Q-Sims - on OSGrid

by AdNovea - June 2009
Q-Sims Homepage

HowTo: quickly deploy your Sims using a Free Public Grid

This page provides the instructions to implement a basic metavers with a minimum administration using Public grid ( we assume using the OSGrid.org in the sequel ).
For details, please refer to the other wiki pages of the Q-Sims tutorial, the troubleshooting section and the Public grids' forum.

Foreword

Despite we recommend the OSGrid.org or ScienceSim.com grids*, you can choose any public/private grid. There are several public grids available. The registration process shall be  pretty much the same for all.
A list of the major Public grids available today is available at OpenSimulator.org
* Neither AdNovea nor QNAP have links with osgrid.org or sciencesim.com other than regular registered members.

About OSGrid.org

OSgrid, the largest running OpenSimulator grid, is officially a Californian Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation. It is completely free to connect your own regions to the grid. OSGrid has grown from 4-sims and a thin user auth service (Feb '07) to a vibrant community of over 13,000 developers, landowners,and residents in nearly 2,450 independently operated regions. OSGrid officially turned 2 on july 23rd 2009 and the grid claimed 23,000 registered accounts, about 4,000 unique logins within the buy pistachios latest 30 Days and every days about 50 In-world residents.

Download OpenSim simulator configured for OSGrid.org

About ScienceSim.com

ScienceSim is a team of researchers and technology strategists, funded by Intel’s server business and working with OpenSim open source technology, had a goal of creating an environment for experimentation in virtual worlds. We wanted a turnkey kit that companies or researchers could download and develop specific applications in virtual worlds, data visualization and analysis. ScienceSim hosts 66 regions (aug 09) as of today and 25 plazas (5x5 regions) already reserved.

Download OpenSim simulator configured for ScienceSim.com

Thanks to the Hypergrid teleportation capability provided by the here above Public grids, you do not need to register to different Public grids. You will be able with your account and avatar to teleport to the other supported Public grids. This is a functionality made possible by the metaverses running on the OpenSim simulator.

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What do you need?

Redirect the ports on your router:

Ports	Services
9005	OpenSim listener port (used for remote administration) For a different port, read the topic about changing the port.
20800	Remote Grids data access required to used the QS-Manager remote admin console
5060	FreeSwitch Voice chat port only if you intend to use the voice chat and have installed FreeSwitch QPKG

Download the following files:

• Optware QPKG - Download and install from the QNAP Admin pages
• Mono QPKG - Download and install from the QNAP Admin pages
• Q-Sim LITE Edition - Download and install from the QNAP Admin pages
• OpenSim binary - Download form osgrid.org or let the Installer do it
• FreeSwitch QPKG - Download and install from the QNAP Admin pages
• 'optional - required manual installation if you want to enable the Voice chat capability

NOTE: MySQL shall be enabled on your NAS server if you intend to use the Q-Sims FULL Edition (required by QS-Manager)

Register on OSGrid.org Free Public Grid

1. Goto http://osgrid.org and fill-in the registration form.
2. Find a Free location for your Sims and note the XY position: Browse the grid Map to locate a free location.
   
   

   

IMPORTANT: Your location will become available for anyone who wishes to take it if your Sims server is down more than 24 hours in a row or stopped properly.

Installation with Q-Sims LITE Edition

• Install and Enable Optware
• Install and Enable Mono
• Install and Enable FreeSwitch (optional)

1. Once the Q-Sims QPKG is installed, DO NOT ENABLE. Click the Web Page link and log in using your Admin account.
   
   

   File:Q-Sims Lite-install-01.jpg

   Q-Sims Lite-install-01.jpg

   
   
2. Select your level of expertise:
   • standard user: Only public grids which offer preconfigured OpenSim binary packages are listed during the QSA (Quick Start Assistant) process. You will have either a fully automatic retrieval of the binary or to copy/paste the binary archive URL.
   • Linux expert: Public grids which require to compile and configure manually the OpenSim simulator will be also available during the QSA.
     
     

File:Q-Sims Lite-install-02.jpg

Q-Sims Lite-install-02.jpg

1. • For public grids which offer binary packages, you will click on the See archive list button to get to the download page. Right click on the archive and copy the URL. Paste the URL into the textbox and press the Apply button.
     
   • For public grids which do not make available binary packages, you will have to compile and bankers life configure the OpenSim simulator yourself. Source code is available on the OpenSim simulator web site. Then create an archive that content the /bin folder. Browse to this archive and press the Apply button.
     
     

     File:Q-Sims Lite-install-03.jpg

     Q-Sims Lite-install-03.jpg

     
     
2. Download and decompression take a couple of minutes.
   You can use the two buttons below to:

1. • Register an account

1. • Find a free location for your Sims

File:Q-Sims Lite-install-04.jpg

Q-Sims Lite-install-04.jpg

1. Once the OpenSim binary is installed, there is a new entry on this QSA screen. The Keep current version is selected. You shall now press the Continue button.
   • lately, the QSA could be used to upgrade the OpenSim simulator and reconfigure Q-Sims. This explain these two options.
     

     File:Q-Sims Lite-install-05.jpg

     Q-Sims Lite-install-05.jpg

     
     
2. Fill in your account and location parameters. You shall enter your DNS or external IP and make sure your ISP if not filtering the port 9005. The port can be changed here (you must be familiar with ports to do so).
   
   

   File:Q-Sims Lite-install-06.jpg

   Q-Sims Lite-install-06.jpg

   
   
3. You may enable or not the Voice Chat (FreeSwicth QPKG must be installed). The default account freeswitch/password is used. Select or not the Voice chat then press the Apply and Continue buttons.
   
   

   File:Q-Sims Lite-install-07.jpg

   Q-Sims Lite-install-07.jpg

   
   
4. Once the QSA reaches the end, you may Enable the Q-Sims QPKG and press the Continue button.
   
   

   File:Q-Sims Lite-install-08.jpg

   Q-Sims Lite-install-08.jpg

   
   
5. The QSM Lite manager homepage displays the OpenSim server status.

They are some menu items to help to manage Q-Sims LITE Edition: 

1. • Installation: can be reused to reconfigure Q-Sism (e.g. enable/disable the Voice Chat)

1. • Regions: create additional regions - but cannot delete those regions. Please carefully check the capabilities of your NAS BEFORE adding regions. Regions have unique identifier (UUID) you shall not

modify, erase or loose. If UUID is incorrect you cannot reach your regions anymore.

1. • Admin console: is still under implementation (all entries are not working). You can gracefully stop your simulator or send messages (pop-ups) to all visitors.
   • Log files: can be read out for the OpenSim simulator, the debugger and the watchdog.
   • Help: is a link to the Q-Sims QNAP Wiki pages
   • About: gives a short description of the applications involved into Q-Sims.
     

     File:Q-Sims Lite-install-09.jpg

     Q-Sims Lite-install-09.jpg

     
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Installation with Q-Sims FULL Edition (optional)

Read more about Q-Sims FULL Edition installation and

1. Enable Optware QPKG
2. Enable Mono QPKG
3. Enable Q-Sims
4. Click on the Q-Sims QPKG page administration link to start QS-Manager and run the QSA (Quick Start Assistant)
   • Page 1 : Forward the ports
   • Page 2 : Select Standalone mode
   • Page 3 : External Host Name, domain name or IP: osgrid.org, XY Coordinate (default 1000,1000): is your selected XY position on the osgrid
   • Page 4 : Select a SQlite database
5. Start Q-Sims (then wait a minute)
6. Start FreeSwitch OPKG if required

Other information

• Your Q-Sims SQLite database will be nightly backuped BUT your assets and inventory remains on the osgrid.org servers.
  You may also run a save oar command from your OpenSim console to backup your terrain and assets. Your avatar and inventory cannot be backuped unless on the osgrid server which is not under your control!
• To upgrade to a newer OpenSim version from OSGrid, download the archive from orgrig.org and overwrite the bin folder content (as of july 09, osgrid default assumes you are using a SQLite database) or run the Q-Sims LITE Edition Installation to upgrade and reconfigure. </blockquote>
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Access your Sims

• Download and launch the Hippo Viewer (see the Hippo vierwer configuration page)
• Click on the Grid button and then on the Grid tab
• Select osgrid in the drop list OR click Add and type the Login URI for your Public metavers
• Press Get Grid Info, press Default and Ok
• In the Region list on the bottom left, seek for your Sims name using either the names or your registered XY position and press Connect.
  
  

File:Q-Sims osgrid integration.jpg

File:Q-Sims sciencesim integration.jpg

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Teleportation between Public Grids

The OpenSim simulator is now widely used for metaverses implementation. Thanks to the Hypergrid function, teleportation with the same avatar between grids running OpenSim simulators is made possible. For example, as a registered member on OSGrig.org but not on ScienceSim.com you will be entitled to navigate the latter metavers thanks to a hypergrid teleportation to ScienceSim. This might be handled or not by the Public grid you are registered to.

List of OpenSim Hypergrid-enabled metaverses

NOTE: Public grids may run on different versions of the OpenSim simulator that may prevent correct teleportation.

File:Q-Sims Hypergrid teleportation.jpg

Troubleshooting

Shall you have problems, check the bin/OpenSim.ini file to find out the issue.

• No more Voice Chat Maybe the FreeSwitch configuration has been overwritten into OpenSims.ini
• Cannot run Maybe you have port conflicts. Read more about 

changing the port.

• Crashed ! Check if you have made a "chmod -R 777 bin" after overwriting the bin folder with the new release archive content?
• Cannot connect to OSGRid Create an account, check for a free location, download the OpenSim version required. Check the OpenSim.ini file section below:

[Network]
http_listener_port = 9005
http_listener_ssl = false 
http_listener_cn = "localhost"
http_listener_sslport = 9001
http_listener_ssl_cert = "" 
grid_server_url = "http://osgrid.org:8001"
grid_send_key = "1234"
grid_recv_key = "1234"
user_server_url = "http://osgrid.org:8002"
user_send_key = "1234"
user_recv_key = "1234"
asset_server_url = "http://assets.osgrid.org:8003"
inventory_server_url = "http://osgrid.org:8004"
messaging_server_url = "http://osgrid.org:8006"

• Cannot connect to ScienceSim Create an account, check for a free location, download the OpenSim version required. Check the OpenSim.ini file section below:

[Network]
http_listener_port = 9005
remoting_listener_port = 8895
http_listener_ssl = false 
http_listener_cn = "localhost"
http_listener_sslport = 9001
http_listener_ssl_cert = "" 
remoteDataPort = 20800
grid_server_url = "http://island.sciencesim.com:8001"
grid_send_key = "agMMtrwx1B22974kK"
grid_recv_key = "agMMtrwx1B22974kK"
user_server_url = "http://island.sciencesim.com:8002"
user_send_key = "agMMtrwx1B22974kK"
user_recv_key = "agMMtrwx1B22974kK"
asset_server_url = "http://island.sciencesim.com:8003"
inventory_server_url = "http://island.sciencesim.com:8004"
message_server_url = "http://island.sciencesim.com:8006"

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