Update: the issues described blow have also been noted on Nvidia drivers 512.95 and 515.48. If you encounter similar issues please check for driver version (go to Help → About in the viewer and then look for the line “OpenGL Version: X.X.X NVIDIA YYY.YY”, where Nvidia YYY.YY is your installed driver); if you note a different driver to 51.6.40, please consider adding a note to the two official Jira linked to below, and in a comment on Beq’s NvidIa forum report, so other can see potentially affected drivers. Thanks.
It is being reported that the latest Nvidia driver version 516.40, issued on June 15th, 2022, is causing issues for Second Life Users running either Windows or Linux who have updated to use it. As a result, the general advice is not to update to this driver for the time being.
In summary:
The issues are apparent when running the viewer with Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) enabled.
They can cause objects to flash or blink in and out, or can display rings or lines across in-world objects (as shown in the image below).
Image showing some of the artefacts created during scene rendering following an update to the Nivida 516.40 driver. Image courtesy of ermanart / BUG-232264
The following bug reports provide further information on the problems reported thus far:
For those who have updated to driver 516.40, two courses of action are currently available to try to correct:
Minimum: disable ALM (Preferences → Graphics → uncheck Advanced Lighting Model. Note that this may not work when under Linden Water in Second Life, per BUG-232268 (above).
Recommended: revert to an earlier driver version or use the Nvidia Studio Drivers instead.
Again, please note that the issues are driver-related, and so not something either Linden Lab nor TPVs can address themselves.
I have been fortunate to follow a large part of Milena Carbone’s artistic journey in Second Life. Since her first major exhibition of work I visited (Agape, February 2020), Milena has repeatedly demonstrated the inherent power of art to challenge, to question, to offer statements on life, politics religion and self, to engage and to provoke.
Her work has tackled subjects as diverse as the nature of reality, self-perception and the realities (or otherwise) of “god”; it has plumbed the depths of our humanity (and inhumanity), of identify and self, and even navigated the waters of quantum field theory and the Casmir effect.
Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective
Thus, whilst offering a retrospective of her work after just three years of exhibiting it in Second Life might be seen as something of an exercise in ego, it is not (for one thing, I know Milena is far too self-aware to allow her ego to get in the way of things). Rather, it is a chance for those who have not had the ability to observe the evolution of her work and explore her ideas and thoughts on life, human nature, reality and self, to do so by acquainting themselves with piece from her catalogue of work to date, and to consider the paradigms she explores and presents. Equally, for Milena, it is an opportunity to revisit her work from earlier times and consider it under the light of her current thinking and world-view.Hence why, in receiving the invitation from Hermes Kondor to mount a retrospective of her work within the Art Square of his arts hub, Milena opted to title the exhibition Introspective, and frame it around a central commentary and three questions. The latter initially appear to be offered as a means to help frame her continued presence within SL; however, they actually reach much further than this.
Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective
Within all three resides both a cry oft heard down the ages, and also a challenge to us all in the here and now: why, really, are we here; what purpose do we serve? When are we finally going to put pettiness and anger and hate behind us and truly learn acceptance of one another and embrace love for one another? When will we, quite frankly, cease the shouting din of childish behaviours and grow up as a species?
Around the introductory boards (which on their reverse sides offer copies of the books Milena has produced in reference to some of her exhibitions, thus offering further insight and means of retrospection) and against the edges of the square are pieces taken from Milena’s exhibitions. These start in the north-east corner of the square and proceed south and then around to the north-west corner, arranged in chronological order. Each is presented with text either from the exhibition itself, or designed to offer a framing for it – text which also, for those willing to read, muse and reflect, offering further reverberations of the core questions Milena asks.
Kondor Art Square: Milena Carbone – Introspective
These images, in and of themselves, also allow us to travel through Milena’s growth in both experimentation and in confidence with her ability to use the tools at her disposal to represent her art and her thoughts and in allowing her inner voices to speak in unison and / or equally.
Introspective is an exhibition that can be appreciated purely visually; however, its full richness comes in taking the artist’s hand and walking through her words and thoughts in reflection of the images and the introduction.
SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Steamworks
Second Life marks its 19th anniversary in 2022 with a week-long celebration of music, entertainment, art and more across 44 regions, nine of which are given over to exhibits from Second Life residents, and which include the companion Shop and Hop event.
With core celebrations running through until Sunday, June 26th, the birthday regions and the Shop and Hop event will remain open through until July 5th, 2022, and the theme for this year’s event is – Steampunk!
The gates have now opened, but as there was no opportunity for any previews by bloggers, etc., in advance, we’re all scrabbling around trying to put things together. Hopefully, however, this will serve as a shorthand guide, and my apologies for any omissions.
Key Events
In terms of major events, what does SL19B hold? Well, the best way the stay abreast of all that’s going on is via the official calendar of events, which I’ve embedded below.
Use the Week / Month options, top right to change the calendar view.
Click on any given line item on any given day of festivities to view more information, including teleport SLurls.
Grand Opening
Patch Linden will be formally opening SL18B at 12:00 SLT at the Arboretum, which will also be streamed as a You Tube Lab Gab special, in which Strawberry Linden will afterwards host a tour of the SL19B regions.
Meet the Lindens
As per usual, SL19B will feature a series of Meet the Lindens sessions, which can be attended in-world and live streamed via the Second Life You Tube channel. The sessions will all take place at the Arboretum, and will feature the following guests:
Day (Times SLT)
Featured Guest(s)
Monday 20th June, 14:00
Patch Linden, Vice President of Product Operations.
Tuesday 21st June, 14:00
Linden Lab Executive Chair Brad Oberwager and Technical Advisor Philip Rosedale
Wednesday 22nd, June, 14:00
The Marketing Team.
Thursday 23rd June, 14:00
Grumpity Linden, Vice President of Second Life Product and Mojo Linden, Vice President of Engineering.
If all is still going according to plan, at least one of the Meet the Lindens sessions should see the official announcement of the Premium Plus subscription package: what it is, what it will contain, what it will cost and when it will be launching.
SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Arboretum stage
SL19B Music Fest
The Music Fest will kick-off at 13:00 SLT on Thursday, June 16th, and conclude at 22:00 SLT on Saturday, June 18th.
It will take place at three venues across the SLB regions, with one venue hosting the event on each day.
SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Vernian Rotunda
Other Points of Interest
The Tapestry of Time and Gift Area.
First presented in 2018, the region-wide Tapestry of Time presents visitor with a walk-through of Second Life’s history from 2003 through to the present day using images, text and videos. True, not everything has been recorded, but there’s enough within the region to be of interest to the historically minded.
within the Tapestry of Time can be found the SL19B Gift Area, offering gifts from the Birthday exhibitors and from merchants participating in the Shop & Hop event.
The Community Gallery
For 19 years, Second Life has offered us a virtual space to create, define and explore, bringing people from around the world together to create, share, discover new interests and make new friends, participate in games and adventures, to learn and discuss, and simply have fun.
For SL19B, the Community Gallery has been created to offer a place where visitors can share their memories of their times and adventures, memories that turned a virtual world into a community of Residents.
Pod Tours
Once again, Yavanna Llanfair‘s excellent pod tours will be circulating through the SLB regions. Hop on any that are free as they pass, or grab one from the pod tours station.
Exhibitor Regions
As is common for SLB events, the mix of content is varied, and the representation of interests broad. Role-play groups, arts, communities, are represented across the nine regions open to exhibitors; some are static, others are interactive in nature.
Direct links to the exhibitor regions can be found in the SLurls lists at the end of this piece.
Information / SLurls for individual exhibitors can be found in the SL19B Community Experiences pages of the Destination Guide.
Note that teleport boards are available throughout the region for jumping between them.
SL19B, June 16th through July 5th, 2022: The Steamworks stage
Advice on a Better Experience
The SL19B regions – celebratory and Shop & Hop can get exceptionally busy. To help ease the pain for you:
If you have a high draw distance, reduce it to as low as is comfortable for your enjoyment.
Turn off shadows in your viewer if you usually have them enabled.
Go to Preferences → Graphics and reduce the slider Max # Non-Imposter Avatars to a minimum and dial-down your Complexity slider.
Remove texture-heavy HUDs to free-up more texture memory.
To assist the simulator, remove unnecessary scripted attachments.
Dress lightly, avoid accessories of high complexity.
SLurls and Destination Guide Links
Core Event Region SLurls
All SLB regions are rated General.
The Arboretum – home to the Opening Ceremony, the Meet the Lindens sessions, the June 16th Music Fest line-up and more:
The Welcome Area – teleports to the stages, Tapestry of Time, Pod Tours, Gift Area, Community Gallery and Shop and Hop; balloon rides and freebies for the celebrations.
The Forgotten, April 2022 – click any image for full size
The following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, June 14th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. It forms a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. A video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article for those wishing to review the meeting in full – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.
Nomayo Maintenance RC (Maintenance N) viewer, version 6.6.1.572179, June 1.
Makgeolli Maintenance RC viewer (Maintenance M) viewer, version 6.5.6.571575, May 12.
Project viewers:
Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.5.4.571296, May 10.
Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
Legacy Profiles viewer, version 6.4.11.550519, dated October 26, 2020.
Copy / Paste viewer, version 6.3.5.533365, dated December 9, 2019.
In Brief
The weekend some some issues with Group chat, with the Lab making some rapid fixes. Longer-terms fixes are still a work-in-progress.
With the disbanding of the Governance user group, it was confirmed that question, etc., on matter of policy should be passed to Support.
Friends Lists:
Some have reported that simulator that are running for “4-5” days are ceasing to send Friends lists to those logging into them, a issue only fixable via a simulator restart. This has been noted by LL and is to be looked into.
BUG-232256 “No longer receiving spare calling card when adding friends” has ben noted has an issue.
The Second Life 19th Birthday celebrations are almost upon us, and on Tuesday, June 14th, the Lab published information on the Music Fest, together with the main calendar of events.
To help people with planning, I’ve pulled in the Music Fest info here, together with some key dates for other events during the celebrations. I’ll also have more on SL19B in general as a part of my Pocket Guide to the celebrations, complete with a list of SLurls and links, which will be available when the gates open!
Important: please note that all SLurls given below will only be available for general access when SL19B opens to the public.
Shop and Hop
The SL19B Shop and Hop event is perhaps the largest S&H event thus far held, featuring no fewer than 20 regions and 400 creators.
Public access to Shop and Hop, 10:00 SLT on Thursday, June 16th, 2022.
Early access for Second Life Birthday Group members from 09:00 SLT on Wednesday, June 15th, 2022.
Note: these SLurls will be available on Wednesday, June 15th for members of the Second Life Birthday Group, and from 09:00 SLT on Thursday, June 16th for everyone.
A full list of participating creators with direct SLurls to there S&H stores is available here.
Music Fest
The Music Fest will kick-off at 13:00 SLT on Thursday, June 16th, and conclude at 22:00 SLT on Saturday, June 18th. It will take place at three venues across the SLB regions, with one venue hosting the event on each day.
As per usual, SL19B will feature a series of Meet the Linden sessions, which can be attended in-world and (hopefully) live streamed via You Tube. The sessions will all take place at the Arboretum, which can be reach via the following SLurls:
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home in Nowhereville, unless otherwise indicated. Note that the schedule below may be subject to change during the week, please refer to the Seanchai Library website for the latest information through the week.
Monday, June 13th, 19:00 Dandelion Wine
The inventor who almost took the pleasure out of life by building a Happiness Machine; the young reporter who fell in love with an alluring lady of ninety; the old gentleman whose last act was listening to the clang of a green trolley car going round a corner, two thousand miles away.
These are just a few of strange and vivid people who entered the secret world of a twelve-year-old boy during one enchanted summer when he discovered the fact that he really was alive…
“The summer of ’28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma’s belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding—remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.”
The Kingdom of Galaway has a law – The Test of Kings – that every heir to the throne must work a year and a day as a commoner in order to prove they are worthy of being ruler. Not a great law when you are as lazy and indulgent as Prince Larry.
He find that on his day, he must become servant to a former slave, Brishee, as she is conscripted to find the lost artefact, The Shield of Many Uses. However, the evil Percy has other ideas. Via murder and conspiracy, he intends to usurp the throne of King Willy.
Will Larry survive in his role as servant to Brishee? Will she succeed in her quest – and Larry, by extension, succeed in The Test of Kings, or will he be the first to fail, and Percy thus succeed?
The King, meanwhile, has problems of his own: why does Cruith the Crone keep stealing his chickens? Why is she always the first in line to bend his ear on Beggar’s Day?
Caledonia Skytower reads M.J. McGalliard’s first volume in the Beggar’s Day series.
Wednesday, June 15th: Seanchai Flicks
A special for Star Wars month as the Seanchai cinema space plays host to videos and throw popcorn around!
Thursday, June 16th: Thursday Night Science Fiction
The inventor who almost took the pleasure out of life by building a Happiness Machine; the young reporter who fell in love with an alluring lady of ninety; the old gentleman whose last act was listening to the clang of a green trolley car going round a corner, two thousand miles away.
The Kingdom of Galaway has a law – The Test of Kings – that every heir to the throne must work a year and a day as a commoner in order to prove they are worthy of being ruler. Not a great law when you are as lazy and indulgent as Prince Larry.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 