Second Life Ban List

Not too long ago we got a Ban List for our Second Life™ groups. But,  Oz says we have no good user interface for managing the Ban List. OK, that wasn’t a duh moment. He was leading into asking for someone to take on designing a UI for managing the Ban List.

Seasons Event
Seasons Event by My Sister’s Closet SL Blog, on Flickr

So, if you are into User Interface design whip up a manager for ban lists.

In that discussion Profile Notes came up and how they used to be used in conjunction with group lists for handling banned people.

From what I was hearing Oz apparently does not use Profile comments… I do. But, I’m not at all sure I understand what Jessica was talking about when she said they stopped working. Whatever the case is, the Lab will probably being adding a note field to the future ban list manager. But, all this is dependent on what someone designs.

Black Dragon Viewer Review

Version: Black Dragon 3.7.27 (34575) May 22 2015 Review

Update: This article starts out listing a number of small problems with the Black Dragon Viewer. From some feedback I decided to add here at the beginning, this is a pretty nice viewer.

I am not into doing reviews of Second Life™ viewers like I once was. It has been a long time since I have used the Black Dragon Viewer. I often say I stopped using it because the user interface (UI) changes so fast. NiranV objects to my continually saying that. When I was using it, it was changing. But, NiranV tells me that has not been true for some time, years. And at the time I was forming my opinion he had just started work on Black Dragon and was changing it pretty fast. Fair enough. I need to update my thinking and belief about what is actually happening.

RAYNE Isles
RAYNE Isles by Loverdag, on Flickr
Taken w/Black Dragon Viewer

So, I now (6/2 – week 23) have Black Dragon 3.7.27 (34575) May 22 2015 installed. I’ll be using the viewer as I write this. Then over the next few updates I’ll decide if the UI is changing so fast I can’t keep up. I’ll publish this well before I have time to decide on the rate of change. But, my experience is that NiranV is pretty factual about what is going on with the viewer. So, for now I’ll concede the point and change what I say. 

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Second Life LoD Problems – Is Firestorm to Blame

Lots of Second Life™ people use the Firestorm Viewer. Creators are certainly part of that group. A  number of people think the Firestorm Viewer is to blame for LoD problems in Second Life. Can that be?

{ She leads in the cold of winter }
{ She leads in the cold of winter } by Trinetty Skytower, on Flickr

Personally I think this is a case of a fascist mind set running the standard victim line and wanting someone else to fix their problems. See what you think. 

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Second Life My Viewer Problems

Every so often I hit a point where my Second Life™ experience sucks from poor viewer performance. When that happens I start changing viewer brands in hope of an improvement. I troubleshoot starting with the easy and work to the hard. But, this time I over looked an obvious problem.

I Still Remember
I Still Remember by Thurkearan of Darrath, on Flickr

These days I mostly use the Linden made viewer and it is almost always one of the RC versions. I like being on the cutting edge. Over the years Imprudence, Emerald/Phoenex, Exodus, Kirsten’s, and Niran’s were the viewers to use, at various times, to be on the cutting edge. That has changed. 

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Hypergrid Business on Bright Canopy

Maria Korolov has written: Bright Canopy’s viewer in a browser supports voice, uploads, OpenSim grids. She is talking about the Bright Canopy beta that is in progress now. This version runs in an Internet Browser using the FRAME system. She explains how it works.

Serene Sanctuary
Serene Sanctuary by Loverdag, on Flickr

One of the challenges in using a streaming service is that the actual viewer is running on a remote server. Your computer is sort of doing remote control of that viewer. So, saving files (pictures) can be a problem as the local drive the viewer sees is on the server, not your home computer. 

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Second Life: Render Speed Tricks

Simon Linden gave out a note card at Tuesday’s Server-Scripting user group meeting in Second Life™. It gives us the Debug Settings we can change to improve performance at events with lots of avatars.

Work hard in silence, let success make the noise
Work hard in silence, let success make the noise by NOeditiON™, on Flickr

To get to the viewer’s Debug Settings you need to have enabled the Advanced menu. There are a couple of ways to do that. In the SL Viewer open Preferences – top menu: Me->Preferences then select the Advanced tab. Enable Show Advanced Menu. This will reveal ADVANCED in the top menu. Click Advanced->Show Debug Settings. 

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