Floating Vehicles

[Raven Huntsman]

Hey guys, I'm in the process of scripting my own surfboard and have a few questions that I can't answer by myself or through online research/Wiki docs.

• There are a lot of different 'waves' across sims which I'm guessing all function in some similar manner. I was wondering if anyone is aware of some universal API that these use which existing surfboard's hook into, or if it's just a case of surfboards running unfiltered collision checks and looking for the word 'wave' in the name of the colliding object? (That's my current assumption on how to get a surfboard to react to a wave'.
   
• Floating - What's the correct way to get a water based vehicle to float? I ask because I'm currently using :
      llSetVehicleFloatParam(VEHICLE_HOVER_HEIGHT, 0.1);
      llSetVehicleFloatParam(VEHICLE_HOVER_EFFICIENCY, 0.6);
      llSetVehicleFloatParam(VEHICLE_HOVER_TIMESCALE, 1);
      llSetVehicleFloatParam( VEHICLE_BUOYANCY, 1);
  And notice that my board occasionally hovers above the water by a significant amount, and decreasing that '0.1' hover value close to zero doesn't seem to affect it at all. Ideally I wish it would accept zero as a value indicating that I want it to float '0' distance above water level, but of course zero is considered disabled. Any value above water level for a thin object like a board doesn't seem to work out so well. Is there a better way?
   
• I noticed that existing surfboards are unable to be driven from water onto land, they just kind of collide with the boundary between water and land, however in my tests, my board/vehicle will drive onto land and then become very unwieldy with it's controls. Is there a recommended way to keep this from happening? Note, my vehicle script is setting the vehicle type to 'boat' and subsequently adjusting all necessary vehicle params to achieve the type of movement im happy with.
  
  Any info would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Raven Huntsman

[KT Kingsley]

Not done much with vehicles for a long time, but the functions llGround and llWater, and the land_collision events might be useful to you.

[Mollymews]

is a whole lot in your post. I have a go at answering some

i am not aware of a open source general API that is used widely. There are a number of closed API's tho which provide engines for boards and waves as a package

with hover_height a typical way to do this is: if mesh then make the physics shape a little bit deeper than the visible board. With a prim board then at least two prims. Visible board prim(s) + slightly deeper invis prim as the root prim

to stop when land under the board, then on first land_collision_start event, cold stop the board, and set engine impulse to 0, http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Land_collision_start. Allowing impulse on subsequent (if any) land_collision_start to allow surfer to paddle/ride it back into the water

for a board that can be used on any sea/wave then typically we as the board builder don't care about what we hit: waves, rocks, other surfers, boats, piers, fish, jump ramps, etc. Our board is physical vehicle so will bounce off if it doesn't get stuck. And we leave it to our surfer to ride/drive the board as they choose

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Mollymews
(s)

[Frankie Blackwood]

Hey Ravan, surfboard creator checking in here. All the "surfable" waves are names Wave 2.0. You'll want to turn on the collision detection for that name and you're good to go.

[Xiija]

any links to where one could try these surfboards & waves?

[Mollymews]

On 9/2/2021 at 1:33 AM, Xiija said:

any links to where one could try these surfboards & waves?

Wave 2.0 is the name of the big waves made by POMF.  The moles have made a surf beach using these waves in Belli

LM to the rez zone here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Treeowatoor/242/194/22

there is also a stand of free-to-use surfboards from different makers on the beach

[Xiija]

@Mollymews TYSM! ::hugs::