Whereas the Metaverses are located and managed by a server, the visitors shall use on theirs computer a Viewer (client) to access, navigate and build into the metaverses. The viewer is much like the Internet browser (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera, etc.) you daily use to access and browse the Internet websites.
System Requirements
Connection
Cable or DSL
Operating systems
Windows XP or Vista
Mac OS X 10.5.4 +
Recent Linux
Processor
1.5 GHz +
Memory (RAM)
1 GBytes +
Display
1024 x 768 pixels +
Graphic cards Minimum
NVIDIA GeForce 2, GeForce 4, GeForce 6600 or better
ATI Radeon 8500, 9200, 9250, 9500 or better
ATI Radeon X Series
Intel 945 chipset
GeForce Go Series: 7600, 7800, 7900
ATI X1600, X1700, X1800, X1900, X2400, X2600, x2900, x3650, x3850
Hippo / Second Life viewer
Because Q-Sims uses the OpenSim simulator that is 2nd Life compatible, one can use the 2nd Life viewer from the Linden Lab. Moreover, Linden Lab has made part of its code available as open source and a clone named the Hippo viewer has been developed. Both SL and Hippo viewers share the same "Look & Feel" and provide the same features.
Second has released a new version (BETA) compatible with OpenSim. Because the interface has changed à little bit, you might be disoriented if you are used to the previous versions.
NOTE: This version is Beta and still have some bugs.
Once the viewer is up and running, to connect to the Q-Sims Metavers,
1- Select the Grid
Hippo viewer
Click on the Grids button at the bottom of screen.
In the dialog box ,select the Grids tab, then press the Add button to create a new grid.
Enter the Login URI (e.g. http: //qsims_domain.com:8002/)
Press Get Grid Info, it will update the other fields and click OK.
Second life viewer
There is no Grids button. You must open the shortcut on your desk and modify the Target.
Enter the target as: SecondLife.exe -loginuri http ://localhost:9000/ -loginpage http ://localhost:9000/?method=login For OSGrid set as (WARNING: it may change so please check OSGrid website first): SecondLife.exe-loginuri http://login.osgrid.org/ -loginpage http://www.osgrid.org/splash/
Change localhost to your DNS or IP if needed or to your OSGRID host (eg. osgrid.org)
Change port 9000 (default for standalone mode) to 8002 (default for Grid mode)
Validate the changes and click the shortcut to launch the SL viewer
2- Connect to your Grid
At the bottom of the viewer screen, enter your Firstname, Lastname and Password.
In the Region box, click on the region you want to get into (select a region such as Welcome or Test)
Press Connect and wait for the connection to be completed.
realXtend viewer
RealXtend is an open source viewer. Less extensive than Hippo, realXtend offers some very interesting capabilities such as the avatar assisted customization, the upload and download of avatar data in XML format and the teleportation between OpenSim and 2nd Life metaverses. realXtend comes with additional pieces of software aimed at the customization.
Overwrite the text with your login URI (eg. http: //your_qsim.com:8002/)
2- Connect to your Grid:
Enter your Firstname and Lastname separated with a space in the User Name field .
Type your Password and click on Connect.
NOTE: The use of realXtend or Hippo is not exclusive. Both viewers can be installed on your client machine and selected according to the tasks to perform.
Enable Videos & Sounds
They are several sounds available in metaverses:
Music (e.g. audio clip)
Media (e.g. video clip)
Voice (residents voice exchanges)
Sounds (associated to objects)
Ambient (background music)
GUI (all sounds generated by the graphic user interface)
Level for each type of sounds can be adjusted through the Audio panel (loudspeaker icon on the right bottom corner).
To get background music and display movies, you shall have QuickTime available on the client machine that runs the viewer.
NOTE: I had to upgrade to 7.6 to get the movies working on some computers.
Finally you shall enable the Streaming in the viewer Preferences.
If the metaverses you are navigating into support Voice chat, you must Enable the Voice chat in the Preferences/Voice chat.
Voice configuration in the preferences
Advanced Menu
To display the Advanced menu option in the tool bar press: CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + D
As the estate owner, the Advanced menu is very useful:
for debugging your Sims and provides a lot of possibilities such as debugging windows, performance measurements, right management, etc.
to request the Admin" status. The Menu bar turns green and a new Admin menu is displayed. It provides new functionalities such as the "God" tools to manage your region
Shortcut and Hypergrid
To ease the connection to the numerous grids there are several initiatives:
GridHop
GridHop displays the list of referenced grids and regions to pre-position your viewer for direct access. A valid account is required to enter the selected grid/region
The OpenSim launcher is supported by the New World Grid and can be downloaded here.
It enables the OpenSim URL shortcuts - OSURLs ( like the SLURLs™ for Second Life) - with the following syntax example opensim://grid.newworldgrid.com:8002/Welcome to start and preposition your Viewer for teleportation.
The launcher only support the Second Life or RealXtend.
