All Services on Hold

I have been holding off until now, but there seem to be some new "quirks" in the 1.40 server family.
Boats are going off course, failing to report and failing to self delete.
Until I can work out exactly what is happening I am suspending all services.

Havok 7

Linden Labs have just rolled the pilot of server 1.40 which includes and upgrade the physics engine. I am monitoring my boats to see if there are any problems - so far so good.

Other news - Hetrocera outer loop is back up and running but there are some new sim expanders than are NOT phantom. The boats should get around them but since they are at the edge of the world I cannot reroute.

Langdale docks rez point has moved a few metres West
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Langdale/99/246/22
My thanks to Tino Tungl for still keeping this pier available as a public launch site.

Blockages

Some kind soul has managed to block the Heterocera outer loop with a bunch of non-phantom off sim extenders - I have stopped the service until I have time to reroute

Langdale dock currently out of service as the pier has moved and I need to reconfigure the lauch location.

All Services in Operation

Rollout doesn't seem to have caused any disasters - all scheduled services up and running again.

Server 1.38.6 Deploy - Services Suspended

All scheduled services are suspended until the rollout of 1.38.6 is complete and proven to be stable.

I expect to reactiate all services at approx 14:00 on 26 May

Beta Testing New Route - Inner Atol

UPDATE: Rez-On-Demand launcher now on the pier - launch a tour whenever you like

I have managed to revive about 75% of the old Inner Atol route.
Still testing but feel free to try it.

Ferrry departs from the Boat Zone Rez area in Tuliptree on the hour.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tuliptree/209/216/21

The boat follows a clockwise route and finishes at the Linden pier in Leafminer.
If you follow the path up the hill it will take you to the DPW Mole Mart where you can find various goodies.

All Services in Operation

All services are now up and running

Scheduled Ferrys all launch on the hour from the following locations:

Heterocera Outer Loop - Linden Pier in Echo region
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Echo/16/203/21

Sansara Tour - Langdale Docks
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Langdale/99/246/22

Corsica Continental Loop - Boatshed Dock
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Degrand/68/144/23

Gaeta V Continental Loop - Linden Pier in Libestus
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Libestus/186/54/22

The following tours start from the SLFS Pier in Pelvoux
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Pelvoux/96/249/21

Nautilus City Tour
Satori North West Waterways
Satori North East Coast Explorer

There are also manual launchers so you can rez your own boat whenever you like

Rubber Banding - !

Simon Linden provided an extremely concise explanation of what causes this effect in this weeks office hours: -


Simon Linden: The basic rubber banding is caused by the viewer's prediction code ... it blissfully extrapolates your velocity into the new region, without consideration for any lag on the crossing or obstacles there
When you actually enter the new region and get an update from the server, you snap back to that position

Volcanic Eruptions and Mole Construction Work

Iceland isn't the only place suffering from unexpected volcanic activity....
Some new islands have appeared in Gali-Gali which is at the Southern end of "Mare Secundus"
They have blocked the Sansara route until I can find a workaround.
If anyone knows where "Mare Primus" is located please let me know :)

The DPW Moles have constructed a new pier on Hetrocera Atol...which intrudes onto private land.
I will reroute to avoid bumping into the pier over the weekend.

Server Upgrades - Suspending Services for 2 Days

Server rollout time is with us again> 1.38.4
I will start the boats again as soon as the grid proves it is stable and won't require a "rollback".

Eeeep - the Lindens sunk the fleet !

Yesterdays little "hiccup" wrecked devestation on my little boats.

Most boats are back up and running but I have found a couple of "orphaned" regions.
I have contacted support and Plexus Linden is trying to fix the problem....this only affects the Corsica route.
Edit: Sorry found another one - Hetrocera is blocked at Sabulella

Langdale Docks - Up and Running

This extension to the Sansara route is proving a real challenge
Its now running again thanks to Tino getting rid of the screaming rabbit's heads.

If you catch the boat on a Wednesday night around 1600 you can wave at Blue Linden during his office hour :)

Break in Service - Sorry

Another attack of the mystery virus (medical not computer) put me out of action for a while.

All services except Langdale should now be back up and running.
Someone has left a couple of griefing objects in Langdale region which has effectively blocked that route.

Heterocera Inner Loop - Impossible

I have been trying to resurect an old route that looped around the inner part of Heterocera.
Sadly the route is now impassable - the old landowners that went out of their way to enusure the slightly disjointed wateryways could still link up, have gone.
I will see if I can still pull something out of the wreckage.

Langdale Docks - Back in Service

There is one tiny spot where the seabed has changed and breaks the surface......I have rerouted to avoid.
Just a reminder this service leaves on the hour from here

Monitor Boards - Running again

The Ferry Monitor Boards can be found at my home base here.
They display the status of each boat in the fleet.

Green Dot - ferry is enroute
White Dot - route completed pending next launch
Red Dot - lost at sea

If you touch any of the boards you will get a message in chat showing some statistics and a slurl of the boats last reported position.
If you click on the slurl and TP....the ferry should still be in visual range.
Corsica, Gaeta and Hetrocera boats follow a clockwise route.

Map board is still out of service

Corsica Tour - In Service

The fixes I made to the Corsica tour seem to be working

The scheduled service starts on the hour from the southern pier in Degrand
This is a tiny infohub.....so it can be a bit laggy until you are clear of the region

The rocks in Simyit - thank goodness they were there

If not I would never have had the opportunity to meet Jarred Wylder.
Jarred has created a beautifully landscaped environment dedicated to nature and cats.
His shire covers nearly two whole regions and is a wonderful example of what can be done with creative talent and hard work.
There are rivers, ponds, a romantic dance location overlooking the grounds, a fortress....the list goes on.....take time for a good wander around, there is plenty to see...and a few well hidden secrets.
I will be putting in a stop in Simyit, please do take the opportunity to visit this this amazing location.

Oh and by the way.....the rocks are gone.

Langdale Docks Tour - temporarily suspended

There is a new obstruction on this route.....I will try and reroute

Sorry Maps and Monitor Boards are down

I spent a lot of yesterday recoding the boards and the map to take adavantage of some new features in the 1.38 Server release.
Now the release has been rolled back............aaaagh
I backed up the originals but ummm...well...they just don't seem to working properly.

Travel Tips #2 - Grab and Go

I have now been told of two locations where the sim expanders are not phantom and passengers are getting stuck.
This is a good opportunity to mention you can actually "grab" the ferry and move it away from the obstruction.
When you hover your mouse over the boat you should see a "hand" icon, hold down the left mouse key and you should be able to move the boat.

(This was not intentional, it is a side effect of a bit of lsl code that has been broken for years)

Travel Tips #1 - Attachments

Attachments - take them off

Mystitools, Animation Overrides and Radar tools all place a marked demand on server resources.
When you cross a sim boundary....all the data in these attachments has to be passed from one server to another.
This is a major cause of crashing or "ghosting" on sim borders.
Simon Linden has commented in his office hours about this particular issue.

(n.b. - one Mystistool requires more memory than 6 of my boats)

Corsica - Hubunny RezOnDemand *NEW*

A big thank you to Laurens Vella who has set up a new RezOnDemand launcher for the Corsica route.
This is a perfect location in the south west corner of the continent

The ferry can be found here

All Scheduled Services Up and Running Again

No glitches on the roll as far as I can tell - so lets see what happens

Oh and I now have a Lil Linden bear

Rollout Day !

The latest server release has its pilot roll today - that means 20% of the grid will be offline for up to 30 minutes at a time (if all goes well)

During this time I will be stopping all the scheduled boats.

Gaeta RezOnDemand - Now updated

The RezOnDemand launcher at Slayton Shores (thank you again Blaccard) has been updated with the new boat and revised route.

You can find the launcher at the bottom of the steps on the pier

Corsica RezOnDemand - Thank you Blaccard

Blaccard Burks has been a great supporter ever since I started this project.
He has provided me with some very useful snippets of code and most importantly two locations for launching ferries

You can rez a Corsica ferry whenever you like from the pier in the Paradise Sound Community Area

Corsica Continent Tour - Rerouted

Qentatzo region is still disconnected from the rest of the grid. I am currently testing an alternative route.

Gaeta Continent Tour - Back in Service

This service starts on the hour from the pier at the end of Route 7 in Libestus

This was one of my older routes - I have fixed most of the worst errors, it no longer goes through peoples front yards.
There are still a lot of sim extenders that need to be routed around - but that is a never ending task.

Blake Sea Isles Tour

Nantucket Yacht Club have very kindly built a dock for lauching this service - follow the sea wall around until you come to the SLFS Sign
This is a RezOnDemand service so you can take the tour whenever you like

In Service Today

Heterocera Outer Loop - Starts on the hour from the Linden Pier in Echo region

Sansara Tour - Starts on the hour from Langdale Docks

These tours start from the SLFS Pier in Pelvoux on the hour
There are also manual launchers so you can rez your own boat whenever you like
Nautilus City Tour
Satori North West Waterways
Satori North East Coast Explorer

Not Operating today
Corsica Continental Loop - there is an "orphaned" sim blocking the route - Linden Support is working on it.
Gaeta V Continental Loop - I am in the process of upgrading this route today

Why not start a blog ?

I am going to start this blog as means of letting everyone know the current status of my little ferry service