News from the Second Life Team - October 2023 Edition
We've been busy since our last update a month ago, and we're eager to showcase the latest enhancements to Second Life. This update includes steps forward for the Destination Guide, scripting additions, Project Viewer news, and update on the Second Life Mobile app.
🎛️ User Interface
Destination Guide Improvements
One of the most-requested features for the web-based Destination Guide – real-time population counts! You can now see how many people are at the location displayed near the group icon (highlighted below):
See it for yourself at https://secondlife.com/destinations! We hope the population count helps you find locations you like -- depending on how social you are feeling!
This feature addition also works with Destination Guide search:
Keybindings in RC Maintenance Viewer V
With the addition of keybinding options for the viewer, you can now choose which keys map to various actions within the viewer. This is cool, but makes it more challenging to create documentation and real-time instructional prompts for vehicles and HUDs which take control inputs.
We’re happy to introduce this requested feature for displaying user-customized keybindings in chat. Using “secondlife:///app/keybinding/push_forward” for example, will provide you with whatever imaginative controls may have been chosen for moving forward. Syntax for this feature can be found here: https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_URI_Name_Space
Example:
See version 6.6.16.582093 Release Notes.
Translations in RC Maintenance Viewer W
You can once again use Google Translate to translate chat messages into a language of your choice. Note you will need to set up Google Auth, create an API key, and add it to your Chat Translation Settings. Merveilleux!
See version 6.6.16.582075 Release Notes.
👩💻 Scripting
Second Life combat fan? Oh yeah, we got some useful new LSL features which will be rolling out to the grid in the coming weeks...
Coming Soon-ish: llRezObjectWithParams
llRezObjectWithParams is a new LSL function that allows a script to rez objects with more control and parameters than plain llRezObject. For example, you could set the damage, velocity, collision sound and other properties in order to create a scriptless projectile. This should be tremendously helpful for weapons in Second Life, and any other application that requires rezzing script-free objects.
Look, ma! A rocket with no script! In addition to giving more control to an object's properties after it is rezzed, the key returned by llRezObjectWithParams is the key of the rezzed object, which can be useful for tracking or performing other actions after rez.
Coming Soon-ish: 💉 Healing!
A small but significant new feature: you will soon be able to set a "negative damage" using llSetDamage or llRezObjectWithParams value in order to create projectiles that heal people when they collide. Good for the medics and lovers among us.
Coming Soon-ish: llIsFriend
Check if someone is a friend with the upcoming llIsFriend function.
🧪 Project Viewers
Default Viewer
This month, our Inventory Extensions Viewer version 6.6.15.581961 got promoted from Release Candidate status and is now the official viewer available from the main download page.
Some of you have noticed that some inventory items are unexpectedly appearing in your Lost and Found folder. On occasion, an item in your inventory becomes ‘parented’ to a folder that no longer exists -- they are, effectively, ‘orphaned’ items. Previously these items did not appear in your inventory at all. We have fixed this issue and now they appear in Lost and Found. You can then delete the item or move it into your main inventory, as usual. Thanks again for your feedback and bug reports. Go here for the complete list of resolved issues.
🎨 GLTF PBR Materials
The GLTF PBR Materials viewer continues to be available as a Release Candidate available from Version 7.0.0.582103. This update required a simultaneous simulator and viewer update.
Reminder, PBR Materials content has limited availability on our Main grid (Agni) as a Beta Project and can be previewed on specific regions:
- Rumpus Room, Rumpus Room 2, 3, 4, 5
- Preflight0 through 8 (Limited access)
🎮 Game Control Beta
We are working on providing a way for scripts in vehicles and attachments to use input from devices such as game controllers and other hardware. This feature will allow users to create things like vehicles that behave more realistically by using analog input values from a gamepad in addition to discrete key-press events. For example, a helicopter could more delicately maneuver, using input from the analog stick rather than WASD on a keyboard. This functionality is not limited to vehicles and could be used for many more applications.
LSL game control support is in early development and is only available to test on our Beta grid (Aditi.) If you would like to experiment, please follow these instructions: LSL Game Control Beta.
😀 Emoji
We are still working on resolving the complexity of Unicode characters appearing in chat logs. The Emoji Viewer is still in RC and we remain 😃 about this evolution of the Viewer based on a contribution by Kitty Barnett.
📱 Mobile Update
We aren’t resting on our laurels: We continue our development of Second Life on mobile -- even though Bridie Linden is lounging in this screenshot! Now the app supports some interactions with inworld objects. We will be adding more over time.
Follow our Featured News Blog and connect with us on Social Media for future Second Life News!
Happy Halloween from all of us at Linden Lab! 🎃 We are loving the Halloween spirit in the community and we hope you are enjoying all of the events we have planned for you this season, including Trick or Treat at Bellisseria, Shop & Hop, Premium Gifts, Last Names, and a video contest with a chance to win up to L$100K!
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