Skell Dagger

While I'm looking forward - personally - to BoM, in regard to the possibilities it holds, I'm absolutely dreading it as the CSR for a large mesh head store. Every day we deal with hundreds and hundreds of people who have questions about their heads, and a surprisingly large number of those people need extremely detailed step-by-step guidance, as in: you tell them in great detail to do baby step 1 ("find the item named XYZ store HUD" in your inventory, right-click it and select WEAR") and it takes them several minutes to do that, then you move on to baby step 2, etc. With some people this process can take anything up to a couple of hours because - even using simple language and no slang terminology - some people just... need infinitesimal guidance and hand-holding. With troubleshooting we start with the obvious questions first, because we know nothing about the experience level of the person asking the question. (Sometimes that obvious question provides the answer, and sometimes it leads to them telling us they're not a f&*^ing idiot.) We all pay for the pro version of Gyazo so we can make on-the-fly one-minute videos showing people exactly what to do to fix their problem or issue, or how to do what they want to do (I have a whole bookmark folder linking to videos for the most common questions). However, before we even get to those questions, we sometimes have to tease out the exact nature of the problem, because when someone comes into group and says "My eyes are weird; how do I fix them?" it can take ages just to find out that their actual issue is that they're wearing additional mesh eyes as well as the rigged eyes that come with their head, or that they've use the eye direction AO and they're looking upwards all the time, or that they've demo'd eye appliers and want to know how to get rid of the demo, or... We've spent upwards of two hours with some people who struggle to follow even the simplest of instructions (and I'll admit that, on rare occasions, I have thought to myself - after the first hour and a half - this person has GOT to be trolling...). We've spent an hour troubleshooting an issue with people who reply "I've already done that" to every suggestion that we make... only to come back and then ask us (or the group) half an hour later how to do the very thing(s) that they've told us they already did. I love working as a CSR, don't get me wrong (I'm one of life's "fixers" who loves to get things sorted, fixed, and organised). For all its occasional frustrations it's an incredibly rewarding job. But anyone who has done a job like that in SL will know what I'm talking about, and Bakes on Mesh is going to add a whole new level of complexity for us, especially when it comes to asking the initial questions to figure out exactly what someone's issue is!

They will wrap skin-tight, as before. Try the Bakes on Mesh beta viewer and you'll see. Some system skins look great, even on mesh heads, but they fall down completely and look terrible around the fingers and toes.

I am in the clothing market. You, however, have stated that you're not a shopper and don't know about the fashion industry in Second Life. A very large number of bloggers are sponsored by stores. We're given new releases free of charge, in return for featuring those items on our blogs. We have to abide by certain rules in order to continue being sponsored: blog X number or items per month, always link to the store/event, etc. This means we are directly promoting those stores, so - if LL links to our blogs on an official post - they are promoting those stores. See? You're not the only one who can reach a hell of a long way to make a point. The day that LL makes an official 'promotion' post that encroaches onto your area of expertise (which, I believe, is still bots, as it used to be) I will not be one to start an indignant thread about something I know sod-all about. I'm perfectly aware that you enjoy a good tennis rally of back-and-forth disagreement, so you'll continue to drag this one out with constant denial and rebuttal, despite saying the following: So I'm done with you, too. I'm withdrawing my participation with you in your favourite method of entertainment.

...which are being directly linked-to by the Lab. Do you also think that bloggers themselves are being officially promoted when LL links to them on those posts?

What everyone (OK, mostly Phil ) seems to be ignoring in all of this kerfluffle is that it's not just Xiola's LotD post that features style credits. Take this one that was prior to her image, and look for the 'style credits can be found here' link. Getting the idea? The Look of the Day posts that feature on the official blog feature direct links to bloggers' posts, where they - in turn - link to these stores and events. The fact that one of the very few Lindens who actually has an interest in current fashion does the same thing... why the hell does it matter? What matters is that one of the biggest 'industries' in Second Life is being used to draw in new users. Adam & Eve and Nylon Pinkney made early default starter avatars. People fussed about favouritism back then. Strawberry Singh and Winter Jefferson (both well-known bloggers) also feature heavily in Linden advertising, especially so on the Marketplace banners - and again there's fuss about favouritism. Do we really want to go back to the days when less fashion-savvy Lindens did all the advertising, and we had monstrosities like the one below 'showcasing' what was possible in Second Life?

Make sure that you're using ADD when you right-click to wear an alpha from your inventory. If you just click WEAR then the new alpha will take off the old one.

Of interest (and some eyerolling) is that which I have highlighted below. Why does the female figure have to wear heels (albeit low ones) when the male figure wears no shoes at all? Given the art style, that looks like a bit of casual 1940s-50s sexism there. Nothing against you, Rhonda, for choosing that image; rather I'm eyerolling at the original artist. (Also, the male figure's side-on posture is bloody terrible. That's some seriously bad anterior pelvic tilt he's got going on!)

Well, it's big enough to stand on...

I've been deep-diving into inventory today, and I found an amazing old wearable flying clock by 109 Prims, purchased back in 2008. Still looks amazing even now.

What a shame you had to flounce. There was some interesting discussion after you picked up your petticoats and departed with your nose in the air. You might have learned something

I'm on the trance classics tonight. This one's a belter...

The thing with 'ownership' of a thread that you have created is that its direction can depend on something rather vital: how you respond to other people who are posting in it. How you word the initial post is also critical in setting its direction fairly early on. Your initial post included the following words: "Why does my face look squished and ugly?" is a common thing that is asked specifically about Bento heads in mesh head support groups. The person asking that question is always given the same initial response: wear the 'starter shape' that came with the head, and then start customising that shape. Even purchased Bento shapes that are created for specific heads can cause issues, and - except in the case of a very few Bento mesh head brands - you should always begin with the starter shape, or at least be prepared for any other shape to look "squished and ugly". The 'starter shape' for that specific mesh head sets the 'ideal sliders' for the head, giving you a solid (and correct for that head) base to work from. That is why Fiona's and Ariel's response to you was to suggest using the starter shape: you voiced a very common complaint (especially by using the word "squished") and they tried to help you by giving you the advice that anyone who works extensively with Bento mesh heads would give you. As your responses to them, you dismissed their help without giving any sign that you understood what they were suggesting. You simply said "I customise my own shapes". OK, so is your shape customised from the starter shape, or is it from a previous shape that you worked with? Because the latter will very likely give you 'squished and ugly' results to begin with. However, if you are using the starter shapes and customising those, then with the following two remarks - - you have just insulted everyone who wears a Bento mesh head and happens to like (and stick with) the starter shape that it comes with. If Penny happens to lay eyes on this thread you might get an interesting discussion and plenty of information to learn from about 'onion skin' mesh bodies and lag, since that's one of her pet topics in Second Life. But when you have just called (three times, no less) thousands of people "squished and ugly" then don't be surprised if respondents to this thread focus on those words rather than on your initial question about lag.

Damn Yeah, he was quiet until last month and then he started sending out individual things here and there. Most of it goes onto Marketplace now, which I guess is his way of recouping his upload fees. Prior to that it was the L$150 group join fee, but I should imagine he didn't want people to pay the join fee and then not have the regular deliveries that he was originally doing.

In these shadows...

LOVE this, Clover. Fantastic look!

Playing with the new group gift from Weekend Ruiner (group can no longer be joined; the item might go up for sale on MP at some point, or it might not). I just added some extra point lighting to reflect the pink on Skell's face a bit more.

Another way to find it is to search for Nikotin, which is owned by the same designer and in the same rotunda of stores on the Signature Body region. Amusingly, I had to pull up the SLurl for the Maitreya store for someone in Catwa support chat the other day. Using Firestorm's legacy search for 'Maitreya' the actual Maitreya store was 20th in search. That could be expected, since some huge clothing stores that sell Maitreya-rigged items might come above the mainstore itself. But what was first in the search results? The Tellaq store, which sells only male avatars...

I didn't ask how good your PC was; I asked how old it was. The original Alienware Alpha came out in 2014, which puts it at 4 years old. The Alpha R2 came out in 2016, so it's less likely to be having CMOS battery issues yet. A CMOS battery will eventually stop working. That can happen anytime between two and ten years after the motherboard it's on was manufactured. The first symptom of a dying CMOS battery CAN be that time and date-related things start going wrong, either occasionally or constantly. You might also find that drivers 'go missing' sometimes (e.g. your printer can't be found, even though you know the drivers are installed correctly and are up to date). The reason why several of us - myself, Rolig, LittleMe, and Rhonda - mentioned the CMOS battery is for that precise reason: errors giving 'time and date' as the cause are usually caused by the CMOS battery, except in the SL-specific case of the link that Garnet posted. It's possible for the battery to fail completely and suddenly, but - like any other battery - it's far more common for it to begin weakening and remain weak for several weeks or even months before it actually fails. The clock might seem to be absolutely fine, and indeed it will remain fine and look perfectly normal, until the battery fails completely. As suggested by many of us, Support is your next option.

Are you now on a wired connection, or are you still wireless? If you're still wireless, then connect your laptop or computer to your router via an ethernet cable and see if that stabilises the issue. Run a command prompt ping to a sim in Second Life. Use the Pooley region, and type the following into the CMD prompt window: ping sim10229.agni.lindenlab.com What result does it give you as the 'average'? Mine is below: 133ms. (Be aware that I'm in the UK, so my ping has to go across the Atlantic, and thus is higher than that of someone in the US.) The next thing you can try is a traceroute through the CMD prompt. For that, type the following: tracert sim10229.agni.lindenlab.com You should be able to see from that where your connection is dropping. If it's within the first couple of hops, it's a local connection issue (if it's the very first hop, then it's your router and/or the way that you're connected to it). If it's later down the line then it's a wider network issue. For example: my connection runs at about 9ms until it has to go transatlantic to the States - at Phoenix - and that's where it goes up to 133ms:

Heh, I'm going to admit that both my eyebrows went up on reading the above, because "middle of the road man, not too bulky" and "Niramyth" are usually something of an oxymoron - mainly due to the majority of guys who leave all the settings at the default 100 max and walk around with tiny heads on massively-muscular bodies. However, you've clearly done a lot of work to slim the body down and de-bulk it, and I'm glad you've found something that works for you. I've seen fantastic things done with the Niramyth body, when the guys wearing it have taken a few hours to really work on the shape and bring it down to something that's far less Mr Universe and a bit more realistic. That said, if you don't yet have a mesh head then you might have issues getting a seamless match at the neck with a Niramyth body, mainly because of the height of the Niramyth neck. Some mesh head brands feature Niramyth neck fits, while others do not, so make sure to demo a lot of different brands. Also, your skin applier choice can be fairly limited when it comes to Niramyth (most popular contenders are Birth and Nivaro), so bear that in mind if you are yet to choose a mesh head: you'll want a skin applier that will work both for your mesh head brand and the Niramyth body. With regard to headsets, it depends what you mean: If you mean a VR headset such as Oculus or Vive, I probably wouldn't bother. SL isn't built for it (although Linden Lab's sister 'world' Sansar is, but Sansar is a vastly different thing from Second Life). If you have a VR headset you can give it a try, I guess, but I don't know if you'd be able to do much more than walk around and look at things; I really don't know how the Second Life viewer UI works (if at all) with VR headsets, and this thread on the Tech section of the forum would suggest that VR isn't worth bothering with here. I honestly haven't bothered with them, so perhaps someone with more experience of using them will come along and advise you in more depth. (You may even be treated to a Klytyna 'vomitcam' response, which are always fun to read ) If you mean voice chat, then that's just a matter of personal choice. I find it far too distracting to have voice chat enabled, so if I want to talk with my partner I head into Discord with him instead, where we can talk in a private channel without listening to people eating, babies yelling in the background, etc. Sure, I could also chat in a 'voice IM' within Second Life, but we just prefer Discord.

Makeup and flouf. Just another day... Credits behind the spoiler tag

Having so much fun with the Lelutka Axis HUD. I've been creating and saving all kinds of facial animations

Can't say that I've ever seen that error before. How old is your computer? Might be that the CMOS battery is on its way out: not showing with the usual 'clock gone wonky' giveaway, but affecting your viewer nonetheless.

Wider version of the shot posted in the other Look At Me thread Credits Vango for Man Cave, plus Hotdog for Men Only Monthly. Hair & hat: Vango - Nicholas (browns) Jacket: Hotdog - Slim Double-Breasted Jacket (plain - one size only, so try a demo!) Ears: L'Etre - Olympe Mesh Ears Eye appliers: Avi-Glam - Elysian Eyes (fjord) Piercings: Catwa - Bento Face Piercings* (rigged for all Catwa Bento heads) Head: Catwa - Skell* (Bento) Skin applier: Birth - Dakota (tone 01) Makeup: Zibska - Noir Pack 10 *review copy