Flying / Swimming keeps drifting up - can that be stopped?

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

I went to try out a mermaid tail and as swimming seems to require you to turn on flight and 'fly' in the water with a swim animation (or 'walk' along the bottom with a swim animation) - is there anyway to keep myself from 'drifting up' - when I use fly in SL I've noticed it always pushes me up when I just use the forward arrow or 'w' key, even when I point my camera straight down as if trying to descend - I still go up.

This means that it only takes seconds for the mermaid to leave the water (even if I start as low down as I can get without disabling flight) and be flying - often going over the height of nearby buildings when trying to 'swim' in Bellisseria.

It makes trying to 'swim' very jarring if I have to interrupt it every 5-10 seconds, fall back into the water, and start over.

Can that be stopped / disabled / anything?

 

This is at 30m - 10m above water, when I started at the bottom and just hit the arrow keys while aiming down:

Edited September 1, 2023 by UnilWay SpiritWeaver

[Aethelwine]

You are much better off using a swim AO, you won't then need to swim in fly mode then. They will usually regulate your height in the water with page up/ page down keys.

Note there are AOs for mermaid swimming. Historically tails were Flexi but are now commonly mesh the mesh ones are animated using additional bones so for a mesh tail I would be careful if using an old AO you find on marketplace. Check the description to see what it says, but I would think anything you find from the last 8 years would support mesh tails.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Aethelwine

[Aethelwine]

For general purpose swim hud the free Thor's one is easy to find and popular. I recently tried a free swim hud with a firestorm skin that works well.

Note in my previous post I said look for a swim AO... Looking for Swim Hud is probably safer as there is a bit more to them than just running the animations

[SabrinaCooke]

I use a HUD called Swimmator when I'm being a mer. It controls the height/depth at which you swim, and it works alongside your mer AO. I don't see it on the MP anymore but it might still be inworld. I see a couple of other items that say they're for the same purpose, but I can't vouch for them personally. Here are the links, though.  

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Swim-height-controller/25093785
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Mer-Betta-SkimSurfaceSimple-script/4712

[Aethelwine]

I suggest looking at the Free Deep Seas Tail:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/DEEP-SEAS-FREE-MERMAID-TAIL/2197215

It says it comes with a free AO and landmarks to inworld Mer resources... even if it doesn't work out it free and the information that comes with it should be useful.

[UnilWay SpiritWeaver]

Thanks for all the tips.

My alt did end up going higher priced in options and got:

Mermaid AO -Tala AO Bento

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Mermaid-AO-Tala-AO-Bento/21618017

Which controls things by not having me use fly. It seems to turn your avatar into a physics based vehicle. A bit like the Teegle horse mount does when you 'wear' it instead of sit on it. Once I'm a physics based 'vehicle' - I'm basically a submarine with animations.

I splurged on the tail too - and got the pricey one that's in the image above. The 'Aii & Ego RIPTIDE Tail' that's only available inworld.

So far that's working great, and the Belli regions look very different from the underwater swimmer perspective. I might see about figuring out vehicle scripting because this method would be handy for a normal swimming kit for my other accounts. I remember having some freebie submarine back when I was new to SL - and hadn't looked at underwater vehicles since.

 

[Aethelwine]

For normal swimming try the Thor's swim hud and the Free swim hud labeled as having a firestorm skin.

To complete the look there is a mole made scuba diving outfit available at a number of places.  Off the top of my head the one place I am sure you can find it is the island on West Satori in a two open water region group just before the tight passage on the route from Bellisseria to the Blake Sea.

 

[SabrinaCooke]

8 hours ago, UnilWay SpiritWeaver said:

Thanks for all the tips.

My alt did end up going higher priced in options and got:

Mermaid AO -Tala AO Bento

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Mermaid-AO-Tala-AO-Bento/21618017

Which controls things by not having me use fly. It seems to turn your avatar into a physics based vehicle. A bit like the Teegle horse mount does when you 'wear' it instead of sit on it. Once I'm a physics based 'vehicle' - I'm basically a submarine with animations.

I splurged on the tail too - and got the pricey one that's in the image above. The 'Aii & Ego RIPTIDE Tail' that's only available inworld.

So far that's working great, and the Belli regions look very different from the underwater swimmer perspective. I might see about figuring out vehicle scripting because this method would be handy for a normal swimming kit for my other accounts. I remember having some freebie submarine back when I was new to SL - and hadn't looked at underwater vehicles since.

 

Those are both great choices! Welcome to the mer world!