Written 11 January, 2013
I Still Use My Mystitool
Back in 2006 I bought Sweetie a Mystitool for Christmas-- and since I was intrigued, I bought another for myself.
Sweetie wears her Mysti sporadically these days, but I always keep mine on.
Nowadays some of the Mystitool's functionality is redundant, but I still find it useful in a number of ways.
Here are some things you can do now without gadgets:
Fly to any height. In the old days avatars could fly no higher than 150 meters or so without wearing an assistive device like a flight feather. It was a limitation that was silly even then, and became more so when build height was increased from 768 meters to 4096. Nowadays you can achieve a stable hover as high as 4096 meters with no device.
I still keep the Mysti's flight assist on. I can hover at any altitude and can set my flight speed to be faster than the unassisted speed. The Plaid setting is way fast!
Know Who's Around. The Radar in Phoenix and Firestorm will tell you who is on the sim and how far away they are from you. You can set the radar to tell you who is coming in or going out of chat and shout distance and who has entered or left the sim, and you can click on an avatar in the Radar tab and, if they're within draw distance, take your camera right to that person.
The Mysti shows avatars within 96 meters at lower right in hovertext and announces whenever an avatar comes within chat distance. I keep this functionality turned on because I find it keeps me oriented. I always know who's around without opening a window. Besides, no one can sneak up on me.
You can scan the sim and determine the number of avatars present and their locations.This was once done with probes and took about 30 seconds but now the Mystitool uses the Radar functionality and provides instant results.
You can also scan for avatars' UUIDs.
Teleport to Camera. Phoenix and Firestorm will allow you to teleport to the location of your camera. This is handy when I'm shopping and spot something one hundred meters and two or three rooms away. I don't have to wander about looking for the item.
I still sometimes use the Mystitool's Tp2Cam command.
Easily Find Favorites. Phoenix, Firestorm, and the Linden viewer all allow you to display a favorites bar at the top of the screen. I keep it turned off to save display space and search inventory. I've never used the Mystitool's favorites function.
The Mystitool does a hundred other handy things:
Rez objects from its inventory. You can put any copyable object in the root prim and rez it upon command (provided build is turned on on the land.
Rez either of two pose stands.
Rez a handy table that creates a new chair whenever someone sits down. The table can be customized and set to almost any size.
Rez a handy building platform. The owner can put up fences to keep avatars from falling off or completely enclose the platorm.
Rez a vehicle to take the owner and friends to the sky, where a platform is created.
Rez a skydiving platform. This will take you and your friends as high as 4000 meters, where it will disappear, throwing you into free fall.
Rez Linden plants.
Rez a chair that will follow you or another avatar about. This is handy when you or a friend has a weak computer that makes it difficult for them to move about.
Rez a camera positioner that will allow you to keep your camera focus fixed.
Track collisions.
Allow you to stand on another avatar's head. This is handy when you lose your friend while exploring. Functionality to 96 meters.
Create a particle beam that will lead you to your friends. Range is 96 meters.
Give you the coordinates of any avatar within 96 meters.
Allow you to mimic an avatar or object. You can, for instance, make your flying monkeys say "Flying Monkeys: We fight with poop!!"
Send a popup window to another avatar (96 meters limit).
Store your teleport destinations and allow you to easily recall them.
Show your favorite landmarks.
Listen on any channel(s).
Listen to object chat.
Scan for bugs and listeners.
Identify owners of chatty objects.
Set your Radio and Media URLS.
Catch URLS in chat and, if you wish, open a window on your browser.
Remind you to take a break.
Create cute poofy particles when flying. Colors are customizable.
Make a gentle facelight.
Ban, unban, eject, unsit, or teleport home avatars from your land. If the avatar isn't within 96 meters you can ban or unban by key.
Determine how many prims a plot of land can hold or how much land is needed for a specified number of prims.
Display random quotes.
Give a warning when sim stats or time dilation fall below user-specified levels.
Make your avatar resistant to bumps and mild pushes with Movelock.
Create a physical vehicle that makes you immune to pushes of any strength and allows you to walk through solid objects.
Stop unwanted animations.
Make facial expressions.
Create a relay that will tell you who is on your land while you're away.
Offensive functions allow you to kill avatars on damage-enabled land (this simply transports them to their home), trap them, drag them, or toss them about for sixty seconds. Before Havok 4.0 there was an orbit function that allowed you to instantly sent avatars millions of meters into the air, high enough to knock off their attachments and distort them. Needless to say, these functions must be used with permission of the avatars killed, trapped, dragged, or tossed so as not to violate the Terms of Service.
Pop open the Owner's Manual notecard. Considering all the Mystitool's functionality, you'll need it. I still do, after all these years.
The Mystitool allows you to set limits on most of its functions and all can be turned on or off. Unwanted functions can be removed from the HUD (and reinstalled later, if you wish).
The Mysti can be put to sleep when you're in a crowded area, but the newest version is way more efficient than it once was.
So, you see, the above is why I still keep my Mystitool on.
You can buy the Mystitool for $423L on the Second Life Marketplace or for $396 at Mystikal Cookie's store on the Blumfield sim. There's also a free version (functionality is limited).
I Still Use My Mystitool
Back in 2006 I bought Sweetie a Mystitool for Christmas-- and since I was intrigued, I bought another for myself.
Sweetie wears her Mysti sporadically these days, but I always keep mine on.
Nowadays some of the Mystitool's functionality is redundant, but I still find it useful in a number of ways.
Here are some things you can do now without gadgets:
Fly to any height. In the old days avatars could fly no higher than 150 meters or so without wearing an assistive device like a flight feather. It was a limitation that was silly even then, and became more so when build height was increased from 768 meters to 4096. Nowadays you can achieve a stable hover as high as 4096 meters with no device.
I still keep the Mysti's flight assist on. I can hover at any altitude and can set my flight speed to be faster than the unassisted speed. The Plaid setting is way fast!
Know Who's Around. The Radar in Phoenix and Firestorm will tell you who is on the sim and how far away they are from you. You can set the radar to tell you who is coming in or going out of chat and shout distance and who has entered or left the sim, and you can click on an avatar in the Radar tab and, if they're within draw distance, take your camera right to that person.
The Mysti shows avatars within 96 meters at lower right in hovertext and announces whenever an avatar comes within chat distance. I keep this functionality turned on because I find it keeps me oriented. I always know who's around without opening a window. Besides, no one can sneak up on me.
You can scan the sim and determine the number of avatars present and their locations.This was once done with probes and took about 30 seconds but now the Mystitool uses the Radar functionality and provides instant results.
You can also scan for avatars' UUIDs.
Teleport to Camera. Phoenix and Firestorm will allow you to teleport to the location of your camera. This is handy when I'm shopping and spot something one hundred meters and two or three rooms away. I don't have to wander about looking for the item.
I still sometimes use the Mystitool's Tp2Cam command.
Easily Find Favorites. Phoenix, Firestorm, and the Linden viewer all allow you to display a favorites bar at the top of the screen. I keep it turned off to save display space and search inventory. I've never used the Mystitool's favorites function.
The Mystitool does a hundred other handy things:
Rez objects from its inventory. You can put any copyable object in the root prim and rez it upon command (provided build is turned on on the land.
Rez either of two pose stands.
Rez a handy table that creates a new chair whenever someone sits down. The table can be customized and set to almost any size.
Rez a handy building platform. The owner can put up fences to keep avatars from falling off or completely enclose the platorm.
Rez a vehicle to take the owner and friends to the sky, where a platform is created.
Rez a skydiving platform. This will take you and your friends as high as 4000 meters, where it will disappear, throwing you into free fall.
Rez Linden plants.
Rez a chair that will follow you or another avatar about. This is handy when you or a friend has a weak computer that makes it difficult for them to move about.
Rez a camera positioner that will allow you to keep your camera focus fixed.
Track collisions.
Allow you to stand on another avatar's head. This is handy when you lose your friend while exploring. Functionality to 96 meters.
Create a particle beam that will lead you to your friends. Range is 96 meters.
Give you the coordinates of any avatar within 96 meters.
Allow you to mimic an avatar or object. You can, for instance, make your flying monkeys say "Flying Monkeys: We fight with poop!!"
Send a popup window to another avatar (96 meters limit).
Store your teleport destinations and allow you to easily recall them.
Show your favorite landmarks.
Listen on any channel(s).
Listen to object chat.
Scan for bugs and listeners.
Identify owners of chatty objects.
Set your Radio and Media URLS.
Catch URLS in chat and, if you wish, open a window on your browser.
Remind you to take a break.
Create cute poofy particles when flying. Colors are customizable.
Make a gentle facelight.
Ban, unban, eject, unsit, or teleport home avatars from your land. If the avatar isn't within 96 meters you can ban or unban by key.
Determine how many prims a plot of land can hold or how much land is needed for a specified number of prims.
Display random quotes.
Give a warning when sim stats or time dilation fall below user-specified levels.
Make your avatar resistant to bumps and mild pushes with Movelock.
Create a physical vehicle that makes you immune to pushes of any strength and allows you to walk through solid objects.
Stop unwanted animations.
Make facial expressions.
Create a relay that will tell you who is on your land while you're away.
Offensive functions allow you to kill avatars on damage-enabled land (this simply transports them to their home), trap them, drag them, or toss them about for sixty seconds. Before Havok 4.0 there was an orbit function that allowed you to instantly sent avatars millions of meters into the air, high enough to knock off their attachments and distort them. Needless to say, these functions must be used with permission of the avatars killed, trapped, dragged, or tossed so as not to violate the Terms of Service.
Pop open the Owner's Manual notecard. Considering all the Mystitool's functionality, you'll need it. I still do, after all these years.
The Mystitool allows you to set limits on most of its functions and all can be turned on or off. Unwanted functions can be removed from the HUD (and reinstalled later, if you wish).
The Mysti can be put to sleep when you're in a crowded area, but the newest version is way more efficient than it once was.
So, you see, the above is why I still keep my Mystitool on.
You can buy the Mystitool for $423L on the Second Life Marketplace or for $396 at Mystikal Cookie's store on the Blumfield sim. There's also a free version (functionality is limited).
2 comments:
This is a great post. I was curious to learn who actually still uses a MystiTool. I remember getting mine from an early mentor who got me a job working as a host in his club. This was in 2008. He said this was an essential tool to help know when guests arrive so they could be greeted. OMG and a "titler" which I still carry in my inventory.
As you have said, there is a lot of redundancy in having one today, but there are a couple of reasons I still use mine. 1. Who is near? Without having to actually click on the viewer radar function in Firestorm 2. TP History which I suppose I could learn where to find all that in the viewer itself if I took the time.
I am only reminded that I even have the HUD attached except in the rare instance when I enter a sim that asks to put my Mysti in "sleep mode"
Overall, it's a great gadget and aside from getting the updates, a small piece that keeps me connected to my early days in SL.
Thanks, Rocky.
I love the Mystitool's unobtrusiveness. As you said, the only time you're really reminded of it is when you enter a sim which asks you to put your Mysti in sleep mode.
I never thought how handy the chat notification would be for club greeters.
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