Trinity Blakewell

Just got one with my alt. Landlocked but right across from a small pond. If they are still available when I get home, I’ll abandon my traditional and get a Victorian, then abandon the alt’s Victorian

Prior to Christmas Decorating, I had the house done in a very light wood style. Here's the kitchen.

And here's the family room in the addition, looking out towards the front.

Well, I've maxed out my prim allowance. I do have one of the larger extensions on the house, but only a VERY LI Skybox. Upstairs in the addition is empty. Three Christmas tress in the house, though.

I was wondering if these. houses are partly a result of feedback on the Traditionals. For example, the increased size overall. The fact that so many people in the Traditionals have put up add-ons even Even Victorian version of the one story is a lot larger and has more rooms. I also think it's not a bad idea for Linden Labs to have their first several themes be styles that would be more popular. As a business, they're got to balance the creative urge with pleasing the highest number of customers (and attracting new premium members if possible). I know that there are people out there looking for something more interesting and exotic, and. hopefully more themes will continue to be released.

Also...with those two houses across from one another, the one that apparently had the fog emitter (never fully rezed for me) actually had four or five copies of it on their land. No wonder that nets were laggy there!

Any lower LI suggestions for string lights?

Well, I jumped on my scooter tonight and took a spin through a number of neighborhoods.. Less than 5% of the homes have already begun the decorating process outside. The worst case I've seen is two obnoxious homes right across from one another...one with a snow particle emitter and the other with some kind of fog emitter (both with lots of other decorations). Needless to say its rather laggy around there.

I started unpacking my Christmas decorations in SL today, and put up a Christmas Tree inside. I would guess that doesn't violate the guidelines.I'll wait to do outside decorating till Nov 25th.

I gave some thought a while back as to how an urban/highrise setting could be handled, and basically the idea was buildings where only the first and possibly second floor (for businesses) would be really "there" and the buildings were actually shells above those levels. The elevator would be really a teleport and the actual "floors" spread over different regions to allow for the LI allotment and server load. So the view from the apartments would be fake, basically. At the street level, though, a urban environment would be do-able, being able to walk from building to building, enjoying parks and public spaces, etc. And it could integrate businesses, something we don't currently have in the existing communities. I think cabins/rustic vacation homes could be a huge hit if they brought in Trompe L'oeil to design them.I'd move out of a traditional home for one of those. I am more skeptical about the mass appeal of fantasy homes. I don't know the stats on the original Linden Homes, but I'll bet the fantasy ones were the least popular.

I don’t know if it’s just me and my setup, but I have had horrible lag for about the last week. So bad that some textures in the house never Rez during my sessions in-world. Was going to check some things outside of SL like network speed tests and see if I need to change my router channel. If I can’t improve things somehow Bellisseria (Rothacker in specific) is basically broken for me. It’s giving me only slightly better performance then a crowded shopping event!

A bit pricey, that one....

Some picture of the downstairs inside...

So, I've been trying out this add-on: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/LI-Addon-Winchester-Extension-w-Patio-31-LI/17888308. Doubt that anyone could ever consider this one as not in theme as the creator has been careful to really blend the extension in with the style of the house. Before I started working on my own add-on this would have been about 80% of what I wanted - two stories on the right of the house, with a big window in back. The only problem I see is that the double-sash windows have a LOD issue and the bottom sash doesn't show up till the avatar is very close, so I think the creator needs to swap those out for another set. I thought the downstairs great room works better divided into a porch/Florida room area and an inside room, but is too small to have a closed divider. So I inserted a wide arched=opening divider wall. I'm working on some darker-hued rooms now, perhaps in anticipation of fall. I changed the front wall into an exposed brick wall using the LH brick texture.

Oh, makes sense. Here I was thinking, if you’re taking pictures against a green screen, isn’t that the sort of thing skyboxes are better for?

A houseboat near Noggin Lighthouse,,,,green screen, maybe?

Beautiful but 93LI!! The one I am working on is two stories like yours but has a 2-story picture window in back, with the second story lofted there...and the second story wraps around the back, with access to the extension from the existing balcony. And I didn’t add a balcony in front. Trying to reduce the build LI by making the walls mesh, but I am new to building with it so it will take me a while.

That’s great, and there are full perm things you can get on the marketplace too. Just make sure that the seller will allow you to give away the item. Adding your own textures to a full perm pillow or rug isn’t difficult!

So maybe an external website listing the prizes with creator name and marketplace url/slurp would not violate the covenant?

I am working on an extension build of my own right now, and it’s been a reminder of just how much work is involved in getting it right. In my case, it’s been a while since I’ve done building and it was so long ago that it was pre-mesh, so not only do I have to re-learn old techniques, I’ve got to learn how to export mesh, get all the details right as far as that goes, and then import back into SL. As far as the builders who have released add-ones so far, I consider Blushed and Fayded to be the best. There’s one creator who I won’t buy stuff from anymore, and another whose first build was pretty great, but who has had some quality control issues with some subsequent builds. Possibly they are rushing to market with the newer ones.

Since the traditional homes are in a surburban environment, I think it would be really fun to have our own version of Trick or Treating on Halloween....a Trick or Treat Hunt. Maybe a special pumpkin people could place on their doorsteps if they were participating? But I do have some questions about whether or not certain things could be in covenant. If a SL Createor that sells their wares in the marketplace or elsewhere in-world put out a pumpkin, I guess their prize would be ok as long as it was free. But what if they included a notecard or landmark to their store? What if those weren’t allowed, but there was a website that listed the vendors and their store locations?

Thank you for pulling this together. Hopefully this will reduce some frustration on the part of other community members. For those still trying to get a home...many of us were in your situation till we got one the same way you're trying.. I personally empathize with you because it took me a while, and I remember what that felt like to come on these forums and see people posting that they got and released X number of homes in X amount of time, and see people posting how much fun they're having now they have a home in Belli. All I can say is persevere. You will get one, sooner or later, if you continue trying. And try to keep some perspective about it, so it doesn't become a major drag to you in the rest of your life. Remember that activities and events on Belli are not exclusive to Belli residents, so feel free to join in whenever you'd like. On a practical note, it can be frustrating for people who work regular business hours in the Western Hemisphere that they are shut out of a lot of the timed releases. If you're off work early one day or taking a day off you might want to set up the auto-refresh so that you're able to react when a release happens. Since releases often happen on Mondays and Fridays there is an opportunity for those who have taken a long weekend. There are some auto refresh apps for mobile as well, although the one I tried for iPhone had intervals that were too short to keep the auto refreshes going. I'm pretty sure I got my house while I was on my iPhone. I remember walking down the hall at work and my hands were shaking! It was either that time, or a time that I had come home from work an hour early, which is really rare for me.

The really boxy add on that I mentioned may have been pulled from the marketplace...

. As far as I can tell, creating a second story with a add on to a one story model wouldn’t be an issue. Haven’t seen anyone try a three story add on to one of the two story models yet. As far as in theme, I have only seen two or three marketplace listings that were questionable. At the rate people are releasing add-one, we’ll likely see more of that soon. one issue I see cropping up now and then is related to size and this may be more related to aesthetics than the covenant. One seller has a massive 2 story add-on that is boxy. Another has released some add ons that literally stretch to the edge of the property although they are in theme.

I’ve thought that Bellisseria’s theme Is “American Suburb” - the houses are all similar, in a traditional/transitional style,, there are tree lined streets, parks and pools, etc. so holiday decorations would be just as thematic as pools, hot tubs, patios, decks, swing sets, sunrooms, etc.