Viewer 2.8x - the new features - fasten your seat belt!

I am currently on viewer version Second Life 2.8.1 (236154) , which is downloadable here under the chapter "Beta". Now, i am not sure if i really found all new things, but let me tell you those novelties, that i really liked:

Privacy settings for parcels
When you enter land, you see on the top bar the restrictions that apply, like "no build" or "no scripts". New now is the sign for privacy:

the eye with red circle

 It means, residents outside the parcel can not see any person inside the parcel - and vice versa. Chat on channel 0 (normal chat) is also blocked. This means for example, your private house is really private. Perving by cam  is past. Also listening as 'innocent bystander' outside the parcel is futile now.
To enable it, one needs viewer 2.8, the setting works then for any viewer.
How to enable it as land owner: go to "about land" and disable the checkbox that marks your parcel as "public" - so, the opposite then is "private":

Estate windlight settings
Phoenix user know this feature already, as  parcel description one can set up some keywords, and then all phoenix viewers woud interpret that and set up the light and water accordingly. Lindens took this thought and allow now, for the whole region (sim) to set up similar. The setting can only be done by Estate managers (Sim owners and their proxies) and can be seen by 2.8 Viewers.
How to set this up:
Go to Region/Estate, and there the tab "Environment":

I need to play with this one myself a bit more, as not all effects seem clear yet to me, especially in combination with the build-in windlight editor, but, a nice toy to set an atmosphere, for sure!

The Profile
it changed from its structure quite some, and has a feature, which i find quite interesting. One can leave notes in the profile of the other person, called "Feed".

Here i left a feed on my friends profile... interesting, i think.

These were some of the new features, i am sure there are more. But these wil lhave the most visible effect on the residents, in my opinion.

Sim Hunt - in the .. hospital?

Solved! 

S-URL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Deviant/88/213/15

Today we are visiting a sim where the owner is known for the toys that come from there, mostly D/s related. On arrival, one lands in the shop. And since these items are really very easy to identify, i do not take  a screenshot from there, but walked outside the store, up the road...

click to enlarge (goes for all pictures here)

and it is a loooong road....

the road is followed by a loooong stairway.. although there is also a lift

Well, it is labeled "for difficult patients" - and even tho i give sometimes those close to me some headache, i am not that difficult.. so i walk...

at the top of the stairway...

lets take a break and have a smoke, for the condition. and it is a hospital, so, what can happen?

The building is very well done, really. It has no "toys" inside tho, but, the design is worth a visit nonetheless.  I do not know, when exactly it was made. I found it myself only last year, but friends told me it is much older.

You do NOT want to know what is inside the refrigerator. I recommend by the way, to have speakers on, for the sound effects. They are not "shocking" but add nicely to the mood.

Watch for the details, they are well made. Here the shadows and the skull, for example.

I did not do that!

Should i book a bed here for the night?

But be careful and mind your step!

There is so much to see....

So what is the name of this sim, that is adult rated, that sells in its shop toys to "torture the submissive slave" - so they say...

As always, the first correct answer gets 100 L$ :)

If you know the place, comment the solution in here, this blog, with the "comment" function.

Sim Hunt - Another one

Solved :) It is Midian City, indeed. Congrats to the winner! (see comment at the bottom of this entry)

Time flies fast.. not only the days between the posts in this blog..
Sometimes, roleplay areas experience a hype - and get forgotten one day. The reasons can vary and it is not my place, to ponder about these. I just found, today, when entering the Roleplay-level of this area, a poster, that has its origin in 2007:

Click to enlarge - this goes for all pictures

Those protest-posters were all over in SL, back those days, before the ratings of General, Mature and Adult came into place. It was then, the reaction to a blog post by the Lab, to keep an eye open and to report acts that are "Real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depiction of sexual or lewd acts involving or appearing to involve children or minors; real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depictions of sexual violence including rape, real-life images, avatar portrayals, and other depictions of extreme or graphic violence, and other broadly offensive content" (Quoted from the Linden Blog).
This was way before the rating of sims.

Anyway, we get off topic... this sim has then obviously not really been majorly updated after that, as the picture shows. However... it is still for me a reference in design. That was before sculpts took place, or RLV was available.

However, leaving the arrival area, and entering the "playground" i get suddenly a pop up message, telling:
"Please be advised the sim will be rebooted August 1, with tweaks to rules and backstory.
Join the -XXX City- group and check the notices for more details.  In the meantime, you are welcome to RP here under the old rules!" (XXX is the name of the area, and since this is a hunt, i censored that out)

here i received the message

When the lights are set right, the decorations fit, then a street can set a mood:

The sim has many well equipped roleplay areas, like for example, a clinic:

offices:

restaurants:

and some more. but also many "dummy builds" which are jsut decoration and not having any interior.

So, which cyberpunk roleplay sim is this?

As always, add your guess as comment to the blog post here, the first correct answer will win 100 L$

Sim Hunt, the next Quest

The S-URL to this place is http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Swedish%20Institute/71/212/31

MadDog gave the first and correct hint!

For a new location in the sim hunt watch this blog.

Greetings today from ....... well, from where, is up to you to find out :)
Hints: try to read in the text for keywords that you enter in search. As last weeks Quest gave 0 hints, i took today an easy target. Really.
The rule: 7 days from publishing, the first who names the place as comment to the blogpost wins 100L$.

Here we go....

The project is another RL-SL connection, to transfer impressions from a RL location to SL. The G-rated sim appeared quite busy when i arrived and it is established already some years.

First thing that catches ones eye on arrival, is:

Two red horses

So, let us walk on and see what this place has to offer...
Near the arrival point is the first official building of the place, designed nice and bright, offering a warm welcome to each visitor...

with cupcakes even... or how they are named in that country...

The entire design is nordic fresh...

Ok, here was a twist... a sauna, as it is typical for the country, on a PG sim...

But it cleared up fast, inside the build one can purchase towels to wear, for free

There is a dog, named "Olle"...

And i guess, these were enough hints... so:

Where is this located?:

Solved: For Fun and Giggles: Sim hunt - and you can win cash even!

The S-URL to this place is http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Insel%20der%20Information/131/26/23

The keyword "library" in search would have brought you there pretty fast :)


For a new location in the sim hunt watch this blog.

Ok, something new came to my mind today. I can travel through SL and write down locations with S-URL into this blog. Like so many travelblogs do. However, i will now do something differently. I will visit locations, take pictures, and then you have to find out, where it is, exactly.
The focus here is on the fun. Your effort will be rewarded by yourself, discovering SL. And, well, a small compensation. The first one naming the right location as comment to this blog, gets 100 L$. Cash is not the main motivation, hence, "only" 100 L$.
If a location has not been found out by you, dear readers, within 7 days, i wil write the location as comment, then the 100 L$ for said place are lost, of course.

Nuff said, here comes our first target:

This handsome guy is named Aristoteles

He is not alone :)

The building has been setup approx. 2008

The interior is .. "functional" .. coughs

Very.. functional

It is one of those attempts of RL institutions to just go to SL because "everyone does".. and then they missed to add some value to their presence. Traffic is like 0, or below 100 points, means, at the day at least, where i have been there, all in all less than 100 minutes someone has been on that island in the past 24 hours. That is.. dead.

tons of "books"....

Like these bookshelfs... really a lot of them here, and not one e-magazine or something like that. Just pretty prims, empty.
But ok, i found some stuff, scripted, that added value... like:

old books that turn pages on click

Such, one would normally only see behind thick glass in a museum. Here, at least, one can read through the pages, provided, one can read those letters...
Also, events still seem to take place here...

The event calendar shows an event from May 24 2011

Hmm, funny....

The same picnic blanket as in the Duran Duran sim... 

So, these were the hints for this "hunt"...

Which sim is this?

Travelling SL - Duran Duran Universe

Google News can be a neat thing. I have set a filter to get News related to "Second Life" or "Linden Lab" and other keywords. So, one day, a headline caught my eye, about the music group Duran Duran, going to SL. The complete news is here. Today then, having some spare time, i decided to pay a visit to said location, and there we go...

four sims are currently the DDU - Duran Duran Universe

I have spend 2 hours, taking my time, exploring this and that corner, and found it, all in all, quite enjoyable. Some impressions of the trip:

Walk over the red carpet

If you ever wanted to feel like a celebrity, the red carpet is there, right for you. With yellow press.

Art-installations

Some spots reveal what they do only when you "hop onto that poseball" or get close to the scripted item. So, it is essential, that you really walk and click and try and explore. If you fly, or walk through in a rush, you will miss out on many details.

Cinema

Some of the architecture is nice. Like the cinema.

Inside the cinema

A small downside is, that there is some decoration without any value to the installation. Examples:

Picnic without sit-option (the fruit plate says "Fruits of Gor" btw :) )

High Prim chairs without any sit animation inside

But these are really minor points. Overall, the installation is fun to explore...

Find something hidden

Mix some music

Or play some on the band equipment

There is a lot more to see, but, well, go, check yourself?
S-URL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Azizi/67/9/26/?title=The%20DDU