Tag: SL Product Reviews

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 meix 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

In 2021 Spartaco Zemenis sent me – entirely unprompted – a copy of the Moon Shadow motor cruiser he developed and sells alongside of Dogma9 under their respective winLab and Dogma9 Brands. While this was done in no expectation of a review but as a simple “thank you”, I found the boat so enjoyable to use, I ended up customising it and writing a review anyway (which those interested can read in Riding a Moon Shadow in Second Life). Within that review, I noted that the Moon Shadow – which I rechristened Moondancer after re-painting / texturing it – was the largest boat I’d driven / owned in Second Life.

Well, that record has now been broken! Recently, Spartaco forwarded me the latest version of the Moon Shadow, together with a copy of the 86′ Domino, a super yacht also built in collaboration with Dogma9 and available through their respective stores. At roughly 1.6 times the length and almost half as wide again as the Moon Shadow (so around 37 metres in overall length and 9 metres across the beam), it is now by far the largest boat I’m ever likely to own in SL!

The size of the boat is perhaps reflected in both its LI and price. By default, it tops out in motoring mode at 324 LI, although this can increase with various options (such as meals) are rezzed out as well, while the cost is a possible “eep!” inducing L$15,000 via the Marketplace, or L$12,000 if purchased in-world. However, for this, you do get a considerable amount of bang-for-(Linden) buck in what is a genuinely stylish yacht.

Inspired by the luxury vessels produced by Italy’s Riva brand in the physical world – a brand somewhat popular among mesh model makers – the Domino draws directly on the Riva 86′ Domino to offer keen SL boating enthusiasts with a vessel which looks good, is packed with options, has a high level of script optimisation, and  – I can say having handled it out on Blake Sea at speed across multiple east-west-east crossings (admittedly with only me on-board) and more gently through the channels and waterways of Second Norway – is an exceptionally agile vessel which handles itself very well.

In all three decks are provided on the boat, the uppermost forming the large flying bridge, with driver / pilot’s station seating up to three, and with a very large pair of sunbeds behind the cockpit area. Steps accessed via a floor hatch to one side provide access to the main deck, which comprises an over-the-stern outdoor seating area where lunch might be taken, and which provides access to the swimming / diving fantail and (empty) jetski garage / dive equipment store below.

Forward of this stern deck is the main day cabin, fully furnished and with the main cockpit to the front of this (control of the boat auto-switches between here and the flying bridge on the touch of a console button). Three points of access from the main deck provide access to the lower deck (one either side of the main cockpit, one within the rear deck area, hidden inside what appears to be a storage locker). The lower deck is split into two fully furnished double bedrooms, a galley, a bathroom, and a small seating area within the fore-and-aft companionway. Forward of the day cabin, and reached via sliding doors is the forward sun deck and sleeping area, and the boat’s bows. And this is just scratching at the bare bones.

Other features include:

• The ability to carry up to 15 avatars (region crossings allowing!).
• Fully functioning television media centres and laptop.
• Animation and poses systems both built-in to the furnishings and via control panels located in various cabins, for a total of 250 couples animations and 120 single multi-function animations, with avatar movement between seats without the need to stand up.
• 150 interactive objects,  including:
  • A selection of meals that can be rezzed on the main deck table and drinks and snacks that can be rezzed from the fridge.
  • Items that can be rezzed when working at the galley.
  • Working doors on rooms, closets, lockers, etc.
  • Full projected lighting system for internal illumination.
  • A working satellite ‘phone which allows the user to place calls (IMs) via a configurable list of recipients (and I would advise caution on using the default list of contacts 🙂 !).
• Scripted dynamic control system that can be used to adjust boat handling (stability / performance balance) to suit your driving needs.
• Automated resource management with manual override: when the engine is running, all scripts deemed unnecessary to motion / navigation are turned off to reduce the vessel’s simulator resource use.

The last two points are particularly useful when driving the Domino. With a 152 server load and 39.3 physics load, it is no lightweight when it comes to region crossings even without avatars and their associated loads, so minimising resource use and managing performance are important aspect in ensuring crossings are as smooth as possible.

HUDs

A key aspect to managing the Domino is the driver / pilot’s HUD. This provides access to the majority of the boat’s controls via clear icon buttons, with a second “page” for  manually locking / unlocking individual sitting positions, whilst camera options can be selected from the presets at the top of the HUD. In  order to work, the HUD needs to be synced to a copy of the boat. This is achieved by wearing / adding the HUD  and then sitting on the boat as the driver. Once attached, the controls, although graphical, are pretty clear.

As well as e primary owner / driver’s HUD, the Domino is equipped with two additional HUDs:

• A camera HUD available via tissue box like containers on the boat itself. These can provide passengers with a HUD offering the same camera options as the driver’s HUD, allowing them to shard the same experience in viewing a ride and to switch their camera position if they wish.
• An owner’s flag HUD, allowing the boat’s flag to be customised. This is pre-loaded with a number of national flags, but owners can also drop their own flag designs into it, either in one of the three spare slot, or in one of the used slots, if there is a particular pre-set flag option they won’t use. Clicking the HUD (when synched to the boat in the same manner as the driver’s HUD) will then apply the flag texture to the faces of the flag.

General Handling

The controls are the usual: ↑ and ↓ for the throttle, with ↓ beyond 0 engaging reverse, while ← and → control steering (with the WS and AD handling these respectively for those preferring letter keys for movement). In addition – and a useful capability in a vessel of this size – is the inclusion of fore-and-aft side thrusters. Providing the throttle is set to 15% or below, pressing SHIFT-→ or SHIFT-← will push the entire boat sideways, allowing it to ease alongside piers for mooring.

The two driving positions (main cabin and flying bridge) have buttons that will move the driver between them – including when the boat is in motion. I’m not sure how much value my experience holds for region crossings, given I’ve only taken the Domino out on my own. However, for my more extensive testing, I did take it from the south-east corner of Second Norway up through and around the islands to the Blake Sea Channel at moderate to low speeds, prior to turning on the taps from Vest onwards for two full-throttle runs across Blake Sea into the waters of Nautilus and back, as well as a loop of Blake Sea at varying throttle speeds prior to mooring at Blake Sea – Sirens Isle alongside (serendipitously) the “Dogma version” of the Domino. I encountered a few moments of crossing stutter along the way and some issues of the camera not being sure of what it should be doing, but both boat and camera quickly sorted themselves out without any need on my part to cut power or do anything else, so nothing of the experience was lost.

Were I to sum-up my experience with the boat, albeit it over less than half-a-dozen trips (two of them reasonably long-distance, it would be “smooth and pretty much perfect”. But again, that is boating with no more than two on-board, and only myself during the longer / faster rides.

Customisation

Textures for the boat are supplied in two packs contained within the Notecard manual. These can be copied to inventory and the textures downloaded for modding. However, I would note this is something that could potentially be improved; while the textures are split between interior and exterior, the labelling is not the friendliest (e.g. “86_Dimino_Int_101”; “86_Domino_Ext_006”, etc.). This can make matching some of the textures with their locations on the boat a little more complicated than it perhaps needs to be (why couldn’t “86_Dimino_Int_101” simply be called Something like “Domino_Int_Bathroom”?). Givingn a hint of location might be tricky with some elements of the external textures, given the way they are split along the hull mesh to maintain correct scaling when applied – but it would perhaps allow those attempting to mod the boat with a greater level of confidence than “texture X” really does match “panel Y” rather than a 100% reliance on Eyeball Mk 1.

Elsewhere, the boat can be additionally customised through the linking of parts and items. The manual spells out the cautionary notes in doing this (which are minimal), and as noted above, there are some 3rd party creators supplying elements for the Domino – search “86′ Domino” on the MP. Just how much customisation the boat will take in terms of linking additional elements to it needs to be considered; the linkset count is already at 248 objects, so there’s not a lot of overhead to play with.

General Feedback

As I mentioned earlier, I’m no fan of big cruisers and yachts in SL, some of which can look (to me) to be ridiculously oversized. However, I do like both the Moon Shadow and the 86′ Domino -with the latter perhaps outdoing the former simply because of this sleek looks, despite its much increased size. Niggles-wise, there is the labelling of textures noted above, and the LOD models have been perhaps a little compromised other than for the high detail model. However, neither of these are going to stop those on board the boat from really appreciating it.

I’m not sure if it is me or tweaking to the scripts, but the 86′ Domino also seems to handle better at low speeds and the Moon Shadow; for a boat of its size it managed some of the narrower channels around Second Norway with aplomb, particularly those crossed by the little drawbridge style road bridges (well, “little” when compared to the 86′ Domino!), making the experience of trying to shoehorn this big a boat through channels its perhaps not designed for an actual pleasure. At speed, it becomes very responsive without once feeling like it is about to get away from you.

Overall, for those looking for a luxury yacht that handles well and is packed with features, the 86′ Domino is well worth looking at. It’s not a boat I’d use regularly, simply because of my predisposition towards smaller vessels. It would be nice if the boat could be offered with a time-limited demo for those wishing to try it, given the price Had this not been gifted, it would have been the biggest barrier for me in considering a purchase), but for the large boat enthusiast in SL, it’s unlikely the 86′ Domino sill disappoint.

My sincere thanks to Spartaco for his generosity.

Related Links

• 86′ Domino on the winLabs Technologies Marketplace store
• 86′ Domino on the Dogma Creations Marketplace store
• winLabs Technologies and Dogma Marine in-world

Courtesy of a visit to Clifton Howlett’s Highland Retreat (see: A Highland Retreat on Second Life), I became acquainted with an absolutely engaging (for me) building design by Marcthur Goosson, which immediately set my little mind churning as to the possibilities lying within it for a little kitbashing.

The build in question carries the rather awkward name of NO Cottage Bizar, which really doesn’t do the building justice – although the tag to the name does help illuminate things: medieval restored ruin with modern materials. In short this is a structure that evokes what may have started as a medieval castle or fortified house, which as the years passed was extended as the need for fortifications faded prior to being abandoned, only to be rediscovered in more recent times and once again built-out using modern materials to form a unique home.

This sense of history is imbued through the care in which this 99 LI design has been put together, notably with the use of textures and maps. Stand before the building, and it is possible to see the most aged part of the building, with its irregular stonework and masonry to the left, gradually giving way to later elements with their faced and squared stonework and more managed mortar, some of which bricks-up what might have been older parts of the building’s lower level, before returning to an older wall once more, something resembling a curtain wall that might have once enclosed a courtyard.

Within these elements are the “modern” aspects of the building: the courtyard (if that is what it was) has been full enclosed with cement walls and roofed over to turn it into a large room, the roof forming a balcony reached via the stairs of a still-standing tower which may once have opened onto the original wall. Elsewhere, the interior spaces have been built-up with brick and cement walls, new cement beams keyed into them or the original stonework, in places supported by upright beams in order to support new upper floors. These can be accessed either via the old tower stairs or by iron stairways which, with the iron reinforcements visible in places, give the rebuild something of a post-modern industrial look.

All of this provides a total of five rooms – two up and three down; two of the latter linked by imposing wooden doors which perhaps marked the limit of the original keep, and more modern glass doors. Together, these rooms provide living accommodation of a highly individual kind, whilst the care of the design means that if the finish on the internal walls is not to your liking, you can safely replace them; something I’ll come back to in a moment.

“But hang on a minute!” I hear you cry, “didn’t you blither on about kitbashing a new house just a few days ago? And now you’ve got another one?” Well, yes I did, and no, I haven’t. The modified Tromp Loeil Noa Ranch Cottage I recently reviewed / documented is still the main house; but I have a thing for old ruins in the grounds of my homes, as I’ve mentioned in the past, and on seeing the NO Cottage, I was stuck by a) how marvellous it looked, and b) how it it could make an interesting focal point for the island home, not as a house but as … a swimming pool / summer house. And once the idea entered my head, it became and itch I had to scratch.

As I’ve previously noted when discussing kitbashing, before starting any project, the first step is to ascertain exactly whether or not the end goal can be reasonably achieved. So off I toddled to the Marcthur’s in-world store and play clicky-click on surfaces, checking faces, parts, etc., to satisfy myself what I wanted to do could be done.

Fortunately, Marcthur designs his builds with the intention that they might be modified (he even sells full perm versions of structures like the NO Cottage so that, subject to a license agreement, they can be made a part of another build and sold); as such, I quickly confirmed this build could be modified and so went ahead and picked up the “standard” Copy / Modify / No Transfer version (L$1499).

I’m not going to bore you with a blow-by-blow account of the transformation; hopefully the images here will explain. Suffice it so say, with the add of a few prims, the removal of a few parts (the bars over some of the windows, the internal doors an upper floor, the replacement of the lower floors (with the aforementioned prims, and some duplication of parts to provide additional detailing + some re-texturing of a room and the addition of some internal lighting, I ended up with something that I think worked out quite well, and which fits with the rest of the garden and which only increase the base build’s LI by 4.

All-in-all the The No Cottage Bizar is a genuinely eye-catching design and well-put-together build, one which makes the L$1,499 price very reasonable. It is evident thought has gone into designing it to be both flexible in use as well as ready-to-use. While the shadow maps are something of a specialised inclusion (the full maps – diffuse, normal and specular – are available with the full permissions version), they do offer the means to provide your own textures for use in the Copy / Modify version, and making the finished look more unique to yourself.

More broadly, I hope this piece shows that there are some superb builds available which, with time and imagination, can be made into ideal homes or – with a little application and care for modding, can be made into something personal and unique, be it simply decorating it as a home, to getting ambitious and looking for a way to fit something more unusual – such as a swimming pool!

And, of course, for my part, I now have another unit I might one day convert into a house 🙂 .

Related Links

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

So, a week or so ago, I visited Gothbrooke Forest, a charming setting in which is located a copy of the Trompe Loeil Noa Ranch Cottage (see: A wander through Gothbrooke Forest in Second Life). At the time I noted the house was one I could end up purchasing for personal use and – as is my way – modify.

Well? Guess what this post is about (if you hadn’t already from the pretty obvious title…!).

Cory Edo is one of my go-to house designers for a number of reasons; many of her builds are light and airy, her work generally (but admittedly not always) lends itself to a fair degree of modification / kitbashing, and her prices are more than competitive. All of this is certainly true of the Noa Ranch Cottage. Although that said, It is also pretty big for a “cottage”, at least by UK terms…

With a 122 LI, a footprint of 37 x 24 metres and priced at L$625 (with a “snow” option available for a separate purchase price of L$100), the Noa is an highly induvial style of home well-suited for modification. It comprises a large main room with large windows to the front aspect and a curved roof which extends out of the front deck. This room is split into two parts, defined by a 3/4 height diving wall running part way across it.

To the front is the living area, complete with a large brick fireplace. A basic kitchen sits in one of the back corners of this room, whilst the space behind the dividing wall alongside of it offers space for a dining area. A narrow hall runs behind the kitchen, between it and the rear wall of the house and serving one of two back doors accessing the rear deck.

To either side of the fireplace are sets of double doors. Those towards the front of the house provide access to a second ground floor room of a fair size. The second pair access a small hallway with three doors: one to the rear deck of the house, one to a further ground-floor room and one back to the second front room. This hall also provides access to the stairs serving a small landing and the single, large upper floor room. On the opposite side of the main room to the two storey section of the house is a further small rectangular room with wooden walls on three sides and a single large front window.

It’s a design which offers plenty of opportunities for furnishing “as is”; but for me, the kitbashing opportunities and the two-floor section were just too tempting to ignore.

As I’ve noted in previous write-ups of houses I’ve bought, Isla Myvatn has a “split level” landscape, lowlands to the west, and a raised garden atop cliffs and rocks to the east, with the house offering something of a divide between, generally with the upper floor opening onto the back garden, and the front lower floors facing west.

One of the attractions of the Noa is that with its upstairs bedroom and landing (the latter with large windows to the rear aspect), it fit the design well, requiring only the addition of a home-made sliding door to replace one of the the windows, as shown above.

As a fan of large, open spaces in a house, the Noa’s design also allowed me to make some changes to the main room, taking out the the double doors and the wall supporting them to create a bigger space, with a new wall and doll installed to allow me to keep two additional lower floor rooms. With the fireplace relocated slightly, this allowed me to create a new entrance to the door, replacing one of the windows with my home-built sliding door (a further copy of which replaced the original front door at the opposite end of the main room).

After this, all that was left was to replace the back wall and door and blank off the passageway to the second back door behind the kitchen, as neither were required, given the house backs up against the raised garden. Once that was done, I opted to remove the small room off the side of the house the the front door and install a new side wall.

All of the above should indicate the Noa makes an ideal house for modding, and while there are some issues with faces, it can also be re-textured relatively easily, as I hope the images here demonstrate, allowing the house to be further personalised.

As noted, Cory Edo is one of my go-to house designers, her builds offer imaginative and rich designs, and with the Noa (and the Jura Waterfront Cottage before it, which inspired my own scratch-build for private use), she has provided a superb house for use out-of-the-folder or for kitbashing. It I have any issues with the Noa at all, it is that not all of the walls have individual interior / exterior faces, meaning that some retexturing is limited, and with due respect to Cory, some of her textures are a little rough in places when it comes to my tastes – notable the decking and the outside of the curved roof; both of which were easily fixed.

All-in-all, for those looking for a new house and who have the space for it, the Noa Rach Cottage makes for a good purchase.

Related Links

• Trompe Loeil Main Store (rated: Moderate)
• Noa Ranch Cottage on the Marketplace