Alazarin Mondrian

In most peoples' cases, it's for the sexxies 😉

I have to admit I'm seriously underwhelmed by VRChat and some of the other new virtual worlds that have sprouted up recently. I find VRChat almost impossible to log into. 9 times out of 10 I log into the website, pick a location try to go there and nothing happens. Sansar looks really high quality but it's kinda empty. SL's got critical mass and a huge internal economy so it won't be going away any time soon. Updating the graphics and physics engines might be useful in order to appeal to a new audience. Also, now that SL's hosted on AWS maybe they can arrange for some of the graphics rendering to be done server-side so that the entry-level hardware requirements aren't so expensive: cheap, fast and easy is always popular.

My main takeaway from the Meta ballyhoo was Zuckerberg doing an 'Alphabet' to protect Facebook from coming anti-trust action. His metaverse 'vision' is laughable and will most likely end up being a Microsoft-scale failure. But, hey, if that keeps the FTC and SEC off his back then it's money well spent from his PoV 😉. I do like the idea of a common platform / environment that could tie in all the existing VR / virtual world platforms with a modicum of content portability. The prospect of VR virtual worlds with industrial-scale data-mining and forced corporate advertising is a complete turn-off. It was bad enough with the era of ad farms in SL run by janky amateurs on a shoestring budget.

As someone who has done a fair bit of building over the years with some projects that were in the 'ridiculously oversized' range, long-distance camming up, down and in all directions became a necessity. There are legit uses for these features.

I tried this and it worked. I teleported from my place in Crescent to Plum sandbox and back. It's not as if the vanishing objects are particularly complex. Mostly cube prims or simple boxy mesh stuff. Looks like I can use the teleport out & back hack to fix things for the time being. Thanks for that.

I recognise that. I built it. I'll have to take a look in my inventory for it. Good times I found it and sent you a copy.

Years ago I managed to log in on a Pentium III. By golly was it ever slow!

Good old Brokli... just goes to show that bots can be a source of entertainment in their own mute way. I can't remember if we built a shrine to her at one point.

Our Lady of Perpetual Silence

Two words: Ginko Financial.

I logged in today to work on a project but half of it and my building platform was missing. There I was standing in mid-air at 4000m wondering what had happened to a project I was working on [a mix of mesh + prims]. I tried CLT-ALT-T but there was nothing there. Nothing to click on. Yet when I walked around I was definitely bumping into the project I was working on as well as standing on a building platform that was no longer visible. I logged out and cleared my cache and logged back in and there it was. I waited a while and relogged to see what would happen. This time a different part of my project vanished. So I did the old log out & cache-clearing routine. Sure enough, everything reappeared. Basically, it looks as if I have to clear my cache before logging in each time otherwise parts of my projects and rezzed objects become invisible and all that's left of them seems to be the physical bounding box and that's it. I even reset my modem & router to see if that would make any difference. Nope.... things were just as bad afterwards. Anyone have any suggestions?

While that is true, blockchain tech is somewhat energy-intensive in its present form to operate. Maybe at some point in the future where you don't require your own personal hydroelectric generator / nuclear power plant / oil rig to run it, then maybe.

Yeah, right. The last thing we need right now is Ginko Financial 2.0 😕

Every time someone mentions cryptocurrencies or NFT's, my first reaction is a trip down memory lane to the days of Ginko Financial.Remember how that ended and how many people got burned?

This whole NFT and metaverse thing got me thinking [ I know.... it only hurts when I think 😉 ]. Would it be possible to use blockchain technology to secure content creators' IP rights and users content across multiple virtual worlds? The idea popped up in my head because back in the day one of my sons [in RL] was a bit of a crypto evangelist working for various cryptocurrency brokers and I recall watching a few promo videos about blockchain tech. One that stuck in my memory was the one by IBM about how they were setting up blockchain services to guarantee the provenance of diamonds across the production and supply chain as well as how it could be used as a bombproof inventory tracking system claiming that Walmart was considering using blockchain for their inventory database. I have no idea what came of it. Disclaimer: I am seriously underwhelmed by the whole NFT thing. It just seems like the latest get-rich-quick scam to me. From what I understand of the metaverse concept there would have to be some sort of portability of content between the various walled-garden virtual worlds as well as a common standard somewhat akin to the common standards of the existing internet for it to live up to the hype. Otherwise it will just degenerate into a pissing contest between the various walled-gardens as to who's got the flashiest features. Well, that's my take on it.

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing but so often it gets used as a fig-leaf by bad actors 😕

LL updates the starter avvies from time to time anyway. I think what would be a better introduction for newbies would be to start off with something like the LBD Ruth 2.0 [and a Ralph 2.0 for the guys] with a simplified HUD and a selection of outfits that work together from the get-go. Maybe specify that the outfits automatically activate the relevant alpha panels so that it's just a straightforward experience of simply wearing different outfits rather than having to faff around with all the alpha layer malarkey. The HUD would be an option for people to use once they feel more confident with things. This would be a seamless introduction to the current state-of-play vis-a-vis avatars as well as bringing down the off-putting financial hurdles and steep learning curve for newbies to get up to a level standing with existing residents. It might even encourage content-makers to make their products compatible with the starter mesh body as a way of going after the newbie L$.

All that will happen is that the announcements, etc., that were previously sent out as a group notice will be sent out in group chat. Some groups are already sending out announcements in both group notices and group chat. So in a way, group notices are relatively redundant. I kinda like the differentiation between everyday group chat and notices but it's not that big of a deal.

My Second Life viewer [latest version] crashes on launch or within moments of connecting to a sim. Graphics card: GTX 1050 Ti, CPU: i7 10700, OS: Windows 11, latest Nvidia drivers. Never had this problem before. I appears that I've fixed it. Solution: 1] Uninstall all Nvidia drivers and apps [look in Apps & Features and select 'uninstall'], run Driver Fusion [the free version will do the trick] to clean up, then do a quick registry cleanup using Wise 365 + C Cleaner... 2] reboot, then force Windows to uninstall the remaining Nvidia device drivers showing in the device manager... 3] reboot, then let Windows install the Microsoft WHQL drivers through the device manager. 4] Stay away from the official Nvidia Windows 11 drivers for the time being and do not install GeForce Experience. It will only end in tears.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. I had no idea that it was a self-contained standalone device. I was under the impression that it needed a video output from a graphics card in order to function. They're still kinda pricey compared to the fact that a cheapo brand-new smartphone costing £50 on a £5/month pay-as-you-go sim can access all of the 'regular' flatweb Facebook services.

It's an ambitious move but I don't think it'll amount to much for a good few years until the entry-level tech requirements become as cheap and accessible as a beat-up second-hand laptop. Sure, Facebook / Meta has a crapton of cash to throw at their Metaverse project but out in the real world, the droves of people who have signed up to Facebook and turned it into the juggernaut we love to hate don't have the cash to buy a high-end gaming computer and Oculus headset especially given the shortage and sky-high prices of graphics cards at the present time. You think it's bad now with all the crypto-miners bulk-buying all the high-end graphics cards as soon as they go out the factory door? Wait until you add in millions of people squabbling over them to power their VR headsets! It might be a runner if all the rendering was done server-side and all the everyday user needs is an entry-level setup like the Google 'Cardboard' [remember that?] that runs on a mobile phone. Otherwise Zuckerberg's Metaverse will die a long, slow death as a niche environment for the affluent who can afford all the expensive gadgets just to get in the door. Facebook became the juggernaut it is today because the entry-level requirements were so ridiculously low that anyone, anywhere in the world with a beat-up second-hand smartphone running an outdated version of android could access it. The same goes for Instagram and Messenger. Good luck making the metaverse accessible to people who can't afford to buy the gear necessary to get in the door. Don't get me wrong, I'm a long-term SL resident and I'm really into virtual worlds in a big way but you have to be realistic about it. Short of Facebook / Meta giving away a billion Oculus headsets and computers to run the graphics, I don't see how Zuckerberg's big metaverse idea will ever gain the kind of critical mass he's got used to with Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.

I upgraded all my computers [3 desktops and 1 laptop] to Windows 11 and everything seems to be running smoothly. I do miss the ability to group shortcuts in the start menu. Hopefully they'll bring that back in a later update. Thanks to Alwin for pointing out that the taskbar icons and start button can be moved to the left. I might look into Stardock's offerings to see what alternative GUIs they have for Windows 11.

Wow, this is an old thread! I had a look at my 4-year old post and on the outside my computer hasn't changed much. Same old beige bomber case. Inside, it's changed significantly: i7 10700 CPU Asus Prime B460 Plus motherboard 24 GB DDR4 RAM Zotac GTX 1050Ti graphics card [I actually bought it shortly after my original post on this thread] WD Blue 250 GB SSD + Toshiba 4TB HD. I was given an old Apple 30" monitor a few months ago. It's huge! I like it but it sure is an energy hog. Windows 10 Pro

Yes, and that individuality and customisation at MySpace turned it into a glue pit of pages loaded up with badly-written flash apps that would grind all but the most powerful computers to a near crawling halt.

Social media is a playground for everyone and anyone. It brings out the best and worst in all people.