Progress Report On Inventory Sort and Dumping DFS in #SecondLife

The progress report on reorganizing my bloated and discombobulated #SecondLife inventory is… it’s in progress.

At least I’ve been able to enjoy going to events and seeing friends, or chatting in my old groups. I also figured out the Star Mesh Body a bit better and made one new outfit (from stuff I had in folders from last year) that fits well. I have a lot of outfit folders based on the Ruth Too/2.0 mesh avatar that I’ll be able to convert to the SMB mesh avatar. Now I just have to figure out how to use the fancy head that has facial expression animations, but make it look like “me.” The built-in SMB “skins” are not as nice to me as the older skins I had that I’m comfortable with.

This image is from last January or so, when I started to set up a “Secret Garden Platform Sale” to get rid of the #DigitalFarmingSystem inventory that I had grown, bought, raised, or crafted over about 5 years. That inventory is “no copy” status, meaning that I can sell or give it to someone, but once it’s out of my inventory, it’s gone. I’d rather sell than delete it all, because I spent way too much time and virtual moneys acquiring it. It’s like an addiction, too.

I got frustrated in January and hesitated to pull the trigger on announcing the sale in the various inworld DFS groups, and then real life got more interesting and I wasn’t logging in. Sometime in March, I missed a deadline for paying the yearly subscription for one of my alts, which meant that after a while, some of my inworld holdings expired and the stuff sitting on them were returned to my inventory. I’m not re-subscribing any of my alts, and only Dhughan and I will remain as “payment on file” for holding virtual land. Blah, blah blah! Are your eyes glazed over yet?

Second Life avatar sitting on a market stall stacked with empty inventory boxes

Since getting this fast, capable new computer, I wanted to resume my social stuff in Second Life, dump the DFS stuff because playing that farming game is a little like indentured servitude; to get essentials like virtual fertilizer, you have to log in at least every other day to “care” for your virtual poo-producing animals, or they “die.” You can pick them up and put them in inventory indefinitely but they have no more than 20 or 30 days to “live” once rezzed out, depending on the species. Lots of people still seem to enjoy this farming game, and there’s a lively inworld economy of resellers, auctions, and person-to-person trading and selling going on. I’m just ready to find other things to do with my time inworld.

Right now, my spouse and in-house tech support Rock Fall is transferring files from old computer to new computer, so my progress on getting the sale ready is on hold. Somehow, this “getting rid of DFS inventory” consists of making more of it into a more marketable state; think turning raw materials into pantry essentials. I’m then re-packaging it for bulk sales, and that’s where the Caspervend outage comes into play. I can’t load the sales boxes into the inworld server until this outage is resolved, and I can’t rez out vendors or update them – all their display “screens” are greyed out. That’s when I checked on the Caspervend group and found people repeating the “system is down, don’t do anything” message.

Meanwhile, the stuff that was returned to my inventory is a jumbled, coalesced mess that’s got random names because a “collection” of items returned together are given the name of the last object selected. So I’ve been rezzing out stuff from the “lost and found” folder to check what’s in the collection, and re-taking it as individual objects. Fortunately, this latest version of Firestorm’s third party viewer has this nifty “take as collection OR take as individual objects) option.

All this is of absolutely no interest to anyone except me, it’s just to help me keep track of what’s been done and what’s yet to be done

I’ll need to create an announcement for the sale to be posted in the DFS groups – I think I started to do that in January before I got busy.

I’ve got the “Secret Garden” platform recreated and ready to put down vendors. Depending on my “objects budget” I will be rezzing out the various plants and trees and seeds and fields; people like to see stuff they’re buying to make sure it’s working or as advertised.

I started “cooking” some raw materials down into what I consider the pantry essentials” category for one server. I have a ton of virtual livestock; the ones that are “zero days old” have slightly more value than the aged ones, except for “milk cows” that have to be a third of their lifespan old before they give virtual milk… ridiculous addiction, this game. I’ll have a ton of “meats” that aren’t worth much, but this early in the month the cooking addicts might buy some in bulk. Prices will be at or below market value for sure.

All the cooking tools, farming tools, and other sellable items will be on the block, too. Just waiting for Dear Spouse to finish installing stuff on the new computer so that I can get back to working on the inventory, and waiting for Casper Warden’s tech people to get the server issue fixed for setting vendors up.

Customizing #SecondLife – So Many Bodies, So Much Junk To Sort

There are dozens of #SecondLife mesh bodies and hundreds of virtual fashion designers. Creators have to design multiple versions to rig to different mesh body brands. Last year, I bought the one that’s insanely complex but extremely adjustable and modifiable. I’ve barely dipped a virtual mesh toe in all its features, but I’m good at screwing up the settings.

Logo for the Star Mesh Body, a customisible body for Second Life

Buy the innovative Star Mesh Body. Second Life’s most advanced & realistic female mesh body & head combo with advanced HUD & editing options.

It’s a little TOO realistic but fortunately the HUD can turn off the visibility of the naughty bits. Images in that site have strategic pasties, may not be safe for work.

Unfortunately most of the designer sales items I saw at the Halloween Shop and Hop inworld didn’t have SMB versions of their clothes, and the clothes in the SMB event store were so not demure. I prefer a more antique vibe in my virtual attire, and have to figure out how to use a feature called the “body conformer” to wear outfits made for brands like Maitreya, etc.

My original mesh body is an open source, free one called Ruth Too that’s based on the old, old Second Life default body, and the closest fit is the Maitreya Lara brand. With tweaks I can usually get stuff to fit, but when this Star Mesh one was announced, I had a discount code for it from the Blender school I belong to. As I ease back into my online life I thought I’d do a little retail therapy, but none of the demos (free) fit. I’ll mess with the conformer later.

It turns out that some of my favorite designers make stuff for the built-in mesh body, which came out more than a year ago. Apparently Pixel Box (a gothy steampunky brand) includes versions for “Senra: Jamie.” Note to self, try my large collection of Pixel Box stuff on the Jamie body later.

I’m no fashionista, but I needed a change of clothes and I’m trying to be more social. Virtually, that is.

I may start holding regular inventory sorting parties, because this is a thing in #SecondLife – and I plan to call the events “Sorta Nuts.” Streaming music, chatting, sorting inventory. It’s dumb, but relaxing.

The events would be held next to my store in Steelhead City, at irregular times at first, so watch this space.

Via: Most Realistic Female Mesh Body in Second Life | Star Mesh Body

Got Inworld, Barely

I’ve got back rent to pay and a mess in my inventory; some of my mainland parcels went poof and it’s time to scale back even more. It’s time to think about deleting a lot of my “store” and try to unload the no-copy DFS items that technically can be sold. Dhughan may be scaling back greatly, also.

The latest Firestorm is too much for my 12-15 year old CPU and I was limping along on a “Legacy” PBR viewer. I looked weirdly shiny and only lasted 20 minutes at a friend’s DJ event before I got a memory error and crashed out.

A couple of days ago I posted on the Community Technology forum (SecondLife.com)looking for reasons to buy a new desktop instead of a new laptop; the discussion was actually helpful (rare in Community Forum threads).

Available at a local PC store that specializes in both pre-built and custom built computers, this looks like a winner. I may wait for the Black Friday sales but this is already a pretty good deal. I haven’t tried to compare this to a “specced out” build part by part yet.

ASUS ROG Strix G16CHR-MS776S Gaming PC Intel Core i7 14th Gen 14700KF 2.5GHz Processor; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Dual 12GB GDDR6X; 32GB DDR5-4800 RAM; 1TB Solid State Drive

PBR Materials Broke My Brain

This is one reason I fell out of Second Life. Technological advances that got beyond my ability to adapt.

Lost interest after making some progress in classes, as the new techniques got more complex.

Also, I was waiting for Firestorm to update, as I dislike the main viewer.

I could no longer get excited and make things. But hey! There’s other reasons to log in, like socializing, shopping, etc.

side note: I deleted the mirror site at WordPress.com as there was no reason to keep it, and it was having a tech issue.

Via: PBR Materials

Fell Out Of The World Again, Hate When That Happens

It’s been a year since I last logged in to Second Life, or updated here. Why?

  • I got frustrated with trying to learn Blender yet again, with PBR just coming in
  • I got frustrated with feeling like stuff I had created was hopelessly outdated
  • I felt pressured by another resident to be! Friends! In! Voice! And felt skeeved.
  • I realized that I no longer wanted to take the time to “craft” and “sell” stuff.
  • I recognized that my desktop computer might need to be replaced with PBR coming.
  • First Life got busy over the holidays
  • My couch was much more comfortable than my computer desk
  • My laptop couldn’t handle Second Life at all, what a wheezer-geezer

What do I want to do now? 

Smol brown tabby in a wet bar sink

  1. I’d like to socialize with old online friends again and listen to music. I’ve kept up with some of their updates via blogs and Mastodon. I miss my friends.
  2. I’d have to agree to share my Mastodon account with the cat. She is adorbs.
  3. I want to downsize my multiple Second Life paid accounts. Just wasting money.
  4. That would mean cleaning up my mainland parcel, reducing the footprint
  5. I’d like to shut down all my SL Marketplace stores (Dhughan’s too). 
  6. I’d like to sell off the DFS stuff if possible – I was in the middle of that last year.

Meanwhile, an old friend is having an event in Open Sim tomorrow. The last time I tried to install and run the Dreamgrid software and get my old Haleakaloha island sim up, it failed. I didn’t feel like trying to figure it out on my own, and my in-house tech support, Rock Fall, is totally uninterested in this Second Life/Open Sim stuff, especially if it involves messing around with our household network router settings. But I feel a sort of pull toward trying to get my old castaway island OAR started up again, and restarting my tropical island mystery narrative again. 

It would be satisfiying to get stuff running again and enable hypergrid teleports so that I could pop in to my friend’s event and see who else makes it there, but… so much Real Life stuff to do today.

Bread to be baked – it’s got great riz and it’s ready to go in the oven

Porch planter mess to clean up and re-pot while weather is still nice

Postcards to Voters to write. Enough said about RL politics but there it is.

At least this blog is still working, and I’ve found a solution to not wanting to even touch my desktop machine (there’s some sort of aversion thing there, probably due to the feelings of frustration and avoidance detailed above).

Fancy new Bluetooth keyboard and my perfectly adequate ipad Mini make for a comfortable and portable blogging experience. 

What to blog in future? 

Probably my latest gaming obsession, the Habby Souls game. And fun things that I do online if I manage to get back into Second Life. I used to really enjoy photography and Flickr, but there again, is my graphics card up to the task? Or is a new gaming desktop required to really do it justice?

Hmm. What shall I do?

I may experiment with installing the ActivityPub plugin and making this blog a federated instance, but for now the little “repost to Mastodon” plugin is fine. 

Beyond that, who knows? Meanwhile, I have RL actibbities to accomplish. So many actibbities! 

Cannes 2024 Immersive Competition

Sounds interesting, were any #SecondLife #machinima works submitted? There’s a separate immersive exhibition, patronised by artist Jean-Michel Jarre.

For its inaugural edition, a committee of industry experts and Festival de Cannes representatives, under the supervision of the General Delegate of the Festival de Cannes, will select eight immersive works in competition. Additionally, a curated selection of non-competitive works, illustrating the synergy between immersive experiences and cinema, will complement the program.

https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/for-its-77th-edition-the-festival-de-cannes-launches-its-immersive-competition/

Change Is Coming – Welcome to Steelhead City in #SecondLife

My chosen community in Second Life is going through some exciting changes – Sheriff Fuzzball Ortega is reorganizing things, and a crew of folks are working on various remodeling and rebuilding projects around Steelhead City. There will be parcels available for rental very soon, and my shop is probably going to move across the street to make way for a civic improvement project.

While thinking about these changes, I rezzed out some of the buildings I have in inventory to see if I’d want to change things completely. Most of my DFS items are packed and ready to sell in another platform sale, probably this weekend, but a few things like seeds and so on will still be sold at St Helens Dry Goods, as they’re “in theme” for the shop as of yet. New products are in the vapor-pipe that is my brain. Updates are planned. Stuff happenin.’

Here are the buildings that I may swap around, or lend out for the big civic refresh. Some of them I included just because it was a long time since I’ve seen and evaluated them – the best of the lot are the mesh “Soho” ones, which are modular, and the Trompe l’Oeil ones.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lelanicarver/sets/72177720312175858/

Aside

PBR in #SecondLife – Chic Aeon

Chic Aeon raised an interesting point on the transition to PBR:

On the plus side folks that are still building using inworld tools (prim builds) will have new options for a better look and that might encourage some new users to become simple creators. There was definitely something –well just GOOD — about building out on the sand box starting with a cube.

Yes, I think so. I uploaded my coffee mug today to the test grid, Firestorm PBR viewer, but using the current materials workflow. It was gorgeously glossy. Uploaded for realsies, normal Firestorm, and it was harder to get the nice ceramic satin-gloss. But possible! Old stuff looked good, and the glTF test was drag-and-drop easy.

The test grid is one big sandbox. Social building can be a thing again. glTF materials will make texturing easier for new builders. Now to provide those textures…

chicatphilsplace.blogspot.com/2023/09/thoughts-on-pbr.html

ZOMG! #glTF Channel Packer Tool for #PBR Materials

Whoa! While browsing Rei’s site, stumbled on to this open-source tool. #SecondLife is moving to a PBR workflow “real soon now,” and the big content creators will have a painfully steep learning curve converting their products’ textures. This will help, expect SL to bury this info deep in the PBR wiki.

aiaicapta.in/gltf-packer/