Tag: TPV Developer meetings

The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the Third-Party Viewer Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, April 12th, 2024. My thanks as always to Pantera for recording the TPVD meeting and providing the video, which is embedded at the end of this article.

• The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development. This meeting is held once a month  the third or fourth Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
• In regards to meetings:
  • Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.
  • Commence at 13:00 SLT on their respective dates.
  • Are conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • Are open to all with an interest in either content creation or viewer development.

• The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of either meeting.

Official Viewers Status

[Video: 00:29-1:19]

• Release viewer: version7.1.5.8443591509, formerly the Maintenance-W RC (bug and crash fixes), version and issued March 29th, promoted April 9th.
• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
  • Maintenance YZ RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history, version 7.1.6.8632452945, April 12.
  • Materials Featurettes RC viewer, version 7.1.5.8472515256, April 3.
  • Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.5.8443777128, April 2.
• Project viewers:
  • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.

General Viewer Notes

• Maintenance X looks to be the next viewer in line for promotion.
• The Graphics Featurettes viewer (PBR terrain and mirrors) is expected “soon”.
• LUAU integration (client-side scripting API): still in the early stages, and not a lot available for testing via a test viewer or similar.

Graphics Update

[Video: 4:25-6:17]

• A new glTF mesh importer has been made available via the content Creation Discord channel (which LL have requested I do not link to here – contact Vir Linden if you have a need to be on that channel) purely for the purposes of testing by content creators.
  • This allows for the importing and viewing of static glTF-compliant mesh models and seeing how the look in Second Life.
  • This is the first element within the “glTF Phase II” project.
• Cosmic Linden is working on bug fixes for the PBR terrain support, and Geenz Linden is putting the finishing touches to mirrors, both in the expectation of a public-facing viewer being made available.
• 2K textures is still subject to discussions on pricing, and may or may not surface in the Featurettes viewer’s initial release.
• Simulator support for the upcoming Graphics featurettes is due to go the the Preflight channel in week #16. This will include 2K texture support, which will most likely be disabled pending a final decision on pricing, etc.

WebRTC Voice Update

[Video: 29:17-33:19]

• See here for background.
• A Project viewer is being put together, and this should be available viewer soon, and the code should be fairly stable.
• Some testing has been carried out with WebRTC on Linux with good results.
• Feature requests for WebRTC made via the WebRTC board on the SL Feedback Portal are being evaluated and some are being actioned, together with issues being investigated.
• The test region webRTC1 (Aditi) now has an echo capability for testing WebRTC once the Project viewer is available (or for those on a test viewer).
• There may well be a pile-on test at the WebRTC test regions as things progress to test the new voice capability – although this might be better suited to having a test region available on Agni.

In Brief

• There have been requests to have meeting times across several of the User Group meetings altered to be more accessible to Europeans or for those elsewhere in the US, etc. These requests are under consideration within the various user groups where they have been raised.
  • It was also noted that it would be useful if the Agenda sections of the wiki pages for User Groups were actually maintained, so that people can at least see what is up for discussion from LL’s side ahead of meetings, to help in making informed opinions on whether or not to attend.
• [Video: 18:48-23:22] Featurettes flags:
  • It was noted that the plan for viewer projects going forward is to utilise the idea of featurette flags (as with the Graphics Featurette viewer) and have capabilities / functions new to the viewer placed behind flags (debug settings) managed via the simulator.
  • This is a reversal of the “old” mechanism for viewer features, which was led by the view making specific UDP message requests to the simulator for specific feature capabilities / function, and the simulator then respond on a request-by-request basis.
  • The advantage of this is that it potentially allows for faster viewer development iteration: features can be added to project / RC viewers and placed behind flags potentially allowing for testing on Aditi, rather than having to wait for months (/years) for a project-related viewer to surface with everything in pace and then only get actual user testing.
  • The disadvantage is communicating what in the viewer code might be tested and what is awaiting the setting of a flag from the simulator.
  • As such, LL are aware of the need for clear communications with TPVs on projects, code, and flags.
• A general discussion on UDP message formats.

Next Meeting

• 13:00 SLT, Friday May 10th, 2024, at the Hippotropolis Theatre.

† 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.

The following notes were taken from my audio recording and chat log transcript of the Third-Party Viewer Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, March 15th, 2024. My thanks as always to Pantera for recording the TPVD meeting and providing the video, which is embedded at the end of this article.

• The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development. This meeting is held once a month  the third or fourth Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre.
• In regards to meetings:
  • Dates and times are recorded in the SL Public Calendar.
  • Commence at 13:00 SLT on their respective dates.
  • Are conducted in a mix of Voice and text chat.
  • Are open to all with an interest in either content creation or viewer development.
• The notes herein are a summary of topics discussed and are not intended to be a full transcript of either meeting.

Official Viewers Status

[Video: 00:00-1:31]

No updates since the start of the week, leaving the available official viewer as:

• Release viewer: version 7.1.3.7878383867, the Emoji Viewer, issued February 15, promoted March 1st, 2024 – NoChange.
• Release channel cohorts (please see my notes on manually installing RC viewer versions if you wish to install any release candidate(s) yourself).
  • glTF PBR Materials Maintenance-2 RC viewer, version 7.1.4.8149792635, March 11, 2024.
  • Maintenance X RC (usability improvements), version 7.1.4.8148263040 , March 11, 2024.
  • Maintenance-W RC (bug and crash fixes), version 7.1.4.8113624779, March 6, 2024.
  • Maintenance Y RC ( My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history + Maint Z RC integration) updated to version 7.1.4.8114240508, March 6, 2024.
• Project viewers:
  • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.

General Notes

• The “most likely” RC viewer in line for promotion to release status is the glTF / PBR Maintenance 2 viewer, with the hope it will be promoted in week #12.
• After this, the next glTF viewer will be the Featurette viewer (which may surface as an RC viewer by the end of March 2024), which will include:
  • Geenz Linden’s work on Mirrors, including his latest updates to the capability.
  • Cosmic Linden’s work on applying glTF materials to terrain.
  • Updates which will allow the glTF / PBR swatch boxes in the Build / Edit floater display previews of the materials being selected, rather than grey boxes.
  • The first series of additional glTF extensions – Index of Refraction.
  • Initial work on 2K textures support (which does not include BoM, as this would require a significant update to the Bake Service).

WebRTC Voice

[Video: 1:49-15:03]

• A new project intended to move Second Life away from reliance on the Vivox voice service and plug-in, and to using the WebRTC communications protocol (RTC=”real-time communication”).
• WebRTC is something of a “defacto standard”, being built-in to most web browsers and supporting  wide range of real-time communications tools in common use (e.g. Google Meet), supporting audio, video and data communications.
• In terms of audio / voice (the primary focus here), WebRTC has a number of standard features expected of audio communications services (such as automatic echo cancellation, better noise cancellation and automatic gain control, etc.) and offers much improved audio sampling rates for improved audio quality.
• Work has already progress so that WebRTC supports all of the current SL Voice capabilities (e.g. region Voice, parcel Voice, peer-to-peer, ad-hoc and group capabilities, muting, etc.).
• In addition, work has been put into securing the use of WebRTC Voice against attempts to eavesdrop, etc., and to route peer-to-peer communications via an internal server to avoid revealing user’s IP addresses to the risk of doxing, etc.
• WebRTC will be supplied within the viewer using a library and wrapper. This will mean no requirement to run a third-party voice plugin (SLvoice.exe, as supplied by Vivox) going forward.
• The switch to WebRTC also opens the door to adding new features and capabilities to SL Voice, some of which have been long-requested.

Current Status

• WebRTC currently works alongside Vivox, with the Lab working to make the transition over as painless as possible, with the simulator end of support being switched to WebRTC on a limited basis to start, with the switch being thrown for all regions once there is a high enough confidence that the majority of users are on viewers with the new WebRTC code + wrapper.
  • However, once regions have been switched to use the WebRTC capabilities, viewers still running the Vivox plugin will not be able to access Voice services on them, as the WebRTC back-end does not recognise the Vivox plug-in.
  • Voice Morphing is also not part of the initial implementation.
• There are test viewers with the necessary viewer-side WebRTC support (not yet at Project or RC status), and regions on Aditi, the Beta grid (webRTC1 and webRTC2) with the back-end support.
  • It is possible that, going forward and to allow broader testing, a region on Agni (the Main grid) could be set-up for WebRTC testing (as with the current Echo Canyon for SL Voice).
• Wiki documentation is in progress, and includes links to the test viewers (currently Windows and Mac OS) + a public code repo and other information. Note, this is subject to further update.
• There is a dedicated WebRTC board on the SL Feedback Portal where issues, etc., can be reported / raised for discussion.
• It was noted that there are various complexities and problems being worked out (e.g. safeguarding peer-to-peer Voice as noted above, issues with maintaining Voice during  / after region crossings, etc.).

Mesh Download Cost Discount

[Video: 39:30-42:38]

• As recently reported, how the download weight (“cost”) of mesh objects is calculated will be changing.
• The net effect of this is around a 15% reduction on the download weight.
• This should result in a reduction of the overall Land Impact for many (but not necessarily all) in-world mesh objects.
  • However, it should not be taken to mean the overall LI for an object will be reduced by 15%; while the dominant factor in calculating an object’s Land Impact, it is not the only factor, as such the amount of LI reduction will always be dependent on the impact of the other costs associated with a mesh (rendring cost, physics cost, etc.).
  • As I’ve noted in a recent project summary, Animesh objects are excluded from any Land Impact reduction, for example, as they have their own LI calculation).

In Brief

• Some discussion on adding PBR support to Bakes on Mesh. While this is not ruled out, it was again stated that it would require a significant overhaul of the Bake Service, and has some major lead-in questions on how to best go about the work that would need to be addressed before an work could be initiated.
• PBR Terrain:
  • At its basic, this is PBR layers, but for high-end computers, it can leverage triplanar mapping for improved repeats / quality.
  • There is also a change to how texture repeats are handled, in order to avoid issues at region boundaries.
  • A reminder that it is a viewer-side feature at presents (with a server-side control flag for enabling), piggybacking off the existing terrain tools. As such, there is no fallback from PBR terrain to texture terrain, its on or the other.
  • The PBR terrain support will initially be limited to Private regions and estates; it will not be available to Mainland.
• A discussion on reflection probes (such as having a probe within a probe – don’t do this) and observed problems, e.g. BUG-234815 (via Github archive)
• A – slight – issue of losing your head when using the upcoming Mirrors capability from Mouselook (see: BUG-234342 via Github archive).

• A discussion on emojis / unicode / Display Names.
• A discussion on avatar complexity, policing, limitations, impact of allowing avatars to effectively be given a “free pass” in terms of proper optimisation  / LI accountability, and developing a terminology to help users (and creators?) properly understand the impact their avatars can have on general viewer performance.

Next Meeting

• 13:00 SLT, Friday April 12th, 2024, at the Hippotropolis Theatre.

† 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.

The following notes were taken from my chat log transcript and audio recording of the December 1st, 2023 Third Party Viewer Developer (TPVD) meeting, together with the video recording of the meeting made by Pantera – my thanks to her as always for making it and allowing me to embed it in these summaries.

Meeting Overview

• The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development.
• As a rule, these meetings are:
  • Generally held once a month  the third or fourth Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre. See the SL Public Calendar for specific meeting dates.
  • Open to all with an interest in viewer development.
  • Conducted in a mix of text and voice.
• The notes herein are drawn from a mix of my own chat log and audio recording of the meeting, and are not intended to be a full transcript.

Viewer Updates

• The glTF / PBR Materials viewer, version 7.0.1.6894459864, was promoted to de facto release status on November 28.
• The Maintenance V(ersatility) RC viewer updated to version 7.1.1.7039128750 on December 1.

The rest of the current crop of official viewers remains as:

• Release channel cohorts:
  • Maintenance X RC, version 6.6.17.6935636398, issued November 21 – usability improvements.
  • Maintenance Y, version 6.6.17.6935642049, issued November 21 – My Outfits folder improvements; ability to remove entries from landmark history.
  • Maintenance-W RC viewer, version 6.6.17.6935629493, November 21.
  • Emoji RC viewer, version 6.6.15.581551, August 31.
• Project viewers:
  • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.

General Viewer Notes:

• The promotion of the PBR Materials view marks the second promotion of a viewer built using the Github Actions build page.
• It is uncertain whether or not there will be a further viewer promotion in 2023. If there is, the most likely candidate would by the Emojis viewer, although at the time of writing, this had had to go through the Github build process (which it naturally will when merged with the release viewer code-base).

PBR Materials Update

[Video: 1:23-8:55]

• PBR Materials was shipped with a number of known bugs and issues, none of the former of which were considered to be significant enough to block the release, whilst some of the latter required further investigation for repros, etc., and the Lab decided to release whilst investigating.
• This means a maintenance update is already in progress which will continue additional fixes, and this will also be used to catch issues and bugs reported post-release.
  • One of the post-release bugs uncovered is that – for reasons unknown – disabling transparent water impacts animation playback; see: BUG-234759.
  • Another issue revealed by PBR is that the viewer draws Linden Water twice. (not the entire scene, an issue previously remedied, just Linden Water), and this is being corrected.
• The request is for bug and issues to keep being reported, simply because PBR Materials now has far more eyes on it, and so things that may have been missed due to the limited number of eyes on things in testing / the multiplicity of ways people use SL, means that some edge-cases, etc., may have been missed.
• A question was asked if LL had considered off the exposure adjustments (adjusted within a set range through the Sky settings) to prevent the viewer from rendering some scenes excessively bright.
  • The response to this was that the exposure is tied to tone-mapping and a controlled HDR range, as such LL would rather users adjust to designing environments in accordance with the new (glTF-defined) tone mapping, then introducing more granular options into the viewer (such as which tone mapper to use).
  • [Video: 14:58-15:55] However, it was also noted that if TPVs wish to provide their own tone mapping options, this would not be seen as violating the so-called “shared user experience”, as they are regarded as post-processing effects (then don’t actually physically manipulate how objects appear in-world) and they are subjective in how they are seen by individual users.
• [Video 25:25-33:27] A broader mention of additional glTF work – scene import, hierarchies, etc., some of which is mentioned in my simple  introduction to PBR Materials.
  • Part of this future work will be to look at how automatic LODs for mesh objects are produced, and whether to continue to support them through the uploader (which is limited in its abilities) or to direct content creators to other solutions for generating LODs prior to upload (e.g. via Simplygon and Blender).
  • This conversation also encompasses various limitations common to SL which glTF might alter / improve upon as it is further adopted (such as meshes currently being limited to eight faces due to the platform’s data entry model regarding meshes as prims), plus the potential impacts of changes. Please refer to the video for specifics on this discussion.

Performance Issue

[Video: 3:01-6:10]

• One issue that is proving hard to consistence repro is that of frequent slow-downs with NVIDIA GL drivers which can result in significant FPS loss in the viewer – see: BUG-234706 for more details.
• At the time of writing, both LL’s QA and others are trying to consistently repro the problem, however, so of the thinking is is related to a mix of CPU core and GL optimisations running on the host system.
• The concern here is that where it has been repro’d, it has been with systems using 8-core CPUs and NIVIDIA GPUs (although what the correlation between the two might be in terms of a cause for the problem, is unclear), which could impact a fair percentage of SL users if it proves to be a widespread issue (particularly if it is unresolved when Firestorm makes a PBR release).
• Those who feel they are experiencing a performance loss over time logged-in which reflects the notes presented in the bug report, and who can dig down into their system data for possible causes, are asked to add relevant comments to the Jira.

In Brief

“Disappearing Objects” Issues

[Video:  9:06-11:45]

Some of these may pre-exist PBR or be related to the PBR release:

• Objects not rendering at log-in due to the inventory frame load locking main processing with the result that messages to the viewer about some in-world objects are simply dropped, and they are never rendered other than via a re-log (or TP out / back?). LL has a fix for this in progress, but as it causes some additional issues, not ETA on when it might be deployed.
• There is an issue with mesh objects in particular not rendering (see BUG-234700 “[GLTF] Mesh objects randomly not rezzing properly at login”), but it is currently unclear if this is related to the above issue or the result of something else.
• BUG-234616 “[PBR] Lights outside of camera frustrum are not rendered until within camera frustrum” – has been accepted by LL, but is still an open issue under investigation.

General Notes

• [Video: 13:18-13:54] The “Fall Colours” simulator update (currently on the BlueSteel and Preflight RC channels) has a bug related to collision sounds (see: BUG-234757 “Repetitive Collision Sound?” and this forum thread) which is under investigation. It was also noted that Fall Colours is liable to be the last simulator update for 2023.
• [Video 17:24-25:15] The question was asked if LL would accept either the entire RLVa API (Restrained Life Viewer alternative, as maintained by Kitty Barnett and used by several third-party viewer and analogous to RLV) or a subset thereof.
  • RLV/a have been shown to have a wide range of uses outside of their original intent, some of which have, to a degree been matched / had some level of equivalence via things like Experience Keys in the viewer, while others still remain useful for multiple applications – such as the use of either to manage wardrobe / outfit systems, for example).
  • The short response to this via Runitai and Vir Linden was “probably”, as LL are aware that the widespread use of RLV/a features does create something of a schism between TPVs and the official viewer. As such, a pull request of code / the opportunity to discuss has been offered.
  • This led to a wider conversation on how RLV/a works and just what form of open-source platform SL should be in terms of extensibility / code contributions – please refer to the video for more.
• [Video 33:41-34:20] Linden Lab Office Closure for Holidays: Linden Lab will be closed other than for emergency coverage from end of business on December 22nd through until start of business on January 2nd, 2024.
  • This means that a No Change window for simulator and official viewer releases will be in place from Monday, December 18th, 2023.
• [Video: 36:16-41:21] HTTP/2 multiplexing:
  • There is a project in development for upping the simulator and viewer to HTTP/2 (although the viewer will require a Curl update in order to handle it).
  • Requests have been made to extend this work to encompass the Asset Store, which internally at the Lab is seen as a nice to have / good to have, but no actual work in that direction in currently in-hand.
• [Video: 48:00-End] General discussion on better support for the viewer on Linux, segueing into a discussion of possibly adopting voice options other than Vivox, and what needs to be improved within voice in general.

Next Meeting

• Currently slated for 13:00 SLT, Friday December 22nd, 2023, at the Hippotropolis Theatre, but may move to Friday January 5th, 2024. Check the SL Public Calendar to confirm.

† 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.

The following notes were taken from my chat log transcript and audio recording of the Third Party Viewer Developer (TPVD) meeting held on Friday, October 27th, 2023. Afraid no video for this month, Pantera has a lot going on.

Meeting Overview

• The TPV Developer meeting provides an opportunity for discussion about the development of, and features for, the Second Life viewer, and for Linden Lab viewer developers and third-party viewer (TPV) / open-source code contributors to discuss general viewer development.
• As a rule, these meetings are:
  • Generally held once a month  the third or fourth Friday, at 13:00 SLT at the Hippotropolis Theatre. See the SL Public Calendar for specific meeting dates.
  • Open to all with an interest in viewer development.
  • Conducted in a mix of text and voice.
• The notes herein are drawn from a mix of my own chat log and audio recording of the meeting, and are not intended to be a full transcript.

Viewer Updates

The Github Actions (GHA) RC viewer, version 6.6.16.6566955269 was promoted to de facto release status on October 25th. This marks the first release viewer built using the Github Actions (indicated by the extended version number). This viewer also includes a significant update to the Chrome Embedded Framework (CEF) for media handling.

The rest of the current crop of official viewers remains as:

• Release channel cohorts:
  • glTF / PBR Materials viewer, version 7.0.0.582103, October 24.
  • Maintenance V(ersatility) RC viewer, version 6.6.16.582201, October 16.
  • Maintenance-W RC viewer, version 6.6.16.582075, October 5.
  • Emoji RC viewer, version 6.6.15.581551, August 31.
• Project viewers:
  • Puppetry project viewer, version 6.6.12.579958, May 11.

General Viewer Notes:

• Upcoming official viewer can be viewed on the Github Actions build page, so what is coming down the line can be seen; however artefacts within the list are not publicly linked to downloadable items such as installers. This may change in the future.
• The Emoji RC viewer is defined as being “in test”, with the other RC viewers in a maintenance cycle to gain parity with the new release viewer.

PBR Materials Update

• The back-end support for PBR Materials is liable to be deployed to both the BlueSteel and LeTigre RC channels (so approx 3,000 regions) in week #44 (commencing Monday, October 30th), pending the code clearing QA.
• Core work remains in “maintenance mode” with bug fixing and a focus on driving the project forward towards release.
  • It is believed the only significant blockers remaining are those of performance issues on the Mac version of the viewer – and LL are happy to take suggestions from TPV developers on how to get the Mac variant of OpenGL perform better.
• One additional issue which had been reported was that of non-PBR enabled viewers appearing to suffer high pack losses on PBR regions (BUG-234550). However:
  • Investigations appear to have shown this as being a “sensor ghost” – the viewer reporting messages it receives but which are not in its message template (a would be the case with a non-PBR viewer receiving PBR specific messages) as a packet loss, which is not really accurate.
  • To deal with the specific issue with non-PBR viewers on PBR regions, and as an interim measure until the PBR viewer is the de facto release viewer, the updated message template for the PBR viewer is to be incorporated into the current RC viewers, together with a suppressor to prevent non-PBR viewer generating false packet loss updates. The code will then be available to all official “pre-PBR” viewers as they are updated with the RC code.
  • TPVs wishing also wishing to eliminate the false reporting of packet loss in their non-PBR viewer releases are encouraged to also pull the PBR viewer message template commit from Github and incorporate it in any upcoming pre-PBR updates they may have in the works.
• Overall, and allowing for any list-minute issues + clearing the Mac viewer issues, the plan is to pretty much release PBR Materials on the basis of what is currently incorporated in the simulator code and the current RC viewer.
  • This means there will be a range of known issues within the release; however, it is believed that none of them will break any existing content on the Main grid, nor will any fixes for them which are introduced following the initial release.
• One of the outcomes of the glTF  / PBR project has been a closing of the “divide” between the simulator and viewer engineering teams, with people working on both sides as the PBR project has progressed. This will continue through further iterations of glTF support (e.g. through elements such as the Interest List, which is both viewer-side and simulator-side, and which is not currently geared towards optimal handling scene-wide updates, as will be required as additional aspects of the glTF specification are incorporated into SL).

In Brief

• There was a general discussion on the internals of viewer development (general message handling, viewer asset throttling, location of “official” masters of things like the message template, the status of the Lab’s Libcurl implementation in light of recent libcurl security issues (in short: “stuck” on an earlier version, so not directly affected), HTTP2 vs. HTTP3 updates,  etc.).
• A general commentary on Windows 32-bit usage (not no longer officially supported) – with Firestorm stats reporting around 1.9% of their user base still appear to be running 32-bit windows – but the majority of this figure might be down to an Intel bug reporting 64-bit users running 32-bit.
• A general discussion on the viewer + time-zones, providing a means to add the day of the week to the viewer log-in screen, rather than those in time zones other than California have to check the local day via the viewer clock tool-tip once logged-in.
  • In this, the fact that the time reported in the viewer is “PDT” (and/or PST? I’ve never actually noticed if the viewer reflects changes between PDT and PST notation) rather than “SLT” – which is the acronym everyone in SL understands – can also be a source of confusion. As can the fact that elsewhere within Second Life properties UTC (GMT) can be used.
  • during the discussion it was indicated that LL will likely try to be more consistent in referencing SLT rather than physical-world time zones.
• Reference was made to a forum discussion on event message polling (particularly viewer side region start-up) which can have an impact (/unintended consequence) in terms of things like message execution. Monty Linden is involved in these discussions and in investigations, and improvements will be appearing in upcoming simulator releases.
• The above led to a general conversation on reliable SL documentation sources (the broad answer in case of technical documentation being “the code”), and the historic reasons for public-facing documentation becoming fragmented (e.g. the old issue of SL wiki pages being repeatedly vandalised & so locked from editing by users who might otherwise be well-placed to update them), etc.

Next Meeting

• 13:00 SLT, Friday November 24th, 2023, at the Hippotropolis Theatre.

† 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.