Starchild Magic

The Region/Estate window was exactly what I needed. Thank you!

This was a 1024m plot on a mainland region, not a Linden Home area. I tried using the terraforming tools to dig a hole for a pond, and I got a blue popup window that said, "This region does not allow terraforming" and I was not able to dig my pond. It's a rare thing, but I've been on mainland regions that don't allow voice chat, and a couple that don't allow terraforming. But thanks for trying.

Okay, I just bought a mainland parcel, and I was planning to terraform a pond into one corner. I went to dig the hole, and I got a popup that the region does not allow terraforming. Is there a way I could have known that BEFORE pouring my cash into the land? I'm really unhappy, if I had known this beforehand, I would have kept looking. (Okay, after looking at the Covenant tab, it does say that land may not be joined or subdivided. Would that be my indicator?)

I don't see the radio buttons for Sun and Moon or Local Lights, where did it go? I like having local lights on when I'm out running around, but I often turn them off when I'm taking pictures. Otherwise...I do like the Info buttons for the mini map. Very nice addition. And being able to undock the sidebar tabs is definitely good, too. It much easier to transfer inventory that way, rather than having to use Share. V2 has come a long way from its impossible-to-use beginnings. It took some time, but I've fully switched.

I bought a parcel on the mainland not long ago, and I specifically wanted something on one of the historic sims near Governor Linden's mansion. I went to the mansion, then opened the map and checked on Land For Sale (not online atm so not sure exactly what it's called). That showed me all of the parcels available in the area as yellow squares. Then I could teleport around to the ones that were about the right size and have a look at them and see how much they cost. The same can work for you. Open the map and find a waterway or ocean. Then turn on the Land For Sale and see what's available near that waterway. As an aside, mainland parcels near or on the water tend to be expensive, but they can be well worth it. In Viewer 1.23, the Land Sales tab in Search works really well for finding rental properties (and mainland, but I like using the map for that). I haven't figured out how to use the Land Sales search in V2 yet, but maybe it works just as well.

I run a group with about 350 members, and every time I go into the Members list, it doesn't completely load. As in 30 or so member names simply don't appear - their last login dates do, but not their names. I can clear group cache and relog and that fixes it, but that's a pain in the tail, especially when I have someone waiting for me to assign them to a new role. Anyone know what causes this? And is there another way to fix it? I thought maybe it was Viewer 2, but it does the same thing in all the other clients I've tried.

I'm using Imprudence to connect to another grid, and I agree, it's a good client. Maybe I'll try it on SL. Thanks for the tip.

Agreed. When I started using Emerald, I was wowed by all the extra stuff it could do. My favorites were the radar and area search (particularly helpful on gridwide hunts). But once the newness wore off, I realized that it was bogging my system down much more than the LL client did. Guess all those bells and whistles built into Emerald came at a price, at least for me. So as soon as I figured out how to move the WindLight settings from one viewer to another, I switched back to the LL viewer.

Works for me, lol!

Just wondering. I was just at Emerald's website, and it still talks about being a Second Life client and has links to downloads. Can Emerald be used to connect to other grids? Are they trying to make things right so they can be back on the TPV list?

I think the issue of camming across sim lines has received some excellent suggestions: 1. Change the whole mainland to Mature. PG sims can be moved to their own area on the grid. I don't know how many mainland sims that would affect, but it seems like a good idea. 2. Create a new land rating just for teen access. Like Zindra, it wouldn't be foolproof, but it would be an effective way to keep most adults and teens separated on the main grid. And educators and teen organization leaders could get special permission to cross from teen sims to the rest of the grid - maybe create a new account type and call it "Teen Mentor" or something. I think either one of those two could solve a lot of the problems that people foresee.

I second the question about new users. My son will be 13 soon, and he really wants to join SL, even in this kind of limited capacity. Do you let him play in traffic and accept candy from strangers too? If that didn't sound so trollish, I'd be offended. Real nice of you to assume I don't care about my own son's safety. My son's computer is in the front room where I can watch him. I know what he's doing all the time because I can - and do - peek over his shoulder regularly. Parents, like me, who teach their kids to be wary of strangers and to tell an adult when something doesn't seem right, shouldn't have any problems with their kids being on the main grid. Second Life even gives kids more tools to deal with predators than RL does - mute, AR, and the ability to teleport away or log out if someone is being lewd. The pedophelia fears are based on the assumption that it will be easy to tell that it's a teenager behind the keyboard. But I've heard nothing to lead me to believe that this will be true. The only way anyone will be able to know is if (a) they try to access a Mature sim, or (b) they let it slip in chat or IM or say so on their profiles.

I second the question about new users. My son will be 13 soon, and he really wants to join SL, even in this kind of limited capacity.

A new land rating for teenagers - I like that idea. It's a way to keep teens from camming into mature or adult areas, and could even be used to keep adults out of teen areas. Question is, how would that be different from having a separate teen grid? Still, I think it's an idea worth pursuing.

I'm trying really hard to like Viewer 2, so I've been pushing myself to use it. I've pretty well gotten the hang of it, but there are a couple of things that I still only know how to do in v1.23. Trouble is, when I switch from v2.1 to v1.23, I have to redo all of my preferences in v1.23, like it's a new install. Is there any way to keep this from happening (aside from not switching back and forth)? Or am I just stuck? Also, when I logged out of v2.1 today, my av was wearing a sweater, jeans, and shoes. But when I logged her back in with v1.23, she was totally naked! (Thank goodness I had logged out in my skybox instead of in the middle of a mall or club, lol) Is there any way to keep THAT from happening again? Thanks so much.

For the record, in case anyone else ever wants to know, I found the folder of presets. In Applications folder, find the Emerald icon. Ctrl-click and choose Show Package Contents. The path is Contents...Resources...app_settings...windlight This contains the folders of sky and water presets. In the Days folder is where you can change the day cycles and sky settings for different times of the day. Torley Linden has a video tutorial on how to do that, but I don't have the link for it just now. I'll try to find it and post it.

Oh yeah, I'm well aware of the mess surrounding Emerald right now. That's part of why I'm trying to copy those settings to the LL viewer. Can hardly have issues if I stick with software put out by Linden Labs! Thanks for the help, I just had no idea what the process would be. I'll poke around in my program files and see if I can find that folder.

I use the older LL viewer for working/playing/etc on SL, but for taking pictures, I like Emerald because it has lots and lots of WindLight presets. On a Mac, is there any way to transfer those presets from Emerald to the LL client so I don't have to switch back and forth? I'd use Emerald full-time, but my machine has to work a lot harder with it, and rezzing time is faster with the LL viewer.

Thanks. I poked around some more and found a debug setting to keep one of them turned off. I'll see if I can find any more.

I'm in the practice of unchecking rendering types and features (Advanced - Rendering - Types or Features) to cut down on lag. I always uncheck the same ones. Is there a way to have them unchecked by default so I don't have to uncheck them every time I log in? And since I'm talking about those menus...in Rendering Features, there are a couple that I don't have a clue what they do, but I uncheck them because they don't seem to affect my graphics either way. They are "Selected" and "Highlighted." Does anyone know what they do?

A gun can be used only against prim targets. But people generally buy guns to shoot other avatars with. A cage or orbiter can be used strictly for role-play purposes in a role-play area. But who hasn't seen or heard about one of these things being used to harass people in a welcome area or sandbox? An Open Collar scripted item can be used strictly to keep another avatar within a certain distance. But Open Collar was created as a bondage system for *adults* with the implication that it's for sexual purposes. (If this isn't true, then why is the Open Collar headquarters on an Adult-rated sim?) I tried all of the options on the harness, and while some of the Open Collar features have indeed been disabled, the ones that remain (forcing the wearer into a whole range of sexual postures and locking the wearer to a particular spot are the two I found), are wide open to misuse. So it's a matter of trusting the person who buys the harness only to use it to keep the child avatar within a certain range. I realize it's very easy for the wearer to get around all of this. But it's still a thin line between coralling an active tyke, and ageplay, so why leave that possibility open? Not to mention, the harness is full perm, so what's keeping anyone with a little editing experience to replace the modified script with an unaltered one? What's to keep someone from creating their own Open Collar for kids, I heard someone say? Nothing, except then their name would be listed as the creator and they'd be in a heap of trouble if they got caught. If the Animations section weren't still enabled, it might be different. If Open Collar were the only option, it might be different. But using Open Collar to create a restraint for a child avatar, trusting that it will not be misused and turned into a bondage item, is a pretty poor way to handle it. (For the record, everyone I've talked to in-world was as shocked about it as I was.) There are scripts that have only one purpose - keeping an avatar from walking too far away - with no sexual intent whatsoever, implied or otherwise. If the creator of the harness meant for it to be used only as a leash, they could have done their research and found such a script. But, in the creator's own words, "It (Open Collar) is the best script for a harness." There's my case. Apparently, most people here disagree with me.

An Open Collar harness.

Imnotgoing Sideways wrote: AR based on TOS policy, not your own personal opinion. I understand that, and that's exactly why I'm not reporting every single item in the shop, only the items that are easily interpreted as sexual items for children.

The whole shop gives me the creeps, but there are only two particular items that are that are really reportable as violating the TOS (the issue is child avatars and sexual activity). Since it's just a couple of items in the shop, I don't feel right AR'ing the shop owner. I just AR'ed the vendors today, so I don't imagine anyone at LL will even investigate until Monday. Getting more friends together to AR them is a good idea. Using alts did seem like a bad idea, because I *know* LL would know it was me, me, me and me, lol.

I found an item that someone's selling in-world that violates the TOS. I've AR'ed it once already, and a couple of friends have reported it, too. I really want to file more AR's against it (it really is a disturbing item), but I don't want to cross the line into spamming the AR system. How many AR's can I file against the item before I'm spamming - is there a set number or guideline? What about using alts to file reports - helpful or likely to get me in trouble?