Flying an aircraft in Second Life

[Tandigon]

Ever since I joined SL my main fascination has been with flying aircraft. This fascination has since turned to disillusionment for a variety of reasons. Aside from spending Linden Dollars on becoming a premium member, my main expense has been on purchasing a variety of aircraft. Then why am I complaining?

The simple answer to that is flying an aircraft in Second Life is a challenge not because learning to flying an aircraft in SL is difficult. It is a challenge because those who run SL do not seem to care about those who love flying aircraft in SL.

Does it make sense to any normal SL resident as to why structures are allowed to be built up in the air? Does it make sense to allow ban lines to extend high into the clouds? Why does the mini map which shows the sims, not indicate which are full? That and airports built in the most awkward locations which send you taking off to a dead border, or a mountain, or some neighbouring tall structure.

Most of the aircraft have basic scripts and often behave erratically. Often they do not respond to the controls and seems to take on a life of their own, just the same as your avatar does and does not respond.

All this happens because SL administration does not take the SL aviators seriously. There are no standards for pilots, or for airports, or for airspace. The reasoning that if you can walk, run and fly like a bird then why bother with aircraft. The same can be said for cars and boats.

May I request SL administrators to decide if at all they want to encourage aviators and aviation in SL? If the answer is yes, then please do something about this issue urgently. Currently that is the only reason I am in SL.

[Frawmusl]

If you're looking for an interesting place to fly an aircraft, even google earth has a better simulation that what you'll get out of SL. I think the last thing on Linden Lab's mind is "Oh lets make SL optimized for aircrafts and flying!"
Just try and find a aircraft group and they can possibly tell you better places to fly. There are waterways all over SL that should be clear to fly in. Though the lag of changing sims so quickly might ruin the experience.

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Tandigon wrote:

Ever since I joined SL my main fascination has been with flying aircraft. This fascination has since turned to disillusionment for a variety of reasons. Aside from spending Linden Dollars on becoming a premium member, my main expense has been on purchasing a variety of aircraft. Then why am I complaining?

The simple answer to that is flying an aircraft in Second Life is a challenge not because learning to flying an aircraft in SL is difficult. It is a challenge because those who run SL do not seem to care about those who love flying aircraft in SL.

Does it make sense to any normal SL resident as to why structures are allowed to be built up in the air? Does it make sense to allow ban lines to extend high into the clouds? Why does the mini map which shows the sims, not indicate which are full? That and airports built in the most awkward locations which send you taking off to a dead border, or a mountain, or some neighbouring tall structure.

Most of the aircraft have basic scripts and often behave erratically. Often they do not respond to the controls and seems to take on a life of their own, just the same as your avatar does and does not respond.

All this happens because SL administration does not take the SL aviators seriously. There are no standards for pilots, or for airports, or for airspace. The reasoning that if you can walk, run and fly like a bird then why bother with aircraft. The same can be said for cars and boats.

May I request SL administrators to decide if at all they want to encourage aviators and aviation in SL? If the answer is yes, then please do something about this issue urgently. Currently that is the only reason I am in SL.

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Tandigon, if it makes you feel any  better, I've always been fascinated with flying and learning to do so in RL also ended up in disillusonment. It seems somebody forgot to tell me that barnstorming is illegal. Buzzing treetops and chasing cows was all I really wanted to do in my little Cessna 152 (actually a 150, but I liked the rhyme). Filing flight plans, making radio contact with towers and keeping a sharp eye for other things that might hit me (like a 747 or a church steeple) took much of the fun out of it.

As for structures built in the SL air (I have several), they are excellent barnstorming opportunities for my homebuilt biplane. My biplane has, quite unlike any RL aircraft, a parking brake. So I'm able to throttle down to zero in mid air, climb up on the wing and have a picnic lunch.

You may find SL more pleasant for flying if you, like me, don't take flying seriously.

;-)

[Canoro Philipp]

yes, we have lag that can make controls of the aircraft non responsive when entering a saturated region, we all are suffering from that once in a while, Linden Lab is working in optimizing the servers constantly, in fact this year is dedicated to that, to hopefully reduce lag in a grand scale.

about the ban lines, i agree, they should show in the map, that way a person flying an aircraft can decide their route without unplanned obstacles. and about the lag amount in a region, i agree too, there should be an indicator of how much lag there is in a certain place. of course there is the viewer lag, the internet connection lag, and the servers lag, an indicator of the servers lag would be fine.

people making their houses in the air usually do them for privacy or lag reduction. the ability to move objects without gravity is part of the benefits of this world, so people use it however they wish, what i would suggest is to open those spaces between sims that dont belong to anyone, sometimes you go to the edge of a sim and seems like there is an invisible wall because there is nothing next to that sim, theres a lot of space like that in sl, they could open it for everyone to fly and sail if its not gonna be used by anyone yet, just with no building, and "set as home" rights.

there are things that can be imrpoved for the benefit of the aviators.

[Theresa Tennyson]

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Tandigon wrote:

All this happens because SL administration does not take the SL aviators seriously. There are no standards for pilots, or for airports, or for airspace. The reasoning that if you can walk, run and fly like a bird then why bother with aircraft. The same can be said for cars and boats.

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There are also no standards for pregnancy, vampirism or animal breeding but that hasn't stopped anyone doing any of those things either. Linden Lab won't do anything to establish vehicle standards; you probably wouldn't want them to. However, there's plenty of pilots and groups where you can learn tricks. There are HUD's you can buy that detect ban lines and show you the clearance altitude you need and third-party viewers have much better min-maps. Full parcels are only a hazard when you're crossing region borders - it helps if you try to cross in places that look comparatively empty.

You'll still crash, mind you. I think of Second Life aviation in a similar state to aviation when Calbraith Perry Rogers was making the first coast-to-coast flight across the United States in 1911. In fact, I have an alt a long-lost great-great aunt who has a Bleriot and styles herself a pioneer. Personally I do most of my flying in a seaplane - skirting the coast is usually safer than trying to fly cross country.

[Vania Chaplin]

There is a HUD, Ban Line HUD by Triple Peccable, that helps to see in advance banlines, no entry objects and else, that I use when sailing (ban lines are a worse problem in sea level than flying).

Unfortunately it adds to lag, so I only use the hud when sailing in trouble channels.

[Paul Hexem]

https://microsoftflight.com/ - MS Flight. Free.

 

http://takeonthegame.com/ - Take On Helicopters. Not free, but combined with Arma 2, you can create a lot of your own content.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

So if you buy a hammer and find it's no good at as a screwdriver is that because those who make hammers do not seem to care about those who love screwing* ?  10 years ago LL made a virtual tool and invited people to use it however they wanted (within TOS).  Some other people found they could, approximately, make models of aeroplanes.  No one EVER sat down and designed the tool to do that though - indeed, with flying avatars they probably thought no-one would want to.

And the airports?  Nothing to do with LL at all, as far as I know.  Are any of them owned by LL or built by the moles?

In case you haven't noticed, LL does not 'run' our existence in-world.  They don't set standards for anything except maturity.  What is made here and how it works is all down to the residents who make it.  I share your frustrations because I like sailing in SL.  The system wind is useless for that but a significant proportion of the sailing community managed to work out some systems that are now pretty 'standard' (eg; WWC - wind, wave, current).  Sim crossings are a problem for everyone who moves faster than walking-pace - even (avatar) flying across sim borders can be fraught.

The point is, though, that the structure of SL was never designed for this - it's just something we residents got together and did anyway, despite the limitations.

[* Ohh, no, titter ye not missus - that is if the word didn't get bleeped by this forum software anyway].

[Axel UwU]

The Blake Sea is a good place for flying planes,it's mostly all oceans and not much land there.

[Maximillon Lefavre]

How low were you flying because ban lines only go up 800m from the ground? I personally think LL takes the issue of flying very seriously otherwise why else would they have given us all the ability to fly in SL. :smileylol:

[Michaelatv Destiny]

Blakes Seas actually is the worst place to fly, as a certified ATC I used to go to differant locations to do A METAR report, many of the oceans, although empty, return an 80% lag reading on a hi end wearable lag meter.

The problem is that Aircraft creators are importing mesh 3D models, and filling them with countless scripts for a simulator Aircraft. SL was never made to cross grids when it was first made with this kind of techonolgy, because basically , Its not SWTOR or battlefield 3 where you have seamless maps. flying and tanks and 20 soldiers doing battle.

There is really only two things you can do, thats to pack up trying to fly here, and get a proper Flight simulator like FSX, or badger Lindens to ,at least double the size of oceans, or make them seamless, so they can become Air ways routes.

Last night was the worse nightmare for any body sailing ot flying, In the miami SLMI region, bugged access impending connections made getting into the airport imposible, plus two sims out, the oceans were so bugged, seven planes including  my 737 and my co pilot, just littered the sky , that prevented any one else trying to land on the incoming runway.

 

But as an access ban connection (asset problem) didnt let you into SLMI, it was pointless to try, and promptly went back to playing SWTOR.

 

In 6 years I have been in SL, spent thousands of Lindens on my own Airports, land fees,tiers and upload charges, LL labs has done absolutley Zilch, to keep up with other platforms and with the technical advances of advanced passenger jets use. A normal Airbus 320,   cruises at 250knots at  around more than 3000 feet.  There is no way, you can fly these  new mesh 3D super detailed Aircaft at that service speed and altitude, that is the normal, for that Plane.

 

The whole grid system is a dinosaur, I know of no other (game) that plays SO bad, But costs so much to use. Americans have it made, they dont have the ressession we still have in the UK with cut backs eating into our income, American friends pay just 4$ a gallon for petrol, where as we, have to try and find 11.60$ A gallon. My friend in texas was stunned, it would cost around 45$ to do around 120 miles on a 2.0 litre Ford Mondeo.

 

Until LL recognises EU users finance difficulties, and lowers it stupid land rates, Second life will very soon take a dive on the stock market it will never pull out of.

Ban lines Should be banned totally in SL, and only orbs allowed. oceans must have there own servers, so they remain at 0% lag. It really is a mess, and I havent rented land or bought any for over 18 months now , because its just not worth fighting the inherent faults within the program, that have never been tackled since 2003.  Only teleporting has improved, But flying 20 grid crossings with a full commercial airliner with 6 passengers, to another airport is still a dream that will never come true, until LL completely changes the whole infrastructure of how second life works.

 

[Parhelion Palou]

 

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Michaelatv Destiny wrote:

<snip>

Until LL recognises EU users finance difficulties, and lowers it stupid land rates, Second life will very soon take a dive on the stock market it will never pull out of.

Linden Lab is a private company -- they're not on the stock market.

Ban lines Should be banned totally in SL, and only orbs allowed. oceans must have there own servers, so they remain at 0% lag. It really is a mess, and I havent rented land or bought any for over 18 months now , because its just not worth fighting the inherent faults within the program, that have never been tackled since 2003.  Only teleporting has improved, But flying 20 grid crossings with a full commercial airliner with 6 passengers, to another airport is still a dream that will never come true, until LL completely changes the whole infrastructure of how second life works.

The people who own land have the right to use ban lines as they wish (within covenant restrictions on private estates). Taking away ban lines would upset a lot of people for the benefit of relatively few. LL isn't going to waste entire servers on individual regions of ocean -- it's an expense with no profit potential. SL is a general-purpose virtual world platform, not a flight simulation platform. Prove to LL that they could make money by providing a platform suited to flight simulation and perhaps they'd consider it.

 

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[Jane7811]

There are plenty of non-mesh aircraft out there that look really nice, and cross sim borders fairly decently. And get the Ban Line and Parcel Hud as flying without it is like russian roulette, with it though you can cross the mainland without trouble.

As for ban lines themselves, they go up to 80m I think, just fly over them, and you should be above them anyway so as not to be a nuisance to 'ground folk'. Again the Ban Line hud will show you when you're above them. The only ones that go right up to the ceiling are where you've been selectively banned from a parcel, which will usually be your fault.

So, if you are going to fly above people's property, try and keep at least 100m above them. If you interrupt their party with a big noisey engine you will probably find yourself on the ban list next time. Some folks are fed up with aircraft for just this reason. Some even place orbs with a 0 second warning to deliberately de-rezz your aircraft -  I prefer the ban lines

Sky junk is prolific in some areas, we have no right to tell people what to build. I do mention to people (in a friendly manner) that sky junk is a pain and forces us to dip under it (never above or around!) thus bothering folk on the ground sometimes. I've sucessfully elevated several skyboxes this way to a sensible height.

Also bits of wall and cars hovering in the air are always worth mentioning as many people forget they left them there and are glad to get rid of them to get their prim count down.