Rand Linden posts a blog article about how to use the new privacy feature in Viewer 2.8.1 and newer.
See the article here: Hiding avatars and restricting avatar sounds
The change is a new land control. If you don’t own land, you can’t do much with the feature. Understanding it will help you understand the differences between what you see rendered on your screen and what the mini-map tells you.
It seems a number of people are no longer able to open SLViewer version 2.7.4 and newer. The problem apparently started in June 2011. So, what is the problem and what is the fix?
Some change in the Second Life render pipeline’s shader code has created a problem between the nVidia driver and the OpenGL drivers used by Linden Lab in the viewer. It appears the nVidia GeForce GTX 460 card with any driver newer than 260.99 has a problem. If the graphics level is set at the default or on High or Ultra, the viewer crashes on login.
The problem does not exist in the nVidia driver 260.99 WHQL and presumably earlier drivers.
Updated 8/15: See TIMOTHY LOTTES‘ article NVIDIA FXAA.
Some weeks ago I was astounded when I saw some people wearing 800 to 900 scripts. Since then I have been watching my script weight. I even went to the Market Place and got a scale, so I could weight myself. That feature is built into some viewers. But, I use some viewers that do not have that feature. Here are some interesting things I learned.
Weight Conscious - Weight Your Scripts
Once I started weighing scripts (with a free scale) I learned that some of my jewelry was a bigger problem than my hair. Literally some of the jewelry’s sizing and coloring scripts number in the hundreds. I knew hair typically has hundreds of scripts. But, jewelry?
Also, some of the hair I thought I had cleaned scripts out of, still had a load of scripts. With my script scale, I realized that and went to work cleaning them out.
Animation Overriders (AO) HUD’s have scripts. Several viewers now have built-in AO, so a HUD is not needed. Switching from viewer to viewer during the day and installing 1 or 2 new viewers, or at least new versions, per week it is easier to use a HUD based AO. I love my sexy runway walk and I’m not giving it up. With my nails, hair, AO, and other necessary HUD’s my script count is 8 with 272kb of memory used. Not bad.
Since I installed some version of the 2.8 series viewers I have had inventory lag. There is about a 2 or 3 second delay for every click I try to make in the inventory panel. Even the scroll-bar has a delay. It is very annoying.
Today in the Mesh Volunteer group someone said, ‘Clear your settings and that will go away.’ I tried it and it worked. Now the delay seems to be permanently gone.
The same trick is supposed to work with Kirsten’s Viewer. I’ll try it later today.
Your settings are kept in an XML file. On Windows look in: C:\Users\[windows_login_name]\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\user_settings\[viewer file name]
The file name for the main SL Viewer is settings.xml. If you use any project, development, or beta viewers there will be multiple settings files. Make sure you get the right one. They have names that make it obvious which file goes with which viewer.
Some time ago there was a round of viewer versions that were slow rez’n things and avatars. That problem is back in the Development viewer. Second Life 2.8.3 (237080) Jul 28 2011 04:22:42 (Second Life Development) After 5 minutes most of the avatars around me still have not rezzed. Ping=100 to 150, Packet Loss=0%…
Some time ago I found a camera control Debug Setting I now change in all my viewers. I’ve mentioned it in several of my viewer reviews. Recently I read an article by Penny Patton and learned some more about changing the camera position and view. That inspired me to take another look at camera settings in the Series 2 viewers. Here is what I’ve learned and what may make your SL experience better.
Shopping with a New Perspective
Above is an image that shows my default view when shopping. You might notice I’m not staring at the floor. I did not have to cam around to get the view. I can press ESC a couple of times and come back to this camera position at any time.
This shopping area is in a region named Diesel and an area named The Island of Milk & Cream. It is an Adult area. Knowing that the idea of Milk & Cream takes on new meaning. The creativity and skill of the builder, Penny Patton, is obvious. So, is the humor. Notice the ad for It Figures, shapes for the top heavy.
I like the way the new SLV2 Outfits work, somewhat. I have several problems with how the sidebar handles them. There is a work around that I came across in the JIRA that handles my problem with organizing outfits.
Outfits Panel
The Outfits Sidebar provides only a single list of outfits. This mixes together the outfits I make and the default outfits provided by Linden Lab. As I create more outfits this is going to become more of a problem. So, I want to create folders in the Outfit Panel. But, that is not possible.
There are a number of JIRA feature requests and bug reports about the lack of folders in the Outfits Panel. I’ll get to those later.
There is a way to get outfits into folders, sort of. First off, know this is for Series 2 viewers. Don’t mess with your Linden Outfits Folder in Series 1 viewers. Doing so is likely to cause you problems. Also, know you will get different results depending on which version of a Series 2 viewer you use. So, you may need to be flexible.
Or how tall are you? Really?
There is a great post by Penny Patton in the SL Forum.
See: A Matter of Scale – How scale affects content creation and land ownership in Second Life.
Getting Scale Right in SL
Every builder should stop by and read the post. I doubt many people think this through before they build.
Second Life Voice can be finicky. Getting it working when it isn’t can be a bit of a pain. There is a tool in Second Life to help you, Voice Echo Canyon. Also, the SL Wiki has some tips. The Phoenix Wiki as some tips too, but more slanted toward Phoenix. The Phoenix information is good for any third party viewer (TPV). Following are the links to some information you may not know.
Region: Voice Echo Canyon
The SL Wiki page is here: Second Life Voice. The SL Wiki index page on voice is here: Second Life Category:Voice. There are lots of handy tips and the etiquette for using voice. Newer stuff is in the Second Life Community Portal in Voice.