Terraforming Tools? (or advice)

Hiya gang.....

Soon will be upgrading my land situation to an island of my own and I need some guidance. I know basically how to edit terrain and have even done some jos for friends in the past. But....as far as getting really involved with texturing and so forth.....I'm not quite sure what I need, aside from the right textures.

I had found an island called 'Ante' that I just looooved and I want to duplicate the style. It's basically a high cliff with a flat plateau......and there's beach area at the bottom of the cliffs....sort of a rock terrain that flows into a sand terrain.

I've seen some terraforming kits and tools but I have no idea if I can use anything like that since my island will not be a 'full' sim. I'm assuming these tools and island designs are meant to be done to full sims......so..... are there any tricks.....guidelines.....and most importantly where can I get the best terrain textures~!!

If you don't have estate manager rights you can't change the land textures so don't run out and send lindens them.

You must ask for Estate Manager powers in order to edit the terrain textures. You have to choose 4 terrain textures, which will be distributed from 0 to 100 mts height. You can change the different altitudes of distribution in each quadrant corner of the sim. By this I mean, you specify the maximum altitude of the lowest texture (sand for example), and the lowest altitude of the highest texture (snow for example). The space in between this 2 numbers is filled up randomly with the 2 in between textures.
I normally use Sand, Grass, Rock and Snow for a nice even effect, but you may choose differently depending on your preferred theme. You can also use the same texture in more than one of the 4 fields (i.e., all sand, all grass, all rock, half sand-half grass, etc.)

Ok.....for the most part I do know all this.....but let me see if I understand one detail correctly.....

I have purchased land in the past......done some terraforming and had full 'rights' so to speak. But what you guys are saying is ONLY estate managers can edit terrain textures. My understanding of that would mean that only full sim owners are going to be able to alter their islands to any signifigent degree....

Which means.....that all those esate owners who are 'selling' islands.....like open space and homesteads.....are deceiving people to a point... because....LL does not recognize actual ownership of these lands by anyone but the original estate owner. Further deducing means that even if a person 'buys' an island......they will NOT be able to alter that island terrain because they will NOT actually be an owner as far as LL is concerned.
Riiiiight?

I have been bouncing all over the place, pricing islands and talking to varius estate owners. Some have been really cool and accomidating.....and fair minded in their tier fees (which I understand, even when purchased....tier fees go to the estate owner, not LL.....so the very idea of owning these properties is bogus)
Anyway......some estate owners are cool, and honest about the whole island protocol....others are down right outragious in their prices and tier fees. I had one woman actually simply leave the conversation when I told her I was already aware of LL's policy and the actual tier fees charged to estate owners. She was clearly NOT expecting me to be an informed shopper. LOL

As it happens....I have beat feet enough that I now have some really decent options to rent a big island......in fact the current estate owner of the island I'm on now is wanting to work with me to rent me something bigger and more private....akin to a homestead....but actually full sim property. The bottom line is I have an idea about what kind of terrain I want and am fully capable of creating it.......but from everything I'm gleening here......it just isn't going to be possible. bummer. LOL

If you are not going to be paying your monthly fees directly to Linden Lab, then you don't own it. No matter what your prospective landlord says.

It is NOT POSSIBLE to "Own" a Homestead Sim or OpenSpaces sim unless you also actually OWN a full-use sim, with payments going direct to Linden Lab.

Sim owners can declare other residents as Estate Managers, giving them those rights as well. However, terrain textures change for entire sims, not parcels, and RAW files change the base terrain shape for an entire sim, not just a single parcel, so unless you are renting an entire sim (Of any classification), it's very unlikely they'd give you those rights along with permitting you to change those. If you only own a parcel, you can still use various tools to change the terrain to your liking, though, and Sim Owners and Estate Managers have the capability of setting the maximum deviation of land from the base terrain (Like on Mainland you can't change it more than about 20m from the default, I think.), as well as the water level.

Not quite... it's true they aren't owners in LL's eyes, but as I said above, they can still get those rights by having the Sim Owner set them as an Estate Manager. (The Estate Managers list is in World > Region/Estate > Estate)


See above again. If you're renting an entire sim, it's very much possible. If you're only renting a parcel, or part of a sim, it's still technically possible, but unlikely.

If you don't get Estate privileges, but are renting the whole SIM, you could perhaps send the 4 terrain textures (and the .raw terrain file, too) to the owner and ask them to place them for you.

Problem solved.......my current 'landlord'.....owner of the sim I now rent on.....has decided she is more then happy to rent me more land and terrform it the way I'd like it.
So......thanks for all the input.....apparently I do have a good grasp of the rules as LL has defined them. But....I'm also really fortunate to have found one of the better estate owners in SL. They have both integrity and skill......and that makes me a very loyal renter.
Of course now I have to undertake the task of relocating all my stuff.....eek. My weekend is cut out for me now

Its is very easy to get cheap land with full rights as Estate Manager where you can do whatever you want within the TOS rules. And I would NEVER rent any land without the full rights. And its a JOKE if the landowner doesn't allow you to terraform your own parcel.

Hell thats really sick.