October 2025 SL Web User Group

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 October 1st, 2025. These notes form a summary of the items discussed and is not intended to be a full transcript. The official video is embedded at the end of this summary.

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.

Updates

  • Bug fixes shipped:
  • Removal of “What’s Next” Basics in dashboard menu.
  • More results should now be displayed in Destination guide searches.
  • Under-the-hood work including:
    • A Python library upgrade for internal services.
    • A security review of the Lab’s JavaScript packages.
    • Clean-up of the subscriptions services to prevent double-charging of PMEs.

New Premium Plus Subscription Option

For those not aware:

  • Mid-October will see the launch of Premium Plus No Stipend.
    • All of the benefits of Premium Plus without the Stipend or Signup bonus.
    •  Monthly Cost of with stipend vs. no stipend: US $29.99 vs. US $15.99.
    • Annual Cost of with stipend vs. no stipend: US $249 vs. US $143.88 (US $11.99/month billed annually).
  • For details, see my blog post: Coming soon: New Option to Reduce the Cost of SL Premium Plus-Subscriptions.

Questions from the Lab

  • Why do you make all your items no transfer? Are most items no transfer?
    • Most items are created No Transfer (75%-90% in estimates), although the return of Gacha might be increasing the number of transferable items.
    • No transfer is preferred for multiple reasons. Those cited included: complexities of customer support with transfer items then have been passed from one user to another; the risk of object loss if an item is set to No Copy as a result of being set to Transfer (e.g. through accidental deletion & trash purge). Most users prefer to have Copy / Modify items over Transfer (/ No Copy) / Modify items.
  • What would encourage creators to make items transferrable?
    • Largely a matter of personal choice, but Transfer was not seen as a popular need.
    • The exceptions to this were seen as items specifically designed to be gifted / intended for the Gacha units & the resale market.
  • How do you attract new users to your stores? Gifts? Credits? Responses included: Group gifts; store credits / discounts; sales / special offers.
  • Has anyone used the new Avatar Welcome Pack? Have you made items for it?
    • Unsurprisingly, mixed opinions on the avatars in the Welcome Pack, although it was noted that as the bodies are Legacy, many creators have clothing available for them, even if the clothing is not specifically created with the starter avatars in mind.
    • Complaints were raised over the fact feet are not posable (so high heel shoes won’t work with them), and the “dead face” expressions – with reminders that the Welcome Pack avatars are just that: for getting started, before moving on to more capable store-bought avatars.
    • This lead to a discussion on what could / might be included in the Welcome Pack – such as a limited AO system from one of the dedicated AO creators, just to again help people get started and not necessarily try to work out where they need to shop or immediately diving into the MP.
  • For those who have helped new users create an avatar via the Welcome Pack, what have been the common problems?
    • Feedback ran from lack of variety in the avatars (e.g. all of them are human); lack of contextual / explanatory information.
    • General feedback on bodies / heads in general was the over complexity of things and the steps a new user must go through (even after exposure to the Welcome Packs), together with easily identifying what will / won’t work with a given body type / head type if the new user is not familiar with brands, BoM, using HUDs, etc.
  • How long would you say an experienced user would take to create a really good avatar?
    • Estimates varied from “5 minutes” to “an hour”, depending on approach (e.g. having the necessary avatar parts – head, body, etc.), already in inventory and working from there, vs going out and shopping for a suitable body / head, etc., vs. using the Avatar Welcome Pack.
    • It was noted that helping new users build / customise avatars takes much longer, both due to the general learning curve and the need to overcome the technical / language barriers (e.g. explaining what “BoM” is, why only certain clothing will fit certain bodies, how to recognise what is needed from multi-body pack of clothing in order to wear the outfit on the avatar, etc.).
  • What would you say is the average cost of a good avatar?
    • Just for a head, body, skin, hair and initial outfit: US $50, although cost is relative depending on what is being sought.
    • This also folded itself into people’s expectations / desires for their avatar and its looks.

General Points

  • Sntax Linden noted that the Avatar Picker / Customiser found in Project Zero is now offered in the official viewer, but without the dedicated Avatar toolbar button, the Picker opening within the viewer rather than as a separate browser panel.
  • It was pointed out (as I’ve done previously), that the official welcome hub is out-of-step with the Avatar Welcome Pack as it only references the Senra avatars.
  • The Q&A session included a wide-ranging discussion on approaches to getting new users acclimatised to SL using a mix of web options / capabilities and in-world experiences.

Next Meeting

  • Wednesday, November 5th, 2025.

Cica’s Happy Halloween in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

It’s October, which means Halloween sits a-waiting at the end of the month. I’ve noted on numerous occasions that I’m not a fan on the modern take on the celebration, but within Second Life I do like to take a look at region settings and installations that offer a take on things that is a little different to the usual. Such is the case with Cica Ghost’s October installation: Happy Halloween, which she invited me to visit as it opened on October 1st, 2025.

Offered largely in monochrome (the pumpkins and stars being the exception here!), Happy Halloween offers much that might be associated with the modern take on Halloween – but also perhaps applies more broadly to generally spookiness and fun. It even carries with it what might be seen as a little nod towards Tim Burton.

Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

The main Landing Point sits in the sky over Cica’s regions of Mysterious Isle, where can be found the usual request about using the local environment settings, a link to Cica’s on-line store and a tombstone teleport down to the installation proper. The latter delivers visitors to a setting caught under the same star-dusted sky as seen from the Landing Point, complete with a crescent Moon low in the sky.

The quote accompanying the build is a popular take on a line made famous by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first inaugural address. At the time, America we deep into the Depression, and his words in that address were both solemn and intended to give hope and reassurance. He certainly did not originate the phrase in question – various forms of it have been recorded since the 16th century. The version Cica uses gives it a decidedly humorous little twist:

The only thing we have to fear is FEAR itself – and spiders.
Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

And there are certainly spiders to be found here. They grin and bounce among flowers with equally toothy grins, or sit on stalks as if they are themselves flowers. They share the landscape with bat plants and star plants, all growing out of a dusty ground with tall hills all around, their surfaces pockmarked like the surface of a moon. In places the dust gives way to a checkerboard effect, whilst scattered across the entire setting are bare trees, odd little houses and all the local denizens.

The latter come in many forms: monsters who appear to be out for a lark more than to frighten, ghosts who fade in-and-out of view, black cats, giant pumpkins, crows… the list goes on, and I really don’t want to spoil things by saying too much here – other than the little touch of Tim Burton might be seen in the people also scattered across (over over in one case) the setting as they go about their evening’s business.

Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

As always with most of Cica’s builds, there are various opportunities to be found for interaction within Happy Halloween, and plenty of opportunities for photography and smiles.

SLurl Details

2025 week #40: SUG meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Three Finger Pines, July 2025 – blog post

The following notes were taken from the Tuesday, September 30th, 2025 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. These notes form a summary of the items discussed, and are not intended to be a full transcript. They were taken from my chat log of the meeting and the video recording by Pantera, embedded at the end of this summary – my thanks to Pantera for providing it.

Meeting Overview

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

Simulator Deployments

  • During week #39, the BlueSteel RC was updated with simulator version 2025.08/2025-09-16.17777995432 (Huckleberry).
  • On Wednesday, October 1st, this simulator update should be deployed to the remaining RC channels.  This update includes:
    • A new function that allows you to set a parcel for sale – this is pending a viewer-side update.
    • Various WebRTC updates.
    • More accurate CPU usage measurement; more correct live configuration file load on start; more meta data about asset upload so LL knows when people are uploading glFT assets.

SLua Updates

  • The LLEvents C++ implementation is basically done, and Harold Linden is testing it and integrating it with the simulator.
  • LLTimers is “going to be funky” because he believes that timers aren’t currently based on real time but rather frame time which is affected by time dilation in the simulator.
    • Basically, if a simulator is running at 70% speed and a timer is scheduled for 10 seconds later, it might actually happen in 13 seconds.
    • Harold notes that it’s not clear if this is the desired behaviour going forward, and so is looking for some opinions on what people actually want there.
    • The preference at the meeting was for real time (or both, as a primary / secondary set of options, if this could be handled tidily), although there was some discussion on event timers and frame / real time, etc.
    • He noted that any adjustments made would only affect users of LLTimers, not existing uses of llSetTimerEvent().
    • Those with strong opinions on the matter are asked to weigh-in on SLua event handling proposal.
  • Harold has also been profiling of the script scheduling code after reports that there can be some slowdown on simulators just by virtue of having scripts that don’t really do anything. The adjustments made should mean things run 5-10% faster now on regions with lots of scripts that don’t do much, which is most of them.
  • The LSL compiler and runtime will be open-source (MIT licensed).
  • Harold Linden has tried to put most of the code in the SLua repo that is going to be open-source, so scripters can have a mostly-complete SLua implementation for local testing.

SLua Questions

Please also refer to the video.

  • Will the LL functions that return -1 meaning “not found” (e.g. like ll.ListFindList() ), still return -1, or will they return nil? Answer: they will continue to return -1.
    • Similarly, negative indices like -1 in library functions will continue to work as before.
  • Will the LL functions that return boolean values in a list (e.g. ll.GetPrimitiveParams{PRIM_PHYSICS}), still return number? Or will they return boolean? Answer: they will continue to return a number, unfortunately.
  • Will there be a llcompat library with the functions in LSL style (0-based, etc.)? Answer: yes.
  • Will ll functions support constant folding (such as ll.Ord(“a”) being turned into 97 at compile time without having to run the function call at runtime)? Answer: not currently, but there’s no reason that they couldn’t.
  • Will it be possible to use very large scripts without having to break them up? Answer: the memory limit should be at least 128kb and scripts will generally be much smaller, so technically yes.
    • Rider Linden additionally noted the memory requirements for the Luau VM are considerably less than the old Mono VM. So there should be some headroom on larger scripts, and LL hasn’t made a final call as yet about the memory allotment.
    • Additionally, script monitors should show roughly the memory you were _using_ at a recent point in time rather than when hitting the memory limit.
  • Is there a way to avoid stack-heap collisions (e.g. is the Lua VM armed against them)? Answer: SLua does allow you to catch failures to allocate with pcall().
  • Will a “shared data” system be implemented, where multiple copies of the same script reference the same instance of bytecode data? Answer: yes, that basically comes with the VM system.
  • What is happening with viewer-side scripting capabilities? Answer: it has been put on ice for the present.
    • This sparked a mini-discussion of local scripting use cases, format, security, etc.

In Brief

  • Rider Linden has the official native VSCode plugin for LSL and SLua “ready for feedback”. He still has some further work to do on this, but hopes to have the repo open and available “as soon as possible”.
  • Leviathan Linden is now working on a server-side implementation for voice moderation on WebRTC (e.g. the ability for estate owners / managers (and possibly parcel holders) to mute people’s voice).
  • Pepper Linden  is still working on outfit support for SL Mobile, and is also working on a new viewer feature, “async inventory”:
    • This allows the loading of inventory asynchronously, leveraging the inventory cache after logging-in.
    • It should see those with very large inventories to log-in much faster than is currently the case (initial testing had 200K inventories loading in 5-10 seconds).
    • The work is described as currently “very rough” and not ready for inclusion in any active viewer branch.
  • Signal Linden has been variously involved in:
    • Apple Silicon support.
    • Working with our operational team to finish some simhost hardware configuration changes which have been in progress for a while.
    • Trying to help unblock Lua documentation efforts, get folks the resources they need to build a new documentation site.
  • Mesh faces mismatch issue: this appears to be a server-side problem rather than anything integral to the viewer. Leviathan Linden is now looking at options for correcting it – his current idea is to use the viewer request to modify a non-existent face to be a hint to the server that it maybe needs to update an asset and put it on a background queue somehow, that would essentially re-submit the asset for update in the background.

Date of Next Meetings

  • Leviathan Linden: Tuesday, October 7th, 2025.
  • Formal SUG meeting: Tuesday, October 14th, 2025.

† 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.

A visit to rugged Ofrenda Nocturna in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025 – click any image for full size

Occupying a Full private region, Ofrenda Nocturna is setting primarily designed by Pris (Pieris) and the home of club Afterneath. It’s a rugged setting, the inclusion of Afterneath adding a sense of mystery to itself, for reasons I’ll come to.

Ofrenda is a rugged, natural spot with much interest for photographers and dreamers. Relax, immerse yourself, and indulge your senses. Find those surprises and don’t get lost. This is an adult destination, with something for everyone, so be ready to explore!

– Ofrenda Nocturna About Land description

Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025

The main Landing Point lies to the east of the region aboard a ferry boat. This has managed to dock at the end of a pier forming a part of a small harbour which is perhaps not the easiest place to test navigation skills, given the number of rocks raising warning heads above the waves and the carcass of a motorboat that didn’t quite make it to the little harbour’s workshop, to say nothing of the warning buoys and local lighthouse.

Alighting from the ferry with bring you to the shore by way of the pier and a rather interesting location for a gentleman’s barber. A scramble over rocks and sand is then required to reach solid land. Here a path made from loose-laid stones skirts around a mini Stonehenge, offer a choice of routes.

Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025

A turn to the left takes visitors around to where a gypsy caravan offers the treat of “topless Tarot”(!); something which prompts me to note that this is an Adult-rated region, and there are some RLV trapping elements around – so those using RLV/a-enabled viewers – be warned 🙂 .

Close by this caravan, tucked into the south-east of the setting is a grassy headland and a barn. The latter is home to a horse rezzer for those who fancy seeing the region via horseback. A more overgrown field lies above this barn and slightly more to the west, a trio of places to sit and pass the time scattered over its back, one of them alongside the stones of the henge.

Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025

Follow the path around to the right of said henge, and it will give the choice of crossing either of the region’s two streams. To the right, an arched wooden bridge provides access to a further choice of routes.

One of these runs alongside the larger of the two streams, passing behind the local camp site and up towards the stream’s rugged source. The second path runs more or less north from the bridge and provides the most direct route to the campsite / trailer park, both of which overlook a couple of linked inlets cutting into the region.

Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025

The remaining path, helpfully highlighted by a “This Way” sign offers the way to three more of the region’s interesting settings: a hideaway tucked into a hollow of the rising land and complete with a hot tub and another adult-themed element. This is reached via steps hewn into the rock, some of which also descend into one of the region’s caverns.  A separate path winds up and over the hideaway to a rocky path leading up to the ruins of an old abbey and chapel occupying the north-eastern headland.

The path on the far side of the second bridge offers a choice of routes: one to the region’s second large cavern – and the surprise waiting within; and a path up to the cobblestone paved plateau forming an open-air event space. A gravel path leading off of this event space offers access to the aforementioned Afterneath, and via the span of a stone bridge, to a large Zen garden hugging the very western edge of the region.

Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025

Sitting within its own parcel and EEP environment, Afterneath sits under the Zen garden within the region’s largest cavern. Two searchlights mark the way down and into the atmospheric club.

Once a month, Afterneath opens fully, unleashing a night that is seduction. This isn’t the kind of party where you stand against the wall and sip something safe. This is where the rhythm takes you under, where sweat and smoke blur together, and where strangers become something more beneath the strobe and shadow.

– Heidi Volare, describing Afterneath

Ofrenda Nocturna, September 2025

Rich in detail and with a stormy sky (which may not be obvious from my images here, as some odd rendering artefacts encouraged me to substitute an environment setting over the local EEP)and sprinkled with sculptures, Ofrenda Nocturna makes for an interesting visit and place to explore.

SLurl Details

2025 SL viewer release summaries week #39

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 28th, 2025

This summary is generally published every Monday, and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:

  • It is based on my Current Viewer Releases Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware), and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy.
  • This page includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
  • By its nature, this summary presented here will always be in arrears, please refer to the Current Viewer Release Page for more up-to-date information.
  • Outside of the Official viewer, and as a rule, alpha / beta / nightly or release candidate viewer builds are not included; although on occasions, exceptions might be made.

Official LL Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.06 7.2.1.17108480561 – August 29 – No change.
  • Second Life Beta viewer 2025.07 7.2.2.17774206511 – Apple Silicon Support – September 26 –  NEW.
    • This viewer now ships as a “Universal Binary” that contains both the Intel and Apple Silicon versions of the viewer. It should give performance gains on the Apple Silicon version in particular.
    • Also includes various WebRTC improvements and bug and crash fixes.
    • Known issues:
      • This version does not support convex decomposition for physics meshes with Apple Silicon. This will be hopefully be corrected in a future update or release, possibly with the help of a code contribution.
      • Navigation buttons in the in-viewer browser are no longer present for marketplace and search – these will be restored in a future update.
      • Apple Silicon does not support pathfinding tools.
      • Subtle rendering differences might be noticed on certain configurations and EEP environments.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 –  No Change.

LL Viewer Resources

Third-party Viewers

V7-style

  • Black Dragon for Windows –  5.4.4 September 25 – release notes.

V1-style

  • No updates.

Mobile / Other Clients

  • No updates.

Additional TPV Resources

Related Links

2025 week #39: SL Open Source User Group meeting summary

Posted on by Inara Pey
Another Song of Freedom, July 2025 – blog post †

The following notes were taken from my chat transcript + the video recording by Pantera (embedded at the end of this summary) of the Open Source User Group (OSUG) held on Friday, September 26th, 2025. My thanks to Pantera as always for providing it.

Meeting Purpose

  • The OSUG meeting is a combining of the former Third Party Viewer Developer meeting and the Open Source Development meetings. It is open discussion of Second Life development, including but not limited to open source contributions, third-party viewer development and policy, and current open source programs.
  • This meeting is generally held twice a month on a Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
  • Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar, and they are generally conducted in text chat.
  • The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of the meeting.

Official Viewers

  • Default viewer 2025.06 7.2.1.17108480561 – August 29 – No Change.
    • Inventory Favourites System, plus assorted new features.
    • Improvements to avatar system; camera and movement; chat; voice; content creation tools.
    • Mesh uploader updates.
    • Text & UI polish.
    • Fixes for Environment and Rendering; stability and crashes; UI.
    • System improvements.
  • Second Life Beta viewer 2025.07 7.2.2.17774206511 – Apple Silicon Support – September 26 –  NEW.
    • This viewer now ships as a “Universal Binary” that contains both the Intel and Apple Silicon versions of the viewer. It should give performance gains on the Apple Silicon version in particular.
    • Also includes various WebRTC improvements and bug and crash fixes.
    • Known issues:
      • This version does not support convex decomposition for physics meshes with Apple Silicon. This will be hopefully be corrected in a future update or release, possibly with the help of a code contribution.
      • Navigation buttons in the in-viewer browser are no longer present for marketplace and search – these will be restored in a future update.
      • Apple Silicon does not support pathfinding tools.
      • Subtle rendering differences might be noticed on certain configurations and EEP environments.
  • Second Life Project Lua Editor Alpha (Aditi only), version 7.1.12.14888088240, May 13 –  No Change.

Viewer 2025.07

  • At the time of the meeting, the 2025.07 viewer was pending release.
  • The first part of the meeting involved discussions on potential routes to provide convex decomposition for physics meshes for this viewer version via open-source options, on both a short-term temporary basis and long-term solution.

In Brief

Please refer to the video for the following:

  • Appearance fixes: this is being considered for the 2025.08 viewer update, and Geenz has requested feedback / discussion on via Discord.
  • [Video: 13:12-19:52] A request was made to change the LOD default as a part of the work to provide convex decomposition on this viewer. This was denied, the focus being on providing a “feature complete” version of the viewer for Apple Silicon.
    • However, this led to a discussion on how best to handle LODs and auto LODs.
  • [Video: 20:20-End] A broad discussion on dressing avatars, including:
    • Baking clothing meshes (sort-of a-la BOM) / using mesh proxies fore clothing / layering clothing, and potential for improvement performance as a result.
    • Providing a scripted means to dress avatars according to the requirements of an Experience (e.g. if someone just a mech combat experience, scripts in the experience dress their avatar accordingly).
    • “Discouraging” overly-complex avatars.
    • This discussion encapsulated general ideas, feedback, etc., and also touched on things like VRAM use, etc.
    • The latter part of the discussion strayed into texture resolution + texture compression, licensing and libraries, etc.

Next Meeting

† The header images included in these summaries are not intended to represent anything discussed at the meetings; they are simply here to avoid a repeated image of a gathering of people every week. They are taken from my list of region visits, with a link to the post for those interested.