@OpenSim

I know it's tempting to disallow avatar scripts on your sims. I know that it can greatly improve the performance by killing off the heavy-weight scripts that some people wear on their avatars for whatever reasons of flashiness.

But keep in mind that the following things don't work anymore with avatar scripts off:

• Attached AOs. This may be one reason to disallow scripts because typical #SecondLife #ZHAO AOs use up tremendous amounts of server resources, and hardly any #OpenSimulator user has ever heard of #khAOs. But many #OpenSim users depend on attached AOs. They either don't know how to put an AO into their viewer, or they can't be bothered because attaching one is sooo much more convenient, and it gives you a HUD.
  
• Adjusting the foot position on most female mesh bodies from #SecondLife. Unless you've got your feet on "high" permanently, you can neither take your high heels off nor put them on.
  
• Switching the alpha mode on #Ruth2 v4 and #Roth2 v2. If it's forced to "off" when you teleport in, and your alpha masks stop working, you can't use your HUD to turn it back on, and you have to edit the body manually.¹
  
• The alpha HUD on pretty much all other mesh bodies. You can only change clothes if you don't need alpha-ing.
  
• Bento HUDs. You can't even correct your hands if your fingers are stretched into all directions.
  
• Sex, at least not if it involves at least one male avatar. Guys can't switch their boners on. Turning avatar scripts off on a sex-oriented sim is amongst the top five stupidest things you can possibly do as a sim owner.

¹By the way, yes, #BakesOnMesh supports alpha masks. If your mesh bodies don't, doesn't mean BoM as a whole doesn't.

#Metaverse #VirtualWorlds

@OpenSim

So #SecondLife is working on introducing #PBR, also called #PeanutButter. And the #FirestormViewer is working on keeping up with it. There's a PBR-enabled alpha version now. This gives me to think.



One, there's that talk about higher hardware requirements. Now, Firestorm is actually still available in a 32-bit Windows version. Look back into the past. What were the last machines sold with pre-installed 32-bit Windows, and when was that?

That must have been in the late 2000s. And those machines were entry-level consumer laptops with on-board graphics. In other words, these computers were under-powered already when they were new. But there are actually people who visit #VirtualWorlds using 15-year-old or even older potato computers that run 32-bit Windows. That was all they could afford when they bought them, and they've never again been able to afford any computer. Maybe it's a German thing that the second-hand market is chock-full of used business laptops that are comparably cheap because there are so many of them.

Of course, in this use-case, toaster users have to turn down the graphics settings to a minimum. Advanced lighting is completely out of question, in fact, the shaders have to stay off entirely. The reason why so many Second Life buildings have shadows and gloss and all that painted onto their textures is so that they look pleasant to toaster users.

Now, the Firestorm devs say that when Firestorm introduces PBR support, it will probably remove the advanced lighting switch. Not only the shaders will have to be permanently on, but so will advanced lighting.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have to replace your 32-bit, single-core Celeron M that can only use 3 of 4GB of installed RAM with a brand-new i9 and your on-board GMA 900 graphics with a GeForce RTX 4090 Ti. I mean, I've been able to use advanced lighting with a low-intermediate Radeon HD 7770 from 2012 until it died a week and a half ago. But your old clunker won't cut it anymore.



Two, chances are that some more third-party viewers will wither away because their development can't keep up with that in Second Life. Remember when the #SingularityViewer was one of the hottest viewers? Well, the last new stable version introduced #BakesOnMesh and #Animesh, and that was in 2020 already, while some other third-party viewers still don't support either at all. The last nightly was over two years old, too, before nightly downloads were recently removed. Its user base is reduced to #OpenSimulator users who are at home on grids that still run #OpenSim versions with #Windlight.



Speaking of which, three, this will once again show an advantage of Second Life's centralised structure over decentralised OpenSim: If you've only got one instance, you've also only got one server-side software version to worry about. Second Life introduced PBR all over in one go.

In OpenSim, you can't expect all hundreds of grids and attached sims to upgrade to the newest version all at once, even if an OpenSim version with PBR should come out. Sure, most places run on 0.9.2.2 nowadays which even counts as a stable release while others are trying out 0.9.2.3.

But there are still places that run older versions, even on the #Hypergrid. 0.9.2.1, 0.9.2.0, 0.9.1.1, all still with Windlight instead of #EEP, sometimes even older and without BoM scripting support. I think some are still stuck at 0.8.2.1. And here and there, I think, there are even a few with even older versions and no BoM support whatsoever.

Some grid owners live by that typical Windows user credo: install once, never upgrade. And they extend it to their grid. It doesn't help that OpenSim is cross-platform, and the vast majority of at least private grids is running on desktop Windows.

Others are fairly conservative. There are grids that seem like they've spent the past ten years under a rock. They've still got mesh disabled. As far as I know, that very switch has been removed from OpenSim quite a while ago, just like the one in viewers. Naturally, these grids run very old versions because the grid owner doesn't see any benefits in upgrading if new versions only introduce stuff they don't care for anyway or even remove something they've come to love. I wouldn't be too surprised if there were grids that still run OpenSim 0.7.3 while being connected to the Hypergrid.

Forks come on top of that. Some grids still run on forks from 0.7.x days. Not only are these forks no longer maintained, but they weren't really soft forks to begin with. The maintainers only took over from vanilla what they deemed useful or necessary, leaving ArribaSim which used to be popular in German-speaking countries with flaky BoM support, probably because parts of BoM collided with the performance optimisations which Arriba was famous for.

NextGen is even worse. It never had any support for BoM built in, not even any kind of fallback. I still know one grid that runs NextGen in spite of its gaping and actually exploited security holes. The reason is NextGen's killer feature, namely a nifty point-and-click Web interface. And your typical NextGen grid admin depends on this very point-and-click interface to be able to run a grid. Such grids can only be saved by either grafting NextGen's Web interface onto vanilla OpenSim or adding another admin who can administer OpenSim on the command line, and who'll effectively take all power away from the current admin. Until that happens, such grids are partially stuck at 0.8.0.0 at best.

So this means that Second Life-only viewers can be developed against exactly one Second Life version. As soon as they want to support OpenSim, they'll have to cover some five years worth of releases or more.

At least we're in the lucky situation of having a fairly new official stable release. For there haven't been any stable releases between 0.8.2.1 which introduced BoM basics and 0.9.2.1 which was the last version with Windlight. Before 0.9.2.1, the Hypergrid was split into a few grids that played it safe and stuck with the stable release and lots of grids that preferred development versions over hopelessly outdated versions. This is also why the "0.8.2.1" versions of #Ruth2 v4 and #Roth2 v2 exist.

OpenSim will introduce PBR, this one is certain. It will have to in order to stay compatible with Firestorm, its most important viewer (sorry, #CoolVLViewer fans). But there will be a long period in which lots of grids will not have PBR. And even when a stable release of OpenSim with PBR is out, and #DreamGrid has made the switch to a PBR version, there will remain lots of places without PBR.

Viewers that are compatible with OpenSim will have to remain compatible with non-PBR places in some way. If the Firestorm devs say that it's impossible to keep supporting non-PBR, just like they said it's impossible to support both Windlight and EEP, that'd create a rift through the Hypergrid. Users on PBR grids could no longer visit non-PBR places and vice versa. They'd need two viewers, one with PBR, one without. And even that is impossible because you can't rez your avatar somewhere on the Hypergrid while logging in. Unless you have sims on your home grid that run on a different OpenSim version, you're stuck in your half of the Hypergrid.

The Windlight/EEP issue was solved acceptably: At least Firestorm versions with EEP have a fallback mode that uses EEP to emulate Windlight, and it looks like OpenSim versions with EEP have their own fallback for older viewers. If PBR means a similarly hard cut, I hope that there will be a similar compatibility solution.

#Metaverse

It's frightening how fragile the sims which I've listed in my mesh clothes shopping guide for the #Ruth2 family seem to be.

When the guide was still an unfinished draft, 100 Dresses disappeared from Catena di isole on the #VirtualHG grid. It has yet to resurface. Until then, the line is commented out.

Even earlier, Remmy Ravenhurst closed her sims in #OSgrid to start her own grid together with Tanned Babe. She has made a whole lot of textures for older mesh clothes. I'm still waiting for the grid to open. Another commented-out line.

Not long after I've published the guide, #DorenasWorld suffered from hard drive failure and spent three weeks offline during which it was impossible to get certain Klarabella Karamell creations and almost impossible to get the Deva Moda products. Now Klara is leaving the grid and relocating her own sims to OSgrid so I have to edit these lines. I myself am looking for a

While Dorenas World was already down, #Artdestiny got into software-side trouble, but it came back quickly.

The #EtheriaGrid had its own share of trouble several times, making certain exclusive textured #Clutterfly items unavailable. I hope it's halfway stable now.

Sabi Breen has completely redesigned Shopaholic once again, and she has yet to bring back her Damien Fate clothes.

Recently, Cloe Kegel, owner of the #Astralia Shopping City, posted something that sounded like she had also closed Shopping City for reconstruction. This could have meant the removal of older layer and mesh items, some of which can only be found there anymore. Fortunately, Shopping City is still open and complete.

And just a few minutes ago, I thought that Birch Grove on #Neverworld had been shut down in favour of its own spring variant which lacks some of the original's shops. It's still there, just not listed on #OpenSimWorld anymore. The spring variant with its new pride shop will receive a special mention when I make my list of shops with layer clothes useful for #BakesOnMesh bodies like Ruth2 v4.

#OpenSim #OpenSimulator #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #RuthAndRoth

Have you ever heard of the Arcadia Shop on #OSgrid? Maybe you have, but I wanted to breathe new life into my Art Déco District category. If you haven't, well, now you have. And this place is certainly worth a visit.



First of all, there's a common misconception that #ArcadiaAsylum is behind this. Yes, it's a misconception. She isn't behind it. She has never even been in #OpenSim herself.

The real creator of the shop, the whole sim and all items in the shop is Aaack Aardvark, a very skilled and creative mesh builder and script developer. The product range he offers is impressive: a few clothes which Aaack increasingly makes for #Ruth2 and even #Roth2, a few avatar attachments (bunny, neko, satyr), a whole lot of furniture, home decoration etc., a few vehicles, various lamps, some of which can be automated, even entire buildings plus scripted things like a security system and a weather system.

Not exactly few of his items are made in an #ArtDeco style, as is the shop itself. By the way, if you like art déco, there is an armchair to be picked up in the dressing room which Aaack got as a gift. It fits well with the rest of his creations. There are also a few #Steampunk items. In fact, the #OpenSimWorld beacon standing in front of the shop, an official one actually, was designed by Aaack.

There's also White Lies, a separate shop which offers classic clothes for ladies; they can partly also be worn with #BakesOnMesh. More recently, Aaack opened the Kinky Shop where his OsCollar items can be found now. Both shops can be reached via bridges, and if you don't want to walk, there are automated "monorail eggs" you can ride.

#OpenSimulator #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds

Do you know Sinus?

You don't? I can't blame you. Sinus is one of the oldest and most obscure sims in #CraftWorld, and as far as I know, #OpenSimWorld has never listed it. But it's also one of the most interesting ones.



Sinus may be old, as may be what it has to offer. But most of what it offers is exclusive to here, and everything is exclusive to Craft-World.

One good reason to go here is layer clothing, especially for the ladies. Whether you still have a classic system avatar or a mesh body with #BakesOnMesh, you're likely to find things that are hard or out-right impossible to find elsewhere. Especially grid founder Tosha Tyran's shop, Faire Belle, offers a lot from lingerie to sheer hosiery to knit stockings and tights for cold winter days.

Everything I'm wearing in this picture is being offered in shops on this sim. The boots are by Ada Wong; I've actually acquired them during this visit. The velvet shirt and the stockings are by Tosha. The jacket and the skirt are by Eva Kraai, based on meshes by Damien Fate. That is, unfortunately, the jacket cannot be copied, but a red version of it is available at the Craft-Store, and if you re-tint it from red to white, you get the same thing.

There's also a lot of home decoration to find here. If you should get hungry or thirsty, there's also a ristorante. And when you're done, you can explore the neighbouring sims or use the teleporters.

#OpenSim #OpenSimulator #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #VirtualTravel

@kaleb Or if you're looking for a body with a very advanced #BakesOnMesh implementation that doesn't need an alpha HUD anymore, maybe #Roth2 v2 is something for you. You can get it straight from the creator's shop on the Marketplace. Not only is it free, but fully open-source.

#OpenSim #OpenSimulator #SecondLife #RuthAndRoth

I've done it.

I've launched a #wiki on this #Hubzilla channel of mine. It's still at a very early stage of being a WIP, but it's there, and it has three pages already. It's written in Markdown, by the way, for those of you Hubzilla users who want to take a peek at how that's being done, seeing as there's no documentation on it.

Here it is.

The purpose of this wiki is not so much experimentation or showcasing a feature that no other #Fediverse project offers (I give #CalcKey 6 months tops to include a wiki engine, heh). Instead, I've created it for what wikis are for: sharing information.

More specifically, it's about the #Ruth2 and #Roth2 families of mesh bodies. It'll offer information and guides for those interested in using these bodies. The main focus is on #OpenSimulator, but maybe some who use Ruth2 v4 or Roth2 v2 in #SecondLife may find it useful, and be it to help them solve the mystery that's #BakesOnMesh, for I already have a page about that already.

#OpenSim #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #RuthAndRoth