders within the My Outfits folder.
    • Hover height improvements.

glTF Mesh Upload / Importer

  • The outline of this work can be found in Add Simple (llmesh) GLTF Model Import.
  • In short: it should be taken that whatever can be done within the existing .DAE uploader will remain so for uploading glTF mesh models at the first pass, and enhancements will come later.
    • This means that anything that is compliant with COLLADA which can be currently imported to SL via the uploader will work under glTF.
    • Any “new” capabilities not available to the current uploader will then be duly considered an implemented over time.
    • This is not a replacement for COLLADA format uploads – it is an addition to; uploading of .DAE objects will remain possible unless support for COLLADA becomes untenable.
  • The reason for this approach is to avoid having a large-scale glTF import project (variously referred to has “scene import” or the “Post-Materials Features Project” or PMFP), which would take months / years to develop, enhance and ship, and instead be more spritely in development and improvements.
    • This does not mean that everything that had been targeting the scene import / PMFP work will be abandoned.
    • Rather, it means those aspects which could end-up delaying it due to the amount of research, development and testing required to support them (e.g. custom skeletons / rigged meshes) can be put to one side for future development, rather than preventing the foundations to enable them from being laid.
  • The back-end format for imported mesh objects (“SL mesh”) will not be changing at this time.  One of the reasons for this is the “SL mesh” format allows for easy upload of selected LODs.
    • However, this does not mean the format will not be improved upon in the future (and even a possible hybrid glTF / SL Mesh format implemented).
  • One aspect of the new mesh uploader will be the potential for adding materials-related glTF extensions to the current Khronos glTF specification.
    • These include (but are not limited to) the likes of the glTF specular extension, transmission, IOR, iridescence, emissive strength etc.
    • Geenz Linden is particularly interested in these, as the uploader allows them to be quickly added, and he would like to put together a package of extensions that a) creators can readily use; b) help move things towards being better placed to support other aspects of the PMFP work.
  • There was more discussion on support for uploading complete mesh region surrounds – this again was seen as something for consideration after the initial phases for implementing the glTF upload have been completed, and something possibly requiring the implementation of something like a node hierarchy.

Texture “Stutter” Issues

  • The recently introduced changes to texture use of VRAM have resulted in some users experiencing “viewer stutter” when the viewer is loading / uploading textures in a scene.
  • As a result, the options to define texture VRAM settings have been disabled in the 2025.03 RC.
  • Geenz Linden is anticipating being able to work on this issue later in April with a view to determine the cause and hopefully rectifying it.
    • This work will likely also look at texture streaming in general and make adjustments where textures tend to get loaded at resolutions that “don’t make sense” at the time of loading, and so improve that.
  • It is not anticipated that this work will start to surface much before the 2025.06 viewer development cycle.

Removing Scale From LI Calculations

  • Signal Linden highlighted a Feedback Ticket he has raised, proposing the removal of scale from Land Impact calculations, which has been touched upon at the last couple of SUG meetings.
  • However, there are now a few caveats starting to appear possibly impacting “everything from rendering to physics”, which require further internal discussion at LL.
  • One of these is the LI goes in both directions – so while removing scale from the calculation may be positive for a net reduction in the LI of objects that have been scaled up in size – it could have a net negative for objects scaled down (e.g. you have a group of objects each with 20 LI, and have scaled them down so each only has 10 LI, removing scale would reset them to 20 LI apiece).

In Brief

  • Allowing larger Linksets: raised at recent SUG meetings as well, this has not been ruled out for the future, but has some inherent issues, notably:
    • Limitations within the current physics engine, which would probably have to be updated.
    • Interest List issues – if a scene has a particularly massive linkset within it, it could simply fail to render in a viewer using a limited Draw Distance, simply because the root prim is outside of the viewer’s DD, even if child elements of the object are within range.
  • PBR Bakes on Mesh: this is seen as having a minimum of two requirements:
    • Providing PBR specular support.
    • Being able to set blend modes for different layers. This has some added complications in how blend modes should work for different types of maps, and this needs to be worked through in terms of implementation.
  • LSL Support for PBR:
  • The viewer / graphics roadmap is being reviewed, and it is hoped that and updates / decisions on direction will be available for discussion at the next CCUG meeting.
  • The is no time frame on the delivery of “water exclusion volumes” (i.e. the ability to hide Linden Water entirely from the inside volume of an underwater room). Again, it is not because this cannot be done, but rather there is other work deemed as having a higher priority LL wish to address.
  • It was found that the water shoreline fade was causing issues with shoreline water effects (e.g. things like mesh shoreline elements using alphas to simulate the ebb and flow of shoreline tide looking broken / patchy / flickering), and so the fading has been disabled until the issue can be corrected.
    • It is possible this might for a wider piece of work to improve water / sky environment assets in general to make the ambient environment rendering less likely to break content.
  • Improving light sources (e.g. punctual lights, better point lighting, etc.) is seen as a future issue to be addressed before of current limitations within the current forward rending. Forward+ is one potential way forward, but this would require proper scoping ahead of any attempt to change the current rendering system.

Next Meeting

April 2025 SL Web User Group: Project Zero and AI on the MP

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Web User Group meeting venue, Denby
The following notes cover the key points from the Web User Group (WUG) meeting, held on Wednesday April 2nd, 2025. These notes 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, with sections of this summary times stamped to the relevant points in the video for those wishing to refer to the audio. My thanks as always to Pantera for recording it and making it available.

 Table of Contents

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), and the forums.
  • As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
    • On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
    • In both Voice and text.
    • At this location.
  • 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.

General Updates Since last Meeting

[Video: 0:00-0:50]

  • Some clean-up of the What’s Next page – but no re-integration of the Destination Guide as yet (The DG situation is further discussed between 17:32-21:33].
  • Fixes for spaces within Map links, with more fixes for incorrect spaces in links still to come.
    • Requests were again made to be able to search maps.secondlife.com by region name, which is apparently a little harder to implement than had been thought.
  • Minor fixes to the Marketplace:
    • See Mature Content link was not working as expected.
    • Translations updates and added.

Project Zero / Firestorm Zero (SL  in a Browser) Update

[Video: 4:59-17:00]

SL Viewer Work

  • Recent work has been focused on stability and performance.
  • Work has resumed on the new viewer UI for the Project Zero SL Viewer, and the first iteration, featuring very small changes should be released “pretty soon”.

Firestorm Zero

  • A core focus has been on the Firestorm version of Zero (Firestorm Zero, launched in March), running through bugs and issues reported with that. Some issues include:
    • People purchasing time and having issues launching a session.
    • People being locked-out of Firestorm Zero after a session (or even during) – most likely as a result of Cookies being corrupted, thus requiring Cookies to be cleared from the browser & the browser restarted.
    • It’s also been suggested that using a private / incognito version of a browser works better, as this should clear all Cookies on exiting.
    • Note: I have experienced multiple “locks-outs” (one both “public” and “private” browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Brave) and have found that clearing / resetting Cookies within the browser does not work, and it requires LL to bang on things (indeed, as of this moment, I cannot access Firestorm Zero!). If you encounter the same, please file a report.

General to Both

  •  It was acknowledged there there is a degree of confusion around Project Zero and Firestorm Zero, and the fact there are differences between them:
    • Project Zero is effectively the official viewer, offered on a limited capacity basis, with the focus more towards incoming new users / returning users.
    • Firestorm Zero is the “paid” service utilising the Firestorm viewer and focused more towards current users.
  • Some aspects of this confusion might be seen in:
    • The link found at the top of the Second Life Dashboard (Launch Second Life in a Browser) will launch Firestorm Zero.
    • The fact that at the WUG meeting, people conflated issues of logging in to Project Zero which were likely due to the limited capacity / new user focus more than anything else, with a discussion on specific issues those attempting to use Firestorm Zero were experiencing.
  • As a result, Sntax Linden noted that there should be more / better differentiation between the two.
  • Shortfalls with both Zero and Firestorm Zero were (again) noted as:
    • Lack of ability to directly upload (mesh, textures, etc.) to your account.
    • Lack of ability to save snapshots, etc., to a local disk.
    • The noticeable latency in camera movement (and similar) for those more distant to the host computer running the viewer. [It has been hinted that this could be address by relocating host computers for Project Zero / Firestorm Zero in additional Amazon GameLift end-points such as Éire.]

AI Content on the Marketplace

[Video: 36:20-End]

A feedback request to Add marketplace policy regarding AI generated content sparked a request for clarification on what people would like (e.g. disclosure of the use of AI generated content / listing images; outright banning of anything related to the use of AI tools; filtering out content made purely with generative AI (as opposed to content which has been created by someone and which happens to use some AI elements), something in-between; limiting some forms of AI content, etc.).

  • Within the meeting, disclosure (e.g. clearly indicating a item uses AI generated content / the listing images are AI generated, etc.), was preferred by most.
    • It was noted that using purely AI-generated images (e.g. created using Midjourney) as a non-representative means to promote / sell content on the MP is already against policy (misleading advertising) and so can currently be reported.
    • Kali Linden indicated LL are looking to add reasons for flagging content, and something along the lines of “violates LL policy” might be considered, to make such reporting easier.
  • It was acknowledged that those using generative AI tools (e.g. Meshy) for content on the MP probably are not going to self-identify through marking check-boxes etc.
  • It was also noted that some people using generative AI images for advertising on the MP are not doing so with intent – but rather because it is the New Shiny for them to play with, and so some allowance should be made for this.
  • There’s also the issue with people who may take images of their creations and then heavily post-process them to the point where they are no longer fully representative of the item it promotes – so what should be done in these cases? Or with those using art pulled from the physical world?
  • Part of this conversation inevitably rolled over the idea of AI “companions” / bots and an expressed desire to “ban everything” about AI – including bots, despite there being nuances – such as with the latter (e.g. in-store CSRs, more dynamic role-play NPCs, etc.).

In Brief

Please refer to the video for details on the following.

  • [Video: 1:32-4:44] General discussion on the Second Life booth at the 2025 Games Developer Conference, which some at the meeting felt to be underwhelming based on the photographs posted to social media, etc.
    • LL also appear to have received feedback from the SL creators who attended the event, and it appears lessons are being learnt for future possible events / appearances.
  • [Video 17:32-18:50] Further  discussion over the lack of a visible-by-default chat bar in the official viewer.
  • [Video: 22:03-35:15] Discussion on use of the in-viewer browser vs. using an external browser – most preferred the external browser option.
    • However, most browser-based shopping stats the Lab has for the Marketplace point to the viewer’s internal browser being primarily used for purchases.
    • Sntax Linden noted that as the internal browser is the only option for accessing the web from within Project Zero / Firestorm Zero, LL do want to improve on it – such as making the responsive MP not only work on small device screens, but also work better within the in-viewer browser.
    • Traditionally, the in-viewer browser has been avoided due to concerns of general security (e.g. clicking on phishing links and opening them within the in-viewer browser). This led to a discussion on ways to block “bad links”.

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, June 4th, 2025.

2025 week #14: SL SUG meeting

Posted on by Inara Pey
Realm of Ihrydia, January 2025 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, April 1st, 2025 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 of the meeting and Pantera’s video, embedded at the end of this piece.

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.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • 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.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday April 1st, the SLS Man Channel was updated with the Durian Scones update, which includes the SSL certificate renewal, making it grid-wide.
  • On Wednesday, April 2nd, the RC channels will be restarted without any deployment, other than a WebRTC update which will be deployed to the Preflight RC channel.

Planned Updates – LI Calculation Change (Recap)

  • Signal Linden highlighted a Feedback Ticket he has raised, proposing the removal of scale from Land Impact calculations.
  • This is being possibly earmarked for a simulator update after Durian Scones.
  • This essentially means that the LI of object should not dramatically change as a result of resizing (particularly when increased in size). It could also mean that some large objects in world could see LI reductions.
  • Understandably, this announcement led to a lot of discussion / debate throughout the meeting.
  • Signal also stated that the Lab will like – at some point also take a look at Mesh uploads and use: Incentivize correct use of LODs, which is currently being tracked.

SL Viewer Updates

  • Default viewer: 7.1.12.13550888671, formerly the ForeverFPS, dated March 1, 2025, promoted March 5th – No change.
    • Numerous crash and performance fixes.
    • Water exclusion surfaces.
    • Water improvements.
  • Second Life Release Candidate viewer 2025.03 version 7.1.13.14115832189, March 28th – NEW.
    • New UI element for water exclusion surfaces: Build / Edit floater → Texture Tab → Hide Water checkbox.
    • The maximum amount of Reflection Probes can now be adjusted to better accommodate low VRAM scenarios.
      • Values will be set automatically depending on your chosen graphics quality. OR
      • Use Preferences → Graphics →  Advanced Settings →  Max. Reflection Probes to manually set.
    • An issue with being unable to see Sky Altitude values in the Region/Estate window has now been resolved.
    • Preferences → Graphics → Max. # of Non-Imposters has been renamed Max. # of Animated Avatars for clarity.
    • Bug and performance fixes and memory optimisations.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha, version 7.1.12.13973830462, March 20th, 2025 – no change.

In Brief

Please refer to the the video for details on the following.

  • A request was made for linkset larger than the current 64m limit. This would have to be “thought about”, although it led to an extensive discussion on the idea (including issues of linkset visibility / draw distance / limits on older hardware).
Arbitrary link distances sounds like a neat idea, however I suspect such a change would only exacerbate some interest list bugs. I wonder what would happen if two 1cm^3 cubes were linked at 256m. The “position” of the linked object would be one of the prims. Its measure of “visibility” should be… what? The size of one or the size of the linked set?

– Leviathan Linden

  • The above led to a broad conversation on prim / object types, physics, prim torturing, etc.
  • Signal linden noted on the status of SLua:
Updates on SLua may slow down as we got a lot of good information from the alpha. We need to make some changes and prepare for a beta and production rollout.
  • Rider Linden also dropped a request into the meeting:
I’m looking for someone to write an extension. When I open a script file using VSCode check the current workspace. If it finds a file with the same base name, “link” the two files. 1) Copy the file from the workspace to the SL script temp file every time the WS file is saved.

 

† 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.

March 2025 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 27th 2025 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

Release Updates

[Video: 3:18-4:09]

  • Version: 2025.1.543 Android / 0.5.534 iOS – Lobby release (see Below).

Alpha Testing Update

[Video: 4:11-6:38]

An update to the Alpha version of Mobile was pushed out on March 27th for those in the Mobile Alpha program.

  • New ‘touch timer’ to make interaction much more obvious.
  • New forward/backwards buttons for navigating to different locations.
  • Location bar new accepts input.
  • You can now:
    • Create Favourites by tapping on the heart icon in the parcel tray.
    • Share your location via other apps.
    • View and visit your Landmarks and Favourites
  • Performance and rendering improvements (incl. defaulting to new bone attachment handling functions – see the February meeting summary) + fixes for duplicated IMs.
  • New Developer settings:
    • Lower Resolution When Hot/Low Battery – defaults to on, but can be turned off
    • Lower Resolution When In Menu – try this to increase app performance while in Lobby
    • Disable World Loading – try this to test the UI without loading the world

Lobby Update

[Video: 9:29-14:42]

As regular users of SL Mobile are aware, Lobby is a feature designed to put key information before a user when logging-in to SL Mobile and while the world is still being loaded in the background. This information includes:

  • A world loading bar with your avatar’s current location.
  • Menu access.
  • Details of friends in-world.
  • Messages received whilst off-line.
  • Suggested places to visit.
  • Event listings.
  • Access to official blog posts.
  • relevant links to expand any of the above.
Three views of the Lobby

The following points should be noted:

  • The lobby will only be displayed when you actually log-in to a new session of the app – that is, you actually use the menu option to log-out between sessions. It will not be displayed if you close the app without logging-off and then re-open it.
  • Currently, your avatar will still be in-world when using the Lobby and will show to all those you have allowed to see your on-line status as being in-world.

Future Plans / Feedback

  • There are plans to have the lobby be accessible without an avatar requiring an in-world presence.  However, this is going to take time to implement, and so should not be expected as an update in the short-term.
  • At present, there is no means to “return” to the Lobby once a user has switched to using the in-world view. However, the option to return to it is being considered – and this gained some support from those at the meeting, so is likely to be implemented.
  • I’ve provided feedback (with screenshots about the app at times loading the in-world view fully / partially and then loading the lobby, which has apparently been experienced by others.

PBR Support

[Video: 14:50-17:33]

  • As has been previously stated, SL Mobile has to work within extremely tight memory constraints – 500-800MB – in order to do everything required of it (including the app itself, rendering all in-world objects, avatars and surfaces, etc.).
  • This obviously impacts the amount of content the app can have loaded at any given time – and PBR has a much higher memory footprint than textures on their own (as much as 3x the memory use).
  • While high-end mobile devices may have increased RAM support (e.g. 8-12GB), supporting PBR could run the risk of impacting lower-to-mid-range ‘phones of the types perhaps most commonly in use.
  • Therefore, the focus at the moment is not directly on PBR rendering in the app, but rather on reducing the app’s overall memory footprint, notably with regards to textures through a mechanism the Lab calls “variable textures”.
    • This amounts to a more intelligent loading of textures based (IIUC) on what can currently be seen within a given scene, rather than loading all the textures for a scene, regardless as to whether or not they are visible.
  • The hope is that this work will reduce the overall memory used by the app, and thus pave the way for PBR support. However, it is in the R&D phase, so not something that currently has any kind of potential ETA.

Animesh Support

[Video: 17:41-20:33]

  • Animesh creations come with their own skeletons  / bones, which in turn come with all the required computational needs – joint placement, rotation, etc., which tend to make Animesh resource-heavy for SL Mobile, both in terms of memory use and in terms of CPU use + power requirements – particularly when it comes to Animesh avatar attachments working in concert with the avatar.
  • The decision thus far, therefore, has been to simply ignore Animesh objects, whether in-world or attached to avatars.
  • However, the data for in-world Animesh objects is available to the Mobile app, so there is the potential for that data to be used and in-world Animesh objects rendered in the future.
  • That said, any decision to do so would only be made after there has been extensive testing on Animesh behaviour and hardware resource use.

In Brief

Please refer to the video for details on the following.

  • [Video: 7:24-9:02] Rewards, etc.:
    • A recap on the March Mobile Millions L$ spin to win challenges.
    • LL “sort-of want to give more people more chances to actually get Linden Dollars”, so the next “thing” (/challenge?) “to give nearly every person practically a chance every day to do the thing and get the cash”.
  • [Video: 21:02-22:44] Beanies tips’n-tricks – a re-cap on friending people / offering teleports through Mobile:
    • With the avatar to be friended in-scene: long-press on the avatar Context Menu → Send Friend Request or Offer Teleport.
    • Via People → Nearby → avatar profile → long press the  Context Menu → Send Friend Request or Offer Teleport.
    • Via Chat →  click the three dots next to the avatar name for the Context Menu → Send Friend Request or Offer Teleport.
  • [Video: 23:46-23:29] Mentors and helpers: the Second Life Mobile – Welcome group is available to provide help and support to new users / those new to the SL Mobile app, and mentors and those willing to offer support to other Mobil users are welcome to join it.
  • [Video: 24:39-end] Q&A:
    • Object chat – coming “in about a month”.
    • Gestures: no current plans for implementing either in-scene or voice-activated gestures.
    • Ability to close an IM session and clear it from the list on the app – “on the list” of things to be done.
    • Messages Getting Stuck – seems to be a mixed issue as to whether people experience it or not, but it is under investigation, with a request that if anyone experiences any issues in sending / receiving messages to file feedback / a bug report on it before logging-out of the session in which it occurs.
    • I can’t teleport anywhere – same as above. This may be account related, and logged out of the app and then back in is reported as helping to clear it.
    • A reported issue of avatars getting getting stuck jumping nonstop – this has been noted by LL but “not seen in a while”. Reports again, please, if encountered.
    • A request for documentation on the Developer Settings to help users set their devices. Short answer to this was “no”, as the settings are not intended for general use, but are rather for internal testing purposes. As a result, they can give differing results depending on hardware, and documenting them as options perhaps not a good idea.
      • That said, anyone who does adjust a developer setting and finds it improves their experience is asked to report what they’ve done and how it improves things on their hardware.
      • Anyone who does want to start an SL Wiki page on the topic (subject tot edit rights) is welcome to do so, but please inform Adam Sinewave so he can sanity check to ensure the information is correct.

Date of Next Meeting

2025 week #13: SL SUG meeting: Certificate renewal (2); LI Calculations

Posted on by Inara Pey
Drone Haven, January 2025 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 25th, 2025 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 of the meeting – sorry, no video from Pantera 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.
  • These meetings are conducted (as a rule):
  • 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.

Simulator Deployments

  • On Tuesday March 25th, the SLS Man Channel was updated with any deployment.
  • On Wednesday March 19th the Durian Scones update should be deployed to all remaining RC channels RC – this update incudes the SSL certificate renewal – see below for more.

Production Grid SSL Certificate Renewal

  • The SSL certificate for the Second Life Production Grid is set to expire on April 16th, 2025 02:40 GMT.
  • A new certificate anchored by DigiCert started deployment via the BlueSteel RC on Wednesday, March 19th, and will progress across the RC channels and to the SLS Main Channel in the normal cadence of simulator releases, to be completed in advance of the old certificates expiring.
  • Testing of this certificate can be done either within the nominated simulator channels as it is deployed, or on Aditi (the beta grid), on the following regions:
    • Bonifacio.
    • Blake Sea (Very nearly the entire set of regions).
    • Cloud Sandbox 1 through 4.
  •  For full details on the re-certification, please read Monty Linden’s forum post and thread, or the Lab’s official summary blog post.

Planned Updates – LI Calculation Change

  • Signal Linden highlighted a Feedback Ticket he has raised, proposing the removal of scale from Land Impact calculations.
  • This is being possibly earmarked for a simulator update after Durian Scones.
  • This essentially means that the LI of object should not dramatically change as a result of resizing (particularly when increased in size). It could also mean that some large objects in world could see LI reductions.
  • Understandably, this announcement led to a lot of discussion / debate throughout the meeting.
  • Signal also stated that the Lab will like – at some point also take a look at Mesh uploads and use: Incentivize correct use of LODs, which is currently being tracked.

SL Viewer Updates

  • Default viewer: 7.1.12.13550888671, formerly the ForeverFPS, dated March 1, 2025, promoted March 5th – No change.
    • Numerous crash and performance fixes.
    • Water exclusion surfaces.
    • Water improvements.
  • Second Life Release Candidate viewer 2025.03 version 7.1.13.13906285233, March 20th – NEW.
    • New UI element for water exclusion surfaces: Build / Edit floater → Texture Tab → Hide Water checkbox.
    • The maximum amount of Reflection Probes can now be adjusted to better accommodate low VRAM scenarios.
      • Values will be set automatically depending on your chosen graphics quality. OR
      • Use Preferences → Graphics →  Advanced Settings →  Max. Reflection Probes to manually set.
    • An issue with being unable to see Sky Altitude values in the Region/Estate window has now been resolved.
    • Preferences → Graphics → Max. # of Non-Imposters has been renamed Max. # of Animated Avatars for clarity.
    • Bug and performance fixes and memory optimisations.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha, version 7.1.12.13973830462, March 20th, 2025 – NEW.

In Brief

Please refer to the the video for details on the following.

  • A SLua update was deployed to Aditi during the meeting, containing the requested JSON and the B64 stuff in it.
  • Signal indicated that LL’s visit to the 2025 Game Developer Conference (March 17th-21st, 2025) in San Francisco to promote Second Life appears to have been well received, the the stand receiving a lot of visitors and interest.
  • There has been some discussion in the Content Creation channel of the Second Life Discord Server about allowing rezzing of prims and meshes larger than the current 64m limit, either for everyone, or as a switch which could be set at the estate/region level. LL are tracking this.
    • However, Signal and Leviathan Linden noted that in terms of meshes exceeding 64m in size, some research into potential physics impacts might be required.
    • Signal further suggested that if there are physics issues, such large meshes could be made non-physical on rezzing.
  • On the subject of physics, there have been reports of objects getting “stuck” with a convex version of their physics mesh until are selected by their owner, and also that sometimes the simulator forgets the mesh physics type and sets it to convex hull.
    • Rider Linden noted he spent some time trying to trace down a similar issue some time ago, without success.
    • Leviathan Linden would like to look into these issues, so Feedback reports would likely be appreciated, with logs.
  • Signal again indicated a preference to get the Havok sub-libraries out of the viewer, replace the decomp. library with an open-source one, and replace Navmesh with a solution “that isn’t janky”. However,  decisions on all of this have yet to be taken.
  • A discussion on the “energy” effect within llPush – where it has use (e.g. feeding into impact damage calculations for weapons), issues, etc., and whether or not there is a case for it being removed for SLua scripts (but not Lua VM to run LSL, so as to maintain compatibility), if at all possible (possibly not).
  • Signal Linden also dropped a request into the meeting:
If you would be seriously interested in contract work to convert the LSL wiki over to readme.com, including a Github action to generate LSL/SLua function documentation from a giant LLSD manifest, drop me a line. One thing I’m thinking about is improving documentation. Readme.com is the same platform VRchat uses for their docs rather effectively, and it would allow us to accept changes from unregistered users once again.

† 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.