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9/29/2024
8/20/2023
FireStorm Classes Box Of Class Notes Now At HQ1
I added a box of notecards from Bluezy Bleac the teacher at Firestorm Support near the front of the entrance to HQ 1. I will try and keep them as updated as I can. The classroom LM is in the box as well.
NOTE: These are not my notes.
They are created by wiki.firestormviewer.org (Bluezy Bleac)
secondlife:///app/agent/11e1584a-17e1-4622-8158-0445f602fde9/about
I suggest you try and take a Firestorm Class which are announced in the Firestorm Support Group here to improve your viewing pleasure and knowledge.
secondlife:///app/group/3a1be8d4-01f3-bc1a-2703-442f0cc8f2dd/about
Class Schedule can be found here: https://wiki.firestormviewer.org/firestorm_classes
Cheers,
Jazz
5/23/2023
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!
4/03/2022
How To Become A GTFO HUB Provider?

Get the Freight Out! - GTFO!
How to become a hub provider?
We get asked about this a lot.
The GTFO! website now has a page dedicated to becoming a hub provider.
Most GTFO! hubs are owned by players of the game. If you have a space station, airport, marina, petrol/gas station or other location with access to protected road, rail or waterway (or air/space), you could host your own hub.
If you want to find out more, please visit https://sl-gtfo.com/how-to-become-a-hub-provider.html
Thanks for your support!
–Famously Dismantled
Copyright© 2022 by GTFO!
Not affiliated with Second Life™ or Linden Lab, Inc.
1/08/2022
All pages have been posted and cross linked for better searching...
Because "pages" on Blogger cannot be easily searched, all the pages have been posted as "posts", cross linked and labels applied hopefully making search easier within pages in the right hand column. You should be able to search for terms within all the pages now. Besides the search box, you can also use the tag/label cloud on the right column to search for labeled posts and pages.
Vehicle Scripting Info
https://driversofsecondlife.blogspot.com/p/vehicle-scripting-info.html
ACS
Karyn Vaher
Everything you need to know about the ACS Vehicle Operating System by here:
http://kcp.wikidot.com/wiki:about
Videos for ACS here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeFe8wDJ06lIsoNWICSiOiw
Keep in mind, the newest video here is 6 years old.
You can purchase ACS on the MP or in world:
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Panhead/119/184/23
AWorks
Angie Zenga
VOS 1.3 Beta Version 1.3 for land vehicles.
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/AWorks-VOS-13-Beta/9926230
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/De%20Campion/4/200/61
Angie is retiring but still around to help.
D2
Eight Blinker
ELR helps build communities of builders and modders in SL's car culture with a tested platform of 'simulator-realism' vehicles, styled on Drift and Track Racing capabilities for consistent, addictive precision action.
Linden Labs
Vehicle Tutorial http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Vehicle_Tutorial
RCX
RCX Productions Wordpress Page
Join the RCX Productions group in world for more info.
https://world.secondlife.com/group/428038ab-a600-6a27-dc70-6f5165c39fcb
TX Gear Shop
How To Obtain and Use the Navigation HUD
https://driversofsecondlife.blogspot.com/2022/01/how-to-obtain-and-use-navigation-hud.html
Grid Drives are usually slated to start on each Saturday of the month at approximately 11:30 AM and PM SLT time. Sometimes, the navHUD is released earlier in the day for early risers. It's always best to check the DSL groups notices or group chat on Friday or Saturday for current grid drive info.Archives at HQ |
Navigation HUD Features
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Expand / Contract HUD |
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Map to Next Rez Area |
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Redeliver Items |
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Autopilot |
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Load New Route Notecard |
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Load Legs |
"Hello, Congratulations, you are in possession of a Drivers of SL 'NavHUD!'
To reach your pre-programmed destination, just move in a direction that will keep the guidance circle's pointer up at 12-o-clock.
The directional guidance circle is green when you are facing your next waypoint, and will turn to yellow, then eventually red, as you face further away from that goal.
Touch the circle to expand the HUD to display a wide set of drive-time options.
Along the way you may receive guidance and cautions about upcoming rez areas, fuel pumps, narrow roads or channels, turn directions and angles, etc.
Click on the barely legible little orange and black arrow sign if you are lost. You will be re-routed and happily on your way again.
Click on the small icon with the arrow pointing to the green diamond to bring up a map that will show you the next rez area, with an option to teleport there.
Click on the cardboard box with an outgoing arrow to get things redelivered to you if you lost a given item or failed to accept it when offered.
Click on the steering wheel to be auto-piloted during the navigation phase of the current leg.
Click on the box labelled 'next leg' if you are hopelessly stuck on either the navigation or quest phase of a driving tour leg.
To repeat this help at any time, click the little question mark icon you see near the directional guidance circle.
Sent to you is a texture explaining how to use most of the NavHUD features.
Finally, just printed in your chat window is a link you can click to teleport directly to the start of the route.
Thank you for using the NavHUD!
Click this to teleport to the starting point: Teleport to...(the starting point)"
1/02/2022
Configuring Visible Cargo with GTFO!
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GTFO Logo |
Configuring Visible Cargo
If the vehicle is modifiable and tolerates changed links (ie, it won't explode if you add a box or two) you can add as many containers as the vehicle is raided for, and name them CARGO!x from 1 to how many the vehicle will hold. If you add more, extra containers may remain visible in the unloading process.
So, CARGO!1, CARGO!2, etc.
Depending on the load/unload time, items will be visible/vanish at blocks.
e.g. Containervessel Andrea Doria, all above of 12 container are visible/vanish at once.
Some vehicles needs a special procedure for unlinking/linking. Please consult the creators manual!
Since HUD 1.9.0 the cargo part got separated from the HUD main script.
To operate visible cargo, take your vehicle to edit and drop the !GTFO!CARGO V.1.9.0a into the content.
To configure, how the cargo appear, edit the VAPI-notecard content accordingly.
qty(cargo quantity) times secs(number of seconds to load each item) qty x sec can not exceed 115 seconds else last cargo will not show loading
sample: qty=6
secs=6
These figures will not replace actual carrying capacity of your vehicle only the loading/unloading of it.
Advanced Multi-Face, Compressible Cargo
If you are an advanced scripter, you can set the following in the block's descriptions:
[ Prefix ] [ Number Of Containers In Prim ] [ Prim Size ] [ Prim Local Position ]
"CGO,0,<1,1,1>,<0,0,5>"
CGO - Prefix the API looks for, it wants to see this when it's scanning the link-set.
Faces - 0 or 1 = Single Container
If you have multi-element cargo prims, set up to 8 faces.
Prim Size - The vector size the prim will be expanded to when made visible
Prim Local Pos - the LOCAL position it will move the cargo to.
Happy GTFOing
2018 by Cam Maximus
2021 edited by Joan Moleno
How To Set Up Your Vehicle for GTFO!
- Create a new notecard.
- Rename the notecard "GTFO!xxxx" where xxxx is the 'VAPI Code' for your vehicle
- Example: "GTFO!SUPERCUB" if you have Laminar Cub
- Enter some "space" to the notecard content
- Save the NC. By this NC, you can now also configure how many pieces of cargo that show and the time between each piece.
- This figures does not change the actual job cargo or replace the actual carrying capacity of any vehicle.
- More in "Configure visible cargo", below
VAPI (API code) https://sl-gtfo.com/vehicle-creators/
Installing The Vehicle Scripts
- Rez your Vehicle
- Edit the Vehicle's contents
- Insert the named NC "GTFO!xxxx" into contents.
- Insert the GTFO! API script included in this package
- The API script will now tell you if it found the api block or it will present an error.
- To find your GTFO prepared vehicle in inventory, add e.g. GTFO to the end of the vehicles name. Some vehicle, like Shergood heli's, need parts of the name unchanged, to have all features work. Consult your manual.
- Take it back to inventory, then rez it again.
Using GTFO!
Click the GTFO Hud and there will be a button labeled 'Find Hubs'.
If you're in a mainland continent, you will see hubs in your proximity.
- Visit a GTFO Hub Region
- Rez a Vehicle you have prepared for GTFO
- Sit in your Vehicle and wait for GTFO to tell you it is connected.
- Click the HUD.
- Select 'Get Cargo'
- You will see some options depending on your vehicle.
"Courier Job" - Deliver goods from here to another hub.
" Freight Job" - Deliver goods from here to another hub.
"Air Drop" - The same as above but to non-hub 'mission regions'.
You can not load freight at such locations and is not available for all vehicles.
After updates you may see some new jobs types,
these are pretty much the same thing but with different margins
- Pick a job, then select a destination from the menu.
- Look through the cargo options for the highest value or funniest name, you pick.
- For the initial launch the cargo names may really random.
- You may start of with insufficient funds if your vehicle is too large, you may need a smaller vehicle until you can earn more money.
- Click 'Load' and then 'Confirm'.
- Wait for the HUD to tell you the job is loaded and you are ready to depart.
- You can move the vehicle if necessary for traffic, but do not leave the sim as this will cancel the job.
- Travel to destination in the allowed time.
- Click HUD then 'deliver'.
- Wait for cargo to unload.
- Collect fake game money.
- Repeat.
Freebie Version Limitation
The Freebie Edition has access to all vehicles and destinations, but...
- Freebie HUDs will not level up past Level 5
- They will not gain xp or money bonuses from extra distances traveled
- They will not gain perks or unlocked items
- They will not be able to participate in leader boards
However, XP and money gained with the freebie edition carry over into the paid versions!
If something does not work as it should, de- and re- attach the hud solve most problems.
If you find anything suspect or is obviously a bug, please let us know.
Fastest help you will find in our in-world group secondlife:///app/group/0de2c89b-6213-91e0-c0a5-6936fd1201e6/about
2018 by Cam Maximus
A quick way to read the threads... RSS
The DSL Blog is syndicated. You can add the DSL Blog to your favorite RSS reader, a quick way to read the thread. "RSS is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format." You can run a browser extension or use a stand alone app on your desktop or mobile device. I use NetNewsWire myself.
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