News and Updates

Archive for the ‘Security’ Category

SL Bug Affecting HUDs

Monday, December 15th, 2008

There is a bug in SL at the moment that may be affecting your HUD and Bloodlines items. We want to make you aware of it, as well as ask for your help in filing messages on the SL JIRA, in hopes that it may get fixed sooner rather than later.

The SL bug is one that affects the owner data on prims; in some regions, the sim is unable to report who owns what prims properly. This has a negative effect on many things, including our HUDs; if your HUD cannot tell that you are the owner, or can’t tell that your friend owns their HUD, then you may have issues with scanning, drinking blood from casks/tanks, using potions, etc.

This is NOT affecting all regions, so if you are having issues, definitely try your items in another region to see if they resolve. 

If you’d like to do your part to help get this issue fixed – you can vote on the JIRA issue associated with this bug. Voting only takes a moment, and if sufficient votes rack up the Lindens tend to give the issue higher fix priority.

The JIRA issue can be found here.

Once the JIRA page loads, on the left side, near the top, it should say: “If you were logged in you would be able to see more operations.”

If you click the “logged in” portion  of that statement, it will prompt you to log into the SL JIRA. Once you do, you’ll then see (on the left side again):

” Voting: You have not voted for this issue. Vote for it if you wish it to be fixed”

Click on “Vote for it” and you’ll add your voice to those that wish to see this issue fixed in the near future!

NEW items! The Siphon, The Blood Bottle, and Version 3.0 Containers

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

Today we’re proud to announce the release of Version 3.0 Blood Containers, Blood Siphons, and Blood Bottle Container Refills.

The Version 3.0 containers have a few exciting new features: Group Security and Drink / Fill Records. We’ve gotten rid of the unwieldy user list feature that we had on the version 1 and 2 containers, and we’ve added a feature so you can allow access to a Second Life group. So, you can either set your container to open access, or to group access only. You can still set the container to fill only or fill / drink for others that have access. To see a readout of the current security settings, just press the check button on the menu. In addition, we’ve made it so you can check the drink / fill record for your containers. Under security, just check ‘View Record’, and you’ll get a readout of the last 25 drinks and fills, so you’ll know who’s been filling and who’s been drinking.

The Blood Bottles are 5L refills for your blood containers. They will work on version 2 and 3 containers, and you can track them on your Blood Cellar page.

The Blood Siphon is a tool you can use to quickly move large amounts of blood between your containers, without having to drink from or bleed into them. You can use it to distribute or consolidate your blood. It’s a must-have tool for blood merchants, and anyone who keeps a blood cellar for their clan or bloodthirsty guests. Blood Siphons will also work on version 2 and 3 containers. Once you get your blood siphon, you’ll get a new item icon on your Blood Cellar page.

Bloodlines Validation and Terms

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

A few security checks have been activated on the Bloodlines systems today. First, we need to get everyone to indicate that they agree to our terms and conditions to continue playing. If you detach and reattach your HUD, our terms of service will be vended to you, and you’ll have to answer ‘Yes’ to the blue dialog window indicating that you agree to them. You’ll only have to do this once. In addition, we’ve added an automatic validation system, so that even if those pesky hackers and counterfeiters are able to modify the permissions on the HUD again, it won’t work unless it validates with our purchase database. No activation keys will be necessary, the system knows who purchased a HUD and who didn’t. We wish we didn’t have to waste your gaming time and our development time with troubles like this, thanks to everyone for your patience, and please know that we’re doing these things in the best interest of the system.

If you get an error message telling you that you’re not validated, or if it just tells you “There was an error, please try again.”, this may mean that our system didn’t get your avatar name properly. If your connection happens to be slow or there is a lot of lag, you might notice that the name on your SL resident profile appears as “(waiting)”, or “Loading…”. Our system may also get your avatar name this way, so it’s unable to check you in, and will give you an error message. If you just wait a few seconds, or try viewing your own profile and making sure your name comes up, then reattach your HUD, it should work. If not, be sure to let me (Lyle Maeterlinck) know, and I’ll look into it for you as soon as possible.

Also, please note that the current version of the Bloodlines HUD is 2.7, if you’re not currently using 2.7, you’ll need to update in order for it to work. We’ve been able to turn our auto-updaters back on, so your HUD should check in when you attach it and make sure that you have the most recent version.

Bloodlines Blog Launch

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Hi everyone, we’re excited to announce the launch of the official The Thirst: Bloodlines blog. We created this blog to be the official source of information for all things Bloodlines.  There have been some fraudulent in-world communications distributed by griefers claiming to be us. From this point forward, any note card distributed in-world claiming to be from Liquid Designs, Lyle Maeterlinck, Mars Bracken, or Curse Aszkenaze is not from us, even if one of us is listed as the notecard creator. Modifiable notecards created by all of us have gotten loose, so anyone could edit them and pass them around. Now that you know where to come for official Bloodlines updates, we’ve got lots of exciting news for you.

Announcement #1: New Region at Liquid South!

Liquid Designs has just opened a new region south of Liquid Designs called Liquid South. This region currently holds the Blood: Halloween store, Halloween products from guest artists, and the Bloodlines: Werewolves contest (see below).

Announcement #2: Bloodlines: Werewolves

The Bloodlines: Werewolves system is currently under development. While we’re working hard on it over at Liquid Labs, we’re holding a contest to see who can choose the best name for the system. If we like your name the best, you’ll get the system FREE for yourself and 5 friends!

Announcement #3: Important updates to The Thirst

Today we released The Thirst 2.6. This version includes some important security updates, and includes the much-requested clan management system. Now you can remove a minion, ban/unban a minion, or view your minion ban list. Be aware that the settings menus have been shuffled a bit.

Announcement #4: Bloodlines now has commission-paying catalog vendors!

We’ve set up vendors at the main Bloodlines store where you can get your own set of Bloodlines catalog vendors for only 1 Linden! No more waiting list for Bloodlines vendors, and now you’ll earn 3% on every purchase made from your vendors.

Announcement #5: (yes, there’s more) Bloodlines Profile Updates

We’ve made a few updates to the Bloodlines profiles: everyone now has a cask / tank page that will show you the level of blood in all of your tanks and casks at any given time. If you own casks or tanks, just click on the new profile icons to get to your Blood Cellar page!

Announcement #6: New products.

A while ago, we announced that a new set of products were going to be released “soon”, but unfortunately we’ve been spending a lot of time dealing with griefers, hackers, and counterfeiters. However, we’ve put the majority of that behind us, and we hope to have the new products out before Halloween.

Setting the Record Straight

We know that there are some people out there that claim to have worked for us in order to explain their possession of our open-perms items, and that there are claims that open perms items cannot be obtained through Second Life exploits. Both of these claims are false. There are only two employees of Liquid Designs that are authorized to have open perms Bloodlines items: Lyle Maeterlinck and Mars Bracken. No one else has ever at any point been given open perms items. Also, it is a fact that it has been possible to view no-mod scripts and to modify the permissions on items by using modified viewers that exploit Second Life security vulnerabilities. In the release notes of Second Life server code 1.24.7, it states that the updates include three security fixes. It was confirmed to us through the Second Life JIRA that one of these fixes was for the UpdateTaskInventory exploit, which allowed permissions to be illegally modified. There was an additional exploit performed in late July that allowed hackers to open our items and obtain our scripts. The Lindens have assured us that the exploits used so far against us have been closed, and we’ve updated our items and our application to block communication from the scripts that were compromised.

Meanwhile, the Bloodlines system is still supporting communities of thousands of vampires, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure Bloodlines continues to grow and prosper. Thanks for all of your encouragement!