First off, a quick roadmap -

Second Life 1.15.1 will be an Optional Viewer release next week. Many of the fixes listed below which are going into Beta can be released as part of an optional viewer, and we plan to do so as soon as testing has been completed. We are also planning to roll out additional simulator fixes for group IMs, group notices, and friends list as they are ready.

Second Life 1.16.0 is the next release that will require viewer updates in conjunction with a server deploy. We are currently planning for this to occur on Wednesday, May 23rd, but expect further announcements as the date draws near.

Next, what’s in the Second Life 1.16 Beta:

  • Sculpties! As discussed on the blog and on the wiki, Sculpties (or Sculpted Prims) are a new type of prim that has a shape described by a special kind of texture. Check out the links to learn more.
  • Voice! We’ve integrated the voice beta capabilities into the normal 1.16 viewer Beta. Check out the links to learn more.

Updated Beta Viewers will be required, and can be downloaded from the Beta Test Grid page.

Macintosh Users: We are seeing issues with auto-updating from previous Beta Viewers on the Macintosh. We’ll be investigating this issue. For now, users should download the viewer from the Beta Test Grid page.

Full release notes for this first Beta of Second Life 1.16 follow…

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