Second Life

Things about SL

Second Life: No Change Weeks

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As the holidays arrive we enter a time when the Lab closes down to a skeleton staff and employees take time off. It is a time when things are done to minimize the possibility of system problems and crashes. So, if it is working… don’t change it. Next week (47) is one of those weeks.

Countryside 2

I haven’t heard an official set of dates for this year’s no change weeks. I expect this one starts today and certainly tomorrow 11/19 and runs to 11/28.

The next set is Christmas-New Years. I expect it to start about December 17-21 and run to January 2. As Christmas falls on Sunday what the Lindens will decide to do is a bit unpredictable as the group seems to have significant input to management.

Whatever they decide, I wish them a full Thanksgiving (yum), a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Second Life: Bento Update 2016 w46

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RL has kept me away from recent meetings I wanted to attend. The Bento meeting being the more interesting one in my mind. Fortunately Inara Pey made it to the Bento meeting. See: Project Bento User Group update 34 with audio.

Countryside 3
Countryside 3

Word from the meeting is the recent Project Bento viewer release fixes some of the tenacious problems. It adds a Reset Skeleton and Animation selection in addition to just the Reset Skeleton into the avatar’s right-click drop down menu. This is an attempt to handle most of the problems a few older animations have when run on a Project Bento viewer without changing how Project Bento’s animations handle bone/joint position. Think compromise. 

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Second Life News 2016 w46

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The main channel of servers updated today, starting at 3AM SL Time, according to the grid status notices. That is the time of day with the fewest users. My tracker shows the minimum number of concurrent users is between 2 and 4 AM each day, about 19,000 to 25,000 this year. Peak use is about 2 to 3 PM and 2 to 3 times as many people, averaging about 55,000 in 2016 and peaking at 58,153.

dancin
dancin

This update ran on the RC channels last week. It contains some changes to the scripting language, a bug fix, and minor internal changes.

There is no new update for the RC channels, probably next week. 

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Second Life Changes

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This past few days playing in Second Life™ I’ve been exploring. The LEA regions are impressive. Of course, the Halloween regions have been fun. In all these regions the difference I notice most is the use of mesh. There are more mesh homes and features than ever before. Mesh is everywhere.

Invictus Ruines
Invictus Ruines

Having a new computer helps too. The visuals are way better. But, it is the use of mesh that is transforming Second Life.

Well built mesh reduces the Land Impact cost and the render load on our computers. Well made mesh clothes also lower the render cost. As these costs started dropping I assume the Lindens noticed. So, this could be a significant part of the reasons for increasing prim limits on the regions.

Whatever, SL is looking better.

SL Location: Invictus