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Take this script and shove it (into your own submarine)

You know what we don’t see enough of in Second Life? Submarines. With all the water available across the grid, I’m surprised that there are so many boats, and so few subs. In a world where there are deep oceans and hidden grottos, underwater travel is an amazing way to explore.

To boost production of submarines and to promote the submarine as a pleasure craft, I’m re-releasing my Herring mini-sub with a new open-source script licensed under the Creative Commons. What this means is that you can get a Herring 2.0 free, rip out it’s script, and use it in your own creation.

There are terms of use, of course, outlined by the non-legalese version of the license:

You are free:

* to Share — to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
* to Remix — to make derivative works

Under the following conditions:

* Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
* Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible license.
* For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page.
* Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
* Apart from the remix rights granted under this license, nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights. (link)

It’s my hope that vehicle builders will use the Herring as a starting point for new submarines, either collaboratively or competitively. It’s not a perfect script by far — I know there are flaws in it — so it’s up to you to innovate and improve on it.

You can pick up a Herring 2 at The GNUbie Store, at Stillman Bazaar, and in the underground submarine dock at Abbotts Aerodrome.

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You don’t need runways

Just like the human body, Second Life is over 60% water. Well I don’t actually know the exact percentage, but there really is a lot of water in SL, and very few places to land a plane. Unless, of course, you have pontoons.


The new Terra Tachyon M. Yes! Those pontoons are sculpted prims!

As it turns out, it’s no simple matter to make a float plane, which is why I hadn’t tried it before and why there are so few float planes in SL already. In real life, if you bolt a couple of gigantic pontoons to almost anything, it’ll float. In Second Life, it’s a little more complicated — nothing will float unless it’s specifically scripted to simulate floating. SL water has no physical substance, which is why most planes seem to fly in and out of water as if it weren’t there at all.

The Tachyon M gets the current water height (using the handy llWater function in LSL), and uses that to transition smoothly to a floating state during a water landing, giving all the appearances of floating on the water’s surface. Taking off from the water is just as easy — open the throttle, accelerate to take-off speed, and the Tachyon M practically leaps into the air.

Besides the floating trick, the Tachyon M is identical to its land-based twin. To test fly a Tachyon, visit the main hangar at Abbotts Aerodrome.

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Tear up the track in a Terra Tachyon (this Saturday)

In Wilder West, at 740m, Niki Wilder hosts an air race track, which I visited for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and was instantly hooked. You can hop into a plane and tear around the track at high-speed, bumping and dodging others as you jockey for position in the turns. Seriously, this is so addictive, that I dropped everything to return to a plane that I abandoned months ago in favour of helicopters.

My new racer, Terra Tachyon, is shaping up to be a powerful little thing. With a top speed of about 110 knots (or around 200 km/h), it can lap the course seconds faster than the competition.

Of course, speed isn’t everything. And I wouldn’t want to make racing easy, so I threw in a couple of twists. First, you have limited fuel. This means in an endurance race, you need to time your pit-stops carefully, or you’ll find your engine sputtering out with another plane on your tail. On top of that, it has an optional damage mode, in which collisions will damage various parts of your plane. So watch your turns around the pylon — a wing-strike will shear the wing right off. (And no, you can’t fly with one wing.)

For novice pilots, or those who like to fly stunts or fly tours over SL, I added easier, optional flight models. Click a button, and the plane becomes slow and forgiving in turns.

As Socrates once said, “But wait! There’s more!” Half the fun with racers is the cool paint: racing lines, checkers, and numbers. The Tachyon’s paint menu lets you not only choose from five paint schemes, but also add your own. If you have a knack for Photoshop, pick up the templates from my support page, and paint your Tachyon.

It’s been a blast working on this one. If all goes well, the Tachyon will be available at Abbotts Aerodrome this Saturday (Dec. 22). Bring it to Wilder West to tear up the track. See if you can beat Niki’s top laptime of just under 14 seconds.

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Gift-shopping FAQ

It’s the holiday season again in Second Life — and as I understand it in real life too. The gift-shopping mayhem is in full-swing. Here are the top questions in my IM inbox at this time of year…

How do I give a vehicle to someone for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus?

You buy a helicopter, then find that SL won’t let you send it to your friend. How do you buy no-transfer items as gifts? Easy… go to one of the SL shopping websites and have them make the delivery for you.

  • SL Exchange – Registration is required, but easy. To go shopping, first you can deposit Linden dollars at an ATM on Exchange Island. Then, when you find the item you want, use the Purchase As Gift button. Items are delivered to the person of your choice with a personalized message from you.
  • OnRez – Registration is required here too. You can deposit L$ to your OnRez account using an ATM or PayPal, then browse the catalogue. Use the Send As Gift button to make the purchase.


Why are you such a jerk, Cubey? Just change vehicle permissions to No-Copy/Transfer!

You should never ever buy a vehicle without Copy permission. Why? SL EATS VEHICLES.

Second Life’s quirks (aka, “bugs”) often make your items go missing. Asset failures can leave you bald when your hair vanishes, for example. Your favourite furniture might be eaten by a region crash. And region borders eat vehicles for lunch. It’s true! I’ve lost piles vehicles that way, and where they go is a mystery. Maybe they fall through a hole in the space-time continuum and land in a secret place in a corner of the grid where Lindens play with them in their off-hours.


Do you have gift certificates?

No, for two reasons. First, there is no foolproof, secure way to issue and redeem gift certificates in Second Life. The second reason being that, with SL Exchange and OnRez, you can buy the gifts directly.

I hope these answers help you. Good luck in your gift shopping, and a Happy Festivus to all!