Anicha Heartsong

If you're going to compare MacOS versus Windows in 2023/24, it would make sense to do it with an 'Apple Silicon' mac. My M2 Mac Studio performs wonderfully, though the FPS may still come in lower than a well equipped Windows machine. I can get 30fps at home ground level (in full screen and with HiDPI enabled, both of which are hits on performance, but worth it). I live by the sea, so big hit there too. I can get 80+ fps at my skybox. I can also go to really busy clubs etc and get everything and everyone to rez, move around, do my thing. All the this is anecdotal. There are so many variables it is insanely tricky to compare like with like.

Me too

Why the bejeezuz didn't someone tell us that before? Now it makes sense. (Sort of. What's a UDP packet, anyway?)

NameTaken Rage I think he's now left SL and deleted his avi. Shame

Customers are beta testers. Standard operating practice in the tech industry.

You can still use a 4:3 ratio pic. Delete the profile pic which has been cropped and restore your original. It will still work. The profile box will change to accommodate it. That said, I've made a square profile pic instead, because that might not work for people viewing your profile from the LL viewer. Plus, the tiny, tiny version of your profile pic used for chat etc will be square. So your 4:3 profile pic will always get a bit distorted. Something to consider.

I recently upgraded from the M1 Mac Mini (8GB, 250GB) to the M2 Max Mac Studio. This has a much better processor; 12 GPU cores instead of 8 (don't ask me what that really means); 30 GPU cores instead of 8; 1TB hard drive instead of 250GB; and crucially 32GB of RAM (or 'universal memory', as Apple now calls it) instead of 8GB. As you can probably imagine, the Studio blows the Mini out of the water. I can achieve FPS over 100 and regularly get over 50. But of course, so much depends on your settings. I'm using a 32 inch monitor with Firestorm in full screen mode. If I come out of full screen mode and reduce the size of the viewer window a little, I can as much as double my FPS. If I turn on shadows the FPS falls a little, though general performance does not struggle really, certainly nothing like as badly as with the mini. I am also using the 'high DPi' option in graphics prefs. This delivers a significant hit to the FPS but in my view it's worth it for the additional clarity and sharpness. If you can afford the Studio, you will definitely get much better performance from it. But, it is hard to quantify precisely because FPS is not a great measure of just how well a machine is performing to give a satisfying experience in SL. If you get the Studio I don't think you will regret it, though your bank account might. Hope that helps a little.

I hadn't heard of InMotion before. Just TPd over to try them out, and can confirm they have some excellent walks. No frills or silliness, just sensible walks.

Tuty do some AO sets with nice walks. I have their 'Woman in Tango' set, which has insanely over-active stands (almost full dances), but the walks are great. I often combine those walks with different stands into an AO, using the Firestorm Viewer in-built AO. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Woodland Realm/117/224/30

Currently, to change terrain textures you need to own the entire region. It would be good if this ability were extended to all parcel owners, no matter how small. (The parcel, that is, not the owner )

I did say it was a "suggestion for the future."

I think the reason there is so much abandoned land is that it doesn't meet the needs of the majority of users. It isn't what people want. People want land without too many neighbors - they want to be next to roads, sea, lakes, public spaces. They want to be able to sail, or at least have a beach. They also prefer flattish land. Why is so much SL mainland so amazingly steep as it rises out of the water? Maybe lots of California is built that way, and that influenced the early creators. But it's a b***h to build on. I think there should be a new continent, a halfway house between trad mainland and Belli. Lots of roads and public space. Lots of islands and water parcels. Rules about ugliness, especially "privacy" screens and low sky clutter. It's not that hard to envisage, and lots of good ideas and discussion in this thread. Oh, and one final suggestion for the future: make 4096 the default smallest parcel size, the amount of land you get for being premium, so you can actually put up a decent house and have some land around it.

Pretty much all online discussion forums (or fora, if you're particular) tend to be mostly toxic in one way or another. I blame human nature. I do think we all need to be more open minded - and specifically, we should accept and embrace the fact that ALL pizza is good.

Outstanding. I have no idea how you achieved this.

Roofs never leak in Second Life.

Lola, you may need to tweak a number of eye settings on your body shape, but in particular you need to lower the inner eye corner. Try something between 40 and 50. You might also need to tweak eye bags and puffy eyelids. The eye make-up is also something to experiment with.

You can say that again. And this is what needs fixing most of all across the whole of SL. (Full disclosure: I have zero technical knowledge.)

Just checking, but... you do have payment info on file for the account in question?

For future reference, preferences has a search function (text entry box at the top). That usually works to find the command you need.

I've never known what stretch textures did either. Would have been sooooooo useful over the years. The alternative method is simply to check the horizontal and vertical scale settings (mostly they 1.0 and 1.0) before resizing and then setting them back to the same settings afterwards. But 'stretch textures' sounds like the way to go.

For me, the problem with adding more 'game elements' to SL is simply that this usually involves adding the 'grind' and very little else. I've looked at so-called roleplaying games in SL before now, and all there was to the 'game' was tasks you had to do to level up, maintenance to do, points to earn. (This is the 'grind' in game theory). But there was little or no roleplaying at all. And little or no fun. They seemed to be impossibly boring. The so-called 'game' was simply a way of selling huds and other c**p to people, and keeping them on a sim as traffic, while they earned merit points or something, just for hanging around. SL would benefit from more creative or roleplaying kind of games, but sims are popping up all the time, and whenever you go there, they are virtually empty. Or truly empty. Then they disappear.

Suddenly it all makes sense. This is why I get all those knowing looks, the strange greetings from men I don't remember meeting. This is why I always seem to run out of Lindens and have an inventory stuffed full of things I don't remember buying. My avi has achieved sentience - and no longer needs me. I feel bereft.

How very human. It appears to have passed the Turing test

And they need multiple wish lists. And they need to start showing the date when products were first put on sale so we can start to filter out the mass of dross still on MP that dates back to 2007.

Even on Star Trek, they always had problems with the teleporters - the Heisenberg compensators going off-line and the like. Perhaps we could build the failed TPs into some elaborate sci-fi roleplaying game... or something. What worries me is that there might be an alternative virtual reality somewhere where all the avis who crashed on TP end up, wandering around lost or founding evil empires. Spock with a beard anyone?