SL Aviation!

[FFred Koolhoven]

I have recently developed and interest in aviation.  I try flying in the Blake sea and the connected simms.  Seems like Linden Labs could stand alot of improvement in this area.  Most simm crossings are horrible.  Time goes on and I do update after update and nothing ever improves.  It seems alot of builders put time and effort into building aircraft.  I am reluctant to purchase.  I was under the impression simms in that area were not to have sky houses and other stuff in the air.  It is almost impossible to fly from one airfield to another without encountering some problem with a crossing or sky crap that rezzes at the last minute.  I have tried countless times to fly from SLIA on the antilaghi simm to the Hollywood air field at Santa Catalina.  I think I have made the trip sucessfully maybe three times.  I have prob tried 50 times.  It gets real frustrating.  I feel bad for the aircraft builders as I would prob invest alot more in aircraft if I was actually able to use them better.  Although I will admit its better than trying to drive on the mainland roads.  That is just rediculous.  Maybe we need to work on improvements as it seems all these updates are just damage control. 

[Deej Kasshiki]

I used to do a LOT of sailing and flying in and around Nautilus, the Blake Sea, the New England sims and the Hollywood Airport area. It wasn't bad so long as you didn't make the mistake of crossing the boundaries where 4 sims met. But it seems around a year and a half ago the sim crossings went from OK to iffy and then to brutal. Rubber-banding, flying off world or ending up underground became the norm rather than the occasional annoyance. I pretty much just stored my planes and boats because they weren't usable between the dangerous sim crossings and the lag.

After LL announced (I think it was this past winter) that they'd made a lot of changes to the way sim crossing was handled I pulled out a couple of boats and planes (that had been updated with new lower lag scripts) and tried navigating the Blake sims again. It was better but, still not what I'd call a good experience. I didn't end up flying off world anymore but, the lag was still bad and I was still seeing quite a few bad crossings that lead to viewer crashes.

The Lab has made a bit of progress but, still has a long way to go before flying and boating will be enjoyable again. Maybe someday they'll focus more on these core experience issues. To my way of thinking it's these kinds of things that send new users running away from SL moreso than a dearth of avatar name choices, or complex new types of prims. Yes the technology needs to advance and there need to be genuine innovations but, before all that there must be a solid foundation on which to build. Right now the base technology doesn't scale well and is anything but solid.

[Jacki Silverfall]

I know your frustration! Being a private pilot in RL I thought flying in SL would be great. Not so. I find reducing power to 40-50 % helps but lately I have been running into Full Sims that won't let you cross. Stopping in mid flight is annoying then having to dodge all the sky junk uggg.

Staying over water helps also but the places I call the dead sea are those spots the are grayed out on the mini map and you have to find away around them. Why can't LL fill these spots in so you could at least navigate from one continent to another.

And I thought there were height restrictions for these continents. I thought you could only build so high, but I have seen builds that go on forever, like stairs that go through the clouds, that huge monolith of bright neon flashing annoying colors, and a wall that is opague among others.

But I still get out there in my little Cessna and try to fly, Maybe when LL gets done with the mesh project they can look into it.

Or filing a JIRA would be an idea. At least to let LL know the flying community is being hurt by this.

Just my 2 cents.

[Wildcat Furse]

I was flying & sailing a lot myself in second life, I remember I did flights from the Antilaghi sim to St Martin and back which was a real time flight of about 1.5 hours. But nowadays this has become impossible, I do hope that LL invests more time in this because they don't realize how big the aviation and sailing communities are in second life and those activites are fun to do ..... :smileysad: *meows*

[FFred Koolhoven]

OK, So it's not just me.  I will say I have a bit more success with a helo.  Keeping the speed down to around 15 knots.  Also higher altitudes give a little better results.  But they really need to do something about the building in the sky.  If you look at that map on the wall at SLIA in antilaghi theres many airfields.  I just don't understand how Lindens can overlook such a big segment of their of their population.  I almost made it to SLIA yesterday and got stuck on ban lines around a home in the sky at over 200 meters.  Now thats something they can easily fix.  If you want to own land out there you need to keep out of the sky.  If not go live somewhere else.  I have no problem reporting them if I knew LL would actually listen or do something about it.  I just seems it falls on deaf ears.  I am also into racing and nice cars.  Like I said earlier try driving on the mainland sometime.  You won;t believe how bad it is.  These builders work hard you would think LL would give them a little more consideration.  I bet the avaition segment would grow and builders would prosper if they could actually fly.  So for now it's take off circle the field and land.  I guess its good practice. 

[Marcus Hancroft]

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Jacki Silverfall wrote:

I know your frustration! ...but lately I have been running into Full Sims that won't let you cross. Stopping in mid flight is annoying then having to dodge all the sky junk uggg.

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In the past, I've enjoyed driving a steam engine around the SLRR and I have run into the full sim problem also.  I was going along at a good clip and KA-WHAM! full stop.  The region crossings in the SLRR are also bad because with a train, you stop, pause, pause, pause and then you are catapulted miles and miles ahead of where you were and you've missed a lot of the scenery if that hadn't happened.  Some of the tracks also go through the corners of regions where four sims meet and THAT is a scary, jerky, horrible mess. 

I know that scripts have to be handed off from one simulator to another and if there are a lot of scripts running in the sim you are approaching, you will hesitate until script time becomes available in the new sim, and I think this has a lot to do with it.  Which reminds me...it seems that every other region is on a different simulator now and so every time you cross, that annoying humongus message appears in the bottom right of your screen informing you of what simulator you were on before and which one you are on now.  That drives me nutso, just so you know, and I wish there were a way to disable those messages.  I don't really care which simulator I'm on.  :smileyvery-happy:

[Deej Kasshiki]

We know that Rodvik reads these forums and sometimes responds (as he did to another resident's billing complaint a few days ago) so, how about a reply on this very important issue that affects such a large and active portion of the SL community?

Rodvik please let us know what's being done about the sim crossing, lag and public access issues highlighted in this thread.

[TruthSeeker Tracy]

I fly often from Hollywood AIrport to SLIA in Antilaghi and Acknefar AIrport.  I avoid obstacles in the sky by flying over the water the entire trip. Another benefit of an over-sea route is that crossing water sim-lines is a lot easier than crossing land lines cuz of all the scripts likely to be running on the ground below.

A couple of suggestions:

When you fly remove everything from your AV that is not absolutely necessary.  For me I fly only in pants and a shirt, neither of which has any resize or color change scripts.  I change my hi-prim hair to a low prim unscripted  hair.  I even remove my eyelashes which can  be surprisingly high-prim.  No shoes,No jewelry or any kind of attachment.  And while aviator-type sunglasses may look very cool some of the scripted ones can be deadly at the sim line.  Don't just turn off your AO -- remove it.  Use the Avatar Rendering Cost Display in the Rendering Menu to see what you are wearing that is high prim.  I never fly with an ARC above 80.

Cross sims at as perfect a 90 degree angle perpendicular to the sim line.as you can and avoid the sim corners like the plague.  I use a device that shows my heading to help line-up but the minimap is also ok for this.   And by all means slow down at the crossings unless you are in a vehicle that you know is an excellent sim crosser.  (There are some boats now that cross sim lines very smoothly at 85m/sec.  Pilots generally have not been so lucky with a similar development in aircraft.)

If you really want to fly this route over land I recommend a device that is sold at various SL airports and on the Marketplace that shows you all the ban lines, full parcels, and rezzing areas for an entire sim in real time.  Also it is a good idea to set your draw distance to 256m so you can see what's coming up ahead of you.  256 is a good balance between distance and smooth jitter-free movement that may happen if you increase your draw over that - depends on your PC and vid card what you can do here for a draw distance over 256m - 256m is sufficient.

Also it is a fact of SL life that some builders are better than others in scripting their planes and boats for low lag and  better sim crossings.  If you hang around one of the major airports and ask around you will learn which planes are the best sim crossers

All of the above will not guarantee a successful flight but they will greatly improve your chances for safely arriving at your destination.

Above all -- don't  get discouraged.  SL has its good days as well as its bad ones and just because you could not cross a sim line today does not necessarily mean that you will not be able to cross it tomorrow.  Flying in SL can be great fun as well as a rewarding experience. There are many SL pilots in the SL sky everyday crossing sim lines :-)

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

[FFred Koolhoven]

Thanks for the info.  I will give these suggestions a try. 

[TruthSeeker Tracy]

One point I forgot to mention in my earlier post is to NEVER try to turn as you are crossing the sim line. Even if you are crossing the line at a  bad no-where-near a perpendicular angle, its better to take your chances as you are than to try to correct your heading as you begin the sim crossing. Trying to change heading while entering the sim crossing zone almost always results in disaster.

[FFred Koolhoven]

Yeah learned that one in my early stages of flying.  I haven't tried much fixed wing lately.  Been using my Helo collection more and more.  For some reason they don't seem to be as adversly effected.  I just love that landing on Hollywood at Santa Cruz.  I like to sit and watch the planes go all askew trying to cross that sim line and land successfully.  Not really I find it kind of sad.  Any suggestions about a certain aircraft or builder with lower lagg scripts?  I hate to spend a fortune trying to find something that actually works.  I have a pricy yacht in my inv that i can't steer after two or three simm crossings.  And a real nice wake boat you can tow a skiier but again you can only use the ski with in a simm.  It does make for alot of exciting turning hehehe.  It's really a shame cause I would prob own 20 or 30 aircraft by now.  I see alot that I would really like to own but nothing worse than buying something getting all excited about it and then not being able to use it properly.  Although when you get stuck at the crossings it does make for great photo ops.  If you want an in flight pic of your avie at the controls thats the time.  Thanks for all the input.  Linden hopefully will work on this soon.  Really suprised these builders don't become more discouraged. 

[FFred Koolhoven]

Not sure what happened but flying seems to have improved.  I actually made two successful flights from Hollywood to SLIA yesterday.  I know there have been some server upgrades because I also race in the DWRL.  The server upgrade there on Monday really messed up the scripts on the car chasis we use.  I hope it's because Linden actually listened to us and it didn't improve just by chance.  Now if we can police the sky junk or set and enforce some type of height limit.  That seems like it would be much easier than fixing the simm crossings.  I would be more than happy to report any simm with sky junk if I knew anyone would do something about it.  The stuff I see up there is just ridiculous.  What the heck can these people be thinking?  I am really looking forward to getting out there again today and taking to the skies.  I already started poking around some of the aircraft places.  I would love to buy some new stuff if I was sure it would be usable in the future.  Crossing my fingers that I didn't just hit  by chance a good  day out there.  If this is by your hand Linden thank you.  I did happen to notice alot more other craft up there too.  I hate being critical but I am also the first to say thank you when a genuine positive effort has been made.  So if thats the case thank you LL.

[Jesica Dragovar]

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Staying over water helps also but the places I call the dead sea are those spots the are grayed out on the mini map and you have to find away around them. Why can't LL fill these spots in so you could at least navigate from one continent to another.

 

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actually I thought a while back an idea like this, essentially they'd be Linden owned sims that you're not allowed to purchase or build on

 

bonus if they could make them like deep ocean areas (lower the land as deep below sea level as possible) and have some whales or other large fish migrate around them or something

[FFred Koolhoven]

Well here we are January 2012 all the work and simm restarts and it is worse than ever.  It has become obvious LL has no idea or solution. What a kick in the teeth to all of those aircraft builders and dealers.  I have no choice but to save my Lindens and not waste them on aircraft I cannot use.  It use to be hit or miss now you can be certain you are not gonna be able to fly very far at all.  A friend has a property in the vicinity of Hollywood in the Blake sea and is frequently logging to find abandoned aircraft and boats stuck in her house or laying about the property.  Usually with the props running.  I don't know what its gonna take and apparently LL doesn't know either.  Theres alot riding on this you would think if those in place now can't figure it out maybe new personel are needed who can.  So for now my fun aircraft will remain tucked away in my inventory. 

[Maelstrom Janus]

One of the true joys of sl is sailing, driving, riding a horse or flying a vehicle...unfortunately crashes at borders, ban lines, security orbs and full parcels negate the pleasure....

 

SL have never done anything to tackle these issues or capitalise on people's pleasure in travelling around or exploring sl....

[Johnny2TheO]

I am very interested in finding a group or school to learn about the aviation, please if you have information about these topics please im me in world johnny2theo

                     thank you

[Ananda Ghost]

Hi to all... I see this page today, and i think i can help with people who like aviation... i make some pages about this and I am a mapper at SL Aviation... I put here some pages for if you like learn more aboy SL Aviation... Blue Skies!

- if you need contact me: http://sl-aviation.wikia.com/wiki/User:Ananda_Ghost

- airports list: http://sl-aviation.wikia.com/wiki/ICAO_codes_for_airports

- Kelly Shergood online map (for track the flights online inworld or outworld): http://shergoodaviation.com/radar.php

- tips for fly at SL: http://sl-aviation.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Definitions

- photos at Flickr about aviation: https://www.flickr.com/photos/139371690@N04/albums/with/72157661823089824

[Dura Juran]

Quote

Some of the tracks also go through the corners of regions where four sims meet 

Long ago when the Lindens conversed with residents weekly, I asked why this was.  It goes back to whoever set up mainland in 2003.

Sim crossing either worked perfectly then, or they just hoped the Universe would fall into place and sim crossings will sort themselves out.

The reason you see sim crossing signs on roads is because years ago, user experiences were listened to by Linden DPW.

If things aren't working by now, when rendering is becoming heavier in SL.  Don't hold your breath.

[Christin73]

Hollywood is a bad spot to fly into or out of. Try some place like Honnah Lee field where it's less laggy and less crowded. You basicly can get to the same places as you would from Hollywood. Also if you stay ate 100 to 100 meters you souldn't run into any skyboxes. Finnaly, the less you are wearing the better. The more you wear the more likely you are to crash. Flying can be fun jus gotta get used to SLs quirks.

[Callum Meriman]

2011 necro.

[Dura Juran]

First one to start 300 new threads in a row on exactly the same topic wins.

[Talligurl]

11 hours ago, Callum Meriman said:

2011 necro.

it jumped from Jan 13, 2012 to April, 2014 and then again necroed yesterday.

[LittleMe Jewell]

9 hours ago, Dura Juran said:

First one to start 300 new threads in a row on exactly the same topic wins.

Not new threads - they need to all be necro posts from at least 3-4 yrs ago

[Amanda Crisp]

On 4/3/2014 at 1:12 PM, Johnny2TheO said:

I am very interested in finding a group or school to learn about the aviation, please if you have information about these topics please im me in world johnny2theo

                     thank you

Have you checked out Cubey Terra and his people's? Cubey has been doing SL aircraft and skydiving for a long time, and if he's still around could probably point you in the right direction.