In a sense, script memory limitations aren't coming to Second Life; they already exist.

What's going on is the process of Linden Lab making those limits predictable, and setting things up in such a way that script memory usage doesn't cause simulator processes to thrash madly (from paging memory to and from disk).

There's some interesting side-effects emerging from the overall prototype implementation, however. Mono (and, eventually C# when or if it becomes implemented as a scripting language) look like the losers.

Continue reading Second Life script limitations to prejudice against Mono?

Second Life script limitations to prejudice against Mono? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Over the last few weeks, Linden Lab staff have been talking about a few upcoming Second Life projects during their in-world office-hours sessions. Now the Lab has always been quick to stress that the accuracy and reliability of information obtained through those venues is questionable, and that we shouldn't assume that anything said at them is actually accurate.

With that in mind, we went back to the Lab about several identifiable (or at least apparent) projects to get the skinny on them and find out what's actually happening with them, and where they're at.

Continue reading Linden Lab investigates new/updated technologies for Second Life

Linden Lab investigates new/updated technologies for Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's now just over one year since Linden Lab announced that they would be implementing a some manner of script limitations over and above those which are presently a part of Second Life as it stands today. It is just over eleven months since those limitations were rescheduled to go ahead in Q3 2009 - which time has definitely long passed.

Nevertheless, the script limitations system is alive and well and coming up, apparently in 2010. This constitutes good news, very good news and not so good news (in roughly that order).

Continue reading Long-delayed Second Life script-limitations back in the public eye

Long-delayed Second Life script-limitations back in the public eye originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The context in which the Second Life issue of the void/openspaces price-rise exists is a rather complex one, going all the way back to 2006. So, in order to get the whole issue in perspective, we've rounded up the history of void simulators, costs and conditions, all the way back to the beginning.

And it is a far more interesting progression of events than you might think. On with the show.

Continue reading A brief history of void simulators/openspaces

A brief history of void simulators/openspaces originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continuing the attempts to further stabilize the new Second Life server code, SLS-1.24.5 will be replaced with SLS-1.24.6 in the latter half of this week, Wednesday through Friday. There are also some signs that precursors to yet another revision, SLS-1.24.7 are already undergoing preliminary testing.

The version that is slated for deployment this week appears to be build 96673, which is marked as containing fixes for two bugs - one of which was supposed to have been fixed in SLS-1.24.5, and another which was partially fixed in that release. Both bugs impact scripts, as you might expect, and have impaired and disrupted a large quantity of post-mono user-generated content, sometimes in quite subtle ways.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Second Life SLS-1.24.6 rolling out this week

Second Life SLS-1.24.6 rolling out this week originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab have been working very hard to attempt to bug-fix and stabilize the SLS-1.24 Mono-enabled Second Life simulator server software (try saying that three times, fast). Since Monday, the 8th of September, we've counted no less than 19 distinct versions of 1.24.5 that got far enough along to test.

Right now, the top candidate (and the version that has been rolling out onto the Second Life grid) is build 96115. A test rollout of build 96378 was attempted, but was somewhat crashier than 96115, so it was replaced with the slightly earlier build. There are several later builds already being tested and assessed as candidates for the next rollout, the latest being build 96505. There's quite a list of fixes, almost (but not entirely all scripting related). Notes for builds up to 96378 are available, however it isn't yet clear what any more recent builds might contain.

While all this is going on, the viewer team has managed to crank out a new release-candidate (1.21-RC2), which runs on the Mac PPC, and for those of you who were having that nasty crash-or-freeze-every-minute-or-six problem, or issues with sculpt textures, there's a fix for those too.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Second Life 1.21(RC2) available. SLS-1.24.5 rolled out

Second Life 1.21(RC2) available. SLS-1.24.5 rolled out originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Over the course of the week, we've been getting scattered reports of problems on the Second Life grid relating to the new Mono script-engine runtime that was deployed as a part of SLS-1.24. The key phrase seems to be "catastrophic mono bytecode serialization failure".

The problem itself doesn't appear to be highly reproducible, but by the accounts we're getting, when it occurs, the Mono runtime flings a complex exception, and most or all of the Mono scripts in the simulator where the exception occurred shut down, and stay that way, pending individual and manual attention.

SLS-1.24.4 rolled out on 3 September, though that apparently did not correct the problem, as we have reports of it from users as late as 4 September, despite the relative infrequency of its occurrence.

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Continue reading Major failure plagues Second Life Mono deployment

Major failure plagues Second Life Mono deployment originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You might be wondering, you know after all the hooraw last week, just what precisely happened to SLS1.24, the Mono-enabled deployment of the Second Life server code that was supposed to deploy on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week.

Well, that was 1.24.0, and as you may recall that not long after the pilot deployment the Second Life grid went kind of whack. But that's alright, because 1.24.1 to the rescue! Nobody said quite what was wrong -- heck, maybe they can't -- but 1.24.1 fixed that and it was rolled out to replace 1.24.0 on the pilot simulators.

Now, stop us if you've heard this one before, but while 1.24.1 fixed whatever it was that was wrong with 1.24.0, but was kind of well ... crashy.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Second Life Mono-enabled deployment rolling after multiple delays

Second Life Mono-enabled deployment rolling after multiple delays originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to an announcement by Linden Lab, the SLS1.24 (version 1.24 of the Second Life server/simulator code) rollout to servers is happening right now. While Linden Lab have normally given at least a little advance notice, and a schedule for the server-side software updates (which can be disruptive), no such notice or schedule were published. All we have been told is that it will "take a number of days"; we assume that is probably different to the usual three-day schedule. Actually, if you haven't been reading Massively lately, this whole update probably comes as a complete surprise.

As we mentioned previously, the 1.21 release candidate viewer that you'll need in order to take full advantage of this release isn't due until next week, though you can probably access the Mono functionality with the preview grid viewers -- just remember to change the grid target to -grid agni in order to access the main grid.

Patch notes are after the jump.

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Continue reading SLS 1.24: Second Life rolling update, rolling out now

SLS 1.24: Second Life rolling update, rolling out now originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab is expected to roll out SLS1.24 (version 1.24 of the Second Life server/simulator code) this coming week with both the new Mono script-engine runtime and Qarl Linden's new touch-position code. We're confident that you'll see announcements for those on Monday or Tuesday (the 18th or 19th) describing the update schedule through the course of the week. We wouldn't be surprised to see something of a media push accompanying it; that would be consistent with the way the new Lab is operating these days.

The Mono script-engine runtime increases the amount of memory available to new or recompiled LSL scripts (from 16K to 64K) -- though at the expense of increased memory consumption -- while also largely increasing the speed of them, especially for intensive calculations. Mono is, primarily, part of the platform stabilization project rather than a new feature for the sake of new features.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading New Second Life features due next week

New Second Life features due next week originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Depending on how the new code travels through the QA process, Mono could come to the main Second Life grid within the next four weeks, says Linden Lab.

Mono (an open source implementation of Microsoft's .NET) is to be deployed as an additional, faster script runtime engine that should greatly speed many common scripting operations, increase stability and reduce load. Linden Lab says that it is unlikely that we'll see Mono deployed within two weeks, but within four is certainly not out of the ballpark.

Currently Mono is available for testing on the Beta grid, and scripters should take the opportunity to test their scripts there and get bug-reports filed sooner, rather than later.

The new script runtime engine does not add (and is not presently intended to add) support for any languages other than the already existing LSL.

Mono coming soon. Very soon. originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 15 May 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While the upcoming Mono is agreeably faster than LSL for Second Life scripts, and in many cases a lot faster, there are some situations where this does not always appear to hold true.

One such case is object updates. At present scripts that perform object updates might not perform faster than LSL - and might actually be a bit slower. Thanks to Todd Borst, we can show that to you, in glorious video, direct from the beta-grid!

Continue reading LSL vs Mono deathmatch

LSL vs Mono deathmatch originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Welcome to the seventh installment of "Under The Grid", an irregular look at the mechanics underneath Second Life. The last installment was back on Second Life Insider, last year - so don't worry that you've not seen it here on Massively before.

There's a lot of talk about Mono being rolled out in Second Life and a lot of general confusion, or excited misunderstanding about what it means. Mono isn't just a benefit for Second Life scripters its for everyone.

Continue reading Under The Grid: Mono in Second Life

Under The Grid: Mono in Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.