Odd: Mainland ground texture changing.

Yesterday I did a bit of ground height adjusting. The sim is mostly granite but has some grass parts, so I lowered some of the grass parts and raised the granite next to those parts - sort of like a low cliff. Earlier today I came in and found that much of the grass that was there yesterday was granite, and there were small bits of grass where yesterday there was granite. One 256m piece, that has always been grass, was totally granite - and it's not mine.

I've just logged in again to find the grass and granite back where it was yesterday, and that 256m piece is grass again.

Anyone any ideas as to why it changes? I haven't noticed any changes in the past, and I would have done if there been any.

That's just how the terrain transitions work. The ground texture borders are chosen randomly by the viewer, within a height range suggested by the sim. It's not cached, so it looks a little different each time.

Yeah I've taken pictures of sandy like plots and then another day they look more grassy.

Yes, I once lived on a plot that was tropical, some days it was all sand, other days partly grass

Drove me nuts, I wanted to be at the beach, lol

Ashe

mmm I remember mine changing to snow when winter comes to Linden Land. I didn't do a thing but enjoy it.

I wish the patchy grass around my place would randomly change to being a bit greener!

I shrugged it off and didn't realize that I wasn't really going crazy.

O>O

Thank you, I have wondered about the wandering rock/grass on one of my parcels for a while. Followup question: what exactly is a "ground texture border"?

So, just to be sure I get it: if land is at a height which is near to a terrain transition height-point between grass and granite, then on some logins it will be more grassy, and on other logins it will have more granite? Could this be fixed by changing the entire parcel height in either direction by ... how much? Would 0.25m be enough to get push it to be always on one side of the transition?
.

That 256m piece was never anything but perfectly flat and all grass, although I can't vouch for the stability of grassy patches in other places. It's not my 256 so I didn't change anything on it, and yet today, it was all granite before I went to lunch and all grass after lunch, without any height changes being done (logged out in between). I wonder if I can steal his grass

I'm surprised that other people see changes. I've never noticed anything like it before.

For tweaking the blend ranges (those being the areas where the drifting effect is seen), the KB has a pretty decent overview.

https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=4220

You can tighten up the blend ranges if you're on a private island, mainlanders are stuck with that they're dealt.

ETA: on magic height bands to avoid the effect altogether, I wouldn't depend on that. The maps themselves are only approximations, the viewer will throw some slop into drawing the shape too.

It could just be that I've become more sensitive to it now since I frequently help people terraform their islands, but it seems like the randomness is more apparent on the newer viewers. I used to use Nicholaz (based on a year-old, pre-WL viewer) exclusively until just a couple weeks ago, and some days certain islands just seem "off" in terms of shoreline transitions when I didn't notice problems before.

That doesn't help me with the sim because it's mainland, but it's a very interesting read, and helps me to understand what's happening. Thank you.

Come to think of it, some months ago I made a sort of well-used path (sunk a bit) using heights, which curved round to the right at a point where there was a small area where the grass looked worn away. The next day, that worn area was nowhere to be seen and I haven't seen it since then. I thought nothing of it at the time, but today's changes were quite drastic. I've learned from it though, so it's all good.

Yes, ground textures shift.
Part of my land is a beach next to a Linden ocean. The sand fades to grass as one leaves the shore. The proportion of sand-to-grass shifts all the time. I place my sandcastle on sand, and in a day or two, it's on grass!

omg i'm getting crazy placing ice and snow on my maniland..hope lindens do it for me soon!

from what I understand, if someone else on the sim is doing any landscaping that too can slightly affect your land and how it works

I could be wrong, would not be the first time.