Courreges Malatesta @CourregesMalatesta

The underwater world at friends -grid has been under construction...and will be built in 3-4 separate phases. Phase 1 (the coral reef) is now open and ready for visitors. This is my attempt to share what I have seen in my travels.

It is hard to describe being in the middle of 100,000 fish and bright corals.....but I hope this will help you experience a special part of my life. Phase 2 will be mermaid area........but.....keep in mind...mermaids can swim anywhere and enjoy the reef.

The reef includes two ship wrecks, two massive groupings of Pillar corals that you can walk through (yes....I have been in coral like these that was 75’ tall). Also on the reef: Sharks, rays, turtle, hermit crabs, jelly fish and approximately 50 different types of coral. Serina provided some custom made corals for this project which was a huge help! There is a lot to see.....take your time and enjoy!

I will be sending all an updated teleport board with this added today.

Just sharing a few pictures of what I have started working on at The Retreat. These are from the wider region rather than my little central island. I am planning to create some nice riding trails and places to take pictures, etc. or just enjoy the views. These will be within valleys or maybe some that lead to the top of a mountain.

Feel free to pop over and have have a look when you have a spare five minutes or just want a break and have a nice ride.

Woking on Posters for the Darwin Eco Hub, as well as other things - like Gif animated pictures and screens ! Dont have a lot of time during the week. Hoping this weekend i will be able to crack on lot's more. You are all free to come over and take a look anytime - if you are interested !

END OF REGION EVENT - SATURDAY 4th FEB.... 12noon Grid Time.
Ok ... it's here ..... the moment we have been waiting for.... OBLIVION ! (HAHAHAHAH) soon our region will transform ... Come to the END OF PARTY !
SATURDAY 4TH FEB.... 12noon Grid Time
See you there !

END OF REGION PARTY IDEA'S
Hello Beautiful friends.... our old region is coming to an end and we will be re-birthed soon. In light of that, we are thinking about an end of region party .... We would love Reggie to DJ if you are available, and of course have all the regulars together to say good bye to the old... and welcome the new ! QUESTION..... which weekend day is best and what time... So let us know in comments when you are available over the next 2 weekends if you would like to come and take part. It would be awsome for a friends wide participation. Does anyone want to build something special for the night ? Any particular music choices? Any dress code? etc.... let us know your thoughts . We will make it special XXXX

Good morning all,

This morning I want to share a little insight to try and help your virtual life. My friend Linda had a very rough time recently and that breaks my heart. I want Linda and others enjoying their virtual time…. Not dealing with crashes….so I am going to offer some tips. This will be a long note…. But it is designed to help you enjoy your virtual life.

1. Understand that your virtual experience is composed of many factors including: Opensim, grid server, grid setup, region settings, parcel settings, your computer, your graphic card, your internet connection, your avi grid, your viewer, your viewer preferences, your clothing and or attachments and much more.
2. When there is an issue, I will often ask questions to help determine which variable might be affecting. Am I being defensive…. Noooo…… I am trying to be scientific and look past my own thoughts and biases to improve your virtual experience. When I ask many questions, it may seem like I am “grilling” you….. I apologize for that….I am simply trying to get enough details so I can make your virtual life better. I never try to put all blame on individual….it is shared between myself and individual. I do my best to try to make sure my side of things is correct.
3. There are two different types of crashes: Regular Crash and bug splat.
Bug splat - you receive the infamous bug splat message afterwards. This crash is caused by viewer issue 95% of the time. Things that can cause this: Cache, distance, quality and much more. The higher your quality and distance, the greater the chance of crash. In addition, many times mesh objects can also cause this. The solution…….. thoroughly clean cache like this:




Regular Crashes- this last Sunday we experienced a region crash. These are fairly rare and I am working to get answers and provide a stable environment. In this situation, everyone in a region crashes at once and there is no bug splat. I am terribly sorry and embarrassed for the crash yesterday! We will make things better! Will things be perfect, nooooo, this is Opensim. But I am committed to providing an exceptional stable infrastructure .

It appears that the crash Sunday was caused by a corrupt object (sailboat) being rezzed in our rezz zone. Innocent intentions, but it shut down the region for a few minutes.

4. Cross Grid- I made a decision that people can live here regardless of whether or not they have a friends grid avi. I did that because I do not want to play dictator and order people to have friends grid avi….even though I know it would help some issues.

I want to share a recent story that will help you understand how crazy cross grid can be. Serina and I went shopping at Lunaria on Wolf territory. The experience was the worst experience ever in Opensim. We had trouble moving…. The lag was ungodly. This was not my first time with a bad experience at Wolf.

I sent my friend Luna Lunaria a note…. Letting her know I wanted to be a customer but could not get around her region. Luna was horrified…. But also very supportive of Wolf territory extremely high speed. She told me she has never had issues like I described.

To her credit, Luna made a friends-grid account and then tried to visit Wolf territories. She could not move because the lag was sooooo bad. Wolf territory and ourselves are presently working on this issue. So far it appears to be in Wolfs settings.

I share this story with you all so you understand the complexity of cross grid. In this situation, our Avis worked fine on many other grids…..but not on that.

Cross grid could possibly be making your virtual life more complicated. Realize that with Cross grid, all your data has to be processed through two totally separate systems every time you try to even come to friends-grid.

Am I blaming all your troubles on Cross grid…..Nooooooo. However, it is a variable that must be considered.

In the example I shared, technically I was able to go to lunaria at Wolf territory ….so it is not that I was banned. My experience was awful……but my friend Luna helped prove the situation by making a friends-grid avi. Wolf territories and friends-grid are simply not communicating as well as they should….making a negative experience if I visit there. This same issue can happen any day with any grid; just realize when your avi is not from our own grid; it is having to go through two systems….and some days there will be issues. I know our communication with osg is not perfect….but all I can do is fix my side. I have no control over what OSG does or does not do.

5. I ask you all to clean cache, consider system, look at avi, and preferences; but please realize I am trying to do a bit also. These things take time and money….but I am committed to providing the best virtual experience. I say this not to make anyone feel bad, but so you understand.
Friends-grid has always had a powerful dedicated server, but last month I added a second one . Our first server was much stronger than most in Opensim …and now we have the second in place. The speeds I have noticed on grid have been stupid fast since adding second server.

Friends-grid has a system of triple back ups in place….. and these backs are done every hour. This is an extremely detailed security system….but it is in place for you….and your virtual experience.

6. Haters - I am fully aware that there are people who hate me personally and want nothing else other than to see me fail and friends-grid fail. I try to not be over paranoid, but I also try to be aware. Sometimes the issues that you see or feel may be coming from others, intentionally or unintentionally. We will constantly monitor.


In closing, I could easily add 1,000 or 10,000 sims overnight like some others have; but my goal is on the quality of your virtual experience, not how many sims I own.

I want to make this an amazing experience for YOU!

Black Jack Players
Please note
the scripts in the tables have been modified thanks to Sora and Hertha. Now when you play Black jack...you do not say "hit" or "stand" you simply click on the white button on the table

Miss Safine and the tech guys have worked their magic and the Annihilation region is back up. Reggie kindly assisted with some testing earlier so if you feel the need to take out a few zombies head on over!

Subject : Bans and grid bans

In the last 24 hours , I have had my personal area attacked,
As well as had threats from an individual because his grid is banned.

Let me explain a few things:

1. I hate bans….and wish people would respect each other in open sim. I have one individual on ban, and hope there is never more.

2. Grid bans - I have never banned an entire grid ; however, our tech team has carried over the same security settings from their experiences. I Can have these lifted, but to be honest, I prefer being a little more secure.

As an example, I have a guy who is furious he is unable to access friends. I visited with Josh on it, and individual caused much trouble for them in the past. He used to be a part of Sacrarium and now claims to be an angel. He is banned from all of the grids that Josh oversees.

I can over rule tech and demand that these people be allowed, but at this point; I prefer to respect the opinion of the person I have hired to keep us running and safe.

Should you make a friend and they cannot get here, have them try a different avi.

If they are unable to get here with any avi, means your friend is not quite as innocent as they seem and they have a Mac ip ban.

If it is super important friend, I will consider all views, but my first thought is to go with my tech manager’s suggestions.

I wish everybody could always come here….but realize we try to allow 95% of the people access.

I try to avoid this as much as possible.

Hello everyone, some days I really hate time zones and not getting to see my friends.

I have a favor to ask. I would like you all to use this group page on osw as a way to share what we are doing….even though our schedules may not allow it.

I LOVE seeing posts and pics from you all.

Here are some ideas:

Funny things… like Pin’s goat coming in her window

In progress pics of your building projects

Activity pics showing what you like to do at friends-grid (within reason)

I think it gets people interested in what we have here when they see people doing things.