Diving into Second Norway’s Havfolk Fjord in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

As is fairly obvious from this blog, I enjoy exploring Second Life and writing about the places I discover either directly as I bounce around or via the Destination Guide, or am led to through the kindness of others dropping me a  landmark or SLurl and / or a suggestion. There are certain criteria I tend to apply to places I visit when considering them as a potential blog post; some of these criteria are pretty obvious (do I like what I see? Is this a place with a broad-ranging appeal?, etc.); others perhaps less so.

While there are some exceptions, I live within the estate and feel comfortably , I rarely review residential region or those that are largely residential focused – not unless they offer a good extent of public spaces thing to do and / or reasonably clear delineation between public and residential spaces. There’s a simple reason for this: I don’t want to be responsible for upsetting people’s privacy in regions that are largely residential by suggesting people go a-wandering in them and end up trespassing to the annoyance of those living there.

Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

But, as noted, there are at times exceptions to thus broad rule of thumb. This is one of them – but as a long-time resident of Second Norway (4+ years now) and knowing Vanity and some of her staff, I’m comfortable in writing about it. Specifically, it relates to Second Norway’s new Havfolk Fjord, a two region area of the estate that has been redeveloped to provide underwater rentals and open spaces for those within Second Life’s Merfolk community to explore and in which to set-up home if they desire.

The Norwegian word for “mermaid” is havfrue. For “mermen” or “mer people,” the term is havmann (for males) and havfolk (which refers to merfolk or mer people in general).
Havfrue = Mermaid (literally “sea woman”); Havmann = Merman (literally “sea man”); Havfolk = Merfolk or Mer people (literally “sea people”)
Welcome to our Havfolk Lands at Second Norway! The Mer Community helped form the Blake Sea way back in the day. We are very pleased to introduce our own Mer Lands at Second Norway and hope all of our residents will enjoy this added dimension to the Role Play here.

– From the Second Norway announcement about the opening of Havfolk Fjord

With a small island serving as the Landing Point at its southern end, Havfolk Fjord presents ten rental parcels (at the time of writing) of various sizes across the sea bed and within an environment decorated by Second Norway resident (and operator of the Knapper village MyStory community within Second Norway) BenjaminButtonss on behalf of the Second Norway management team.

Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

Linked by “paths” along the sea floor where ancient ruins  and sunken ships might be found and fish food obtained (yes there are little fishes scattered around , giving you the opportunity of finding Nemo and given feeding him), the rental parcels range in size from 3744 sq m / 484 LI through to 11040 sq m / 1431 LI, making them suitable for most pockets among merfolk (and maybe underwater explorers?), whilst the sea floor within the region offers a certain, if limited, given the need to conserved Land Capacity for residential use), “landscaped” seafloor ready for exploration via submarine or by scuba diving as well as offering merfolk the chance to rent space for a home. Meanwhile, the open waters on the surface offer space for boating and sailing.

The Landing Point island offers – literally, given the pier at one end of the beach – a jumping off point for explorations. However, on visiting, I couldn’t help but feel it might benefit from a little rez zone so visitors could conjure up a little boat or underwater craft to take to the water for a spot of sailing or exploring. But that said, the idea behind the updated regions of Havfolk Fjord is interesting, and I do look forward to seeing what develops on the seas bed there!

Havfolk Fjord, Second Norway, September 2024

In the meantime, if you are within the merfolk community and looking for a suitable home, feel free to jump over the the Havfolk island and dive in for a look-see; details of all rents can be found within the information boards located within each of the available parcels.

SLurl Details

Rolvsoya is rated Moderate

Blip’s Black and White World in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

Currently open within the Suburbs sky gallery space at Mareea Farrasco’s IMAGOLand, is an exhibition of photography by Blip Mumfuzz. Entitled Black and White, it is perhaps a slight departures from Blip’s past exhibitions in that – as the name implies – Blip eschews her usual lean towards a richness of colour palette and explorations of tone and colour within her landscapes and images, as seen with the likes of Exaggerations (reviewed in 2022), or for capturing the mood and tone of entire regions, as seen within Images of Skrunda (also reviewed in 2022) in favour of a dive into the world of black-and-white photography / image processing.

And it is another tour-de-force demonstration of both images capture and processing; the section of images found within the two hangers  of the gallery space (and outside on the tarmac!) are simply eye-popping in their depth and content.

IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

I’ve long admired Blip’s art because of her many abilities and approaches. She has, for an example, an eye for creating images that hover between offering a complete scene whilst simultaneously encouraging the eye to focus down with macro-like intensity onto individual elements – a pot apparently tossed aside here, a towel draped over a bath there, and to on – imbuing the completed image with a layer of prompts which may prompt the imagination to create a story.

For example: who hung the cap on the handle of a garden fork? Was it the gardener taking time out to mop his or her brow, or a youngster who has decided they don’t want the encumbrance of the hat whilst playing?  Or is it simply, like the sheets hanging on the line behind it, just set out to dry in the day’s sunlight?  And what of the corner of an old building (or barn?) where a door stands open, the darkness inside beckoning? What might we find on stepping through? At the same time her compositional skill can produce images that blur the line between the digital and the physical to the point the eye can be tricked into thinking it is looking at a scene from the latter rather than the former.

IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

In other words, Blip has an innate ability to draw us into her images, to not so much see them, but experience and explore them; and this is more than evidenced within Black and White. Admittedly, not all of the images presented are necessarily new creations; there was at least one I recognise for certain from Blip’s Images of Skrunda and one I seem to recall from Urban and Industrial Images (2021, and reviewed here), although I’m not 100% certain on the latter.

But the fact that these images may well reply of post-processing to achieve their monochromatic finish doesn’t matter. Black and white photography / processing is in many respects a lot harder than working with colour; it is an unforgiving mistress prone to highlighting errors and imperfections – and this is true when converting colour images to black-and-white; yes, often the software will do the basics for you, but to get the genuine look and tone of a black-and-white image, with its clarity of line, light, shadow and so on, takes time and practice. And as these piece show, Blip has an artist’s skill in bringing this factors to the fore such that the pieces in this collect stand more as monochrome “originals” that anything that started life in the world of colour-.

IMAGOLand Galleries: Blip Mumfuzz – Black and White

In being completely honest, I could have perhaps done without the nose and wing of a 747 being shoved through the the roofs of the hanger galleries – by a quick right-click derender soon eliminated that such that it did not intrude on my enjoyment and appreciation of this collection – and as such, I again strong commend it as being well worth viewing.

SLurl Details

Firestorm 7.1.10: WebRTC and performance tweaks

Posted on by Inara Pey
On Tuesday, September 17th (SLT), Firestorm released version 7.1.10.75913 of their viewer.

This release is primarily focused on a merge with the Linden Lab Atlasaurus release code base, which combines initial performance bug fixes to help correct some of the issues seen with recent viewer releases with the WebRTC code in preparation for the switch away from using Vivox Voice with Second Life.

In addition to the above, there are some cherry-picked updates from the Lab’s upstream code (DeltaFPS), and also updates from the Firestorm Team.

Note that the following is not a complete review of the 7.1.10 release and all the changes made therein; it focuses on the more visible and user-facing updates. Those requiring a list of all changes and updates to Firestorm 7.1.10 should refer to the Firestorm 7.1.10 release changelog, which also provides all proper credits for the work.
Table of Contents

Note: as this review was going to post, Linden Lab promoted the DeltaFPS viewer to de facto release.

General Notes

Installation

  • Only download Firestorm from the Firestorm website. Do not utilise and other third-party site purporting to offer the Firestorm viewer, and remember Firestorm will never ask for log-in credentials in order to download a release version of their viewer.
  • There is no need to perform a clean install with this release if you do not wish to.
  • Do, however, make sure you back-up all your settings safely so you can restore them after installing 7.1.10.

Linden Lab Updates

Atlasaurus/WebRTC Viewer

  • Viewer version number 7.1.9.10515727195 – release notes in full.
  • Date of promotion to release status: 26th August, 2024.

WebRTC

WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”) is the new Voice communications protocol for Second Life, replacing Vivox Voice.

Why Make The Change?

Voice in Second Life has been supplied through an arrangement with Vivox. This has required Linden Lab to utilise a viewer plug-in tool – SLvoice.exe – to manage voice services within the viewer., which in turn has made LL both reliant on Vivox for bug fixes for the plug-in, and subject to changes in support for operating systems imposed by Vivox such as the latter ending native support for Linux some years ago).

WebRTC by contrast is the predominant telephony protocol used by web-based applications, such as Google Meet, and is integrated into most common browsers. It has almost all the features common to Vivox in supplying a voice service – spatial in-world voice; peer-to-peer sessions; Group voice (including moderation) and multi-user Voice conferencing – although the are some limitations (see below).

Benefits and Improvements

WebRTC Offers a range of benefits over Vivox, including, but not limited to:

  • 48khz audio bandwidth providing cleaner sound.
  • User control over:
    • Audio noise reduction – high reduction for noisy environments, no reduction for clean audio sources (performers, etc.)
    • Automatic gain control – less need to individually tune other user’s audio levels.
  • Audio/video device selection.
  • Improved: spatialization,  audio echo cancellation and audio sampling rates for improved audio quality.
Options for managing WebRTC Voice quality can be found under Preferences → Sound & Media → Voice

Most significantly, WebRTC removes all reliance on a third-party plug-in for the viewer. Instead, it is supplied as a  a library and wrapper within the viewer. This means:

  • Linden Lab has greater ability to address Voice related issues directly, without having to await fixes from a supplier.
  •  Potentially opens the door to adding features and capabilities to SL Voice in the future, including some which have been long-requested.
Limitations
  • WebRTC does not support the existing Voice Morphing capability in Second Life.
    • This is because voice morphs are tied to the Vivox service, and cannot be utilised with WebRTC.
    • Those who do use the current Voice Morphing capability are directed to this SL Wiki article on Voice Morphing, which provides a list of solutions which can be used with WebRTC.
  • Conferences and group voice calls are limited to 50 participants.
Security

The Second Life implementation of WebRTC addresses security issues such as potential eavesdropping, exposing users’ IP addresses, etc., by routing communication through proxy servers managed directly by LL .

Project Status
  • At the time of writing this update, back end support is available on the WebRTC “Pop Rocks” simulator channel: WebRTC Voice 1 – WebRTC Voice 2 – WebRTC Voice 3 and WebRTC Voice 4.
  • Deployment to RC channel should  commence on Wednesday, October 2nd, when the code will be deployed to the BlueSteel RC channel.
  • During this deployment period both WebRTC Voice and Vivox Voice will be supported.
  •  LL will turn off the Vivox support on the simulators some time after WebRTC has been fully deployed and there is sufficient support for the service across all viewers.
Additional Information

Usability Enhancements

Object Take
LL’s new object Take options, as displayed through the Firestorm right-click context menu

When picking-up in-world objects you can now chose to:

  • Take As Combined Item: return all the selected objects to inventory as a single, coalesced object.
  • Take Copy As Combined Item: return copies all the selected objects to inventory as a single, coalesced object, leaving the originals in-world as individual objects.
  • Take As Separate Items: return all the selected objects to inventory, but list them as individual items, not as coalesced.
  • Take Copies As Separate Items: return copies all the selected objects to inventory, but list them as individual items, not as coalesced, leaving the originals in-world.

Note that for Firestorm 7.1.10, these options are ONLY available as a sub-menu set in the right-click context menu; they have not as yet been added to the Pie menu (see: FIRE-34438).

Avatar Rendering Updates

Linden Lab added new options to enable the prioritisation of rendering avatars using the following criteria:
  • Limit by complexity – any avatar with a complexity greater then your Avatar Maximum Complexity” setting will be rendered as a Jellydoll.
  • Always show friends – your friends will never be rendered as Jellydolls, no matter what their complexity
  • Only show friends – all avatars except your friends will be rendered as Jellydolls.

Within Firestorm, these options can be found as follows:

  • In  the  top menu → World → Avatar Display.
  • In the Performance Floater → Avatars Nearby.
Linden Lab’s avatar rendering options, as located within Firestorm 7.1.10
  • Notes:
    • In addition to these updates, Firestorm 7.1.10 retains the Firestorm option World → Show Friends Only. When enabled, the viewer will only renders your friends.
    • The now redundant Always Display Friends In Full Detail checkbox has been removed from the Performance Floater → Avatars Nearby.

Avatar-Related Improvements

  • Avatar height now correctly displays  in edit appearance window (see: FIRE-34192).
  • Worn clothing layers now all correctly report as such in inventory (see: FIRE-34343).
  • Fix for integer underflow causing issues with wearables.
  • Fix for avatar attachments & surroundings not rezzing after teleport when teleport screens are disabled (see: FIRE-33981).
  • Setting for AvatarRotateThresholdSlow and AvatarRotateThresholdFast added back into Firestorm following their removal as part of a viewer code clean-up by LL (see: FIRE-34196 and LL Bug #1963).

General Updates / Improvements

  • Add Images to Inventory Items in Bulk: select up to 50 inventory items → Right click selection → Image.
  • Option to control the amount of lights: Preferences → Graphics → General → Max Nearby Lights slider.
Control nearby lighting through the nearby lighting slider
  • GLTF model preview: use a prim to preview the appearance of a glTF scene / model:
    • Edit the prim. then Top menu bar → Developer → GLTF → Open.
      • To enable the Developer menu, either go to Advanced → Show Developer Menu or press Ctrl-Alt-Q or go to Preferences → Advanced → check  Show Developer Menu
    • Note that this feature is still in the early stages of development and that glTF models will only appear locally in your own viewer, they will not be rendered for others to see in their viewers.
  • Better MOAP URL handling in order for users to not only be able to CTRL-C or Cmd-C copy but also to see decoded URL payloads for easy inspection. In the nearby media list, you can also right click a media/data link and Copy URL/Copy Data.

Performance Improvements Summary

  • Mirrors disabled by default for all graphics quality levels to improve performance.
    • You can choose to enable mirrors manually in Preferences → Graphics → General → Mirrors.
  • Improved general performance with PBR – Issue 1769.
  • Fixed performance regression since Graphics Featurettes viewer – Issue 1831.
  • Fixed viewer failing to detect more than 4Gb of video memory on Windows – Issue 1583.
  • Improved texture memory calculation – Issue 799.
  • Various performance improvements for Mac:
    • Improved PBR viewer performance on Apple Silicon – Issue 1527.
    • Fixed setting a map beacon causing extreme lag on Mac – Issue 999.
    • Fixed severe stall and stutter in PBR viewers on Mac when editing objects – Issue 1203.
  • For the full list of fixes and improvements from Atlasaurus, please refer to the Atlasaurus release notes, linked to above.

Upstream Fixes from LL

  • Added error handling for intel crashes from the GLTF Scene shader – this fixes the login crashes on systems with older Intel HD graphics (see Issue 1856).
  • Fixed visual corruption caused by divide by zero in lighting functions – this fixes black & white areas in certain locations (see Issue 1852).
  • Fixed the voice call button being greyed out when you logged in to a voice disabled parcel (see this Canny bug).

Significant Firestorm Updates

Camera Roll

Ever wanted to physically roll the camera with ease when taking pictures? With Firestorm 7.1.10 you can, using an update based on an Alchemy viewer feature.  Both the large and the small camera control floaters have new camera roll buttons (see image below):

The new camera roll buttons and the button for re-centring the view
  1. The left button will roll the camera view clockwise on your screen through 360º.
  2. The right button will roll the camera view counter-clockwise on your screen through 360º.
  3. Clicking the button at the centre of the rotation controls will revert the viewer to “normal”.

General Improvements

  • Check folder limit safeguard:
    • If you select the Wear Items option in the Inventory folder context menu, and the total number of items in the folder(s) exceeds the maximum limit for wearable items / attachments, a warning pop-up is displayed.
    • This prevents multiple items withing a folder (and sub-folders) being worn / removed / worn in excess of the limit when the Wear Items option is clicked.
A new safeguard warning is displayed when clicking on the Warn Items Inventory menu option for a folder containing items that exceed the maximum number of wearable items / attachments
  • Raised the 512×512 limitation for uploading snapshots to inventory to 2048×2048.
  • Multiple bug fixes for memory issues, RAM detection, texture management, UI bugs, stability and improvement fixes, crash fixes and more – please refer to the Firestorm 7.1.10 changelog for specifics.

OpenSim Updates

  • Fix for inventory fetching issues on OpenSim (see FIRE-34403).
  • Fix for occasional crashes on large inventories or slow grid asset servers (see  FIRE-34403).
    • Previously, an assertion failure would occur if mComplete.size() was zero. This has been downgraded to a warning message and early return, improving stability especially for large inventories or slow grid asset servers.
    • This entire code path is only accessed by OpenSim pending their implementation of AISV3, when it will be removed.

Feedback

As with the PBR release, I have no feedback to offer with this release, as I’ve not had time time to bounce around with it to any great degree.

Note that the performance improvements from the Lab’s Atlasaurus viewer constitute a first round of fixes; more will be coming with the upcoming DeltaFPS viewer (promoted to release status, Tuesday, September 17th) and the ExtraFPS viewer (still to be issued by LL at the time of writing).

2024 SL SUG meetings week #38 summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Winchester Harbor, August 2024 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, September 17th, 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. Pantera’s video is embedded at the end – my thanks to her 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.
  • 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, September 17th, the SLS Main channel was restarted without any deployment.
  • On Wednesday, September 18th:
    • A new version of the Picnic simulator release (which includes the WebRTC support) called Doubtfire should be deployed to the BlueSteel RC channel.
    • Ferrari and the remaining RC channels will be restarted without update.

SL Viewer Updates

  • The DeltaFPS RC, version 7.1.10.10708851543, dated September 11th, was promoted to de facto release status on September 19th. This includes:
    • Performance boosts. Memory management has been optimized and users will experience a higher FPS across various systems. A comprehensive range of bug fixes are also provided. This includes better PBR material handling and resolving frequent crashes. See the release notes for more.
    • UI for scheduling region restarts now available via a new button located in the Region/Estate floater. (Note: there is currently an issue with scheduled region restarts working correctly and a fix is due to come in the next server release).
  • Release channel cohorts:
    • None at the time of writing.

Region Crossings Update

We have some attachment fixes available for testing on the Beta grid. Channel is ‘ghi-1419’.Some Blake Sea regions are running on it: Binnacle, Flotsam, Half Hitch, Hawser, Jones Locker, Lanyard, Swab.

– Monty Linden

Note that these fixes are entirely separate to the general tweaks Monty has been making to improve simulator performance on avatars entering / leaving a region, which are due to be deployed to the main grid soon.

In Brief

Please refer to the video below for the following:

  • 2K BoM texture bakes on mesh now available for testing on Aditi (the Beta grid). See my 2K BoM blog post for more.
  • A further discussion on attachment losses / attachments getting stuck following teleports. In the case of the latter, Monty suggested a potential workaround:
As for the stuck attachment, there may be a workaround: 1) once stuck, TP to another region (not adjacent), 2) wait one minute, 3) TP back. You may find your attachments in the correct state. But they will get stuck again on re-attachment.

– Monty Linden

  • Github issue #1519 (also Canny issue: llDetectedTouchPos returns TOUCH_INVALID_VECTOR when used in touch_start or touch) affecting Touch when in mouselook has been confirmed as a viewer-side issue, and not simulator-side (the viewer is reporting the wrong initial data). However, no current ETA on a fix.
  • Rezzing delays affect all scripts in an object is currently being tracked, and Rider Linden indicated he hopes to get to grips with it and have it available for the Barbecue simulator update package. Barbecue (or BBQ, as the notation seems to change between meetings) will be the simulator update to follow-on from the WebRTC deployments currently in progress via Picnic and Doubtfire. This issue sparked a discussion commencing roughly half-way through the meeting.
  • Note that the next SUG meeting (Tuesday, September 24th) will be a party to mark the autumnal equinox.

† 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.

Evermore’s mystical beauty in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Evermore the Folklore, September 2024 – click any image for full size

I recently had the chance to visit Evermore the Folklore, a full private region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus, held by Persephone Smythe (LeriaDraven) and landscaped by her and Elfie (WeeWangle Wumpkins). It’s a curiously delightful setting, mixing together a range of elements to offer a blending of the natural, the whimsical, the mystical and the fantastical, with just a hint of things that sit well with the approach of Halloween

Welcome to a dream inspired by the world of Evermore and Folklore. Take my hand, wreck your plans, and let’s go to the lakes were the poets went to die. We are so enchanted to meet you and hope you enjoy your time in this era!

From Evermore the Folkore

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea if the reference to Evermore and Folkore concern to Taylor Swift albums or something else – so please forgive my ignorance on that; but to be honest, the meaning of the references barely matters when it comes to exploring and appreciating the region – it genuinely speaks for itself.

Visits begin to the north-west side of the region, on the platform of a little train station that once served a (very modest) little hamlet – it’s little more than a couple of little cottages overlooked by the local lighthouse up on a bluff. Small it might by, but the hamlet has it own industrious-looking wharf and boat repairs warehouse / fishing centre.

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

The north coast is fairly rugged for the first part of its run, albeit with a couple of sandy points. However, once past the lighthouse it drops down to a sandy stretch of beach backed by gently sloping grasslands occupied by a small farm. But as gentle as the beach might appear, the wreck of a trawler and the remnants of what might have once have been a set of piers and moorings suggest the sea here can be a little unkind to the unwary.

From the little hamlet it is possible to follow the winding railroad tracks as they pass through a tunnel and appear to set out across the countryside – only to come to a abrupt end, indicating that whilst there might well have once be a little service between the hamlet and its fishing wharf and somewhere else, those days are long gone. No matter, because the tracks point the way to both the lighthouse atop its headland bluff and to the farm – the route to the latter being via a covered bridge passing between headland and rocky hills. The bridge is old, but clearly safe – as testified by the highland cattle meandering across it!

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

The tunnel use be the train burrows under a small hill which also has a footpath climbing over its back to lead the way inland. It is here that things start to get more mystical and fantastical. Crossed by rutted tracks, the land is a mix of low-lying grasslands, rugged hills and headlands, a broad body of water served by the sea to the east, where it gains access to the land between two high thrusts of rock; and a gorgeous waterfall-carved horseshoe of rock into which the water of the falls drops. Up on the rocky cliffs above, meanwhile, stone fairies dance, an almost Ent-like Autumn Guardian weeps silent tears into his cupped arms and an ivy shrouded piano awaits someone to sit so it might be played for the spirit of the lake as she stands over the waters below.

And that’s just the start of the region’s mysterious and captivating elements. Ruins high and low await discovery, each with their own attraction; gazebos offer places to sit on land and over water; grassy paths run under the bough of tall trees, mixing with sands and giant mushrooms, whilst coves hidden between the rocks await discovery.

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

But of all the elements awaiting exploration, the great castle is perhaps the most obvious and demanding. Straddling the rocky uplands where the sea enters the region, its tall towers and  high windows command views right across the landscape, whilst inside it offers an intriguing welcome. But beware – here, quite literally, there be a dragon!

With mist wrapped around its legs and bat circling its towers, the castle is an imposing sight, standing tall over the little farm and over the damaged remains of a lone tower topped by a statue of the Lady of the Lake as she holds aloft Excalibur (presumably), and lighting arcs all about.

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

Statues abound throughout the setting, from the village to the hills and towers, adding to the beauty and mystery of the region. Several (understandably) are to be found within the graveyard sitting down below the flanks of the castle’s hill. Whether this be the burial ground of those who have occupied the high towers, I’ll leave you to decide; it is, however, the place with that little twist of Halloween to be found.

Throughout all of this there are multiple places to sit and pass the time, whilst local fauna and creatures add their presence to the mix, bringing more of a sense of life and beauty throughout, and in some cases as sense of mystery (just where has the puppy’s owner gone, leaving behind the little fellow, their bags and books – and a bag of fresh groceries?

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

All of the setting appears open to exploration, although there is one gated A-frame cabin on the region’s west side; while it is not specifically marked as private, the sign outside – which might well be meant in harmless fun – suggest folk don’t rick crossing the gate. As such I took this as a gentle hint to keep out, and didn’t wander further so as not to invade privacy, if so.

Rounded out with a well considered soundscape and with more to discover than I’ve mentioned here, Evermore the folklore is well worth visiting.

Evermore the Folklore, September 2024

SLurl Details

2024 SL viewer release summaries week #37

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, September 15th, 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 7.1.9.10515727195, formerly the Altasaurus RC, promoted August 26.
  • Release Candidate(s):
    • DeltaFPS RC, updated to version 7.1.10.10800445603, September 11.
      • Performance boosts. Memory management has been optimized and users will experience a higher FPS across various systems. A comprehensive range of bug fixes are also provided. This includes better PBR material handling and resolving frequent crashes. See the release notes for more.
      • UI for scheduling region restarts now available via a new button located in the Region/Estate floater. (Note: there is currently an issue with scheduled region restarts working correctly and a fix is due to come in the next server release).

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V6-style

  • Alchemy – 7.1.9.2501 (Beta WebRTC build) September 6 – release notes.

V1-style

  • Cool VL Viewer Stable: 1.32.2.14, September 14 – release notes.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • SL Mobile updated September 6, same version number.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links