The Big White Shark: an autonomous predator for your sim, with its full user manual.
Quick start
The Big White Shark
Don't want to deal with settings? Simply rez your shark in the water and watch it swim.
Rez the Shark Rezzer.
To use several sharks, use one rezzer per shark.
Left-click the rezzer. With several rezzers, wait for the yellow message above the shark's head before clicking the next one.
To delete all your sharks in the sim, shout (or say) /9999 kill shark — 9999 is a channel shared by all your sharks.
Watch out: sharks attack people who are not in their group. Rezzed with the group tag set to “none”,
they attack every avatar wearing an active group tag. A shark also attacks anyone who wounds it.
To change swimming settings, turn on attack mode and use the other features, read the manual below.
Part 1 – Default settings
To edit your shark's default settings, open the Settings notecard in the Contents tab of your rezzer
(right-click the rezzer, then the Contents tab). Be very careful when editing it: save a copy before
changing anything. Edit the notecard before clicking the rezzer for the first time.
Your shark is stopped by anything that would stop an avatar, so the simplest way to keep it in line is to box it in.
Rez one rezzer per shark. A rezzer can rez several sharks on the same chat channel, but it is not a good idea.
Chat channel
The chat channel is set in the rezzer's description. The default is 88, but this channel is only used during the first
seconds while the shark is rezzing: the rezzer then gives its shark a unique random channel. To use a fixed channel of
your own, replace 88 in the rezzer's object description. Click the rezzer once to see the channel, a second time to rez the shark.
Since sharks receive their channel a few seconds after being rezzed, wait for the yellow hover text “Channel xx” above
the shark's head before rezzing the next one.
Max distance (cube-shaped area)
Keeps your shark in a cube-shaped area. Set these values high if you prefer a sphere: the shark uses the lower of the two settings.
Xmax=17
Ymax=42
This keeps your shark within a 34 × 84 m area centred on its rez point (the vertical limit comes from MinAlt and MaxAlt).
Remember to halve your total space and place the sharks in the centre.
Max sim coordinates
By default these values keep your shark inside the sim, but they can confine it to a much smaller area — handy to keep your sharks from eating the neighbours.
XSimMin=115
YSimMin=100
XSimMax=200
YSimMax=150
Make sure the max values are higher than the min values.
Altitude
Sets where your shark swims. By default, between sea level and the bottom of the sim: with both values at zero, MinAlt is
the sea floor and MaxAlt the surface of the Linden water. To rez sharks in a tank between 50 and 55 m high, set
MinAlt=50 and MaxAlt=55. Otherwise, better leave them alone.
Max radius (sphere-shaped area)
Keeps your shark in a sphere. Set it high if you prefer a cube: the shark uses the lower of the two settings.
Rmax=17
The shark swims in a sphere 34 m in diameter. Halve your total space and place the sharks in the centre.
Speed
By default the shark picks a random speed between 1 and 20 each time it changes direction. The minimum must not exceed the maximum.
MinSpeed=3
MaxSpeed=13
Direction change
How often the shark changes direction: the higher the number, the more “nervous” it is.
Nervous=5
Behaviour
Now the fun part. Most of these options can also be changed with chat commands.
Agressive
Attacks people on sight.
Defensive
Attacks when injured.
Vulnerable
Can be injured (combat sims only).
Health
How much damage the shark takes before dying.
Dangerous
Can injure others.
Blood
Emits blood when attacking or injured.
AttackRadius
How far the shark detects victims. It may be larger than the swim zone: after an attack, the shark returns to its zone.
HitPoints
Damage dealt to an avatar per bite; 100 is instant death, 15 by default.
GroupSafe
Spares avatars whose active group tag matches the shark's group (General tab; defaults to the owner's group when rezzing).
Verbose
Messages in chat, shout or whisper (threats, injury warnings…). With Verbose=N you are still told by IM if the shark is killed or de-rezzed by the sim.
Example: rez your rezzers with the “none” group tag and your sharks will attack everyone
wearing an active group tag in your sim. If you use this feature, rez the Shark's Danger Sign too (a free object in the rezzer's contents).
Part 2 – Chat commands
Your sharks listen on a random channel given by the rezzer: note it when the shark first rezzes. To talk to a shark, type
/channel_number before every command; other avatars generally won't see them. To talk to all
your sharks at once, use channel /9999.
Lost the channel? Type /9999 show channel: a text appears above every shark and rezzer. /9999 hide channel removes it.
Every notecard setting can be changed by chat with /channel_number command,state. The examples below use channel 88.
/88 rmax,15 (swim radius: 15 m)
Temporary: commands only last until the next automatic re-rez of the
sharks — they then return to the rezzer's notecard settings. Only sharks that can hear you obey: out of range, shout.
Keeping track of your sharks
By default (Verbose=Y) a shark whispers a threat when an avatar comes near and shouts when it takes damage. To turn these messages on or off:
/88 verbose,y
/9999 verbose,n
Silent mode: when set to Y, the shark no longer tells its owner that it died or lost its physics status.
/88 silent,y
/9999 silent,n
Attack modes
Sharks can attack all avatars, one specific avatar, or only those outside the safe group. Toggle attack mode:
/88 agressive,y
/9999 agressive,n
To spare your group members, set GroupSafe=Y in the notecard and check the group in the General tab; members must wear their group tag.
To make a shark attack a given avatar (the name is case-sensitive), then stop the attack:
/88 attack,LouRavi Karas
/9999 attack,LouRavi Karas (all sharks)
/88 stop attack
/9999 stop attack
A targeted attack overrides the Agressive and GroupSafe settings; they return to their values when the attack stops.
Combat sims
These options only matter if combat is enabled in your sim.
/88 dangerous,y (can harm avatars)
/88 defensive,y (defends itself when damaged)
/88 vulnerable,y (can be damaged by avatars)
A shark has 200 health points by default; change it in the Settings notecard.
To kill and delete your sharks, shout or say:
/88 kill shark
/9999 kill shark (all of them)
After a kill command, click the rezzers again to rez new sharks, one after the other (wait for the channel message).
Remember: to get confirmation of your commands, set silent mode to “n” (silent,n), even temporarily.
/9999 show channel shows every shark's channel; /88 shows the sharks on channel 88.
Part 3 – Automatic updates
Your shark runs a complex script, a little like an AI: it finds its way around objects, through holes — and into other sims
if you are not careful. When rezzed, then periodically, sharks check for an update; if there is one, the new shark is sent
to you automatically. Delete your old sharks and replace them with the new ones.
Keep a copy of your old Settings notecard and use it to adjust the new one, rather than replacing the new notecard: updates may change it too.
Note: to avoid Second Life issues with physical objects, sharks are automatically killed
and re-rezzed every 10 hours. A shark that dies for any reason (killed by an avatar, parcel crossing without permission) is also re-rezzed automatically.
Enjoy!
Original settings notecard
Lost your original settings? Copy and paste this content into your shark's notecard.
//FIsh, Animal settings
//Heps Virtual Dive systems - 2008
// *************************************************************************************************
// * DON'T CHANGE THINGS BELOW THIS POINT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
// * DON'T DELETE LINES, DON'T ADD LINES, DON'T ADD SPACE PLEASE
// *************************************************************************************************
//============================================
0oO Messages to Owner Oo0
Silent=Y
//============================================
//0oO Min and Max altitude (leave to ZERO => Sea Level and Ground Level) Oo0
MinAlt=0
MaxAlt=0
//0oO Max. Radius from starting Point (Wandering Zone = Sphere)
Rmax=20
//NOTE : if you set all the variables : Xmax/Ymax/Zmax and Rmax, the most restrictive will be applied
AttackRadius=30
//Note : The shark can attack in a biggest area than the one he moves. At the end of attack, he will go back to his original position
//============================================
//0oO Starting Point (leave x=y=z=0 if you want it to be the REZ point) Oo0
Xstart=0
Ystart=0
Zstart=0
//============================================
//0oO Max. distance from starting Point (Wandering Zone = Cube) Oo0
Xmax=999
Ymax=999
//============================================
//0oO Max. Coordinates in SIM Oo0
XSimMin=5
YSimMin=5
XSimMax=250
YSimMax=250
//============================================
//0oO Speed setings (1 <-> 20) Oo0
MinSpeed=1
MaxSpeed=20
//============================================
//0oO Direction Change Oo0
Nervous=15
//============================================
//0oO Behavior Oo0
Agressive=Y
Defensive=Y
Vulnerable=Y
Health=200
HItPoint=10
Dangerous=N
Blood=Y
GroupSafe=Y
Verbose=Y
0oO End Oo0
