Tag: My SL

Several months ago now, Apo Piaggio passed me her – then – latest creation, the WALT River 400 Hop, a compact little speedboat which is ideal for exploring inland waterways – as the name suggests – and also does very well out on open waters.  I’ve been meaning to review it for a while, so my apologies to Ape to only just recently getting to it.

The first thing to note about this boat is that at L$2,900, it is literally packed to the gills with features and capabilities which make it easily among some of the best small boats (and larger ones for that matter!) in Second Life.

The package comprises the boat, a trailer for moving it around on land, a neat little owner’s HUD in the form of a Smartphone and a box of accessories which includes 2 texture sets (1024 and 2048 resolution); the trailer mentioned above, an avatar adjustment tool; a “Hook” tool and script allowing the trailer to attach to a vehicle (preferably with a towing hook) and the excellent user manual.

In terms of size, the River 400 Hop really is small – small that the Bandit 170, which I reviewed back in April 2020 and thoroughly enjoy using, and under half the length of Ape’s ever-popular Little Boat power boat (reviewed in 2015). Like the latter (and the majority of Ape’s vehicle releases) comes neatly packaged in a box feature a miniature of the boat and its trailer.

Handling the boat is presented with keyboard, chat and HUD options, depending on your preference. There is also a comprehensive set of chat commands both for operating the boat and for things like lounging in the seats, setting up on-board options such as the Bimini or canvas “tent” (if out in bad weather!) or permissions for driving the boat, etc. Some of these may trigger dialogue menus in the top right of the viewer window, and the complete family of dialogues can be triggered by simply touching the sides of the boat. I’m not going to go through all of them here as there is that comprehensive user guide – so RTFM 🙂 .

The easiest way to start / stop the outboard motor is by typing “start” or “stop” in chat from the driving seat, whilst mooring can be achieved with the “moor” command – moor on that in a bit. Steering is via the Left / Right arrow keys (or A and D if you have your viewer set that way), the Up arrow key (or W) gradually increases the throttle for forward motion, the Down arrow key (or S) retards the throttle for slowing or shifts the boat into reverse. Meanwhile Page Up (or E) steps up the throttle in 50% increments or set it to neutral if moving in reverse; similarly Page Down (or C) will also set the throttle to neutral if moving in reverse, otherwise will set reverse speed to 50%.

As the boat has an outboard motor, this can be manually raised / lowered and trimmed using SHIFT-Left arrow or SHIFT-Right arrow respectively, or the boat can be set to automatically raise or lower the engine when stating / stopping, and to auto trim during operations. Again, more of this in the manual.

Overall the boat handles well – although for river cruising, I would advise against setting the throttle too high; the River 400 Hop is nippy and can pinball along rivers if you’re not careful. The boat includes a region crossing recovery system as well, easing the pain there.

There is a range of sitting poses for when moored and the seating can become bench recliners with singles and couples poses (all accessed via the dialogue menu’s Seats option), while the front seat can be adjusted by touch and the rear seat touched to reveal the fuel tank – like many of Ape’s vehicles, you have to give the River Hop a drink every so often to keep it going! A ladder for swimming on the left stern quarter can be raised / lowered.

Mooring is one of the interesting aspects of this boat. Issue the Moor command, and the appropriate dialogue will be displayed, given you various choices for mooring – which may vary depending on set-up / where you are. Again, the user guide explains all, but it’s worth mentioning the mooring buoys and side-to-side options.

• The mooring buoys allow you to effective “moor” the boat anywhere and maintain station, the boat sitting between a pair of fore-and-aft buoys.
• Side-to-side allows you to tie-up alongside other River 400 Hop boats and (in the future) other WALT boats.

There is an option to drop anchor, but this is also part of the boat’s realism functions which help lift the experience of using the boat. In essence, with the realism options available, you have to correctly position the boat in order for the anchor to work – the HUD can help with this.

These realism options allow the boat to respond to both the effects of the SL wind, such that it will drift when the engine is off or at idle (unless moored) and the wind can also affect the boat’s head as well, depending on the direction. All of these options can be toggled by the dialogue menu system, as can the boat’s rocking motion (often found in water craft). As with many of Ape’s boats, as well as periodic refuelling, the engine on the River 400 Hop should be monitored against high temperatures.

Anyone familiar with Ape’s Little Bee knows that it includes a trailer and a VW Beetle, allowing it to be carried by road. The River 400 Hop boat offers a similar capability, albeit with some differences. Firstly, there is no “winching” capability on the trailer to haul a boat out of the water and onto it using a suitable slipway. Instead, with the trailer close to water, its own menu system can he used to rez a version of the boat in-world (rezzing permissions allowing)  and hide the version on the trailer, and vice versa, if taking the boat “out” of the water. Secondly, rather than having a dedicated towing vehicle, the River 400 HOP comes with an experimental tow system which can be used to hook-up the trailer to almost any vehicle. There’s even an included tow hook if your vehicle doesn’t have one!

This approach does complicate custom painting the boat if the trailer is used – the version on the trailer will need to be repainted as well if it is to match. Suggestions on how to achieve this are in the user guide. However, to get a version of your customised River Hop rezzed by the trailer, simply edit the trailer, delete the version of the boat in its contents and then drop a copy of your version into the trailer.

The trailer comes with its own comprehensive menu system for fine-tuning control when towing, toggling the light on/off etc. Whilst experimental, it is fun. The boat can also do its share of towing –the AA tube, AA Banana or Ape’s own FI Wakeboard. Again, the user guide covers this.

With a host of additional features – fender rezzing, weather cover rezzing, region crossing recovery steps (if things go wonky), a nice security suite, etc., – all typical of the care Ape puts into WALT products, the River 400 HOP is a nifty little thing and offers plenty of opportunities for fun.

Related Links

• WALT In-world Store
• River 400 Hop on the Marketplace
• River 400 Hop instructional video

It’s been a while since I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a product by Ape Piaggio, so it was with a sense of expectation and curiosity – Ape’s products have never disappointed – I received the WALT (Water, Air, Land Technologies) Jet Board a few weeks back for a sort-of final evaluation (others had done a lot more work than I in helping Ape bring it to market). And the expectation proved justified.

A jet board is essentially a short surfboard with a water jet propulsion module and hydrofoil suspended beneath it. It is ridden in much the same manner as a surfboard, standing atop it and using bodyweight transfer to steer it. The key difference is the propulsor powers it along rather than it being used to ride waves, with the thrust of the propulsion unit controlled via a hand-held remote operating either wirelessly or via a tether to the board.

Modern, electrically-powered jet boards entered popular use in the 2010’s when board races started to become a common water sporting event. However, their history goes back as far as the 1960s, while precursor to the whole idea, the powered surfboard (the motor in this case allowing the surfer to ride the board our into the surf rather than having to paddle it) goes back even further. However, it is the modern electrically-powered version of the Jet Board that Ape has produced.

Priced at L$800, the WALT Jet Board is delivered in Ape’s familiar “toy box” packaging (which is attractive in and of itself), and comprises the Jet Board, the WALT Adjust Tool Box (a HUD and script which allow any personal animations added to the Jet Board to be properly adjusted), and an instruction manual. The board itself is a nicely detailed, clean design, weighing-in at 6 LI. Unlike other products by Ape, it doesn’t use a dialogue-driven menu system to access controls and options; everything is managed through clicking on the board itself, with information displayed via a hovertext HUD.

Jet Board Controls and Operation

Using the Jet Board is as simple as rezzing it out on Linden Water and and then right-clicking to sit. This will trigger a nice little animation, positioning your avatar in the water at the back of the board before making a “kick jump” to raise out of the water and straddle-sit the board. Doing so will trigger a local chat display of the board’s key controls, as  outlined below.

Seated, board stationary

Seated / standing, board in motion

General: Click the board = page through animations SHIFT + ← = adjust sit position down SHIFT + → = adjust it position up (adjustments auto-saved) Hold-click options (toggle on / off): 2 seconds: battery usage 4 second: battery recharge 6 seconds: board hover text 8 seconds: simulation mode 10 seconds: race mode code 12 seconds: driving tips

Throttle: PgUp = increase throttle – double tap for throttle to 100% PgDn = decrease throttle – double take to reduce to 0% Driving controls: ↑ = raise the front of the board (“rider weight to the rear”) and ride on the foil ↓ = drop the front of the board (“rider weight forward”) to drop the front of the board & ride with the board in the water ← = turn left (“rider lean to left”) → = turn right (“rider lean to right”)

Once seated on the board, the easiest way to get used to it is to give a double-tap on PgUp. This will set the throttle to 100% and your avatar will stand on the board and ride it as it jets off. You can then use the Left / Right Arrow keys for steering, and the Up Arrow key to push the nose of the board up. This is the equivalent of shifting your centre of mass more towards the back of the board, encouraging the tip to rise. When this happens, the hydrofoil under the board starts to generate lift, pushing the board out of the water, reducing drag.

Once up on the foil, it is not necessary to maintain full throttle. The art is maintaining your centre of gravity over the sweet spot: if you have the full hover text display enabled, you want to keep the nose of the board up around 410mm. at lower speeds this may require occasional taps on the Up Arrow to maintain – but be careful not to over-do it; get the nose too high and the motor will be unable to pull sufficient water through the propulsor, killing forward momentum and dropping the board back down onto the water.

When the speed is too low for standing, or if the throttle is cut, you’ll drop down into the straddle-sit position. If you want to move around on the board while seated, just give the PgUp key two or three individual taps to get the throttle up to 10-15%, and you’ll make headway and be able to steer.

Motion on the board is accompanied by some nice animations. When standing, your avatar will constantly bend and flex its legs is response to whatever buffeting / rising and falling the board is experiencing. When you turn, your avatar will naturally lean into the turn as if using bodyweight to influence direction. Similarly, when seated and in motion, turning will see your avatar use one or other leg as a rudder.

Permissions, Animations, Battery Charging and Texturing

Driving Permissions

There are no driving permissions associated with the Jet Board; if you rez it, anyone can hop on and use it. This means it can be easily combined with a rezzing system if desired, or copies of the board can be used with family and friends. However, if you do want to lock a board you’ve rezzed out – then, when you are not seated on it, left-click on it for about 2 seconds and the engine lock will engage, preventing any use of the board. You must repeat this step to unlock the board when you want to use it yourself.

Sit Animations

The WALT Jet Board comes with four default sit animations beside the straddle sit. These can only be activated when the board is stationary – which make sense. They can be cycled through by left-clicking the board when it is at a complete stop.

You can add your own animations to the board as well. Instructions on how to do this and in using the WALT Adjust Tool Box to fine-tune such additional animations are provided with the Jet Board. However, when using the Tool Box, note that while it supports couples animations, the Jet Board is a single person / single seat craft.

Battery Charging

A battery charging system is included, and the need to recharge can be toggled on / off via a hold-click option, as noted in the table above.

• To initiate charging simply left-cleck the board when not seated on it. The battery cover will open and a little solar charger on its own floatation device will be revealed, with cables connected to the battery.
• A hover text charge status is displayed over the board as charging takes place.
• Once charging is complete, the charger will de-rez and the battery cover replace itself. If you do not require a full recharge of the battery, left-click the board at any time to stop the recharge operation.

Texturing

For those who like to custom texture their vehicles (I generally do so with mine, but have yet to settled on a personalised texture scheme), Ape provides a dropbox containing the required .PSD files.

A Personal View

The Jet Board is a fun ride; it takes a little practice to master, but once you’re used to it, you’ll find yourself zipping over the water with ease. The lack of driving permissions makes it easy to share with friends, as noted, while the charging sequence is a nice touch.

While my tests were not exhaustive, I found it handled multiple regions crossings pretty well, even when repeatedly circling back and forth between regions, and I experienced little in the way of total loss of control. The hold-click menu perhaps takes the longest to get used to, and can cause frustration as it is easy to step past the option you want. However, given you’re only likely to want to use these options occasionally, it’s not a mark against the board.

Certainly, at L$800 for a unit that is Copy / Mod, the WALT Jet Board represents really good value and offers something very different to the run-of-the-mill surfboards, windsurfers and single-sit jet skis.

Related Links

• WALT Air Land Technologies (Santa Cruz, rated Moderate)
• Marketplace

Back in January 2023, I wibbled on about the NO Cottage Bizar by Marcthur Goosson (see: The NO Cottage Bizar in Second Life). Despite its unusual name, this is a sublime mesh model of a ruin dating back to medieval times and which has seen more recent attempts to revitalise it through the construction of newer brick walls and installation of modern windows, frames and doors.

As I noted in my previous article, the model is particularly well suited to kitbashing and / or modding, something which back in January saw me convert it into a pool house with hot tub and (after that article was written) a personal exercise space, and which has remained a part of the home island since then. However, having recently got my periodic itch to change things up, home-wise, I started wondering how it might be turned into a comfortable home and perhaps combined with the existing pool house. The answer turned out to be a combination of “surprisingly easily” – further demonstrating the potential for this building design.

To give a recap on the basic model, it comes in 2 versions, both at 99 LI. One is supplied at Copy / Mod / No Transfer and priced at L$1,499; the second is supplied Full permission, at a price of L$11,500. Both include shademaps, and the Full permissions version includes all diffuse, normal and specular maps. I opted for the Copy / Mod version, but have recently come to rue not getting the Full permission version. The building is supplied boxes but without a rezzer; after unpacking it’s just a case of pulling it from inventory, placing it and you are good to go.

By default, the building has 5 rooms, three on the ground floor, with one extending out to one side so its roof forms a terrace / broad balcony,  and two on the upper. There’s also a small courtyard formed by the addition of brick walls at some point in its recent history, seen on the left of the image below. The textures and material maps used give a good degree of depth to the build, with enough variation in style to give the impression of a building extend over time using different stonework.

The rooms themselves are of mixed size, with two on the ground floor linked by an impressive stone arch into which modern doors have been set, guarded by heavy wooden doors on one side. The two upstairs rooms can be accessed separately, one by a pair of wrought iron stairs leading up from the innermost of the ground floor rooms, and the other via original stone stairs within the building’s single tower (which also provides access to the rooftop terrace / balcony mentioned above).

Now admittedly, the default interior texture do give the building a drab, dank look – entirely intentionally and no critique of Marcthur as they fit the broad theme of the building “as is”; however, for a comfortable sense of home, some of them probably need brightening up. Fortunately, Marcthur has considered this and provided sufficient mesh elements / mesh faces in the build to make this relatively easy for the most part. Thus, with some suitable wall, ceiling and floor textures it is very easy to brighten the place up, whilst leaving the original stone untouched as a contrast.

For my part, I opted to use the room off to one side of the build as a new kitchen, retexturing the wall in a mix of “wallpaper” and (for their exteriors) stucco. Running the full width of the No Cottage, the room is ideal for this kind of use. Meanwhile, the rooms linked by the archway became, respective, the dining area (complete with sofa for enjoying pre- and after dinner drinks!) (also replacing the cement on the outer wall with a white stucco to enhance the look), whilst the first of the rooms linked by the archway and double doors became an ideal dining area with an additional sofa for enjoying pre- and after inner drinks and the living room.

In its default form, with huge fireplace, double wrought iron stairways and heavy concrete pillars supporting one side of the arch, this latter room can at first seem too cramped to become a comfortable living space. However, it is very easy to open it out  – such as by the removal of one of the stairways and replacement of the huge fireplace (I used the LISP Mid-Century fireplace by Pandora Popstar), and perhaps the removal of the concrete columns supporting the archway in the room (I also disguised the archway’s broken stonework with an arch of my own).

Removing one of the wrought iron stairways also allows the floor above to be remodelled to give more space, which I opted to use to fell the room become a comfortable bedroom, retaining the door connecting it with the other upper floor room, which became the bathroom (as well as serving a second purpose, of which more anon).

If you want even more space, the walled courtyard can be easily converted into a room: just add ceiling/roof, floor and glazing (with the removal of the wrought iron element from the original). How the new room is then used is a matter of personal choice; I opted to install a new “front door” and make it an entrance-come-music room, increasing the sense of space in it by removing the doors separating it from the rest of the house.

One of the things I decided I wanted to achieve early-on in converting a copy of the No Cottage into a house was to combine it with the pool house version I’d created in a manner which suggests they are a single structure. Given the No Cottage essentially has a single mesh forming most of its shell, this might sound a hard-to-achieve goal; but with a little imagination it needn’t be.

Cutting a long story short, I managed it through the simple expedient of turning the house through 90º to the existing pool house and then placing it on a lower elevation. This allowed me to align the lower level of the pool house – notably its courtyard with is two stone arches – with the the house version. By aligning ne of the arches from the pool house courtyard with an upper floor window of the house, which could then become a connecting door linking the two (via the bathroom). By removing the wrought iron from the wall of the courtyard, I was also able to provide a second means of access the pool house from the garden (working alongside the double doors off to one side of the building.

To help blend this arrangement with the rest of the land, and to add to the sense this was once a very large structure, I availed myself of the various sets of ruined walls Marcthur also offers, and which are themselves based on elements of the No Cottage build. These were used to construct a ruined gatehouse and tower a short distance from the house, together with the remnants of a curtain wall and a wall to help with the split in elevation between the two versions of the No Cottage.

As these kits are textured in a manner to suggest they have been ravaged by fire, to don’t entirely blend with the lighter stonework of the No Cottage (hence leaving me rueing the fact I didn’t but the Full permissions version!), but the gap between them and the house hopefully gives the impression the latter avoided the fire experienced by the former.

For those looking for the opportunity to obtain a building design offering some good potential for modding and which can fulfil a variety of roles from house to club venue or bar to deserted ruin – or even to house a swimming pool! – then it is really hard to fault the No Cottage Bizar, as I hope this piece again shows.

Related Links

• NO Cottage Bizar Copy / Mod (Marketplace – L$1,499)
• NO Cottage Bizar Full Permissions (Marketplace L$11,500)
• M&M Creation Marketplace Store
• M&M Creations Main Store
• Blog posts:
  • The NO Cottage Bizar in Second Life
  • Modding a House in Second Life: Tips and Pointers