Am I allowed to have a floating castle or skybox?

[shinpachi99]

Hi, I bought my first piece of land, and I'm confused about all the rules.  The land is on the mainland, there is no covenant, and it says I can build.  I would like to have a floating castle/island/skybox, but I don't know where to look to see if I'm allowed.  Thanks for any help.

[Persephone Emerald]

Yes. On mainland that you "buy" from Linden Lab you can have your floating castle or skybox at what ever height you wish. Common courtesy would expect you to put it above 500 m at least, so it won't look like an eyesore to neighbors or interfere with planes or others flying over. Placing it above 1000 m would be best for your own performance too, since then the land below won't be rendered and scripts and sounds on the ground are unlikely to affect you.

I used to have a castle tree house with my partner, which wasn't very high off the ground. I liked being able to look down to see what was going on below.   

The easiest way to make sure your build is inside your parcel is to rez it (or a ground prim for it) on the ground first, with Show Parcel Boundaries checked, then change the Z coordinate by adding 1000 to it. 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Lewis Luminos]

You're allowed to build anything you like on mainland. But please, if you're building something off the ground, put it up at 1000m or higher. Low-flying skyboxes are an eyesore as well as a hazard to aviation (most people fly at low altitude). 

Also being above 1000m means much less lag because your viewer isn't drawing anything on the ground.

[shinpachi99]

thank you very much

[Katherine Heartsong]

Both @Lewis Luminos and @Persephone Emerald are right. I'd also add to Persephone's reply by adding my own method for doing what she suggested.

Get on your parcel (I'll assume a square 32x32 for my example). Build Mode and create a standard .5 x .5 x .5 prim and then using the fixed to grid, move that along the X and Y axis to the exact centre of your parcel. You can actually see a ruler while move-dragging a prim. Once centred, give it a name like "parcel centre". I usually have one of those markers on all my lands marking the centre. I often name them with the XY coordinates as well.

Now, duplicate it upwards by holding shift while you drag it. Name this new one "platform centre" and change the size to 32 x 32 x .5. Then as she said, change it's Z height to 1,000 or 2,000 or higher (up to 3,900 of you like).

Now, if you're using the Firestorm viewer and set the Z position to 2,000, simply type "gth 2005" and you'll instantly TP to right above your platform, to gracefully drop that 5m onto it. I love this feature of FS. Now add a landmark to your inventory and call it "My Platform" and now you can TP there from anywhere. Start building whatever you like up there since you know the boundary of your parcel is the edges of the platform.

Post a picture of your build when done!

Edited July 22, 2022 by Katherine Heartsong

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

Both @Lewis Luminos and @Persephone Emerald are right. I'd also add to Persephone's reply by adding my own method for doing what she suggested.

Get on your parcel (I'll assume a square 32x32 for my example). Build Mode and create a standard .5 x .5 x .5 prim and then using the fixed to grid, move that along the X and Y axis to the exact centre of your parcel. You can actually see a ruler while move-dragging a prim. Once centred, give it a name like "parcel centre". I usually have one of those markers on all my lands marking the centre. I often name them with the XY coordinates as well.

Now, duplicate it upwards by holding shift while you drag it. Name this new one "platform centre" and change the size to 32 x 32 x .5. Then as she said, change it's Z height to 1,000 or 2,000 or higher (up to 3,900 of you like).

Now, if you're using the Firestorm viewer and set the Z position to 2,000, simply type "gth 2005" and you'll instantly TP to right above your platform, to gracefully drop that 5m onto it. I love this feature of FS. Now add a landmark to your inventory and call it "My Platform" and now you can TP there from anywhere. Start building whatever you like up there since you know the boundary of your parcel is the edges of the platform.

Post a picture of your build when done!

Even easier is once you've found the exact center of your parcel, assuming it's square as mine is, stand there and fly, go to whatever height you prefer using gth 2000.  Once there, use 'rezplat' in local.  You can adjust the size of the platform in preferences under Chat/CmdLine to the size of your parcel.   

That dot in the center is me!

 

[Katherine Heartsong]

OMG Rowan you are such a genius!!!