Resident Transmission
May Day Updates
XMIR is never quite sleeping and there has been a number of small changes over the last couple weeks.
Destination Guide
Collectively the community figured out how to set up a Destination Guide in the viewers much like the SecondLife Destination Guide, and we have set ours to point to the hypergrid wide one provided by Hyperica. Here you can look for current events, freebies, shopping, venues or other grids to visit. If you use Kokua a Destinations button can be added to the toolbar. Other viewers can do the same or display it from a menu.
In addition we have set up beacons in 5 locations which will update the OpensimWorld site with information on how many avatars are logged into a region. Users of OpensimWorld can like and comment on regions, so if you have visited XMIR and enjoy our regions, please give us a thumbs up there.
Map Changes
Three regions have been given new names and the Badr Jabaal name was moved to the new map location where there actually was a mountain. In addition one region was given a completely new landscape with the Skomrak lake under the foot of the Badr Jabaal. The other inland lake has been renamed to Lauperak, Windfall was renamed to Lervik, and finally one region was given the name Kapp, which means cape in English.
The changes have made a more natural flow of the landscape, and makes it easier to extend to the west. It also opens a route to build a road connection between the regions to the south and the Murat River Valley.
Register an Avatar
We have opened up for limited possibility to ask for an avatar account on the grid.
Right now we are accepting residents with a desire to work with mesh content, and sim, content and commerce development based on mesh and forward looking content types. We are also looking for residents who have an interest in contributing to the general theme of XMIR
Per date we don’t have any fancy starter avatars to select from, but this is being worked on. Registered avatars will be guided to where they can find suitable outfits and skins.
Registration happens on this page, and please allow for up to 24 hours to process a request as it is a manual process. Registered avatars will both get an account to log onto the grid, and to log onto the helpdesk system (still in development). For an account to be accepted you will have to be over 16 years old and the email address will have to be verified.
Gas Station and Post Office
The gas station and Post office in the andwest region is nearing completion. This was a project that was started in February but had slow progress because of lack of good textures for the pumps and signs. Armed with a nice selection of vintage textures from Texaco, the station has taken on a look of the early 50-ties, when we believe it was built.
The building will also house the Post Office of XMIR, and the postmaster is ready to move in on short notice. The entire build is mesh, with components made over the last year or so, such as the windows that are on sale both on Kitely and SecondLife Marketplace.
In the summer time it is nice to sit down outside, watch the sea, sip a Coke or enjoy a cup of coffee while watching visitors stop by for a chat, to get gas or pick up their mail.
Tidbits in early April
Lots of small changes have happened around the grid – also behind the scenes.
With April spring arrived and most of the landscape and trees are now in a fresh spring green only with snow on the peaks and the Seven Sisters mountains.
The small cabins in Lake Atlas has undergone a transformation where the cleanup of the mesh became more fundamental so they have gone from shacks to a place you might want to move into.
The motel at Lake Atlas has also seen a bit of renovation and there are finally beds in all the rooms, but still a bit to go before opening season.
The Chapel in Norderhov finally got a more representative entrance where there is now a pier where you could arrive by boat as they did way back when. The pier also serves as the landing point from which you can walk up the broad stairs to the chapel – the ideal place for a married couple to shoot their wedding photos.
Speaking about the landing, here one can also see the Hypergrid terminal for OpenSim World, which in many ways is the OpenSim answer to the SecondLife Destination Guide. We also got their webpage to load in the Destination Guide floater in most of the viewers, so expect to see some developments here, also from Hyperica, as pages are formatted to fit the space in the floaters.
Hypergrid terminals have been located in andwest, andwest Bay, Norderhov and Barcola so far. Also the Hypergates in Landmark have been updated with more destinations. If you are in the market for trees and plants, Selea's World is the destination to teleport to.
Finally the clothing store in andwest got a new retro badge and sign; LOT 247, which will be seen throughout on products and a website for the wearables to replace the Boötes logo. The domain lot247.clothes has been secured. – As always, rebranding takes time.