What do you think about Automated Transport Vehicles on Mainland?

[AlettaMondragon]

6 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

Again, they are empty every time I see them, and I go to multiple sims where I have land, and I work on that land, so I see them go by -- empty.

They should put them on rez on demand, at stations spaced appropriately across sims.

 

I won't use the same counterarguments again, since we've done this in the pod topic, and probably it was enough for everyone

The two things you insist on is they are empty and should be rez on demand, so I'll just address these. It's actually quite easy to spot any kind of automated vehicle riding empty, so that's still not news. It's also quite easy to find whole regions that are empty at a time you happen to be there (well, empty except yourself, obviously), or you can see a LOT of them on the map that are usually empty. Which can include only avatars not being present or literally, the sim having no rezzed objects on it, even. If being empty is an issue, and the solution is rez on demand, many regions could be only started up once someone wants to actually be there, instead of running them 24/7. Which, of course, could be a good idea if saving resources was important, but come on, there are mainland regions with roads and waterways that are quite unusable for anyone since one parcel owner per sim decided to stuff their lands with heavily scripted bots and objects, we know that unnecessarily using resources is not an issue here, at all.

[Rabid Cheetah]

I love them.  I've had ocean land with boats going by, land with cars going by, and land with pods going by.  They're fun and convenient to hop on, similar to such things in real life:  Those auto-trains at DFW, people-mover tracks at other airports, even the common escalator.  These are all automated movement devices that run continuously, as opposed to on-demand [the RL equivalent of SL's not-there-until-you-rez-it vehicle-givers], such as elevators.

The only time I've had one get stuck on my land was when a car crashed into an empty area on my art museum.  Did I return it?  Of course not; I turned it into art!  😄 I built an entire exhibit around it, focusing on transportation, pollution, and roadkill issues.  That never would have happened without that first spark of inspiration that came from logging in to find a car sticking up out of the sand lol

Well.  If something like that ever happens again, I'll be building a giant buttocks, with a trail of insects going in.  You know, as a tribute to folks who have a bug up their ass over vehicles.  😁

Edited September 2, 2020 by Rabid Cheetah

[Rabid Cheetah]

I don't know how they did it.  This is in Belli, on Linden Land, which is set to autoreturn after 1 minute, but it was there for more than a minute.  No one sitting in it, no invisiprim attached for a hang-just-over-the-parcel-boundary trick, not even someone who might be in the LDPW because the car's group was set to something else.  It was cool to see a car parked in the street.

[AlettaMondragon]

2 hours ago, Rabid Cheetah said:

I don't know how they did it.  This is in Belli, on Linden Land, which is set to autoreturn after 1 minute, but it was there for more than a minute.  No one sitting in it, no invisiprim attached for a hang-just-over-the-parcel-boundary trick, not even someone who might be in the LDPW because the car's group was set to something else.  It was cool to see a car parked in the street.

 

There are a few options, it might be stuck in seated state (selected/sat upon), so it gets excluded by both the object entry and autoreturn scans, there are scripts that exploit a few functions and positioning to keep an object at a place. Actually if it's owned by a Mole or Linden, it doesn't have to be set to the appropriate land group, their objects can stay anywhere. Once I had to ask a Linden to pick up his ATV from the middle of a dirt road like this, because it was blocking the way of a driving event If it's resident-owned though, it is probably stuck in seated state, next sim restart resets it and it'll poof.

[Rabid Cheetah]

It's resident owned.  Kinda cool, hope it doesn't poof.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 9/1/2020 at 8:31 AM, AlettaMondragon said:

 

I won't use the same counterarguments again, since we've done this in the pod topic, and probably it was enough for everyone

The two things you insist on is they are empty and should be rez on demand, so I'll just address these. It's actually quite easy to spot any kind of automated vehicle riding empty, so that's still not news. It's also quite easy to find whole regions that are empty at a time you happen to be there (well, empty except yourself, obviously), or you can see a LOT of them on the map that are usually empty. Which can include only avatars not being present or literally, the sim having no rezzed objects on it, even. If being empty is an issue, and the solution is rez on demand, many regions could be only started up once someone wants to actually be there, instead of running them 24/7. Which, of course, could be a good idea if saving resources was important, but come on, there are mainland regions with roads and waterways that are quite unusable for anyone since one parcel owner per sim decided to stuff their lands with heavily scripted bots and objects, we know that unnecessarily using resources is not an issue here, at all.

You're going way off topic, trying to enlarge this very practical and obvious topic of empty pods into entire sims being empty, and the need then to rez them on demand.

That's a whole other debate, the Lindens may or may not do that some day but meanwhile...
 

THE PODS ARE EMPTY.

That means no one is riding them.

That means sending them constantly across sims is a waste of resources and needless. They can be rezzed on demand. It doesn't matter if some individual pod has low script usage. We are talking about their cumulative effect across the Mainland, which is then unnecessary. It doesn't matter if someone who bought land and pays tier puts scripts on it that are more than what you feel is prudent. He's at least paying for his land. The pod creator is not paying for anything and yet is everywhere, overtaking public roads.

I marvel at how people come up with the wackiest, far-flung arguments to prevent doing what is logical and normal here, making something that is not used except by a small percentage of people, available only on demand, when you click it.

 

[AlettaMondragon]

2 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

THE PODS ARE EMPTY.

 

You just return to this sentence again and again. Now you got me completely bored with it too. Of course you sweep everything off the table saying it's irrelevant, since it is not this sentence above. You don't know how to conversate. You don't know how to argue. You only want to hear what you say. No wonder many people simply ignore you. I'll join them.

 

2 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

I marvel at how people come up with the wackiest, far-flung arguments to prevent doing what is logical and normal here, making something that is not used except by a small percentage of people, available only on demand, when you click it.

 

If only you were available on demand, I wonder if anyone would ever click the button.

[BJoyful]

7 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

THE PODS ARE EMPTY.

That means no one is riding them.

That means sending them constantly across sims is a waste of resources and needless. They can be rezzed on demand. It doesn't matter if some individual pod has low script usage. We are talking about their cumulative effect across the Mainland, which is then unnecessary. It doesn't matter if someone who bought land and pays tier puts scripts on it that are more than what you feel is prudent. He's at least paying for his land. The pod creator is not paying for anything and yet is everywhere, overtaking public roads.

I marvel at how people come up with the wackiest, far-flung arguments to prevent doing what is logical and normal here, making something that is not used except by a small percentage of people, available only on demand, when you click it.

Maybe try to think of the pods like escalators or elevators or ski lifts or cable cars operate in RL?  They are usually always running, or in a state of running, or readiness to be there as we need them or notice them and decide to use them ♥  There are times when it is more feasible or economical to keep them operating than it would be to call them up on demand only, I think ♥ (Newton's Law)

Edited September 3, 2020 by BJoyful
afterthought

[Prokofy Neva]

5 hours ago, AlettaMondragon said:

 

You just return to this sentence again and again. Now you got me completely bored with it too. Of course you sweep everything off the table saying it's irrelevant, since it is not this sentence above. You don't know how to conversate. You don't know how to argue. You only want to hear what you say. No wonder many people simply ignore you. I'll join them.

 

 

If only you were available on demand, I wonder if anyone would ever click the button.

I think to you, conversation means merely clicking "like" and nodding in agreement.

I wonder why you felt the necessity to re-open what in fact was a topic closed by Lindens in another thread.

Guess you don't feel your view is prevailing and it's on shaky grounds.

Oops, there goes another empty one.

 

[Rabid Cheetah]

7 hours ago, BJoyful said:

Maybe try to think of the pods like escalators or elevators or ski lifts or cable cars operate in RL?  They are usually always running, or in a state of running, or readiness to be there as we need them or notice them and decide to use them ♥  There are times when it is more feasible or economical to keep them operating than it would be to call them up on demand only, I think ♥ (Newton's Law)

Or a space elevator.  Of course, there are folks who want to take those down, too.  #KimStanleyRobinson #RedMars #GreenMars #BlueMars

 

[Prokofy Neva]

1 hour ago, Rabid Cheetah said:

Cool!  A free water taxi!  Where can I find this?  I wanna hop on board.

If they existed as recognizeable station and were in search to boot, you'd have no problem finding one and jumping in it. That's another myth about this infestation of the roads -- that they are there "just any time" and that's the justification for letting them constantly spam. But you've just proven that in fact no amount of spamming will ever be enough because you may want one when there happens to be a gap. Again, all the more reason for stations to rez on demand. The end.

[Rabid Cheetah]

1 minute ago, Prokofy Neva said:

If they existed as recognizeable station and were in search to boot, you'd have no problem finding one and jumping in it. That's another myth about this infestation of the roads -- that they are there "just any time" and that's the justification for letting them constantly spam. But you've just proven that in fact no amount of spamming will ever be enough because you may want one when there happens to be a gap. Again, all the more reason for stations to rez on demand. The end.

No, do you have a slurl for the cool boat pic?  I could wait around there and then hop on!  🙂

[Lewis Luminos]

On 8/27/2020 at 12:53 AM, AlettaMondragon said:

What do you think about them? What experiences do you have with them? Which one is your favorite? I'd like to hear any opinions and experiences, good or bad, and pro/con arguments are welcome too, just please keep it civilized. If you know about more automated vehicles running on Mainland, feel free to tell about them too! Maybe this topic can help us explorers, and new people to find more fun ways to see Mainland and get to know it from another perspective!

I like them a lot, overall. I live on mainland next to a Linden road so I sometimes see Yavapods going by and, before they got banned, the other vehicles run by Ann-whoever-it was (I still cannot remember her name). I saw her vehicles more often than Yavapods and I even liked those, when I wasn't having to return one that got stuck on my property. 

The ones I like best though, are the trains and trams. With the railroads I guess there's less chance of them going off-track.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Lewis Luminos

[AlettaMondragon]

@Lewis Luminos Anaimfinity, if you mean the green SLGI vehicles. Her stuff isn't banned (fortunately) either, so they're running continuously, the railcars were quite active on the SLRR yesterday. And yes, probably following guides helps a lot, especially if they aren't physical. The one thing that really gets messed up on bad crossings is physics, so physical stuff can end up literally anywhere, sometimes disregarding land perms too.

[Qie Niangao]

9 minutes ago, AlettaMondragon said:

Anaimfinity

I'm guessing earlier: AnnMarie OToole ... if there are searchable forum archives, that name should return some "historical drama"

[AlettaMondragon]

1 minute ago, Qie Niangao said:

I'm guessing earlier: AnnMarie OToole ... if there are searchable forum archives, that name should return some "historical drama"

Ah, so old stuff! Then no wonder the "Ann" name didn't ring a bell for me. I'm finding some interesting threads now searching for her name, thank you

I'm pretty sure if a specific automated vehicle would cause serious issues, I'd be the first to try to get them off the road, or fixed, as I actually had the pleasure to see such problematic vehicles. I'm glad the ones that are currently running work properly, even those that are in development. I'm wondering if this AnnMarie thing from the past is something that makes some people triggered against all automated vehicles, it looks like it had a big impact on some people back then.

[Qie Niangao]

2 hours ago, AlettaMondragon said:

I'm wondering if this AnnMarie thing from the past is something that makes some people triggered against all automated vehicles, it looks like it had a big impact on some people back then.

I think so.

SL's current automated vehicles are doing something much simpler than those old vehicles tried to do (orr at least appeared to be doing), roaming Linden land with no pre-planned route, just some record of past failures to avoid. They used much more sim resources than any of the ones I see on the paths now.

[AlettaMondragon]

48 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

SL's current automated vehicles are doing something much simpler than those old vehicles tried to do (orr at least appeared to be doing), roaming Linden land with no pre-planned route, just some record of past failures to avoid. They used much more sim resources than any of the ones I see on the paths now.

The ones on Satori that almost caused me to have nightmares until a few months ago, used a somewhat modified SLRR engine script and used the actual road prims as guides, although they had some sort of route waypoint processing too. And they had an auto-delete script as well. It was really rare that I found any of them stuck anywhere. Still, the fact they were oversized, drove on the middle of the road, and in the last weeks of operation there were literally dozens of them cruising down Route 8 in a row, the most I saw were 42 in one sim - not stuck, moving - which was way too much. They're still available on demand, in their case it's actually the best solution I guess. I pretty sure won't ever miss them so much to press the button to rez one, I rather drive my own vehicle or hop on a pod or SLGI ship

[Lewis Luminos]

8 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

I'm guessing earlier: AnnMarie OToole ... if there are searchable forum archives, that name should return some "historical drama"

THAT'S IT!  Thank you! It's been bugging me for DAYS!

[Mollymews]

i am waiting for somebody to make a vehicle chasing dog.  Like it just lies on your parcel by roadside then when it sensors a person on a vehicle then it perks up and chases after them going ruff! ruff! ruff! ! all the way down the region road

then after the vehicle leaves the region the dog wanders back to its home parcel making happy pleased growling noises and then lies down and waits for the next vehicle

if the vehicle rider stops and turns the vehicle to face the dog then it runs back home yelping, because is actually a scaredy dog

😺

Edited September 4, 2020 by Mollymews
because

[animats]

3 hours ago, Mollymews said:

i am waiting for somebody to make a vehicle chasing dog.

Suggest that to the Virtual Kennel Club people. Their dogs already can do "come here".

[BilliJo Aldrin]

On 9/3/2020 at 6:40 AM, Prokofy Neva said:

You're going way off topic, trying to enlarge this very practical and obvious topic of empty pods into entire sims being empty, and the need then to rez them on demand.

That's a whole other debate, the Lindens may or may not do that some day but meanwhile...
 

THE PODS ARE EMPTY.

That means no one is riding them.

That means sending them constantly across sims is a waste of resources and needless. They can be rezzed on demand. It doesn't matter if some individual pod has low script usage. We are talking about their cumulative effect across the Mainland, which is then unnecessary. It doesn't matter if someone who bought land and pays tier puts scripts on it that are more than what you feel is prudent. He's at least paying for his land. The pod creator is not paying for anything and yet is everywhere, overtaking public roads.

I marvel at how people come up with the wackiest, far-flung arguments to prevent doing what is logical and normal here, making something that is not used except by a small percentage of people, available only on demand, when you click it.

 

I thought the whole point of empty pods travelling across mainland was that when one goes by, you can hop in it.

That's the fun of them. You are standing around someplace, a pod goes by and you can ride it.

I've ridden empty pods many times, but I've never deliberately gone to a pod terminal to ride a pod.

Having to go to one would greatly diminish their usage.

I have a one prim bus stop, maybe I'll use that for my networked ad boards, that way you can read my ads while you are waiting for a pod to come by. 

On another different but related topic, why can't personal cars be scripted with an "auto pilot" option to follow roads like pods can?

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Dakota Linden
Moderator Edit [Image with Inappropriate Content Removed]

[Qie Niangao]

13 hours ago, Mollymews said:

if the vehicle rider stops and turns the vehicle to face the dog then it runs back home yelping, because is actually a scaredy dog

Also, if the vehicle rider dawdles, the dogs must lose interest pretty quickly, lest Governor Linden's auto-return kicks in and they get sent to the big pixel farm upstate.

[AlettaMondragon]

3 hours ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

On another different but related topic, why can't personal cars be scripted with an "auto pilot" option to follow roads like pods can?

 

They can be. They're just not, because it is much extra work and probably too little demand from customers. Most land vehicles use ACS scripts, those don't have an autodrive function. Other, better-scripted vehicles usually don't have one either. It looks like the peak of technology in all of them is cruise control.

To have an autodrive mode, the creator (or anyone else) would have to make accurate waypoint routes everywhere the vehicle should be able to drive on its own, and it would need a waypoint processing system in the vehicle's "engine" to be able to directly control its movement. Eventually, the vehicle would have to be stuffed with route notecards, but in those that can be modified (changed content), people would be able to add and take out those notecards anytime, and it would allow for people that already have such route notecards to use them, if they are in the same format as the script can process as waypoints. It's possible, some creators could do it. I'm not sure if many people would use the function, though. I know that many people would need the function, they just don't realize. They can't drive though, that's for sure.

The other way is the one we mentioned above, where the vehicle would attempt to follow the road prims like SLRR guides. It has several difficulties. The script would have to be able to find the actual road prim, which can be an issue, since road prims are generally named differently on all roads, sometimes only named as Object (especially replacement prims), the prims are often overlaying, there are buffer prims on many crossings to prevent getting stuck in the prims, so not even the distance between identically named prims is the same. Then when the vehicle manages to proceed on the road (or on someone's paved yard if it managed to pick up those prims instead of the road), it should also apply a proper offset from the middle of the prim to drive on the right side (or left) of the road instead of annoying the hell out of everyone by cruising in the middle. It should be designed to work on control inputs too, to be able to easily turn onto another road in an intersection and then continue on its own. If it's combined with the waypoint notecard method, it can work too, it's just even more work to do.

And most car creators can't even script, they just assemble the full perm models they bought, with ACS scripts, so there aren't too many people that would be interested in and be able to make a whole new system to include an autodrive mode in their vehicles. It would be really cool, though.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 9/3/2020 at 1:52 PM, BJoyful said:

Maybe try to think of the pods like escalators or elevators or ski lifts or cable cars operate in RL?  They are usually always running, or in a state of running, or readiness to be there as we need them or notice them and decide to use them ♥  There are times when it is more feasible or economical to keep them operating than it would be to call them up on demand only, I think ♥ (Newton's Law)

I think you, like others who constantly want to justify the spam cars, just don't see them. So you don't get it. 

No, it's not like an escalator. RL analogies don't work in a virtual world where for starters, cars are not needed at all! You can fly! That's what is particularly ridiculous about all of this. You can fly -- or teleport if, um, your arms get tired.

In RL, you NEED an escalator. Elevators can get crowded; escalators are REQUIRED to get from one floor to another, because YOU CANNOT FLY. Plus, they are vertical, not horizontal, and PS they don't come flying across your city block every 10 minutes.

The pods a) are not needed b) are horizontal c) constantly come across the view.