Quickstart

= Quickstart Guide to Running OpenSim = '*** This guide assumes that you will want to run a standalone server (so not connected to any grid) and that you are using Windows. This guide will later be expanded to include other Operating Systems and other modes (like grid mode or a hypergrid-connected standalone mode) ***'

Before We Begin

 * Download OpenSim from http://www.osgrid.org/index.php/downloads, the most current version is usually the best option. Note that the Opensim version from Osgrid.org is preconfigured to connect your regions to OSGrid..
 * Make sure to have .NET 4.0 installed.
 * Decide on where you will want to keep the files. This guide assumes that C:\OpenSim is used, but you may want to think of a better place than that.

Setting up OpenSim
1 - Unzip Opensim into its own folder, then rename the folder to just "OpenSim" and Move the folder to C:\ (You can move it elsewhere if you like, but I chose the root of C:\ because it's nice and short)

2 - Change into the folder that OpenSim was unzipped to. change to the bin folder and change into the Regions folder as well, you should see a file called Regions.ini.example, which you can ignore for now. Create a new text file and name it Regions.ini (with capital R), open it in Notepad and paste the following text: [My Region] RegionUUID = 11111111-2222-3333-4444-000000000000 Location = 1000,1000 SizeX = 256 SizeY = 256 SizeZ = 256 InternalAddress = 0.0.0.0 InternalPort = 9000 AllowAlternatePorts = False ExternalHostName = SYSTEMIP MaptileStaticUUID = 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

I use this RegionUUID because it allows me to easily increment the last number in case I wish to add more regions later. Note that if you add another region, it will need a different port and RegionUUID, so adding 1 to each new RegionUUID and port makes things easy to keep track of.

3 - Go back to the bin folder and change into the config-include folder. Copy the file StandaloneCommon.ini.example and name it StandaloneCommon.ini. Open the new file and replace all instances of the string "${Const|BaseURL}:${Const|PublicPort}" to localhost:9000 OPTIONAL: Find [GridInfoService] and change the gridname and the gridnick to something of your own choice.

4 - Go back to the bin folder again and open Opensim.ini, look for "[Architecture]" and remove the semicolon from the line that says 'Include-Architecture = "config-include/Standalone.ini"' and add a semicolon to the start of the line that says 'Include-Architecture = "config-include/GridHypergrid.ini"'

5 - From the Windows startmenu, open "Run" and enter "cmd" (without quotes). A black window should open. Now type "cd C:\OpenSim\bin" and hit enter, then enter "OpenSim.exe" and press enter to give opensim its first run.

6 - You will be asked the following questions: New estate name [My Estate]: Estate owner first name [Test]: Estate owner last name [User]: Note that this info can be changed late on, so for now, let's go with the defaults.

(Once you see "INITIALIZATION COMPLETE FOR My Region - LOGINS ENABLED", you will know that the startup is complete)

7 - You will need an account to log in with, so we now issue the command "create user". the system will ask you the following questions: First name [Default]: Last name [User]: Password: Email []: User ID [random UUID]:

You must do this for each user that you wish to add. Once you are done creating users, enter "quit" and press enter to exit the server, because we need to do one more thing.

8 - Edit OpenSim.ini and find the text "[Estates]". You will want to uncomment (by removing the leading semicolon) and change the following lines: DefaultEstateName = My Estate DefaultEstateOwnerName = FirstName LastName DefaultEstateOwnerUUID = 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 DefaultEstateOwnerEMail = owner@domain.com DefaultEstateOwnerPassword = password These settings allow you to assign an estate owner, which is important because you will want to have as much control over your regions as possible.

9 - Start the server again (always via the run=>cmd way!), then start your viewer and choose "localhost" as the grid to log into. To the best of my knowledge, this is a preset in all third party viewers.

Some more pointers:
- Once you've logged in, you will find yourself on a tiny island, looking like Ruth (the classic default avatar from Second Life). To change your island into flat land, go back to the cmd console and enter "terrain fill 21". This creates a flat land at 21 meters height (default water level is 20). This command also comes in handy if you mess up your terraforming and what to start over.

- If you downloaded inventory archives and wish to import them into your own inventory, use the command "load iar --merge Firstname Lastname /goodies password C:\path\to\stuff.iar", where /goodies is the name of the folder in your inventory where the contents of the archive should be placed.

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= General Setup =

Setting up your own server can be a bit of a daunting task. It seems very complex and technical, and in a sense it can be. However, you don't have to be a computer expert to set up your own server, and if you follow this quickstart guide, you will have your server up and running within minutes, and you will be ready to build in your own sim.

First of all
It is very important to remember that OpenSimulator is not a finished product. It is always being worked on, and new features are coming out all the time, and bugs are being fixed. Because of this, things can change radically, or even break from one version to another.

OpenSimulator is alpha software, so it's not even beta yet.So expect the software to break from time to time.

Another thing to remember is although it looks, and for the most part, works like SecondLife, it is not SecondLife. There are some very important differences, and there are even things that are intentionally left out. And there are things that can only be done in OpenSim, and not in SecondLife.

Modes
Simply put, OpenSimulator (Opensim for short) can run in two modes. Grid mode, and standalone mode.

Standalone mode means that it is simply running on your own PC, and it is not part of a grid. It is advised that this is how you start, because this is easiest way to run a server.

Grid mode means that it is part of a grid. If you want your server to be part of a grid (see the grid list), then it will take some additional configuration which we can not cover here, because it is different for each grid.

There are additional modes, but you can look into them at a later time.

Databases
OpenSimulator depends heavily on its database. Without it, OpenSimulator can not run. By default, OpenSimulator comes with SQLite and will use that, but if you want, you can choose another database engine like MySQL or MSSQL.

What You Need To Have
Before you start, you will need to have a few things ready. These things are:

OpenSimulator is platform independent. This means that it is written so that it will work on Windows, MacOSX, and Linux, so you won't have to worry about getting the one that's right for your system.
 * A copy of the latest OpenSim, which you can download from here (get the one under "Current Release").
 * A program to unpack compressed files with, 7Zip works well, and is available for most operating systems.
 * Windows users: Make sure you have at least .NET 3.5 installed. You can get the latest version from here.
 * Non-Windows users: All other operating systems will need to have Mono installed. Make sure it's the FULL mono package, and not just part of it. See this page for info on what's needed on your system.

First Steps
First, it's best to make a folder somewhere on your system. For now, i would suggest putting the folder on your desktop, so that you can easily find it. We will call the folder "OpenSim".

If you haven't downloaded the latest version of OpenSimulator yet, then this is a good time to do it.

Once you have downloaded it, you will need to unpack it. Some unpackers unpack to the place where the compressed file is, which would make your folder a terrible mess, so the best idea is to first move it into the new Opensim folder, and then unpack it.

Now We Really Get Started
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