The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with a new version on Wednesday that resolves the following issues:

* SVC-2192 Fixed nested list in list initialisation.
* SVC-2309 Fixed a regression with nested lists in LSL.
* SVC-809 Fixed an old LSL bug with nested list initialization.
* SVC-1393 Rezzing scripts now uses a more efficient method of verification
* SVC-1522 llBase64ToString() Improved. Now 6x faster than LSL instead of 100x slower.
* SVC-2247 Changed the error message when trying to upload a no mod script to be more meaningful.
* SVC-2280 Fixed signature of llMakeFountain() deprecated function.
* SVC-2182 Fixed an exception for some functions returning keys.
* VWR-6643 Fixed recompile scripts in selection for group owned (deeded) scripts.
* SVC-1499 Added the unused print keyword to Mono.

We’re now getting really close to deploying Mono across the main grid, so if you haven’t already tested your scripts on Mono, please log in to the beta grid, recompile your scripted objects to run on Mono and if you have any problems file a JIRA report here or tell us at the Mono office hours held in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Wednesdays at 8AM and Fridays at 3PM. Please also let us know about your Mono successes - here’s a video of Amanda Levitsky’s maze generator running on the LSL virtual machine on the left and over 4 times faster on the Mono virtual machine on the right:

Thanks again for your continued support throughout the Mono beta process.

The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with new binaries yesterday that resolve SVC-1421, but more importantly merge the Mono changes with Havok 4. There are now very few open issues remaining, so if you haven’t already, please recompile your scripts to Mono on the beta grid and test them. If you find any problems, please file them as JIRA issues here, or tell us about them at the Mono office hours held in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Wednesdays at 8AM and Fridays at 3PM.

The video above shows Blueman Steele’s LSL version of Conway’s Game of Life running side by side on the LSL and Mono virtual machines. The LSL version running on the left was recompiled to produce the Mono version on the right without making any changes to the LSL source code. Not only does the Mono virtual machine run the cellular automaton over 4 times faster than the LSL virtual machine, but it also uses less than 25% of the CPU time consumed by the LSL version. If you have any other good demonstrations of Mono in Second Life, please let me know.

Thanks again for your continued support throughout the Mono beta process.

The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with new binaries on Friday that resolve the following issues:

*SVC-1956 Event handler and global function name collision
*SVC-1969 Errors when rezzing, executing, derezzing
*SVC-1403 llRemoteLoadScriptPin start param always 0
*SVC-1836 Exception when mono gets ISO-8859-1 expecting UTF-8
*SVC-1950 Delayed detach event breaks event handler calls
*SVC-1372 Duplicate events in Mono cause compilation failure
*SVC-1862 Listen event performance worse under Mono
*SVC-1898 llGetInventoryKey Failure
*SVC-1328 UThread Injection failure on function return

Unfortunately there was a problem with our fix to SVC-1372 which is causing a lot of scripts to fail to compile. We’re working on the issue now and will deploy a fix and post an update here as soon as we have a fix.

Thanks again for all your support throughout the beta process. We hope to see you at the office hour in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Wednesday at 8AM and Friday at 3PM.

[UPDATE: We have deployed a new LSL compiler to the Mono beta hosts which should resolve the issues caused by our initial fix for SVC-1372]

The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with new binaries today that resolve the following issues:

*SVC-1341 Empty loop sim stall
*SVC-1766 Event handlers taking keys do not work
*SVC-1772 Assigning literal value to key exception
*SVC-1811 if (key) causes uthread injector failure
*SVC-1483 POST is broken
*SVC-1345 llReleaseCamera uti failure
*SVC-1697 Dataserver request test fail
*SVC-1770 key assign with global causes script to fail
*SVC-1776 Comparing key gives exception or uti error
*SVC-1691 System.ArgumentException in conversion input
*SVC-1694 GET causes mono exception
*SVC-1777 money event does not receive key of giver
*SVC-1707 Key causes invalid IL exceptions

Apologies for missing the Mono office hour yesterday. We hope to see you at the office hour in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Friday at 3PM and next Wednesday at 8AM.Thank you again for the great response to the Mono beta and for your continued support.

The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with new binaries today that resolve the following issues:

*SVC-1712 Sim crash
*SVC-1379 8 or more functions/event handlers failure
*SVC-1720 Equality test of 2 keys causes exception
*SVC-1690 if (llSubStringIndex != -1)
*SVC-1448 (reopened) list operations have side effects
*SVC-1402 typecasting string to int/float with non-numerical chars
*SVC-1350 list length hack no longer works
*SVC-1365 Run_time_perms prevents listens
*SVC-1346 string to integer casting difference
*SVC-1530 System.OverflowException with integer outside range
*SVC-1376 Does not support hexfloats for floats

This update includes some changes that are incompatible with some existing Mono scripts. If you see runtime errors produced by Mono scripts compiled before this refresh, try recompiling the script to resolve the issue.

We hope to see you at the office hours in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Wednesdays at 8AM and Fridays at 3PM.

Thank you again for the great response to the Mono beta and for your continued support.

The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with a new simulator binary today that resolves the following issues:

* SVC-1360 Lists do not retain Key type
* SVC-1356 List assignments treated as references.
* SVC-1369 Depending on complexity a script may be rezzed not running.
* SVC-1448 List operations have side effects in Mono.
* SVC-1340 llXorBase64StringsCorrect() will not compile. llXorBase64Strings() does.
* SVC-1345 UThread injection failed - llReleaseCamera.
* SVC-1347 Scripts stop running silently after sim border crossing.
* SVC-1515 Searching multiple lists with llListFindList appends the lists.
* SVC-1323 llPlaySound/llTriggerSound fail.

This update includes some changes that are incompatible with some existing Mono scripts. If you see runtime errors produced by Mono scripts compiled before this refresh, see if recompiling the scripts resolves the issue.

We hope to see you at the office hours in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Wednesdays at 8AM and Fridays at 3PM.

The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with a new simulator binary today that resolved the following issues:

* SVC-1409 llUnescapeURL crash
* SVC-1331 Floating point fed to conditional causes error
* SVC-1330 Typecasting to boolean inconsistent
* SVC-1422 llHTTPRequest calls not going through
* SVC-1378 NaN handling is strange
* SVC-1411 Reemergence of SL-31252
* SVC-1452 Float constant parsing in compiler is wrong
* SVC-1377 1.4e-45 is improperly parsed to zero by the compiler
* SVC-1353 Broken Script Memory constraints

We hope to see you at the office hours in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid tomorrow at 3PM or next Wednesday at 8AM.

Thanks again for the great response to the Mono beta test, especially to Strife Onizuka who contributed a patch to fix SVC-1377.

[UPDATE: Due to a configuration problem, Mono scripts were disabled after the deploy, this has now been resolved. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.]

 The Mono regions on the beta grid were updated with a new simulator binary on Friday that resolved the following issues:

* SVC-1325 Negation of vector or rotation no longer causes a runtime error.
* SVC-1342 Boolean && and || now correctly produce boolean results.
* SVC-1327 Added support for llHTTPRequest.
* SVC-1319 Added support for http_response.
* SVC-1325 int *= float now works correctly.
* SVC-1361 Corrected erroneous sleep values for some library calls.
* SVC-1324 Fixed problem with vector and quaternion being incorrectly handled by the UThread Injector.
* SVC-1344 Fixed problem with type casting of return statements.
* SVC-1353 Limited length of concatenated lists and strings.
* SVC-1326 Changed llGetFreeMemory() reporting for Mono scripts to return 0-64K and handle script reset correctly.
* SVC-1312 Fixed support for old scripts on the LSL2 VM.

Unfortunately the redeploy took longer than expected and so the grid wasn’t available for the office hours at 3PM on Friday. We still plan to hold office hours in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid at 8AM on Wednesdays and 3PM on Fridays. The chat log from last Wednesday’s meeting is here.

Thanks to everyone for the great response to the Mono beta test.

We’re very pleased to announce the beta testing of Mono in Second Life. Mono is a technology which will increase the speed of scripts running in Second Life. The goal is that everyone will experience reduced lag and improved stability and that it will be possible to script complex behaviours that were not previously feasible in Second Life.

With a mono viewer on a Mono region, normal LSL scripts can optionally be compiled and run on Mono. If you are a scripter we would love you to download the Mono viewer, connect to the beta grid, teleport to a Mono-enabled region and test your scripts on both the Mono and LSL virtual machines side by side. If you notice any differences in your script’s behaviour when running on Mono, please check this meta JIRA (SVC-1276). Someone may have already submitted a JIRA on your problem. If not, create a new JIRA report (SVC project), including a detailed description and a minimal LSL script that demonstrates the differing behaviour.

More information on Mono in Second Life can be found here. Note that we are sharing the beta grid with Havok4. You should download a viewer here; it will work for both Havok4 and Mono (previous beta viewers will not work with Mono, you need to download this one). Once you connect you will need to teleport to one of the Mono regions which are specified in the step-by-step instructions.  We will be holding office hours in Sandbox Goguen MONO on the beta grid on Wednesdays at 8AM and Fridays at 3PM where you can ask questions and report issues.

Like the idea of working on Second Life while living by the sea in a vibrant creative community less than an hour from London and a train ride away from Paris? Then come along to the Virtual Worlds Recruitment Party hosted by Linden Lab and NCsoft in Brighton next Thursday. We’ll provide real food and drink, the chance to talk to senior Lindens and virtual world luminaries and entertainment including Smily Raymaker live for the first time in meatspace. If you think you could be a Linden, fill in your details here and we’ll send you an invitation in the next few days.

UPDATE: If you have problems with the NCsoft URL, please apply here