Old Things
For a time, everyone was all on about not tossing out old system clothes. Well… you can wear them. They work. But, in general, THEY SUCK. The old seams that run down the sides of the avatar are back as a problem. Stuff that didn’t match well back then doesn’t match well now.
Old stuff is usually low rez, maybe 512×512 textures. And it never had Specular or Normal mapping. So old stuff looks fuzzy and flat.
I expect designers to make use of the materials features in new system clothes. But I am not happy with the old stuff. I’ll be trying some of it on. I suspect there will be a few things I like and keep. But, most of it will go in the trash.
Summary
In the end is the question “Does this new body have a lower ACI than the current Slink v3.0.8 body?” The current version 3.07 has an ACI of 5,806 per the LL SL Viewer 6.3.0. The new Redux version 4.0 body has an ACI of 2,086 or 3,720 ACI less. That is a nice change, but is it a significant change? I’m not sure.
My typical ACI is in the 50k to 100k range. My opinion is I am typically around 60k ACI, but I haven’t been measuring that on a daily basis. So…. 4k/60k = 6.67% or if I go with 4/100 = 4%. Not impressive.
Then there is script load…
The Redux v4.0 HUD uses 208KB, the v4.0 body 128KB, the v4.0 hands 128KB and 192KB, and the v4.0 feet 192KB. The total is 848KB. I am measuring with Firestorm’s Avatar Health->Scripts. I figure both viewers will show the scripts as that part of the system isn’t changing.
The current ‘classic’ Physique v4.07 HUD 512KB, the v3.07 body 381KB, the v4.02 hands 384KB and 448KB, the v3.7 feet 448KB and 512KB. The total is 2,685KB.
I consider the script reduction significant, 316.63%. For this alone I would be making the change. Shaving 2MB off that load… this is huge!
What we lose vs gain…
I was concerned that we would lose a lot going to BoM. The materials part was a big worry. Then the appliers. I have a bunch. We are losing some of those appliers but materials work. So, we lose little. We get some nice improvements, less ACI, less script weight.
All-in-all I am very happy with the new Slink Body and almost every feature of mesh is available, abet in a different way and not as compatible with some of my stuff as I would like but it is there.
As time goes by and I have more time with the new body, I may write more about it. I have yet to break out my Hourglass update or the guy body. So still, lots to play with.
I have MANY questions!! What happens to ALL the people that this ISN”T something they want to do? What about the people that DON’T want to have to upgrade AGAIN?! WE’ve already upgraded to MESH, at a ridiculous cost, and many haven’t even taken that step yet because it’s complicated, but at least they could stay in their original classic avatars! Waht happens NOW that they have to AGAIN upgrade to this new BoM avatar body, upgrade the viewer…… can the old mesh and classic bodies STILL be used/seen, or do we become obsolete and invisible?? I believe that SL will loose many in these new processes and ventures! Then again… it’s just a stupid game, right?
Silly person… The Lindens
never
cripple legacy content.
Everything you have now will continue to work.
True, they actually seem to cripple new content so that it doesn’t make legacy content obselete either. Sometimes, that new content comes with such ridiculous caveats that it’s not worth implementing over older content. Animesh for example has such an inflated Land Impact cost that it’s simply not worth deploying on land. That means it’s limited to avatars and… well, there are strict limits there too. Or forcing 1 bit alphas on textures increases the Land Impact cost of prims such that despite looking nicer, it ends up worse overall for building. I don’t even know what they were thinking with this change.
Losing opacity adjustments on layers, losing alpha cuts, losing 10k worth of skins. All so you can pile up makeup and look like a Kardashian?
Sure why not?
Working with BOM is like working with paint roller instead of a fine brush. Programmers should not be allowed to make artistic decisions.