Atomic Shenanigans

 Grid Drive Blog 23/03/24 - Atomic Shenanigans.

Hi again everybody. Here I am again with details of another adventure I became involved in against my will the other day. It's a hard job keeping the world secure from the Penguin Menace. 

The day started normally enough. I got a dodgy suggestion from DoSL;

Christi Charron: Tour the festival and see the awesome food truck displays

Starbright Wingtips: hmmm, a food truck tour, I am suspicious

Starbright Wingtips: it'll probably involve drugs, again.

Starbright Wingtips: mmm, ice creams, lets get some.

Starbright Wingtips: I was going to get a lemon ice, then I remembered the warnings about not eating yellow snow, who knows if it's really lemon.

Starbright Wingtips: anyway, lets have a look around.

We wandered around the food truck convention for a while, trying the various burgers and BBQ on offer. Overall it was a lovely area and we noticed some details thar show that our overlords are on top of things totally;

Starbright Wingtips: city newspaper is 4 years old, I am glad Linden are keeping things up to date. 

But eventually our culinary experiments caught up with us and we headed over to the long line of portacabins to, err, powder our noses. This is where thins really went a bit mad, I am sure it had nothing at all to do with the coke. All of a siddent there was a bright flash and when I opened the portapotty door I saw a new landscape;

Starbright Wingtips: we got flushed out i guess

Starbright Wingtips: I must admit it's not where I expected to end up. I remember that sewage plant from the last drive. Unless it was all a bad dream, it's hard to remember.

Starbright Wingtips: anyway, it looks nice enough, lets explore

We wandered along downhill towards the outskirts of a strange town and came to a road. It appeared we might have a lot of walking to do, so I did what anyone in our situation would do, I stole a vehicle.

Starbright Wingtips: lets use this, hop in

Starbright Wingtips: oh, I don't mind cries of "omg we're going to die". I'll be screaming just as loud.

So we set out driving aimlessly across Belli, although I was sure something freaky was going on and I kept my eyes out for penguins at all times. The roads of Belli were as treacherous as ever and we did encounter a few more unfortunate travellers who had also been sucked into the portapotty pipes. 

Starbright Wingtips: I f**king hate the lamposts of Belli

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): yes

Aᴘᴘʏ (appaloosahorse) shouts: it sucks! that's the challenge

Starbright Wingtips: stupid road

Chris Camberley-Lionheart (chrisger): rolls eyes

Having found a stretch of road with some serious potholes I decided that it'd be a lot smoother ride if we just went offroad;

However, offroad Belli has just as many hazards as the street do;

Starbright Wingtips: i hate the trees too, lol

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): lol

Despite all of these challanges we eventually found ourselves at a railway station and a little voice in the back of my head was telling me that the cops were probably out looking for the bike by now, so I decided we ought to swap to another mode of transport. Luckily there was an old tram at the station, so I, err, borrowed it for a while.

The coke from earlier was really kicking in at this point and so as we toured Belli a certain amount of confusion arose over which direction we should be going, which was good going considering we only had two choices, ahead or reverse. 

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): are we going the wrong way?

Starbright Wingtips: yes, lol

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): the signal is red

Starbright Wingtips: where did we go wrong?

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): this is confusing

Starbright Wingtips: lets have some more coke, it might clear things up.

We travelled through Belli observing the wonderful scenery with a kind of glassy eyed wonder, utter profound "wow" and "cool" comments and other conversational gems

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): oops

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): fixed it

Starbright Wingtips: yay

Starbright Wingtips: we're on linden turf, so keep an eye out for penguins

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): lol

هرزاده (dancingfireflys): yes

Starbright Wingtips: I like the scenery here, even things like having a mix of trees

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): I like the houses to, they give me a sense of enormous well-being. 

We eventually reached the end of the line and were just pondering what we should do next when I got a call on my mobile. It was spooky, almost as if we were being watched;

Starbright Wingtips: Hello, who is this?

Christi Charron: If you lived here, you'd be home right now!

Christi Charron: You would also be my neighbor as my house is near here :)

Christi Charron: Let's head to the dock

Starbright Wingtips: err, ok I guess. We're doing this because ....?

Christi Charron: There's someone waiting there you need to talk to.

So we walk though the outskirts of the town and approach the shoreline where we see a small dock with some seaplanes parked next to it. We see a suspicious looking short person waiting on the dock wearing what looks like a trenchcoat and fedora. I walk up with a cheesy grin and wave

Starbright Wingtips: Wotcha matey. Have you lost your preciousssss?

Warship Waifu: Hey Starbright. I'm sure you're one of Christi's "Let's Go See Pretty Things" grid drives right now, but your help is needed in the gulf.

Starbright Wingtips: see, it's those bloody penguins again, I bet you!

Warship Waifu: We have a "Broken Arrow" situation we discovered recently while looking through old top secret military records.

Warship Waifu: Years ago two submarines were sent out, one carrying a large "tactical" nuclear warhead, the other sub was just a decoy.

Warship Waifu: The two subs never arrived, and they were eventually forgotten about over time, they likely collided shortly after leaving port.

Warship Waifu: Our plan is to find the two submarine wrecks using sonar from a boat, then search the wreckages using deep sea vehicles.

Warship Waifu: We need someone to retrieve the sonar and take it to the search team at the JGA marina, as our delivery driver had a bull-riding accident last weekend.

Warship Waifu: I contacted you because you're known for your reliability and speed, and we only have the budget for one more day of operation.

Starbright Wingtips: bull riding eh? nasty

Warship Waifu: Please go retrieve the sonar device from a warehouse in Tulagi, and take it to the search team at the JGA Marina

Starbright Wingtips: and this is all official, is it? hmmmmmm. Ok I guess the quickest way to get there is to "borrow" one of these planes. It goes against every instinct I have to break the law by taking someone else's vehicle, but this is an emergency, right?

So with no further ado we waved farewell to the totally not dodgy person giving us dodgy instrctions which may or may not be official and we began our flight south to the Jeoget Gulf. It was at this point we started to suffer from some electronic warfare interference with our GPS ((Navhud))

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): i am so confused

Starbright Wingtips: why

شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): it is all showing up on screen in some strange language

Starbright Wingtips: penguin hacking

20240323 Nav HUD: オフロード車両に乗って続行します。しつこいですが、飛行機は削除しないでください

[11:47] Starbright Wingtips: it must be

[11:47] Starbright Wingtips: they want the nukes

We climbed out of the plane and began to look for a vahicle to take us to the warehouse on the docks where the sonar was apparently being stored. I could see we were in a military area so in order to blend in and not arouse any suspicion, we stole a military looking vehicle;

We drove past bunkers and tanks and guns galore, keeping our eyes peeled for odd stuff and eventually pulled up at the warehouse. There didn;t seem to be anyone around so we wandered inside;

As we were looking around for something that looked like a sonar we heard a voice from behind us and a large dark figure emerged from behind a rack of shelves and spoke to us;

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): Hi :) I am helping with the warhead salvage operation and saw you over there

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): If you're looking for the sonar device, it hasn't arrived yet

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): It is stuck in transit still

Starbright Wingtips: Typical, I blame penguins!

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): I'll locate the sonar device for you but it'll take a few minutes, then you can go pick it up as this operation is low on time and budget

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): Until then, you can wait in the lounge located in the building to your SE

So we wandered over the road to the bar, it was timely stop as we were on a Mandated Union Rest Break by then anyway, so we killed some time in the bar.

Starbright Wingtips: I guess we'll just have to wait here for Cpt. Brightflame Reaper 

Starbright Wingtips: It's looks like drivers of SL encourages drink driving, hmmmmmmm.

Starbright Wingtips: but I guess it's ok, we'll mostly be in boats from here by the sounds of it

* A few Minutes Later *

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): Okay, I located the sonar shipment finally

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): The crated sonar is stuck in transit in a warehouse south of here in the town of Eifukucho

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): I'll send the location to your Nav HUD now so you can go retrieve it and deliver it to the search team, so they can use it to find the sunken submarines

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): Good luck! You should head back to your plane.

We headed back to the jeep and then drove back through the maze of field fortifications and equipment to the airfield. I was very glad to see that this region was prepared for the inevitable penguin attack once we managed to recover the nukes. Still musing on this threat we climbed back aboard the seaplane and took off heading south. Our navigation instruments took us dangerously close to a volcano but we managed to land without too much drama, apart from running over a pedestrian on the runway. oh well. We parked next to the terminal and as I stopped the engines I receoved a call on my mobile;

Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): Hey Starbright.  The shipping manager at the Eifukucho warehouse is Ramos Regent.

Starbright Wingtips: How did you get my number, wtf?

[15:16:56] Cpt. Street Brightflame Reaper (street.repine): Never mind that, Ramos will meet you at the warehouse and should be there when you arrive or shortly afterwards. Now you have to drive to Eifukucho to pick it up.

So we headed through the terminal and out to the car park where I spotted a likely looking vehicle with a notoriously easy to break ignition system;

We drove south, keeping our eye out for spies, penguins, air pirates and zombies. After an uneventful drive we reached our destination and parked carefully;

We walked into the warehouse where a surprisingly ordinary chipmunk approached us;

Ramos Regent: Hi! Capt. Street said you were on your way to pick up a crate in Eifukucho

Ramos Regent: Unfortunately the warehouse is locked as the normal warehouse manager was struck by a dirigible yesterday :/

Starbright Wingtips: Oh, another accident, it's not at all suspicious that everyone we need to speak to is injured or missing. I think there's something fishy going on.

Ramos Regent: If you'll wait in my family's bar around the corner, I'll make sure your drinks are free!

Starbright Wingtips: Sure, I need to top up my booze levels a little, I have more driving to do yet. 

Starbright Wingtips: what was that old song "have a drink, have a drive"

Miss Della (della.randt): lol, yes

* A few minutes later *

Ramos Regent: Hello, I have unlocked the shipping facility and you may now go retrieve your crate!

Ramos Regent: I apologize for the wait.

Ramos Regent: You can take the train to the shipping facility to pick up your crate, as parking there is limited.

So we staggered over to the elevated railway station and climbed up to the platform to await the train. It was only a minute before it arrived which may have been due to normal Japanese efficiency, or it might have been due to the strange feeling of being watched that we were all beginning to notice. Once it arrived we clambered aboard;

The train pulled out and it was only a couple of stops later that our stop came up, we exited the train and wandered about the town for a while until we located the warehouse with the sonar in;

We eventually found the warehouse, walked in and saw the sonar right away, sitting in a crate in the middle of the floor, not suspicious at all. Once we had managed to steal a dolly, we were able to wheel the crate back to the station and back onto the train. After an uneventful return journey on the train we go back to the car. Dealt with the other drivers who unjustly claimed that we blocked them in (pepper spray is a great invention) and then drove back to  Jeogeot Gulf Airport. 

** Sadly at this point the NavHud started to glitch and I got booted from sl before I could save my chatlog of the final part of the drive. So detail from this point will be a bit lacking. Sorry **

After arriving back at the airport we humped the crate out of the plane and down to the dock where we found a suitable boat for the next part of the mission which was to use the sonar to locate the two submarine wrecks;

It wasn't long before we realised that these submarine wrecks were located in an active combat zone so while we bravely dodged bombs, torpedoes and strafing runs by planes we searched hard for these subs. Eventually we spotted them both after a long and gruelling voyage and as we started to feel distinctly hungover we headed back to the port for the final stage of the mission.

We got back to the docks with our happy news of having located the two wrecks. We were then asked to take the explorer submarine, Oceangategate, to retrieve the lost nuke warhead from whichever wreck it was on. We climbed aboard full of confidence and I sat at the front of the boat trying not to notice the Home Depot stickers on everything as I used the  playstation controller to move away from the dock and out into the deep water.

We headed down to the location of the first wreck, trying not to notice the creaking sounds coming from all around us. Next to the playstation was our radiation detector and I kept my eye on it as we got closer;

Radiation Detector: Stop moving so the radiation scanner can get an accurate reading

Radiation Detector: Remain stopped while radiation scanning is performed...

Radiation Detector: Scanning for radiation traces...

Radiation Detector: No high levels of radiation or warhead found.  Continue to the second submarine wreckage. 

So we did. I tried to get the sub to go faster because by now we were all starting to feel a bit, err, nervous about the whole situation. We aproached the second wreck and finally got some good news;

Radiation Detector: Stop moving so the radiation scanner can get an accurate reading

Radiation Detector: Remain stopped while radiation scanning is performed...

Radiation Detector: Scanning for radiation traces...

Radiation Detector: High radiation levels are present. The warhead must be nearby!

Radiation Detector: Locate the warhead and manoeuvre the sub next to it to pick it up with the grabber claw thing.

Radiation Detector: Warhead retrieved!  

At this point we received a suspiciously timed text message;

Warship Waifu: You found it!  I knew we picked the right person for the job! Deliver the warhead to Tulagi Seaport.

So, we set off at flank speed for Tulagi and despite the risk of warplanes we decided a run on the surface was probably safer since some of the seams inside were starting to get a little, err, damp. Once back at the dock we saw our suspicious looking contact waiting for us in some convenient shadows;

Warship Waifu: I see you over there! Welcome back.

Warship Waifu: The Bomb Disposal Unit isn't here yet as one of the lead technicians had a bungee-jumping accident while on vacation

Warship Waifu: Please deliver the warhead to an empty quonset hut, to be stored away from everyone for now

Warship Waifu: BE CAREFUL! Everyone I know seems to be having some sort of horrible accident lately >.>

Starbright WIndtips: Yes, we had noticed that. It's all highly suspicious. We'll take care. 

So we loaded the bomb onto the jeep and drove it over to the storage hut. Once there I recived another suspiciously timed text message;

Warship Waifu: Rez the "Tactical Nuclear Warhead" in the rear of the barracks and the bomb disposal crew will come secure it

So we carried the warhead and just as I was about to put it down

 [17:17] Warship Waifu: WAIT!!!

**BOOM**

[17:17] Starbright Wingtips: oops

[17:17] شهرزاده (dancingfireflys): lol

So, that was the end of our adventure. It was a lot of fun so a big thank you to |everyone who helped put this drive together. I am sorry I had technical problems and lost the last bit of our group chat. I hope you enjoyed reading this. 

2024 Winter Camp Ice Pilot Challenge

 We are all winners, but these are the 2024 Winter Camp Ice Pilot Challenge winners.

Reducing the Risk of Simcross Crashes for Beginner Pilots

So, you've decided to try flying in SL!

You've bought a cool aircraft! You've rezzed it! You've learned how to start it up, you've learned the controls, you've taxi'd up to the runway! And you've taken off...so many times! But it seems like every time you take to the skies, you lose control of the plane after only a few simcrossings and...well...flight over! Maybe it has gotten to the point where you are now thinking, "This is stupid! I can't fly in SL! And who are all these idiots out there flying all over SL? They must be crashing all the time! It's a waste of time even trying! And I wasted L$3000 on a plane I can't even fly! I even rented a hangar/office/parking place at an airport, which is now useless! That's it! I give up...I QUIT!"

So...yeah. Guess what! That was me in the fall of 2022. I got so frustrated with bad simcrossings that I almost quit flying altogether. Instead, I took a step back, took a deep breath, and decided to ask around, do some research, and experiment. At first, after a few changes, I noticed improved flying with fewer simcross crashes. After more hunting and pecking around for information to adopt, things started to really improve dramatically. In time I found myself flying vast stretches of Second Life with only the occasional simcross crash. Today, simcross crashes are rare for me, and they're usually the result of it being a bad day in the Linden server room (or me doing something really stupid! Hey, it happens and I can admit it!). And in the few instances when I do lose control of my aircraft, 99% of the time I can regain control of that aircraft and fly right on! So, how did I get to where I am today?

First things first: the following is based on my experiences. Your experiences may be different. Don't shoot this messenger if you disagree; he's only offering personal experiences that he hopes may help others. Second, no one thing that I am about to tell you should be taken as a fix-all. You have to consider all of these points. Together, I believe they will reduce your risk of simcross crashes. Third, some of these may also apply to boating, or to a lesser extent driving vehicles, or whatever other modes of transportation are out there. How much of a difference will you experience? Maybe a lot; maybe little, maybe nothing. We are all in different situations: old computer vs new; fibre vs cable; Windows vs Mac; desktop computer vs laptop, persistent users vs non-persistent. So it really depends.

Six ways to a potentially better flying experience

I won't bother discussing things like sim corners; by now we should all know about that particular issue. So with that, let's take a look at the factors I identified for better flying based on my own experiences:

• Cut down your inventory size;
• Reduce your avatar complexity / unneeded scripts on your avatar;
• Save yourself a "Pilot outfit" that works for you;
• Monitor your passengers' "data baggage";
• Watch your speed of travel;
• A little trick to hopefully regain control of your aircraft.

Cut down your inventory size

Many may not realize that wherever you travel in SL, your inventory follows you. That means that when you cross from one sim into another, Linden Labs servers have to transfer your entire inventory from one sim to the next. Granted, modern servers are pretty quick. But if you have an inventory of, say, +100,000 items, you might be pushing things while trying to pilot an aircraft - particularly given the two recommendations that follow this first one. When I reviewed my inventory, I was shocked by how much junk I had acquired over the years; I had things going back to day one when I joined SL. I don't even know how I acquired most of it. And I didn't even recognize what a lot of it was! So I took a couple of hours and deleted a lot of that junk and ended up with an inventory that was only about 25% of what I started with. If you review your inventory, there's a possibility (no, probability!) that you will find a lot of items you don't need, a lot of it you forgot you even had, and some of you don't even know what it is or how you got it. You've never used it, you'll probably never use it, and SL is lagging your sim crossings by trying to instantaneously transfer junk you don't even use from one sim to the next while you're flying across the grid. 

Recommendation: 

Delete those items you don't use, need, or even know about! Then remember to empty your trash - because if you don't empty your trash, you're just dragging that same junk around in a different folder. Go Avatar >> Inventory >> Trash; right click >> Empty Trash on it! Done and DONE!

Reduce your avatar complexity

So you want to look cool when flying! Great! But just keep this in mind - on top of all those junk items in your inventory, the data lag that comes with a high complexity avatar and outfit just means you've got the Linden servers working overtime transferring even more of your data from sim to sim so you can look cool. What is Avatar Complexity? Basically, this is a number rating of your avatar and the complexity of data it is carrying around SL: the higher your complexity, the more difficult it is for SL to draw your avatar. Your avatar complexity rating can be a number anywhere from just a few hundred to hundreds of thousands(!). It is calculated by your avatar's shape, the clothing it is wearing, and any attachments; think "body parts, jewelry, glasses, shoes, clothing, HUDs, AOs, and on and on and on." (Personal note: I have a pair of hiking boots that have a complexity of over double my pilot's avatar/uniform!) They can be some of the most detailed objects in SL - and therefore data-heavy. That's more data you're dragging around SL. 

Recommendation:

Check your avatar's complexity by going Avatar >> Avatar health >> Show avatar complexity information - and you will see it as text floating over your avatar. If you find that your regular avatar that you use for other non-aviation activities in SL is data-heavy, you can start fixing that problem by getting a cheapie avatar from Linden just for piloting - go Avatar >> Choose an avatar. It's just a pilot avatar that you need, and who is going to see you cramped in an airplane cockpit 100m above the surface? You can use your high end avatars for everything else in SL. Personally, I get by just fine with an avatar complexity of ~8,000, including pilot uniform. And beware: if you are carrying passengers in your plane, their complexity can affect the success of your flight. More about that below.

Reduce or eliminate unneeded scripts on your avatar

As an extension to the above point, another way of looking at Avatar complexity is how many scripts it is carrying around. Scripts contain data and they're also calculating things while you are in flight. Scripts are in tons of things. When I started trying to figure out why I was always suffering simcross crashes, I found out that I was wearing 93 scripts. Yup - 93! Add the data in those scripts to an inventory of over 100,000 items and look at that next to an avatar complexity of over 93,000. It's no wonder I couldn't fly across a simcrossing! Actually, it's no longer a mystery to me why I often crashed just trying to walk from one sim to another.

Recommendation:

Firestorm has a tool you can use to see how many scripts you are wearing; it's simply another way to look at your avatar complexity. Go Avatar >> Avatar health >> Scripts. A window will pop up listing all the scripts you are currently using. I'll bet you don't even know what some of them are for! If you don't need them for flying, detach them!

Save yourself a "Pilot outfit" that works for you

By now you should have a much leaner inventory, and hopefully a much lower avatar complexity and have detached a pile of scripts that were crashing you at simcrossings. Maybe you have also found a pilot's uniform that is low/no script that is working for you. As for me, my standard pilot outfit and HUDs I use for flying add up to only 5-6 scripts. That's it! Sure, it took time for me to put all that together. But can you imagine having to go through all that, deleting/adding, changing shirt/pants, etc, before every time you fly? Forget it! You want a one- or two-click solution so you can quickly put on the flying outfit that best works for you.

Recommendation:

Go Avatar >> Now wearing... and quickly review it, and if you're happy, hit "Save as" and give it a name like "My pilot outfit" because you don't want to have to do repeat all of the above every time you want to go flying. If you save a "My pilot outfit", now all you have to do is go Avatar >> outfits, find your "My pilot outfit" and right click and hit "Wear - Replace Current Outfit." You might even want to save several pilot outfits: one for corporate airline pilot (uniform), one for private pilot (casual clothes), one for fighter pilot (flight suit, helmet you've carefully fitted for yourself), etc.

Monitor your passengers' "data baggage"

So now you've told your friends that you're a pilot, and they're impressed! Now they want you to take them on a trip! Cool! How much data baggage will they be bringing along once they sit on your plane? They won't be able to stow it in any overhead compartment and forget about it. By "data baggage" I'm talking about the things I've listed in my previous points: inventory data, avatar complexity data / script data... Can you see where I'm going with this? I once took 7 people on a flight through Blake Sea...or at least I tried to. I had already long ago reduced my inventory, reduced my avatar complexity, and reduced my scripts to only the necessities and had a saved pilot uniform I could wear and remove instantly; so I was fine. But you can probably guess what happened next - after only about five regions, the plane left my control after a bad simcross and we all ended up at the bottom of Blake Sea. Not only did my passengers crash, they crashed me as well. Upon review (using a lag radar) immediately after the crash, I learned that the passenger with the lowest number of scripts had 40; the rest all had between 70 and 130 scripts. They were shocked that they were wearing so many scripts; some had no idea what a "script" was. They buy stuff, they wear it, they don't know it has a script(s). As my passengers and I were all staring at each other at the bottom of Blake Sea, I and the group host reminded everyone to remove any unnecessary scripts. After about 10 minutes of them removing scripts and me confirming it as their script numbers dropped on my lag radar, we teleported back to the airport for a second attempt. Long story short, the second flight attempt with all 7 passengers and myself lasted over an hour and everyone had a terrific time - with only one person suffering a bad simcross. Big difference!

Recommendation:

Tell your passengers in advance of the flight to show up with at least a minimum of scripts on their avatar. Granted, they are not going to sit around their SL home before the flight and reduce their inventory by several thousand items or scrap their high-end avatar just to take a flight with you. But this is a game of risk and probability - and for this one flight you can very likely reduce their risk of simcross crash significantly by ensuring they show up with the minimal amount of scripts possible; they could probably do it in just a few minutes.  The "lag radar" HUD I use is simply called...well..."Lag Radar." You can even use it on the plane or at the terminal as passengers show up for the flight. That's when you take a look at the lag radar; if you see someone with a lot of scripts, maybe you can warn them that unless they remove some scripts, SL is going to crash them and their flight will be.....well.....short! You've warned them, you've done your due diligence. There's not much more you can do.

Watch your speed of travel

If you take everything I have discussed up to here and throw in the element of speed, that's yet another consideration. I try to keep my throttle at a reasonable and feasible level. Of course, it will depend on the aircraft you are flying. But in my experience with, say, a D-300, I have the throttle at around 50% for takeoff; but then once in the air I drop it to 30-35%, or even 25% when flying above very narrow protected area rivers or roadways. Keeping my speed low just seems to give the servers that little extra time to transfer me across the simcrossing to the next region - not to mention making it easier for you to fly along those very narrow corridors without straying off an hitting a banline or orb; and that takes on greater meaning if you have many passengers on your plane all trying to near simultaneously cross a simcross. Also, I'm in no rush. And I'm pretty sure my passengers aren't flying with me for the speed; they're probably there to enjoy the flight, the scenery, the experience of simply going for a plane ride.

Recommendation:

Try to keep your speed at a reasonable level consistent with your aircraft's specifications - not just so you and your passengers can enjoy the view, but also to give the Linden servers a little more wiggle room to transfer yourself and a bunch of passengers from sim to sim.

A little trick to hopefully regain control of your aircraft 

Once you cross into a new region and find your aircraft controls no longer work, that's it! Your plane is flying on its own - a zombie plane. You have no control. You keep pushing buttons and...nothing! You even push them buttons harder...still nothing! And you know...you just know!...you are about to suffer a simcross crash and maybe even get kicked out of SL. Well, next time before you give up, maybe that doesn't have to happen...maybe there is a solution!

Recommendation 1:

First, as soon as you notice you've lost control, keep your fingers off the keyboard and see if the sim catches up and gives you back control of the plane. Typically, I wait about 1/3 the way across the sim. If you still haven't regained control, right click on the plane's body and click "Edit." This freezes your plane - indeed, it freezes your flight. Then wait about 5 seconds. Then quit out of "Edit" and try your controls again. If it worked, then fine. If it didn't work, try "Edit" again except this time raise the aircraft a few meters. Then quit out of "Edit." Chances are, you have regained control by this point. If not, try "Edit" a third time (with or without raising the aircraft a few meters via the blue up/down arrow). In my own case, I regain control of the plane 99% of the time using this method - both with and without passengers (I've even done it with marine vessels). And I suspect that the 1% of the time that I don't regain control is simply a case of the servers at Linden Labs just being in a "bad mood." We all know what that's like; we all experience it. 

Recommendation 2: 

If you have the Airport Waypoint HUD - HSI by Kaliska Bunny - available on SL Market Place - and if your experience is like mine, you can probably tell that you have lost control of the plane after a simcross when you notice that the "distance to destination" number in the top left of the HUD has frozen - let's say it has frozen at "875". In that case, put your plane in "Edit" mode, then watch that frozen "distance to destination" number stuck on "875". When you see that number suddenly change -  dropping instantly by a large number and now reading, say, 523 and dropping again - then you have regained control of your plane and can quit "Edit" and carry on with your flight. The recommendation is to develop the habit of turning your eye to that number on the HUD fairly regularly (like you do for your speed, altitude, world and mini-map, etc) to see if it suddenly stops after a simcross. If you don't have that HUD, you might want to consider getting it. Does this trick work with other HSIs? I don't know, I've only ever flown with the Bunny product.

Putting it all together

Reducing your inventory size, your avatar complexity / scripts on your avatar; saving yourself a "My pilot outfit", keeping your speed at a reasonable level; preparing your passengers in advance of a flight; and learning to "Edit" your plane out of a bad simcross crash. The big takeaway from all this is simple: you can go from depressingly short flights that crash after only a few regions and make you want to quit flying in SL, to flying for well over an hour across several hundred sims with no or relatively very few simcross crashes - and maybe even save up to 99% of the ones you experience. If you take a bit of time and focus on implementing the above few recommendations, I strongly suspect that your flying experience in Second Life could change - and radically! I went from almost giving up trying to fly in SL, to buying more planes, getting them custom paint jobs, renting travel offices/hangars/passenger terminals on four continents, having lots of fun playing GTFO!, and taking passengers across entire continents daily. 

Blue and clear skies to all and thanks for reading!

Parastrike Now Available!

 

First purchaser and one day so far review... Very interesting and stable aircraft and now land and water craft (with wheels and floats). After owning the paramotor for over a year, I am comfortable with its controls and hud. This air craft is for the enthusiast flyer as it has a lot of detail and information to assimilate. The vehicle provides you with a lot of feedback as you are flying and is super fun to fly with friends and or solo. It floats as well and incudes a lot of interesting sounds from the get go. The creator is helpful and has good customer support. I have seen his vehicles grow better and better and Mr. Core has provided many updates throughout the years. I dont want to spoil the fun of your first flight with too much info but you wont be sorry if you decide to pick this up. - Cheers, Jazz

Creator: Encripton Core

secondlife:///app/agent/755bb04e-8529-4673-b1ed-bad767e712e4/about

Only vendor location at the moment:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Masocado/50/243/81

Price: $975L

Personal demo is not available at the moment unless requested.

BBB Passport trips continues: Greg's Bar & Lounge

Took a few weeks off. Now I'm back.

A really cool bar & lounge in Heterocera Atoll. Actually several bar & lounge area.
The most noticeable is the sky bar! You can't miss it when traveling by.

A infinity swimming pool bar & lounge. Pretty fancy. 

Take a look when you get a chance. 

Greg's Bar & Lounge Woodland Station

video

Airport Waypoint HUD HSI Updates to Version 1.6

Airport Waypoint HUD HSI

Airport Waypoint HUD Indicators

Glide Slope Indicator

You can find our Vehicles & Tools Updates page here: https://www.driversofsecondlife.info/p/vehicles-tools-updates-ii.html and more helpful tools here: https://www.driversofsecondlife.info/p/helpful-driving-tools-ac-camera-focus.html

Features:

• A waypoint HUD that also allows you to fly using an emulation of a real instrument.
• The HUD uses notecards to record lists of airports and their positions.
• Each airport can also have a runway heading and notes. Runway headings can use any angle :)
• Multiple notecards can be used, organize lists of airports and/or routes with them.
• Has two route modes of operation, where it will automatically set the next or previous waypoint as you progress through a journey.
• World map beacon can be used as well.

Second Paramotor Update

Second Paramotor

You can find our Vehicles & Tools Updates page here: https://www.driversofsecondlife.info/p/vehicles-tools-updates-ii.html

You can find the motorized parachute made by Encripton Core here.

Whats new in the version 1.1.32.02

• New command mcs - toggle attempt to fix paramotor x-axis jerk when crossing region line in MLS mode
• New command css - toggle sound crossing region
• New command rn - toggle display region name when crossing
• New command wind# (0-9) - new feature Second Life amplitude Wind (llWind) default 3(variable in Desc 'e')
• New command wi - wind info - toggles the wind information in the text HUD.
• New command fuel Toggle Fuel
• The 'txt' command now has 3 modes: None,Always,Auto.
•  SPM_HYROSCOPE_HUD_EXT still disables the text HUD when the engine is started.
• Slightly changed agent algorithm in mouselook mode (double detection at intervals)
• Fix: adjusted avatar positions are now not reset after you take the object Paramotor(without resetScripts) and rez it again.
• If you have done 'Reset scripts' always TAKE the Paramotor and REZ it again.
• When safe chute control then default animation SitRelax.

New Page for Music to Travel With!

We are huge music fans and therefore today we are starting a new page called "Music To Travel With" here https://www.driversofsecondlife.info/p/music-to-travel-with.html.

A short description will be included with an in-world stream you can paste into your parcel radio or parcel itself by copy and paste the url into your About Land/Sound/Music URL field.

Send us your favorite music streams by commenting below.

Draco Monster STOL Bush Plane Updates

JimiXi and crew have recently updated the venerable Draco Monster STOL bush plane to version 1.1. The Draco is a lot of fun to fly and features scripting by Shana Carpool and lots of painting options. You can find one here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Umansky/73/119/67

Draco Side View

Draco Top View

Draco Cockpit View