Vehicle will not decend lower than ground

I'm modifying the RC Chopper Script by Mrc Homewood, and I want the vehicle to be able to descend down into the ground (phantom is set). I've been playing with the vehicle parameters, but can't find one that will allow the vehicle to move below ground level.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

If the script is a physics-based script, the object cannot be phantom. Setting something to phantom tells the physics engine to ignore it. The script likely sets it to physical when you activate it, and returns it to phantom afterward. In operation, it wouldn't be able to go any lower than the ground.

(that explanation may not be the most technical, but that's the basics)

passing through land requires non-physical movement, and even that seems to have a maximum depth of 3-5 meters if I remember right

I seem to remember when I first started in SL (a couple of years ago now), you could make something phantom *and* physical at the same time, and it would just drop through the ground and eventually go off-world, ending up in your Lost & Found folder.

I eat my words

After playing with a similar script, realized that I was coming at it from a vehicle with a pilot in it, where the pilot it still physical even if the craft is phantom.

Yes Wiggy, if the script is physics based, the point where the script calls llSetStatus(STATUS_PHYSICS, TRUE);
afterward call
llSetStatus(STATUS_PHANTOM, TRUE);

just remember to turn physics off when releasing control.

does it still do that? i haven't tested it specifically, but i seem to remember recently dropping a physical phantom sphere and it simply rested on top of the ground as if it wasn't phantom. i made it phantom to make it fall through the platform i rezzed it on


edit: just tried it, it does sit on top of the ground, and if you move it underground, it rises back to the surface just like when it's not phantom

in non-physical objects, the child prims(including the avatar) can be underground as long as the root is above ground. you could make a non-phys vehicle and offset the sit target to embed the avatar and any child links underground, and just make the root transparent