Var Out

Aime Socrates: i'm looking much more intelligent with those horns

Dabici Straulino: certainly more brilliant

The Xmas season is getting close and of course all the decorative instincts of opensim people are coming out in force.
Lucy Afarensis: Like your Xmas decoration Snowy
snowbody Cortes: oh ty Lucy .. a gift at Friday party , mattie mcbride
Lucy Afarensis: she makes nice things
James Atlloud: Do love the horns.
Lucy Afarensis: lost my glasses
Prodyck Theas: hello all
PatriciaAnne Daviau: ok going to try and get to first stop...without crashing
       Bob's your uncle... or at least, he is uncle to quite a number of OpenSim residents with dreams to chase, virtually. 
       Bob Solo invited us to come over a few weeks ago, but that dratted new version of OpenSim caused all kinds of hypergridding mayhem, and so here we are again, hoping the dust has settled.

Bob Solo on Teak Forest sim

      Here is Bob in his signature cowboy hat; he has recently adopted 'realistic proportion' in terms of avatar height, so we were prepared to see a smaller person than one might expect... but we were equally prepared to encounter a big heart, and so will you, if you go over to A Virtual World.
Bob Solo: well hello everyone, I am Bob Solo, Boba Solo on osgrid and Bikerbob Solo SL - long ago for SL.... welcome! so, after a briefing, we will all go to the Teak Gardens and view a build I did some years ago. The teleport to the Teak Gardens is on the wall surrounding us in the back, and reminder the teleport back is the sign where you land.
Selby Evans: this grid is running OS 0.9.0  Look for improvements and problems.
Bob Solo: yes it has issues the 9.0, I have spent tons of time look fixing etc., I can get the r31183 working fairly well.
Lucy Afarensis: are we still on osgrid ?

Dabici Straulino: is this version integrating some of Avination codes
Thirza Ember: Bob, when did you come to open sim? how long you been here?
Bob Solo: I have been on the hg for almost 8 years - nearly 8 years on osgrid, and a couple years before that on SL...  addicted to virtual worlds
PatriciaAnne Daviau: wow!
Selby Evans: thanks for fixes, Bob  -- and thanks for upgrading to 0.9
Bob Solo: you're welcome, we all have  to work together, make it better for all. This is not OSGrid, it is a separate grid, 150 regions built... I don't run them all, but maybe 50 or so at once, till I can get things very stable.
Lucy Afarensis: what hardware are you using ?
Bob Solo: I use three servers all .net  - windows... so after several Grid makeovers, moves, data base renewals, this is the outcome...
Thirza Ember: you got many residents?
Bob Solo: I have a few diehards that have weathered the storms with me... so folks were going to the Teak Gardens, a place I built when my Mother passed, some is tribute to her..notice the Beautiful Lady climbing the stairway
Bob.Solo: 
Nara.Nook: wow
Dabici.Straulino: nice
Bob.Solo: that was the day after or so my Mother passed I was giving her ascension... to ascend to heaven
PatriciaAnne.Daviau: how wonderfully sweet Bob
Dabici Straulino: very inspiring

You're thinking, where is the picture of that inspiring ascension of Bob's mum, aren't you. I wish I could help you. Honestly. While he was talking, unfortunately, I was taking this totally inappropriate  photo.

That's how it is sometimes on Safari, you miss one crucial image, and get another. And it's too late to go back and get a do-over. Just like life... and grids in general. One minute they're there, and the next they are gone. Or different, anyway. Virtual places are fragile, and need to be maintained constantly or we run the risk of losing our legacy. So it has been with Bob's various regions.

Bob Solo: it has weathered many a storm... so many changes, from a Mega region to a Var was a challenge, and keep the build together and really its better texture wise
        Our next stop was a towering mountain with waterfalls that Bob modestly calls his splash pool. 
Bob.Solo: it was the first Splash in opensim, I believe, it is really neat, and some really good help from Amber
Dabici.Straulino: pioneering
Bob.Solo: the roots
       We jumped over there, and the conversation continues on the lines of OpenSim in general, rather than just Bob's grid.
Bob.Solo: in reality it down to heart rate,the heart of opensim is to slow, at the moment. We need to resuscitate it
Nara.Nook: how?
Bob.Solo: make the core run on a clock, so we can turn it up across all physics. I have done it already but it had some side affects, the fastest I can get a simulator to run is 30 FPS. Its default is 11 - way too slow
Lucy.Afarensis: What happens to those with slower computers?
Bob.Solo: it's worse on them, the low frame rates, if it were near 24 would be perfect
Nara.Nook: I see 20
Bob.Solo: thats not bad here. Remember the core isn't that, so it's super charged.
James.Atlloud: I'm below 20, but that's my system at this point.
Bob.Solo: shall we investigate more sights?
    We did. The clam breeding ponds, the volcano and the dragon, and the lava arriving at the sea, and the pirate cove. 

         Finally we flew out to the dance floor overlooking the great Offsim Ocean that bathes the shore of every grid, and it was time for us to go.

         Our second stop was another Var region, on another grid, and kudos to this latest build of OpenSim, teleporting between them was a piece of cake. 

          Icing on the cake, perhaps, for Novale sim on Creanovale is all wintery. Snow-laden trees, snowmen, and flakes gently falling. 

Truelie Telling

        On a beautiful icy dance floor surrounded by blue ice-chairs which Mal and James immediately took advantage of, we congregated for a concert, and Truelie Telling gave us a fine rendition of her best seasonal repertoire. Our kind hosts were Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay, who use their grid to give a flavor of their home in Canada. 

  Using a Var region has allowed them to build a seamless set of activities across a much wider area, which is ideal for tobogganing or skiing, or the romantic balloon ride. But who does what?

Our hostess Dabici with James Atlloud

Kelso Uxlay: I do most of the scripting, Dab does most of the building
        Kelso also does the bright and beatiful dancing in this gif. 

        If you get a little lost on the sim, don't worry there are numerous teleport stations, tastefully integrated into the build.t he one by this dance floor is in a wood hut and there is another in the big glass house at the other end of the region. 
        Look  for the chapel and the old mill, and the Observatory, which includes a telescope much like Kelso's real life one... only perhaps a little smaller. Or should that be larger? You can also take a panoramic view of the whole place by taking the balloon ride.

 Dabici and Kelso have done a lovely job at re-imagining their winter sim from last year, bringing together some of the classic elements of the cold season, sport and tradition and a lot of fun.

Arcanquest Frank looks like she is on the Nice list

        They got one of Aine's NPC balls just the other day, and quickly set it up with a hunky Mister Claus. He is a bit of a tease, as you can see, here he is showing off his moves with Arcanquest Frank, and then before you know it, here he is romancing Lucy Afarensis...
        Then, what do you know, Serene Jewell showed up and got her twigs into the guy...
        I guess it is a NPC...hristmas this year.

Dabici Straulino: do not forget after Truelie to try the toboggan ride, the saucer ride or visit the xmas market and LM to come back.

        There is a lot of fun to be had with the snow saucer. I hit a house, several sheep and finally got splatted on a couple of big rocks which unlike lot of the obstacles were not phantom. Got to agree with Serene's comment...

Serene.Jewell: I will definitely be back to explore more.  Thank you for hosting, Dabici!

HG Addresses   

Bob Solo's Teak Garden.....     avirtualworld.org:8002:teak garden

Novale winter wonderland.....  hg.creanovale.org:8052:novale