Black Dragon

Second Life® Monthly Technology Report – March 2026

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I am running behind. RL is way busy just now. I’m late. Apologies.

So, this is mostly A.I. Reporting. I think all the important changes were caught. Let me know if something was missed.

Official SL Platform Updates

  • March 18, 2026: WebRTC-based Voice Limited Release – Rolled out to limited Release Candidate channels covering approximately 3.4% of the grid. This modernizes voice communication with improved quality, lower latency, and better stability. Users are encouraged to use the latest official Viewer or Firestorm Beta for optimal experience.
  • March 5, 2026 (recap of February features): Featured News highlighted ongoing Mobile improvements including Bubble Chat, Object Chat, and Single Tap for better in-world immersion and communication.
Hobit at Work
Hobit computer tech…

Viewer Releases

  • March 1, 2026: Black Dragon Viewer 5.6.0 released (third-party).
  • March 7, 2026: Megapahit Viewer 26.1.0.55026 released (third-party).
  • March 11–12, 2026: Official Default Viewer 26.1.0.22641522367 released – Added legacy (vintage) search functionality, WebRTC voice improvements, and various quality-of-life enhancements.
  • March 20, 2026: Second Life Mobile 1089 released – Introduced new user chatbot and Portuguese language support in the app UI.
  • March 20, 2026: Second Life Project Flat UI Viewer 26.2.0.22829286351 released – Focused on flat UI and font updates.
  • March 31, 2026: Release Candidate Viewer 26.1.1.23806384790 released – Introduced a one-click installer for easier setup.

Note: No new Firestorm release in March 2026 (last update was February 2026). Cool VL Viewer stable version noted post-March.

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Second Life® New Tech Summary – February 2026

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Reporting Period: February 1–28, 2026

I only quickly read through what the AI generated. I’ll add some info and context here and there from what I’ve seen. I think the AI did a pretty good job this time.

The Stone Computer
I am encouraging my friend to upgrade their computer…

Official SL Platform Updates

  • No new major platform feature announcements, scripting enhancements, rendering overhauls (e.g., glTF/PBR expansions beyond prior), LUA integrations, or avatar rigging updates were reported in official channels for February 2026.
  • The most recent simulator release referenced is from late January 2026 (2026-01-28.21455867889), with no new deploys noted in February.

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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.

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EEP Tutorial – Second Life

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Penny Patton has a new written EEP tutorial out about how to use the Enhanced Environment Project, the Windlight update, on your land. She uses the Black Dragon viewer in her tutorial for the source of the illustrations. Most viewers have the exact same panels for setting up the environment. So, the only problem for Firestorm and other viewer users is getting the initial About Land panel open. About Land allows you to edit the parcel’s environment settings. Otherwise, you are editing your personal view of the environment.

Custom Environment

At ground level in Firestorm, you can right-click the ground and select About Land. You can then edit the environment at the parcel or region level. Easy.

In Firestorm, the World->Region Details or Alt+R and then the Environment tab opens the same environment panel but, for Estate Managers until you right-click the ground you are editing your personal settings. And if you click on anything else you snap out of the parcel environment edit mode.

Also, if you teleport up to a high altitude you will likely lose the link to the parcel and can’t edit the environment.

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Firestorm 6.4.12 Shadows for Photography

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I recently saw a video about getting Firestorm Viewer’s shadows to look as good as Black Dragon’s shadows. Huh? What?

The thing they were doing is getting hair shadows to render well on the avatar face. The video (4 min) I found has horrible audio. Luca The Guide, the author, was ill the day she made the video. So, I can’t complain too much. I don’t even try to make video tutorials when I am sick.

The video did get me looking and comparing Black Dragon and Firestorm.  I launched Black Dragon (BD) and took a couple of pictures, see below. Then Launched Firestorm (FS) and took a couple.

Black Dragon – My typical environment
Firestorm – Again my typical environment

With both, I used the same projector attached to the Center of Gravity attachment point aimed at my nose and in front and above my head. Both viewers were set to use the default environment in the Bellisseria region. Both viewers were using their default shadow settings.

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Catching Up in Second Life

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I have survived CoVid-19. It took me down for about 15 days. Still recovering, I easily tire. My four-mile hiking is down to a half-mile.

What I learned about CoVid-19 is there is more confusion, contradictory information, and horrible reporting. The worst information and often deliberately injurious information is coming from California and New York. Even my doctors had little information and kept saying they would have to talk to experts and get back to me when I asked questions.

Being in California I was dealing with the state’s and country’s requirements and quarantine instructions. Most annoying was the followup contact tracing. It was obvious there is a political bias in the contact tracking. They only collect information related to those facilities the state wants to close down. Information for those facilities the state wants open is not collected.

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