Full region

[kwajkid]

I'm thinking of purchasing a full undelveloped region.  Is there any where in world I can see them?  The 1 picture of the regions don't show a lot.

[Lindal Kidd]

An undeveloped region is a square on the grid, 256 meters on a side.  Other than that, it can look like anything at all...all water, a big flat square of sand or grass, or a volcanic island rising out of the sea into the air.  Its appearance depends on how it is terraformed, you see.  You do NOT have to settle for one of the few different land shapes that LL offers.

Terraforming a region can be done in two ways.  One is simple, but tedious...going over it again and again with the terraforming tools.  The other is also simple.  It involves applying a special sort of texture, a "terrain file", to the region.  You can buy ready made terrain files on the Marketplace...see: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/products/search?search%5Bcategory_id%5D=562&search%5Bkeywords%5D=terrain+textures&search%5Bmaturity%5D%5B%5D=General&search%5Bmaturity%5D%5B%5D=Moderate&search%5Bmaturity%5D%5B%5D=Adult&search%5Bpage%5D=1&search%5Bper_page%5D=12

You can also find some created for OpenSim use by searching the web, and there are several people who are in the business of making custom RAW terrain files.  You can also buy software to make your very own custom terrains, but this tends to be rather expensive.

Besides the terrain file that establishes the elevation of each part of the region, the region's appearance is affected by the ground textures.  A region owner can specify up to four different ground textures, and the elevations at which these textures are to be applied.  So you can have a region that is sand from underwater to a couple of meters above sea level, then grass up to about 30 meters or so, then transitioning to a rock texture and snow on the very highest bits.  There is a random uncertainty in the exact elevation where a transition from one texture to another takes place, to add a more realistic appearance.  

If you have never sculpted a region before, there's a very inexpensive way to get experience before you spend a lot of money.  Go to http://www.osgrid.org/ .  OSGrid is a free grid that uses the OpenSim software.  It's a world very similar to, but much smaller than, Second Life.  You can set up one or more regions right on your own computer, connected to their grid.  You access OSGrid, and your region(s) with a third party viewer.  It's free, but you'll have to dig into some details to get your software up and running successfully.

[Alwin Alcott]

a full prim empty sim is like a pancake, flat with nothing. Or slightly landscped as island.

There's nothing to see, .. empty, undeveloped flat land surrounded with virtual ( not accesable!) water.

If there's already a little landscaping done if you buy it as island, there's some water, inside the measures of the sim, that is usable.

But you can make it what you want... as owner you have full powers to landscape and decorate.

If you tp around a bit you can see what others made of it.

If you really want to see one, you could tp around from a landcompany webpage... if they rent them out they will have a list whith available land you can visit... those will often be in a certain state of development already to make it more attractive.

(you will get a landagent after you soon... simply tell you'r only looking )