Firestorm 6.2.4 (57588) Release Notes

“n/a” in the table below means “not available”; see the boxed note above.

Firestorm 6.0.2 (56680) Animesh Release Notes

“n/a” in the table below means “not available”; see the boxed note above.

Firestorm 6.3.2 (58052) Release Notes

“n/a” in the table below means “not available”; see the boxed note above.

More information about the 64-bit builds can be found here.

Firestorm 6.0.2 (56680) Animesh Release Notes

“n/a” in the table below means “not available”; see the boxed note above.

• SLURLs not working in your browser, or choose to open with a different viewer (Windows)
  • SLURL Proxy.zip
  • Instructions are included, but can also be seen on the Wiki here.

Please read https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/4520411/adobe-flash-end-of-support before considering installing flash. Flash has a LONG history of very serious security issues. If someone is providing content that only works with flash, please contact them and let them know that flash will be end of life in the near future, this means there will be NO security updates from the vendor beyond that point. Nobody should be forcing flash on anyone in this day and age, it is 2020, not 2001 anymore.

Firestorm 6.3.2, 6.2.4, 6.0.2, 5.1.7 Release

• Windows - Download in Firefox or Chrome to play Flash media inside Second Life.
  Choose the correct operating system under Step 1.
  Choose FP 32 for Opera & Chromium - PPAPI under Step 2.
  Install Flash.

• Mac - Ensure that you have the most recent version of Flash for Safari installed. You an get this via the normal update process, or from Adobe.
  Choose the correct operating system under Step 1.
  Choose FP 32 for Safari and Firefox – NPAPI under Step 2.
  Install Flash.

• Linux - You need to have the pepperflash plugin installed, which can be satisfied by installing Google Chrome.

Firestorm 6.3.2, 6.2.4, 6.0.2, 5.1.7

• Windows - Quicktime does not need to be installed to play media on Firestorm 5.0.1 or later.

• Mac - Quicktime to play streaming videos. (iTunes is not needed)

for Linux only

• Info for download to play streaming videos. (Please read page for info on installing GStreamer for your particular distribution.)

• Growl for Windows– As of November 2018 this site is dead. Users who already have Growl installed can continue to use it for the time being. Windows users may be able to download a copy from its github release page.

• Mac– This site will lead you to the Mac App Store for downloading. Please note the reviews and the update status of Growl before purchasing; Firestorm cannot guarantee its functionality.

• Linux: Growl is implicit in libnotify, which should come already installed in most distros. However, if you are on a 64-bit linux, you may need to install the 32-bit version of libnotify. For ubuntu and similar (like mint), run the following command:
  sudo apt-get install libnotify4:i386

Windows only

• DX runtime April 2011 to help increase performance and stability. For all versions of Windows. Please refer to this page.

Mac drivers are included with OS upgrades. However, to determine what card you have, select “About this Mac” from the Apple menu, then click “More Info”. Under Hardware select Graphics/Displays.

If you are not sure what type of video card you have, use GPU-Z found (Windows only) here. For linux, in a console use:
lspci | grep VGA

• Latest driverLast checked 29/09/2019 - Windows: 436.30 (2019.9.10) - Linux: 430.50 (2019.9.11)

• Latest driverLast checked 29/09/2019 - Windows: Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.9.2 (9/23/2019 ) - Linux: 19.30 (8/13/2019)
  

• Intel driver download page Intel does not have a universal driver set. Please go to Intel's site and use the auto-detect feature.

https://vcs.firestormviewer.org/

Symptom: You receive a message that the system has “Failed to find [name of any item] in the database” every time you try to wear or remove something.

Please note: This is not always a viewer issue, but we have written this page to help users with a common problem.

We have identified a few causes of this. Please work through each one until the problem is solved, and if still having trouble, be sure to see “Otherwise,” at the bottom of the page.

Open your inventory (Ctrl-i) and check that the total inventory count looks correct.

• If the count is low, work through the inventory troubleshooting page until the count is correct.
• If the count is normal, go to Preferences → Network & Files → Directories and click the Clear Inventory Cache button.

• Open your Inventory and look in your Current Outfit folder (must be the “Current Outfit” folder and not the “Worn” tab; this is important).
• Look for any broken or unworn links in the folder, particularly for the item with the name in the “Failed” warning you're receiving.
• Delete any and all broken or unworn links in the folder.

Explanation: This error happens when the broken link gets “stuck” in the folder for some reason. When the viewer tries to update the Current Outfit folder – which happens whenever you wear or remove a body part or clothing item – it detects the link in there and thinks you want to be wearing that item. So it tries to put it on you, but it can't because the link is broken, and the “Failed” message pops up. An unworn link in Current Outfit can also cause an issue, the viewer thinks the link is worn but the server does not, or vice versa.

If deleting broken/unworn links doesn't help, or if there were none, then make a temporary folder in your inventory. In it, put a copy of a system skin, system shape, system hair base, and system eyes - nothing else - and not the ones you are already wearing. Then right-click the folder name, replace outfit (not add or wear). Then check Current Outfit folder (not Worn tab) and delete any links showing as not worn. Then relog. (Please follow these steps exactly as given - it matters.)

• If the error message has gone away, you can try putting on your usual body parts and clothing.
• If the error message returns when you try to put on your usual items, one of them may be corrupted on the server.
• If the error message has NOT gone away, proceed to the next section.

• Check in Lost & Found folder and delete any system layers named “new”—“New skin,” “New eyes,” “New pants,” or similar.
• If you are wearing the item, remove it (if a clothing layer) or change to a different body part, whichever applies, and try deleting the item again.

Explanation: If a worn system clothing layer or system body part is not found at login, that layer/body part will be replaced with a default asset that is created and placed in Lost & Found. You will continue to get the error message until the “new” item is deleted from Lost & Found.

• If the error message has gone away, you can try putting on your usual body parts and clothing.
• If the error message has NOT gone away, proceed to the next section.

(Windows only)

This feature has been known to cause problems.

The NetBooster tool is a feature in System Mechanic Pro. This NetBooster feature does not always execute, so there is an element of randomness to reproducing these SL connectivity problems when System Mechanic Pro is installed on the system.

• Uninstalling System Mechanic Pro does not appear to revert the changes made by the NetBooster feature.
• The solution is to go into the NetBooster tool and selected “Restore original settings”.
• This restores Windows default settings and everything in SL works again.

For more information and additional symptoms, see this SL bug report.

If none of these steps help, then please test using the official LL viewer, which can be downloaded here. If you have the same problem there, file a support ticket with LL.

There are many ways of getting great free stuff in SL to make your avatar look fantastic! There are many landmarks on this page; a G, or M indicates if the region is rated General or Moderate. To go to these shops, click on the landmark, a new web page will open, then click on teleport.

Free Dove has lots of quality stuff- look around carefully when you are there, because they usually have “hunts” with gifts from very good designers - these will be in small boxes or objects hidden everywhere in the shop.
Free Dove M

You can find a lot of free stuff on the marketplace. A good idea is to include the word “gift” in your search. Some items you might find useful:

• Female AO (to make your avi move naturally)
• Male AO
• Makeup
• Skins: type “skin gift” in the search slot and you'll get quite a lot - mostly female but some for the boys too!

Most designers have a group for their shop, which they use to send people news about new releases and events - if you join their group you will get gifts, generally on a monthly basis, but sometimes more often. Sooo… when you visit a shop, look out for group gifts - there is usually a group joiner next to them, and clicking on it you get instructions in local chat how to join the group. Some groups have a join fee, sometimes quite expensive, but many are free. Also, you'll find lucky chairs and lucky boards - if your name starts with the letter displayed on them, you win the prize.

Another good idea is to Join an Inworld freebie shopping group! Not only will you be kept updated with all the latest freebies, but you can also get help and support to find the shops you are looking for.

There are quite a few around, but this one is probably the most popular: (to join, right-click the “group joiner” below, select “Copy to Clipboard”, then paste it in local - then click on the link that will appear)
Group joiner

Some good blogs featuring a lot of freebies:

• Fabulously Free in SL
• The SL Fashionista
• Teleport Hub
• Go Dutch
• Scoop It
• Monthly Midnight Madness

And last but not least, there are treasure hunts! These are a really fun way to find new places and shops and get awesome free stuff!

You'll find the info to get you started here:

• Weekly Hunt Survival Guide
• FabFree SL Hunt Guide

This page describes all necessary steps to build the Firestorm viewer for Linux, on Debian 10, using the updated build infrastructure introduced with Linden Lab's project Alex Ivy. It assumes you are using Debian 10, that your normal user has sudo privileges and that all standard updates have been applied using apt *upgrade*

Minimum hardware required: At least 4GB RAM with 4GB+ swap, a modern dual-core CPU and 32GB available HDD space. Minimum recommended: 8GB or more RAM, CPU with 4 or more real cores and 32GB available HDD space.

This is needed for compiling any viewer based on the Linden Lab open source code and only needs to be done once.

All installations are done with default settings (unless told explicitly) - if you change that, you're on your own!

The required tools, some of which may already be installed, are:

make | cmake | g++ | gdb | git | python-pip

sudo apt install --install-recommends make cmake g++ gdb git python-pip

(the –install-recommends flag tells apt to install all packages recommended by each named package.)

These libraries may be included with your distribution, and some may already be installed:

sudo apt install --install-recommends libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libstdc++6 libx11-dev libxinerama-dev libxml2-dev libxrender-dev

Autobuild is a Linden Lab resource that automates the configure and build processes.

sudo pip install --upgrade pip
sudo pip install autobuild

This will install autobuild and add a link in the exec path.

Typically, source code is stored in your home directory, in a subdirectory called src. Your home directory shound have at least 32GB available before downloading the source code.

mkdir ~/src #This may throw an error if the directory already exists
cd ~/src

This document will assume that all downloaded code will go into this src directory.

In order to make it easier to build collections of related packages (such as the viewer and all the library packages that it imports) with the same compilation options, Autobuild expects a file of variable definitions. This can be set using the environmenat variable AUTOBUILD_VARIABLES_FILE.

cd ~/src
git clone https://vcs.firestormviewer.org/fs-build-variables
export AUTOBUILD_VARIABLES_FILE=$HOME/src/fs-build-variables/variables

There are several repositories available, in but the one wea re after is the development repository. You can grab all the sources if you wish, but but keep in mind that each FS source requires around 110MB initially and around 4.3GB after the binaries have been built, plus possible compiling overhead.

git clone https://vcs.firestormviewer.org/phoenix-firestorm

This can take a bit, it's a rather large download.

Most third party libraries needed to build the viewer will be automatically downloaded for you and installed into the build directory within your source tree during compilation. Some need to be manually prepared and are not normally required when using an open source configuration (ReleaseFS_open).

If you want to use FMOD Studio to play sounds within the viewer, you will have to download your own copy. FMOD Studio can be downloaded here (requires creating a free account to access the download section).

cd ~/src
git clone https://vcs.firestormviewer.org/3p-libraries/3p-fmodstudio

• After you have cloned the repository, copy the downloaded FMOD Studio installer file to ~/src/3p-fmodstudio
• If you downloaded a different version of FMOD Studio that is currently used in the viewer, you will have to modify the file build-cmd.sh in the root of the repository. Right at the top, you find the version number of FMOD Studio you want to package (one short version without separator and one long version). Change these values to the version you downloaded:

FMOD_VERSION="20007"
FMOD_VERSION_PRETTY="2.00.07"

cd ~/src/3p-fmodstudio
autobuild build -A 64 --all
autobuild package -A 64

Near the end of the output you will see the package name written and the md5 hash below it:

wrote !/src/3p-fmodstudio/fmodstudio-2.00.07-linux64-200912220.tar.bz2
md5 c3f696412ef74f1559c6d023efe3a087

where {version#} is the version of FMOD Studio (like 2.00.03) and {build_id} is an internal build id of the package.

cd ~/src/phoenix-firestorm

Copy the FMOD Studio path and md5 value from the package process into this command:

autobuild installables edit fmodstudio platform=linux64 hash=<md5 value> url=file:///<fmodstudio path>

For example:

autobuild installables edit fmodstudio platform=linux64 hash=c3f696412ef74f1559c6d023efe3a087 url=file:///!/src/3p-fmodstudio/fmodstudio-2.00.07-linux64-200912220.tar.bz2

 cd ~/src/phoenix-firestorm
 autobuild configure -A 64 -c ReleaseFS_open

This will configure Firestorm to be built with all defaults and without third party libraries.

autobuild configure -v -c ReleaseFS_open

There are a number of switches you can use to modify the configuration process. The name of each switch is followed by its type and then by the value you want to set.

• -A <architecture> sets the target architecture, that is if you want to build a 32bit or 64bit viewer (32bit is default if omitted).
• –fmodstudio controls if the FMOD Studio package is incorporated into the viewer. You must have performed the FMOD Studio installation steps above for this to work.
• –package makes sure all files are added to a compressed tar file for easy distribution and storage.
• –chan <channel name> lets you define a custom channel name for the viewer
• -LL_TESTS:BOOL=<bool> controls if the tests are compiled and run. There are quite a lot of them so excluding them is recommended unless you have some reason to need one or
  more of them.

Examples:

• To build a 64bit viewer with FMOD Studio and to create an installer package, run this command in the Windows command window:

  autobuild configure -A 64 -c ReleaseFS_open -- --fmodstudio --package --chan MyViewer -DLL_TESTS:BOOL=FALSE

• To build a 64bit viewer without FMOD Studio and without installer package, run this command:

  autobuild configure -A 64 -c ReleaseFS_open -- --chan MyViewer -DLL_TESTS:BOOL=FALSE

Make sure you include the same architecture parameter and switches (except clean) you used while configuring the viewer:

autobuild build -A 64 -c ReleaseFS_open

Now, sit back, read War and Peace, calculate PI to 50 places, tour the country, whatever you desire. Compiling can take quite a bit of time depending on your computer's processing power.

NOTE: It is possible to use autobuild to do both the configure step (only needed once) and the build step with one command (autobuild build -A 64 -c ReleaseFS_open [– switches] . For clarity, they are mentioned separately.

Create the desktop launcher

cd ~/src/phoenix-firestorm-lgpl/build-linux-x86_64/newview/packaged/etc
./refresh_desktop_app_entry.sh

Then open your applications menu and look in the Internet or Network branch for the Firestorm launcher.

cd ~/src/phoenix-firestorm-lgpl/build-linux-x86_64/newview/packaged
./firestorm

Your file browser/file manager many not know how to execute a script. Check the settings for your file browser. In Nautilus, for example, open Preferences > Behavior tab, change the action for executable text files to either Run or Ask.

Copy or move the contents of ~/src/phoenix-firestorm/build-linux-x86_64/newview/packaged to a place that can be access by the PC you want to install Firestorm on. Cloud-based storage, NAS or removable media would do.

If you encounter errors or run into problems, please first double check that you followed the steps correctly. One typo can break it. Then, check whether someone else already had the same issue. A solution might be known already.

• Self-Compilers peer supportFirestorm Self Compilers is free to join, fellow self-compilers may be able to offer assistance.
• IRC: The #phoenixviewer-dev channel is the best place to look for solutions.
  A lot of self-compilers and project developers hang out there and are ready to help you.

• Jira:JIRA may contain resolved tickets.
  Search using the error you encountered.

• Included documentation: In the Firestorm root folder are several “README” documents. You should make yourself familiar with their content, even if they appear to be out of date.

If you found a procedural error in this document, please let us know in as much detail as you can, either contact the author (preferred) or discuss on IRC.

• Missing libraries/applications/packages This may occur if you did not or could not install the listed packages. The packages do exist in the default Debian repositories, so make sure you did not disable those. If you find that a library or application is in a different package for your system, contact the team with the name of the library or application, the name of its package and your Linux OS so that information can be checked and added here.

• Delayed sounds Some users have noted that OpenAL plays sounds from the viewer up to 20 seconds after they are triggered. There is no solution to this via the viewer, but there may be some solutions on the Internet

• No Sounds The viewer will try to use whatever sound service you have running, but might need a little coaxing. Read through the firestorm script inside the program folder, you will find various commended options. Uncommenting one or more may help restore sound.

• Voice Won't Connect It was observed in testing that voice would not connect unless “No Device” was chosen for the Input device (Preferences ⇒ Sound & Media ⇒ Voice ⇒ Audio Device Settings). This was resolved by replacing Firestorm/lib/libvivoxal.so.1 with a copy from release.

• Windows updated 2020/02/07
• Mac OSX
• 64-bit Debian 8.x (jessie) - AlexIvy updated 2019/09/11
• 64-bit Debian 9.x (stretch) updated 2019/09/11
• 64-bit Debian 9.x (stretch) - AlexIvy updated 2019/09/11
• 64-bit Debian 10.x (buster) - AlexIvy updated 2020/03/31
• 64-bit Ubuntu 14.04 updated 2019/09/11
• 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 updated 2019/09/11
• 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 (AlexIvy) updated 2019/09/11
• Gentoo

Maintenance, Premium - Assorted crash fixes, improvements and new features from LL.

Catznip RLVa 2.2 Release Notes

Release Notes for v6.3.8. (538264) - Second Life Viewer Released on Thursday, March 12, 2020.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.8.538264.html

Premium Enhancements

Benefits information is now provided at login, for the current user and for all publicly available benefits packages. This viewer bases all UI and other logic on these values, replacing an assortment of values previously received via other mechanisms or hardcoded into the viewer.

This viewer also has some UI improvements.

Release Notes for v6.3.7. (535996) - Second Life Viewer Released on Friday, February 7, 2020.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.7.535996.html

Maintenance: Yorsh

Yorsh (Also known as Mora Grogg) (Russian: Ёрш which means “Ruffe”) is a Russian mixed drink consisting of beer thoroughly mixed with an ample quantity of vodka. It is traditionally drunk in a social setting, typically with a toast followed by downing a full glass of it at one go.

Vodka is a neutral spirit which does not greatly alter the flavor of the beer, but does greatly increase its alcohol content.

Probably the first evidence of presence of such a mix in Russian drinking culture is the Tale of Woe and Misfortune, an anonymous 17th century-poem. The early version of yorsh described there included mead, however.

Release Notes for v6.3.6. (535003) - Second Life Viewer Released on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.6.535003.html

Maintenance: Xanté

Xanté (“Xanté Poire au Cognac”) is a pear liqueur based on cognac, produced by The Xanté Company. It has 38% ABV. Xanté is pronounced santé, just as if the x were an s, which is the French expression for “cheers!”.

Release Notes for v6.3.5. (533275) - Second Life Viewer Released on Wednesday, December 4, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.5.533275.html

Maintenance: Wassail This Viewer uses Viewer Manager 2.0.531000

Wassail is a beverage of hot mulled cider, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval Christmastide English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year.

Release Notes for v6.3.4. (532299) - Second Life Viewer Released on Monday, November 4, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.4.532299.html

Ordered Shutdown This viewer has changes intended to make crashes on shutdown less likely. This should have no changes to existing features. For anyone interested in the code details: we use singleton classes extensively for “manager” classes that are only supposed to have one instance each. These are created during startup, with the order determined by when they are needed. Such classes now have the ability to keep track of their creation order and dependencies, so that the destruction process on shutdown can reverse this process systematically. So far only a subset of singleton classes have been modified to take advantage of ordered shutdowns, with more coming in future releases.

Release Notes for v6.3.3. (531811) - Second Life Viewer Released on Friday, October 18, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.3.531811.html

Voice This viewer improves voice detection when you’re speaking ( VOICE-56 ). If you’ve been having trouble with your voice is breaking up, then this may be the solution.

Release Notes for v6.3.2. (530962) - Second Life Viewer Released on Tuesday, October 15, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.2.530962.html

Maintenance: Vinsanto This Viewer uses Viewer Manager 2.0.529188

Vinsanto is an ancient winemaking tradition of Santorini that dates back thousands of years and represents an important part of Santorini’s history.

FMOD Studio 2.00.08 (updated Windows, Linux, Mac)

KDU v7.10.7 (Windows, Linux, Mac)

Voice Server Version: Vivox Version 4.10.0000.32327 (Windows and Mac)
Voice Opensim 4.6.0017.22050 (Windows and Mac)
Linux uses native voice files Version: Vivox 4.10.0000.32327

LibVLC Version: 2.2.8

Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) Dullahan:

• Dullahan: 1.1.1320
• CEF: 3.3626.1895.g7001d56
• Chromium: 72.0.3626.121
• Page of test URLs for Dullahan. With the Developer Menu enabled (Ctrl Alt Q) press Ctrl+Shift+Z then the Home page button.

FIRE-6264 - [BUG-227497] Logs aren't separate for Users and Groups with same name.
FIRE-6605 - Firestorm AO gets stuck in a swim animation after entering and then flying out of the water
FIRE-7606 - [SL-9116] llSetSoundRadius() does not affect sound
FIRE-8099 - Flying out of water retains swim animation
FIRE-8257 - Console Text Cut Off on Left Side
FIRE-14925 - Firestorm AO: Animations Get Stuck on Cycle (Especially in Sitting/Grund Sit)
FIRE-15059 - After sitting on a cube, turning the Firestorm AO off then on again will put you in a default serverside stand while still sitting.
FIRE-15350 - FS AO uses hover underwater
FIRE-16230 - Firestorm AO incorrectly sits
FIRE-21937 - Teleport Home from underwater on same sim leaves falling AO animation
FIRE-22471 - Turning on Override Sits in built in AO *while sitting* fails to turn off the sit animation after standing from object
FIRE-22943 - [BUG-225229] [SL-1777] Newly Uploaded Items - Focus goes to wrong tab
FIRE-23591 - [Opensim] Map search ignores results that don't start with the supplied search string
FIRE-24114 - Original items can be moved to Outfits folder when contained in a folder
FIRE-24294 - [SL-11727] [PATCH] Fix build warnings relating to polymorphic types and complex copy-assignmentsin GCC 8.3.0+
FIRE-28984 - Discord show username broken
FIRE-28993 - BOM Viewer Crash while editing scripts
FIRE-29020 - Firestorm AO Animation Priority Jitter Bug
FIRE-29031 - Crash when using RLV @interact=n and touching alpha masked attachment
FIRE-29038 - [BUG-227731] [SL-12104] In high-resolution snapshots, the image appears broken up in segments
FIRE-29070 - Pick Radius setting name is misleading
FIRE-29078 - Tabbing out of AO Set Name input field does not rename AO set
FIRE-29134 - Build failure after latest commits
FIRE-29188 - alt+shift+u does not hide Vintage UtilityBar
FIRE-29192 - AO user interface comes up blank when on screen at login
FIRE-29194 - <nolink> tags in offline inventory offers are inserted incorrectly when a single apostrophe is present
FIRE-29207 - Linux Compile Error Changeset 58499
FIRE-29230 - [BUG-228038] [SL-12505] Projectors not working (Maint-Xante regression)
FIRE-29244 - Regarding Keyword alerts. Avatar Names in Local Chat no longer key an alert
FIRE-29294 - Commit r58534:83a9e1d45057 freezing/crashing avx2 builds win/linux
FIRE-29310 - Spelling error
FIRE-29311 - [PATCH] Building with OpenAL on Windows is broken

FIRE-23495 - Clarify Display of Avatars Exceeding max. Texture area
FIRE-29000 - F1 still tries to open wiki.phoenixviewer.com
FIRE-29009 - Remove Facebook from always_showable_floaters debug setting
FIRE-29080 - Change “Group Notices and Chiclets in Top Right” to radio button
FIRE-29082 - Help Browser link - Scripts - Avatar Menu - Avatar Health
FIRE-29253 - Unable to Multi-Select Member Names from a Group Profile Panel

FIRE-24179 - [BUG-227333] [SL-11651] Add Inventory Filter to Search Whole Word Only

If you haven't logged into the Aditi Grid recently, you will likely need to contact LL Support to gain access as well as have your inventory synced. Please review this page carefully http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Aditi. Also ensure you have this viewer setting enabled in Preferences - Advanced - Allow login to other grids.

This window shows a list of locations you have visited recently. It is accessed via the top menu, World → Teleport History.

You can filter the lists by typing a search string in the top space.

At the bottom are icons which allow you to operate on the window.

• Gear Icon: Clicking this will give a series of options, depending on what kind of item is highlighted above.
  (Note that the same options are available by right clicking a folder or landmark.)
  • Folder:
    • Add Landmark: Adds your current location as a new landmark.
    • Add Folder: Creates a new folder in your Landmarks folder.
    • Editing options: Cut, Copy, Paste, etc, allow you to perform these standard operations with your landmarks or favorites.
    • Expand: Expands (opens) the currently selected folder (if any).
    • Collapse: Closes the currently selected folder (if any).
    • Expand all folders: Opens all folders
    • Collapse all folders: Closes all folders.
    • Sort by Date: If selected, sorts the list by date; otherwise, sorts by name.
  • Landmark:
    • Teleport: Allows you to TP to that location.
    • More Information: Shows more information about the location.
    • Show on Map: Opens the world map and displays the selected location on it.
    • Add Landmark: Creates a new landmark for the location you are currently at.
    • Add Folder: Creates a new folder in your Landmarks folder.
    • Editing options: Cut, Copy, Paste, etc, allow you to perform these standard operations with your landmarks or favorites. You can also copy the SLURL for a location to your clipboard.
    • Expand all folders: Opens all folders.
    • Collapse all folders: Closes all folders.
    • Sort by Date: If selected, sorts the list by date; otherwise, sorts by name.
    • Create Pick: Adds the selected location to your Picks.

• + (Plus) Icon: This is the same as Add Landmark above.

• Trash Icon: Allows you to delete one or more selected landmarks or favorites.

These classes are based on our official Firestorm release and are conducted in text except when otherwise noted. There's no need to talk, but you may want to be able to hear. We also usually have help available to answer questions in text. This schedule is subject to change.

Note that it is best if you are on Firestorm for the classes.

Locations are indicated in the far right column as follows:

• FS: Firestorm Support region classroom, * Firestorm Classroom

Class times and days change regularly. Classes may be held any day of the week, with start times from 8 am to 7 pm SLT. Nonetheless, if the class times are still inconvenient you may prefer to watch recorded versions of some of these classes on YouTube.

Unscheduled classes may also be held on an impromptu basis. If this happens, a notice will be sent in Firestorm Support English. secondlife:///app/group/3a1be8d4-01f3-bc1a-2703-442f0cc8f2dd/about

*All times SLT*

A tutorial video is available here.

Firestorm provides a way to organize your friends - and other people - into sets or categories, using your own criteria. Thus you can create sets of friends, colleagues, business contacts, and so on.

Such sets can be color-coded, and those colors can then be applied to chat, mini map, and so on.

Avatars can belong to one or more sets - or none at all.

Contact Sets allow you to add new contacts to your list, even if they are not on your friends list.

Adding contacts this way does not grant any rights or abilities that you would not already have. Anyone added this way who is not on your friends list will not be treated as a friend.

Adding people this way is merely a convenience for listing and easily accessing names and for having them stand out with the use of color.

The Contact Sets window is accessed from the top menu bar, Comm > Contact Sets, by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Shift-C, or by opening your Conversations window, Contacts tab, Contact Sets sub-tab. There is a Contact Sets button available for the Toolbar and it is also available as a tab in the People panel.

A sample of the Contact Sets window is shown here (names have been redacted for privacy).

• Set dropdown: Shows the name of the currently selected contact set, if any.
• Gear/sprocket Icon: This will only be accessible when a set is selected. Clicking it will open a window with the options for that set; see below.
• + Icon: Click this to create a new set of contacts. A window will open, simply type the set name in then click “Create”.
• Trash can Icon: Clicking this will delete the currently selected set. You cannot restore a deleted set, you would have to make it all over again.
• Add button: Clicking this with a set selected will open a resident chooser that you can use to add people to that set.

This window allows you to customize the behavior of the contact list window, and how colors are applied. access it by clicking the small gear/sprocket icon to the right of the displayed set name.

• Set Color: Clicking this brings up a color picker, from which you can select a color to assign to the set. This color will be used, optionally in other parts of the viewer like IMs, and so on.
• Show notifications: This check-box will show online/offline notifications for members of the set.

Note that this is is in addition to the global settings in Preferences→ Notifications -> People→ Notify me when my friends log in or out: As toasts / In nearby chat and console / In nearby chat only. If any of those are enabled, you will still get notifications for all friends; if disabled, then the settings here take precedence. You will choose whether to view the notifications as toast and/or chat in the settings below.

• Default color for friends not in a set: This setting is not presently functional.
• Online notifications:
  • Show Online Notices for ALL friends as toasts (uncheck to only show for certain Sets): Corresponds to Preferences → Notifications → People → Notify me when my friends log in or out.
  • Show Online Notices for ALL friends in nearby chat (uncheck to only show for certain Sets): Corresponds to Preferences > Notifications tab > People sub tab > Notify me when my friends log in or out … Log to nearby chat and console/In nearby chat only.
    Note that these are the same settings as in preferences. Changing it here also changes it in preferences.
  • Show Online Notices for certain Sets as toast.
  • Show Online Notices for certain Sets in nearby chat.
    These two will specify how you want to see notifications for this Set.

• Color a friend's mini map icon based on their Contact Set: If enabled, this will use the color of the set the person belongs to for their mini map icon.
• Color a friend's name tag based on their Contact Set: If enabled, this will use the color of the set the person belongs to for their on-screen name tag.
• Color a friend's radar list entry based on their Contact Set: If enabled, this will use the color of the set the person belongs to for the radar view.
• Color a friend's chat based on their Contact Set: If enabled, this will use the color of the set the person belongs to for their local chat and IMs.

If someone is assigned to more than one set, then the color of the smallest (ie most unique) set is used in the affected functions.

Click on the + icon at the top, then type in the name of the set and click Create in the window that opens. Select the set from the dropdown list.

Now, go through your list of contacts and check each of those whom you wish to add to the new set. Note that you need to hold down CTRL while selecting multiple people for the same set. Then right-click any of those selected, and from the menu, select “Add to Set”, this opens a window where you can select a Set to add the contacts to.

If you select a name on the list the other buttons to the right will become active:

• Remove: Will remove that contact from the Set.
• Profile: Opens that contacts profile.
• IM: Opens an IM to that contact.
• Teleport: Offers a teleport to that contact.
• Set Alias: Allows you to set a “nickname” for that contact, visible only to you. This replaces their display name, only in your view.
• Rem Alias: If you removed a contact's display name (see below) or gave them an Alias (as described above), this option restores it.
• Rem DN: Selecting this will “remove” the contact's display name - for you only. In other words, this affects what you see, not the contact's actual display name. Nor will anyone else notice the change.

If you right-click on any name, you get a menu with several options.

• View Profile: Opens the contact's profile.
• IM: Opens an IM window for the contact.
• Offer Teleport: Offers a teleport to the selected contact.
• Request Teleport: Requests a teleport from the selected contact.
• View chat transcripts: This is presently not functional.
• Add Friend: If you right click on a name that is not on your friends list this option will show, allowing you to offer friendship.
• Add to Set: Opens a window where you can select a Set to add the contact to.
• Remove Friend: Will remove that contact from your friends list.
• Invite to group: Opens a window where you can select a group to invite the contact to.
• Map: If your friend gave you map rights, this item will be enabled. If clicked, it will open the world map and show the person's current location.
• Share: If you click this entry, an IM window opens; you can then drag and drop inventory items into it, to give them to the other person.
• Pay: Opens a window, which you can use to pay the other person L$.
• Block/Unblock: This mutes the other person, completely blocking them from contacting you. You will not see anything they type in local chat, nor get any IMs they might send, and all inventory offers made will be automatically declined.

Once you have one or more sets created, and contacts assigned to them, you can put them to use. If you select a set from the drop down at the top, you can then select all members of set (right click any contact then press Ctrl-A). At this point if you right click again, you have the options to start a conference call, and do a mass teleport.

NOTE: Using the contact sets features just described does not allow you to get around built-in SL limitations. Therefore, no matter how large a set, you cannot send a mass TP to more than 20 people at a time.

It is possible to assign friends to more than one set. Simply right click on their name and add to as many sets as apply.

If you right click on your avatar name tag (or part of your avatar that is not an attachment), then select Appearance, then Hover Height, you will get a window. Via this window, you can set your hover height above the ground, via the slider, or by directly typing in numbers. This works whether you are standing, or sitting.

This functionality is separate from, and replaces, the Hover setting in the avatar shape parameters. Ensure the Hover setting is default 50.

/zoffset_up and /zoffset_down have been added as chat commands
which can also be used inside user-definable gestures to adjust the z-offset of the avatar, e.g. CTRL-PGUP and CTRL-PGDN
/zoffset_reset chat command resets Hover Height to zero

Note: Hover Height is also included in Quick Preferences.

“Look At” is the name given to a beacon, cross hairs, which indicate where an avatar's camera is focused.

If you want to know what the crosshair colors mean, please refer to this SL wiki page.

To see where other avatars have focused their camera:

• Preferences→ Privacy -> LookAt→ Show Look At Targets

Or:

• Develop (Ctrl-Alt-Q if the menu is not shown) → Avatar → Show Look At

Please note that others can disable their Look At from being seen (see below), so enabling this doesn't guarantee that you will see everyone's camera focus.

Note also that this doesn't show you your own Look At beacon, but see below.

In order to prevent others from seeing where your camera is focused:

• Preferences → Privacy → LookAt → Don't send my look at targets to others - Check

Enable Go to Preferences → Privacy → LookAt → Don't show any look at targets at all, not even to myself - disable.

Refer to this page.

Maintenance, Premium - Assorted crash fixes, improvements and new features from LL.

Catznip RLVa 2.2 Release Notes

Release Notes for v6.3.8. (538264) - Second Life Viewer Released on Thursday, March 12, 2020.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.8.538264.html

Premium Enhancements

Benefits information is now provided at login, for the current user and for all publicly available benefits packages. This viewer bases all UI and other logic on these values, replacing an assortment of values previously received via other mechanisms or hardcoded into the viewer.

This viewer also has some UI improvements.

Release Notes for v6.3.7. (535996) - Second Life Viewer Released on Friday, February 7, 2020.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.7.535996.html

Maintenance: Yorsh

Yorsh (Also known as Mora Grogg) (Russian: Ёрш which means “Ruffe”) is a Russian mixed drink consisting of beer thoroughly mixed with an ample quantity of vodka. It is traditionally drunk in a social setting, typically with a toast followed by downing a full glass of it at one go.

Vodka is a neutral spirit which does not greatly alter the flavor of the beer, but does greatly increase its alcohol content.

Probably the first evidence of presence of such a mix in Russian drinking culture is the Tale of Woe and Misfortune, an anonymous 17th century-poem. The early version of yorsh described there included mead, however.

Release Notes for v6.3.6. (535003) - Second Life Viewer Released on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.6.535003.html

Maintenance: Xanté

Xanté (“Xanté Poire au Cognac”) is a pear liqueur based on cognac, produced by The Xanté Company. It has 38% ABV. Xanté is pronounced santé, just as if the x were an s, which is the French expression for “cheers!”.

Release Notes for v6.3.5. (533275) - Second Life Viewer Released on Wednesday, December 4, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.5.533275.html

Maintenance: Wassail This Viewer uses Viewer Manager 2.0.531000

Wassail is a beverage of hot mulled cider, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, a Medieval Christmastide English drinking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest the following year.

Release Notes for v6.3.4. (532299) - Second Life Viewer Released on Monday, November 4, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.4.532299.html

Ordered Shutdown This viewer has changes intended to make crashes on shutdown less likely. This should have no changes to existing features. For anyone interested in the code details: we use singleton classes extensively for “manager” classes that are only supposed to have one instance each. These are created during startup, with the order determined by when they are needed. Such classes now have the ability to keep track of their creation order and dependencies, so that the destruction process on shutdown can reverse this process systematically. So far only a subset of singleton classes have been modified to take advantage of ordered shutdowns, with more coming in future releases.

Release Notes for v6.3.3. (531811) - Second Life Viewer Released on Friday, October 18, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.3.531811.html

Voice This viewer improves voice detection when you’re speaking ( VOICE-56 ). If you’ve been having trouble with your voice is breaking up, then this may be the solution.

Release Notes for v6.3.2. (530962) - Second Life Viewer Released on Tuesday, October 15, 2019.
https://releasenotes.secondlife.com/viewer/6.3.2.530962.html

Maintenance: Vinsanto This Viewer uses Viewer Manager 2.0.529188

Vinsanto is an ancient winemaking tradition of Santorini that dates back thousands of years and represents an important part of Santorini’s history.

FMOD Studio 2.00.08 (updated Windows, Linux, Mac)

KDU v7.10.7 (Windows, Linux, Mac)

Voice Server Version: Vivox Version 4.10.0000.32327 (Windows and Mac)
Voice Opensim 4.6.0017.22050 (Windows and Mac)
Linux uses native voice files Version: Vivox 4.10.0000.32327

LibVLC Version: 2.2.8

Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) Dullahan:

• Dullahan: 1.1.1320
• CEF: 3.3626.1895.g7001d56
• Chromium: 72.0.3626.121
• Page of test URLs for Dullahan. With the Developer Menu enabled (Ctrl Alt Q) press Ctrl+Shift+Z then the Home page button.

FIRE-6264 - [BUG-227497] Logs aren't separate for Users and Groups with same name.
FIRE-6605 - Firestorm AO gets stuck in a swim animation after entering and then flying out of the water
FIRE-7606 - [SL-9116] llSetSoundRadius() does not affect sound
FIRE-8099 - Flying out of water retains swim animation
FIRE-8257 - Console Text Cut Off on Left Side
FIRE-14925 - Firestorm AO: Animations Get Stuck on Cycle (Especially in Sitting/Grund Sit)
FIRE-15059 - After sitting on a cube, turning the Firestorm AO off then on again will put you in a default serverside stand while still sitting.
FIRE-15350 - FS AO uses hover underwater
FIRE-16230 - Firestorm AO incorrectly sits
FIRE-21937 - Teleport Home from underwater on same sim leaves falling AO animation
FIRE-22471 - Turning on Override Sits in built in AO *while sitting* fails to turn off the sit animation after standing from object
FIRE-22943 - [BUG-225229] [SL-1777] Newly Uploaded Items - Focus goes to wrong tab
FIRE-23591 - [Opensim] Map search ignores results that don't start with the supplied search string
FIRE-24114 - Original items can be moved to Outfits folder when contained in a folder
FIRE-24294 - [SL-11727] [PATCH] Fix build warnings relating to polymorphic types and complex copy-assignmentsin GCC 8.3.0+
FIRE-28984 - Discord show username broken
FIRE-28993 - BOM Viewer Crash while editing scripts
FIRE-29020 - Firestorm AO Animation Priority Jitter Bug
FIRE-29031 - Crash when using RLV @interact=n and touching alpha masked attachment
FIRE-29038 - [BUG-227731] [SL-12104] In high-resolution snapshots, the image appears broken up in segments
FIRE-29070 - Pick Radius setting name is misleading
FIRE-29078 - Tabbing out of AO Set Name input field does not rename AO set
FIRE-29134 - Build failure after latest commits
FIRE-29188 - alt+shift+u does not hide Vintage UtilityBar
FIRE-29192 - AO user interface comes up blank when on screen at login
FIRE-29194 - <nolink> tags in offline inventory offers are inserted incorrectly when a single apostrophe is present
FIRE-29207 - Linux Compile Error Changeset 58499
FIRE-29230 - [BUG-228038] [SL-12505] Projectors not working (Maint-Xante regression)
FIRE-29244 - Regarding Keyword alerts. Avatar Names in Local Chat no longer key an alert
FIRE-29294 - Commit r58534:83a9e1d45057 freezing/crashing avx2 builds win/linux
FIRE-29310 - Spelling error
FIRE-29311 - [PATCH] Building with OpenAL on Windows is broken
FIRE-5479 - unable to Ctrl +A to select all words typed in SL search bar (everything, people, places, groups etc etc )
FIRE-8213 - User under RLV Edit restrictions can reset or stop scripts in object from the pie menu
FIRE-23364 - Attachments moved to Lost and Found folder
FIRE-24230 - Login crash when RLV showloc=n and no teleport history file
FIRE-24311 - [macOS] Blur when HiDPI Support Option Not Used
FIRE-28977 - Can drag & drop the #Firestorm folder
FIRE-28990 - [BUG-228430] [SL-13018] View chat transcripts is greyed out when right clicking at friend list
FIRE-29012 - Lowering maximum complexity causes animesh objects to jellydoll with no render options
FIRE-29021 - [PATCH] Movement at region crossing does not stop when set to Stop
FIRE-29367 - Favorite Landmarks do not allow folders yet it is an option
FIRE-29405 - Unable to notarize macOS binaries with old SLVoice
FIRE-29455 - Right-Click→Object→Reset Scripts crashes the viewer when done on objects rezzed inworld (not attached)
FIRE-29461 - Upload Transactions preview blank until opened
FIRE-29105 - Classified Ads Image Updates
FIRE-29157 - If a stream URL is entered with an error in About Land >Sound you will not be able to delete it.
FIRE-29429 - Change reference of “V5” to V6 in Preferences

FIRE-23495 - Clarify Display of Avatars Exceeding max. Texture area
FIRE-29000 - F1 still tries to open wiki.phoenixviewer.com
FIRE-29009 - Remove Facebook from always_showable_floaters debug setting
FIRE-29080 - Change “Group Notices and Chiclets in Top Right” to radio button
FIRE-29082 - Help Browser link - Scripts - Avatar Menu - Avatar Health
FIRE-29253 - Unable to Multi-Select Member Names from a Group Profile Panel
FIRE-13166 - [BUG-227958] Triple-click in script editor selects everything and not the line as expected
FIRE-24134 - Set viewer tag to include 't' when Text Mode is in use
FIRE-28952 - Developer menu enabled by default
FIRE-28958 - UI Setting changes required to reflect LL Server channel changes
FIRE-29416 - Change “Local Chat” to “Nearby Chat”
FIRE-29427 - Change references to “V3” to “V6” in Prefs.

FIRE-24179 - [BUG-227333] [SL-11651] Add Inventory Filter to Search Whole Word Only
FIRE-23987 - Please add Object Inspect for one's own worn items to right-click menu

If you haven't logged into the Aditi Grid recently, you will likely need to contact LL Support to gain access as well as have your inventory synced. Please review this page carefully http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Aditi. Also ensure you have this viewer setting enabled in Preferences - Advanced - Allow login to other grids.

The steps here will allow you to copy your Firestorm per-account settings from one user account to another. This is particularly useful if you have just changed your SL user name.

Per account settings include, among other things:

• Asset blacklist
• Contact sets
• Toolbar buttons
• Voice chat volumes
• Teleport History

Ideally, you should log into SL at least once with your new user name; this will create the new account folder with default settings. Then follow the steps below:

• Open Preferences with Ctrl-P.
• Go to Network & Files → Directories.
• Click on Open Settings Folder.
• In the window that opens, navigate up one level to the parent folder; this view will show a set of directories and files, among which you should see at least two with your SL user names.
• Log out of the viewer! Do not go past this step while logged in!
• Locate the folder with your old account name, and navigate into it.
• Select all the files, then copy them.
• Navigate back to the parent directory, then into the folder with your new account name.
• Paste all the copied files, answering Yes when prompted to overwrite.
• Optional: navigate back up to the parent directory, then delete the folder with your old user account name
• Log back in with the viewer, and verify that your per-account settings are back to what you're used to having.

By default, viewers store chat transcripts in your per-account settings folder, of which there is one for each account you use on this computer. This wiki will help you locate your transcripts on your computer, as well as change where your transcripts are stored and offer some management tips to help minimize the lag caused by keeping transcripts.

If you wish to preserve chat files, it is strongly recommended that you set a new location for your chat files so that deleting your settings does not also delete chat files.

Chat files are not included in a settings backup and must be managed manually. However, the chat files location setting is backed up.

There is no wrong location to store chat transcripts, but some are better than others. Your Documents folder, for example, may be better than your Desktop. This wiki assumes that you will use your Documents folder; substitute as needed.

• Open your file explorer, navigate to your Documents folder and create a new folder in there. Give it a meaningful name, like FS-Chat, or whatever you prefer.

• Log into Firestorm, then open Preferences → Network & Files → Directories. Look for the Conversation logs and transcripts location field.

• At the right of that location field, click Set, then choose the folder you created above. Click OK.

• Click OK, and all your chat files will move to the new location.

• Relog to complete the change.

If you have more than one avatar and you preserve chat for them, log into each one and set the chat files location.

Some transcript may not have been moved because they weren't referenced in your Conversation Log. To move those manually:

• Launch the viewer. You don't need to log in.
• Open Preferences → Network & Files → Directories and click on the Open Settings Folder button. This opens the user_settings folder.

• Navigate up to the parent folder and you should see that user_settings folder and a folder named for each of your your accounts. Open one of those folders.
• Your transcripts are plain text files (.txt if your explorer displays extensions), they're named either chat for Nearby Chat, or named for each avatar or group chat. Select all those chat files and press Ctrl-X (Mac: Cmd-X) to “cut” them.
• Close the viewer.
• Navigate to your new chat files location, which you selected above. If there is no folder inside there named for your avatar, create it now, then open it and press Ctrl-V (Mac: Cmd-V) to move all your transcripts in.

Repeat this for each avatar for whom chat transcripts will be saved.

When you launch your viewer, it checks the chat files folder for any existing chat files and keeps that information in memory. When you have a lot of chat files, it takes up a lot of memory. Also when you have a large chat file for an active chat, that entire file may be loaded into memory. This can cause viewer lag and may affect how long it takes to open, say, Preferences the first time after login. There are ways you can keep chat files for a long tie and minimize the lag they create.

• Use datestamps Datestamps are added to chat file names and they help to keep chat files smaller by limiting how much text would be entered. Group and IM files store a month's worth of chat, Nearby stores a single day's worth. The disadvantage of this is that you cannot use the viewer chat features to search for chat that for a previous period.

• Archive files While old chat files may not ever be opened again by the viewer, the viewer still has to iterate through each one to build its file list. Moving old chat files means the file list is smaller, and will reduce lag.
  An archive can be literally anywhere except in the directory that contains your active chats. A good location might be in the Chat Logs directory, in a subdirectory called Archives.
  if you do not use datestamps, you might consider adding a datestamp manually before or after moving the file to your archive. The viewer will happily create any chat file that's missing.

Effective April 2020, Premium subscribers are able to change their username. And since the viewer uses names for folder management, it will assume a different username is simply a different user, not one renamed. And so, if you change your username, and you preserve chat files, and you relocated them as described above, you may wish to rename your chat files folder.

• Open your file explorer, navigate to your Documents folder and then the FS-Chats folder, locate and rename the folder named for your old username to the new username.
• Launch the viewer and log in to verify the chat files can be opened via the viewer.

1) Be sure you have the correct setting enabled:

• Go to Preferences > Privacy > General and enable “Show My Favorite Landmarks at Login.”

2) If your favorites still don't show on the login screen,

• Make sure you don't have “Resident” as part of your login name. If you have previously created a login using “Resident,” select that entry from the username login field and press the Trashcan. Then reenter your username without adding “Resident.”
• Make sure each of your favorite landmarks is still valid. This means teleporting to each one to make sure that it still exists–even if you are sure that it does.

1. Make sure the setting is enabled:
   • Right-click on the top menu bar (the bar with Avatar, Comm … Linden balance, and so on)
   • Select “Show Favorites Bar”
2. Make sure there are landmarks in your Favorites folder:
   • Go to Inventory > Favorites and see if there are landmarks in that folder.
   • If there are no landmarks there, either add some, OR, if there used to be landmarks and they are now missing, see this page: Missing Inventory.

There are many ways of getting great free stuff in SL to make your avatar look fantastic! There are many landmarks on this page; a G, or M indicates if the region is rated General or Moderate. To go to these shops, click on the landmark, a new web page will open, then click on teleport.

Free Dove has lots of quality stuff- look around carefully when you are there, because they usually have “hunts” with gifts from very good designers - these will be in small boxes or objects hidden everywhere in the shop.

The Stay at Home Club: Started during the COVID-19 crisis, this sites lists places offering free items in a number of categories. Click here to visit the site, then on Gifts at the top.

You can find a lot of free stuff on the marketplace. A good idea is to include the word “gift” in your search. Some items you might find useful:

• Female AO (to make your avi move naturally)
• Male AO
• Makeup
• Skins: type “skin gift” in the search slot and you'll get quite a lot - mostly female but some for the boys too!

Most designers have a group for their shop, which they use to send people news about new releases and events - if you join their group you will get gifts, generally on a monthly basis, but sometimes more often. Sooo… when you visit a shop, look out for group gifts - there is usually a group joiner next to them, and clicking on it you get instructions in local chat how to join the group. Some groups have a join fee, sometimes quite expensive, but many are free. Also, you'll find lucky chairs and lucky boards - if your name starts with the letter displayed on them, you win the prize.

Some stores offer free items for the Residents new to Second Life, with an age limit to be eligible to collect these gifts - eg:- Under 30 days of age

• Free hair pack to New Residents (2 weeks and younger) Just send a notecard with your name and hairstyle choice & color to * No Match Owner
  No Match Store location :- * No Match Hair Store

• SEmotions free AO Bento - SEmotions (90 Days and younger)

• TuTy's free AO Bento - TuTy's (no age limit)

Many others available please use your search.

Another good idea is to Join an Inworld freebie shopping group! Not only will you be kept updated with all the latest freebies, but you can also get help and support to find the shops you are looking for.

There are quite a few around, but this one is probably the most popular: (to join, right-click the “group joiner” below, select “Copy to Clipboard”, then paste it in local - then click on the link that will appear)
Group joiner

Some good blogs featuring a lot of freebies:

• Fabulously Free in SL
• The SL Fashionista
• Teleport Hub
• Go Dutch
• Scoop It
• Monthly Midnight Madness

And last but not least, there are treasure hunts! These are a really fun way to find new places and shops and get awesome free stuff!

You'll find the info to get you started here:

• Weekly Hunt Survival Guide
• FabFree SL Hunt Guide

As of April 2020, Second Life premium account holders are able to change their usernames for a fee. For more information, see

• SL's blog post: Now Available: Last Names in Second Life
• The SLFAQ.

If you decide to change your username, there are steps you may have to take to restore your normal viewer operation. This is due to the fact that the viewer identifies you by username, not by UUID.

• PREFERENCES—If you want to keep the user settings from your previous name, you will need to copy your per-account settings from your old username folder to your new username folder. See instructions here.
• CHAT TRANSCRIPTS—If you save IMs or local chat or both, AND if you keep them in a custom location, you will need to rename the folder containing your chat transcripts. See instructions here. (If you do not keep them in a custom location, you don't need to do this.)

If someone you have chatted with changes their username, any chat file you have saved for that person will no longer appear in your chat history with them. This is because the viewer can't tell that they are the same person. To fix this, you will need to rename their chat file. Go to Preferences → Network & Files → Directories → Conversation Logs and Transcripts Location > Open. Find the person's file under their previous name, and rename it to their new name.

Beta testing Firestorm is more properly called QA (Quality Assurance). This means using test builds of the viewers before general release, using them and actively trying to identify bugs, glitches and things that need improvement. In other words, being part of the beta (QA) team means more than just getting your hands on a “new shiny” before everyone else does. You will be asked to do specific tests for each release, the results of which are vital to helping us determine where there may be problems.

So, if you are interested in becoming an active participant in the beta team, have an eye for detail, and are willing and able to endure crashes, multiple relogs, full settings wipes (several times), and so on, then please read on.

In applying to become part of the beta testing team, you are explicitly agreeing to the non disclosure terms below.

• Create an account on our JIRA, if you have not already got one. This is required in order for you to access the beta test site.
  If you need tips on creating an account, see Creating an Account on our wiki page on filing a JIRA.
  Either way, make sure you are logged in. Please use your Second Life name, NOT your Real Life name when creating an account on our JIRA. Both Username and Full Name should be your Second Life account name (no display names).
• In the top right of the page you'll see a link that says 'Create Issue'. Click that and in the page that opens…
• For 'Project', select 'Tester Applications, BETA'.
• For 'Issue Type' select 'BTA'.
• For the 'Summary' field enter your SL username, not your display name.
• Set 'Priority' to Major.
• For 'SL Avatar Name' fill in the SL username of your primary SL avatar that you would like used for beta testing correspondence.
• Leave 'Patch attached' unchecked.
• For 'Affects Version/s' select the current Firestorm release version. (For example, 6.2.4.).
• For 'Environment' copy and paste the entire environment from the Help menu, About Firestorm, Info tab in Firestorm for any machines and or operating systems you will be using for testing.
• For 'Description' give us a brief explanation of why you think you would make a good member of our beta test team.
• 'Attachment' and 'Labels' should be left blank, they're not used for applications.
• Click Create.
• Be sure and keep an eye on the JIRA you created as this is where you will be initially contacted to complete your addition to our beta test program. Do not reply via email to any emails you receive from the JIRA, they will not work.

Your application will be assessed as soon as it is seen by the QA team lead to ensure it is complete and correct. If any corrections need to be made you will be notified in the comments section of your application.

There is a seven day “cool-off” period after your application is submitted until you are notified if you have been approved.

You will need to follow the instructions in your BTA once accepted, and at that time will receive an invitation to the inworld group, Firestorm Beta testers.

All information provided when applying to become a Firestorm Beta Tester on issue type BTA is strictly confidential and only accessible by you and Firestorm team members.

As part of the beta test team, you will be given access to test builds from time to time. Such builds are not to be circulated outside of the beta test team. Nor are direct or indirect web links to be shared with people who are not part of the beta test team. Doing so will result in immediate termination of beta tester status.

The reason for this is very simple: test builds are often known to have bugs, sometimes very severe ones. We test them anyway because there may be other aspects of the build on which we need to have feedback. Clearly, we do not want viewer builds which are known to have bugs - or which may potentially have severe bugs - to be circulated to the general public.

Here is an outline of the general procedure for each new test release.

• A notice is posted to the inworld beta test group, announcing the new test build. Any specific directions are given at that time, often in an attached notecard.
• Log in to the Firestorm Beta Site, then download the test release.
• Install the test viewer. Most of the time installs can be dirty and installed directly over your current Firestorm install. On occasion you will be asked to do a clean install which is a total wipe of settings, possibly including cache. A clean install is explained here. If you are not given specific instructions on this in the new test notice or on the test itself, then assume that a clean install is not required.
• In some cases, there will be a smoke test to carry out; that is, specific things that we need to have tested. This smoke test is structured as a questionnaire: a description is given of what needs to be tested, and you are asked to fill in the results. This is a sample segment of such a test:
  
• Once you have completed the test - and it cannot be stressed enough how vital it is that you do so! - continue to use the viewer as you normally would, and report any problems you find to JIRA (making sure you select the correct viewer versions for Reported in and Affects).
• You are encouraged to use the inworld group to ask questions, to see whether specific issues are known or perhaps expected behavior. But bug reporting should be done to JIRA or your bugs may go unnoticed.