Second Life™ Technology & Community Report – November 2025

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Another month… almost the end of 2025. We got a new Firestorm Viewer release this month. I’ve been too busy with RL work to have played much with it. Nor have been flying. So, I am not sure if there is a difference in region crossings… I hope.

Official SL Platform Updates

  • November 6: Main channel promotion of server version 2025-10-24.858241 – includes fixes for group chat delays, simulator crash fixes related to script memory, and improved region crossing stability.
  • November 13: RC channels (RC=Release Candidates for BlueSteel, LeTigre, Magnum) received server package 2025-11-08.860122 – adds initial support for upcoming glTF PBR material overrides on legacy prims and several memory leak mitigations.
  • November 20: All main channel regions updated to 2025-11-15.861005 – introduces experimental HTTP/3 support for asset fetching (opt-in via debug setting) and fixes several avatar baking failures.
  • November 26: Emergency hotfix deployed grid-wide to correct a regression causing occasional region restarts when large numbers of PBR materials were in draw distance.

Viewer Releases

Official Linden Lab Viewer

  • November 12: Release viewer 7.1.11.925612541 – promoted to default. Adds glTF material override support, Puppetry preview toggle, and numerous PBR rendering fixes.
  • November 25: Maintenance viewer 7.1.12.0.926148822 released – focuses on Apple Silicon performance and fixes crashes with mirror water reflections.

The Mobile App… I have to find a place where I can see what is happening with the mobile side of SL. I do a quick check in every day to keep a streak going. It is surprisingly hard not to mis a day and have to start over. And the L$250/week is nice.

I have noticed a major change in how my S24 logs in. MUCH better the last few days.

Third-Party Viewers

  • Firestorm 7.1.12.72512 – November 18: Major release with full glTF PBR material override support, RLV 3.9.12, improved EEP windlight import, and new “Quick Prefs” radial menu.
  • Cool VL Viewer 1.32.0.21 – November 9 & 23: Two stable releases adding glTF node support in build tools and fixing several Linux Wayland crashes.
  • Black Dragon 4.9.8 – November 30: Experimental build with enhanced pose stand Puppetry integration and new phototools presets for PBR environments.
  • Alchemy Viewer 7.1.11.92104 – November 14: Updates for better HDR bloom control and Avastar 2.99-10 compatibility. No notable Kokua or Catznip releases in November.

The viewer releases saw some big changes in November. Inara’s update is very complete, as best I can tell. But these days I am mostly interested only in the ‘user facing’ changes and additions. See it here. Learn about the new stuff.

Grid / Performance Fixes

  • Multiple rolling restarts throughout the month addressed memory leaks in the simulator interest-list code.
  • Grid-wide reduction in script time dilation events reported after November 20 deployment (source: SL Grid Status reports).

Social or Community Changes

  • November 8–10: Burn2 Conception event ran across 12 regions with over 4,000 unique visitors; showcased new PBR art installations extensively.
  • November 15–30: Annual Shop & Hop Winter edition opened with 240 merchants across 12 holiday-themed regions; included exclusive PBR gift items.
  • November 22–24: Forum Cartel hosted “Cartel Carnival” weekend – mini-golf, bumper cars, and live DJ sets at the Cartel Hangout region (approx. 180 avatars over three days).
  • November 29: One Team One Fight (OTOF) charity build for veterans raised L$1.8 million in final hours.

Upcoming Events in December 2025

  • December 6–31: Winter Wonderland 2025 official Linden event – snowmobile tracks, ice skating, snowball fights (source: Featured News).
  • December 13–14: Second Life Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair (charity for childhood cancer).
  • December 20–22: Forum Cartel “Ugly Sweater Weekend” meetups and dance parties (Forum Cartel thread).
  • December 25–January 5: Creations for Parkinson’s “Winter Showcase” art & music festival.

Those Forum Cartel people… I’ll tell you now, there is more happening there than what the AI is finding to report. You can learn more in the forum. See the Forum Cartel thread. People are still shy, but less shy than in many SL get-togethers.

Broader Gaming Trends Potentially Affecting Second Life

  • Unreal Engine 5.5 (released November 12) further raises the bar for Nanite & Lumen; some creators report shifting new builds away from SL toward UE-based platforms.
  • Continued growth of VRChat and Resonite worlds using glTF PBR pipelines is increasing pressure on SL to finalize full glTF 2.0 import/export.

The Unreal Engine changes may affect the SL Mobile app. They are affecting most of the gaming world. If you are not framilar with UE-based then…

UE-based platforms refer to online gaming, metaverse, or virtual world platforms built using Unreal Engine (UE), Epic Games’ powerful real-time 3D creation tool. UE (especially UE5+) excels in high-fidelity graphics, massive open worlds, and user-generated content (UGC) via tools like Nanite (micropolygon geometry for detailed scenes) and Lumen (dynamic global illumination)—features that outpace legacy engines like Second Life’s.

Sounds impressive. I remind you, SL has the most creative freedom for beginners to professionals. Few other systems can provide the level of freedom we have in SL.

Sources Overview (November-specific content only)

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