Post your Building Bugs and Annoyances Here!

Looking down the list here, I've noticed a nice trend of posting the same bugs/problems in multiple threads.

In the spirit of consolidating discussion and getting these problems heard, please list your bugs and building-related problems here. I'll add a few that have previously been listed.



1) Textures and Prims with Alpha have problems overlapping:

Sometimes when using these types of textures, the viewer makes it seem as though the object "magically disappears." This is quite annoying, since it forces us to build workarounds and not layer textures in an effective manner.


Current Workarounds:

- Place a prim with little or no alpha between alpha prims.
- Bake everything to one texture.






2) Edit Linked Parts is Bug-Ridden:

While it works usually, Edit Linked Parts has several bugs that need to be squashed.


A few choice problems there:

- Moving objects in a linked set suffers frequent "snap back" errors, especially when unlinked.

- Editting the root prim sometimes affects the entire set, leading to some lovely hassles.

- Bounds checking on Edit Linked Parts is completely broken.

- Sometimes pieces go "Phantom" erroneously.


Current Workaround:

- Just don't use it. Link stuff together the old fashioned way. If you do use it, be careful.






3) Textures "warp" when prims are editted in some ways:

The oldest of the old, this bug has been discussed time and again. The problem is largely related to how textures are "stretched" across primitives. Hopefully this will be addressed; it's a huge hassle, though.


Current Workaround:

- Bake textures that account for the skew.






4) But wait, I was editing unlinked and it still snapped back! What's going on?

This is caused by lag between you and the sim.


Current Workaround:

- The only current way to fix this is to check your connection.

An offline tool has been suggested, but nothing has come of that yet. If I find the time, I plan to make a Blender tool for simple building tasks. Don't expect anything lavish.






5) Second Life offers no support for meshes. Where are the meshes? I don't see any meshes! Why, why, WHY?

All in due time. I hope.


Current Workarounds:

- You can map meshes out in Second Life as a system of prims. Here is one such example. Note it doesn't look too good for much more than small models.

- More with Edit Linked Parts - BIG problem: using UNDO while editing linked parts will result in the reverse transform being applied to all prims in the object. Really fracking annoying. Also, shift-drag won't duplicate a linked prim.

- More texture weirdness. Using the repeats per meter setting gives very strange results for almost anything but a cube, but especially hollowed prims. Looks like someone just gave up on the math entirely.

- Also, rotating the texture gives bizarre results, as it gets stretched into very weird configurations.

- Changing only the transparency on multiple faces with different colors results in all of them being set to the same color too (the color of the last face selected, I think).

- I have never been able to get Reference coordinates to work.

Edit linked parts bug:

When editing linked prims using 'numbers', the whole linked set can become completely invisible, 'untouchable' and unselectable. It is still there though, as other residents can see it fine.

Workarounds:
1. Don't use 'Edit linked parts'
2. Relog
3. Move (or let someone else move) the linked set a little bit, it will snap back into visibility

------------
Rotation bug:

When rotating objects with arbitrary angles (not 0/90/180/270), the 'snap to grid' will snap to some very weird angles.

Workarounds:
1. Reselect and rotate again (sometimes several tries are necessary)
2. Use the numbers

1. Set of linked prims going all ghosty - that is, I can see the entire porch there in outline, as if it were about 95% transparent, and I can click on it and move it. But nothing - not even relogging - gets it tocome back and I have to replace the entire set. Unlike what people have said above, moving the set doesn't make it visible again, neither does taking it into inventory and putting it back out again. I don't know what causes this. Maybe the numbers, like someone said, but then again, I haven't been able to get my set visible again.

2. The snap-back problem. Textures of things will be snapped back to what they may have once been previously (in repetitions) and I don't know why. Sometimes unlinking them, setting them right, and linking the prim back works.

3. THE WORST WORST WORST WORST WORST problem - PLEASE somebody give me a step-by-step way to fix this:

Falling through floors and going through walls!

This is different from problem number one; entirely different. What happens here is for no reason I know of (though it may have involved editing a linked prim in the set at some point), the root prim will go . . . what would you call it? You can still see it, you just fall THROUGH it. Like it has no substance.

To fix it, I have been unlinking that particular prim, then drag-copying it, and getting rid of the prim that was there, leaving the copy behind.

You would think this would work, but soon some OTHER root prim is doing it. Always root prims are doing this, for no particular pattern I can discern. I figure it must have to do with editing a linked prim at some point.

PULLLLEEEEEZE tell me what you think in this thread (in non-technical language), of what you think of this idea:

(a) I take the entire house - all 140 prims or so - and UNLINK them all.

(b) I then go about linking them in sets again.

(c) I never touch another prim in a set again without unlinking the whole set.

Do you think this will work?

Baring that, how about maybe taking a copy of the whole house, then putting the copy out and seeing if it is any better?

Please answer! I am growing desperate after a week of this!!!!!! I will never finish my house at this rate!

coco

Zoomed in very close and stretching, the edits sometimes change drastically, regardless of what my mouse pointer is doing with the little colored handle.

This is more of a camera bug, but moving the camera accurately is indispensible to building. When I zoom or pan sometimes my camera just gets off its tripod and flies off somwhere. Sometimes along the same axis (like zoomed way out) or just somewhere else completely.

Hmm, I guess I should report these to those Linden folks.

llSetTextureAnim. You can set this with a script and it persists after you delete the script (a good thing). But if you shift-drag the prim to make a copy, the copy is not animated (a bad thing).

Not completely a building bug, but thought that I'd toss it in.

This bug has totally pissed me off (pardon me, please). I've begged and begged and nothing has been done. The workarounds posted here don't do anything for me. Until this is fixed, anything done on small prim is a nightmare and that was the only building I've ever done that I **enjoyed** - building doll house furniture. Because of the nature of the sizes and tortures, it's NOT a matter of making it big and shrinking it down. I can make it small and grow it and have a *very nice* piece, but going the other way doesn't work as well, especially when you're working with pieces that are smaller than a normal avatar's palm (like dressers) or even their fingers (like flowers in vases or pitchers and basins).

Yes, it is a camera problem, but a major building issue for me. I can almost deal with the other stuff (note the "almost", but this I cannot deal with at all. I've done everything I can on my end -: got a 21" monitor (okay, just wanted an excuse), changed resolutions, and changed the graphics check boxes - but nothing has had enough of an impact to make it easier for me.

I've never heard anything on when this might be in the queue for fixing, or *if* it was even in consideration. Has anyone else heard anything?

I don't like the linked_set center of mass being used for grid positioning versus the old method which used the root prim. I find myself constantly positioning an "unbalanced" object with the mouse, then having to manually type the exact position entries I need.

And, I don't like that the world vs. local coordinates is now a dropdown. With the checkbox toggle, I could very quickly toggle local coords. on then off again while scripting or directly entering size/rotation data in order to see which axis to modify. I don't like using the ctrl-shift/mouse drag to re-size at all because I always seem to run out of screen-room.. thus causing an unwanted, automatic camera pan.

Finally, a problem I have sometimes when right-clicking land to edit it or check the options. If I click too near the top or bottom of my screen, my right-click automatically turns into a "go here" click. Causing my av to take off in that direction. I guess this has nothing to do with building, though.

I still have a fair percentage of obects that ghost when I delete them.

How about rotating a cube made of 24 linked prims, and during the rotation, having it suddenly "explode" into all of it's components, placed at odd angles, as if you had unlinked the entire structure at once while continuing to rotate it............

Happened to me last night, and as I watched it happen, my jaw just dropped. Besides being phenomonally frustrating, it was interesting to watch happen.

Or here's a much more frustrating one. A completed "target", scripted and working perfectly as intended. Press the button, timer starts, begin shooting target, timer runs out, target provides you with a score based on the concentric circles your bullets struck. Four of them, purchased, and no mod from the creator, spontaneously de-link after each and every server reset and or crash. Thankfully, the creator was understanding, though mystified and gave me one that was "copy". Really, I couldn't even unlink them on purpose, yet, even with no one using them, after each and every server crash / reset, the entire item de-links into it's component parts, and of course, can't be re-linked by me, they're no mod. Sucks to run a public "firing range" and for this to be a regular occurence.

I've seen that happen a couple times. I think it has something to do with Edit Linked Parts. ELP is evil and buggy. Beware!

Hmmm...

I want a client-side sandbox.

Take the server-side Sim code, strip out the networking portions (so it can only be used from the client activating the code, not another client) and have each client include a local-only, one-sim Grid. Objects, scripts, textures, etc. would be copied from the online Inventory to the offline Inventory, including the AV, and vice versa.

This solves the offline editor problem for Building, Scripting, and Textures/AV modification without requiring third-party software support. It gives increased flexibility to builders, scripters, and designers, allows people to experiment with dangerous/risky things without risking the main grid, and reduces the need for Sandboxes in-world. (It doesn't eliminate the need, since group projects require shared workspace, but it would reduce it.) It also provides LL with the platform to begin experimenting with something they need if they truly want to create "the next WWW" - a decentralized Grid.

My #1 annoyance at this time is the 10m prim limit. There's just no rational reason that I know of that a single prim shouldn't be able to measure 50m cube. I posted a thorough discussion of this elsewhere in this branch called THINGS THAT DRIVE BUILDERS NUTS. Check it out.

Oh, there is one thing that has been really bugging me since the 1.6 update:

* Prims moving by themselves, sometimes off the sim and getting lost. I have had buildings start pulling themselves appart because of this bug.

* In a similar vein... (or it may be the same bug, hard to tell) prims from a build just vanishing, for no discernable reason. Here yesterday, gone today. I don't know how many prims I've had to rebuild.

But the 10m prim limit... man, something needs to be done. Way past due. How nice it would be to build seemless walls and floors in 1 prim instead of 25!

The disappearing trick things are doing since 1.6. You know, when you are editing linked parts and "POOF" the whole thing disappears? Okay, it is only for a second and it comes back- but whoo wee is it annoying when it keeps happening over and over.

The first few times it happened i had little baby coronaries- now, i just slump in my seat and wait- click after click, i wait for it to "poof, return, poof, return, poof, return."

Any ideas on why this happens or a hint on when it will stop?

LOL. "Baby coronaries". Apt description.

The bad thing about this is that every time it happens, no matter how many times it's happened before, the first thought that erupts in your mind is, "OK... is this a 'fake' delete or did I somehow actually really delete the whole build?"

Agreed, it only lasts for a couple of seconds... but it's like getting a letter from the IRS over and over-- even if it's not bad news, it's still never pleasant.

This is pretty unbelievable too ...



in response to my thread...

z coord bug




.

i don't just get the "poof" bug when editing linked parts... sometimes it happens when I'm just entering location numbers. I'll change the z location, hit enter, and "poof". the worst part is I don't know if it has been deleted or is in the ground of 800 meters in the air.

and yeah, the zoomed-in camera bug is a pain. Alt-0 helps a bit, but not ideal.

I built a small table that 'locks' camera in different positions for little 'detail' builds. It's in Tavarua, NE corner (Memorial Gardens), nestled within the car lot. Should be full mod too, I tossed it together for later use by script and building teachers. You can still move camera manually, but tapping ESC should get you back to the base lock position.

Would creating a similar 'lock' object for building be a good idea? Something that you can touch-set for, say, 1) something car-sized; 2) something 512m sized; 3) something large-house sized; 4) looking down but over the horizon. That's the basic idea anyway.

Of course, the camera crash bug applies in these cases, but if you set your sight such that you're looking down in a semi-diagonal direction I'd think you'd be mostly OK.

Because "Editing Linked Builds" bugs are once again being discussed and happens to be a topic explained in depth, this thread is getting a bump.