[Is your skybox too low? (Here is a simple tip)]

2 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I may have missed something but..the method I was taught is:

1) Rez a cube on the ground.

2) Resize the cube to be a reasonably sized "temporary platform" (flat sheet - let's just say 10x10, etc.):

- Big enough for you to sit on, and not fall off when you go up into the sky

- Big enough to easily rez your "skybox rezzer" onto.   You do have your skybox in a rezzer, I hope!

3) Sit on the temporary platform (the cube you just rezzed and resized)

4) Edit the platform, change its location to your desired height.

Magic! Your temporary platform is in the sky. And you are sitting on it!

5) Stand up - CAREFULLY (if you want to, or wait until later).  Don't fall off the temporary platform!

6) Rez your skybox "rezzer" onto the platform. 

7) Click the skybox rezzer, and rez your skybox. 

Magic! (Delete your "temporary platform" - it may be hiding under your rezzed skybox..)

That is indeed the recommended method for building or setting up a skybox. I would add that a good rule of thumb is to make the temporary platform the same size as your parcel and aligned with its borders so once it is up in the sky you know where your parcel boundaries are.

The scripty/edity tricks are something that is meant to help if during step #4 (Edit the platform, change its location to your desired height...) your "desired height" was not quite enough to be within the Covenant and now you have a fully decked out skybox with painstakingly adjusted nick-knacks and paddy-whacks that all need to be raised higher in the sky. 

We hate having to tell residents with a beautifully done skybox that while it is great looking... it needs to be far more than 500m in the air. 😢

[Is your skybox too low? (Here is a simple tip)]

34 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

* Abnor's tip about adding 2000 m to your skybox height is also very useful when it comes to decorating your home or land, especially when you're trying to decide which chair or tree to use. Add 40 or 50 to a ground-level object's height, and it will disappear from view while still hovering over your parcel with the same x & y coordinates. Decide which item you like better, bring that one back down to the correct floor height, then delete other objects you've left hanging in the air above.

Here is a script for that. It moves the object 30m vertically for 5 minutes or until it is touched.
 

//Moves object 30m into the sky for 5 minutes when dropped into its contents. Deletes itself after returning to original position.

vector originalPosition;
vector currentPosition;

default
{

    state_entry()
    {
        llSetTimerEvent(300);
        originalPosition = llGetPos();
        llSetRegionPos(originalPosition + <0,0,30>);
        
    }
     
    touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
        llSetRegionPos(originalPosition);
        llRemoveInventory(llGetScriptName());
    }
     
    timer()
    {
        if (currentPosition != originalPosition)
        llSetRegionPos(originalPosition);
        llRemoveInventory(llGetScriptName());
    }
}

[Is your skybox too low? (Here is a simple tip)]

As many of us know (or should know if you have read the Covenant in Bellisseria) skyboxes and building platforms in Bellisseria should be kept above 2000m in the sky. If you or a friend already have a skybox or are building one and it is too low but you don't know how to move it that high, here is a very simple script that might help. 

default
{

    state_entry()
    {
        llOwnerSay("Moving to current position + 2000m");
        llSleep(1.0);
        llSetRegionPos(llGetPos() + <0,0,2000>);
        llRemoveInventory(llGetScriptName());
    }
    
}

Dropping this script in any object (as long as you can modify the object) will send the object 2000m directly up from it's current position and then delete the script from the object's contents. It is very handy if you already have your skybox all set up but neglected to place it at an altitude that is compliant with the Covenant. You can even sit on a prim or other object (like a chair) and drop the script in it and it will take you to with it. From there you can save a landmark or set up a teleporter for yourself to reach your skybox from ground level.

For objects you cannot use this script to move, the simplest way to move an existing skybox is to select and edit the object, look under the Object tab, and manually change the Z value by adding 2000 to the number. 

In this case, change 53.98655 to 2053.98655 and the object will move to that altitude. You will have to do this with each object individually. If you do this with all the objects in the skybox when you are finished the skybox will be exactly the same as it was, only at a higher altitude and in compliance with the Covenant.

Please feel free to share this tip with your fellow residents who may not be as adept at setting up or moving a skybox as others.

[How to AR an out of theme build?]

In all of our interactions with residents and explaining the Covenant the vast majority simple were not aware. A small percentage wanted to argue against some of the provisions. In which case we would sometimes suggest they might be happier using their premium tier to buy a parcel on the mainland (which does not have a covenant) or even rent land on a private estate (with its own covenant that may be more to their liking). In only a tiny handful of cases would the person then knowingly and willfully defy the Covenant. 

[Road repairs complete]

We definitely don't want to lose "all the quirky little cool things." In this case it was less "quirky" and more "broken". The 'jump the bridge' idea worked at the time (2008?). There was even a sign you could use at one time that would cause a hand buried in the road to 'flip' you and your car toward the other side. It was fun and definitely quirky, but it didn't age well with changes to physics and vehicles and region crossings over the years and that feature was disabled. With the rise in interest in pastimes like GTFO it seemed to me like it was time to retire the broken bridge. The benefit to residents in having a more usable vehicle path to the end of Route 8 outweighed the nostalgic value (and any sentimental value for me) in keeping it the way it was. I originally built it and I was the one who proposed the change. 

I'll dig though my inventory and see if I can find that plaque to "Cooter" and put it back out if it was lost in the clean up.   

Edit: I also want to publicly thank llSaharall who put up the signs people could use to rez a temporary bridge to cross. That was an ingenious and selfless act on their part. It is things like that that renew my faith in residents and their belief in community.

[SSP?]

https://gyazo.com/30ff25656b09fb9892670e51abdda404

[SSP?]

8 hours ago, diamond Marchant said:

Drive-In Movie Theater Coming to SSPMidas Touch?

just kidding

Sure. Why not?

[SSP?]

4 minutes ago, 4lice Cerise said:

Oh wow, this seems to be region Arguilleries and its hitherto unpaved Pod Road, and the foreground seems to be the protected beach on region Chiffre, hitherto unfurnished! Thank you so much, Abnor!

It always a protected beach. Now it has a couple of rezzing zones and more than just a dozen or so linden plants pine trees.

[SSP?]

[Road repairs complete]

For those of you who enjoy driving on the mainland roads, the bridge that was "out" in Davros/Fenric at the southern end of Route 8 has been fixed. 

[SSP?]

Or... it could just mean "Portal Park"

[Sakura: Let the Games Begin!]

3 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

It would be extraordinary hard to live up to the glorious things I imagined. So now I say to myself, you will be disappointed, Mari. It will be mediocre...

Expectations can skew our perceptions. Was Top Gun: Maverick the "greatest movie ever made"? Not really. Would I have liked it more if I had been pleasantly surprised and not influenced by the hype? Probably.

It reminds me of something I heard regarding the power of expectations on perception. If you leave a can of soda and a cup of coffee out for an hour the coffee will taste cold while the soda will taste warm, but objectively they are the same temperature.

[How to AR an out of theme build?]

We've never looked at the parcel line as a black and white hard line of "legal/illegal". We look at it like "not a problem/problem". A path crossing from the parcel to the road or few bushes a tiny bit between your parcel and a wall or a hedge is generally not a problem. Hanging things waaaay over the parcel line halfway to or even up to or into your neighbors parcel is a problem. Rooting huge waves or rocks or extending docks or islands outside your parcel is a problem (obviously even moreso if they are not phantom*). That sometimes even goes for things that might not seem like a problem in one location, but become a problem if everyone decided to do the same... like a boat that is simply far far too big for houseboat parcel but the part that sticks out is not immediately blocking anything. (That is what we call the "so how come they can do it and I can't?" problem.) 

So how do you know if it is a problem or not? Usually asking yourself if your next door neighbor did that would you consider it irksome? If so, then it most likely would be a problem. 

*I returned two of those belonging to people who seemed to be engaged in "surf wars" and were blocking the only access channel to an entire bay

[SSP?]

17 hours ago, yestothis said:

I'm loving the idea of greener-grass Fantasy homes.

This is what that would actually look like using the normal LH terrain textures

It is an interesting idea on its face, but all of the content made to blend with the terrain and the Fantasy color palette looks quite odd and out of place.

[Premium Plus and Linden Homes]

1 hour ago, Liaa Nova said:

Thanks! Do you know if we can put in for SSP region homes too? (The homes are built just say SSP)

Regions that start with SSP are still in progress and under construction and not released yet. I would not try to request a parcel in an SSP region simply because it may change and there is no guarantee when the region would be released. The turn around time for such a ticket like that could be weeks or months rather than days or hours.

[Sakura: Let the Games Begin!]

9 hours ago, Nika Talaj said:

There is a mystery in Taihu.  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Taihu/133/122/23

It looks like a 512 parcel without a home rezzed ... but it isn't.   There is no home controller.  It is a 288m2 rez zone.  98 prims permitted, 5 minute autoreturn.  Around it there are flowers and 2 benches facing inward, as if it was a performance space.   In the road right next to it, there is a regular land rez zone. There are steps from the road leading down into it.

What is it for?

Rez a blanket, sit on it and have a picnic? Rez a hellicopter and go for a ride? The possibilities are almost mindless.

 

[SSP?]

I think in the rush to be first to spot things people have gotten to the point many of us feel we're having things posted for public consumption (and the accompanying scrutiny/conjecture that naturally follows) while we are still knee deep in the creative process to make things unique and special and experiment with different idea and possibilities. 

If you're a creator at all you can imagine how that might be stifling to your creative process. It can make you afraid to try something different or new. 

[SSP?]

Leave is alone and let us work without constantly feeling like we have someone looking over shoulder every minute. No one enjoys feeling like they are working under a microscope. You can "report" on it when it's finished. Until it is, nothing is final anyway. 

[SSP?]

[SSP?]

Your map is out of date. The entire line is functional. 

[SSP?]

3 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I thought there might be a Bikini Bottom near Bikini Top too. The region just south of Bikini Top is Les Poissons. I wonder if this was a little adult joke by the Moles?

Adult joke? They are obviously references to icons of French culture. The bikini being a French invention and the French Chef from The Little Mermaid. Moles LOVE leetle fishiees. Don't you?

[SSP?]

You should be able to go through SSP Olive Branch now. (It was in the wrong estate. Our apologies.) 

[Premium Plus and Linden Homes]

2 hours ago, Sparkely Sugar said:

I would like a higher prim allowance as an option for LH. They can obviously do this as we have regions in Horizons and other areas with a double prim allowance.

It was only possible in Horizons and other places because they were designed from the outset to be "double prim" using Object Bonus.

Object Bonus: A region-wide multiplier for the number of prims allowed on parcels in the region. May be between 1.0 (the default) and 10.0. For example, at 1.0 a 512m2 parcel is allowed 175 objects. Set at 2.0, a 512m2 parcel is allowed 351, or (roughly) twice as many, and so on. The maximum number of prims per per region is 22,500, regardless of the object bonus.

So Object Bonus does not actually "give" more LI.  It allows the LI of the main parcel to able to be used by the resident parcels. It raises the max limit allowed on the parcels in the region, but the region as a whole still only supports the original limit.  And, once the region reaches its limit, nothing more can be rezzed on the region even if at the the parcel level it shows there is more LI available. (i.e. the region can be full even if the parcels are supposedly not.)

So why can't we do that in Linden Homes like we did in Horizons? In Horizons there is very little content in large areas of the main parcel land there. It is left mostly barren with water and very low LI content. In Linden Homes the LI of the main parcel is instead used for all the decorative content along with the much more LI costly houses than the ones provided in Horizons. So it isn't available for use by the resident parcels via Object Bonus. The method used for making parcels in Horizons "double prim" cannot be used to raise just the limit of individual parcels (in fact I don't think any method can do that) and to try and do that in an existing Linden homes region would break pretty much everything. "Double primming" a region has to be planned for from the beginning when the region is being made because it affects everything else in how that region can be made.

And before anyone says it... even if we left nothing else on the region the LI of the houses alone is enough to prevent an even otherwise totally empty region from being able to be double prim via object bonus.

24 (parcels in a region) x 351 (LI) X 2 = 16848
22,500 (Max LI on a region) - 16848 = 5652 (Max LI we can use everywhere else no matter what the parcel limit says)
24 x 250 (Max LI of a house) = 6000
6000 > 5652

It may seem obvious that we can make parcels with a higher prim limit, and we can... but it's not that simple. The not so simple part isn't as obvious.

[SSP?]

Plans also change. Originally Bellisseria was supposed to be about 400 regions.

[SSP?]

All of the community regions in Bellisseria are set up like Treeowatoor with a radio residents interested in holding community get togethers can request access to. This allows them to change the parcel stream if need be.  If anyone wants to use the space to hold scheduled events open to the public (music events, book clubs, surfing parties, or whatever) they can request to be invited to the Bellisseria Performers Group, which gives them the ability to list their events on the boards in Puffin Head at the Events Center for all residents to see. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Puffin Head/41/112/27

 

As far as tipping goes, it was decided long ago that Bellisseria would be focused on residential rather than commercial and community centers would be a space for just that, the community. There is a literal cornucopia of places residents can DJ for tips. I've been to (and worked at and even ran) some of them. Two things we don't want the community centers to be:

 1. A nuisance to residents right next to the community regions who rightfully expect a residential experience rather than large, constantly changing, out of theme resident built experience/event with sound effects, particle shows, etc. (That is what the Fairgrounds are for)

 2.. A public space turned into a private commercial venture for those who are primarily looking to make L$ rather than bringing something to the community (which inevitably leads to drama and fighting over space and access once L$ are involved) and competition to commercial music event venues.

If anyone has an idea for something they'd like to host at any of the community regions, the SS Galaxy or the Fairgrounds, you can message myself or Mischievious Mole and we can add you to the group and get you on the list for accessing the parcel radios if necessary. Membership to the Bellisseria Performers Group is by invite and is moderated by the LDPW, but it is open to all residents who wish to participate.