mega prims

I bought a race track last night,it is, i suppose a mega prim,it is a sim big and is one prim.
I know nothing of mega prims so i searched on line for info about them.
I found this article
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/01/02/megaprim-crackdown/
I have seen many race tracks on sl that i assume are mega prims,nice and smooth to drive on.
I have tried to make 3 different tracks using a standard prim then duplating it over and over to make the whole track surface,but i found cars very unstable on them,its like they hit something on the surface and become air born,very frustrating.
So last night by accident i stumbled on a race track that sold the 1 prim tracks.
I bought one and the cars drive perfectly on it.
So with the above article in mind,are these the mega prims LL is referring too.
An answer in the above article says Cory Linden has stated they are allowed on private estates,i have a homestead so i assume that would be considered a private estate.
I guess all i'm asking here does anyone know if i am ok to have this mega prim,and i'm not violating the T.O.S

Note that the article referenced was from 2007.

I'm not sure I'm parsing the post correctly, but I'd certainly assume that megaprims would make a fine racetrack, requiring considerably less computation to simulate collisions of the vehicle with a single surface than with a whole bunch of individual prims.

One of the two big things that have changed since 2007 is the creation of a lot of new prims that are more likely to be the size needed without a lot of carving up with cuts and slices, etc. That matters because the old carved-up prims sometimes confused the physics engine in their void spaces and on their cut surfaces. (Probably it was best to use the uncut faces of those old megaprims for bouncing vehicles across.)

The second big change is Havoc 4, which makes most megaprims behave just fine. If there's a concern that LL is still interested in "cracking down on megaprims" at this late date, I doubt it. As long as no neighbors complain of encroachment or can demonstrate lag caused by the megaprims, I don't think there's much risk of a Linden pulling the track out from under you.

There's some interesting stuff about mega-prims in the discussion section of the wiki article on them http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Talk:Mega_Prim -- basically, a lot of the arguments that "megaprims cause lag" get convincingly shredded.

Thanks,i just wanted to be sure,as i said i don't know much about mega prims,but they do make a lovely race track and save a huge amount of prims

Interesting to note, however, that megaprims were prohibited for SL6B exhibits.

They are always prohibited by Linden events, including the birthday and Burning Life events. They remain "not official." That said I do know of many places where they're used at this time without trouble on the mainland (Bay City and Nova Albion, for example), as well as countless private estates, homesteads, etc.

Many different "reasons" have existed for their disallowance, with the only one that seems to hold any water being about said prims can affect physics in some odd ways.

The OP is on a homestead, and as long as it is his *or* whoever owns it has no trouble with megas, then there's no issue here.

Except, when the Lindens use them =)

(They used my megaprims to make a large number of the display platforms in the Easter-Egg sims.)

I think the only real case where they cause lag is when you have lots of physical objects interacting with a megaprim. The collision pairs (if I correctly remember/understand what Andrew has said) are stored as std::map's so if you have one big object - aka a megaprim - interacting with a whole bunch of smaller objects, it can get costly to pare down the maps as the collisions age.

With the OP on a homestead, there could be issues if the vehicles on the track are poorly scripted (like lots of scripts looking at collisions) or have all their prims near the road. With one or just a handful of vehicles, it's probably no big deal. If there are a bunch, the sim might get grumpy.

If the question is just "are they legal on a homestead" then sure, use them and have fun. Once (if) LL implements stricter limits, you might have issues but until then, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I think the real reason they have not made megaprims officially OK is that they make money mostly from land tier fees, and the more prims you use the more land you need to own. Megaprims are efficient, and cut into their income.

In absolutely no way am I qualified to comment on this. But for what, if anything, it's worth, I built my mainland shop using several mega-prims over three years ago. I have noticed no problems with them and none of my neighbors has ever mentioned anything about it to me. (I don't have race cars running around there.)

If the race track is only 1 prim maybe it is a sculpty.

Mega prims are not illegal. It's just that some privately owned land will not let you rez (put) one there, because they are so huge. Imagine talking to someone and suddenly a wall falls on you. You know when you rez something big it does not always go the direction you thought it would go.

If you own the land you can put whatever you want on it, I think, as long as it isn't adult content and publicly advertised - unless it's also in Zindra.

That's probably a "one hand not talking to the other" situation. Which happens. Usually often.

at LL? you mean to say lindens actualy do not comunicate among eachother to wel? no that can not be..can it?

ok enough sarcasm.

one point of advice when working with megaprims, do not be alarmed if it disapears from view while you are still walking/driving on it, if the center of the megaprim is further away then your draw distance it won't be rendered anymore, in case of tortured mega prims the center can be further away then you expect, this can also effect the alpha sorting problem if you have a mega prim with an alpha layer in the texture, smaller objects behind it with alhpa can end up being rendered before the mega prim.

these are wel known (and related) limitations in the rendering engines and have a feeling need very highend graphics cards to fix

The only real problems I have had with megas are that if you link it to other prims (like using it for a floor in a house) sometimes the mega goes phantom and stays that way even when you unlink it. Its like it gets bugged or something. SO I just dont link them.

Exactly this IMHO!

Yeah, that's why I think they should give me free advertising in their blog, on xstreet and in the classifieds. I make primmy objects that help them sell land. I've been meaning to make a post about why I should be FIC...

Then again, I also made 3000 megaprims. Maybe they hate me for that.