[Opensim-users] Question about IAR files

Tue Feb 23 14:04:21 UTC 2010

As others have mentioned, there are still a few disadvantages, even with
hacked viewers such as CryoGen.  For example, scripts and any content
contained within an object are not saved.  This is not a huge issue with me
as the bulk of my objects are either scriptless, or else contain only a few
basic scripts in repetition such as door open/close scripts, basic avatar
sit scripts and a radio script here and there for some of my music-oriented
objects.

I must also say I'm very old-school, preferring to build using the
fundamental prim-based tools.  Many pieces of my furniture are very
intricately detailed, but they are also built using an unbelievable number
of prims.  With the desire for fewer prims and more detail, many designers
these days use sculpts, or "sculpties".  Since the core design of a sculptie
is a prim that uses a sculpt map, which in essence is just a bitmap image,
then tools like CryoGen are "almost" completely worthless.

What one must do in this case is separately "rip" the textures - which
include the sculpt maps, and then import those into OpenSim alongside the
XML files CryoGen creates.  Otherwise, the CryoGen-copied sculpties will
essentially rematerialize in OpenSim is a mass of non-descript "bubbles" or
sculpt-prims with missing sculpt-map textures that would normally tell them
what shape to take on.

Also, along the same lines, CryoGen itself simply replicates
prim-coordinates of items and attachments, but not all the textures
involves.  So when the import into OpenSim is made, the object usually is
textureless.  However, CryoGen does also record how a texture is oriented,
repeated, etc on all the surfaces of each prim in a prim-set.  So manually
restoring textures is generally fairly simply and when the texture is
re-applied to the proper surfaces, it's alsoready oriented as it had been
originally.

The reason I'm giving all this detail is that maybe, someone with more
understanding of the hacked viewer source code than I might be willing to
undertake and aspire to overcome the few minor limitations presented here
and see about making a true, genuine, and legitimate backup tool that we can
all use without getting banned for simply trying to preserve our own hard
work.

- Len

On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 2:31 AM, Karen Palen <karen_palen at yahoo.com> wrote:

> One of my (many) laments about this situation is that if usable tools with
> reasonable restrictions are not available for these legitimate uses then
> "pirate" oriented tools will be developed and used instead!
>
> Karen
>
> --- On Mon, 2/22/10, Len Brown <lenwbrown at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Len Brown <lenwbrown at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Opensim-users] Question about IAR files
> > To: opensim-users at lists.berlios.de
> > Date: Monday, February 22, 2010, 9:30 PM
> > On Mon, Feb 22,
> > 2010 at 4:32 PM, Justin Clark-Casey <jjustincc at googlemail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > As well as second inventory, I know that some of the other
> > SL clients (e.g. Imprudence, Meerkat) have inventory suck
> > and blow built in and store data using a different file
> > format.  I'm not sure what the current state of play is
> > there - last time I looked the contents of items themselves
> > were not being saved/restored.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I'd like to
> > add here my own personal experience with one of the
> > "banned" viewers - CryoGen.  Since obtaining a
> > copy of it some time
> > back I've spent a tremendous amount of time using it on
> > my own personal
> > OpenSim servers and have grown rather addicted to it.
> > However, the use
> > of it in Second Life results in immediate "not open
> > for discussion"
> > banning and account cancellation so I am very cautious not
> > to use it to
> > log into my SL account.
> >
> >
> >
> > And, of course, the obvious - that the viewer's
> > intention is to
> > replicate anything and everything in sight, without any
> > regard for who
> > owns what.  It simply ignores all rights and permissions.
> >
> >
> >
> > So why do I think it's better than sliced bread now?
> > Because I have
> > been able to save thousands of items I've built over
> > the years in
> > Second Life and each item is saved as a simple text file -
> > an XML file,
> > to be exact.  Properly named and stored, I have my entire
> > archive of
> > furniture, buildings, you name it - all saved neatly as
> > little text
> > files.  Even better...  Uncompressed they total 1.54
> > Gig, but when I 7-Zipped them, the final archive was
> > 5.67 Megs.
> > I kid you not.  I was then able to upload my entire
> > prim-based Second
> > Life inventory as a small attachment to an email, and have
> > put a few
> > other copies here and there on thumb drives, in my Google
> > Docs storage
> > not that it allows me to upload any file, etc.
> >
> > You might be wondering how I managed to backup my Second
> > Life inventory using it without logging into Second Life.
> > Well, that is the main reason it is so damned terrifying.
> > Logging into Second Life using a free account and the
> > CryoGen browser, and using my premium account to temporarily
> > block the use of scripts on my land (which can be used to
> > detect and auto-ban users logged in with CryoGen) I used the
> > free account and CryoGen to walk through my various stores
> > and replicate everything in sight.
> >
> >
> > While I do not whatsoever condone stealing in any form,
> > it's an interesting conundrum for me to have to use
> > "illegal" software to steal MY OWN products, but
> > as you said about Second Inventory being less than par,
> > CryoGen does a phenomenal job of allowing me to copy
> > perfectly replicated items from my shops in SL to my sandbox
> > in OpenSim.
> >
> >
> > --
> > - Len W. Brown
> >    lenwbrown at gmail.com
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
> >
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> >
>
>
>
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