Goodbye Stonehaven

Although it didn't get a mention when we wrote about the history of Z&A, back in December, when the main store moved to Shackles, the sim known as Stonehaven Island has played a pretty important part in our history.

We've had a booth in the mall at Stonehaven almost as long as Z&A has existed. We can't exactly recall when we opened up there, but it was around the time of the second main store, before we knew we'd be losing that. The booth was originally in the mall in the sky, and we followed the mall down under the cage room when Dirk decided to move it.

So it was with some sadness that, today, we moved out of the mall:

The reason for the move is that Stonehaven is leaving Second Life. The reason for closing our presence there today is that the rent was due for renewal today. Given that the sim is winding down, heading towards the closing day, we decided to not renew this time.

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish Dirk well and thank him for providing a sim that was central to the very early history of Z&A. Stonehaven Village (to the north, also to close) is where Antony first lived and where he first experimented with scripting RLV. Stonehaven Island is also where he met Miss Vila, on the famous bridge there:

Goodbye Stonehaven. We hope you have lots of fun at your new home.

Because of this, and other recent changes in our locations, we've updated the location list page on our main website. And, as always, if you know of a good mall location that you think might be a good fit for us, please don't hesitate to drop either of us a line about it.

Est. 2010

Some advice if you find yourself stuck on a Z&A product after relog

Hi, Antony here. I had rather an odd experience this morning, when logging in, that resulted in me being stuck on a Z&A product and, initially, unable to get off it.

First a little background: when I log off for the night I have a habit of locking myself on one of our double subbie beds. I don't do this as a form of self-bondage (for one thing, Miss Vila frowns on me using self-bondage -- for some strange reason she seems to think it's my way of telling her I can do better *winks*), just as a way of going to bed such that, when I log in in the morning, I'm still in bed (see, RLV isn't all about BDSM -- it can be used to solve that "avatars don't stay in bed post relog" problem).

This morning, when I logged in, I did the usual thing of clicking on the bed, selecting the "Wake" option, and then going to press the viewer's "Stand Up" button. Only... there was no "Stand Up" button. Anyone who uses any of our devices (or anyone else's that deny stand) will know that's how it works -- RLV is used to stop you standing up again until the keyholder unlocks you. And that last part is the important part. I'd unlocked myself and I still couldn't stand.

I used the menu again and saw that I could lock again, so that meant the bed thought I was unlocked. I locked again, unlocked again, nothing. No "Stand Up" button.

After a brief moment of panic (was the rest of my Second Life going to be spent locked on a bed?) I decided to relog and, when I did, I was free of the bed. I then decided to check my RLV restriction list (Advanced >> RLVa >> Restrictions... in Phoenix) and noticed it was in a right mess. None of the restrictions in there was showing the name of the item applying the restriction, only the UUID of the item was showing. Then I went and checked in my inventory and noticed that almost every prim attachment I had was showing that it wasn't actually worn.

I'd been hit by the server attachment error.

As best as I can tell (and this is a guess) I think the "can't get off the bed" problem came down to my relay (in this case iControl) being worn and not worn all at the same time.

I ended up having to go to a different region, turning off RLVa, relogging, removing all restraints (including my collar -- that's the first time in the year I've been wearing it that I've had to remove it myself, that didn't feel good at all), attaching them again from inventory, turning on RLVa and relogging again. This appears to have cleared the problem.

So, the reason for this ramble about my problems? This might hit you too. It's a very common problem on the grid right now. You might see people talking about "RLVa assertion errors" -- what I had above is the underlying cause of that. If you experience something like I've described I'd suggest you follow the route I took and you should be okay.

And keep in mind that this problem might affect any Z&A restraints you have on too. Same thing applies.

Finally, can I suggest you go and vote on and add a watch to this JIRA? The more people who do, the more attention this problem will get.

Z&A Spanking Tools

Just released into the main store, and to some of our mall locations, is a new set of products we're calling the Z&A Spanking Tools:

The Spanking Tools are designed to be simple and inexpensive props for roleplay, perhaps in conjunction with products such as our Spanking Stand. So far we have seven, more will be added when we think of others.

You'll find them in the main store, and also on the marketplace (note that they're under Antony's account rather than Zardia's -- it's that old "two can't manage one shop" problem, again).

Z&A at Brigadoon Station

Recently we've been having a play with MoDesign's MoVe! vendor system. In the first instance Antony has been making some Punishment Picker vendor boards with the system and, so far, he's been finding it very easy to set up and use (here at Z&A we've got zero experience with networked vendor systems so this is all new to us).

In the process of looking for some suitable locations to put out a vendor board Zardia stumbled on Brigadoon Station. It's an interesting idea, acting as a gateway to various BDSM sims (literally, there are gateways you can go through). If you've not been there yet we'd highly recommend going and having a look. There's also some RLV-enabled toys there to keep a sub/slave occupied too.

And, of course, Z&A now have a presence there too:

Eighth Z&A Productions Group Gift

The eighth Z&A Productions group gift is now available from our main store. Just pop down, wear your "Friends of Z&A" group tag, and click on the vendor board. It looks like this:

The Bourbon Street Debauchery Hunt

Today sees the start of another hunt that we're taking part in: the Bourbon Street Debauchery Hunt

As usual, we've made a custom build as our hint gift (and, as usual, one that'll probably end up being a Z&A Productions product). So, if you like the sound of the hunt, and want to get your hands on a free Z&A product, head down to our main store, slap the board you see above, and get the information on how to start hunting on this hunt.

Nine new products in the main store

Z&A Productions are deligted to announce that we've released seven new products into our main store. Currently you'll find them on display on the ground floor:

 

 The products are:

Z&A Arms Up Display (Black)

Z&A Arms Up Display (Rust)

Z&A Forced All Fours (Chrome)

Z&A Forced All Fours (Rust)

Z&A Cage Frame (Black)

Z&A Tall Display Cage (Black)

Z&A Cross Hang Frame (Black)

Z&A Cage Table (Black)

Z&A Subbie Throne (Black)