SL12B Big Hunt

In celebration of the 12th Birthday of SecondLife, there is a big hunt going on with about 90+ stops over a few joined sims. Kitty has finally completed it with missing a few and some extras unreported. 

This map is going to be very useful when you go about hunting and look for the SL12B sign. Usually when there is no sign, there is no hunt. However, Kitty found some surprises too!

Good luck and start your hunt to celebrate SL12B now:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL12B%20Wonderous/12/152/24

Kitty has a Flickr Account

Kitty had been playing with direct upload within Firestorm to Flickr and here are some of the selection photos which she had played with:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129102137@N05/

Fixing a Broken Item

Kitty used to have really nice street lamp with snowy grounds. But an accident happened when she moved house to a new Linden Home and totally forgotten to take the item and as a result got returned to her inventory via the automatic parcel return. And this is how it looks like:

The strange rubric cube icon definitely indicates a problem and Kitty had tried to rez the item again on the new Linden Home, but failed to do so. In fact, she is at the end of her wits and about to pull some fur out.

Then it turns out, somehow scripts are involved too, so Kitty had visited a Sandbox used by builders to make scripts and there she finally manage to rez the item (not properly, but like a box) on the ground. The next part is important. Kitty had to right click and take the item. And all a sudden, the item is return to the inventory, not in the Lost and Found, but as the proper item below.

So, its a quick teleport home and she carefully went outside and rez the item...

Isn't the streetlamp beautiful? Kitty is so happy sitting under it once again. In fact, with the same method, Kitty managed to save her meow meow wind chime from yet another previous home... Well, I guess Kitty will have to talk about that all in another post...

Fun with Photoshop and HDR

I know it does sound silly talking about HDR in SL Firstly because its computer graphics in the first place and we can't expect too much from HDR effect anyway. I had also never make a point to edit any of the photos taken so far, except cropping...

So, for once, let's go crazy and play with Photoshop!

This is my original picture I took yesterday..

And to my surprise, I only applied the simple HDR Toning, since I cannot get a good bracket (will, maybe I could be lowering the gamma etc, but...) and to my surprise, TADA!

Somehow, it seems that HDR concept does apply to SL as well and from the HDR photo, an insane amount of details not normally captured can also be seen here, for example, the grass and horse... Seems like there are potential for SL HDR Photography...

Happy New Year 2013

Happy Birthday to all my readers and I know this post is way late since its already the 3rd Jan now. I hope everyone had a great time countdown to this special year especially after we survived doomsday 2012. I wish I could see the faces of those folks waiting for it when the clock strikes 12 and there was a awkward moments of silent, then a silly bird flies by overhead. Well I guess we will have to wait for the next meteor or something...

In any case, looking back its a great year in some expect. I had gotten a chance to model and blog about many new clothes from designers all over Europe and even some pretty Asian one, completed at least a few dozens of treasures hunt in just the past few months. Well its been quite a year and many friends came and go, but I am glad I still have my good friends around me. And as usual like last year, nobody remember my SL birthday because its on Xmas day! But that okay, since I wasn't really online either then.

While many sim opened, some had closed too and I can't say I am not sad even though I may not had been so close to the owners and people there anymore. It is still sad no matter how I see it, but I hope they continue to enjoy SL and make great friends. And for some, I wanted to say that I am still waiting for you to come back from your RL and I pray for you that your RL problems will be resolved too.

Well its a new year, I hope everyone will have a great year ahead no matter where you are and I will still be here, waiting for you in SL.

EOL of Phoenix

The once famous Third Party Viewer - Phoenix is finally coming to the end of life. It's not that I hate it for any reason, but I had been preaching for people to upgrade to Firestorm because Phoenix totally ruined SL because it will display avatars with bald head and single color outfit where people had spend $L buying the beautifully MESH accessories. OK, maybe I hate Phoenix. :) But at least I have a valid reason to.

While Phoenix had served the public for years in the past, technology had finally caught up with it and they support team finally made the decision to drop all support for it from 1st Jan 2013 onwards including the download links from the main page. It will however be still downloadable from their wiki. Of course you can still change to another viewer besides than Firestorm.

See other 3rd Party Viewer:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory

Here is their official statement:

To be clear
-We are ending support for the Phoenix Viewer on Dec 31st, 2012.
-If you are a Phoenix user we recommend you migrate to a peer-to-peer help group created for Phoenix users:“Phoenix Viewer Self Help.”

- We are NOT forcing you to use Firestorm! If you don't want to use Firestorm, there are a few V1 alternatives out there. Check out theLL Third Party Viewer Directory.
- We are NOT telling you not to use Phoenix Viewer.
- We are NOT blocking Phoenix Viewer from logging in.
- We are NOT breaking Phoenix!
- You MAY continue to use Phoenix as long as you want, but be aware.. it will become more and more deprecated over time.
- LL is not intentionally killing Phoenix but be aware, there are changes coming in the new year that will break some key aspects of its usability.

I would like to stress that the last point links to a Avatar Baking service will be rolling out in 2 months time. While this feature will improve the baking of avatars for everyone else, it is likely for Phoenix that avatar will no longer bake properly or even bake at all! This is a might good reason to dump Phoenix for good.

While Firestorm has its cons too, it seems like a might great reason to upgrade your PC too. Currently on Windows 8, I can assure you that Firestorm works properly on it. In terms of graphics requirement, I found that a ATI HD 6670 is a really good buy because not only is it great for SL, it is also able to handle all the features (not extreme graphics though) on graphically intensive games such as Guild Wars 2 etc.

Read about the ATI Radeon HD 6670 here:
http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESKTOP/GRAPHICS/AMD-RADEON-HD-6000/HD-6670/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx

I do not know about the exact price, but it seems from NewEgg that this card is available from USD$69.90 onwards. Of course if you can afford more, go for the HD 7770 or a even higher card! Yes, crazy Kitty spend a LOT on her HD 6970...

Secondlife Outage Finally Resolved

On the status blog of Secondlife:

[Resolved] Unscheduled Billing System Maintenance
Posted by Status Desk on November 4th, 2012 at 09:00 am PST

[Resolved 9:00am PST, 04 November 2012] Maintenance on our billing system has been completed.

[Posted 7:19am PST, 04 November 2012] Our billing system is currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance. This can result in updates to credit card information not updating and some payments to fail. Please refrain from making any purchases at this time. We will update as soon as maintenance is completed.
[RESOLVED] Unscheduled Maintenance for Login Systems
Posted by Status Desk on November 4th, 2012 at 06:51 am PST

[RESOLVED 6:48am PST, 04 November 2012] The unscheduled maintenance to Second Life has been completed. Log ins should now function normally.

[Posted 11:58pm PDT, 03 November 2012]We are currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance to Second Life. This may cause some Residents to be logged out, or prevent some from being able to log inworld, or even into Secondlife. com Please keep an eye on this blog for updates.
[RESOLVED] Unscheduled Inventory Server Maintenance
Posted by Status Desk on November 3rd, 2012 at 07:58 pm PDT

[RESOLVED 7:57pm PDT, November 3, 2012] The unscheduled inventory server maintenance has been completed. Disrupted services should now be functioning normally.

[Posted 7:35pm PDT, November 3, 2012] We are currently performing an unscheduled inventory server maintenance. During this time, some residents may be logged off and will temporarily be unable to log in for a brief period. This maintenance may also disrupt transactions and logins. Please check back here for updates.
[Resolved] Marketplace Billing Delays
Posted by Status Desk on November 2nd, 2012 at 05:14 pm PDT

[Resolved 5:12pm PDT, November 2, 2012] All delays in marketplace transactions have been cleared up at this time.

[Posted 4:12pm PDT, November 2, 2012] We are currently experiencing delays in processing Marketplace transactions. Some residents may see their transactions taking longer than normal to complete. Please keep an eye on this blog for details as we continue to address this issue.

There had been terrible outage affecting purchase, rezzing of items as well as logins etc over the last 48 hours or so. I had a brief chance to go back and revisit my older games such as Battlefield 3 and Darksider 2 thanks to that. But my treasure huntings are greatly affected and not to mentioned if you had missed your IKON weekend or 60L weekend... Well, its time to cry over the spilled milk.

But I am glad everything is slowly falling back into pieces and it is not my problem with routers or network!

Hungry for a MacLinden?

I chance upon a rather familiar shop in SL and it turns out to be a fast food restaurant call MacLinden. It is just really interesting and I decided to take a look at it.

A rather familiar sight I must say.

And what else would you expect them to sell?

I took a few quick photo and if you are interested, the place is located at 

http://slurl.com/secondlifeVenture%20Isle/44/35/25/

Negative Linden Scam

Recently, there seems to be a flood of a similar looking scam all around most of the popular groups. You will see a similar message like this:

[04:54] Kamiliuke1212: Hey guys I have a problem in my linden balance I have -12 lindens, And I can't take 
any freebies, they all cost 12L can some give me 12L please? :( I don't mean to be rude, I aplogise

Even the bad spelling is sometimes replicated. I figures the scammer doesn't klnow English too well.

So, how does this works? Nobody will give her 12L. Or would they? Well, we just need a few. In a group with 100s of users, if only 10 people feel sympathy and gave her 12L, she will have 120L. Repeat that over all the groups and she gets 1000s in a few seconds. Easy money?

As group owners, we can ban these people, but they will just come back with another alt faster than you can say "Arnold Schwarzenegger". My advice is for everyone to please ignore people like this and they will know their tricks no longer works soon enough.

Just doing my bits to exposes some scam. Happy Secondliving!

The Most Errie Bed in SL?

Ever wonders which bed is the most errie in SL? I found one which if not the most, probably come close. And I even caught it in action here.

A ghastly image as the bedsheet is rolled down slowly as the ghost sits up.

If you had watch Exorcist, you will understand why I said this is errie...

And the ghost can turn her/his head 360 degreee backwards too. Definitely a fan of Exorcist!

Want to see it for yourself? Find the bed here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Eagle%20Grove/114/199/21/

Kiyomizu Autumn Treasure Hunting 2012

I had a chance to finally spend some time in completing this Japanese treasure hunt and gotten most of the treasure. Some of the treasure had been withdrawn and as such I would not get the perfect score of 75/75 kitties. 

What is so great about this hunt? The items are all oriental and Japanese. Its rather unique and hard to come by in SL. Secondly, they have the most advance system in tracking progress, there is a webpage generated for you and it tells you which stores and how many kitties you completed from that. 

This was part of my final report :

Well, its really cool and the webpage also serve as the TP portal for you to go to each of the store as well. Once you got this part figured out, the hunt is in fact very nice.

However, there are a few locations which was difficult because the kitt is really too small or there were too many. In fact 6 inside Tokyo Girl which I got some help from my fellow treasure hunters to complete.

Fun with Wireframe for Treasure Hunting

Previously I had posted a post about using Wireframe for treasure hunting. The back link is here:
http://elottebridger.blogspot.com/2012/09/hunting-with-wireframe.html

It seems that some of you are doubtful how useful it is. No doubt if the item is using MESH, this will probably not work, but take a look at this example here.

What you are looking here here is an object blocking our treasure here.

Normally it would take a long while to find this, especially in a big store abd made worse if there is no hint or the hint is totally ambiguous. But luckily see what the wireframe can do for you here.

See for yourself. There is your little cude inside. This technique is extremely useful? Then give me a +1! Thanks!

Completed FairyTale Fantasy Hunt

Out of pure boredom and without a purpose left in life, I embarked on a hunting trip and this hunt caught my eyes. I managed to complete it during the 2 days of weekend clearing almost all of the 50 prizes. Rinka helped me clear the last few.

For me the prized for 15, 24 ,33 and 34 are down, either the sim or the store is no longer around.

See some of the prizes here:

http://divaliciousfairytalefantasy.blogspot.sg/p/hunt-gifts.html

Need the hints? Here they are:

http://divaliciousfairytalefantasy.blogspot.sg/p/hunt-hints.html

Completed the Ice Cream Hunt

I had completed the Ice Cream Hunt together within a night with Rinka and it was fun, but one of the hunt really sent us to a wild goose chase. I should try out some of the outfit soon.

1000 Days in Second Life

It did not really come to my notice if someone did not pointed out to me. I am actually 1000 days old today. But seriously how much happy 1000 days old greetings do you think I will get today? Let's find out.

In my heart, I do have a list of people whom I really hoped had noticed it. I didn't made that list, but its there without my control. But the most important person was the one whom had noticed this and informed me of my 1000th day. I am very happy actually, but I did not show it. Beside than her, who else would notice it? I am seriously doubtful.

Let's look back at the 3 years I had been here. I did not know why or how, but I was registered and created on Silent Night after 12am and quite naturally I ended up being a Xmas avatar. I remember when I first came to The Village, some of the people actually noticed it and crack a smile on it. Due to many reasons, I wasn't on SL a lot since. Well maybe because I had a really happening RL then. Occasionally coming to some sims for fun and exploring only. I do not have anyone really close or in regular contact then.

It wasn't until late 2011 that I started to come to The Village very much and almost hang out there all the time. I met many people. Some come and go, others stayed. But one of the event left a deep impact on me. I got a notecard from a girl from Taiwan I knew and got really close to. It was sent on her behalf by Linden and on it was a virtual memorial service held for her. It was the first time I attended a funeral in SL...

Other people came and go into my life in the past years, but I do hope the people I am with now stays with me. I have not had that sense of belonging for a long long time, like a wandering spirits looking for a place to haunt. After my short break away from SL, I just wondered if anything had changed since I came back...
It is in fact even a miracle that I had not quited or gone away for good in the past 3 years. I know many had and surviving for a 1000 days period is somewhat already a miracle in itself. But it had also wear my out. At some point of time, I did considered giving up and in fact I still am. But for all that's worth, I am still here today.

Anyway, Happy 1000th day to myself. :) Let's just hope this is not the beginning of the end.