Hey! o/
This is in response to my friends on the Y, X and Z number 9 channels (aka Dev/Beta/RC), but could be interesting to others as well.
I've been asked "if everything was OK" because the collar had so much less scripts after loading the revision 600 patch. Usually people want fewer scripts and not more! I'm really surprised that it was noticed right away though.
Well, the reason is that this patch swaps out the open-source engine, what I sometimes call "the heart" or "core" of the collar, with the proprietary number 9 engine, that I always held back because it would mean removing the last bits of the open-source left in the collar.
Just like our old open-source engine, the proprietary one is still modular, but not in a way that you could stick 10 year old plugins in the collar and they'd still run. It would be a pure number 9 then.
This is in response to my friends on the Y, X and Z number 9 channels (aka Dev/Beta/RC), but could be interesting to others as well.
I've been asked "if everything was OK" because the collar had so much less scripts after loading the revision 600 patch. Usually people want fewer scripts and not more! I'm really surprised that it was noticed right away though.
Well, the reason is that this patch swaps out the open-source engine, what I sometimes call "the heart" or "core" of the collar, with the proprietary number 9 engine, that I always held back because it would mean removing the last bits of the open-source left in the collar.
Just like our old open-source engine, the proprietary one is still modular, but not in a way that you could stick 10 year old plugins in the collar and they'd still run. It would be a pure number 9 then.
So, why the change of heart?
Pun intended. If you read this blog, you probably know that I bring this up in every release post: I cannot really improve the collar anymore unless the core/heart/engine is rewritten. The feedback from testers who tried the new engine was overwhelmingly positive.
I mean, they have a much faster collar toy, but with less scripts. This seems to matter a great deal for those of you who hang out in roleplay sims, and I get it, but even if that may be the case with N° 9, fewer scripts doesn't always mean "better", but read further please.
I mean, they have a much faster collar toy, but with less scripts. This seems to matter a great deal for those of you who hang out in roleplay sims, and I get it, but even if that may be the case with N° 9, fewer scripts doesn't always mean "better", but read further please.
Does fewer scripts always mean better?
No. That is just total nonsense. You can write poor code that causes horrible lag in just a single script. I don't want to do this engine swap just for the sake of having less scripts in the collar. I would do it because it would mean a big improvement for many users, and for making the collar faster, less laggy, and hopefully all that results in less drama too. Then ours is even the not-open-source collar, and the other guys have the open-source collar. We have nothing in common anymore then. Divorce complete.
I do have to say though that more scripts does have a negative impact when people just arrive in a sim. The more scripts someone has, the more memory needs to be reserved for that avatar, and I believe that may be what causes these lag spikes when avatars just arrive in a sim. But that is the nature of the beast my friends. Someone just arrived! Everyones nipples at attention!
I do have to say though that more scripts does have a negative impact when people just arrive in a sim. The more scripts someone has, the more memory needs to be reserved for that avatar, and I believe that may be what causes these lag spikes when avatars just arrive in a sim. But that is the nature of the beast my friends. Someone just arrived! Everyones nipples at attention!
It's personal.
The reason I never swapped it yet (and still might not) is because it hurts me to take out these old open-source scripts.
They are a part of my life, I maintained and improved them for 10 years, I look at this code and have good memories, especially when others contributed. Getting rid of that source feels a bit like erasing my past. It feels like erasing my first adult years out of existence.
(Yep, I really spent that much time on SL...)
But as you can see after that statement these are very personal reasons. I'm making the collar for others, not for myself, I make it for you and the feedback is clear. Here is hoping that going this way will also end some of the long lasting animosities and drama with my previous collar project.
You see, when you create open-source together with others, every author has a claim to it, they have copyright, and usually that is a really beautiful thing. We make this together, I give you my source, you give me your changes, together we make awesome software.
However in these last years there was so much toxicity and fighting, not just in the open-source microverse, but in general.
There was the politics, the constant stress in online discussions, anywhere you looked people got at each others' throats. Our collar project was hit particularly hard by this "vibe" (if you want to call it that) and it makes me really sad. How absurd this is when we really share this huge common interest in kink and fetish stuff but.. I'm rambling again.
They are a part of my life, I maintained and improved them for 10 years, I look at this code and have good memories, especially when others contributed. Getting rid of that source feels a bit like erasing my past. It feels like erasing my first adult years out of existence.
(Yep, I really spent that much time on SL...)
But as you can see after that statement these are very personal reasons. I'm making the collar for others, not for myself, I make it for you and the feedback is clear. Here is hoping that going this way will also end some of the long lasting animosities and drama with my previous collar project.
You see, when you create open-source together with others, every author has a claim to it, they have copyright, and usually that is a really beautiful thing. We make this together, I give you my source, you give me your changes, together we make awesome software.
However in these last years there was so much toxicity and fighting, not just in the open-source microverse, but in general.
There was the politics, the constant stress in online discussions, anywhere you looked people got at each others' throats. Our collar project was hit particularly hard by this "vibe" (if you want to call it that) and it makes me really sad. How absurd this is when we really share this huge common interest in kink and fetish stuff but.. I'm rambling again.
Does that mean your old plugins will stop working?
What would stop working are the very, very old plugins. Stuff like "rlvstuff" or "cagehome" or "bookmarks", for example. I'd also break one of my rules this time, and would rigorously clean up all the cruft and bulk that would otherwise remain as deadweight in the collar.
For some users this would reduce script count so significantly that it'd feel as if the collar lost more than half of its weight.
That is why non-production channel users were so irritated, but this is a good sign, because while it was indeed noticed that the collar had much less scripts (good), nobody missed any of these antediluvian plugins either (great), in fact, not a single person was even aware that I was still refreshing these.
They were running, alright, but they were already deadweight for every, single user... and that put things back into perspective for me.
For most users this would be a heaven-sent, in particular for everyone who is into roleplay.
But let's see. I'm still on the fence, but one thing is for sure. There will be that patch that we were talking about on Discord, and it will be available for a short time during October to everyone who is still on any of the older OC versions that I maintained during my time (2008 - 2018), or on Peanut and Peanut No. 9 collar, and who didn't grab one of the (2021) N° 9 installers yet.
To many people it would be the biggest collar upgrade they experienced in their whole second life.
For some users this would reduce script count so significantly that it'd feel as if the collar lost more than half of its weight.
That is why non-production channel users were so irritated, but this is a good sign, because while it was indeed noticed that the collar had much less scripts (good), nobody missed any of these antediluvian plugins either (great), in fact, not a single person was even aware that I was still refreshing these.
They were running, alright, but they were already deadweight for every, single user... and that put things back into perspective for me.
For most users this would be a heaven-sent, in particular for everyone who is into roleplay.
But let's see. I'm still on the fence, but one thing is for sure. There will be that patch that we were talking about on Discord, and it will be available for a short time during October to everyone who is still on any of the older OC versions that I maintained during my time (2008 - 2018), or on Peanut and Peanut No. 9 collar, and who didn't grab one of the (2021) N° 9 installers yet.
To many people it would be the biggest collar upgrade they experienced in their whole second life.
You are still reading ♥
For those who care, I'm recovering well so far. Life is going to be different, alright, but I'm back on my feet, I can sit at my computer, and I'm happy that I can get work done again. I want to try keeping the personal stuff on Discord though. That's better suited than my website.
Stay safe!
Stay safe!