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Obtaining OpenSimulator Available Viewers

OpenSimulator does not come with a viewer in its distribution. You'll need to download an OpenSimulator compatible client before connecting to OpenSimulator grids.

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*** THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE ***

Although OpenSimulator encourages the development of third party software for OpenSimulator, no support can be provided on this. For help with this software, contact the developer of this software directly.
Please do not contact the OpenSimulator team with questions about this software.

If you find a viewer, which can connect to OpenSimulator, then please add it to the bottom of the appropriate list.

Compatibility issues

Since OpenSimulator and viewers development is done by different teams with different timing and even goals, compatibility can not be assured. To connect to an older version of OpenSimulator, you may need to use an older version of your favourite viewer, which also could limit Hypergrid capability. In this case you should consult the support of your grid or chosen viewer.

Viewers

FireStorm Viewer - C++ based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win. Forked from Linden lab Second Life viewer. Successor to Phoenix viewer. Currently the most widely used viewer on Second Life.
- Firestorm VR Mod - A modification to the Firestorm Vierwer to allow use of a Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display (VR HMD).
Dayturn - C++ based viewer for Win/Mac only. Forked from Kokua. Dayturn source code available on Bitbucket.
Cool VL Viewer - C++ based viewer for Linux x86_64/Linux aarch64/Mac/Win. Forked from SL v1 viewer (former name: Cool SL Viewer, first release 2007/11/16).
Radegast Metaverse Client - Radegast-ng is Light client, evolution of Radagast from libopenmetaverae project.
Scenegate - C++ based viewer with a focus on accessibility and onboarding. With a simplified UI more suitable to just visit worlds, rather than building (but the full UI is still accessible). Forked from Alchemy.
Alchemy Viewer - C++ based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win. Forked from Linden lab Second Life viewer.

Beta Viewers

Dayturn for Windows and MacOS https://bitbucket.org/dayturn/

OpenSim PBR Viewers

Phoenix-FirestormOS Phoenix FirestormOS Beta 7.1.4

Cool VL Viewer stable release with PBR, ALM and forward rendering modes.

Text-only Viewers

These are lightweight viewers, which either do not offer a graphical component or where the graphical component is not used by default. The function of these viewers however is to connect to a grid, chat, manage inventory, etc. Useful on systems with low specifications or for bringing an alt (alternate avatar) online without having your main avatar log out, or to quickly take care of messages, inventory, etc.

Mobile Grid Client - A Second Life and OpenSimulator messaging client for your Android powered device (mobile phone, cell phone, tablet...).

LLSD API Libraries

These are open source libraries for building viewers, clients, and tools that can connect to OpenSimulator.

Maintained Libraries:

libopenmetaverse - C# LLSD implementation. Maintained by OpenSimulator developers. BSD License
llbase-py - Python LLSD implementation. Maintained by Linden Labs. MIT License

Currently Unmaintained Libraries:

llsd-cpp - C++ LLSD implementation, last updated in 2010. MIT License
llsd-perl-new - Perl LLSD implementation. Last updated 2011. MIT License
llsd-php - PHP 4 LLSD implementation. Incomplete, supports XML serialization only. Used internally by Second Life developers. Last updated 2010. MIT License
llsd-java - Java LLSD implementation by Xugu Madison, last update ca 2014. BSD License.
JOpenMetaverse - Java LLSD implementation, last updated 2012. Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android Compatible. Also see jopenmetaverse introduction. LGPL 2.1 License
llsd-js - JavaScript LLSD implementation, last update in 2011. MIT License

Inactive Viewers or in unknown state

3Di viewer Rei - C# based Web-browser plugin OpenSimulator viewer. 3Di website gone but 3Di Rei viewer source is still available on Github
Ascent - C++ based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win. Started as a fork of Inertia Viewer. Abandoned in 2010.
Dolphin - C++ based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win. Dolphin v1 was a fork of the Cool VL Viewer, with changes focused on sailing. v2/3 was a fork of SL viewer. Abandoned in 2015. Dolphin 3 Source still available on GitHub.
Emerald - C++ based viewer forked from Snowglobe (the second version fo the LL/SL open source viewer). Project halted and abandoned in 2010 after Emerald developer linked to DoS attack on SL and banned. Emerald source code still available on GitHub and Google Code Archive.
Hippo - C++ based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win. Forked from SL viewer and Cool VL Viewer. Abandoned in 2010. See also Hippo Viewer website.
Idealist - C# Multi-platform 32 bit viewer intended to be OpenSimulator focused
Imprudence - C++ based viewer forked from SL viewer v1.21. Development ended in 2010 and shifted to a new viewer called Kokua. Imprudence Viewer source is still available on GitHub
Inertia - C++ based viewer forked from Snowglobe SL viewer). Abandoned in 2010
LookingGlass - C#/Ogre based Viewer prototype. Development Ended in 2011. LookingGlass Viewer source is still available on GitHub
Meerkat - Viewer for Linux/Mac/Win in C++. Fork of SL viewer. Meerkat source available on GitHub. Meerkat binaries available via Google Code Archive. Development stopped in 2009
OnLook - C++ based viewer forked from Singularity. Inactive since 2014. OnLook Viewer Source is still available on GitHub.
Nicholaz Beresford's viewer - The first third party viewer. Fork of SL viewer. Development stopped in 2010.
OpenSim-Viewer - C#/C++/Xenko based, BSD licensed viewer written for OpenSimulator. Inactive since 2018.
OpenViewer - C#/Ogre based, BSD licensed viewer written as a companion to OpenSimulator. ca 2007/2008. Website went dark in 2009.
Phoenix - C++ based viewer. Forked from SL viewer. Replaced by Firestorm viewer.
RealXtend Naali/Tundra - Written from scratch C++/Ogre3D based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win, required ModRex in OpenSimulator. Development stopped in 2016, OpenSimulator support dropped in 2013.
Singularity - C++ based viewer for Linux/Mac/Win. Forked from the Ascent Viewer. Goal is to combine look of old SL viewer with modern features. Singularity source code available on GitHub.
Xenki - XABP-based OpenSimulator viewer prototype for IE web browser. Abandoned in 2009

Some other viewers that can connect to Second Life can also connect to OpenSimulator. You can find them in the Third Party Directory at the Second Life wiki.

Note that you will have to register a new account for each grid that you want to be on. This means that your Second Life login does not work on any other grid, and that your login for other grids will not work on Second Life, etc.

Many viewers with grid selectors will show a link to that grid's signup page when selecting a grid. You can create your account by clicking that link, and following the instructions on the signup page.

Connecting to the Grid with A Grid Selector (Recommended)

Most viewers have a grid selector which in many cases is already visible, and located at the bottom of the login screen. If it is not visible, try pressing Ctrl-Shift-G to (un)hide the grid selector.

If the grid is present in the list

If you see the grid you want to connect to in the grid selector, then simply choose it from the drop down menu, enter the username and password that you chose when you created your account on that grid, and click the "Log in" button.

If the grid is missing from the list

Grid Name (or alike) - A name you can easily identify the grid by. OpenSimulator grids don't use this information, so you can name it anything you like.
Login URI - The most important information. It should be like "http://someserver:9000" or "http://someserver". For instance, for OSGrid, this is "http://login.osgrid.org/".

Near these fields, you will also find a button named "Get Grid Info" or similar. If you click it, it may fill out several blank fields with URIs. In some cases, clicking the button will cause an error message to pop up, or in rare cases, freeze the viewer. If clicking the button causes problems of any kind, you can leave the remaining fields empty, or find the missing info and add it manually. Leaving the fields empty will normally not cause problems, and you will still be able to log in to that grid, although on some grids, some features may be unavailable until the missing info is added.

Click the "Apply" or "OK" button to store your new grid in the menu, and you will be ready to log in as explainted under If_the_grid_is_present_in_the_list

For instructions that are specific for your favorite viewer, see your viewer's website.

Connecting to the Grid with Viewer Parameters

If your viewer doesn't have a grid selector, or if you are having problems adding the grid to your viewer's grid list, then an alternative method is to use viewer parameters.

Basically, all you will really need is to pass the --loginuri command line parameter to the viewer and launch with it, although you will want to use all of the viewer parameters that are suggested for your preferred grid.

For example, you use the Second Life Viewer on Windows, and want to connect to OSGrid. A quick-and-easy way would be as follows:

Press Windows Key + R, this wil open the Run dialog.
In the Run dialog, enter the following:

SecondLife.exe --loginuri http://login.osgrid.org/ --loginpage http://www.osgrid.org/splash/

Press "Enter", or click "OK" and your viewer should start. After clicking the login button, you will enter OSGrid.

On OSX, you could also use AppleScript, which enables you to select multiple grids to connect to. See the OSX Grid Selector Script article for a pre-made script.

For more information on viewer parameters that are known to work with the Linden Lab Second Life Viewer and with Snowglobe based viewers, see this Second Life wiki page about using viewer parameters.

The Linden Labs viewer has a number of additional options. Most of which are not useful to average users. See the parameter reference on the Second Life Wiki for details.

Connecting to your locally hosted server from behind a DSL router using NAT

Loopback Most DSL routers/modems prevent loopback connections as a security feature. This means that a NATed IP address ( such as 192.168.2.40 ) can not connect to your forward facing IP address ( such as 199.149.252.44 ) from behind your DSL router/modem. In a case like this, external IP addresses may connect to your server/region but you can not ( this applies to both standalone and grid modes ).

List of routers featuring NAT Loopback : NAT Loopback Routers

Router solution If you are using a ZyXEL DSL router/modem from Embarq, please read this guide. This will show you how to reconfigure your DSL router/modem to fix this problem. Similar solutions may exist for other DSL router/modems. A Google search for the make and model of your DSL router/modem may provide you with a manual to assist you in this.

A word of caution : be VERY careful what you change and take good notes along the way so you can undo any changes you make in error.

DNS solution(Linux) It's possible to host your own DNS-server, so you can prevent some of the dns-naming problems mentioned before. If http://example.org resolves to the external ip, and that loopback connection is prevented by your router, you could point your resolv.conf to a local nameserver like:

nameserver 192.168.2.2

Now you need bind/named installed in order to handle the dns-requests. You can find a bind example configfile here.

Alternative Connection Approaches

Via a Web Browser

You can also set up a Browser Protocol Handler which will make opensim:// links in your browser do the expected thing, and launch the right OpenSimulator viewer.

Views

Connecting

From OpenSimulator

Obtaining OpenSimulator Available Viewers

Compatibility issues

Viewers

Beta Viewers

OpenSim PBR Viewers

Text-only Viewers

LLSD API Libraries

Inactive Viewers or in unknown state

Connecting to the Grid with A Grid Selector (Recommended)

If the grid is present in the list

If the grid is missing from the list

Connecting to the Grid with Viewer Parameters

Connecting to your locally hosted server from behind a DSL router using NAT

Alternative Connection Approaches

Via a Web Browser

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