I am one month old and I'm an egg!



Glitchiness, lagging on my one month birthday...

I just had my one month birthday on second life. This is an important landmark in that world, apparently. In a way, I feel like if I've sustained my interest so far, I'll be able to continue until I get the hang of it.

To get back to the my second life story, I just want to mention a little thing called lag.. This is when there's too much going on, in a sense, or the site is having difficulties of some kind (I am not a computer nerd, so bear with me,) and things freeze or jerk or don't resolve into the visual world you've come to know and love. Or, even more dreadful, you yourself don't "rez" or become yourself, or your clothes won't stay pretty, or your face is blurry..ugh.

There are also glitches, which involve problems with being unable to remove articles of clothing, or change articles of clothing, or use a new program...etc.

So my personal best involved being an "egg" for about three or four days. Basically you look like an egg when you first appear; as your entire appearance is loading. Talk about frustrated..I got a LOT of advice on how to fix it. This involved logging out and back in, closing my Internet and restarting, restarting my computer, turning my computer off and then back on, and "rebaking." Rebaking is when you sort of "restart" the objects and things which make up second life and you. To rebake, go to the "advanced" tab on the top of your screen (you have to have an advanced account; which becomes a default once you log in and out once after creating your account.) Hit the "rebake textures" button and your clothing, face, whatever will become wonderfully crisp and clear; or you will magically appear if you are an egg. None of these things worked for me.

So, I called the neighbour who had introduced me to this obsession  world, and found that he was in the process of moving out of our building! Can't help me until Thursday and it's Sunday night. Fortunately, just before we get off the phone he suggests I change outfits. Wow! You can click on a folder in your inventory (more on this later,) if it is an outfit and select "replace current outfit" and presto! you are dressed in another completely different outfit. You can create and save your own combinations, incidentally; and when I have figured out how to do this flawlessly I will tell you the process.

Anyway, unlike everything else, that worked (my neighbor worked for second life.) And I now have more control over my avatars' appearance. The "rebake" feature can really fix those blurry problems. I'd been having trouble with my lips appearing smudged and the fine details of the elaborate clothes I'm wearing blurring either on the top or the bottom half.

Your body is somewhat broken into separate parts, as well as separate layers. This makes it possible to wear gloves, make-up, tattoos, shoes, and the separate bits of each outfit. Your clothing, etc. is also broken up into layers; which enable you to slowly build up your look and attire. This is extremely useful; as it means you can wear underwear, glitch pants, a skirt, shoes/boots, a bustle, another skirt, a top, a jacket, an overcoat, some tattoos, some make-up (applied as a tattoo layer) a scalp, a wig and a hat or hair ornament. A useful feature is the "add" button under the right click menu you use to "wear" the various items. If something is sharing a layer with something else you want to wear; like a shawl and a necklace; usually one will replace the other. The "add" button allows you to wear both. Sometimes one of the items will get "stuck," however and you can't get rid of it no matter how hard you try. At least, I haven't figured it out yet.. Another annoying glitchy thing..

To be continued...