Biggest change to sl in a while (todays rolling restart)

[Yuriko Nishi]

to prepare for the new pathfinding feature sl released a new server version today that changed the ground of all sims.

now the ground is a mesh instead of a "heightfield".

collisions changed too.

 

there are a bunch of known issues (tested em with a few lindens and they confirmed them).

this change wasnt really announced anywhere (where people can find it without searching for it) i wanted to give a quick heads up.

 

so far i found 2 big issues.

all vehicles are bouncing around when driving on the ground (not on prims).

some other vehicles are even broken when driving on prims.

 

a golf game i played had bouncy balls on the ground mesh (yes i know how it sounds silly reader! :D )

 

more details here:

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-8048?focusedCommentId=338221&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Acomment-tabpanel#comment-338221

 

and here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Server/12#12.07.31.262785

 

if you create or often use items that rely on this you should test, and if it´s broken tell LL about it.

 

thanks and good luck :)

[Attica Bekkers]

Omg its so wonderful and exciting. Thanks for the heads up:)

[Dilbert Dilweg]

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Yuriko Nishi wrote:

to prepare for the new pathfinding feature sl released a new server version today that changed the ground of all sims.

now the ground is a mesh instead of a "heightfield".

---

That's some pretty awesome changes .  I am guessing now . Mesh Modelers should be able to sculpt-model their Region in Blender with the terrain pane and save out as a RAW file and upload to SL for your region. That should give creators the ability to create more detailed terrains.. Interesting... Or maybe not. I wonder how that changes for region owners for uploading their custom terrain now.

 

 

[carissabelle]

Hello, can you please explain those new features to a "blonde girl" like me? For example, What does it mean when it says the ground is a mesh?

I mean i am only using SL for having fun, exploring, shopping... and i know what mesh clothes are, but do things like "navmesh" or whatever help me any when playing SL? :-P

I mean all i know is, i have been crashing more often since the update. Mostly when i am sailing across the sims.

thank you

 

[Yuriko Nishi]

hey dilbert =)

 

i am not sure if you can model the ground like you can do with something like "mesh clothing".

the use of the word "mesh" by ll was a bit confusing since the beginning. basically everything you see in realtime 3d graphics is a mesh.

basically a mesh is the "wire cage" you can see when you hit ctrl+shift+r in sl.

 

from what i understand the changes to the ground mesh are about the colliosion shape for the ground.

you still use the same tools to create the ground mesh and then the server "bakes" a collision shape. this baked shape is the new collision mesh.

 

more details are here:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/Take-a-Sneak-Peek-at-the-Pathfinding-Experiments-Being-Conducted/ba-p/1386511

 

sorry if my first post was a bit confusing, wrote it late at night

[Yuriko Nishi]

hi carissabelle

 

the only change most users will notice is that soon you can have NPC (non player characters) in sl. think of rats walking around in dark corners, and running away when you appproach them,  zombies attacking you when you get into their turf or pets following you around. (all that very natural and not as choppy as it is now)

 

for creators a lot more has changed like the physics calculations that controll how vehicles behave or a ball in a golf game for example too.

 

have fun

 

this video explanes the goal ll has and why they did these changes.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/Take-a-Sneak-Peek-at-the-Pathfinding-Experiments-Being-Conducted/ba-p/1386511

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Well with the old RAW terrain upload you could sculpt the region terrain in another program and upload the RAW file .. I had heart shaped region once. But yea . Seems how things have changed a little I figured i would seek that info out lol Would be interesting if you could sculpt a region better now with the new system.