The Virtual World Technologist

SecondLife : Project SnowStorm

2012-01-27T17:51:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Wow it has been what seems like ages since I actually downloaded and used an official LL version of the SL viewer, today is not much different because I will be using the latest SnowStorm release. V3.2.8.248331 so this is not really a standard download.

However I did want to take a look at it solely for the purpose of seeing what has been going on lately at the Lab.

Recently a number of changes have gone into the UI of SL V3

Here is the screen layout, my god I find it absolutely hilarious that some people on the Development team just cant seem to let go of the Side Bar design theme. Instead of on the right hand side of the screen it is now on the left.

But that is not a problem due to the new FUI, Flexiable User Interface design, or whatever the Lab is calling it. ( I am so far out of the loop these days ) Keep in mind the main purpose of this blog is Third Party Developers ( TPV's ) and their contributions to the future development of of Virtual Worlds in general.

As you can see, I have cleared the UI of all the clutter, and will start from scratch. This really is an excellent idea from the Lab's Dev's. You can do just about what ever you like with customizing your user experience. So in these pictures I have cleared all the UI buttons and will rebuild by placeing them where I see fit.

Ok I have what I want, where I want.

Now I can choose and Icon only or Icon and description view. I love this :_)

Job well done, I think the Lab may actually finally be catching on.

Nawwwww !!

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim On A Stick : USB Memory Stick Server and Private Grid

2012-01-27T13:01:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Yep, you read that correctly, it is possible to run your own private OS server and private grid from a USB memory stick. First of all let me say this, it is not really geared towards the USB-2 implementation, although it will work with this format, your best bet is a USB 3 thumb drive device. However there is nothing stopping you from using your hard drive for the installation media location. The idea behind the OSOAS is portability.

I have not had much time to devote to this project yet, but I intend to do so during the month of February in concert with my OpenSim-Cool Viewer series, and I can confirm that it does work.

If you do a web search on this topic, don't be surprised at all the recent commotion, just recently people have actually been able to implement the HyperGrid protocol, thus allowing you to exit to and from your own private grid out into the Wild Blue OS Yonder and back.

Keep your eyes peeled here next month, as I delve back into the OpenSim Meta-Verse. In the mean time you can download your copy of OSOAS here
http://simonastick.com/

JayR Cela :_)

OpenSim : My Return and The CoolVL Viewer

2012-01-27T07:14:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

It has been a while since I last took a serious look at anything dealing with the OpenSim Meta-Verse, but I have to admit my recent venture into the Aurora Server based backend Nova Grid, ( free 1 year hosting deal ) re-sparked my interest for alternatives to the SecondLife platform.

My biggest question was what viewer should I use for my explorations. Imprudence has been pretty much the standard over the past year or two, before that it was the Hippo viewer. Personally I do not care for either one. More recently the Astra viewer has emerged as the up and coming V.W. client of choice. If you are unfamiliar with Astra, it is brought to you by project lead Siana Gearz, the same person who heads up the Singularity viewer initiative. After much consideration, weighing all the pros and cons, I have decided to make Henry Beauchamps "Cool Viewer" my standard grid hopping client. ( at least for the time being )

I know I may have disappointed a few regular readers last year when I got all hopped up on OS, ended up getting very frustrated, and eventually threw in the towel. But I have to admit I find the OpenSim platform to be very exciting and worthy of devoting some of my time to.

That being said, the month of February will have quite a bit of coverage devoted to OS and the Cool Viewer weekly builds. I hope you enjoy the ride. As always any and all opinions or feedback will be much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

JayR Cela :_)

Open Sim : The Nova Grid : Making Progress

2012-01-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

I had promised to keep trying the Nova Open Sim Grid ( based on Aurora OS Server )

My first few visits left me completely underwhelmed. Almost to the point of not even bothering to return. My curiosity however, as usual got the best of me. I am happy to say progress, albeit slow progress, has been made recently.

I was able to finally find a place and have the capability of rezzing objects. So I now have some flexi hair, a new predefined body shape and skin. Woo-Whoo ! :_)

And a functioning AO.

And this time around I was capable of a TP to a couple of, but not all locations on the map.

And I did find a Free-Bee sim with several stores as well

Is it ready for Prime Time ? No not yet, and I expect that may may take several month's of growing pains.

Is it worth your time to take a look around ? If you are the pioneer type, Most Defiantly !
http://aurora.4d-web.eu/cool/

JayR Cela :_)

Kinect For SecondLife : Niran Viewer Seeks Beta Testers

2012-01-26T07:57:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

NiranV Dean, creator of the Ultra High End, "Niran's Viewer" for SL is currently working with the latest client build that will support the Microsoft Kinect motion controller device.

Kinect has been very popular on the X-Box360 platform, and MS recently announced the introduction and February 1st availability of a Windows compatible version.

I can see massive potential for this in the Machinima industry, and certain types of RPG environments within SecondLife. NiranV is currently looking for Beta Testers.

If you are interested in helping out, you can make contact In-World ( SL Search - NiranV Dean ) or use this direct link to the related post on the Blog.
http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/2012/01/second-life-and-kinect.html

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife : The Zen Viewer : First Looks

2012-01-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Well this one is new to me, the first I had even noticed of it's availability was this morning. It is brought to you by SL resident Zena Juran. So far there is no dedicated web page, but there is one listing all of its features and download location on the SecondLife Wiki, and the list is very extensive and impressive.

The initial login screen, is pretty standard, very close to the official LL V3 with some extra goodies too.

Definitely nothing confusing here, and performance was solid.

As is typical with most V3 based offshoots you will not be able to read older V1.x log files, or selectively mute individual group chats.

There are some preset WinLight settings available.

I had some trouble trying to access my profile, more than likely a problem on LL's end, because it seemed to be working earlier in the day when I first downloaded Zen.

A couple of things really stood out, at least for me. A nice small, compact, re-sizable camera control and easy to use draw distance.

In my opinion, if you are using the Stock LL V3 and happy with its performance, ease of use and not overly complicated myriad of setting's available on some of the other TPV's out there. And you want something that is better, I will highly recommend this viewer. It is an excellent choice for the casual user.

Here is the Download link.
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory/Zen

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife : Last Weeks TPV Viewer Wrap Up : News

2012-01-23T13:17:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Over the weekend some TPV SL Viewer's were updated, one new client made its debut, and one exited from the field completely.

Dolphin progressed to version 3.2.5.23119, and has a number of improvements. RLV support is now current, the Mini Map has been enhanced, and several other tweaks and fixes as well.
http://dolphinviewer.eregion.de/

NiranV released V1.14 of her Ultra High End SL client, mostly annoying but minor bug fixes, and a few enhancements that are still in the state of testing.
http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/

The Catznip Viewer updated to V3.2.0R3 & R4 the difference being R4 includes the latest LL OpenGL fixes. A few new features have been added dealing with floating panels. ( most now include a roll up function ) a few bug fixes here and there also have been ironed out.
http://catznip.com/

The Cool Viewer saw two new release's over the weekend. V1.26.2.14 ~&~ V1.26.3.2 mostly just improvements to an already excellent V1.x based series of the SL client.
http://sldev.free.fr/

The Zen Viewer seems to be a brand new entry into the fray with V3.2.8.0 this includes Quarls alignment tool, the mesh deformer and uses legacy type Pie Menus instead of the more common LL V3 style.
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory/Zen

In other recent SL related news.

The Phoenix FireStorm team had some much anticipated news about both of their offerings.
http://www.phoenixviewer.com/

The Milkshake Viewer dropped out of the race altogether.

And last but not least the much talked about, and hyped Viper Viewer turned out to be nothing more than a inappropriate Hoax !

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife : Reducing Lag : And The Network Bandwidth Setting

2012-01-22T17:51:00.002-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

A number of years ago I recall a good friend of mine explaining the numerous variable's in SL that can have a cumulative effect, causing an unwanted lack of performance in the SL viewer. Most people refer to it as lag. Ya know when ya just so happen to drop into a happening hot spot, full of people, and everyone is just grey textures, or things just seem to take forever to rezz ( come into focus ). Dam that is annoying ! There are a number of workarounds that you can do in order to solve this annoyance.

I think everyone all ready knows about decreasing your Draw Distance ( 128 meters is usually the optimal setting ) Eliminating unnecessary shader options and various other configuration tweaks within you Viewer Graphics Preferences can also have a huge effect in your viewer of choice's performance.

The majority of these are all located under the Graphics Tab, and or Advanced Graphics. It all depends upon which SecondLife client that you have chosen to use, and where they are located at.

One thing that seems to confuse a number of people is the Network Bandwidth control, fine tuning this particular adjustment is not black magic. It does however take a little bit of time on your part in order to find the optimal setting.

The first thing that you need to know is, how fast, or slow your connection is. This is relatively easy to determine with the use of a number of free on-line services. It does not really mater which one ya choose, just GOOGLE Internet speed test.

Once you know your maximum download speed, open your Viewer Preferences and find the Network Bandwidth control. At this point set it to aprx. 1/2 of the value you determined as the max. From here you can fine tune it a little bit one way or the other to find the sweet spot that works best for you.

It really does make a difference.

JayR Cela :_)

Virtual Worlds : Your Alternate Life ?

2012-01-22T11:41:00.002-05:00

By JayR Cela

Over the past 6 years I have meet numerous people, various percentages of them ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other. I am speaking of why they came into a Virtual World environment to begin with.

That vast majority, just out of curiosity and so happened to run across a web link somewhere here or there.

Others, ( and sadly, I really hate to say this ) because they want to play War Games, and exhibit violent behavior.

Then you have the exact opposite side of the fence. People that are very much into creativity, the art's, knowledge seekers and teachers.

Let's face it, real life is a very difficult road, stressful at times.

Alternate Reality life however may prove to be just as difficult.

It all depends upon how much of your Real Life Baggage that you choose to drag along with you on the journey.

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife : Breaking News~Nirans Viewer 1.13 Available For Download Now !!

2012-01-20T19:49:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

This news just in, and it is Hot Off The Press ! From the developer herself.

All of you folks out there that are into the Ultra High End features that Sl is capable of. I know that you have just been dying to hear this new's.

Niranv Dean, the Third Party Developer, and driving force behind pushing the SecondLife viewer to the max, for Photography and Machinima projects, has just released Version 1.13

I was talking with her last night. From what I could tell at that time, she is very excited about this newest release. Apparently the difficulty's with previous V 1.x series versions have been resolved, and several new features, functions and menu tweaks that have been in the works for quite some time, are here at last, as well.

I have not had the time to take it for a test spin yet, but you can bet your last L$ I will be doing just that tomorrow.

You can read more, and grab your download here.

http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/2012/01/113.html

JayR Cela :_)

Machinima : PookyMedia's : Time Travelers : A MUST SEE !

2012-01-20T13:56:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Well ya gotta hand it to Pooky Amsterdam, her very talented associates and crew at PookyMedia. When it comes to creating top notch quality machinima films, these folks really excel. Their latest effort, "Time Travelers" the original short, and the four successive shorter episodes, are just fantastic. If you are a Sci Fi fan or not, makes no difference. I have a feeling this could really be worthy of an actual television series contract sometime in the possibly not to far off future.

While watching, I got the feeling quite a bit of thought and actual research went into this Science Fiction Thriller. It blends intrigue, mystery, action and adventure. I don't want to reveal to much of the the plot line, except that it involves Computer AI, and ?????? ~ LOL ~ I'm not gonna tell ya. So grab your favorite snack or beverage, and prepare for some excellent entertainment.

Here are the links to the YouTube and Homepage of PookyMedia

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL59E0795D729857E3&feature=plcp

http://www.pookymedia.com/

And it has also been added to this blogs Machinima Page

JayR Cela :_)

SecondLife : Helping New Users : And The Destination Guide : How Important Is It ?

2012-01-20T12:05:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Every now and then I find myself meeting a brand new user in SL, and it is always friendly to be as helpful and polite as possible. I know when I first arrived here back in 2005, I had know idea what to do. And I tended to be a sort of cling-on nuisance to any one that was nice enough to befriend me my first few months.
( to say the least ) LOL

I think the most common questions are usually. What is Second Life ? How do I do this or that ? What is there to do here ? At this point it may be a good idea to ask your new friend this question. What was it that brought them to SL in the first place ? Their answer to your first question directed towards them, should help you determine the best way to keep them interested in remaining here, just craft your answer accordingly.

If they want to know how to accomplish one task or another, remember that most all new potential residents will more and likely be using the standard LL viewer. If this is the case I defiantly recommend that you explain to them how to open their User Dashboard, and watch all of the Video Tutorials, when they have the extra time to do so.

This will save the both of you an awful lot of time, and possibly some unnecessary frustration. You may also want to mention that some of the tutorials are a bit outdated, but it is a good idea to watch them regardless. ( You can always inform them of alternate viewer choices at a later date )

The third and most important question noobs usually ask, is the infamous. What is there to do here in SecondLife ? Here is where you can really become the hero, and help to foster a good future relationship. Tell them about the SL Destination Guide, and teach them how to use it.

This is probably the single biggest and best piece of advice that you, as an experienced Second Lifer can offer to someone just getting started. It is also a good way for anyone experienced or not, to keep from getting bored while they or yourself are spending time in this Virtual World we call SecondLife.

JayR Cela :_)

Open Sim : Free Nova Aurora Sim : GRRRR !!

2012-01-19T14:10:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Well it has been over a week of frustration trying to log into, and actually accomplish something on the Free-Bee offer by Nova OS Grid Hosting.

#1 It's slower that heck.
#2 I have tried numerous time's to contact the CEO for a free region.
#3 Build Restrictions are everywhere, so you can forget about trying to rezz anything.
#4 Attempting to TP anywhere is useless.

In all honesty the slowness may be because of my RL location in Detroit, Michigan U.S.A. and Nova Headquarters somewhere in the EU. A few things have changed for the better since my last 2 visits. I'll keep trying from time to time for the next month or so, and hopefully things will continue to improve.

I did take the time for a few snapshots today.

My first 3 visit's there were only 4 regions, this time I counted 24

I did not have any luck trying to TP to any, but once i jumped into the water was able to walk to several of them.

And I was finally able to change my clothing.

Perhaps you will have better luck than I have, if you do, please post a comment on this blog. More information can be found here.
http://aurora.4d-web.eu/cool/

JayR Cela :_)

Virtual Worlds : Phoenix Firestorm : This Viewer Is On A Roll !

2012-01-19T13:58:00.001-05:00

Mister Acacia is online

The good folks building Firestorm have sent a version to its beta tester platoon for some smoke testing. I know the team is eager to get a maintenance release out soon, much sooner than the Mesh Beta -- Release cycle was.

One thing you can do to help both yourself and the Phoenix support team is RTFB. Read the Firestorm Blog. We ask everyone to read it before downloading so that our users are aware of the things they need to do before installing and understand the known bugs and possible workarounds. It's frustrating when users install our viewer, have a problem with it and then ask about the problem in our group without ever reading the blog and learning that the problem is a known bug, or especially any known workarounds.

So read the blog before you download a new version. Understand what known bugs are present, Note the workarounds, and follow the steps we recommend when installing.
http://phoenixviewer.blogspot.com/

Mister Acacia is offline

Virtual Worlds : Phoenix FireStorm : Skinning The Bird !!

2012-01-19T13:50:00.000-05:00

Mister Acacia is online

Oh
Wow

I never truly realized just how difficult it is to create a skin for Firestorm (even harder for SL Viewer because it doesn't support multiple skins). There are a number of textures used for all the various panels, floaters and buttons, and you really need to be careful about texture-to-overlay contrast. More than 1,000 different textures and almost 4,000 xml files that define absolutely every little aspect of the viewer. Amazingly enough, even with that multitude, shortcuts were taken: many layouts are simply using the same layout definition

Worst yet, some of the layouts are defined in the viewer code itself, so no amount of xml fiddling will change some parts of the skin.

So I most humbly salute anyone who has made an attempt at creating a custom skin. I tried, and I'm throwing in the towel at this point. But I'm going to start fresh and take a different approach. One of our developers is working on a "vintage" skin that looks very much like Viewer1. Even the Inventory menus make a comeback in there, instead of the options (gear) icon. I'm going to try some minor changes, mostly to textures, and see if building off an existing skin that has Phoenix similarities is easier than building from scratch.

It's certainly not as easy as building a Phoenix skin.

Mister Acacia is offline

SecondLife : The Niran Viewer moves to Version 1.12

2012-01-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

I should have noticed this a few day's ago, but it just slipped right under my radar screen. RL issues have had me feeling a bit under the weather lately.

But NiranV is continuing to work at in incredibly rapid pace. The latest version "1.12" was released this past Sunday. You can read more about it and grab the download from here.
http://niranv-sl.blogspot.com/

JayR Cela :_)

Machinima in SL : The Viper Viewer : Turns Out To Be A Hoax !

2012-01-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

I have to say this news really came as a disappointment to me. I have been waiting for a long while to get my hands on a working release. But sadly this is not going to happen, seems the whole thing was an oddball, inside joke of some sort or another, by Tikaf Viper, the well know Second Life machinima film maker.

I'm not so sure about his taste in having a sense of humor or not. Personally I don't find it to be funny at all. Just an inappropriate way to dupe a lot of people into paying more attention to his work. Anyways you can read about this on his Blog, under the post entitled Viper's Exodus... here
http://tikafviper.eklablog.com/

JayR Cela :(

Virtual Worlds : The Best Way To Ruin A Friendship

2012-01-15T18:51:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Ok all you Jerry Springer's and Dr. Phil's out there.

LOL,
I am cracking a joke here, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the overly well paid Charlatans of seemingly endless advice to all of the poor mindless people that endlessly watch their RL television shows.

But when it comes to existing in a Virtual World environment.

I do not really have the time, or patience to discuss Virtual World relationships.

JayR Cela

My Favorite SecondLife Client

2012-01-15T18:32:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

It is defiantly FireStorm !

JayR

Virtual Worlds : No Luck Yet With The Nova Grid :(

2012-01-15T18:14:00.001-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Oh my, I keep trying to get my free Open Sim based grid on Nova. No Luck yet !

JayR Cela

Virtual Worlds : The Problem With Free MMO's : And Why Linden Lab Needs To Expand Linden Realms

2012-01-15T15:10:00.002-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Ok I'm going a little bit off the beaten path here again, but from time to time I just seem to get bored and decide to try out one or two free massively multi player freebie games. There are several problems that I see here. Most of them have very nice graphics, but are pretty much mindless reiteration's of the same old same old stuff that I recall from the Trip Hawkins day's of the supposedly Be~All~End~All Ultimate gaming machine. I'm talking about the 3DO gaming console.

The 3DO introduced in 1993, had hardware that was at the time state of the art. It was equipped with an ARM processor ( very rare in those days ) and at a $700.00 price tag for the initial release, was pretty much doomed to failure before it even got out of the gate. With the majority of the games coming in at $50.00 buck's a pop, and most of them being nothing more than copycat's, the machine eventually fell to a $99.00 price tag, redesigned and distributed by Panasonic. At that price point it sold like hotcakes, and the available games were readily available in bargain bins galore.

The problem was that most of the software available was total crap, rail based game design ( travel this path and no other ) type of thinking, or don't bother playing.

Recently I have be downloading and experimenting with numerous free MMO's. One or two of them have been mildly amusing for a day or so, but managed to get old really fast, and all of them take a shitload of time to download. Again I am seeing the same sort of thing thing.

Really cool graphic's, but lousy game play, so the quandary is. SecondLife has mediocre graphic's, but the potential for some very cool in world games is huge.

I really hope LL follows through with Linden Realms, and gives us something to do besides hanging out together in Virtual Night Club's.

JayR

Open Sim : Free Nova Grid : Part 2

2012-01-14T15:51:00.002-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Well I tried the Nova Grid again today.

So far, I have not had much luck getting past the starting location, or being trapped in very laggy limbo. Oh well, I'll give it another go tomorrow/ LOL

JayR :_)

Virtual Worlds : The Bridge Of Sighs : No One But The Fool And Me

2012-01-13T18:37:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

I guess I just set myself up for this letdown, I have a heart condition and my life expectancy is temporary at best. But it has been a good run, and I will continue as long as I am capable.

For all of the readers that have been following my mindless rambling's.

Thank You

JayR Cela :_)

Virtual World : The Nova Free Sim For 1 Year Offer : My First Visit

2012-01-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

By Avatar JayR Cela

Several days ago I had made mention of an Open Sim hosting company offering 1 year of your very own personal OS based grid. No hassles, no fuss, no muss. Just go-to the website download the client and away you go.

My first try last week, took me to a download of the Imprudence 1.3.2 viewer, YUCK ! I absolutely hate that thing. So anyways that initial turn off left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but I was getting bored today and figured what the heck, I would try again. I'm happy to say that Imprudence is no longer the default.

( I would imagine that you can use it if you like )

The Astra Viewer 1.6.2 is now the official download. Now if you are not familiar with the Astra client, I did a review of it a number of month's ago. And it is brought to you from the same person who does the Singularity Viewer, Siana Gearz ( Whom I have very high regards for ) Now with all the utter frustration I had with trying to set up my own Open Sim grid last summer. I will be spending a little bit of time exploring this new Virtual World. I hope that you can join me as I venture off beyond the SecondLife world, and check this out.

JayR Cela :_)

Gay Right's In SecondLife ? " WHAT ?? !! "

2012-01-11T09:50:00.002-05:00

by Avatar JayR Cela

This is clearly stated in my SL profile.

Race ~ Gender ~ Species Have No Meaning Here

Hatred for one in other because of their belief's or particular lifestyle is a man made obstacle.

JayR Cela