LULU Stabilizers: Smart Reset 2.0 (Living with SL… cont’d)

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

100% Hack-proof. A key design feature of LULU Signature gear.

So you know that your sub can neither hack them, nor accidentally break them by fooling around. Trust is one thing, but even in Real Life roleplay, would you use cuffs or gags that are easily tampered with? Didn’t think so. No fun for either side.

Why am I confident LULU Signature gear is hack-proof? Well, because they are NO-MODIFY, that’s why. Sub can’t take them apart, delete scripts, drop other scripts in etc.

Okay, what’s this gotta do with Stabilisers? Well, no matter how you try to optimize scripts, sometimes they die (script run-time errors) for no good reason. When they do, you need to reset the scripts.

With MODIFY attachments, this means you need to drop them on the ground, go to the SL menu and hit “Reset all scripts…” and wait for them to reset in turn. When done, you re-wear the attachment. This takes minutes, and most times, settings are lost.

With NO-MODIFY attachments, you can’t do all that by yourself. But the LULU Signature HUD has Smart Reset built in, to selectively reset only those scripts that have died. Smart Reset could also recover the most important settings lost to reset.

Smart Reset 2.0

Now, with HUD v.5, Smart Reset 2.0 goes further (and does it with even less code) than the original Smart Reset:

  • super-fast self-check (used to take up to half a minute or a minute for a full check).
  • super-fast restore (used to be up to half a minute or more).
  • faster, more reliable detection of script-errors, as they occur.
  • overcomes a weird SL-bork that occasionally stalls restore in Smart Reset 1.0.
  • now all settings are restored with reset, not just the most imortant ones.
  • now you can “force reset” to reset everything, for those times when SL corrupts the scripts but they’re not exactly dead. In the past, you had to get a fresh HUD – now there’s another option. Yes, all settings are still preserved after a “force reset”.

Better than SL’s “Reset all scripts…”

Why is Smart Reset 2.0 even better than the SL built-in “Reset all Scripts…”?

  • It detects the error as and when they occur. If SL isn’t co-operative, it’ll detect the error soon after. It’ll alert you to the problem, and start the self-fix immediately.
  • It automatically resets only the dead scripts, in seconds. Just detach the HUD and re-wear. That’s it. No need to drop on the ground (risk of loss inventory!), rightclick item, select Edit, choose the SL menu item, and wait a minute or two for SL to reset all the scripts, then rewear.
  • All settings are preserved – no need to re-enter things, etc. In SL’s default case, all settings are lost.
  • If you wish to force it to reset all scripts, you can. All settings will still be restored.

Smart Reset 2.0. Coming soon… in LULU Signature HUD v5.0.

Stay tuned for more peek previews of upcoming LULU Stabilisers.

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* obviously subs can be male or female or in between. I use the feminine here for convenience as there are more female subs around. Those who are bothered by this, please mentally substitute all feminine pronouns with male-female-hermaphrodite variants. 😛

Living with SL problems… (Part 1)

2008 hasn’t been a good year for the Grid. Asset server issues. Memory leak problems. Inventory losses.

The LULU Signature system was upgraded over several months and fitted with various stability features to address these problems:

  • Smart Save. The HUD detects when important stats have changed and notifies you to “save” your settings (immunizing you from losing important settings to a crash).
  • Improved robustness to stack-heap errors due to SL memory leakage.
  • Smart Reset (which selectively resets affected scripts and recovers lost settings)
  • Auto Smart Reset which can now pre-emptively detect dead scripts before you notice they’re dead, and automatically revives them and recovers their lost settings.
  • Online searchable helpbase with over 100 articles to help troubleshoot issues. Integrated with HUD help.
  • Easi-Setup detects certain types of sim lag, and even takes into account asset server lag.
  • Auto-detects if SL had borked the setup process (i.e. toys won’t rez properly) and restarts the setup process automatically.

These have helped a great deal. But Grid performance is still patchy.

Going forward… I realize we can do better.

So, say hello to the upcoming LULU Signature HUD v.5.

Expect heavy-duty Stabilizers built in to counter and overcome the volleys that SL throws at heavily-scripted toys.

So that you can have more fun playing than working around memory leaks, asset server trouble, crashes, chat lag and whatever.

These will not go away, mind – but hopefully… it’ll be a smoother ride.

Stay tuned.

Gift a LULU!

I’ve had quite a few requests to enable people to buy LULU gear for their birthday friends or their subs, especially this last week. It’s always been on my (very long) do-list. But the last one to IM me just inspired me to bump it up the priority level, hopefully in time for the birthday present.

So, here it is.

Now you can buy a LULU Signature toy for that someone special…

At the Secret Warehouse. Other LULU vendors will follow suit over the coming months, after SL introduces a new scripting function that would be more efficient for malls.

Happy Birthday to you-know-who.

Luv, Lulu

Tip of the Week #9 Cuffs’ Promiscuous Mode

Many of you know this already, but some might not know that the Signature Cuffs (and PLUS Cuffs too, actually) have a somewhat hidden feature: promiscuous mode.

It’s hidden because it’s only available to the sub’s owner. Many features of Signature toys are like that – some buttons will only show for the sub’s owner. (Hint: a sub can play with these features by just setting herself as her own owner! *evil laughter*). The button is found in the the cuff’s menu (“/1c”) under the “other” menu.

So what does Promiscuous Mode do? Well, when it’s turned on – it allows anyone out there to click the poor sub’s cuffs, and put her in all the compromising positions that the cuffs are designed for.

Er, well, what about griefers? Good question! Once promiscuous mode is turned on, the sub has a button called “ban…”. Just add the idiot to the list, and sub is immune to his unwanted affections.

Have fun!

Lulu

Got talent? Lulu wants you!

Some of you might not have received the in-group notice, so here goes. (Thanks to all who responded!)

I’ve got an ultra-long do-list, and one of them is building up City Noir – an urban jungle sim that’s perennially stuck at midnight. Time to kick-start it. City Noir is for the kinky RP community.

If you’ve got experience in, or love doing…

  • building (whether buildings, or interiors, or sets/props/furniture)
  • texturing
  • shopping (for props and stuff!)
  • scripting
  • sculpties

I want you!

If you’ve got an eye for urban grunge and have some free time and would like to do something for the community and be part of the City Noir building project, IM me.

dreams are made of these