If you’re experiencing script run-time errors and can’t be fixed by Smart Reset, or are having too many of them, you can get the latest v4.13.05.

Most of the scripts are Mono-compiled, which is a lot better at memory management.

Go through the Update Switch procedure, and when asked, choose “HUD only”. You don’t have to re-setup again, just transfer your gear from your current HUD (transfer will start automatically when you wear the new HUD).

This is a stop-gap before the upcoming HUD v.5

(Semi-long post with a mini-rant against Open Space sims. If you need to skip, skip to the part about What do do. There’s a good tip there.)

SL has changed things over the past (few) weeks – sim performance has generally deteriorated by about 30% ceterus paribus, and there seems to be a lot more script run-time errors and missing script errors too.

This week, Mono is being rolled out, and I’m sure there’ll be more fun things.

But meantime, I’m putting out v4.13.04 HUD with small but critical fixes:

• Your LULU Signature Cuffs dropping off you with that “laggy sim” message?If you’re on Open Space sims (aka low-prim sims), you’d realize by now that they have reduced script performance (see the notes in About Land). What you might not know is how bad their performance really is. Even though my lag mater might state 75 – 100, the actual experienced performance is a lot lower, due to the fact that my meter doesn’t measure chat lag. And chat lag is really bad on these sims.

  Basically v4.13.04 will help 95-98% of the time now – it should respond a lot better in Open Space sims. The remaining 2-5% is due to those sims being sooo slow that they actually drop some of the chat that they can’t process. Dropped = lost forever. Means problems detecting HUD sometimes, especially when you rez all 8 cuffs (= lots of chat traffic). But with the next cuff updates, you can rez cuffs individually, so if you rez just the wrists for example, you’re all set (not that much traffic).

• Script-errors. I’ve also pared down the one script that had the most stack-heap errors. That should help a lot.

What to do:

Just go to the Secret Warehouse, hit the Update Switch. Do the usual, and you will be given an option to get the “HUD only” or a “new box”. New box means a fresh Boxed Set; means setup; re-activate; transfer. Not fun.

Try “HUD only”. Just wear, and start transferring all your gear over from the old HUD. No re-setup. That’s it!

If SL breaks your HUD again, just hit “HUD only” again and avoid re-setup!

Luv, Lulu

(Continuing the preview of new LULU Stabilizers that help smoothen an otherwise bumby SL ride)

LULU Signature gear is among the most complex and secure in SL, and as such, it requires setup.

Unfortunately, SL doesn’t like complex stuff that try to push the boundaries. So sometimes, SL borks the setup process for no good reason. The menu disappears. Or the cuffs/gag would not rez properly on command. So we need to re-setup. The whole thing. Eight pieces if you’ve got one full set of cuffs. Plus the key.

Easi-setup 2.0

Easi-setup 2.0 to the rescue!

I’ve finally figured out how to detect when SL borks certain internal states – so we can fix things on the spot rather than requiring a full-resetup after the fact.

Here goes the major features:

• Speed. Much faster setup – you’ll breeze through each step faster than ever.
• Live-check. Detects when SL borks things, and repeats the last step (instead of requiring a complete re-setup of everything after the fact).
• Anti-stall. Lost a menu? No problem. Clicking the Setup Ball will either advance the step or repeat the last step, depending on where you are.
• Single re-setup. If SL borks a single cuff after setup, you just need to re-setup that one cuff. Not everything again.
• Key, once. You only need to setup a key for each toy once for that particular HUD. Future re-setups for that HUD will omit the key step. (cuffs only atm). You’ll only need to give the key once to your owner too, no matter how many times you re-setup.
• Auto stats. Important HUD settings (e.g. owner list, gender, spacial, command channel, gag Circle!) are automatically in the new HUD when you first wear it. No transfer required.If you are going to HUD v.5 from v.4, cuff and gag positions, colors, etc. will not be auto-transferred (you’ll need to manually “transfer…” as in the past, or just re-adjust the new gear). But when you wear your subsequent v.5 HUD (say, in the next update) – all stats will be automatically in your HUD without requiring you to do a transfer.
• Cuff plugins setups are now two-steps instead of three.

With Easi-Setup 2.0, you can get down to playing a lot faster. I’m already working towards Easi-Setup 3.0, but that’s another story.

Easi-Setup 2.0 will be in the upcoming HUD v.5.

Stay tuned.

(Continuing with the preview of new LULU Stabilizers that help smoothen an otherwise bumby SL ride)

There is a major SL problem that plagues all attachments.

If you crash, or are disconnected (either of which seem to occur just when you think it’s safe again!)… you might lose all your current settings. If you were locked, you might find yourself unlocked. Your color or position settings all gone. Owner settings gone. And so on.

Why? The current state of your attachment (whether scripts state or prim settings) simply does not get saved when you crash. So, when you log back in, your attachment is at a previous state (the last time it was “saved” to the SL asset server, to be exact). So, logging back in, you experience a “roll-back” – your attachment stats belong to an earlier time. Doesn’t matter if the attachment saves data on the prim (e.g. prim description). The prim itself is simply rolled back to an earlier time, before that data was saved.

This has been brought up to the Lindens before, and their happy reply is to always detach your attachment to save all changes.

Hence, the little red dot on the LULU Signature HUD that tells you what changes you have made (e.g. “owner changes”), and reminds you to save your data. But this is quite a silly idea if you’re supposed to be locked in the first place. Detaching stuff and re-attaching them each time something happens. Really elegant.

With the upcoming HUD v.5, we do better.

Auto-save.

Yes. No more detaching. Crash all you want. Disconnect all you want. Log back in, and your settings (and believe me, there’re many stats in there) will be the same as before.

Well, 99% of settings anyway. You won’t lose your Gag Circles (hooray all gag aficionados!) – but, if you were in the middle of a trial, your trial time would still be rolled back.

Why?  Well two reasons. First, I’d have to rewrite the trial scripts. Second, and more importantly, we don’t want to give an unfair advantage to people doing the trials now – after all, all those people on the Gag Scoreboard had to go through all the nice little random crashes and roll-backs to get up there (at a time when there were way more crashes, I might add). It’d cheapen their achievements if we made it too easy!

That said, all other settings and stats should be safe from roll-backs.

Stay tuned for more LULU Stabilizers in the upcoming HUD v.5. Making your SL life a little smoother.

Luv, Lulu