Second Life 1.1, October 21, 2003
- Improved Directory of People, Places, and Events
A new Find panel now allows finding people, groups, events and registered places. For your land to appear in the Place directory, you must check the Show in directory checkbox in the About Land dialog and pay a small fee.. It will show up the following day. Events are now listed in-world. Click the Events button to see a list of today’s events, and browse for upcoming events as well.
- Bigger, Deeper World Map
The world map has been extensively improved. Clicking on the Mini-Map now opens a World Map that displays the entire world on a scrolling display. You can click and drag in the map area to move your view, and zoom in and out to see the big picture or examine fine details. On the right are controls that allow you to find a person, region, or landmark. Upcoming events (in the next several hours) are displayed on the map as small pink squares
- The new World Map is full of information. Choosing For Sale from the pull-down menu labeled Background shows, in white, all objects in-world that are for sale – very useful for planning shopping trips. The Available Land option shows claimed land in black, public land uncolored, and land that is for sale by owner as white. The Popular setting shows the most visited parts of the world, and What’s New shows objects built in the last few days.
Permissions[]
Clothing, textures, sounds and scripts now enjoy the same protections as other objects, allowing you to set permission on clothing, scripts, and textures so that other people cannot modify or copy your hard work. Current item permissions can be found in the Properties dialog, which you can find by right-clicking on items in your inventory.
- There is a new permissions field for the 'next owner'. The next owner is the person who either buys the item, or receives it from you as a gift. By default, the next owner will have permission to customize the object, so if you want to sell a shirt that the buyer cannot modify, turn off Next Owner Modify. There is also a new permissions flag for transferability. If you specify in the next owner field that an object cannot be transferred, then the receiver of your content cannot sell or give away copies of the object. If you want to give away a copy of a shirt, but don’t want the recipient to be able to resell it, turn off Next Owner Transfer.
- Most new inventory items will default to the same permissions as a new object in-world, meaning that they are fairly strict about what the next owner can do with them. Notecards default to permissive so that when you give a notecard to a friend, they will be able to copy the contents.
- It is no longer possible to set an object as modifiable by everyone. If you need to share objects with others, either grant them permission to modify your objects, or form a group with them and turn on “Share with group” for the object.
Inventory[]
Permissions on inventory items are now inherited. For example, if you have a No Copy inventory item that you put in a box, the item will be removed from your inventory and the box will then become No Copy
- Individual items can be set for sale and purchased individually. Set the For Sale information in the Properties dialog, and purchasers scanning the Contents of your item will be able to buy individual objects--you could make a box full of textures for sale, and mark each one with its own price.
- Controlling the ever-changing look of your Avatar is now easier, as different clothing types now have different icons.
- Notecards, landmarks and textures that are offered to you by scripts (vending machines, stores, etc.) now open automatically and offer you the choice to keep or discard the item. This eliminates the additional step of clicking “Accept & Open”, and makes it easier to get rid of the item if you discover it isn’t something you actually want.
Physics and Vehicles[]
A new Always Run option in the World menu means you don’t have to walk anymore! Turn it on for a speed boost!
- A new vehicle behavior for objects has been added with supporting script calls to enable more realistic planes, hoverboards, and other vehicles. Look for more information in the in-game Scripting Guide available in the Help menu.
- Damped motion, new in this version, let objects and other avatars move more smoothly than before. Specifically, a script that specifies a new position/orientation for an object will cause that object to move smoothly instead of snap to the new position. You’ll also notice improved camera behavior while riding vehicles--or any object for that matter. Your avatar and camera will follow the vehicle as it moves. Use mouselook to look around and enjoy the ride from a "roller-coaster" perspective!
- When flying solo, you’ll now yaw and roll in the clouds as your avatar swoops through the air. Turn up the springiness on your camera in Preferences, in the Edit menu, to enjoy a truly dynamic experience.
Faster, Smoother, Better.[]
Second Life’s terrain is now more detailed. You can turn down the level of detail in Preferences in the Edit menu. This is done automatically on some graphics cards to improve performance.
- A new particle system (find out more in the llParticleSystem section of the in-game Scripting Guide, available in the Help menu) offer scripters access to particles that look better, draw more smoothly, and put less load on the system. The old particle system may be retired at some point, so think about upgrading!
- We now support additional detail in objects and avatars via bump mapping. This feature is only turned on if you have a very high performance graphics card, as it otherwise slows performance.
- Faster avatar rendering means you can now see many avatars on screen with less lag, and new LODs (levels of detail) for characters lets other avatars retain their shape over long distances while rendering more efficiently. A faster customize avatar interface is much more responsive when modifying your appearance. Your avatar will also transition more smoothly between different animations, and residents with certain graphics cards will see the clothing on your avatar ripple in the wind. When you change an outfit, you will see your avatar morph into the new appearance, to create a more seamless experience.
- Improvements to existing character appearance complete the package-–there’s now less texture stretching around crotch, male figures gain a "package", better UV texture mapping is better around the collar, and eyebrow sliders have greater effect across range. New sit on ground animation (cross legged) and motorcycle rider pose (for scripted vehicles).
- The default cache size has been bumped up to 500MB. It used to be 200MB, but SL used to frequently go beyond this limit so disk usage should actually be significantly reduced.
Chat[]
Click on an avatar and select "Talk To" from the pie menu to include them in a semi-private conversation. Customizable chat colors--you can change the color of chat from users, objects, and the system-–and range-based chat text coloring will help you to visually distinguish the who’s and where’s of your conversations. A toggle to turn muted chat text on and off in the Chat History lets you see what those no-goodniks were saying behind your back. You can also custom your busy mode response.
Groups[]
Now it’s easier to build with your friends. When you build objects in-world, you can simply click Share With Group to allow members of your group to work on your projects with you. Groups can now own objects. If an object has been set to be shared with the group, a group officer can deed the object to the group -- meaning the group takes over the object’s taxes.
- Groups can make money! If the group owns objects that are vending machines, or have scripts with a money() handler, then all money paid to those objects will go into a group bank account. Every week, on tax day, the money in the group account will first be applied to pay taxes on objects the group owns. If the group stills owes money on objects, each group member will be charged an equal share of the remaining taxes. If the group has money left over, however, that money is distributed equally to all group members.
Group Voting[]
When a proposal is put forth for the group, the results are kept in the voting history panel of the group information. Vote for officers! There is now more flexibility in how you choose who is an officer in a group. Officers can call an election to promote a regular group member to the officer position. Any person who is a member of the group when the election was called is considered an eligible candidate. Recall officers! When the members are feeling abused by an officer, a recall election can be initiated. During a recall election, no new members may join the group. This helps to keep the election fair--recall elections require a majority vote, and changing the group membership could confuse the voting.
Taxation[]
Taxes are assessed once per week, but everyone pays on the same day. The tax assessor runs early Tuesday morning (or late Monday night, depending on how you look at things). Taxes are based on your average daily ownership of land and objects. For example, if you buy a piece of land on Wednesday, keep it for 3 days, then release it, you’ll pay 3/7 of the weekly tax for it. The same is true for objects you own.
- The account history panel has been improved to better reflect this scheme. It will show you your estimated taxes, which will get more accurate as tax time approaches.
Scripting[]
New scripting calls include:
- llGiveInventoryList - give inventory to destination in a new category.
- llGetAttached - returns the object attachment point or 0 if not attached.
- llGetFreeMemory - returns the available heap space for the current script.
- llGetRegionName, llGetRegionTimeDilation, and llGetRegionFPS – get various information about the current region
- llRequestAgentData - the data parameter now supports the new constants DATA_NAME, DATA_BORN, and DATA_RATING.
- Find more information in the in-game Scripting Guide available in the Help menu.
Land Ownership[]
You now have more control over land you own. Select the land and choose About Land to see all of the new options – you can choose to limit access to your land to members of a group or people on a specific list, or explicitly ban people from your land. You can sell temporary access passes to your land. When the pass expires, the person will be asked to leave. If they don’t, they will be ejected from the land. Land access permissions extend 15 meters into the air, or about two stories. If you run into a piece of land that you can’t enter, you can always fly above it.
- If you’re flying around and see land surrounded by red horizontal stripes, that means it’s a piece of land you can’t enter. If the stripes are green, however, then the land owner is offering access passes for sales. Click on the stripes to get information about the land, and to decide if you want to buy a pass.
- Land owners can return objects on their land to the objects’ owners’ inventory. Right-click on the object and under “More >” select “Return…”
Teleportation[]
Teleportation is now free! The trade off is that you won’t land directly at your destination. Instead, you’ll travel to the nearest Telehub, from where you can follow a red destination beacon. Telehubs are transportation hubs scattered throughout the world, making it possible to live in a “rural” area without people teleporting directly in. Or live near a telehub and enjoy the traffic.
- As always, you can teleport directly to your home. However, your home location must be on land that is either owned by you or one of your groups. You can also Offer Teleport to a friend via their calling card. This will allow them to teleport directly to your location, making it easier to organize gatherings or events.
Building[]
Due to popular request, dragging items out of inventory now makes a copy in the world and leave the original in your inventory. The cursor now shows during shift-drags whether you are making a copy of an object. Look for a little plus sign.
- Please listen closely. Our menu has changed
The mouse buttons are now more consistent. The left button is only used for grabbing objects or touching them, and the right button always opens a Pie menu.
- With all the new features, the circular pie menus have been reorganized. You can directly rate an object’s creator or owner by right-clicking an object and selecting Rate. You have the option to report abusive objects in the same manner. When you rate someone, you can add a line of text explaining the rating. This appears once on the rated person’s screen. Positive and negative ratings are displayed separately in the avatar profile window. You can tell the difference between someone who is new and well regarded (+5 -0) versus someone older and more controversial (+20 -15).
- Several interface items have been tweaked slightly. The Inventory window is now less obtrusive – it opens only when clicked. The pay window shows name of the avatar you are paying – making paying someone in a crowded area is less risky! When you look at a texture in your inventory, the Save to Disk option is now in the File menu. This leaves more room to see the actual image. A new Mute Audio option let you play silently, and may also improve performance on certain systems with build-in audio. The Profile window now indicates whether someone is Trial, Resident, Charter Member, Beta Tester, or Linden Lab Employee.
- The inclusion of a Stand up button means you no longer have to worry about accidentally standing up by pressing forward or backward...a new button in the upper left corner of the screen makes you stand up.
- Finally, when you are on a piece of land where scripts don’t run, a “No scripts” warning now appears at the bottom of the screen. An option to Show Physical on Alt is now a menu item under View. It defaults to off, but can be set to on.
Support[]
The Bug and Abuse Reports will now generate automated responses with tracking numbers from our customer service system.
Being kicked by a Linden will now automatically result in a one hour suspension – giving you some time to think about what you’ve done.
Clothing[]
Now you can make a real skirt! There is a new clothing type with sliders to control its appearance. It’s great for creating skirts, dresses, kilts, loin clothes, aprons, trench coats, etc. Bump maps can be used to add detail to characters. Bumps for wrinkles on clothes are controllable by sliders. Bumps for character skin details have been added to the skin definition sliders. New Custom Clothing Templates are available for download at www.secondlife.com, and now contain UV coordinates!
- Second Life also supports bump maps on objects in the world, either by selecting from about a dozen choices, or automatically generating it from the object’s texture (“lightness and darkness” options).
Major Bug Fixes[]
A fix for bad avatar textures removes those unwanted black stripes on your avatars.
- Avatars no longer become phantom when the object they are sitting on is set phantom., and objects set phantom by scripts will no longer remain phantom when their last running script is removed or disabled.
Known Problems[]
Occasionally the audio will stop playing, or develop static. This is usually due to using an older version of your sound card drivers, especially SoundBlaster Live cards. In some cases, it may persist despite up-to-date drivers. We are working on moving our audio system from Microsoft’s DirectSound to a new audio library called FMOD. This should resolve this issue, but we do not yet have an estimated date for that release.