Sansar R33 Give More Get More release overview

Posted on by Inara Pey
Courtesy of Linden Lab

On Thursday, May 30th, Linden Lab updated the Sansar Give More, Get More (R33) release. An official summary of the update is available, and please refer to that document for details of bug fixes. Highlights of the release key features reviewed here are:

  • Client Atlas updates.

Initial Notes

As with the majority of Sansar deployments, this update requires the automatic download and installation of a client update.

Client Atlas Face-Lift

R33 bring with it an overhaul of the in-client Atlas. The new format comprises three broad categories: What’s Happing In Sansar; Popular Now and Featured.

The new in-client Atlas Discovery panel

This appears to in preparation for changes to the Atlas outlined by the Lab in recent Sansar Product Meetings that will see the Atlas display three selections of experiences that have been previously defined as:

  • Three featured experiences reserved for the Lab’s content partners.
  • Three featured experiences that align with other internal goals the Lab has which “may or may not be obvious”. These might, for example, focus on live music concerts.
  • Three  featured experiences open to Sansar creators, and will be changed on a weekly basis, and selected through a new criteria mechanism (details TBA).

The Experiences category will switch to the familiar listing of Sansar experiences, complete with the sub-selection options (All, Friends, Favourites), search bar and ordering options drop-down menu.

The new in-client Atlas experiences layout

The final category option is Events, offering the familiar listing of upcoming events with the sub-categories for listing past events, those you are hosting, and your calendar of all events you’ve bookmarked, and which are rounded out by the button for setting-up new events you wish to host.

The updated Atlas Events category

Other Updates with R33

  • Gifting: transaction fees for gifting Sansar dollars are to be removed, so the full amount of Sansar dollars will be passed to the recipient.
  • Event creation  / experience caps: as per my Sansar week #20 Product Meeting notes, with R33, event versions of experiences will no longer count towards the total number of experiences a creator can have published. Creators will for now be able to create / host as many events as they wish without hitting the ceiling on the total number of experiences they are allowed to have published within their subscription banding.
    • This is seen as a “temporary” change, pending further revisions to the events system, including finding a means to link events back to the originating experience.
  • New Item inventory icon: new items purchased  / obtained via the Store will be tagged with a “new” icon in their inventory thumbnail image.
The “new” icon for new i(and previously unworn / used) items in your inventory
  • New progress bar scripting API: this enables creators to add a progress bar or countdown timer when an action is triggered in an Experience. Descriptive text may also be included with the progress bar.
  • Foot IK improvement: an avatar’s feet turn when it changes direction in desktop, just like in VR
  • New right click capability: this enables users to cut, copy and paste text on various text fields.

Improvements List

This list taken directly from the release notes:

  • Avatar related:
    • Upgrading an avatar caused the Marvelous Designer clothing to fit over whatever the avatar had on during the upgrade process.
    • Marvelous Designer clothing can now be adjusted with two hands in VR.
    • The Customise option no longer exists after upgrading an avatar that has been deleted from the user’s inventory.
    • Make an empty fist in VR without worrying about other controller actions from working.
    • The scale values now apply properly on avatars using avatar animations that were uploaded using a partial skeleton.
  • Decimated crashes triggered from the avatar editor and scene editor.
  • New fix for exposure metering on Nvidia RTX GPUs to correct the problem that varied the experience brightness from one video card to another.
  • Making changes to a group of similar script attributes no longer changes the wrong attribute of some of the selected scripts.
  • Assets that contained unlicensed information no longer prevent the gizmos from appearing when selecting object structure components such as containers, static meshes, or volume components.

Second Life: significant SL fee changes announced

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update, June 1st: Following the amount of feedback concerning the planned reduction in the Basic account group allowance, Linden Lab has amnnounced this will not now be changing on June 24th, 2019. See: Group Limits Update: No Changes for Basic Members (Linden Lab) and LL reverse planned Basic account group limits reduction (this blog).

On Wednesday, May 30th, Linden Lab announced further changes to Full private region fees, significant changes to Premium subscription fees and to credit processing fees, and changes to some Premium and Basic account capabilities.

As detailed in an official blog post, the changes can be summarised as follows:

Full Private Region Tier Change

Source: Linden Lab

The Lab notes that:

  • These fees are exclusive of VAT, where applicable, and do not apply to Skilled Gaming region.
  • Education / Non-profit (EDU/NP) discounted Full islands will be re-priced to maintain their 50% discount off the regularly priced Full island fees.

Premium Subscription Fee Increase

In the same blog post, Linden Lab have announced a re-structuring / re-pricing of Premium subscriptions as follows:

Source: Linden Lab

Notes:

  • The monthly fee increase represents an annual increase of 26.21% (from US $114 pa to US $143.88 pa).
  • The annual increase represents an annual increase of 37.5%.
  • Quarterly subscriptions are to be retired as an option for users wishing to upgrade to Premium, but will still be available to those already using this plan. The fee increase of US $22.50 to US $32.97 represents an annual increase of 46.53% a year (US $90 pa to US $131.88 pa).
  • Both monthly and quarterly subscription fees will be subject to VAT, where applicable.

With regards to these Premium subscription changes, the Lab note:

To help with the transition to the new pricing, starting June 3, we’re offering a limited-time opportunity for existing Premium members to lock in their current rates for one more billing cycle, including extending an existing monthly to use the current full year rate by upgrading now to annual. Simply renew before June 24th to extend your current Membership at the same low rate. For example, monthly members will be billed at the lower rate for one more monthly billing cycle, while annual members may renew (or monthly users may upgrade to annual) early to add one more year to your existing Membership at the current lower rate. We will update when the option becomes available on June 3rd. Until then – if you are not up for renewal already, you will not see the option to lock in your current price. Keep an eye out for updates.

Credit Processing Fee Changes

In what will be seen as a further blow to those regularly / routinely cashing-out from Second life, the blog post also announced changes to credit processing fees, to wit:

Effective June 24, the fee for processing credit transactions (i.e. paying real money into a PayPal or Skrill account) will be 5% per transaction with a minimum fee of US$3 (there is no maximum fee).  The fee is currently 2.5% per transaction. This fee change offsets increased regulatory and compliance costs to Linden Lab and is in line with our continued commitment to the long-term successful operation of Second Life.

Change to Premium and Basic Account Capabilities

In order to try to offset some of the negative feedback these changes have already cause (as per at least two forum threads, here and here on the topic), the Lab also indicated increases to a couple of perks available to Premium members, together with a decrease in the same capabilities available to Basic account holders, a per the table below.

Source: Linden Lab

Note that group membership will not be revoked for Basic members who are involved in more than 35 groups at the time this change comes into effect. However, Basic members will be unable to join new groups until they reduce their group enrolments to below the new 35 group limit.

In addition, the Lab indicate that further improvements to Premium memberships  will be announced later in the year, as will a new Premium membership level, “for those who want to get the absolute most out of their Second Life.”

Thoughts as Premium Member

As one who is a Premium Member, I’m not entirely sanguine about the pricing increase – although I appreciate that in trying to pivot revenue generation away from a reliance on virtual land fees, Linden Lab must ensure any potential shortfalls are adequately guarded against. I’m also aware that while the Premium fees increase does hurt – it is actually the first such increase I can recall for a long time.

How this effects Premium level overall remains to be seen; however, my personal feeling right now is that unless the to-be-announced Premium membership level is truly exceptional in terms of benefits and opportunities, it is going to be hard to justify making a leap to it based on the prices announced with these changes and what might be taken from them in estimating to potential cost of any new membership package.

Those who are likely to feel particularly aggrieved are those who do routinely cash-out from Second Life, given credit processing fees have seen a number of increases over the last few years. While the Basic account changes come across as punitive in nature.

Please refer to the official blog post for the full text relating to these changes.

The waters of Blaylock Island in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey

Blaylock Island; Inara Pey, May 2019, on FlickrBlaylock Island – click any image for full size

Occupying a Homestead region, Blaylock Island – Where Peaceful Waters Flow is a stunning design by Jaccy (Jaccaranda Jael) with the support of Magenta Silverfall and Tira Langur (Tira Yalin), that has rightfully been getting a lot of attention from bloggers and photographers of late.

The region presents a wonderful feeling of being on a remote, rugged island where the weather is such that it has encouraged the growth of a local rain forest which does much to canopy the islands rocky splendour, whilst the coastline presents a veritable tropical paradise.

Blaylock Island; Inara Pey, May 2019, on FlickrBlaylock Island

It is on the coast that a visit commences, the landing point being on a long tongue of land extending into the western sea, rocks and breakers to the north testifying to shallow waters there. further around this curve of sandy coast sits one of a three major dwellings on the region. These do not appear to be private residences, but given they appear to belong to Jaccy, Magenta and Tira, some circumspection when visiting might be in order if they are present during your explorations.

Blaylock Island; Inara Pey, May 2019, on FlickrBlaylock Island

This is a place defined by the action of water. The central peak and high cliffs of the island feature great falls of water that tumble into bays and channels that cut through the landscape, forming deep ravines and sand banked waterways that twist their way to more open waters whilst also splitting the land somewhat. These waterways can be navigated using the little motorboat awaiting passengers close to the landing point, and which will periodically re-rez.

For the more adventurous, the island’s cloud-wreathed peak offers a series of wooden platforms linked by steps. These climb around the mountain to a final platform where a zip line can be taken back down to a raft anchored with one of the island’s bays, a short wade / swim from one of the beaches.

Blaylock Island; Inara Pey, May 2019, on FlickrBlaylock Island

Amidst the verdant trees and undergrowth sheltering the waterways, visitors can find other points of interest – a houseboat moored among mangroves, tree houses sheltered from the waters falling from above by a great natural arch of rock, and a variety of wildlife from flamingos to seals.

Throughout it all are numerous places to sit an relax and appreciate the setting, as well as those options for exploration, all of which – together with the rich sound scape – add depth to Blaylock Island that encourages the visitor to tarry beyond a brief visit.

Blaylock Island; Inara Pey, May 2019, on FlickrBlaylock Island

This is another very different and very engaging region design that offers numerous opportunities for exploration and photography. Beautifully present, it is easy to explore without significant impact on the viewer, and one will worth taking the time to visit and appreciate.

SLurl Details

La Galerie D’angle in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
La Galerie D’angle: Donna Giordano

Officially opening on Tuesday, May 28th, 2019 with a special celebration starting at 18:00 SLT, is La Galerie D’angle, curated by Mary Zimmer. On display is a exhibition of art by Donna Giordano (Ohsoleomio), and it’s an intriguing exhibition for an inaugural event.

An abstract artist in the physical world, Donna presents almost 30 pieces of her art, the majority of which offer rich rich palettes of colour and wonderfully abstract images that offer suggestions of a sunset on water, fields in the breeze, coastal landscapes and what might be storm-struck rocks – or lightning-split clouds, sailing ships on the ocean, and more.

La Galerie D’angle: Donna Giordano

Mixed with these are pieces that have a wonderful geometric look and feel to them and mosaics with a depth of colour within them that makes their texture almost tactile in its richness.

As some who appreciates abstract art, these are pictures which hold a strong appeal; but while the colour images have a marvellous attraction, I admit to being deeply drawn to the monochrome images there is a depth and rawness that is stunning. In this I would particularly single out Perfect Storm, the aforementioned piece depicting what might be lightning and storm clouds or foam-topped waves crashing against rocks.

La Galerie D’angle: Donna Giordano

This is a superb exhibition with which to open a new gallery, pieces that invite the imagination to take flight. I wish Mary every success with her venture. Those wishing to celebrate the opening with her can do so from 18:00 SLT on May 28th, with music from Bill Tigerpaw, who will be followed a 19:00 by Djembe Dragonfire before DJ Skip takes over from 20:00.

SLurl Details

2019 SL User Groups 22/1: Simulator User Group

Posted on by Inara Pey

Season's Cove; Inara Pey, April 2019, on FlickrSeason’s Cove – blog post

Update, May 29th: the BlueSteel RC updated to server maintenance package #19 19.05.24.527547. Magnum and LeTigre appear to have remained on  #19 19.05.17.527341.

Server Deployments

At the time of writing, a deployment thread had yet to be posted however:

  • On Tuesday, May 28th, the SLS (Main) channel updated to server maintenance package #19 19.05.17.527341, previously deployed to all three RC channels.
  • It does not appear that the three main RC channels will be updated on Wednesday, May 29th. Commenting on releases, Simon Linden said:

For server news, we updated the main channel of regions this morning, so the grid is pretty much all on the same version, except for one small RC channel. That’ll get updated tomorrow, I believe.

This “small” update might include an initial deployment of the updated region crossing code that has been subject to testing in the last couple of weeks, as per my last couple of Simulator User Group updates.

SL Viewer

There have been no LL viewer updates at the start of the week, leaving the pipelines as follows:

  • Current Release version 6.2.2.527338, formerly the Teranino RC viewer, promoted May 22nd.
  • Release channel cohorts:
  • Project viewers:
  • Linux Spur viewer, version 5.0.9.329906, dated November 17th, 2017 and promoted to release status November 29th, 2017 – offered pending a Linux version of the Alex Ivy viewer code.
  • Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.

In Brief

Script Processing Issues

As I’ve recently report, there have been numerous reports of script run time issues, with some reporting that problems only started occurring following the roll-back on April 18th, 2019. BUG-226851 outlines some of the problems. Some regions experiencing the issue have been cloned to Aditi (the beta grid) where they are running fine, and the Lab is currently looking at script scheduling on Agni (the Main grid).

It has been suggested that multi-thread LSL might offer advantages, prompting Simon Linden to comment:

Again it’s a tougher job retrofitting multiple threads since it wasn’t part of the original design … it would have to be an update queue … but that adds some problems too, as if you call one function and it changes something in-world, then one to get the info … we’d have to suspend until we apply the first. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea or anything … just that it would turn into a monster project.

Rider Linden added:

Threading is one of those things that really needs to be considered up front in the design. Trying to retrofit it into an existing project can lead to madness.

Voice Griefing

Voice griefing can be a problem on voice-enabled regions. It can take several forms (e.g. someone hacks voice system so they can connect to a region without being in it or even logged in). Detailing with these types of hacks  is exceptionally difficult. However, Oz commented in the SUG meeting that LL are working to address this problem – how wasn’t specified, but one possible way of doing so would be for Support to be able to remove an offending user from voice.

Rock Your Rack: theme and designer registrations

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Rock Your Rack

Rock Your Rack, the annual fund-raiser organised by Models Giving Back (MGB) in aid of the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), will again take place between Saturday, October 5th through Saturday, October 19th, 2019, inclusive.

Officially endorsed by the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Rock your Rack is a combined fashion and entertainment event, offering the best in both to visitors, with designer booths, fashions shows, live performances and DJ sessions. In addition, there will be a range of supporting activities, including:

  • A silent auction featuring one-of-a-kind items from Rock Your Rack designers who will give 100% of the sales to the cause
  • A Rock Your Rack Hunt featuring collectables offered by participating designers at L$10 each – with all proceeds going directly into the fund-raising.
  • An Art show and auction.

The theme for this year’s event is Celebrate Diversity with the organisers noting:

We want to celebrate the diversity of Second Life and reach all areas of second life with this event. So let’s start thinking about that and how you can be involved to celebrate the diversity of Second Life.

Rock Your Rack 2018

Designer Registrations

At the start of May 2019, the event opened applications from designers wishing to participate in Rock Your Rack. These are available to any content designers and SL established businesses. Those interested in participating are asked to meet the following high-level requirements:

  • Provide an Exclusive item not for sale anywhere else during the time of the event and has never been previously sold or given away (designer keeps 100% of sales from this item).
  • Provide a Limited Edition item which can be a new design or a remake of an old favourite. 100% of proceeds from this item must go to Rock Your Rack for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and the item must be marked as such and retired from sales after the event.
  • Offer either the Exclusive item or the Limited Edition in keeping with the event’s theme Celebrate Diversity.
  • Provide one item of the designer’s choice for the event’s L$10 Hunt, which gives 100% of funds raised to the NBCF.
  • Sales of all other items can be offered at 100% of proceeds going to the designer, or can be set to give a percentage donation to Rock Your Rack, entirely at the designer’s discretion.

For a full run-down of the designer participant guidelines and rules can be found on the designer’s information page at Rock Your Rack, and also on the registration form.

Pricing for participating in the event as a designer starts at L$2,000. This provides a Regular booth with a 50 LI allowance which can be used for vendors and decoration; the designer’s logo displayed on the booth and on the Rock Your Rack website, and a SLurl listing to the designer’s in-world store; event advertising on social media and with in-world groups alongside the Rock Your Rack website; and paid advertising through Seraphim and other outlets if approved by those outlets.

There are then a series of options available at additional pricing which designers can opt to take advantage of in order to maximise their exposure in this event. Again, please refer to the information page for full pricing details.

Rock Your Rack 2017

Media Partners

Rock Your Rack is currently seeking media partners to help promote the event. There is no fee for becoming a media partner, but those applying are asked to help in one or more of the following ways:

  • Spread the word about Rock Your Rack via Facebook, social media, an advert in a publication or via in-world groups.
  • Advertise the event in the months leading up to Rock Your Rack by running the RYR monthly advert in their publications.
  • Continue to promote the event via social media and in-world groups when Rock Your Rack opens.
  • Offering any support that will be helpful to RYR fund-raising: interviews, articles etc (early access on Media Day can be provided for photos).

In return for this, Rock Your Rack / Models Giving Back offer:

  • Listing as Media Partner on the official Rock Your Rack website.
  • Logo placement on all official RYR adverts for partners joining prior to July 31st, and in the shopping areas/runway/DJ Dance Party areas on media partner designated boards during the event (all partners).
  • Information giver placement at the event’s landing point.
  • Mention in the opening of all fashion shows held during the event as a media partner.

Interested parties should contact Jamee Sandalwood in-world.

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