S24(3) Fara RC1 and 20 Years in SL!

 Hi lovely people! Was sat on my parcel in a rather reflective moment, gently nudging a few prims, and as you can gather from previous posts, things have been a bit rough as of late. But quietly in the background, work on the client has been slowly marching on, line by line, one fix and another. So build 2460 RC1 has dropped, the code has shifted to develop and 2025.6 as the primary focus. I guess the most noteworthy alteration has been the inclusion of DirectX supplanting LL code for some of the low-level math.

What are the implications? Actually none in terms of function, except it removes some Boost dependencies and long hardcoded defines in preference for more accurate and potentially faster higher-level functions later on. This kinda falls in line with the ethos that it's a client, not a game engine :)

I'm also in the process of code signing the executable and installer, currently testing with a self-signed cert. This at least can confirm to the end user that the source of the product is from me and not some bad actor. In the background, I am going through the rigours of the full-blown process, which is quite a thing! The outcome hopefully is no pesky SmartScreen nagging and a solid confirmation of the origin and validity of the final product.

Anyway, back to the tale! I'm sat in-world pottering about when my partner asks me to TP over to look at something, which I duly do... seems I needed to be reminded of a small footnote...

Yep, 20+ years. I must admit I had all but forgotten, and it was a lovely reminder from a few of my oldest pals in SL. It was also a point of reflection as I scrolled through my friends list and paused for a moment on those people who have sadly passed—such is the stretch of time.

I have no regrets :) SL has been a source of great joy and sadness, friendship and loss, and has encompassed the full range of human experience, all expressed in a collection of pixels built on a castle of cubes housed in a shed full of servers in a faraway datacentre somewhere on the internet.

A sincere thank you to my friends and my partner—long may it continue.

Much Love,
KL.