Connectivity: OpenSim Grids.

Openlife grid, looking for connectivity?

Step one, install and load the OpenSim Server daemon from 3DXStudio. Follow the instructions.

Step two, point your opensim viewer to ‘Local’ and enter ‘Test’ for the first name and ‘User’ for the last name and using password ‘password’.

Simple

Now

To extend that to the real world we need to make a few changes to the file that describes the regions in your ‘world’. We do that as follows:

1) Locate the folder it lives in, one way, is to right click the 3DXStudio shortcut on your desktop and select ‘properties’ from the menu.

2) On the properties window, look for and click ‘Open File Location’ [Windows Vista]

3) Look for a file folder in the window that open, simply called ‘Regions’. Double click it to open it.

4) Locate your xml files. I now have several but you will have a ‘default.xml. I recommend strongly you copy it to the same folder and rename it to ‘Default.xml.Original’. You will be prompted about changing the file extension, but click through, you Know what you are doing...

5) Open the xml file in your favourite editor, ( I use notepad as it is a low overhead) and make the following minor changes...

[I am not the worlds expert on XML files and understand its simply a form of HTML with a lot more construct]
The file contents are :-

sim_name="Central"
sim_location_x="1000"
sim_location_y="1001"
internal_ip_address="0.0.0.0"
internal_ip_port="9001"
allow_alternate_ports="false"
external_host_name="192.168.1.4"
master_avatar_uuid="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
master_avatar_first="first"
master_avatar_last="last"
master_avatar_pass="mypassword"
lastmap_uuid="489ab303-67bf-4d82-a11a-233f644254eb"
lastmap_refresh="1225803513"

Explanations:

“Config sim_UUID”
This has to be a unique number, UUID is a collection I understand of the network card ID and the current time in Unix, this every time you create it, it is unique completely. Make sure each sim has a unique UUID


internal_ip_port="9001"
Make sure each sim you create has a new Port number, the first of which is 9000 and then incrementing 1 each time.


internal_ip_address="0.0.0.0"
Set your Internal IP to all zeros.


external_host_name="192.168.1.4"
Set your external I/P address to your network ID. (We know that internal network addresses cannot be seen outside the network, but we overcome that later)


One more entry you might like to change is the one for the map updates. You may notice your map is slow to update, so change the last entry above to ‘0’ to get an update each time the Server is started.


lastmap_refresh="0"


Save your xml file back to the folder and restart your server daemon.


'Beathe again'


Now, your cohorts on the same LAN can get to you easy peasy, but what if you want an outsider to ‘drop’ in to your space...

1) Change your port forwarding for UDP and TCP to 9000 on your router.

2) Get your friend to change the data in their location box at the bottom of their openlifegrid browser from ‘Openlife grid’ to http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9000 where xxx is your I/P address.

3) Use http://whatsmyip.net to get your I/P address if you do not have it to hand immediatly!

Get your friends to start their browser and log in... But wait... you do need to add them to your access list


Start your server:

On the second tab (Command View), type into the green line the following: -
create user Joe Blogs password 1000 1000

That is their login first name, last name, password and the sim you want them to drop into.

Questions?

SecondLife + Openlifegrid = OpenSim

Having been a resident and sim owner is SecondLife ( http://secondlife.com/ ) as run by Linden labs based in part in the American West Coast, I naturally explored alternatives. RealXtend ( http://www.realxtend.org/ ) came along, and a little clunky, but techie, and a stand alone concept.

Realxtend demonstrated the use of meshes representing objects, a departure from Second Lifes Prim technology.It showed there are changes and possibilities around the corner. It was fun to create a form of Secondlife on your own pc, however, it lacks a certain something. One of the reasons Second life has done well is the sheer numbers of people using second life, this diversity creates an ever changing environment. A stand alone copy means you have it all to yourself and no visitors. Sad in a way, you can be king of the world, albeit the only one in your world. You become more like a marooned skipper, time passes and innovation comes and goes, but on your lonely island, you see nothing more than the changing of the day from day to night, and then from night to day.

I feel you need to be able to share.

Openlife Grid is good competition to Secondlife, but apart from pricing and politics, is more of the same. By that I mean its the same model, but with a very different political philosophy. Openlifegrid are talking about using meshes and ओथेर technologies to create a platform very different in feel to the Secondlife Grid.

Openlife led me to downloading my own copy of the Opensim grid, it a free download and is released by 3DXStudio under the openLifegrid banner.

It was very easy to set up, it more or less installed itself and although the documentation may be cumbersome, it took very little effort to have my own grid, 9 connected simulators to create my own Pangea.

Then, as if the lightning bolts from the ideas factory were not enough, my partner loaded it on her machine, and we hooked the pc's together to form a small network. Now we have connectivity and the sight of another avatar dropping into a sim on my own PC filled me with enough enthusiasm to need to get the next step running.

While America waged polling war between Sen. McCain and Pres Elect Mr Obama, we configured our router to port 9000 and opened ourselves up to a colleague in Belgium. She had the worlds worst internet connection and her laptop fizzled and sputtered to connect, authenticate and drop, twice , more , and again and again. In the end we gave up exceptionally happy the server here was seeing her login attempts and was confirming her account and her handshake.

Now
I need two more hurdles to pass.
1) Another grid OpenSim grid user to teleport into my Pangea and for us to teleport to their grid.
2) More importantly, the next evolve of virtual words needs to happen and for this I am wide open to any suggestion. Sooner or later, our grid has to share digital space with another grid, so that users can freely step between grids without seeing the dynamic and sometimes catastrophic teleport between worlds. For this to happen, we need to find a way of having our grid and their grid alive at the same time in the same space. I am open to suggestions and ideas.

Feel free to contact for more info, for ideas or any other reason.

River Ely