Mainland Vehicle Users

[Polenth Yue]

In the long term, I'd like to make my mainland area a bit more welcoming for those using vehicles. So I wondered if any vehicle users might like to talk about stuff they find handy. For example, for vehicle parks/rez areas, how many prims and what sort of return time do you need? For fliers, what height above the ground do you prefer to fly at? Do you land on the ground or prefer floating landing platforms? Are floating landmarks a nifty surprise or a pain? Anything else landowners can do to make it easier?

(I'm taking leaving free prims and object entry on as a given.)

[Hugsy Penguin]

I used to have a vehicle rez area.  I never had any problems with it.  I got rid of it as part of dumping a major chunk of my land.

I used 60 minutes for auto-return.  Since I had a lot of land, I usually had over 1000 prims free but that’s overkill.  I’d say keeping 100 prims free would be good since that should allow up to 3 physical vehicles to be rezzed.  And, of course, like you know, keep build, object entry, and scripts enabled for everyone.

I still have the floating airport (what I call Hugsy Penguin Skyport) but it’s much smaller now.  I have a landmark set at the end of Runway 18.  When I come in to land, I have the landmark shown on the map.  That shows a red beam in-world where the bottom of the beam is at the surface of the runway.  I get myself lined up going due south, heading straight for the beam, and flying just above where it stops.  When I do it right, I’m lined up perfectly on the runway when it finally rezzes.



[Baloo Uriza]

I've been considering putting a driver's manual together similar to the Oregon DMV's manual, based on conventions that appear in SL.

[Polenth Yue]

Thanks for the answers. How long is your runway, Hugsy?

[Hugsy Penguin]

The runway is due North/South and is 8 meters wide and 128 meters long.  Most of the land adjacent to the runway is owned by neighbors.

[Baloo Uriza]

So... runways 18/36?

[Hugsy Penguin]

Yes, there's runways 18/36. North end is at Suisun (140, 254, 254) which is the landmark I use help line myself up for landing.

I have to make improvements to markings and lighting which I'll do when I can get time.  The south end of the runway is just runway.  So, if you veer off, you'll fall off, LOL.  The north end is wider.

[Liisa Runo]

I mainly drive on the roads. Rez area is very nice thing to have. Usually it is enough to leave unused prims for just one vehicle (32prims). But border crossings are getting better and better all the time. Maybe some day we get more vehicle users.

Autoreturn on the vehicle rez area dont need to be long. One or 2 minutes is enough to rez a vehicle and sit on it. Object entry is not needed since seated objects ignore that flag. But then again, no real reason to limit object entry anyway.

If you make some paved road from LL road to your rez/parking area. Try to make it nice looking. Most of the LL road textures are in the library. And if there is some kind of wall between the road and your parcel, instead of building a ramp over the wall, send a ticket as "linden parcel issues" and ask a linden to remove piece of the wall so you get nice road access. The linden who read tickets in this category usually respond to the tickets in one or 2 days.

I rarely fly vehicles but when i do, i usually travel around 600m altitude. I land on the ground but could also land on floating platform if it is provided to me. Not sure if floating platform would be used much. Everybody travel at different altitudes and would be silly to have platform in all altitudes. If you make floating platform, make sure it is high enough so it is not ruining the view of your neighbors.

[Willow Danube]

I am not particular about the details of the rezzing zone. I think what would help is that we can find those spots on the map. There are many times when my bike had a mind of its own and will unsit me and zoomed away leaving me stranded in the middle of the road. Since I do not usually use the map to track my cruising, I won't have any idea where I started and I prefer not to go back and start all over again. Jeogeot road is pretty good with putting up signs of the next available rez zone.

I only wish it could be more visible on the map itself.

[Baloo Uriza]

That would be Michael and his moles over in the Linden Department of Public Works, Bay City Public Works/Bridgeworks, Second Life Railroad, Kama City Metro Tranport Authority, or Zindra Department of Transportation depending on location.

[Ganelon Darkfold]

It doesn't need a lot of rez time.  A couple minutes is plenty, unless maybe the scenery or setting are especially good, in which case a little longer might be nice to allow for setting up and taking some "on location" pics of one's favorite vehicles.

 

If the rez area will be near your shop, make sure there's an obvious entry or doorway.  A few times when I've been riding around, I stopped because a place looked interesting to maybe do a little shopping at, but I couldn't find any actual way in.  Some sort of a sign or marker so one knows it is a rez point is always good.  An item or sign where one can obtain a landmark is nice.  Sure, it's easy enough to add a landmark from the viewer menu, but an item or small sign is a good reminder so one doesn't get 15 min down the road and then think "I should have landmarked that place.."

 

I fly (or boat) more often than I drive.  In RL, the rule for airplanes (in the US) is no less than 1000 ft above the tallest nearby item over populated areas like cities or towns.  So 300+ meters is close enough to that minimum.  Over "less congested" areas, it's 500 ft (call it maybe 150 meters), and one is only supposed to go lower over unpopulated regions or open water.  Now, that's for safety reasons in RL, but I personally feel it's also a good rule of thumb in Sl to keep it looking and feeling somewhat realistic as well as to try and avoid annoying people.  Helicopters and hang gliders and etc are allowed to go lower, but they're kind of made for it.  I land on the ground, but floating plaforms could be nifty to land on, so long as one has some way of knowing that it's actually allowed.

 

So I usually try to stay 300-500 meters up in airplanes (or spaceships) unless over open water or coming in for a landing at an airport.  I also usually try to stay well away from any skyboxes or high floating items, since I usually figure people put them way up in the air because they want privacy.  So I wouldn't usually even get close enough to see it was a landing platform, and even if I did, I'd usually assume it's private. 

[Marianne McCann]

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Polenth Yue wrote:

In the long term, I'd like to make my mainland area a bit more welcoming for those using vehicles. So I wondered if any vehicle users might like to talk about stuff they find handy. For example, for vehicle parks/rez areas, how many prims and what sort of return time do you need? For fliers, what height above the ground do you prefer to fly at? Do you land on the ground or prefer floating landing platforms? Are floating landmarks a nifty surprise or a pain? Anything else landowners can do to make it easier?

 

(I'm taking leaving free prims and object entry on as a given.)

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For cars:

Rez zones: good. I'd love yo have them be a bit more plentiful than they are now, particularly on the "legacy" roads on the Sansara continent. I don't need a long autoreturn in the rez zones, cuz I see them as rez-and-go. I do like the roads that have good markings for sim crossings.

For Boats:

Clearly marked rez zones. Some do have buoys, some do not (Northern Passage between Shermerville and Cyclops). some have no rez zones (Gulf of Lauren). Again, I don't need a long wait time in the rez zones.

For trains:

Blah, blah rez zones, though these seem a lot better on the rails than anywhere else. Block signaling would be nice, so I'd know if there were trains ahead, but no need to the signals to stop progress. I'd love to have whistle markers (that maybe trigger trains to whistle) too, and for the grade crossings to have functional bells, but beggars and choosers. 

For Planes:

More runways, ground based if possible. Also with fuel (Saunders and Terra) pumps. I like flying at around ±100m. High enough to avoid a lot of ban line hassles, not high enough to not see the ground. Not sure what you mean by floating landmarks. 

[Baloo Uriza]

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Marianne McCann wrote:

For trains:

Blah, blah rez zones, though these seem a lot better on the rails than anywhere else. Block signaling would be nice, so I'd know if there were trains ahead, but no need to the signals to stop progress. I'd love to have whistle markers (that maybe trigger trains to whistle) too, and for the grade crossings to have functional bells, but beggars and choosers. 

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Actually, most of the SLRR on Heterocera Atoll have block signals these days at every siding.

[Marianne McCann]

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Baloo Uriza wrote:

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Marianne McCann wrote:

For trains:

Blah, blah rez zones, though these seem a lot better on the rails than anywhere else. Block signaling would be nice, so I'd know if there were trains ahead, but no need to the signals to stop progress. I'd love to have whistle markers (that maybe trigger trains to whistle) too, and for the grade crossings to have functional bells, but beggars and choosers. 

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Actually, most of the SLRR on Heterocera Atoll have block signals these days at every siding.

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I'll have to check that out. I've only see the switch signals.

[Baloo Uriza]

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Marianne McCann wrote:

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Baloo Uriza wrote:

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Marianne McCann wrote:

For trains:

Blah, blah rez zones, though these seem a lot better on the rails than anywhere else. Block signaling would be nice, so I'd know if there were trains ahead, but no need to the signals to stop progress. I'd love to have whistle markers (that maybe trigger trains to whistle) too, and for the grade crossings to have functional bells, but beggars and choosers. 

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Actually, most of the SLRR on Heterocera Atoll have block signals these days at every siding.

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I'll have to check that out. I've only see the switch signals.

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Yeah, some longer sections of mainline only have switch signals, would be nice to have autoblocks there.

[Kenny Carfield]

I enjoy driving on the mainland but I have encountered a few problems. There are Auto Traffic creators, I think they should be phantoms, so annoying to be rammed by a driverless car and not knowing to stop. They have a start and end point I know and appearently they know too and that's why they just keep ramming you, to get to point B. And I will go back and check again but some of them are on the wrong side of road. So maybe placement needs to be adjusted a little. I do tend to stop and look at shops on my drives as well. And it would be nice for shopping areas to have a shoulder to pull over onto to keep road clear for others. Also I have stepped out of my car to check out a shop and my vehicle was immediatly returned. I would think the time would be a little more.  Also when I see a problem in regards to slbridges being out and or vehicles stuck in the air due to sim crossings, Is the best place to report that, Through Support ticket?

 

Kenny Carfield

[Baloo Uriza]

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Kenny Carfield wrote:

There are Auto Traffic creators, I think they should be phantoms, so annoying to be rammed by a driverless car and not knowing to stop.

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Phantom or not, they're annoying.  I report 'em.

[Rufus Darkfold]

I installed a warning prim in front of my neighbor's otherwise invisible edge-of-sim banlines.

[Hugsy Penguin]

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Kenny Carfield wrote:

Also when I see a problem in regards to slbridges being out and or vehicles stuck in the air due to sim crossings, Is the best place to report that, Through Support ticket?

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For a bridge being out (or any other problem with Linden Department of Public Works objects), a support ticket (a.k.a., support case) is the best way to get it fixed.  Use Land & Region and then Linden Lab owner Parcel Issues.

For vehicles stuck due to sim crossings, I've had luck by simply right-clicking them.  They have been disappearing immediately before even selecting an option.  Otherwise, you can contact the vehicle owner.  If all that fails maybe a support case will work but I've never submitted one for this particular issue.

[Baloo Uriza]

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Hugsy Penguin wrote:

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Kenny Carfield wrote:

Also when I see a problem in regards to slbridges being out and or vehicles stuck in the air due to sim crossings, Is the best place to report that, Through Support ticket?

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For a bridge being out (or any other problem with Linden Department of Public Works objects), a support ticket (a.k.a., support case) is the best way to get it fixed.  Use Land & Region and then Linden Lab owner Parcel Issues.

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Michael will also install gaurdrails to keep vehicles out of adjacent properties at the abutter's or road user's request, and will create gaps or remove gaurdrails to allow driveways and private streets to connect.

[161488303349]

the person who owns the vehicles that autodrive on the mainland roads has changed the scripts again seems like

when you on the road the vehicles now detect you that they are close to you and fly over you. maybe bc was to many ARs about them bumping into other road users. not sure but seems like the explanation for why the scripts been changed

[Baloo Uriza]

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16 wrote:

when you on the road the vehicles now detect you that they are close to you and fly over you. maybe bc was to many ARs about them bumping into other road users. not sure but seems like the explanation for why the scripts been changed

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Better, but still rather hacky to do when the alternative is to set up vehicle rezzers that only work on-demand when someone presses a button.  Kama City MTA does this (and has their own dedicated infrastructure).

[Qie Niangao]

But hardly anybody rides that Kama City monorail.

(It also has problems, so even fewer have tried riding it many times, as I have. I honestly don't know what's wrong with it, but it crashes out way more often than my own vehicles, and not only on sim crossings. That, however, is not what I meant to discuss here.)

In contrast, I've actually seen some folks riding that little pod that cruises around a few sims in the center of Kama City, with or without riders.

It's just very different to see a vehicle pass by on the road than it is to come upon a vehicle rezzer. For one thing, those passing vehicles give a sense of activity, even when there's no human around. If instead the only vehicles we'd ever encounter have real passengers, we could wait a long, long time before we see any.

But it's more than that: those passing vehicles seem to invite boarding much more than having to track down a rezzer and request a vehicle. I think that's why the pods get riders and the monorail doesn't.

Rezzing a vehicle on demand is absolutely more efficient -- or it would be, if the function of merit were meters travelled per CPU cycle. But in a world with point-to-point teleports, the only value of "meters travelled" is the inherent joy of the experience. And there's some joy in watching vehicles pass by, whether there's anybody riding them or not -- or there can be, if we permit ourselves enjoyment of it.

(That's not to say I'm a total fan of the automated vehicles on Mainland roads, but that's a more technical discussion than I'm motivated to pursue at the moment.)

[Baloo Uriza]

Well, that could readily be fixed if it were more obvious where the stations were at street level.  Cities do a good job of putting out street furniture to let you know where a public service vehicle is going to show up.

[Qie Niangao]

It's really not the same thing, though.  Certainly the Kama City monorail stations are pretty obvious -- they're close together and there's this big overhead beam between them, so they're hard to miss, but nobody follows those beams and finds those stations.

I even made a map of them because I think they're a cool concept.

But there's just nothing like seeing one pass by to inspire ridership, and even if they were as much fun as a rollercoaster, there simply aren't enough people around to make that happen very often.