davidventer

I presume, generally, that people who don't really like Firestorm's appearance would simply not use it, or reluctantly tolerate it without saying anything. And just because no one else has said anything about it before, does that mean I shouldn't? Even if I'm the only one who thought about this (that's doubtful), it's still helpful to someone who might want to try Firestorm's awesome feature set but was maybe holding out or avoiding using it because of how hideous it is. Now others who prefer the default viewer can actually try Firestorm and use its awesome features but with a familiar appearance, and not be discouraged by how ugly it looks compared to the clean/modern Login screen and UI of default viewer. I'll say this again; If you don't care about it, that's fine too, and in that case, this post is obviously not for you.

At least I'm not the one firing off personal attacks and prejudiced labels at a stranger. If the Firestorm UI doesn't bother you, why even comment on this thread? Just ignore it and move on. This thread is for those who are bothered by the ugliness of the Firestorm Viewer. Does attacking me over something that doesn't even concern you make you feel better? You need help buddy!

As someone who works in UI Design, and Graphic Design, and as someone who spends a lot of time In Second Life, my view into the virtual world matters. Any graphic designer would be triggered by the Firestorm Viewer's Login Screen and UI. And I'm sure there are some other people out there who aren't GUI specialists who would also enjoy a less hideous Firestorm. If you don't care about it, that's fine too, and in that case, this post is obviously not for you. If it does bother you, this is a guide on how to fix it.

Well, I got my point across, didn't I? *smirks*

That's great but unfortunately, Catznip is for Windows only. Not everyone is using Windows. I'm on macOS.

Do you absolutely love the Firestorm Viewer’s feature set, like me, but you’re totally nauseated by the general grossness of the Firestorm Viewer’s disgusting and ancient-looking User Interface? Do you, like me, LOVE the clean and modern look of the default Second Life Viewer but you still prefer using the Firestorm viewer for its awesome feature set? Well, now you can have the best of both (sort of) - The Firestorm Viewer's feature set with the appearance of the default Second Life Viewer (sort of). Start by changing the Firestorm Viewer’s login screen to look like that of the default Second Life Viewer: In Firestorm, before logging on, at the top of the Viewer, Click Viewer > Preferences, go to the Advanced tab and tick/enable "Show advanced menu" Now a Debug menu option will appear at the top. Click on Debug > Show Debug Settings, Type “ForceLoginURL” into the search field and then in the empty text field of that setting, enter/set it to the following: https://viewer-login.agni.lindenlab.com Upon restarting the Firestorm Viewer, the disgusting eyesore that is the MS Office 95-esque orange puke fire gradients and ugliness of the Firestorm Viewer's login screen will now be replaced by the beautiful login screen of the default Second Life Viewer. To make the sickness-inducing hideousness of the Firestorm Viewer look even less so, and even more like the gorgeous default Second Life Viewer, Open Preferences: Skins, and choose Skin “Starlight” and Color Theme “Original Teal” Oh and... Run the Firestorm Viewer in 'Viewer 6' mode, obviously. Restart the viewer for all the changes to take effect. They should now persist throughout sessions. If/when there's a Firestorm Viewer update, you may need to go through the process again. You’re welcome.

Dear Lindens, Please create Commercial Spaces in the same way that you've created the new Linden Homes, but instead of house options, provide pre-built shop/office buildings to choose from, and allow the land to be displayed in search and for classifieds to be created from the land. Theme these in the same creative way that you've themed the Linden Home regions - or even better yet; place them between Linden Home regions on the same continent to create little shopping places in the same way that real life neighborhoods would have small shopping centers nearby. Or make 1/4 of every 5th or so Linden Home region a commercial space with either a pre-built open-mall type shopping center with shops that can be claimed or a shop area with different shop/office building options, like the house building options we have through our mailboxes. I love living a "realistic" Second Life. Currently, when I'm at my Linden Home, there's no realistic way to get to the shops. I have to teleport, or I have to drive to the edge of the continent and cross over into the messy mainland. I would love to have little dedicated and themed commercial areas nearby so that I can get into my car at my Linden Home and drive to the nearby shops. Having dedicated little commercial spaces nearby that Premium Residents can claim in the same way as Linden Homes would be really cool. Being able to visit them within the same continent, or even the same region, within walking or driving distance would be even better. I've also created this as a Feature Request in the Second Life Jira here: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-231479 Thank you!

Hi guys. Okay, some shameless-self promotion here and perhaps a bit of cheek and sugar-coating by referring to myself as emergent, but it is what it is *smirks*. Honestly, I'm quite humble, and this is just my attempt at grabbing your attention and putting myself out there. Here goes... So, do you like chill electronic music? I'll be DJ'ing at various open-stage venues and occasional impromptu events in Second Life, and I hereby invite you to 'Follow me' for your listening pleasure. Who am I? I'm David Venter; an Independent Artist, DJ, and Electronic Music Producer from South Africa. You may find me on Audius, Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, Deezer, MixCloud, and various other platforms where I have, so far, released a five track EP, a single, and a couple of mix-sets. You may view some of my previous releases here. If you're interested in following me along my musical journey in Second Life, you may do so through one, or all, of the following ways: 1. Join my Group: - where I will be posting notices of when and where I will be going live: 2. Follow me on Twitter: - (Warning: I tweet a lot of crap and I have a no-filter potty mouth). 3. Can't make it to my sets? Tune in through my website during publicized time-slots. Please note: Due to some personal challenges and the nature of my lifestyle; I am unable to commit to residencies at any venue with strict and frequently scheduled time-slots. Instead, you'll find me performing at open-stage impromptu gatherings and laid-back venues where I am able to broadcast when I can. Please do not contact me with offers to work at your club on a scheduled basis, that's not something I can commit to at this time. Should that change in the future, I'll update this post accordingly.

I am considering this but I'm worried about clothing options, I don't want to struggle to find well-fitting male clothes and also don't want lady/hourglass hips on my male avatar.

Yes, I've played with the shape sliders quite a bit. He's as skinny as I can get him. I'm also using a deformer now for slimmer features and it works quite well but I think my skin's muscle shading is now the problem. I'm currently using a Stray Dog skin. If you can recommend any good alternatives with less muscle shading, please do! I love the stray dog face skins though as they look quite natural with some of them being asymmetrical in their features and having 'messy' eyebrows, freckles or light frown lines. I don't want my avatar's face looking like a fake and perfect plastic Ken doll. If there's a slimmer body skin that would work with a stray dog face skin, or if there's a way to blend them together, that would be great.

Awesome!!! Thanks for sharing! I'll see if I can find a deformer for skinnier arms and flatter pectorals. This would be the ideal solution as Jake is great when it comes to finding clothes for it. Would be ideal if I don't have to change to a different body. I just want slim arms and smaller 'moobs'...

I tried the demo of this. Nice to see that it's BOM compatible, so my skin and everything worked right away. I tried my clothes, but that was a bit of a hit and miss. Some of my pants made for Jake fit-mesh are almost a perfect fit!! Nice! but the auto-alphas don't apply for this body. So I'll have to play around with it some more. If I can get wearable alpha layers to replace the auto-alpha of the fit-mess clothes then this may end up being my new body. Unfortunately, most of my fit-mesh clothes for Jake didn't come with alpha layers because they auto-apply alphas on Jake - and the generic alpha layers cut out too much, or not enough. It's a hit and miss. The arms on this are perfect! The hud for this seems to have AMAZING fine-detail Alpha options BUT.. No way to save alpha presets? Or is there a way to save alpha presets? Honestly, I'm quite impressed by this. Thanks for sharing. It's on my shortlist of a possible solution while I look into all the other recommendations as well. If I struggle too much, I'll probably just suck it up and stick with Jake. I just Wish Jake could have skinner arms, like the arms on this body. I'll play around with the demo some more.

Hi guys. Which popular/quality male mesh body is the skinniest or the best to use for a skinny shape and slim-type skin (no gym bunny muscle definition)? I've tried using tweenster but it doesn't look good at adult sizes (I'm 6'2"), Trying Tweenster at that size; the shoulder/armpit ratio is messed up and the chest is caved in. I'm currently using Belleza Jake, but it's still too "butch" - Can anyone suggest a better quality mesh body for a slim non-gym-bunny look? or is there a deformer available somewhere to make Jake's arm's skinnier and his pecs flatter? Why is it so difficult to make/be a skinny dude in SL? Please Help!

The main Second Life account dashboard isn’t even mobile-friendly yet. An html media size query and accompanying CSS is like the easiest thing to do. I don’t think anyone at the lab knows how to do anything on/for mobile devices. 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

No. MINE! I’ll be back. And then rage quit AGAIN when LL can’t keep up. Rinse and repeat. You know how it is. 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🤣

It’s never too late. Code isn’t written in stone. It comes down to whether or not Linden Lab wants Second Life to stay relevant, modern and accessible. Judging by their recent actions, they do... and we all want them to. So, I’m just sharing my input in regards to what might help with that. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Valid point but at least an ugly plug-in would then have its uglyness and massy code limited to a single button/window/section/function (Like a HUD) rather than making the entire viewer look like trash.

Another thing: Rather than all these dodgy, ugly, and poorly coded 3rd-party viewers; allow other developers to create plugins/mods for the default viewer that can extend its functionality, adding new buttons and functions. This could also be an opportunity for devs to monetize said plugins. Make a marketplace section for viewer plugins and have the default viewer automatically download and activate these plugins in the viewer once a plugin is purchased from the marketplace. Create another section in the viewer preferences for plugins that list all the purchased plugins (think steam DLC/workshop style interface) where users can then disable/enable these plugins along with a link to the marketplace for finding new plugins. Just a thought.

Exactly

The new graphics API's aren't just a "new thing to play with" - Modern Operating systems are deprecating support for OpenGL. I wouldn't call it "dependable". For Windows and Linux, Vulkan is the way to go. For macOS, Metal is the new standard, and has been for a while now. If Linden Lab wants long term stability and dependability, they should drop OpenGL and make the switch to Vulkan and Metal. Unless they expect their user-base to keep using outdated operating systems for the sole purpose of being able to play Second Life in years to come. With the resources WASTED on Sansar, LL could've given us a Vulkan viewer for Windows and a Metal viewer for macOS already; or at least modernized their web properties for mobile compatibility as a start. I'm glad that they finally came to their senses and are focussing on SL again, now here's hoping they'll actually update it to modern standards so that we can all keep enjoying this wonderful virtual world that they've created for us. Sticking with OpenGL will guarantee the death of SL on macOS with the next macOS update a year from now. And eventually, the same grave awaits it on Windows and Linux if they don't make the switch to Vulkan for those platforms. OpenGL is DEAD, accept it.

@Keira LindenThis is great news! If you need users to test this on iOS and provide honest feedback during the development process, I have TestFlight ready. Drop me an invite code. 🤩

What you call "stalwart negativity" is actually just blunt honesty. Sorry for not sugar coating or @$$ kissing. I have no reason to. Glad to hear that several of the points are being worked on. So there's hope yet. As for "Besides although Vulkan is largely bug-free Metal most assuredly is NOT." - It's actually the OTHER way around, FYI. But that's not the point of this discussion. And call it "impractical" all you like, but these are the new norms and if Linden Lab wants to keep SL going for years to come, they need to adapt to the new API's sooner rather than later. OpenGL will eventually be deprecated by Microsoft as well, it's only a matter of time. You'll also find that the majority of other multiplayer online games out there have already made the switch. LL is lagging by holding on to a dying framework. If it really is 'by no means simple' then at least start the process of working towards making the necessary changes to eventually get it implemented before it's too late.

I took a break from Second Life quite a while ago due to Linden Lab's illogical choice to throw resources at Sansar while ignoring longstanding BASIC Issues on Second Life. Now that the failed disaster and waste of resources that was Sansar is out of the picture, can Linden lab PLEASE fix the following: Linden Lab, if you're reading this, pay attention to the following if you wish to remain relevant: 1. Two factor authentication. Why is this still not a thing? It's really not that difficult to implement. You actually run a payment processing service and you don't even have 2FA for that, seriously? I recommend using the Twillio/Authy API to get this done. Google it. It's really not that difficult to implement. 2. Mobile-Friendly/Responsive Website, Account Dashboard, and profiles, etc. Why is this still not a thing? The community section of the website is the only mobile-friendly part. Everything else is trash and feels like we're living in 1999. Please put some resources into web development to get this fixed. 3. Old, outdated, deprecated graphics frameworks need to GO. Still using OpenGL? Really? STILL? Heard of Vulkan and Metal? Google It. Hire some developers to make a Vulkan Viewer for Windows and a Metal Viewer for Mac. And no, please don't go the MoltenVK route for Mac, it's trash. If you could afford the resources to develop the disappointment that is Sansar, surely you can afford to hire some developers to re-code the SL viewer for the Vulkan and Metal API's. 4. Mobile Viewer for Android and iOS. Why is this still not a thing? If you can't get it done, at least create a mobile app with a mobile-friendly my.secondlife.com interface running in the app, and maybe some live direct chat / IM capabilities and marketplace integration with a mobile -friendly marketplace view. The fact that SL still doesn't have a decent, official mobile client or companion app, or even a mobile-friendly website in 2020 is just baffling. Do the guys at the lab not own smartphones or tablets? 5. Official Controller / Gamepad support with default, ready-to-go controller mapping profiles. I'd like to launch SL with my Xbox wireless controller connected to my Mac and actually have it "just work" without me having to fuss with why it's not being recognized or struggling to manually map things to it. Set some default mappings for character movement and make it work automatically when a connected controller is detected. 6. Fix the new user onboarding experience and provide some objectives and incentives. Give new SL residents something to work towards other than just "this is how you move around and this is how you find places, now off you go." Introduce new users to Creator Tools in SL. Builders Brewery is a great place that I honestly think should be officially sponsored and supported by Linden Lab in order to get new users to learn how to create stuff in SL. Show new users everything they can do through interactive tutorials, not just "here's a list." 7. Streamline and standardize the avatar editing/creation process. Remove the default system avatar entirely and focus only on wearable/detachable bodies that support bakes-oh-mesh (for compatibility with old layer clothing from the creator community). Provide a bakes-on-mesh supported, LL created wearable body as standard that can then be REPLACED by a more detailed body from the creator community. The default system avatars that hide underneath need to GO, they are trash and simply ad an extra layer of confusion for new users. New users shouldn't have to hide their body to wear a new one. it should be a wearable that gets replaced, and if you take it off, it should be just a cloud, or automatically re-attach the starter body rather than being a body underneath a body that creates unnecessary confusion. I've introduced quite a few friends to SL over the years who always struggled understanding appearance modification in their early days on SL. "I have a body, why can't I just edit it to make it look like yours? Why do I need to wear a new one on top of this one? Why do I need to hide the other one? can't I just replace it? This is confusing." - You get the point. If the system body is by default a detachable wearable with no other body hiding underneath it, it'll ease some of the confusion. 8. Repeating point 3: VULKAN for Windows! METAL for Mac! Get it done! I know you have the resources. Just do it! I expect that this post will probably receive some salty feedback from SL loyalists or get flagged for whatever reason but seriously, these are SIMPLE THINGS that should've been implemented YEARS ago already. SL is becoming less and less relevant by the day because of LL's refusal to update and implement even the most basic of things while wasting resources on things that no one asked for. Thank you for coming to my TED talk 💁🏻‍♂️

Hello. I'm a RL Electronic Music Producer from South Africa looking to get into the DJ scene in Second Life. The gear, software and music library I'm using is licensed for public performance (I don't stream illegally ripped youtube videos or torrented mp3's like the majority of the other DJ's I come across on here) I speak on mic (although I'm more of a club DJ than a radio DJ so I don't talk a lot: just the occasional interaction with the crowd, sometimes greeting people, thanking patrons for tips, etc.) I do live-mixing, on the fly in a variety of Electronic Music Genres: Dance, Deep House, Drum & Bass, Dubstep, EDM, Electronica, House, Progressive House, Techno, Trance, Trap, Hardstyle. I do my best to smoothly mix one track into another rather than simply fading it and talking over it to distract from the fade. I generally stick to my own playlist but I'm open to taking and live-mixing requests into my sets, provided that the request matches the current genre of music I'm streaming (I'm not going to jump from Progressive House to Pop, country or Metal, for example.) I'm looking for places with Wildcard DJ access where I'm able to start up a set at any time if there isn't already a DJ present. I'm also looking for scheduled time-slots at clubs with decent crowds as I don't have my own following on here yet. I'd prefer to work at a flat-rate fee per set + tips but will settle for tips only if the crowd is large and generous enough. Due to my avatar's appearance I'm mainly suited to work at clubs and venues situated in Adult, or adult-friendly Moderate locations. I'm also available for private events. If you're interested in meeting with me to hear what I have to offer, or if you're interested in hiring me, please get in touch through my website at: https://davidventer.net/contact or join the "DAVIDVENTER.NET" Group in-world and keep an eye out for live-set notices.

Theresa Tennyson wrote: davidventer wrote: Jean Horten, Nice of you to assume that I have insufficient hardware. FYI: Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M OpenGL Engine And let me guess; you're probably on a Windows or Linux machine, so this issue doesn't concern you, and you have no concept of what I am talking about. Troll much? Realistically that GPU is mediocre for 3D gaming and the Retina display is forcing it to work much harder than it would at a lower resolution. Check out this article - and note that games ran quite a bit better on Windows instead of OSX on the same Apple hardware: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/03/macbook-pro-retina-display-windows-games/ My system was running SL just fine before the Viewer 4 update, and now once again it's fine on Firestorm X64... This is NOT a hardware issue. And FYI, I play other games just fine, too, with great performance, not to mention my system specs far exceeds SL's system requirements. This is not about hardware; it's about software issues with the default SL Viewer 4 on the latest Mac OS X. I'm sure all Mac users can agree that Linden Lab has been neglecting Mac viewer improvements. Mac OS X has changed A LOT in the past couple of years and Linden Lab simply haven't been keeping up to date with all the changes because, they either don't have an experienced dedicated Mac developer team, or for some reason they feel that it would be simply too much work to re-write the viewer for Mac using the latest standards, API's and rendering systems from Apple. Think of it this way: It's like trying to play a video tape in a DVD player. But that said, let me repeat myself again: SL was running just fine until very recently. So far, the only solution I've found is to use a 64bit 3rd party viewer. If anyone else knows of any other solutions or ways to improve SL performance on Mac, please share...