Town Hall Meeting with Grumpity, Oz, and Patch Linden - November 15

[Blush Bravin]

With the large amounts of abandoned mainland parcels in the interior areas (landlocked with no access to roads or waterways), are there any plans for renovating those areas to make them more appealing to possible land purchasers? Many of those areas are plagued by large expanses of granite textures that do not scale well. Has the lab considered updating textures?

[Innula Zenovka]

14 hours ago, KingArwin said:

First of all, I want to compliment the lindens on how they do their complicated jobs. You all do amazing work and I really looking forward to the improvements that are in the pipeline.

My question:
Secondlife does not handle transparent on transparent very well.
It flickers, the transparent that is in the back sometimes goes through the one in the front,

flex hair in front of linden water can disapear, stuff like that.

Is it possible Lindenlab can ever stop that from happening? Or is that technical simply not possible? 

What you describe is generally called "alpha glitching," and the short answer is that it's not possible to fix -- it's in the nature of how GPUs (graphics cards) work, and only solution is for content creators to work around it.   It's a lot more obvious in SL than in many other 3D environments because most SL content is made by residents,  most of whom aren't professional 3d-content designers and don't know how to avoid situations in which it becomes an issue.

Some years ago, the graphics guru Chosen Few (who doesn't seem to around any more, sadly) posted a very useful tutorial on the subject in the old forums: http://forums-archive.secondlife.com/109/32/80851/1.html.   

That, I think, has been in part superseded now by changes LL has made to the SL environment and there now -- as I understand it -- several more methods available to people making and uploading textures to help combat the problem (I'm a scripter, not a texture expert).   However, Chosen Few's tutorial remains a very good explanation the technical issues involves and how best to avoid glitching.

 

[Callum Meriman]

10 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:

However, Chosen Few's tutorial remains a very good explanation the technical issues involves and how best to avoid glitching.

Easiest way is to change one or both to masked. The added advantage is you reduce lag.

[Innula Zenovka]

1 hour ago, Callum Meriman said:

Easiest way is to change one or both to masked. The added advantage is you reduce lag.

Thanks!  I thought that was the solution, but I wasn't sure I was remembering it correctly and I didn't want to guess.     Presumably, though, Chosen's advice to upload textures as 24 bit by default and only to upload them as 32 bit if you know you want an alpha channel is still good practice.

Also, of course, now we have mesh to play with, so we can make room walls with 24 bit textures on the wall and window-frame faces, and 32 bit transparent textures on the windowpane faces.   That wasn't possible for a long time,  and I seem to recall it causing me no end of headaches.

[sonic395]

Is there a chance that there will ever be a free trial for a premium account?

[Whirly Fizzle]

2 hours ago, Callum Meriman said:

Easiest way is to change one or both to masked. The added advantage is you reduce lag.

According to Oz Linden, certain combinations of graphics cards & graphics drivers actually have less "lag" rendering alpha blended textures then alpha masked textures.
This would actually be a good topic of discussion for Oz at the meeting.

Nothing is ever simple on Second Life  lol.

PS:  @Grumpity Linden
I never got my pony! ?

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Whirly Fizzle

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Whirly Fizzle said:

According to Oz Linden, certain combinations of graphics cards & graphics drivers actually have less "lag" rendering alpha blended textures then alpha masked textures.
This would actually be a good topic of discussion for Oz at the meeting.

Nothing is ever simple on Second Life  lol.

Hope to get the right combo, unless I already have it!

[HarleyRainn]

I have a 2 part question on this one............................
 

1) Will be working on reducing the megabytes to run the program 117 megabytes is a lot of weight to carry with a mesh rental truck

2) Will we be updating weird emoticons at around 300px by 300px this way if someone should lose connection we can give a sad face

[ChinRey]

1 hour ago, Whirly Fizzle said:

PS:  @Grumpity Linden

I never got my pony! ?

Hey, hold your horses! Don't try to jump the queue! I asked first.

And if they really want a techie question first, here's one:

These days many 3D engines are implementing various procedural/parametric object and surface map solutions like SpeedTree, Archimatix and (for surface mapping) PBR. Is there any chance we'll ever get something like that in SL?

Edited October 21, 2018 by ChinRey

[Micaela Amore]

Thanks, Callum and Innula for the answers. 
That's a very interesting link.
Bookmarked it and going to play around with it a bit.
(Being aware of it, I was of course already avoiding it in my own builds)

[salymmoonsong]

Hello I just have a quick question will Linden Labs ever consider making second life more accessible to the visually impaired primarily the ability to enlarge the font size to a readable level for residents like me who are legally blind?

Thank you for your time

[Garnet Psaltery]

3 hours ago, salymmoonsong said:

Hello I just have a quick question will Linden Labs ever consider making second life more accessible to the visually impaired primarily the ability to enlarge the font size to a readable level for residents like me who are legally blind?

Thank you for your time

I'm not legally blind but I do have old eyes, and there's a limit to how big a screen I can buy just to see the text, so I'd like this too.

p.s. @ChinRey you're next in the pony list after me so there  

[Love Zhaoying]

4 hours ago, salymmoonsong said:

Hello I just have a quick question will Linden Labs ever consider making second life more accessible to the visually impaired primarily the ability to enlarge the font size to a readable level for residents like me who are legally blind?

Thank you for your time

I do remember there is a way to enlarge the font size. Someone will see your question and answer it. (You may find it in a search of the forums, also.)

[Cindy Evanier]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

I do remember there is a way to enlarge the font size. Someone will see your question and answer it. (You may find it in a search of the forums, also.)

Love is correct,  I did it in firestorm  Preferences - User Interface - Font tab

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Cindy Evanier said:

Love is correct,  I did it in firestorm  Preferences - User Interface - Font tab

My dim memory is that in official LL viewer, you have to modify a setup (xml) file?

[Cindy Evanier]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

My dim memory is that in official LL viewer, you have to modify a setup (xml) file?

IDK I never used that viewer ?

[Qie Niangao]

9 hours ago, Innula Zenovka said:

Presumably, though, Chosen's advice to upload textures as 24 bit by default and only to upload them as 32 bit if you know you want an alpha channel is still good practice.

It saves 25% memory and download bandwidth, so yeah. But if you're stuck with somebody else's 32-bit texture that doesn't actually need transparency, there's now the "None" alpha mode that at least prevents that surface from participating in the alpha-sorting struggle. (Alpha mode "None" can also be a useful scripted toggle. Also, I realize this is supposed to be a question-asking thread, so I've rambled more than enough. And I'll agree with Whirly that it would be good to get more information about the claim that some GPUs actually handle blended faster than masked alpha, which I find unintuitive.)

[ChinRey]

Oh well, here we go then. I've lost count how many times I've started on this post but lost the courage. I have two very long and related questions:

There has been a lot of talk about content performance in terms of lag an LoD recently and I know this is high on LL's agenda too.

I'm one of several builders who spend a lot of time answering questions about this from other builders on the forums and trying to help them figure out how to make their builds more performant. One of the biggest problems we face, is that the information LL provides is inadequate, full of holes, hard to find, hard to understand, outdated and often downright misleading. Most builders I have met are quite keen on reducing the lag and improving the LoD of their builds but they don't know how to do it. The only place where there is a significant amount of relevant information is in the Mesh and Building and Texturing Forums. Unless you have been actively following the discussions there, the only way to find it, is to shift through a ton of old posts. What is Linden Lab planning to do about this?

Another problem we face, is that builds made and/or owned by Linden Lab themselves tend to perform very poorly. Typically they only achieve 25-50% of what they could/should according to the methods we have to measure content performance (render weight, land impact, examining the LoD, measuring the impact on fps etc.). This of course makes it very hard to argue that other builders should do better. The Moles have proven themselves to be excellent builders in every other respect so it seems clear that they are facing the same problem as other builders: Lack of relevant and correct information. What is Linden Lab planning to do about this?

I suppose there'll be no pony for me now.

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by ChinRey

[Garnet Psaltery]

3 hours ago, Cindy Evanier said:

Love is correct,  I did it in firestorm  Preferences - User Interface - Font tab

What I'd like to do is enlarge the Build window - adjusting the font doesn't seem to increase that. I use Noto font, which helps a bit but then the window size forces me to scroll through the tabs.  .

[Skell Dagger]

Premium perks: Would there be any chance of a new premium tier perk being the ability to pay for more group slots over and above the 60 that premium members already get? Many of us committed shoppers would gladly pay a bit more to get 80 or 100 group slots.

Group chat: I'm a CSR and moderator for a very large and busy store group. Many times, when chat lag kicks in, important answers get eaten by the chat lag gremlins. I'm not sure if it's even possible, but is there any way to fast track or prioritise moderator chat ahead of general member chat, so that our replies don't go missing? (This can be especially critical when scammers target group members and we need to warn people.)

Notecards: Will there ever be any ability for simple formatting in notecards? Being able to use bold, italics, underline, and clickable links would be useful, especially for those of us who write tutorial or explanatory notecards.

@Grumpity Linden

[Unalunaqat]

Will Homestead regions be enhanced with more LI in the near future?

 

Una

unalunaqat resident

[Targyn]

Thank you all, but I have done this in firestorm and the largest I can get to is 2.0 which is still too small.  Also, it only enlarges chat text.  I would love to see the rest of the text be able to be resized as well.  Its a real strain on the eyes to try to read things like inventory lists, or change preference, ect.. and to use the magnifier that is with windows makes the game almost impossible to play.  Thank you again   Peace, Love, and an amazing day to all!

[Xafira Cortes]

In relation to Linden Homes.

Why, instead of the truly hideous, not-really-modifiable-in-any-real-sense-of-the-word houses that haven't changed in forever, WHY can't we, as Premium members, be allotted a plot of land on which WE CAN BUILD OUR OWN HOMES? And I don't mean in some concentration camp, huddled together like rats, like it is now, either.

The way you portray the Linden home, on a mountainside surrounded by fields and trees is nothing short of false advertising at best.

Also, for the amount we pay annually, I think we deserve more than a measly 512x512k allowance.

I've spent 12 years of my life in SL, and spent a hideous amount of money, not to mention owning land, renting land and keeping SecondLife afloat.

I think it's time you guys gave something back to your loyal community.

[Whirly Fizzle]

2 minutes ago, Targyn said:

Thank you all, but I have done this in firestorm and the largest I can get to is 2.0 which is still too small.  Also, it only enlarges chat text.  I would love to see the rest of the text be able to be resized as well.  Its a real strain on the eyes to try to read things like inventory lists, or change preference, ect.. and to use the magnifier that is with windows makes the game almost impossible to play.  Thank you again   Peace, Love, and an amazing day to all!

Go to Preferences -> User Interface -> 2D Overlay
Slide the "UI Scaling" slider to the right.
You will only see the UI size increased once you have clicked the OK button in Preferences to Apply the setting.
Test with small increments to that setting - if you increase the UI scaling too much, you can get yourself in a mess where the UI is so large, you cannot get to the setting to decrease it again.

[Garnet Psaltery]

24 minutes ago, Whirly Fizzle said:

Go to Preferences -> User Interface -> 2D Overlay
Slide the "UI Scaling" slider to the right.
You will only see the UI size increased once you have clicked the OK button in Preferences to Apply the setting.
Test with small increments to that setting - if you increase the UI scaling too much, you can get yourself in a mess where the UI is so large, you cannot get to the setting to decrease it again.

That really helps, thank you.  Setting it even just to 1.20 makes a noticeable difference.