questions about new linden homes

[Drake Ryerley]

I just got a mountainview 1 today, and have been trying to decorate it. Problem is, I only have two things set up in it and it keeps telling me that dropping anymore would overflow it. How can I tell how much I can put into it before it won't let me add anymore and is there a way to adjust that limit? I would lkie my house to look like it's lived in, but it just looks like crap right now. Any advice would be appriciated, excluding getting a different house. I already know that's an option, but would like to make this work if there is a way. Thanks

[Myles Capalini]

Hi Drake, yes, decorating is a challenge when you only have 117 prims to work with.  And all of the Linden homes are exactly the same limit, so a different one will not help you. You can see how many you have used by clicking menu item World, About Land, then the Objects tab.  However, the only way to know how many prims something in your inventory has is to rez it, so you either need to find a sandbox, or just use trial and error,  I suggest pictures, rugs, and Very low-prim furniture, which you can find easily on SLEX.

[Henry Darkthief]

Not sure in SLv2, but all other viewers, right click the object and choose Edit. The window that opens will have how many prims the object contains.

Under World>About Land>Objects, it will tell you how many prims you have available.

All land has a limited number of prims it can support, generally 117 for every 512sq.m. The Linden Home does not count against that.

[Drake Ryerley]

So there's no possible way to raise the prim limit in a linden home?

[LeLe Cyberstar]

No, you can't increase prim limits on Linden Homes.  You're only allowed 117 prims to decorate with.  Which is pretty good considering there's plenty of stores in SL that offer beautiful low prim furniture and home decor.

 

 

Good luck

[Drake Ryerley]

ok, on a related note, it says in the promo page that you can upgrade to a lot on the mainland and they'll waive the tier fee. i how does that work and how do i get that info

[Jessika Rang]

Hi Drake,

You can abandon your land by clicking on the about land tab and then find the "abandon land" check box.  Tier on a mainland 512 will be free however you will still have only 117 prims and this time it won't include a house.  You can "tier up" and get a larger parcel which will give you more prims.  Keep in mind that the tier levels shown here do not include the 512 that is free so in reality the next tier level up would give you a 1024 with twice the prims of a 512 for just $5.00 per month.  Here is a link to the tier level information.

http://secondlife.com/land/pricing.php

Alternatively you can rent land on private estates but be very careful to read the land covenants and get recommendations for respected, reliable landlords.

[Drake Ryerley]

Thanks, Jessika, that was very helpful. One more thing before I close this post out, though. How do i tier up? This may sound like a newb question; well, it basically is. I may have been on a few months, but I'm still learning how tocrwal on here. Thanks for your help, and thank you everyone who posted.

[Dekka Raymaker]

basically tiering up is going from one level of owned land to another, so the first 512 meters is free, the next 512 meters will cost you US$5 a month, if you buy 512 meters of land extra you'll automatically start paying Linden Lab for this as they will take payment from however you set up your original payment information with Linden Lab. Check the knownledge base for the other tier levels.

Read about tier here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Tier

Land tier levels are:

USD 195.00/ month	65,536	Entire Region
USD 125.00/ month	32,768	1/2 Region
USD 75.00/ month	16,384	1/4 Region
USD 40.00/ month	8,192	1/8 Region
USD 25.00/ month	4,096	1/16 Region
USD 15.00/ month	2,048	1/32 Region
USD 8.00/ month	1,024	1/64 Region
USD 5.00/ month	512	1/128 Region
USD 0.00/ month	0	0/128 Region

[Ansariel Hiller]

Nope. If you were on a regular mainland region, owning another parcel would help. But since it's Linden Home, you can only have one. So this won't help you here.

[Drake Ryerley]

ok, dumb question now: once i tier up, does the land increase automatically, or do i have to buy it? and if i do, where? it's allright if you insult my intelegence on this one; when it comes to this stuff i obviously have none.LOL...oh, and yes i tiered up....went for the $8.00 tier. that puts me at 2048(or close to) right?

[Ansariel Hiller]

You tier up automatically if you buy more land than fits in your current tier level. You don't need to do anything about it. Also, being in a tier level doesn't mean you already own that amount of land, but you can. For instance: Owning 513 sqm of land costs the same as 1024 sqm in terms of tier. If you would own 1025 sqm, you would automatically tier up into the next level.

[Lindal Kidd]

OK, a few things here.

1.  Linden Homes are a sort of special case.  You get 512 m2, 117 prims, and a house.  You don't have to buy anything, and you don't have to pay tier on it.  There are limitations...you can't buy additional land in that region, to add to your holdings and your available prims.  You can't terraform.  You can't build a skybox.  You can't re-sell the land to someone else.

2.  As an option, instead of taking the LH, you can get a pass on tier for the first 512 m2 you own anywhere else on the mainland.  You must, however, buy the land in the first place.  You can do this by buying it from its current owner, or by placing a successful bid in a land auction.  Auctions can be found elsewhere on this website.  Most people do it by buying from another resident.  When you are in world, open the Map.  Check the "view land for sale" box.  Take a look anywhere on the mainland...you will see a lot of yellow areas.  These are all parcels for sale.

3.  You can also use Search to find land for sale.  Be sure to only look at mainland.  (Well, you can look at private estates, too...but they do not require a Premium membership, and you don't pay tier to LL, you pay rent to the estate owner).

4.  Setting your tier level in My Account does NOT automatically give you land, or indeed cause you to pay that much money monthly.  It is more of an informational tick mark that says, "I'm willing to pay this much per month, and own land up to this amount".

5.  When you find a parcel you like that is for sale, teleport to it.  Right click the ground and select About Land.  Or just use the pie menu and select Purchase Land.  Assuming you have the necessary amount of $L in your account, the land will be yours.  It's that easy.

6.  Land values are down right now, because LL has made an awful lot of new land in the last eight months.  This means that you may want to consider several things.  If the price seems too high, don't just buy the parcel.  IM the owner and see if they are willing to negotiate.

7.  Note the features of the land that may affect its value and its utility to you.  Is it in a laggy sim full of clubs?  Is it on the coast?  If it is waterfront, is it really protected Linden-owned water, or a water parcel owned by someone else (who could build and block your access), or empty void where you can't travel?  Is it "double prim" land?  Are there really ugly builds all around?  How about up in the sky?  What is the maturity rating (PG, Mature, or Adult)?

8.  When buying land, be careful.  If you own more land than your tier level allows, even 1 square meter more, for ANY amount of time during a billing cycle, you will be billed for the increased tier level.

Everyone will have their own "best size" for the amount of land they like.  I find that 4096 m2 is sufficient for my needs, but 8192 m2 is much more comfortable and lets me build or rez lots and lots of things.  At present, I own nearly 3/4 of a region, but much of that is taken up by rental property.

I'm glad to see you wanting to own land...it makes SL much more interesting.  However, you might want to consider renting for a while.  Owning a Linden Home really doesn't teach you all the ins and outs of owning the more unrestricted land on the rest of the grid.

[Jessika Rang]

One of the best, most concise explanations of land purchasing I've ever seen!

[Irene Muni]

I agree. Applause for Lindal .

[Faubio Alter]

I'm curious does land come with these free houses? Free land or is it just a house? If you do get free land how long do you get it for?

[Ansariel Hiller]

Did you read the Linden Home FAQ?

[Dekka Raymaker]

To make it clear what you really get is 512 meters of land with a tough covenant and Govener Linden is the Land Baron, with this 512 meters of land you get LOANED the use of a free house, which you only have a limited choice in it's selection and practically none in it's placement. The only major benefit of this deal is having 4 walls with a roof and still having 117 prims to decorate it with.

[Faubio Alter]

how do you imagine thes homes work if they're not on land?

I have no idea that's why I'm asking. Just a passing curiosity really.

Hmmm, aren't the > 512 meter parcels free of tier anyway? (I'm not that interested to look it up.)  Hmmm, but then again you need a premium membership to get one. But at the same time Big Brother Linddy is not your SIM Lord. The 117 prims isn't bad that number of prims might exceed that of a 512 on the mainland, of course you might find a bargain somewhere. Hows it look, this SL subdivision? Some of those 512s inworld are in pretty shabby places. Some of those locales could use a zoning code, badly. How about sky boxes? Are those allowed? Free houses are a "dime a dozen" or you could make one easy enough, save on prims too I would imagine. My current apartment  (When I have an apartment.) costs me 360L$ a month. I'm not kidding. God I'm cheap   Hey, I buy more lindens then a premium membership each year but stay a drifter; that works better for me. Still seems like I should be able to buy land if I exceed the cost of a membership buying lindens.

[Irene Muni]

Twice:

Ansariel.Hiller wrote:

 

Did you read the Linden Home FAQ?

[Faubio Alter]

And for the fourth or fifth time I was not speaking to you.

 

(I'm not that interested to look it up.) <<<<<<<<<< see post above yours.

[Irene Muni]

Oh, my apologies, I thought this is a forum/blog/blogrum/ (a site where if a resident ask other resident answer)

[Dekka Raymaker]

"Hmmm, aren't the > 512 meter parcels free of tier anyway?"

Yes this 512 meter land counts against tier, but one could say the premium membership that you pay, is what pays for it. If you exceed 512 meters of land on mainland then you will start paying extra.

"But at the same time Big Brother Linddy is not your SIM Lord."

In theory he is, you get live help, which is a bit like asking your Landlord to help you out with a problem, if there are problems with stuff like terrain, you put a request in to have it fixed.

"Hows it look, this SL subdivision? Some of those 512s inworld are in pretty shabby places."

The homes are free (on loan) having one isn't forced on to you, as a designer there are aspects of the designs I'm not happy with, but on the whole they are not shabby. I never see more than 3 or 4 other avatars in my sim at the same time, the closeness of the homes is not a problem.

"How about sky boxes?"

No. But that's the whole point of these homes, it hopefully generates a community, it's not been developed for you to hide away in a little cubby-hole. If you want a sky box there is other mainland to buy to place these.

"…or you could make one easy enough, save on prims too I would imagine."

Yes you can make your own, but there is other mainland to buy to put your own home. You don't save prims by building your own home, your losing prims, the ones your using to build the home, you are definitely missing the point here or just playing devils advocate!

"God I'm cheap"

You said that, not me

"Still seems like I should be able to buy land if I exceed the cost of a membership buying lindens."

That is probably true.

[Faubio Alter]

You don't save prims by building your own home, your losing prims, the ones your using to build the home, you are definitely missing the point here or just playing devils advocate!

Ah, no, I'm not the devil's advocate, So then the 117 prims are in addition to the the house, making it 117+ prims on the parcel. And yes I do think I could make the house leaner on prims then the one I would be given by LL. If I elect to skip the SL house can I  rez another instead on the parcel?

No. But that's the whole point of these homes, it hopefully generates a community, it's not been developed for you to hide away in a little cubby-hole.

Or perhaps one might see all of SL as a community and by so doing see those that live in a SL houses as living in  cubby-holes. Your proposing that living in a community is a good thing when in fact it may not be, communities differ greatly. The person/community match needs to be right or living in one can be/could be a living hell.

I travel lite and keep my humble home lean. I'm seldom there but to do correspondents (hopefully undisturbed), change cloths and other maintenance tasks like inventory cleaning. Hmmm, now that I think of it I'm seldom there at all. Geez, I might be wasting that 360 L$.

[Dekka Raymaker]

Faubio.Alter wrote:

So then the 117 prims are in addition to the the house, making it 117+ prims on the parcel.

This is the bit you don't understand for some reason, the maximum number of prims available on a 512 meter parcel of land is 117, final, full stop, no more prims from elsewhere unless you buy more land on the same sim. The Linden Homes are not on your land, they have their root prim on Linden Land, that's how come the prims of the homes don't count, it really doesn't matter how many prims the Linden Homes are, they could be 1000 prims each (well not actually), but you only get 117 prims, but you get all 117 prims to decorate your home with.

[Faubio Alter]

the maximum number of prims available on a 512 meter parcel of land is 117, final, full stop, no more prims from elsewhere unless you buy more land on the same sim

nope, the prims are set to the SIM they can be split anyway the sim owner chooses.

This may differ for actually owned property but not for rental property.

that's how come the prims of the homes don't count

the total number of prims allowed on the SIM are usually subdivided among the parcels. Usually simple division with some tweaking and a hefty allowance for the SIM owner for maybe landscaping, roads, arrival points, whatever, so those house prims do add to the total. A house made with fewer prims will allow for more furnishings or other accoutrements..

you get all 117 prims to decorate your home with.

Yep.

Sure you can disagree.