OSgrid Celebrates 15th Birthday This Week

OSgrid starts it’s 15th birthday celebrations starting today through until Sunday 31st July 2022. There will be live music and live DJs to celebrate all things OSgrid. There are special events planned for Saturday 30th July and Sunday 31st July. See below for the event schedule…

OSgrid now is the largest OpenSim grid in terms of active users and land area. The OSgrid has been growing steadily over recent years and I would expect it to grow further in the months/years ahead.

Well done to all of the grid owners, creators, testers, scripters, developers, artrists etc who has kept the OSgrid actively going. 15 years is a long term in terms of the operations side and the OpenSim community has helped keeping things running.

OSG-15B Event Schedule 2022

OSgrid teleport locations (must be user of the OSgrid for access)

• hg.osgrid.org:80:OSG15B1
• hg.osgrid.org:80:OSG15B2
• hg.osgrid.org:80:OSG15B3
• hg.osgrid.org:80:OSG15B4

Please spread the word about OSG-15B! 🙂

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OpenSim Usage Drops Due To Closure Of The Metropolis Grid

According to the July 2022 OpenSim grids report apparently OpenSim suffered a noticeable drop in the overall usage for active users, registered users and standard regions for the past month. There was a seasonal drop in OpenSim statistics as its the summer holidays which is worth pointing out. Some smaller grids experienced downtimes this month.

OpenSim Stats as of July 2022

• Registered OpenSim Users: 464, 887
• Standard Region Equivalents: 112, 581
• Active Users: 38, 957
• Stats Collected: 276 grids in total

The main reason was the popular Metropolis grid closed down at the end of June 2022 due to the owners/admins shifting their focus to Yunis and not having the time to take care of it anymore (likely more reasons). The Metropolis grid had more than 1, 600 active users, almost 20, 000 registered users and more than 800 regions.

The decision to shut down the Metropolis grid has sent shockwaves around the entire OpenSim community. It’s such a shame because its been a popular grid on OpenSim and it’s been around since 2008.

Latest OpenSim Stats as of July 2022

• OSgrid (4, 779 active users), AviTron (2, 861 active users) and DigiWorldz (2, 140 active users) are now the most popular grids by active users.
• OSgrid (36, 590), Kitely (18, 678) and Wolf Territories Grid (13, 200) have the most regions by land area.

Kitely Market

• There are now 19, 576 product listings on the Kitely Marketplace which now contains 38, 622 product variations and 33, 477 of which are exportable to other OpenSim grids.
• Kitely Market has delivered orders to 554 OpenSim grids to date

Future of OpenSim Grids

With the cost of living including inflation going up in the months/years ahead there could be more OpenSim grid closures as unless there is massive money support behind them and further grid investment. It’s been reported that many users have been cutting down on virtual land ownership during the past few months.

Hopefully most OpenSim grids will be able to survive the upcoming economic downtime but time will tell. I hope those that have used the Metropolis grid are moving now to other OpenSim grids.

2022 is not over and there may be some shocks in the down the road.

OpenSim News Roundup – October 2021

Hypergrid Business is the best source for all things OpenSim from monthly grid statistics, conferences, surveys, events, hunts and more. Many OpenSim grids are now planning for the Halloween season with events lined up. Check out the schedule here.

OpenSim is most certainly active right now for anyone that thinks nothing is really happening. There are a lot of things happening in the short term and long term. Many grids offer contests, hunts, freebies and more.

Wyldwood Bayou Grid Celebrates First Anniversary – LINK

The Wyldwood Bayou grid will be celebrating it’s first anniversary from Friday 29th October through until Monday 1st November. The grid will be hosting it’s second annual Halloween Bash on Sunday 31st October 2021.

OpenSim Stats Are Up This Month – LINK

During the past month all OpenSim stats were up from OpenSim active users (+107), land area increases (+673) and registered new users (+875). There are now 96, 872 hypergrid-enabled OpenSim regions. OSgrid is leading for the most regions (32, 547) and most active users (4, 445).

AvaCon Announces Ninth Annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2021 – LINK

The ninth annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2021 will be taking place on 11th to 12th December 2021 on the OpenSimulator Conference grid. Call for proposals are open.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• September 27, 2021 – Announcement of the Call for Proposals!
• November 1, 2021 – Proposals are due by 11:59 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time).
• November 8, 2021 – Proposal acceptance emails and with conference information.
• November 13, 2021 – Accepted speakers must register for the conference to create an entry in the conference schedule and the program.
• November 13 & 20, 2021 – Speaker Orientation & Training sessions and Presenter Booth Setup to prepare speakers for the conference.
• November 29, 2021 – Deadline for stage props and audio-visuals (beyond textures) for the conference program.
• December 11-12, 2021 – OSCC20 Conference dates!

AviTron Testing Out Crytocurrency For IN-WORLD PAYMENTS – LINK

AviTron is now testing cryptocurrency for in-world payment method. The grid will be accepting Dogecoin and Bitcoin for in-world purchases and land rentals. The operating costs may be lowered and that means lower land prices soon.

Twelfth Annual OpenSim Grid Survey Results – LINK

This year there was more than 300 responses for the twelfth annual OpenSim Grid survey. The survey scores a variety of areas from technology, content, support, community and overall.

• OSgrid was the grid that had the most respondents followed by AviTron and DigiWorldz. 74% of the survey readers had been to the OSgrid
• Kitely came out on top for technology followed by Wyldwood Bayou and Enchanted Grid
• Wyldwood Bayou came out on top for support followed by Utopia Skye and Dorena’s World
• Wyldwood Bayou came out on top for community followed by Enchanted Grid and AviTron
• Utopia Skye, Tangle Grid and Dorena’s World came out on top for content

There are many reviews of each of the OpenSim grids on the blog post link above for this survey. There is definitely a range of mixed responses from user experiences, communities, entertainment and more.

What OpenSim grids do you think is doing well at the moment ?

Staying Connected With OpenSim Happenings

Since the closure of Google+ back in April 2019 it’s been hard for people to find out what’s going on across the OpenSim grids. There were many useful OpenSim Google+ communities that were sadly closed down.

I personally liked the OpenSim Virtual Google+ page as it was a great source to find out about everything. It’s a shame it’s all gone now. In general the OpenSim community is scattered all over the place. Today there are ways to find out whats going on via MeWe, Discord and Diaspora.

• Stay updated via Hypergrid Business 
• Join the Facebook OpenSim Virtual group
• Join the OpenSim News Facebook group
• Join the Hypergrid Happenings Facebook group
• Join the Opensim page on MeWe
• Check out the OpenSimWorld events calendar
• OpenSim World

Latest grid statistics for September 2019

• OpenSim stats down due to missing Brazilian grids and the OSGrid cleanup 

Big news for OpenSim users that use Firestorm

• Firestorm reverses decision to fork viewer for Opensim

Firestorm Update (6.2.4.57588)

Today the Firestorm team announced a brand new version (6.2.4.57588) of the well known Firestorm Viewer. This latest version is fully merged up to the 6.2.3 Linden code-base. See the full release notes here.

There are many new features including the EAM (Estate Access Management) tools, LMR (Love Me Render) containing rendering bug fixes, improvements to communications, inventory, appearance and much more. This new update means that version 5.0.11.53634 will be blocked from logging in to the Second Life grid in 3 weeks time. 

New Change For SL & OpenSim Users 

Second Life and OpenSim versions of the Firestorm viewer are no longer going to be joined together going forward starting in Firestorm 6.2.4.57588 which is now for Second Life only.

The Firestorm team will now issue updates for Second Life and OpenSim independently, There will be no need to worry about backwards compatibility in future versions.

We have reached a milestone in how we handle Open Simulator and Second Life binaries. In the past we have provided SL-only builds AND OpenSim-and-SL builds. This has always caused much confusion to our users, and for that reason—among many others—we have forked our code into two repositories. This means we can now issue updates for Second Life and updates for OpenSim independently of each other. It also makes it a lot easier for us to develop for Second Life without worrying about backwards compatibility with OpenSim, and to develop for OpenSim without concern about SL compatibility. Everyone wins!

No longer will the two be tied by release date or version numbers. Firestorm developer Beq Janus has been communicating with OpenSim developers and grid owners and has been working hard on OpenSim-specific issues for a future OpenSim Firestorm viewer update.

After the future OpenSim update:

• There will be TWO install directories if you wish to install both binaries and log into both SL and OpenSim.
• These will install independently from one another, will not share settings or cache, and therefore will not conflict with each other.
• The Second Life dedicated viewer’s grid manager will only offer Agni and Aditi (SL main and beta grids).
• The OpenSim dedicated viewer’s grid manager will NOT offer Second Life grids.

This is great news for both Second Life users and OpenSim users, and we are excited about the way we are moving forward.

Some of the things I like…

Advanced Region Info on World Map

IMPROVEMENT Advanced region info on the world map has been moved to a new row below the region name
To enable/disable showing of the advanced map information: Preferences → Move & View → Map & Minimap → Show additional region information on World Map.
When enabled, this option displays avatar count and maturity level for the region.
Ansarirl Hiller

EAM – Estate Access Management Project

EAM improves the state of Estate Access Management!
New features include:

• New “Access” tab in the Region/Estate floater with sub-tabs for “Estate Managers”, “Allowed”, “Allowed Groups”, and “Banned”.
• Search & Sort within each of the sub-tabs.
• Recording banned date, banned by, and last login for each banned account.
  This feature is only available going forward.
• Copy Banlist & Allowed-list.
• Added a confirmation for adding or removing from a list.

• More Estate Managers! We’ve upped the number from 10 to 15. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

  AndreyL ProductEngine, Maxim ProductEngine, AndreyK ProductEngine

Love Me Render and HiDPI Retina Display Support

This update from Linden Lab adds retina display support on Mac, and has a variety of graphics-related fixes.

Note: For Mac displays with HiDPI support, retina display mode is disabled by default on Firestorm.
Enabling HiDPI support will generally give you a sharper display but a lower frame rate.

If you want to enable HiDPI display, go to the preference settings page: Avatar → Preferences → Graphics → Hardware Settings, and tick the box
Enable support for HiDPI displays (Mac OSX only, requires restart), then restart the viewer.

Graham Linden, Ruslan ProductEngine
Tonya Souther – Firestorm implementation of HiDPI support for Mac

New Texture Refresh Function 

• NEW Added a Texture Refresh function to the inventory context menu for worn attachments.
  Added the ability to texture refresh via right click menu in inventory.
  This option is only available if the object is currently being worn and refreshes the texture of the worn object.
  Zi Ree

New Avatar Stop Animations button to Toolbar 

• NEW Added Avatar Stop Animations button to Toolbar
  This feature was requested in FIRE-16256
  Avatar → Toolbar Buttons → Stop Animations
  Patch contributed by Angeldark Raymaker

See the full release notes here.

OSSM TAKES TIME ? & New Orange/Green Development on SSP Continent

SSP Continent – February 2019 Update

SSP Continent – 19th February 2019

A few interesting visual changes this month on the new SSP continent which is worth mentioning I think. Firstly on the SSP124 region there is a new message saying OSSM TAKES TIME with a smiley face next to it. This is definitely a code for something more official in the works I think or it could be something relating to a hyperlink to OpenSim which would be most interesting. What do you think this could mean ?

This month there appears to be more houses built, more new trees and more docking points around the continent (see the map above). I hope the new SSP continent will be connected by many water regions to another large continent because that would be great.

A new orange and green development has appeared in the central area of the continent with a double lane road on the right side (SSP186, SSP187, SSP202 & SSP203) which looks like a new retail space. There is another double lane on the left which may be worked on soon.

A cute smiley face has appeared on the SSP2 QA Test region.

The moles have definitely been busy during the past few months building more and more. The bottom half of the content remains empty it seems on the map and who knows what that will become in the months ahead. Good progress is being made and I’ll post another update next month.

 

Google+ Shuts Down On 2nd April 2019

My Google+ Profile Page

Google+ will be now shutting down on Tuesday 2nd April 2019 and all consumer data will be deleted. This includes all photos, pages, comments and videos.

Google announced back in December an early shutdown due to a bug that exposed millions of people’s private information to app developers.

Important Note: As early as 4th February 2019 anyone wanting to create new content will no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events. If you’re a Google+ Community owner or moderator you can still download your data for your Google+ community.

In the coming weeks the sign-in buttons for Google+ will stop working although you’ll be able to sign in with your Google account.

It will be a real shame to see Google+ shut down in two months time as it was a useful way to find out what’s happening in Second Life, OpenSim, Sansar and for many other interesting things.

Islandz Grid closing down within 10 days

• The Islandz Discord has gone offline – 29th January

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The Islandz grid will be sadly closing down sometime within the next 10 days according to Elenia via the Islandz Discord channel on Monday 28th January 2019.

Elenia says that the grid is “not sustainable” and says “we’re not even remotely close”. Elenia goes on to say that “people are disheartened at the lack of content we could restore and I don’t blame them”.

As a former InWorldz/Islandz resident this is sad news for the community. I feel sorry for Elenia and Jim who have put so much hard work to start a new grid from the ground up. I understand the reasons for doing this. The grid just reached the 1, 000 users mark on Sunday morning that have opt-in. It was starting to get good with the regions growing.

I guess everyone will now have to find a new grid to move to.

OpenSim Festival 2019 Happening In Early March

The OpenSim Festival 2019 will be taking place from 1st to 3rd March with live performances and there will be plenty of great exhibits to check out via the hypergrid. Above is a short new promo for OpenSim Fest 2019 which is going to be incredible.

A full festival schedule will be posted nearer to the time.

See below for more details…

What is OpenSim Fest?

From the ashes of AvatarFest it is with great pleasure we would like to announce Opensim Fest rising like a phoenix. OpenSim Fest is the celebration of the strength and diversity of the hypergrid user community. For the community, by the community. The format, the idea and the aims of OpenSim Fest will stay true to AvatarFest and we hope to be worthy custodians for Han and Eryn.

We do not represent corporations, companies nor grids – we are the customers, users, builders and dreamers who live out here, sharing our dreams and creations with one another.

OpenSim Fest Weekend and beyond

There are two parts to the festival, the first is the weekend of live performances on the Opensim Fest grid on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March 2019. and secondly you will be able to visit the region via the hypergrid to see the exhibits until the 6th April 2019. Nearer the time of the festival a full schedule will be posted and pages will be posted to the site with a full list of performers and exhibitors.

If you have been an exhibitor or performer and have anything on the festival region or in your grid avatar inventory you will need to export or transfer it by the 20th April 2019. All the grid databases, the region, website and grid accounts will be deleted on the 21st April 2019. The only thing that will remain throughout the year will be the main website as we will be using that each year.”

What can YOU do to be a part of OpenSim Fest 2019?

• Creative Builders & Artists – there are build / Display areas waiting to be filled with unique creations! Please speak to Leighton Marjoramat leighton@opensimfest.org or Bill Blight at bill@opensimfest.org to reserve yours and receive guidelines information.
• Live Performers, Live DJs – Performing Artists (Live Musicians, DJs) Please contact Cataplexia Numbers at cataplexia@opensimfest.org
• Spoken Word Storytellers & Poets – Poets & Storytellers contact Leighton Marjoram at leighton@opensimfest.org or Cataplexia Numbersat cataplexia@opensimfest.org

Exhibitors, performers and volunteers will be asked to join the Discord server so we can communicate easier. To join the Discord server click follow this link in your browser https://discord.gg/T7QN2mZ (discord is a very useful real time collaboration tool and there is a desktop app you can download). We encourage all to participate and be a part of the Community festival.

You can come by and visit us at Expo region 5/Booth number 26 at this years OpenSimulator Community Conference (OSCC 2018) if you would like to ask us any questions or sign up as an contributor to Opensim Fest. Finally the grid will be open to the hypergrid so anyone can come and then in January 2019 the region will be restricted to builders (then the builds will a surprise at the fest in March).

Please spread the word 🙂 

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2018 OpenSim Conference Catch Up 

• New opensource VR viewer for OpenSim may be coming soon
• OSCC 2018 full recorded video from the conference (over 11 hours long)

Other OpenSim News

• Sacrarium leads in 2018 OpenSim grid survey (over 300 responses)

 

OpenSimulator Community Conference 2018 Schedule Released

The full schedule for this weekend’s 2018 OpenSimulator Community Conference is now available for viewing. The conference starts on 8th – 9th December and it’s going to be bigger than ever before.

• Check out the full schedule
• If you are interested, you can register here

The events happening this weekend will be live simulcast streamed via AvaCon YouTube channel. All times listed are PDT/SLT for reference. The conference will be taking place here http://cc.opensimulator.org:8002/.

Please spread the word about this year’s OpenSim conference.

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Other OpenSim News

• 2018 OpenSim Grid Survey Now Open
• End of year OpenSim stats
• AviWorlds back again with 100 free regions