New Features, Smoother Performance, and a Better Daily Experience
Hello Residents!
We’re excited to announce the 2025.03 Second Life Viewer update, and with it, a brand-new naming convention for releases: (Year.Month). This update is packed with quality of life improvements, helpful new tools, and a wide range of bug and crash fixes that make Second Life run smoother than ever.
✨ New Features
Water Exclusion Surfaces There’s now a “Hide Water” checkbox in the Build Tools’ Texture tab. Mark a surface to exclude water visuals: perfect for undersea builds, boats, or advanced landscaping.
20 Picks for Everyone Regardless of account type all Second Life residents now have access to 20 Picks. Enjoy sharing more of your favorite locations and experiences in world.
🛠️ Changes & Fixes
Major Crash Fixes Resolved crashes in audio, rendering, teleporting, inventory systems and on macOS.
Smarter Graphics Performance Reflection Probes are now more adaptable to your system! The viewer will automatically choose a sensible maximum based on your graphics quality settings. Want control? Head to Preferences > Graphics > Advanced Settings and adjust it to your liking.
Clearer, Friendlier Preferences We’ve renamed the old “Max # of non-imposters” to “Max # of animated avatars”—because clarity matters when you’re customizing your performance.
Environment Sky Altitude Values Are Back You can once again see Sky Altitude values in the Region/Estate environment window. No more guessing your height above sea level!
Cleaner Logs We know some of you love to look at logs, so we’ve reduced spammy logging
This release includes dozens of fixes. Some highlights:
Resolved texture and avatar issues, including blurry atlases, disappearing materials, and missing outfit parts.
Fixes for common annoyances, like:
Group notices logging incorrectly
Emojis showing up garbled
Snapshots missing timestamped filenames
Do Not Disturb not auto-rejecting calls
Particle beam misbehaving on dropped HUDs
Avatar load prioritization improved
Preferences search results hard to read due to highlight contrast
Property lines now agree, on and below the waters surface
We’re committed to keeping Second Life stable and fun—thanks for sticking with us as we iron out these rough edges!
📣 Got Feedback?
Your voice helps shape Second Life. If you run into an issue or want to share a suggestion, visit https://feedback.secondlife.com/ and let us know!
Until next time, see you in-world!
The Second Life Team
Resolved Issues
viewer#3512 Add UX for marking water exclusion surfaces
viewer#3547 Many redundant ParcelInfoRequest messages are sent when viewing or updating the Picks list
viewer#3520 Name cache is shared between grids, causing incorrect names to appear in SL.
viewer#3572 Preview images used when editing shape or clothing item values are not randomly clicked during editing