Wonderland 2.0, February 2022 – blog postThe following summary notes were taken from the Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 Simulator User Group (SUG) meeting. It forms a summary of the items discussed, and a video of the entire meeting is embedded at the end of the article – my thanks to Pantera for recording it.
Tuesday, March 15th saw the SLS Main channel updated to server release 569051, bringing it to parity with the RC channels. This release makes some improvements to the processes of simulator start-up and shutdown, as well as fixing a crash and a subtle bug in LSL math functions.
Wednesday, March 16th should see the RC channels restarted without any deployment.
Available Official Viewers
The Performance Improvements viewer was promoted to RC status with the release of version 6.6.0.569349 on March 14th. This viewer may have also absorbed the Tracy Integration viewer updates, which have been withdrawn as a dedicated RC viewer.
All official viewer pipelines remain as follows:
Release viewer: version version 6.5.3.568554 – formerly the Maintenance J&K RC viewer, promoted Monday, February 28 – No Change
Release channel cohorts:
Lao-Lao Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.5.4.569191, issued on March 11.
Project viewers:
Mesh Optimizer project viewer, version 6.5.2.566858, dated January 5, issued after January 10.
Performance Floater project viewer, version 6.4.23.562625, issued September 2.
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 Land Team still have yet to settle on a suitable EEP setting for the Mainland in order to alleviate the generally dark see to the day environment there.
BUG-231876 “llRequestSimulatorData() frequently and silently fails” – this issue has reproduced by the Lab and is being actively worked on.
Further discussions on the issue of vehicles hitting a parcel ban / ban lines are “bounced” (much like they do on reaching an edge of the grid) rather than avatars being unseated / dumped and the vehicle returned to the owner’s Lost and Found. Feature request BUG-231802 “Prevent vehicles from entering parcels their riders cannot access” has been accepted, but no ETA on implementation.
Additional discussions on scripting, and on media control.
Scripting options included further requests for parcel teleport routing capabilities, accurately positioning / seating avatars.
As conversations at SUG meetings tend to cover the same ground re: certain requests like these, a request was made for LL to provide a general workplan / response to such requests, so that people know what to expect.
Feature request BUG-231929 “llCanRez or something equivalent to check if an object can rez at the location it will try to in the future” is a request for a better way of detecting if a prim can be rezzed by an object on land rather than having to write a LSL function.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) was raised, with the Lab re-iterating that the capability is being rolled out in stages. As I’ve reported in recent TPVD summaries, the next element is liable to be extending the MFA capability to the viewer – see: SL Wiki: Login MFA.
Whilst not a simulator issue per se, some creators at the meeting requested (again) that LL provide in-world mesh editing capabilities and “get rid of primitives” as “you can’t make much of anything with primitives anymore” – a comment that many of us who routinely build with primitives would likely strongly dispute. While there are no plans for LL to “replace” prims, what is likely required are broader options for importing content created using third-party tools.
Seagull Rock, March 2022 – click on any image for full size
Inara, unfortunately I have to inform you that Sheepville is gone. Since my retirement, I can only commit to running half a region, and I think that eight years of running Sheepville are enough 🙂 . I hope that you will visit my new location, I think it looks nice also even its just half of a region.
With these words, Micky Woodget both informed me of the sad passing on Sheepville, his charming village setting I first visited in 2013, and to which I returned in 2021 (Return to Sheepville in Second Life), a timeless setting both in terms of them mix of eras found within it and in terms of Second Life, where regions can so easily come and go or change beyond recognition from build to build, and invited to visit Seagull Rock, his new setting – and invitation I could hardly refuse.
Seagull Rock, March 2022
Although “only” occupying a quarter Homestead, Seagull Rock captures the spirit of Sheepville perfectly; while the buildings may be more modern in looks than the Tudoresque shops and houses of Sheepville, they sit around a piazza shaded here and there by mature trees and with a fountain sitting towards its centre, all of which helps the setting provide an echo of Sheepville.
Unlike Sheepville, however, Seagull Rock abuts the sea via a small fishing harbour tucked into the south-west corner of the town and from which fresh fish are delivered to the local restaurant as it sits just behind the wharves, and the fish market next door. In fact Seagull Rock takes fresh food very seriously, as can be seen at the local butcher shop, bakery and fresh produce market shop, all of which suggest the local countryside has some rich farmlands tucked away beyond the trees.
Seagull Rock, March 2022
North of the square, a country track winds its way past a meadow that has been given over to a camp site that allows visitors to make use of the local beach, to arrive at a set of steps leading up to a country pub – the Sheep Inn. This again offers a hint of Sheepville in its look and feel; and although this appears to be a popular stopping-off point for locals (and visitors!), it doesn’t prevent the local fallow deer wandering out of the woodlands (which are presented as a backdrop image to one side of the parcel) and availing themselves of the local pond.
The deer, together with some of the signage to be found within the setting (perhaps most notably at the Post Office, complete with its distinctive pillar box outside) once again suggest this is a place for be found somewhere in the UK – although one of the town buildings offers a touch of Tuscany in its lines.
Seagull Rock, March 2022
South of the town, and passing by way of an arch, another track leads to a small cottage. Whilst it might stand empty, the track that connects it with the southern headland’s lighthouse suggests it might have once been the home of a lighthouse keeper, a role that might no longer be required in this age of automation.
One of the things that gives Micky’s builds a certain charm is that although he uses mesh extensively in his designs – the majority of the buildings are those he has made himself – they carry with them a nostalgic feel of being “classic” Second Life, something that can catch the eye and raise a smile among long-term SL users.
Seagull Rock, March 2022
Also, with Sheepville, Micky added a degree of depth to the setting through this use of his own animated characters; with Seagull Rock he continues this theme, but using static characters of the kind that have, over the course of the last year or so, become a staple of many public regions. While no longer his own creations, these characters nevertheless again give Seagull Rock a further depth.
Nicely photogenic under a number of EEP settings, easy to explore, rich in detail and nostalgia, Seagull Rock is a delightful successor to Sheepville, carrying much of its memory while offering something entirely new to appreciate. My thanks to Micky for the invitation!
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, March 14th, 19:00: A World Out of Time
After being cryogenically frozen in the 1970s to await a cure for his (then) incurable cancer, Jaybee Corbell awakes after more than 200 years – to find his own body destroyed and his mind and memories transferred into the “mindwiped” body of a criminal. And that’s is not all that has changed: the Earth is now overseen by an oppressive, totalitarian global government called “The State”, and Corbell’s existence is to be determined by a “checker”; if he is found wanting, he will be discarded.
However, Peerssa, the checker, recommends Corbell as ideal fodder in The State’s attempts to seek out exoplanets suitable for terraforming – whether he wants to join the programme or not. Disgusted by his treatment, Corbell works out a way to take control of his one-person ship on its otherwise one-way mission, and heads toward the galactic core. Entering suspended animation, he is unaware his vessel skims close enough to the super-massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy to experience time dilation.
Emerging from his suspended state, and believing only 150 years have passed, Corbell returns to the solar system to find it again vastly changed: more than three million years have passed, and the Sun has become a bloated red giant, and Earth – well, Earth appears to have been relocated to an orbit around Jupiter, whilst humanity itself had endured extensive changes; and Corbell must face an entirely new set of challenges if he is to survive.
Caledonia Skytower reads the fifth of Salman Rushdie’s major publications and his first since The Satanic Verses.
Written for the younger reader, but with plenty with it suited to older ears, it is of an allegorical nature and addresses a number of societal problems, particularly those found in the Indian subcontinent.
Dedicated to Rushdie’s son, the book looks at the issues it raises – including that of censorship (unsurprisingly, given the reaction following the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988) – through the eyes of Haroun Khalifa, the son of a doctor and master storyteller.
Both father and son are struck by afflictions related to Haroun’s mother deserting them; Haroun has a form of attention-deficit disorder, whilst his father is prone to bouts of depression. Both can only be relieved of their afflictions should Haroun’s mother, Soraya, return.
Before then, however, Haroun is set for an adventure and discovery.
Wednesday, March 16th 19:00: The Quiet Man
Released in 1952, John Ford’s The Quiet Man is regarded as a classic Irish-American romantic comedy / drama. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara (and assorted members of their RL families!) and Barry Fitzgerald, it is a popular choice among critics and film-lovers.
The screenplay for the film was drawn in a large part from a short story of the same name originally published in 1933 in the Saturday Evening Post, and penned by Irish author, Maurice Welsh. Together with a number of other short stories by Walsh, The Quiet Man was gathered into a single volume of his short stories, The Quiet Man and Other Stories, which dealt with many recurring characters living in rural Ireland of the 1920s, and set against the backdrop of the civil unrest which affected the country at that time, while examining the complexities and occasional intrigues of life, love and Irish traditions.
Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads Walsh’s original tale of The Quiet Man, Paddy Bawn Enright to Mark St. Patrick’s Day.
Thursday, March 17th 19:00: Irish Legends: Celtic Myth and Magick
An Introduction to Fairy Lore and Enchantments presented by Shandon Loring.
Logos representative only and should not be seen as an endorsement / preference / recommendation
Updates from the week ending Sunday, March 13th, 2022
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 version 6.5.3.568554 – formerly the Maintenance J&K RC viewer, promoted Monday, February 28 – no change.
Release channel cohorts:
Lao-Lao Maintenance RC viewer, version 6.5.4.569191, issued on March 11th.
Now open within the sky gallery spaces at Monocle Man Galleries, operated by curated by Kit Boyd and Lynx Iuga, The Song of the Selkie is a collaborative exhibition featuring six visual artists and the voice of Electric Monday (perhaps best known in art review circles for formerly running the excellent Sim Quarterly region and its immersive installations) that is, I gather, the first under to be opened under the umbrella title of Voice and Art.
The idea – as indicated by the umbrella title – is to bring together images and voice / music in a combined experience married to a story. However, the twist is that while each of the participating artists knows the theme of the exhibition, they are unaware of the other images being produced for the exhibition.
For The Song of the Selkie, the exhibition takes as its theme the legend of the selkie, as brought to us through the words and music for Dutch alternative metal-gothic rock group Blackbriar, and featured on their first album The Cause of Shipwreck (April 2021). For those unfamiliar with them, selkies are mythological beings capable of Therianthropy (shape-shifting). In this case from seal to human and back by shedding / re-wearing their pelt, whilst tales of selkie often focus on female selkies being coerced into relationships with men by the latter stealing their pelts whilst they are in human form, thus trapping them.
Monocle Man Galleries – Song of the Selkies
This is the tale presented in the exhibition, with the six artists – Hilaire Beaumont, Kit Boyd, John Garrison, Lynx Iuga, Tresore Prada and Evie Ravens – each presenting what is a single frame of the story, from a man discovering a selkie in her human form through his theft of her pelt to the eventual tragedy that arises from stolen / lost love. Each image is accompanied by a giver in the form of an electronic tablet that provides a biography of the artist when touched.
A HUD offered to visitors as they enter the hall from the landing point teleport disk provides the voice element of the exhibition – lines from the Blackbriar song read by Electric Monday. Use of the HUD is simple: attach it from inventory, then view the first image in the exhibition (Lynx Iuga) before click “image 1” on the HUD. After a pause, a recording to Electric reading lines from the song will be played back; when you have heard them and finished studying the first image, click the HUD image again to turn off the recording before moving to the next image in the gallery, and repeat with the HUD, this time clicking “image 2”, then repeat through the remaining images / recordings.
The final touches to the exhibition come in the hall in which it is being staged. Within its wood interior and heavy beams, the hall carries with it a sense of it having a Celtic / Norse edge, in keeping with the origin of selkie mythology. This is increased by the mail box (inviting artists to participate in the next story to drop their details into it) that rises from the middle of the floor, appearing to be some latter-day Mjölnir awaiting the return of its wielder. Finally, at the far end of the hall relative to the landing point, a large board will offer visitors to hear Blackbriar’s song via You Tube.
Monocle Man Galleries – Song of the Selkies
Small and engaging, Song of the Selkie presents an interesting audio-visual exhibition.
The war in Ukraine continues to have repercussions in international space activities. some of them somewhat bizarre in nature.
In particular, the head of Roscosmos and noted Putin hardliner, Dmitry Rogozin has been putting out a series of tweets that have been increasingly threatening – in my previous Space Sunday update, I noted that Rogozin had threatened to allow the International Space Station ISS to slip into an uncontrolled de-orbit and potentially crash into a Western city (since the shuttle’s retirement, Russian Progress re-supply vehicles have been used to routinely boost the station’s orbit as drag with the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere), despite the fact the multiple means by which the United States can boost the station’s orbit. In fact, NASA is planning a test using the current Cygnus NG-17.resupply vessel that docked with the ISS on February 21st to do just this, the test being scheduled for early April 2022.
Since then, there have been threats to “abandon” US astronaut Mark Vande Hei on the station at the end of his tour. Vande Hei flew to the ISS in 2021 aboard Soyuz MS-18 in April 2021. He is due to return to Earth at the end of March aboard Soyuz MS-19, but Rogozin has publicly tweeted that Russia will deny him his seat on the flight unless US and International attitudes towards Russia are reversed.
Whilst denying Vande Hei a seat on a Soyuz would mean his return to earth would be delayed, it is hardly “abandoning” him. NASA has at least two options for returning him directly to the United States using the SpaceX Crew Dragon, which can carry up to seven people – although flights thus far have not exceeded four -, whilst Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, once operational and as a longer-term option, might also be used.
Most bizarrely, and in connection with Vande Hei, on March 5th Russian state media company RIA Novosti posted a video apparently put together by Roscosmos that showed Russian cosmonauts packing up and detaching the Russian segment from the ISS utilising edited footage of actual activities on the ISS, together with studio-developed CGI images, it is unclear if the video is intended to be a threat or not, although it does end with the words “This is based on unreal events”, but it appeared to be a further part of the Roscosmos / Rogozin belligerency, the latter issuing a statement at more-or-less the same time, also through Russian media:
The blame for the collapse of cooperation in space lies on the shoulders of the United States, Britain, France and Germany. These countries destroyed what was created by mankind with such difficulty, what was created by the blood and sweat of those people who mastered space.
– Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos director
Russian gov't-controlled RIA Novosti @rianru posted a video on Telegram made by @Roscosmos where cosmonauts say goodbye to Mark Vande Hei on #ISS, depart, and then the Russian segment detaches from the rest of ISS. @Rogozin is clearly threatening the ISS program. #NASA#Ukrainepic.twitter.com/fj2coK1xR1
But could / would Russia take such an act? The Russian elements of the station sit as an individual group of modules connected to the rest of the station at a single point. So technically, they could be detached. However, doing so would require more than a simple packing up of bags, closing a couple of hatches and pushing off; there are a lot of interdependencies to be considered – and the flow of power, etc., is not one-way as Rogozin has attempted to paint. As such, numerous activities would have to be completed ahead of time so as to avoid risk to the Russian crew. As such, seeing the video as an outright threat, per the NASAWatch tweet above, this seems unlikely.
More to the point, Roscomos has already announced plans for a new dedicated space station – the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) – they intend to start assembling in 2025. This will use at least one module (SPS-1/NEM-1) originally intended to join the ISS in 2024, but which Roscosmos has stated will be repurposed for the new station. This will be added to using a second “former ISS” module and the Nauka module that arrived at the ISS in July 2021, both in around 2028. As such, detaching modules such as Zarya and Zvezda, already practically at the end of their operational life, from the ISS and which would serve no real purpose would seem unlikely. But then, international space cooperation is one of the more significant areas in which Russia could express itself without necessarily escalating tension on Earth in an irreversible manner.
Given their plans to fly ROSS – the Russian Orbital Service Station, it would seem unlikely Roscosmos would unduly threaten ISS operations. Credit: Roscosmos
Currently, NASA is stressing that from their perspective, and despite Rogozin’s rhetoric, it is cooperation as usual with the ISS, although some voices are urgent the agency to put together a tiger team to explore options should Russia opt to do something unexpected with the ISS. However, ISS missions aren’t the only target.
As I noted last time around the worsening situation in Western-Russian relations means that a number of ESA launches have potentially been impacted, and the fate of the joint ExoMars lander / rover mission, due for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in September – a date a lot closer than the other threatened missions.
More directly impacted has been British satellite internet company OneWeb. They had contracted Roscosmos to launch 36 of their internet communications satellite network – part of an initial network of 220 such satellites (eventually rising to 600), However, OneWeb was rescued from bankruptcy by the UK, which now holds a 51% stake, and Roscosmos initially refused to go through with the launch until the UK government sold its stake in OneWeb – a demand that was refused. As a result of the action by Roscosmos, OneWeb has cancelled all further launches using Russian vehicle, and has joined a growing number of businesses no longer utilising the Russian launch vehicle fleet, and taking their business elsewhere.
Spektr-RG telescope. Credit: DLR
But it is not all one-way. The German Aerospace Centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt or DLR), one of the largest space agencies in Europe announced it has cancelled its partnership with Roscosmos across all space research and development, with no intention of resuming cooperative ventures with Russia in the future.
In response, Dmitry Rogozin immediately ordered the shut down of the German-built eROSITA x-ray instrument on the on the Spektr-RG high-energy astrophysics space observatory, launched in 2019. Occupying the Earth-Sun L2 position 1.5 million km from Earth, Spektr-RG was a flagship mission for both DLR and Roscosmos. However, shutting eROSITA down is something of a pyrrhic response on Rogozin’s part, as it is the primary instrument aboard the satellite, and its loss impacts Russian space science as much as German.
China Offers Station for Commercial and International Cooperation
China is planning to open its space station to commercial research and activities, according to a senior human spaceflight program official. It is first indication that the national space agency will allow Chinese commercial enterprises to participate in the programme, and is being seen as a similar step to NASA’s “public/private” partnerships for crew and cargo vehicles for the ISS.
When our space station is completed and running, we will actively encourage the private sector to engage in space through various ways. There are many possibilities. We hope there will be competitive, cost-efficient commercial space players to participate in areas including space applications and space resource development. The prospects are good.
– Zhou Jianping, director of China’s human spaceflight programme
Construction of the Tiangong station is due to be completed this year with the addition of the Wentian and Mengtian modules (May / June 2022 and August / September 2022 respectively), two cargo spacecraft and two crewed missions – Shenzhou 14 and 15 – are also due to visit the station, marking the start of a 10-year operational lifecycle for Tiangong.
An artist’s impression of the Tiangong space station. Credit: CNSA
As well as national interests, China is also seeking international involvement with the station, calling directly to scientists and universities around the world to provide experiments and engage with China to research and station activities. China has also extended an invitation to United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), following in the footsteps of America’s Sierra Space in offering the opportunity to those countries that do not have easy access to space with the ability to fly experiments to Tiangong (Sierra Space is due to fly the first UNOOSA mission aboard its Dream Chaser Cargo space plane in 2024).
Nor is this passing unnoticed. Nanoracks, a company that specialising in flying experiments to the International Space Station in behalf of clients, has admitted China has already lured one of the significant customers to start flying to Tiangong in preference to the ISS.
After being cryogenically frozen in the 1970s to await a cure for his (then) incurable cancer, Jaybee Corbell awakes after more than 200 years – to find his own body destroyed and his mind and memories transferred into the “mindwiped” body of a criminal. And that’s is not all that has changed: the Earth is now overseen by an oppressive, totalitarian global government called “The State”, and Corbell’s existence is to be determined by a “checker”; if he is found wanting, he will be discarded.
Caledonia Skytower reads the fifth of Salman Rushdie’s major publications and his first since The Satanic Verses. 
Released in 1952, John Ford’s The Quiet Man is regarded as a classic Irish-American romantic comedy / drama. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara (and assorted members of their RL families!) and Barry Fitzgerald, it is a popular choice among critics and film-lovers.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 