Second Life

[Blade The Protector]

Does anyone use second life?  I usually role play in a pony sim but i know Legends of Equestria will be much better.   

[Skardan]

I thought about trying it but I don't know if my laptop is good enough for it.
And is it free to play?

[Chishio Kunrin]

I thought about trying it but I don't know if my laptop is good enough for it.
And is it free to play?

It's free to play, but it can be pretty laggy even for a desktop computer. And a lot of user-made items cost money.

I went on Second Life for a little while, especially so I could get the beta version of the pony avatar for free to beta test it. It felt so weird getting there for the first time as a human and then following a pony through Ponyville.

I think LoE's ponies are designed better than the ones on Second Life, though.

[Skardan]

I think LoE's ponies are designed better than the ones on Second Life, though.

indeed oO

Well maybe I'll try it.

[Wandering Star]

Yes, as you could see in my forum avatar, I play SL. In fact, I was the one asked to make pics from Bronyville to be posted in ponibooru. (boy, I miss Bronyville a lot).

Well, the new bunch of sims (sim=server, more or less) are pretty cool too. We have the Everfree Forest, Ponyville, Canterlot and Trotsdale. However, since there are so many sims now, people a little more scarced, I think. I loved to find a lot of ponies in Bronyville's central square every day. Now, people usually gathers in the Everfree's glare to make random things.

Well, that and because they got a little more commercial, like Trotsdale, which is totally a residential sim (people pay for having a house there).

However, even with that, it can be pretty funny though. You know, for the ones who don't like to level up and stuff from the upcoming LoE, they can do that in the meantime there.

About money and stuff... Let me tell you, you can have more money than Bill Gates and loo awful. You can be poor, and look sweet. It depends on imagination, knowing where to look for and, of course, have some practice withthe game to modify things. And, if you reaaaaaaaaally need money, have a look to Linden Realms, it is a game inside SL where you can earn money and, in my opinion, it is a nice place to trot around, since it has the same look as the Everfree Forest in a no-foggy day.

And, the same for computer requeriments. It is more how you configure the game correctly (and network lag) than just having a beast of computer.

Well, if someone is interested of give me a shout, just look for Jarred Stoneshield there 

[Chishio Kunrin]

I think the best I figured out on there was moving the camera to somewhere else to take a picture.

Epic view right before he ran off.
And this one of a Derpy:

I'm off in the distance next to a... jellyfish? I love this picture so much.

[Book Smarts]

Hahaha 

That's hilarious

[Wandering Star]

Well, depending on a lot of things, you can make normal pics or good ones. First, you need a good client. I still use Kirstens when doing pics but Viewer2 is cool too. Don't think about Firestorm/Phoenix for pics, because they ALWAYS lower the graphics in a certain level so you can have the most fps aviable in one graphic detail level. Since we are gonna make a pic, we just don't give a http://forum.legendsofequestria.com/index.php?topic=2470.0">Read the forum rules. about fps, right? XD

After that, just use the command console so you can custom a little more the graphics so you get something better than Maximum detail. I mean, things like activating projected shadows, optical occlusion, more view distance, more fractal lighting,... In Kirstens, all these things were integrated without the needing of getting into the console (althought, I still use the console because I am too used to it xP), and viewer2 have imitated with the last patchs. The only problem with viewer2 is that they have make me unable to enter into the console, so there are many features I can't access now from there. Of course, if anyone knows how to activate the console now, please, tell me as soon as possible.

Now, use Alt+Click to move the camera without moving yourself, trying to get out of the pic. Play a little with the custom water/sky tool (it changes A LOT the mood of the scene) and get ready for the pic. (take severals and from different points of view, and only save the one you like the most). And voilá 




:::::::BIG SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT!:::::::

How different can be a pic with different sky and illumination:

Spoiler: show

 

Proyectable shadows (The last one is kinda ugly because I took it in a hurry, but I post it anyway so people can see one pic with a group of ponies doing random things):

Spoiler: show

Yes, ponies playing a 8-bit saxophone to summon the best of the princess and make the night last forevah

And, last, non pony related but, to end the show... Occlusion is magic:

Spoiler: show

So perfect to make ass shot... 
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

[Chishio Kunrin]

Indeed, Second Life can be quite an interesting place with plenty of potential. But if I ever go back, I want to know how to have it lag much less for me. Otherwise, I will disappear repeatedly to relieve lag that builds up to an unbearable amount.

[Wandering Star]

I have always the feeling that most of lagging issues in SL are more because of your WiFi than because of your machine. Of course, don't expect having 60 fps everywhere in the game. Depending of the place, I will get more fps or less, but my commands won't lag.

Take Firestorm viewer if you have a cheap computer, it is an awful viewer (in my opinion) but is more stable than the rest of viewers. After that, just put everything the lowest possible in an isolated place and go touching ALL the buttons. Yeah, ALL the options on the preference menu. It is a ver inneficient game (something legit because of the customization and constantly downloading stuff issue) and every machine needs a different graphical option. Usually, view distance, antialiasing, shadows and character occlusion (don't mistake with Optical Occlusion) are the key options to look at.


Character Occlusion: It was one option to change totally how your client download everything. If character occlusion was activated, you would only loads and download what you are seeing on the screen, which is good for some computers and if you aren't planning to move a lot.

Of course, when having a very good computer (or not so good) and you need to move a lot, you will see that character occlusion is inneficient, so you deactivates and, now, the client would load ALL the sim (it could get laggy in the beginning, but lag should wear off the more you play).