Question regarding mods and additions to new homes

[Talia Heartsong]

I have a question.  For those of you that use additions/modifications you purchase from a creator, how many prims are you willing to utilize (out of the 351 allotted) for structural changes to your new home?  What would you consider reasonable?  I am curious.  Thanks!

[Maitimo]

I'd be comfortable with using up to about 30-40 prims in total - around 10%. Though in practise I've only used about 10, to make a dividing wall and door upstairs to make a bathroom off the bedroom.

[Chad Marbach]

    I have a Windlass houseboat and I have bought and added the Fayded Skydeck add-on (14 prim, 1 LI) and a Linden Houseboat Dock Swimming Pool (11 prims, ? LI). Those 2 plus, PrimPossible living room, kitchen, jacuzzi, aquarium and bed, plus an Akaesha Kama-Sutra Rug,  a MeshPossible Cuddle-Hammock, 5 hanging chairs, 2 large Alienum planters and 6 small ones, a painting and assorted plants (some came with the windlass, some through my object Genie (Primpossible again), oh and a housenumber I had purchased from a local neighborhood resident (ivory.bouscario) and a wall radio (edberg.koenkamp) and the Linden LH-security system along with everything else... I am using 255 out of 351 in my land impact.

    I am also looking into the possible buying and installing the Blushed Living Windlass Addon which (11 LI).

Hope this helps.   (My Linden Home location is (Tigger Find, Menagerie, 89,154, 22) 

[Roary McGillivary]

I guess it would matter to me how much "Bang for my Linden buck" would I get? How usable would the addition be. I would like to try to keep the Li down as low as possible to be able to have the most I could get out of it. Being in the original LL homes really taught me how to work to save on Li and get the most out of what I had. So at most I would hesitate at 40 to 50 Li and would not so much at 10 Li or lower. But it could depend on the home "style" too.  

[Chic Aeon]

Just a general note for those shopping for add-ons. Be SURE and test the LOD of the builds (best at least at LOD 2 which is the FS default -- Linden viewer is 1.25).  The Linden Homes themselves are high LOD and work for everyone.  It looks really bad IMO when your addition breaks up and your house stays there stable.  

The  lowest land impact shouldn't -- in my mind -- be the deciding factor. I will go with the "bang for your buck" idea.  I haven't actually looked at all the add-ons out there. I am sure that many are very good. I have though seen some that completely fall apart at a very close distance.  Didn't check the LI on those; didn't care as I would never use them. 

 

From reading the design threads here, it seems like there are a wide variety of opinions on what is acceptable for land impact on structures.  Some folks want to use almost every "prim" inside  --- others want a better "curbside appearance" and are willing to spend some LI point to get that. So I doubt there is one answer here. 

 

Since I really like to be out in the yard, I spent more on my outdoor decor than many folks.   I just went over to my place to check on my ATTACHED outdoor add-ons (not greenhouse) and I have four that equal 45 land impact. That includes a carport, a patio enclosure, a front porch with Widow's Walk and a complete add-on bonus room.    I also have plenty of outdoor "clutter" which I think makes my place look lived in :D.
 

Low land impact is easier INSIDE as you don't have to worry quite so much about your LODs -- especially in our small houses. 

 

[Gryphon Ronas]

I've used 3 add-ons that I got from @Blush Bravin in my home, though I did remove a piece from one of them.  With the front porch, pergola in back, and wall add-ons & doors inside I am using 12 prims.  I feel like they give me a lot of visual impact per 'prim' spent, and I'd have probably been OK with them using 25-30 - but I"m glad they didn't.  My backyard landscape ate up a ton of LI, near 130 if I recall correctly.  I don't feel like the add-ons forced me to cut any corners.

[MirandaBowers]

I consider around the 30 prim mark appropriated for my houseboat. Leaves me enough room to customize without sacrificing. 

[LittleMe Jewell]

My houseboat is currently at 29 for structural mods and the only mod left is to add a dock.

My house is currently using 36 LI for mods, with the 2/3 of that being outdoors.  I'm toying with a few ideas that might increase that number a bit.

Since I have 351 LI available, I don't have an issue with using  50 or so LI for the structural stuff.  

[Blush Bravin]

When I build an add-on I don't really let the LI determine what I will do. I build what I think looks good keeping in mind LODs. I do, of course, aim for low LI but sometimes in order to get the details I consider so important, it's impossible to do the add-on without spending a few extras prims. With my add-ons, and I would guess others are the same, the purchaser can decide what they want to use, as most of mine are a combination of pieces. That's another reason why I don't concern myself with the LI as much, because those details are important to me, but for my customer they might not be so they can remove them and reduce the LI. Most of my add-ons are around 10-15 LI, with the most being 50 which was the wrap around porch with screened room add-on for the Continental. But that porch completely changed the house so I felt 50 LI was a bargain.

[kiramanell]

The only addon I bought for my windlass, was this Windlass - Interior Wall Addition Can't afford much more, LI-wise.

On that note, would be nice of someone, one day, made a windlass ambient occlusion wallover. I did faux ambient occlusion in my windlass, for all areas where the wall hits the floor, stairs trays, etc., but just the quick-and-dirty way of knitting a lot of shadow plates together (which tends to get primmy). Wish I could do it myself, but I can't do mesh.

[Talia Heartsong]

Thank you for all the replies.  I was having a conversation with some friends that sparked this initial question.  I too tend to lean towards the 50 ish mark.   My friend though was gifted an add on that was like 1/2 of the allotted prims and was struggling to fill the space with furniture with the allotted prims left.  I thought that was a lot but wanted to see what others were thinking as well.  We had a varied amount between us (the group I was talking to)   I have add ons on my house that increase its usability in my opinion and are cute,  I've seen some others that I liked but they were so prim heavy they didn't seem to be not worth the addition..    I saw in some o fthe replies LOD and to be concerned about that?   What is that?   And how would you know what the LOD is prior to buying it?   Thanks!

[Marianne Little]

24 minutes ago, Nataliaa Choche said:

Thank you for all the replies.  I was having a conversation with some friends that sparked this initial question.  I too tend to lean towards the 50 ish mark.   My friend though was gifted an add on that was like 1/2 of the allotted prims and was struggling to fill the space with furniture with the allotted prims left.  I thought that was a lot but wanted to see what others were thinking as well.  We had a varied amount between us (the group I was talking to)   I have add ons on my house that increase its usability in my opinion and are cute,  I've seen some others that I liked but they were so prim heavy they didn't seem to be not worth the addition..    I saw in some o fthe replies LOD and to be concerned about that?   What is that?   And how would you know what the LOD is prior to buying it?   Thanks!

LOD is short for Level Of Detail. There are 4 levels of LOD that the creator choose from when uploading a mesh build. Low LOD tend to "fall apart" when viewed from a distance.

http://www.lokieliot.com/blog/?p=670

That is why some recommend "rise level of LOD". That is easy in viewers like Firestorm, where you can slide it up without looking for default settings. This only helps for how you see it, others still have problems seeing it.

I would not be so concerned about it. I can't think about how others see SL. If I can see it fine, that's good enough. 

How to know before buying? Only if you can view it rezzed inworld. If the seller don't have a demo, it is possible to ask to see it, he/she can rez it in a sandbox.

I would not use an add-on that took up so many LI. Gift or no gift. 

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Marianne Little

[LittleMe Jewell]

29 minutes ago, Nataliaa Choche said:

And how would you know what the LOD is prior to buying it? 

If it comes from an inworld store, you could go examine it.  If it is only for sale on the MP, hopefully the listing gives you a SLURL where you can go see it inworld.  Otherwise, you have no way of knowing.  

ETA:  One of the best ways to check is to physically see it. Then set your camera angle so that you can scroll back quite a bit to see when it breaks up or disappears.  You might need to temporarily derender a few things to get that unobstructed view.  For inside items, it only needs to hold together for viewing it from however far away you could physically get.  Outside, you typically want things to hold up to be seen from farther away.

Edited June 3, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[Talia Heartsong]

Thank you!   That explains a lot.  I always wondered about why some things were easily viewed and others you basically had to be on top of.   

 

[RacyAcey]

34 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

If it comes from an inworld store, you could go examine it.  If it is only for sale on the MP, hopefully the listing gives you a SLURL where you can go see it inworld.  Otherwise, you have no way of knowing.  

ETA:  One of the best ways to check is to physically see it. Then set your camera angle so that you can scroll back quite a bit to see when it breaks up or disappears.  You might need to temporarily derender a few things to get that unobstructed view.  For inside items, it only needs to hold together for viewing it from however far away you could physically get.  Outside, you typically want things to hold up to be seen from farther away.

Not sure if this is off topic or not - but any suggestions on what to do when everything around is gray.....I stand there for a long time & everything stays gray.....I will go flying around & land....then everything looks gray.....is it my settings?  my computer graphics....or internet speed????  If I just stay home - no problem.

[Coffee Pancake]

I've been kinda spoiled with Horizons double prim for a while now, so 350 for a Linden home seems very cramped.

I've rezzed so much stuff, looked at the total cost (or it fold up into triangle trash) and then hit delete. Partially what's motivated me to get into making my own stuff again.

Trying to make everything as tight as possible without it turning into trash the moment you blink, hand making all the LODs, lots of iterative modelling and time on the beta grid zooming in and out. Taking my time and having some fun.

It's kind of impossible to pick a target when making stuff, but seeing how everyone else seems waaay further along with decorating I'm guessing I'm just a little bit too picky.

Edited June 3, 2019 by CoffeeDujour

[LittleMe Jewell]

20 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

but seeing how everyone else seems waaay further along with decorating I'm guessing I'm just a little bit too picky.

I have had my house since the evening of the first day they were released and my houseboat since the day of that second release.  The house has a bit of bedroom furniture, but nothing downstairs. The outside has some architectural mods, but pretty much nothing else in the yard.  The houseboat has a few items on the deck so it doesn't look bare and it has a couch and a bit of bedroom furniture.  The majority of the work there has been, again the architectural mods.

My issue is that I'm super picky and very, very ***** (let's go with "finicky" then) about everything being just the right size and lined up exactly perfectly (yeah, I know) and while I am using some mods created by others, I don't want it all to look like all the others, so I've been doing a bit of mixing and matching, combined with a bit of my own building (which I am very slow at because I've never done a lot of it).

Combine all of that with a bit of RL issues that have limited my decorating/building time, and I also feel like I am waaaaaay behind everyone else on what I should have completed by now.

Edited June 3, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[Talia Heartsong]

32 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I have had my house since the evening of the first day they were released and my houseboat since the day of that second release.  The house has a bit of bedroom furniture, but nothing downstairs. The outside has some architectural mods, but pretty much nothing else in the yard.  The houseboat has a few items on the deck so it doesn't look bare and it has a couch and a bit of bedroom furniture.  The majority of the work there has been, again the architectural mods.

My issue is that I'm super picky and very, very ***** (let's go with "finicky" then) about everything being just the right size and lined up exactly perfectly (yeah, I know) and while I am using some mods created by others, I don't want it all to look like all the others, so I've been doing a bit of mixing and matching, combined with a bit of my own building (which I am very slow at because I've never done a lot of it).

Combine all of that with a bit of RL issues that have limited my decorating/building time, and I also feel like I am waaaaaay behind everyone else on what I should have completed by now.

Take your time.  Part of the fun for me is picking and changing things along the way so I get it just like I want it.

 

[Marianne Little]

6 hours ago, RacyAcey said:

Not sure if this is off topic or not - but any suggestions on what to do when everything around is gray.....I stand there for a long time & everything stays gray.....I will go flying around & land....then everything looks gray.....is it my settings?  my computer graphics....or internet speed????  If I just stay home - no problem.

I used this site to try and find out that. https://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/slow_rez

This under here was the first I tried. It turned out my internet speed/network was top, I got Packet loss 0 and also Ping Sim around 200. Some times a bit over, some times a bit under. 

I bought a new graphic cards, and since my economy isn't all that, I bought it used. Things really improved for me.

You are experiencing packet loss or, more generally, have a poor network connection. Or your bandwidth slider may be set too high. Bring up the stats bar with Ctrl-Shift-1 and check Packet Loss and Ping Sim. Ideally, packet loss should be 0.0%, and Ping Sim under 200ms.

 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2019 by Marianne Little

[Marianne Little]

Here is the "new" card compared to the old: https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-970-vs-Nvidia-GTX-560-Ti/2577vs2180

I could manage SL on the card from 2011, but the card from 2014 is so much better. And the price isn't so bad for used cards.

[RacyAcey]

On 6/4/2019 at 1:54 AM, Marianne Little said:

I used this site to try and find out that. https://wiki.phoenixviewer.com/slow_rez

This under here was the first I tried. It turned out my internet speed/network was top, I got Packet loss 0 and also Ping Sim around 200. Some times a bit over, some times a bit under. 

I bought a new graphic cards, and since my economy isn't all that, I bought it used. Things really improved for me.

You are experiencing packet loss or, more generally, have a poor network connection. Or your bandwidth slider may be set too high. Bring up the stats bar with Ctrl-Shift-1 and check Packet Loss and Ping Sim. Ideally, packet loss should be 0.0%, and Ping Sim under 200ms.

 

 

 

Thanks for the info... I will check those things when I get home.... reading this on my phone..... Right now I have very slow internet... I have cable coming out on Friday... getting better internet...so that will be a start.

[Coffee Pancake]

Drop your draw distance (rather aggressively), the less you have to download the faster everything that's left will pop into view.

You can mess about dropping your bandwidth setting, again, be aggressive it doesn't affect the speed that textures or inventory are downloaded.

Edited June 6, 2019 by CoffeeDujour

[RacyAcey]

6 minutes ago, CoffeeDujour said:

Drop your draw distance (rather aggressively), the less you have to download the faster everything that's left will pop into view.

You can mess about dropping your bandwidth setting, again, be aggressive it doesn't affect the speed that textures or inventory are downloaded.

Draw distance is low already...2 digits... maybe 96... can't remember and I have bandwidth at 1500.

[Gryphon Ronas]

5 minutes ago, RacyAcey said:

Draw distance is low already...2 digits... maybe 96... can't remember and I have bandwidth at 1500.

I have my bandwidth set at 1500 as well but I am using 100mbps cable.

I don't know how slow your internet is, but I"d be lowering that bandwidth

[Coffee Pancake]

Draw distance 64

Bandwidth - 200 - or lower if you're havin probs - this does not affect very much in SL anymore, and it's always been mislabeled.