Help For Running a World
Courtesy of:
(Some edits done by Chi3D)
World Options Reference Building the World Object Server Backups Old World Servers
When you have the caretaker rights in the world, you can change the world attributes. Log in to AW, enter your world, go to the Options menu and choose World. From there, you can choose either Features, Rights, or Ejections. [3.3 also had Lights and Fog.]
World Features - General [4.1]
1. Title: The text that people will see in the browser's
title bar, between the universe name and the coordinates, when they are in the world. This
will also be the name that the Immigration Officer says after the "Welcome to"
part to the people entering the world, unless you have set a Welcome Message (see 4). This
will also be the name shown when a location inside world is saved into Teleports list with
Remember command in Teleport menu. Default: blank
2. Object Path: URL (http link) to the web server where the
objects will be downloaded from. Default: objects.activeworlds.com/aw (AlphaWorld's object
server)
3. Home Page: The web page that people will see in AW's
internal web window (Show - Web) when they enter the world. Default: blank
4. Welcome Message: The message that the Immigration
Officer says to the people who enter the world. The maximum length is 254 characters. You
can insert line breaks and tabs into the message e.g. with a bot like Xelagot.
Default: blank
5. Search Keywords [3.3+]: A comma separated list of words
to describe the topics of the world, for the universe's Search tab bot. Default: blank
6. Botmenu URL [4.1]: URL (http link) to a control menu
that you see when right-clicking bots that are programmed to use the menu. Default: blank
7. Entry Point [3.3+]: The location where visitors start
out by default. The syntax is the same as for the teleport command. You can set it to the
location where you are currently standing by pressing the Set to my location
button. Default: blank means 0n 0w
8. Object Password: Password that object zip files have
been encrypted with, if there are such files in the world. (Caution: Do not
password-protect freebie objects, avatars.dat, seqs and similar, because it is easier to
break the password if the contents of the original file are known.) Default: not set,
although it shows as *****
9. Object Refresh: How often, in minutes, AW will look for
updated versions of the objects. The value only has effect when you enter the world, or if
it is changed while you are there. If you change objects often, you can set it lower, but
that also means heavier net traffic. E.g. 1 means that browser looks for new versions
every time you enter the world. Default: 10080 or one week
10. Restricted Radius: The limit in meters (= 10 times the
coordinate value) from the Ground Zero where only caretakers and those with Special
Objects right can build or run bots. Default: 0
11. Max. Light Radius [3.1+]: Maximum distance how far the
light command reaches, in meters. Possible values 0 - 999. Default: 10
12. Cell Data Limit: How much objects, their actions and
descriptions you can put inside a cell (10 x 10 meters) when you build. Normal = 1650,
Large = 2750, Huge = 4400, Mega = 5500 bytes, Ultra = 11000 bytes [3.6: 1500, 2500, 4000,
5000] Note that the maximum length of one object's description and action field is still
255 bytes. Default: Mega
13. World Rating: Guide whether the world contains material
that is not suitable for children. AW user cannot enter worlds rated higher than their
browser's world rating setting allows. G = General Audiences, should not contain any
controversial material; PG = Parental Guidance suggested; PG-13 = Parents strongly
cautioned; R = Restricted, parental guidance requested; X = Adults only. Default: PG
14. Minimum Visibility [3.2+]: The minimum visible range
for all visitors. Default: 30 meters
15. Avatar Updates per second [3.4+]: How often avatar
movements update to the viewer. Higher values are smoother but use more bandwidth.
Default: 1, maximum 15
16. Empty mover reset timeout [4.1]: How fast a mover that
is no longer in use returns to its original location. Default: 600
17. Used mover reset timeout [4.1]: How fast a mover that
is in use returns to its original location. Default: 3600
World Features - Options [4.1]
1. Disable "create url/media[3.6]": When
checked, people cannot use "create url" command when building and cause AW's
internal web browser's content suddenly change when people move inside the world, or
create media that starts media content automatically. Default: checked
2. Disable multiple media playing [3.6]: When checked,
people will only hear one media command stream at a time. Default: not checked
3. Allow pass-thru (SHIFT): When checked, people can go
through objects by pressing Shift key while moving. You may want to prevent this and the
next two selections to prevent cheating in mazes or similar games, or when you want to add
more realism. Default: checked
4. Allow flying (+/-): When checked, people can fly with
+/- keys. Default: checked
5. Allow local teleports/invites[3.6]: When checked, people
can teleport inside the world with teleport commands or from the Teleport menu, and can
invite others to join them within the world. Default: checked
6. Allow object selection: When checked, people can see the
content of the Object Properties box when they right mouse click an object. You may want
to prevent this if you don't want people to see how the world is built or by whom.
Default: checked
7. Allow tourist whispers [3.2+]: When checked, tourists
can whisper. Citizens can always whisper to them. Default: checked
8. Allow citizen whispers [3.4+]: When checked, citizens
can whisper. Default: checked
9. Hide chat [3.4+]: When checked, users don't see chat
messages from each other, except bots with caretaker rights, that can relay it on.
Default: not checked
10. Always show names [3.4+]: When checked, users see
everybody's names over their head. Default: not checked
11. Allow avatar collision [3.0+]: When checked, avatars
can bump into each other, instead of going through. Default: not checked
12. Enable 3-axis object rotation [3.3+]: When checked,
enables rotating objects along all three axes when building: tilt along x axis,
rotate around y axis, roll around z axis. Default: not checked
13. Disable Avatar List [3.4+]: When checked, the avatar
list cannot be selected. This can be used by SDK programs to control which avatar each
visitor is wearing. Default: not checked
14. Personal AV enabled [4.1]: Allows people wear their
personal avatar in the world. Default: not checked
15. Allow tourist building [3.4+]: When not checked,
tourists cannot build in the world, even when Build right is set for everyone. Default:
checked
16. Enable browser referrer [3.4+]: When checked, AW
browser identifies itself to web servers according to HTTP standards. This can stop
downloads from web servers that prevent direct linking, like many free sites. Default: not
checked (always off before 3.4)
17. Enable send bump event [4.1]: When checked, bots can
see if somebody bumps an object with a bump command and take action accordingly. Creates
more net traffic. Default: not checked
18. Enable global events [4.1]: When checked, builds can
use global actions that are visible for all when they happen. Default: not checked
19. Chat disable url clicks [4.1]: When checked, url http
links posted in chat cannot be opened into web browser by clicking them. Default: not
checked.
World Features - Physics [4.1]
1. Gravity [3.4+]: How fast avatar rises or falls.
Gravity is on only if there is a ground object or terrain. Default: 1.00 or standard Earth
gravity
2. Underwater Gravity [3.4+]: How fast avatar rises or
falls underwater. Negative value causes avatar to float to the surface. Default: 1.00
3. Friction [4.1]: How fast and easily avatar moves on
surfaces. Default: 1.00
4. Underwater Friction [4.1]: How fast and easily avatar
moves on surfaces underwater. Default: 2.00
5. Slope Sliding [4.1]: When checked, avatar can slide in
slopes and hills, or climbing up can be prevented. See next options. Default: not checked
6. Slope slide min angle [4.1]: Minimum angle for steepness
of a slope after which avatar starts to slide. Default: 0.00
7. Slope slide max angle [4.1]: Maximum angle for steepness
of a slope after which avatar cannot climb up anymore, only jump, or steps over on other
objects than terrain. Default: 90.00
World Features - Sound [3.4+]
WAV format sound files that visitors can hear, if they have sound effects playing setting on in their browser. Default: blank.
1. Global ambient sound [3.6]: Sound that can be heard
at the same volume level all over the world. Can also be a streaming media url. For
streaming media you can put noloop command in front to play it only once
2. Footstep: Sound that plays twice every time avatar walks
the distance of their own height, doubled when running. See autowalk
3. Enter Water: Sound that plays when avatar enters water
and begins swimming (the mid-point of the avatar drops below water level)
4. Exit Water: Sound that plays when avatar emerges from
water.
World Features - Ground [3.4+]
1. Ground object repeats [3.2+]: When enabled, the
ground object is repositioned every 60 meters as you move, so that it remains
underneath you at all times, creating the illusion of an infinite ground. When disabled,
the ground object is always centered at 0N 0W. Default: checked
2. Ground Object: The name of the ground object file,
without the ".rwx" or ".zip" ending, from the object server's models
directory. If you do not specify a ground object, the world will have no gravity. Default:
blank
3. Enable Terrain [3.3+]: When checked, the editable
terrain ground is enabled. Default: not checked
4. Terrain elevation offset [3.5]: How much all of the
terrain is shifted up or down, in meters. Note that the change will not take effect until
a terrain update is forced, by moving around. Default: 0.00
5. Terrain surface ambient [3.4+]: Ambient value for
terrain; brightness, how much ambient and directional light effects surface. From 0.0
(reflects no light) to 1.0. Default: 0.20
6. Terrain surface diffuse [3.4+]: Diffuse value for
terrain; shading, contrast between lit and unlit. Default: 1.00
World Features - Lighting [4.1]
1. Enable Fog: When checked, sets fog on. Fog is always
active underwater. Default: not checked
2. Fog Tinting [4.1]: When checked, fog will cover the
whole view. Active when Fog Min is between 0 and 50 meters. Default: not checked
3. Fog Color: Fog color can be changed by clicking the
color box. (In 3.0 - 3.3 fog color was the backdrop color.) Default: Blue 178
4. Fog Min: Where fog starts from the viewer. Also controls
the tinted fog's density. Default: 0
5. Max view / fog distance: Where fog reaches its full
thickness. The higher the Max value (difference between Min and Max), the thinner the fog
is. Also controls the visibility of ground objects and terrain (far clipping plane), even
when fog is turned off. Value can be between 50 and 1200 meters (before 3.4: 0 to 400).
Default: 120
6. Ambient Light: The color of the light that shines
equally from all directions in the world can be changed by clicking the color box. The
intensity of the ambient light is determined by each object file's surface value setting.
Default: White
7. Directional Light: The color of the world's main light
source, such as the sun, can be changed by clicking the color box. You can disable the
directional light by setting it to black (0 0 0). Default: White
8. Position X (W-E): The position where the directional
light source is shining from (in 3.3: shining _at_), along the X-axis: left of slider is
west (+X), right is east (-X). Default: -80
9. Position Y (Up-Down): The position of the directional
light source along the Y-axis: left of slider is up (+Y), right is down (-Y). Default: -50
10. Position Z (N-S): The position of the directional light
source along the Z-axis: left of slider is north (+Z), right is south (-Z). Default: -20
11. Light source texture [3.4+]: Texture of the world's
directional light source. It will be tinted according to the color of the light source.
Renders after cloud layer 1, but before layers 2 and 3. Default: blank
12. Light source mask [3.4+]: Optional mask for light
source. Same name for both texture and mask creates a self-masking texture. Default: blank
13. Light source size [3.4+]: The size of the light source
image, as percent of the viewport. Max 100 = entire screen. Default: 0
14. Draw light source in front [3.4+]: When checked, makes
the world light source act as a corona, overlapping the scenery. Default: not checked
15. Light texture glow [3.4+]: When checked, makes the
world light source blend with scenery. Default: not checked
16. Use light source alternate color [4.1]: When checked,
the light source texture's (e.g. sun, moon) color can be set different from Ambient Light
and Directional Light. The color is defined with the next setting. Default: not checked
17. Light source alternate color [4.1]: The light source's
color can be changed by clicking the color box. The previous checkbox controls whether it
is shown. Default: White.
World Features - Sky [3.4+]
The sky colors fade to one another (gradient) across the sky. Before 3.4, Backdrop
Color setting controlled the color that you saw behind the background image and the
ground, and also the fog color.
1. Backdrop: The background image, in jpg format but
without the ".jpg" ending, from the object server's textures directory. The size
is usually around 1536x384 pixels. Alternative to skybox, although they can also be used
at the same time. Default: blank
2. Skybox [3.2+]: An rwx model, visible from the inside,
that is always centered on your current position and rendered first, so it surrounds the
whole world. Default: blank
3. Top: Color of the sky directly overhead. Default: Blue
178
4. North: Color of the northern part of the sky. Default:
Blue 178
5. East: Color of the eastern part of the sky. Default:
Blue 178
6. South: Color of the southern part of the sky. Default:
Blue 178
7. West: Color of the western part of the sky. Default:
Blue 178
8. Bottom: Color of the sky below the horizon, straight
down. Default: Blue 178.
World Features - Cloud Layers [3.4+]
Cloud layer 1 gets drawn first, (then world light source,) then layer 2, and then last layer 3.
1. Texture: Cloud texture. Default: blank
2. Mask: Mask for the cloud texture; optional. If the name
is the same as the texture name, it will be "self-masking": brighter areas
nontransparent and darker ones see-through. Note that clouds are automatically transparent
at the edges, and that fading rate cannot be changed with mask. Default: blank
3. Speed X: Cloud speed, moving to +X = west, -X = east.
Default: 0.00
4. Speed Z: Cloud speed, moving to +Z = south, -Z = north.
Default: 0.00
5. Tile: How many times the texture repeats itself across
the sky, in each direction. Default: 0.00
6. Opacity: Cloud layer's "thickness": slider
left = see-through, slider right = opaque, nontransparent. Default: 0
World Features - Water [3.4+]
The water effect produces a plane of water, with waves and liquid looking surface texture. Note that water fades out beneath the terrain, and skybox and backdrop do not render underwater.
1. Water Enabled: When checked, water is shown. Default:
not checked
2. Show water under terrain [3.5]: When checked, causes
water to be rendered at a uniform opacity even underground, disabling transparent edges
that otherwise appear on shallow water. Default: not checked
3. Top Texture: Texture of water surface's top, repeating
once per cell. Default: blank
4. Top Mask: Optional mask for the Top Texture. Default:
blank
5. Bottom Texture: Texture of water surface's bottom (that
you see when looking up under water), repeating once per cell. Default: blank
6. Bottom Mask: Optional mask for the Bottom Texture.
Default: blank
7. Color: Color of the water surface and the underwater
effect. Default: Black
8. Opacity: Water's "thickness": left =
see-through, right = opaque, nontransparent. Note that transparent and masked objects may
not look right through water if opacity is low. Default: 0
9. Water Level: Water "height" (distance of
surface from terrain), in meters. Default: 0.00
10. Wave Movement: How large the waves can be, in meters.
The deeper the water, the larger the waves. Water beneath terrain does not have waves.
Default: 0.00
11. Surface Movement: How far the surface will move up and
down, in meters. Default: 0.00
12. Movement Speed: Speed at which the waves move. Default:
0.00
13. Underwater view distance: Distance how far avatar sees
underwater, in meters. Default: 120
World Rights [4.1]
World rights determine the citizens who can or cannot do certain things in your world. That is done by defining lists of citizen numbers. The maximum length of a field is 255 characters. By default all lines are empty. Some conventions:
Also exclusions (-) and ranges (~) can be used [4.1]:
1. Enter: Who can enter the world. When everybody can
enter, the world has a colored disc beside its name in Worlds list; otherwise the disc is
grey
2. Build: Who can build in the world
3. Eminent Domain: People who can change or delete
properties of other citizens, and in non-registry worlds also change an object's owner
4. Special Objects: Who can build with objects that begin
with the letter "z". This allows you to create special objects that cannot just
be duplicated all over the place by any builder. People with z object right can also build
within the Restricted Radius
5. V4 objects [4.1]: Who can build movers, particles and
zones. Others get z object warning
6. Special Commands [3.1+]: Who can use move and rotate
commands when building
7. Public Speaker: Who speak in bold text and can use
special and hidden avatars
8. Eject: Who can eject others out of the world, by
choosing the Eject option in avatar's right-click menu. It blocks users coming in from a
certain citizen number, IP or MAC address for a certain period of time. Note that only
caretakers, not people with just Eject rights, can see and modify the list of ejections by
choosing Options - World - Ejections [3.0+]
9. Bots: Who can run bots in the world
10. Speak: Who can speak in the world
11. Voice Chat [4.1]: Who can speak through the voice chat
panel in the world.
When your world starts the first time, it will only contain one starter object, a street.rwx. Do not delete it, because you start building by copying it. Remember that as a caretaker/eminent domain holder you can change the owner of any object. If you accidentally delete your only object, then reinstall the world server, or use e.g. SeedBot or ChatBot to recreate it.
It is helpful to have possible object download errors shown on your chat window: go up to Options menu, Settings, Advanced tab, and check Print object errors in chat window. For instance, "file not found" means that the name of the built object is wrong (misspelled or not uploaded), "error 1403" means that the access to the object server is forbidden.
Worlds are square-shaped. Current world sizes (1 coordinate = 10 meters):
In any world, you cannot go above 2000 m or under -350 m altitude, or build above 327.7 m or under -327.7 m.
A ground object is an ordinary rwx file, usually square but it can be any shape. It can be any size too, but it is good to be about 400 meters wide in order to seem endless. On the other hand it doesn't need to be much wider than that either, because RenderWare 3.0's clipping plane will cut it anyway.
When you have walked 30 meters away from the center of the ground object rwx, it "jumps" ahead of you 60 meters. So any repeating features look best when evenly divisible into 60 meters.
If you want a non-solid part in your ground object, like water, you can use a child clump for the non solid part, or in AW 3.x collision off command. For the non-solidity to work, the first vertex of the parent clump must be at zero or positive altitude, even if some part of the ground goes below it. In AW 2.2 objects bigger than 256 vertices are non-solid.
Without ground object there is no gravity. If you want to build a modular ground of various modules rather than similar pieces, but still have gravity, you can use e.g. an empty clump as the ground object.
Terrain is a continuous ground object, editable by caretaker in pieces of one cell, 10x10 meters. You can change the elevation (height) of the south-eastern corner, the texture, and the rotation of each cell.
Elevation can change from -1000 to 1000 meters [pre-4.1: -327.68 to 327.67]. A terrain cell can also be a hole, gap. Terrain can use up to 500 textures [pre-4.1: 63] that must be called terrain0.jpg, terrain1.jpg, etc. in the world's object path.
With a bot or other program it may be possible to upload a terrain out of a file, e.g. in USGS DEM format.
You can set the background picture, backdrop, for the world in Options - World - Features. It can be any jpeg file from the object server's textures directory, but typically worldowners use some large scenery picture especially made for that purpose. You also set there the backdrop color: the color that shows in the background, above and under the backdrop if there is one, or as fog's color.
AlphaWorld backdrop pictures are often 1536x256 pixels, but they can be any size. With higher pictures the backdrop color doesn't show unless you look straight up. Narrow pictures tile side by side to fill up the whole surrounding perimeter. You can make it wider, so it does not that easily "follow" you when you turn. Some say that at least 2400 pixels is good for that. But there is no size that would make the backdrop stay fixed at certain compass points (so that the sun would stay in the same spot) for everyone, because it depends on your window size.
The backdrop color chooser in World Features is the same than in Windows Paint
accessory (mspaint.exe). If you want to blend your backdrop color seamlessly with your
backdrop image:
- convert your backdrop image to .bmp and open it in Paint
- or take a screenshot of it with PrintScrn button and paste it into Paint
- choose the Pick Color tool in Paint; looks like a dropper
- choose the colour of the picture's topmost part with it
- choose Edit color from the Options menu
- choose Define Custom Colors
- write down the numbers in either Hue, Sat and Lum, or Red, Green and Blue boxes
- enter the same three numbers as the Backdrop Color.
The information about what goes where in your world (see World Database) can be on your own PC, but the actual object files (rwx's, jpeg's, seq's, wav's etc), must be on some public web server, object server.
The default object server is AlphaWorld's objects.activeworlds.com/aw, and it can be used freely. All the Alphaworld and 3D homepage objects have also been compiled into Megapath: host.activeworlds.com/megapath. If you want to have other objects, you must use some other object server. (If it is not your own object server, ask permission from the server owner first!)
You can create your own object server, if you have web space for it. There are many free web page providers, but not many of them allow using their space as an AW object server, they may send the file inside an HTML page instead of direct response, or they may have page forwarding that makes it hard to tell the real path name. You can get reliable path hosting from Chicago3D.Net.
You can only use objects from one web server at a time, unless your primary web server can run specific PHP or Perl scripts designed for providing multiple object paths.
The object server must contain the following directories:
Upload the files to the object server with some ftp program, like Ws_ftp. Use binary format, and make sure that the filenames and extensions are in lower case.
When you go to your world in AW, the following directories will be created in the AW program cache on your PC's hard disk, and then the downloads go into them:
You can change the object server path and your world will still look the same, but then all the objects will be downloaded again into a new directory in your art cache.
You may want to use object registry in your world, if public building is allowed but you don't want people to build on (encroach) other people's properties. The other effect of a registry is that builders can only build with objects that are in the registry, otherwise they get the error message "Only registered objects can be used for construction".
Without a registry, you don't need to use the ".rwx" ending in objects' names, which saves space so that you can build more in the same cell. On the other hand, if you build with an non-existent object, it will stay in the world as a black triangle.
The registry file defines the dimensions of the objects, so that encroachment can be determined. The format of a registry file line is:
filename.rwx 1 left bottom back right top front
The coordinate values are in centimetres, the minimum values increased by 5 cm and the maximum values decreased by 5 cm.
You can make the registry file of your objects with RWXMod or Andras' Reggen utility. You can also download the ready-made AlphaWorld registry.
Put the registry.txt file into the world server directory. To enable the registry, right click the world in the Server Administration Tool, choose Properties from the menu, and type the registry file name (registry.txt) in the Registry line.
The avatar selection of the world is in the file avatars.dat. It must be in plain text (.txt) format. Zip it and put it into the avatars directory.
At the start of the file there must be the line version 3:
# animation registry version 0.3 version 3 # keep this around
After that is each avatar defined in this format: 
avatar name=Gray geometry=gray.rwx hidden autowalk autolook beginimp walk=gray01 wait=gray02 idle=gray02 endwait=gray07 fly=qfly2 run=qrun2 swim=qswim jump=qjump1 fall=qfall1 float=qfloat hover=qhover1 warp=gray01 slide1=slidelow slide2=slidehigh slide3=slidemax climb=qclimb endimp beginexp turn=qturn group=Emotes happy=gray03 angry=gray04 group= wave=gray05 endexp endavatar
avatar and endavatar lines. special
instead of avatar. The old way for special avatars was to put avatar files called special1.zip, special2.zip etc in the avatars directory, and seq files called sp1act1.zip, sp2act1.zip etc. in the seqs directory, for wait, end and walk seqs. Up to AW 3.3 avatars could only have one gesture. Up to 4.1 there could only be five special avatars.
name line gives the name of the avatar shown on the avatar list. The
name cannot be just a single digit, but it can be just one letter, and as long as fits the
screen. (From XelaG:) ASCII characters from 32 to 255 are allowed (before version 3.3 just
a-z, A-Z, numbers, dot, underscore). Some exceptions: number sign "#" starts a
comment that is not shown in the actual menu; and ampersand "&" defines a
keyboard shortcut, so if you want it shown in the menu, you must double it as &&. geometry line defines the name of the avatar zip file, but ending with
".rwx" or ".cob" instead of ".zip". Hidden [4.1] hides avatar from the
avatar list for others than the caretakers and Public Speakers. Autowalk [3.4-] lets the browser
handle the timing of the walk and run sequences automatically. The walk sequence plays
once every time you walk the distance of the height of your avatar, doubled when running.
Recommended for human resembling avatars only. Autolook [4.1] forces the avatar
to always look into the moving direction. beginimp and endimp
lines are the actions that avatar makes automatically. The names to the right of the
"=" character must match names of zip files found in the seqs directory. idle [3.4+] sequence sets the
posture of the avatar when it stops moving. Then after 30 seconds avatar performs the wait
sequence. hover [3.4+] sequence is performed
when flying, and float when swimming. slide and climb [4.1]
sequences are used when the Slope Sliding feature is enabled: slide1: when the slope angle is greater than the minimum slope angle and
less than half the difference between min and max slope angle. Upper limit = min_slope +
((max_slope - min_slope) / 2) slide2: when the slope angle is less than the maximum slope angle, but
greater than half the difference between min and max slope angle slide3: when sliding down steep terrain and the slope angle is higher than
the maximum slope angle climb: when the slope angle is too steep to walk (greater max-slope angle)
and the jump key is hit. beginexp and endexp
lines are the explicit gestures that show up as buttons on the toolbar and that you have
to press to execute. The name to the left of "=" will be seen on the button. group for the gesture
name, following by the group's name. All subsequent listed gestures go into that group
unless another group is set. If no group name is supplied (group=), the
subsequent gestures go into the main level again. You can organize the Avatars list into submenu groups by creating title sections like this [4.1]:
avatar name=Submenutitle endavatar
To create your own avatar list, you can simply cut and paste avatar definitions (avatar - endavatar clumps) from existing avatars.dat files and put them into any order you want. There can be 512 avatars in the avatar list [pre-4.1: 256]. Caution: If you have a syntax error in your avatars.dat file, then the avatar where the error is, and maybe even all avatars after that, do not show up in the list.
See also Avatars.dat Editor by Byte Me.
There are two sounds that get played when teleporting in your world: warp1.wav for teleporting inside your world, and deport1.wav for teleporting out of your world. They must be zipped each and put into the sounds directory. Note: You can rename any wav file as warp1.wav or deport1.wav to be used as teleporting sounds.
You can make your own objects, avatars and textures. AW objects can be Renderware rwx files or TrueSpace cob files.
You can use local path option in AW browser for testing new art files. It is a directory on your computer where AW will check for objects and textures first before downloading them from the object server. Other people won't see those files until you upload them to the object server.
Set the name of the local path directory in Options - Settings - Advanced, e.g: D:\mycache. Create that folder on your PC. Under it, create a directory structure like on the object server, replacing tilde '~' and other possible special characters in the www address with a hyphen '-'.
So if the object path of your world (or the world where you want to test objects) is "www.myisp.com/myworld", create under D:\mycache a folder called "www.myisp.com", and under that a folder called "myworld". Under that, make one or more of the folders avatars, models, seqs, sounds, and textures, as needed. Then put the files that you want to override into respective folders. For instance, to test a new avatar list, copy it as D:\mycache\www.myisp.com\myworld\avatars\avatars.zip. Remember to put all the textures and seqs needed by the objects you test into their own folders too.
Sometimes you may not see the new version of an object even when you have uploaded it right and lowered the object refresh rate.
Tip: If the world has no registry, you can refresh a single object by putting a \ or / in front of its name.
The 4.1 world database is not locked, so no automatic backup folder is necessary anymore. MySQL server may offer its own backup tools. Otherwise you have to take care of backups yourself by manually copying the files. Shut down the world server first. The most important files are admin.ini, world.ini files and the data subfolder.
To back up the world database automatically, you can schedule a task to run propdump or mysqldump every now and then, or setup MySQL database replication, or use AdminBot tool by Andras.
The 3.x world server can make backups of the world database automatically, if you
specify the backup directory's name and backup interval, in seconds, in world.ini. Default
is once in 60 seconds. Later installation programs directed the backups to the folder
C:\Active Worlds Server Backup\, otherwise you must create the directory
manually first. For instance, to have the world backed up once a day into 'mydir'
directory, add:
[backup] dir=mydir interval=86400
To write the world database into plain-text files or read them back into the world, use the Save/Load Property, Save/Load Attributes, and Save/Load Terrain commands in the File menu of the Server Administration Tool. They are useful for making registry, taking backup, or moving the world database between Windows and Unix machines.
You can also do propdump with XelaGot bot: survey the area and choose Save Project as Propdump from Project menu.
Note that if you Reset World in Administration Tool and then want to restore it back, you must load back the old attributes (atdump), property (propdump), and terrain (elevdump).
To take a backup of all the entire server if it is running many worlds, there are the
old propdump and propload commands:
- close the running world window with Ctrl-C
- open the MS-DOS Command prompt
- go to your world's directory with cd command
- run command
propdump > myworld.txt (the txt file can have any name)
- you can load it back into the world with command
propload < myworld.txt
(be careful with the syntax or you risk wiping out the entire world!)
- take telnet connection to your server computer
- shut down the running world with kill command
- go to your world's directory with cd command
- run command
./propdump > myworld (the output file can have any name) or ./propdump -s > myworld
- you can load it back into the world with command
./propload < myworld
123456 825785165 287 0 1350 -1800 [900] [-150] [0] 11 12 16 [0] mailbox.rwxsend me mailmailto:me@my.com [x] 123456 - Builder's citizen ID 825785165 - Time of building (number of seconds since Jan 1, 1970) 287 - X origin (centimeters) = west/east, west being positive 0 - Y origin (centimeters) = up/down, up being positive; -32767 to 32767 1350 - Z origin (centimeters) = north/south, north being positive -1800 - Y orientation (yaw), 1/10's of a degree: 0 = north, 900 = west, 1800 = south, 2700 = east 900 - X orientation (tilt), 1/10's of a degree, -1800 to 1800 [propdump version 3] -150 - Z orientation (roll), 1/10's of a degree, -900 to 900 [propdump version 3] 0 - OBJECTTYPE [propdump version 4] 11 - Object file name length 12 - Description length 16 - Action length 0 - DATALENGTH [propdump version 4] mailbox.rwx - Object file name send me mail - Description; may contain linefeeds mailto:me@my.com - Action; may contain linefeeds x - DATA [propdump version 4]
The server-sided propdump has an additional index entry as the first line: propdump
version 4.
JavaScript utility to interpret the contents of a propdump line, courtesy of Sleepy E:
{PageX} {PageZ} {NodeX} {NodeZ} {NodeRadius} {TextureCount} {HeightCount} {space separated Texture list} {space separated Height list}
(Thanks MilesTeg ;)
File, Save Attributes, or
- atdump > myattrib.txt
- atload < myattrib.txt
(by Sleepy E)
atdump version 4 0 Allow 3-axis rotation 1 Allow avatar collision 2 Allow citizen whisper 3 Allow flying 4 Allow object select 5 Allow passthru 6 Allow teleport (local teleports and invites) 7 Allow tourist build 8 Allow tourist whisper 9 Always show names 10 Ambient light blue (color red) 11 Ambient light green 12 Ambient light red (color blue) 13 Avatar refresh rate 14 Backdrop 15 Bots right 16 Build number 17 Build right 18 Buoyancy (underwater gravity) 19 Cell limit 20 Cloud layer 1 mask 21 Cloud layer 1 opacity 22 Cloud layer 1 speed X 23 Cloud layer 1 speed Z 24 Cloud layer 1 texture 25 Cloud layer 1 tile 26 Cloud layer 2 mask 27 Cloud layer 2 opacity 28 Cloud layer 2 speed X 29 Cloud layer 2 speed Z 30 Cloud layer 2 texture 31 Cloud layer 2 tile 32 Cloud layer 3 mask 33 Cloud layer 3 opacity 34 Cloud layer 3 speed X 35 Cloud layer 3 speed Z 36 Cloud layer 3 texture 37 Cloud layer 3 tile 38 Creation timestamp 39 Disable avatar list 40 Disable (hide) chat 41 Disable create url (and media) 42 Eject right 43 Eminent domain right 44 Enable referer (for browser) 45 Enable terrain 46 Enter right 47 Entry point 48 Expiration 49 Fog blue 50 Fog enable 51 Fog green 52 Fog maximum (view distance) 53 Fog minimum 54 Fog red 55 Gravity 56 Ground 57 Home page 58 Keywords (for search) 59 Light blue (directional) 60 Light draw bight (light source texture glow) 61 Light draw front 62 Light draw size 63 Light green 64 Light mask 65 Light red 66 Light texture 67 Light X (position) 68 Light Y 69 Light Z 70 Max. light radius 71 Max users 72 Minimum visibility 73 Object count 74 Object password 75 (Removed) 76 Object path 77 Object refresh 78 Public speaker right 79 Rating 80 Repeating ground 81 Restricted radius 82 Size 83 Skybox 84 Sky bottom blue 85 Sky bottom green 86 Sky bottom red 87 Sky east blue 88 Sky east green 89 Sky east red 90 Sky north blue 91 Sky north green 92 Sky north red 93 Sky south blue 94 Sky south green 95 Sky south red 96 Sky top blue 97 Sky top green 98 Sky top red 99 Sky west blue 100 Sky west green 101 Sky west red 102 Sound footstep 103 Sound water enter 104 Sound water exit 105 Speak right 106 Special commands right 107 Special objects right 108 Terrain ambient (surface) 109 Terrain diffuse 110 Terrain offset (elevation) 111 Terrain timestamp 112 Title 113 VOIP right 114 Water blue 115 Water bottom mask 116 Water bottom texture 117 Water enabled 118 Water green 119 Water level 120 Water mask (top) 121 Water opacity 122 Water red 123 Water speed 124 Water surface move 125 Water texture (top) 126 Water under terrain 127 Water visibility (view distance) 128 Water wave move 129 Welcome message 130 Disable multiple media 131 Sound ambient (global) 132 Botmenu URL 133 Enable bump event 134 Enable sync events (global) 135 Enable CAV 136 Enable PAV 137 Friction 138 Water friction 139 Slopeslide enabled 140 Slopeslide min angle 141 Slopeslide max angle 142 Fog tinted 143 Light source use color 144 Light source color (alternate) 145 Chat disable url clicks 146 Mover empty reset timeout 147 Mover used reset timeout 148 V4 objects right
(by Andras)
atdump version 1 0 World Title 1 Backdrop 2 Ground Object 3 Object Path 5 Object Refresh rate 6 Build Rights 7 Eminent Domain 8 Enter Rights 9 Special Actions (obsolete) 10 Special or Z Objects 11 Backdrop Color Red 12 Backdrop Color Green 13 Backdrop Color Blue 15 Restricted Radius 18 Public Speakers 20 Home Page 22 Object Password 23 Disable Create URL 24 World Rating 25 Welcome Message 26 Eject Right 29 Cell Data Limit 31 Allow Pass-thru 32 Allow Flying 33 Allow Local Teleports 35 Allow Object Selection 36 Bots Rights 38 Speak Rights 39 Avatars in Scene (for AW 2.2) 40 Allow Tourist Whispers 41 Light Direction X 42 Light Direction Y 43 Light Direction Z 44 Directional Light Red 45 Directional Light Green 46 Directional Light Blue 47 Ambient Red 48 Ambient Green 49 Ambient Blue 50 Allow Avatar Collision 51 Enable Fog 52 Fog min 53 Fog Max
- ejdump > myejects.txt
- ejload < myejects.txt
In world servers before version 3.1, the world.ini looked like this after installation:
[world] name=myworld password=WorldPassword [rights] caretaker=123456 [limits] ;registry=registry.txt
The Windows version of the world setup program put the world name and password automatically into respective lines. If you wanted to run many worlds on the same machine, you had to add a port number line and put a different port number for each world. E.g:
[world] name=myworld password=WorldPassword port=7001
If you wanted to use registry, you took away the comment mark from the registry line in the limits section:
[limits] registry=registry.txt
If you had already built in your world, then you also had to run propdump
and propload commands inside MS-DOS Prompt. Propdump command can be run
inside a backup folder, in which case you don't have to close the world. Propload must be
run inside the actual world folder and the world(s) must be closed.
When upgrading from 3.0 version 3.1 , you must convert the database files to the 3.1 format. In Windows, the installer detects an older world server if you are installing it in the same directory, and upgrades it to 3.1 automatically. Otherwise close the world and make backups, then do propdump, atdump and ejdump, and then propload, atload and ejload (see Dump/Load Commands). The installation comes with a convert script to make it easier.
(..Mauz & Chi3D do not guarantee the reliability or completeness of the information on this page.)