Chic Aeon

Actually she MAY have --- I just don't know that. Will mention. Either way, something to be aware of. I know of course that if you LEAVE Premium and then JOIN again, you get the "current" (lower) stipend. Just never dreamed that changing billing choices would trigger the same change. I am not premium so not important to me. Just very surprised.

And that is why lots of folks in the US "overpay" their taxes --- so that they get a refund of their own money the next year. Whatever works, works!

Since this post is likely going to come up easily in search, I wanted to add some info that I just found out (last eve) from a RL friend (so not a rumor LOL). I thought I knew most stuff but this really surprised me. The person who I mentioned was getting 500 LI a week in stipend from LONG ago, changed their payment choice (like from monthly to yearly or yearly to quarterly -- I don't know that detail) and her 500 LI a week became 300 a week -- the current stipend base. I had never heard about that -- likely because most folks are getting 300 and most old timers don't make changes. There is of course a possibility that it was an error in the database and if that is the case I would appreciate a Linden replying if they see this. If so I will pass along that info and she can put in a ticket. But definitely something for oldtimers to remember.

Biggest tip is: GO SLOOOOOWLY! Learn as you go. Join some free store groups (shops that you like their style) and experiment with their group gifts. If you stay you will likely want to buy a mesh body. DEMO DEMO DEMO. Play until you understand how the hud works (this can be confusing). Mesh Body Addicts website can help with this. Maitreya will give you the most choices of clothing as more folks make for Maitreya than any other brand. My favorite fancy dress is likely 3 years old now and absolutely gorgeous still. So WHEN something was made doesn't matter. DEMO!!! Go to some of the popular events and grab DEMOS of the items you like. You will also need a DEMO of the mesh body (or a couple) to try the clothes on. You CAN of course stick with the legacy (classic) body which you probably are wearing. OR you can use one of the mesh bodies that I am guessing are still available to new folks. Those mesh bodies are NOT the STANDARD though and most clothes will not fit or be usable (many reasons - don't worry about it :D). Don't spend a lot of money until you decide you want to stay :D. DEMO (honestly we say that a lot here and people just don't seem to get it.

There are two different answers here. For general sizes you can see what size things will be in the UPLOADER before uploading. If you want to know what size a head "should be" for example you can get a copy of the SL basic avatar and compare it. Here is one place: https://blog.machinimatrix.org/avatar-workbench/ This is a BLEND file but you can open and hopefully export in the file format you need. To make a GARMENT for a mesh avatar inworld you will need to have a developer kit for the specific body. These are NOT easy to come by in the you need to prove that you are a viable creator before the body maker will give you the files you need. You could of course make your own body and accompanying clothing. Sounds like you have the skills. Good luck!

Flowey make some "very flat" tops and I have been able to wear them with Maitreya find just by changing my sliders. I am pretty flat really but I just tried getting flatter and moved from 43 to 33 which to me is the point where things look unnatural in regular clothes. Note of course that the better the mesh maker the more the clothes will CONFORM to you body. Since Maitreya has by far the biggest piece of the mesh body pie, then it would likely be good to start there and see how the clothes you like work on Lara. That will be a big deciding thing --- and of course your skin choice. Good luck.

It is a bit over $1 a month yes. Your double prim 1024 is going to be PRICEY to start out with. It isn't free, so that needs to be figured in somewhere. It will cost you $5 US tier per month (it would be "free" if you made a premium alt and a group and both donated to that group). IF you trade in the $300 (or $600 if you go the alt rout) to pay tier you can't also count that in your "final costs above". You are "double dipping" so to speak. So one or the other. The two alts being premium is your best bet moneywise (again talked about here often) BUT if you want a double prim lot --- again VERY VERY EXPENSIVE. Someone sold some Horizon land here for $21,000 and it went very quickly. I went over and checked prices after that and saw WHY it went so quickly LOL. You might find a deal, but don't count on that. If you weren't premium then there is no way to tell what "normally" would be since private land has many different "leasing costs" (the equivalent of tier). It should be noted however that you can almost always rent land for less on mainland (what you would have if premium) for LESS THAN TIER -- if you shop well. If you pick a good landlord with a long history you have MOST of the power you would have on mainland. I think you need to get a bit more sleep before deciding. Premium in most cases doesn't actually SAVE you money except if you stick with the free tier lot (and then too the COST of the lot would need to be amortized over time).

Well you ARE paying in that money actually. LOL. Whether you pay your premium yearly or monthly, you pay Linden Lab and The Lab "gives you back" some of your money. Long ago before I joined the stipend was 500. I only know one person that still gets that (a friend of a friend who I have met in SL). Before that there was the ability to get a "forever" account. This of course was when the grid was very new. I suspect the whole deal with the payment and the stipend came about for cash flow purposes. It is still a good thing for both the lab and the citizens. But LL isn't ACTUALLY giving you anything :D. You can live just as well by NOT being Premium as has been discussed on these forums many times. It's all just a matter of choice and if the other perks like more groups and easy access to busy events are worth it to you.

Thanks for adding that to the thread.

I have read about some specific issues with 1050 graphics cards and SL that sounded pretty dire. Since I don't have that card and have no issues I wasn't paying much attention to the exact model but a search of these forums would be good before buying OR perhaps someone that DOES remember can add a comment. I think there is a JIRA on the problem.

EDIT: I see from reading other comments that there was likely never a Maitreya mesh garment at all but leaving this as it is an important concept :D. ********************************** Not everyone that labels their products as a certain brand HAS the kit needed to actually make the garment fit correctly. They may guess or they may have a "bootlegged" copy (stolen) or they may just not be that good at making clothes. I have no idea about the brand you mentioned. The comment was a GENERAL one. Also many brands buy mesh from other makers (or several) and texture it so all garments of the same brand do not fit the same. The TRY DEMO rule still applies even if you buy from the same brand over and over :D.

If your body is poking though the pants then you need to look at the ALPHA tab on the HUD and click off areas where things are poking through. If it just doesn't fit, then that is a lesson learned as everything sold as "Maitreya" doesn't necessarily fit. The first lesson of shopping in SL is TRY THE DEMO BEFORE YOU BUY. Also make sure that you are wearing the MAITREYA version of the pants as many designers make versions for different bodies and they are all in one pack. Beyond that, we need more information :D. Good luck.

There are actually some excellent middle aged male skins out there. Unfortunately a search of the Marketplace comes up with a couple of brands -- neither that would be my picks for very different reasons that don't matter here. I suggest looking around INWORLD would be your best plan. Unfortunately for new folks that don't want to jump into the whole mesh body thing (which I really don't think you should do now :D) it is more difficult as many creators are making only for mesh bodies now. Two things are very important. DEMO the skin on your body as it will NOT look like the vendor photo unless perhaps the same shape is included in the skin pack (happens sometimes). Note that some skins will be called "classic" for the older style avatar which we are assuming you are using. The other will be for various male mesh bodies (Slink, Signature, TMP etc will show up on the vendor photo). You cannot wear a skin made for a mesh body on a classic body. YES VERY CONFUSING. Take your time. Maybe getting a free beard on the Marketplace or whatever would help (or a mask) LOL. Try to think of it as a learning adventure and remember we have all been new at one time :D.

Yes, I knew that but honestly I am sure that they get LOTS of folks forget to make the "to yearly" change (if they stick with it) or forget to cancel (if they don't) -- hence the reoccurring specials a few times a year. Same with so many reoccurring charges in real life. For those who signed up on the deal (or on a similar future deal) here is where you can change your payment method.

Just for the future, the YEARLY choice is by far the best deal and has always been. So you might want to change to yearly after your three months is up :D.

Fixed long LONG ago. This is a month old post :D. I have had very bad experiences with JIRA so don't do that :D. The devs have been really good on fixing things (I report now on the GAMES forum but haven't needed to in awhile).

Wow that really IS bad ^^. I thought the point of the new search rating matrix was to penalize folks that tagged their items with inappropriate keywords, the idea being that people looking for a Maitreya Top would not by Belleza shorts (etc.) and the higher percentage of lookers that buy, the better your product rates in the listings. It doesn't seem to be working too well. There could also be people being paid to buy products and hence the listings -- even if tagged incorrectly -- get higher in the ratings because of "product sales". Hard to say what is going on and why things are so lopsided. I had never even heard of that creator. It's not like they are someone VERY well-known that you would expect to be at the top of the listings.

The two regions are NOW active -- and new areas have been added each week :D. The HUD only shows a few of the areas at a time so if you don't play often it is easy to miss them. The larger island from the OP is -- to be fair -- only PART in glytchs (one larger part of an island) with many other areas attack free and pretty obviously set up for people visiting. In fact I saw a boat moored there today and two folks visiting and exploring -- not hunters. So multipurpose. It is likely that the thought behind the builds was only partly glytch oriented. It could very likely be though of a adding more places to explore and something to see on the horizon besides empty endless sea. Personally, I LIKE empty endless sea but I think I am in the minority there :D.

I think that many of us that make mesh and at least are TRYING to make it close to "game asset standards" would have welcomed a tighter hand in the uploads department -- at the BEGINNING. Once again I will point to Cloud Party as an example. But now? That ship has sailed. There is so much poorly designed (heavy) mesh with nastly LODS that new rules now would do very little good. Unless of course you are suggesting that The Lab tests all content to see if it complies to its imaginary new standards -- and removes non-compliant items from the servers :D. There are plenty of folks here on the mesh forums who were testing as mesh was implemented long ago. It was never going to be great. They knew that. It has improved and we no longer fall though edges of floors because of faulty uploader physics -- that's a plus. SL is what it is and has always been that. It never was perfect and it never was up to "game" standards. What it has always been is a place where people can come and create and in many ways "live their dream". Do we have to work around stuff? Absolutely! Do we complain from time to time? Yep! But many of us are still here and enjoying ourselves and happy that we have this imperfect world to call home.

Most shops are on the Marketplace. Not all and their absence I am sure is purposeful in the cases of big name mesh body designers for example :D. But I read an official quote the other day about the number of items on the Marketplace and IF I remember correctly (I think it was Dakota that mentioned) it was somewhere around 5 Billion (with a B) items. There are currently 5.4 million active listings on the Marketplace. - Dakota Linden The thread was about how new items ended up far down in the listings because of the way the Marketplace weights search. I was very surprised at the number of items on the Marketplace. Many of those of course are gacha resales and many are demos; still a big number for me. It IS difficult to move up in the listings so that people can then FIND your item and then hopefully buy :D. And that article was from two years ago. Concurrency has gone down steadily since then. I am making about the same or a bit more than I did two years ago, but I am also producing a lot more. So it is harder than it was then (or even long before then) to make big bucks in SL. Folks still do it. I am not one of them LOL,

The little bit parted in the middle (lips) is a function of the heads (at least my Lelutka has that). Much of the rest of the look while partly dependent on the mesh head you choose had MUCH to do with the underlying shape (assuming you have a Bento head). So playing around with the shape sliders should get you that look. As mentioned, it really shouldn't be that difficult to achieve. That said, understanding what those shape sliders DO takes some time and experimentation. Just keep at it and remember that perfection really isn't all its cracked up to be :D.

I suggest spending a day looking at the various rentals (apartments and homes) listed in the classified. Honestly I do this from time to time just for fun and to see what is out there. It is a very enjoyable time (I think so anyway) and you will likely have a MUCH better idea of what your choices are by the end of the day. From there, pick your favorite. Communities are nice if you like company. And you can rent land easily for less than a linden a prim (mine is about .75 per prim) which gives you lots of options if you want to shop for a home and put down your own building and decorate. There are so many options in SL the trick is finding what will work best for you. Yearly premium is about $1 US per month after your "stipend" so a Linden home is an option, but honestly they are getting a bit outdated by now and you can probably find something you like better. Now and then there are even free places if you are a peruser of the classifieds

Also note that for "all practical purposes" the bonus is not useful unless there are a LOT of folks in the group donating. This has been discussed many times :D. Since 512 is the least anyone can pay on having and extra few square meters does no good at all. Long ago and far away there was a big push (and it actually worked) to have big groups donating land "for the greater good". And for that the bonus works. I have been in a group for almost ten years that has NEVER used those extra bonus prim LOL and I am sure there are tons of folks out there in the same situation. You will want to set your tier to whatever will cost you $5 since you get $5 free. :D. Gotta run. Phone.

I know someone who ALWAYS triangulates before uploading (not with the SL settings in Blender but in the Modifiers). I have never had an occasion like yours but it certainly a good thing to remember. Thanks for coming back and reporting. That is a big part of the whole process on the forums. Glad you finally got it!

It is true that rezzed items that disappear frequently come back the next day. I lose my Kitty often and she happily returns. If that doesn't happen you can file a support ticket (available from the website backend). Choose "Inventory" I think as the issue. You do not need to be premium for this. If you know the EXACT name of the item you lost you have a fairly good chance of getting it back. In general though, once inventory is lost, it stays lost even if you file a ticket and the devs try and get it back. And it does seem like they should have a redelivery with something that techy. BUT if it was a no copy item, well then that answers that question. https://support.secondlife.com/contact-support/