Making a 7Seas Custom Fish from a STARAX fish!

I’ve been making custom 7Seas stuff for myself even before 7Seas officially released their Custom Development Kit (OpenSeas, OpenRod and Custom Prize Givers). The very first one was a fishing wand which I made for another 7Seas fisher. This fisher was also the one who told me that the scripts inside the rods can be transferred into a different object making that object a fishing rod. That was how the Fishing Wand came to be.

Immediately after finishing the wand, I transferred my own rod scripts into a sword that I created. Changed all of the animations into sword wielding ones and my first Fishing Sword was born. Unfortunately, the community saw my new fishing sword and reported me for cheating. They thought that the sword was making me win all the time. Ha ha ha! Seven Shikami checked my sword and cleared my name of all charges.

A custom fish made from a STARAX fish!

Today, I will try my best to show everyone how to make a simple 7Seas compatible Custom Fish using a now freebie fish by the legendary STARAX. Look at the above 7Seas custom fish. It has spinning tails, it changes colors and its texture is different but under all those modifications is a STARAX fish.

Before I start, I would like to inform everyone that you will need at least some Basic Building Skills to accomplish the tasks presented here. Basic Building Skills is not hard to learn. In fact, it is something you acquire over time like when you learn how to color your shoes, resize your hair and others. To be honest, I am far from being an expert builder because I am still learning a lot of new things everyday. Besides, I will not be building a fish. I will be using an already built fish and that fish is a STARAX fish.

To start, I will need a STARAX fish and fortunately I was able to get copies of it from the now defunct Virtual Park and Recreational Service. If you don’t have any STARAX fish then drop by 3 Stars and a Sun to get FREE copies.

This is a STARAX Fish!

You will notice that a STARAX fish is already setup like a 7Seas fish because it already swims around but, unlike a 7Seas fish, a STARAX fish was not meant to be worn like a pet so a few modifications are needed to make it 7Seas compatible.

First, I need to remove the Rotation script from the fish to stop it from moving around. To do this, I will just right-click on the fish then choose Edit. This will open the Edit box. Then, I will have to click on the Content tab and inside is the Rotation script. Deleting it is easy, I will just have to select it and press the Delete key or I will right-click on it and choose Delete from the selection that pops out.

I aligned the main prim with the fish and increased the gap or space between them!

Next, I will have to align the main prim, which is the tiny green box, with the fish. The main prim will be the pivot point of the entire fish that is why it is located a little further from the fish itself. This is also where I will place the main OpenSeas script.

I added two tiny prims which will hold the Nicknamer and Bubbler script!

Now, following the sample provided by 7Seas I will have to create two new tiny prims. These two new prims will be the container for the other two OpenSeas scripts, the Bubbler and the Nicknamer. Once I have created these two new prims I will then place one of them above the fish and one infront of the fish. The one above will be for the Nicknamer and the one infront will be for the Bubbler.

When that is done, I will then have to link those two new prims with the fish. I will have to make sure that when linking the main prim does not change. To do that, I will have to select the two new prims first and then select the fish last.

Linking is very easy, just right-click any of the two new prims and choose edit. Now, while holding the shift key, click on the other new prim and then click on the main fish. Now, all three objects are selected. To link them, just press CTRL+L or go to the top menu and choose Tools and then Link.

After that is done, I will have to drop the OpenSeas scripts into their corresponding prims. This means that I will have to drop the OpenSeas Nicknamer script into the prim assigned for it and the same goes with the OpenSeas Bubbler and OpenSeas Main Scripts.

Linked and scripts dropped!

To be able to select a linked prim I must first check the “Edit linked parts” box in Edit mode. With that checked, I will now be able to select the prim above the fish and drop in it the OpenSeas Nicknamer script. The same goes with the prim assigned for the Bubbler script. For the main prim, I can either select the prim itselft or select the entire object and then drop the OpenSeas Main script in.

To select a linked prim the "Edit linked parts" box must be checked!

I will also have to apply a transparent texture to the two prims to make them invisible. To do this, I will just have to select both prims, making sure “Edit linked parts” is checked, and then in the Texture tab drag a transparent texture in it.

Once all of the OpenSeas scripts are placed the only thing needed now is to modify or customize the fish further. I can do it by adding other scripts that will animate it or change it color or I can add decorations on it like hats, plates, etc. or I can simply just re-texture it. For this sample, I will just re-texture it using a fire texture and will rename it to *Test* Fire Fish!

Customize the fish further by animating it or by re-texturing it or by adding stuff on it.

When I finally finish all of that, I will be able to take it and place it inside a Custom Prize Giver so that fishers can catch it. Creating variations will be much easier too, I will just use this one as a base and work over it. The final fish will also have some of the features available in official 7Seas fishes except the ability to be placed in aquarium (to be posted soon).

By the way, don’t forget to change the newly modified fish’s permission. Some builders often forget this part specially when they’re building off a full perm item. It rarely happens when you are building from scratch since the default permission is always set to Transfer only.

For 7Seas compatible custom items, the preferred permission is Transfer only. This allows those with multiple copies to trade with others who might need a copy or two. If you don’t want your customs to be transferred or traded then set them to Copy only.

With OpenSeas, your custom fish now swims around you and some of the goodies available in an official 7Seas fish!

Again, the fish used in this example is a STARAX creation which I got from a VPRS Garden Kit and they are all full perms. I don’t know why they are full perms but if you need a set to practice your custom building skills then just drop by 3 Stars and a Sun or just ask any old SL residents (those who have been in SL for years) for a copy.

Anyway, if you are thinking of creating your own 7Seas compatible custom fishes but don’t have enough building experience then I hope that this simple guide can help you get started.