Island owning..what do I need to know?

For all those who owned private sims for both residential and commercial, I have a few questions regarding island owning (the things I need to know before I dole out cash to get one).

I'm planning to own a themed gothic victorian sim somewhere in the next six months or so, I know it's early but I'd really want to learn ahead of time, what I need to look out for and how to maintain the sim? It's one thing to make the theme, its another thing to maintain it and have steady customers who want to rent.

Basic design of the village will contain a city square, with shops, the rest of the area will be strictly non-commercial.

Any tips?

sounds like you have a great plan already i would recommend having a solid lay out before you start. know exactly what ya want to build be-for hand. this way you don't waste time once you get the island figuring out what you want to do.

as far as owning a sim there really is nothing special you need to know besides learning the estate tools but you can do that in about 5 -10 mins once you get the island
most importantly have fun keep it fun the one biggest thing that can get you discouraged is it becoming not fun.

Thanks. I do have a basic layout on hand already but I'd also like to set up rules for the tenants to abide by too. I'd like to give my tenants the freedom to build and be creative but at the same time to adhere to the theme. Those who don't like it can climb way up the sky (is this a good idea? )

Question..how do I make sure that the sim will have relatively less lag than everywhere else? I won't be having clubs but do I really need to limit certain type of scripts in the sim? ^^; And will scripts still affect sim performance even if it's at a skybox up in the great blue?

I've been to a few gorean cities, and I was wondering if I should give out freebie clothing to visitors?

Also do you think it's taboo if I put up a church or a chapel? o_o Not sure if people would want to live their SLives near one.

Have you ever been to Amsterdam to see the stuff going on half a block from the Oedekirk (old church?). Well, at least they're further apart in SL than I remember them being in the real Amsterdam.

Melina Loonie runs a very popular island (currently two sims and planned to grow). You could ask her about it.

I built one on my 2500 sq m plot - see signature for details - if you want to drop by and have a look at a large (although still not quite finished) Church.

None of my neighbours have complained, and it's actually rather tasteful compared to some of the builds that are - thankfully - just out of my draw view. Take a trip up the belltower (tp just inside the main door on the right) and have a look at the view. It's quite pleasant.

Lewis

Lag is an issue even for an island. On Dragon Isle we worked VERY hard to make it as lag free as possible. Here are a couple of things we did in the hopes it helps you plan.

Be VERY careful with your textures. Reuse as many of the same textures as possible (ie keep the total number of textures as low as you can and still acieve your vision). Also keep the textures as small as possible most of ours are 256x256. If a texture does not have transparency then resave it as a 24 bit TGA or a JPG. All of these cut way back on lag and texture loading problems and are things you can plan ahead for.

As for scripts...listens and sensors seem to be the big problem spots. Avoid them as much as humanly possible. Iterestingly Hover text also seems to have a visible impact on a sim wide build if it is used alot. So keeping that to a minimum is also a good idea. Use full bright instead of material light.

Vendors are an issue. We use JEVN almost exclusively (with the servers stored off the island). We find the lag from a large number of these to be very low. They also have the ability to turn off hover text when the vendor is not being actively used. Dione's Designs also has a fantastic non networked vendor that we use in the texture shop that is virtually no lag. I am not saying other vendors are not good. THese were just our choices and they work for us.

Go easy on linden trees. Opting for user made ones can cut back on the lag caused by linden trees swaying in the breeze and having to be redrawn alot.

All of this added up to a sim with very low lag (for me 85 FPS in most parts of the sim) even though we have 4 sex ball businesses.

Please do fee free to come look around at how we did things.

Free clothing is great for rpg sim environments..I'd also recommend a landing point (enclosed with one way out) and a notecard giver (possibly titler too) to explain how the sim works, its rules, and a way for nonrpers to be differentiated

Edit: as for a chapel, etc. Do what fits the theme!

Although I'm not currently an Island holder, I'd expand on this by making a central location where your tenants can see what textures are already in use and encourage them to re-use those textures. If your making your own textures, then you can give them away or charge a nominal fee -- if your using textures bought in world, you can offer the original author a free vendor space there. I would also encourage your tenants to share with you any info on new textures used, so that you can add it to this location -- exlpain that by re-using textures everyone in the sim benefits.

The key would be showing your tenants what's already in use, and making it easy for them to aquire the same textures.

May want to also exhibit how tinting of textures (changing the base color to something other then white) can help make a texture unique -- if you get comeplaints about not wanting everything to look the same.

As far as landing point, I personally dislike getting a notecard upon TP. So what I have done on New Holstice in both of its designs is have a sign right near the TP that has hovertext that says "Sim rules - required for all - click for more info". That should be enough for people to get the hint. I also include general sim info (including RP rules, RP history, etc) as "attached" notecards, so that people are not simply bored with a bunch of rules, but get a lot of info on your sim in addition. You could even have a device MSG/Whisper when they TP in, reminding them to read the rules, etc.

One thing I have done on New Holstice (a medieval Japanese Samurai village named Tanjumura) is designed all the architecture myself. Then, we allow people to rent the cottages and put down their own prims, etc. That way, we know the builds will be all the same style, but people can still express themselves with design (including exterior stuff). Just an option, and I may have to change this to allow building down the road. But for now, I think people are attracted to this, especially if you keep rent cheap for these cases.

As far as zoning, I think if you have a general agreement to which people must adhere when renting/buying land or commercial spots, that is enough. In there, state that the owners/managers can simply reclaim the land if all attempts to correct zoning problems have been ignored. Then you just do that and return all their stuff. I have never had to do this, as I think people are generally interested in following the rules. But it would be good to have some sort of agreement. In fact, I need to put something up myself.

For this you might consult these groups for more info on these agreements:
- Neualtenburg Projekt: /103/1.html
- Nota Bene: http://www.notabene-sl.com/

MM

problem is the wall placards can be claimed as 'didn't rez'

maybe some gates that rez last or have an automated time minimum to open? It would give time for the rules to load.

Guys, thanks so much for the wonderful tips! ^_^ I really appreciate it (considering they were easy enough to understand ^o^).

One last question? Does height affect how the scripts affect lag in a sim? I mean building a script monstrosity at 500++ to 4000++ meters high will it still affect performance down below?

Darkness, is it okay if I can put your tips in a notecard and give them away? I know some folks who might benefit in the knowledge too and would like to share them with students and the like.

Again thanks!

Go for it I just hope it helps someone.

The SIM really doesn't care where the script resides.. Every SIM is running on a computer, every script on that SIM has to be processed by the same computer.. Actually some of the SIMs are running 4 to a box now.(if I read those statistics right)

The only thing height will help with are public channel listeners. You will get lag from any listener that's running. Those set to 0 so you talk to them in regular chat have to process everything that anyone says near them, so you will gain a little from moving those out of the general busy areas. This is why alot of people have their game boards way up high far away from each other. **Hints at the game makers to put in an on/off switch**

As far as other scripts, timers, emailers, it won't matter where you put them, it's all the same..

I wouldn't have any problem with a church or chapel, myself. They often have lovely architecture, and anything that makes the game prettier is good by me. Also -- and keep in mind that I spend most of my in-world time building by myself -- I don't hear complaints about any of the other in-game churches I know of. Amsterdam is very popular, for instance, and I've never heard anything but good words for Little Silent Hill. Unless you're proselytizing, I honestly don't think you'll ever get more than one or two people -- at most -- who have an issue with it.


And keep in mind that texture size goes up geometrically. 512x512 isn't twice as large as 256x256; it's four times bigger.