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World Features |
This dialog allows you to customize many different aspects of your world.
It is accessible from the Options Menu.
Because there are so many options available in this one dialog box, they have
been arranged into expandable branches
which can be collapsed to take up less space when not needed.
General
Title
This sets the name of your world as it appears in the browser's title bar.
Also, when a user enters your world, if there is no welcome message specified,
the Immigration Officer will use this name when welcoming them. For
example, if you set your world title to be "Frank's Home Away From Home", the
Immigration Officer will say "Welcome to Frank's Home Away From Home"
to anyone who enters your world.
Object Path
The object path specifies the root of a directory on the World Wide Web
which contains the objects for your world. The default is
www.outerworlds.com/worlds/stndobjects,
which contains the art for Objects World. Note that this means that if you do not specify any
object path for your world, you will still be able to build. However, in this
case you will only be able to use the avatars, objects, and sounds from Objects world.
Home Page
This is the default web page that users see after entering your world. Note
that only users who currently have the integrated web
browser turned on will see this page, so you cannot assume that all
visitors to your world will see it. If a user encounters any other web pages
while visiting your world (typically through "create url" or "activate url"
actions on objects) they will override the home page.
Welcome Message
This message is displayed to all users who enter your world. Note that when
you change this message, everyone currently in the world sees the new message
right away. This can be a useful way to quickly put out an urgent message that
you want to get to every person currently in your world (e.g. "Warning: this
world will be shutting down in 5 minutes.")
Search Keywords
This feature is not used in the Outerworlds Universe at this time. Entry Point
This is the location where users entering your world should start out by
default. The syntax for the entry point is the same as for the teleport
command. If no entry point is specified, it defaults to 0N 0W. To set the
entry point to the location where you are currently standing, press the Set
to my location button.
Note that care should be taken to avoid setting a world entry point to a
position that requires objects (such as a floor or walkway) in place to hold
users at that position. If you do, first-time visitors to your world will not
have downloaded these objects when they first enter and are likely to fall
through to the ground.
Set to my location
The button just below the Entry Point field allows you to quickly
and easily set your avatar's current location as the entry point for your
world.
Object Password
In order to protect the art files in your world for unauthorized use by
another party, you can scramble them using a password. This is done using the
"-s" option of the pkzip utility when you are compressing the originals
for placement on your object path. To protect your files, scramble all of them
using the same password, and then specify that password in this field so that
the browser will be able to uncompress them after download. If you are using a
password, you do not need to scramble all of your files with it, only the ones
you wish to protect. Note that since textures are stored on the object path as
JPEG files, there is not currently a way to protect them with a password.
Object Refresh
This is how long it takes (in minutes) for a file on your Object Path to
expire. After a file expires, the next time a user visits your world, their
browser will check the web site to see if it the file has changed, and then
download the file again if it has. As a rule, if the files in your world are
changing rapidly you want to keep this value low in order to ensure that all
users have the latest copies of all the files. On the other hand, if your
object files are not changing, then you want to keep this value as high as
possible (for example, many worlds use an object refresh of 10080, which is
the number of minutes in one week). The problem with having a low object
refresh period is that it increases the load on your web server, and also
increases the bandwidth load on your visitors, since their browsers will be
checking your web server much more often to see if the files have changed.
Restricted Radius
If your world is open to public building, the Restricted Radius allows you
to reserve an area around "Ground Zero" (0N 0W) in which only people with the
Special
Objects right can build. The radius is specified in meters, and specifies
a square area centered around Ground Zero.
Max. Light Radius
This allows you to set the current maximum value for the radius of light
sources in the world. Lights with a radius set higher than this limit will
be clipped to this limit.
Cell Data Limit
This allows you to specify how much data can fit within each cell (a cell
is a 10x10 meter area) in your world. Exceeding the cell data limit is what
causes the Building Inspector to give his familiar message "Try
building somewhere else because this area is full." You can set the limit to
one of three available levels:
World Rating
This allows you to set the current content
rating for your world.
Minimum visibility
This option allows you to set the minimum visible range
for all visitors to your world. Users will always see at least this far in
your world regardless of their browser settings. Since higher visibilities
often mean lower frame rates, this value should only be raised above 40 meters
in your world if absolutely necessary. If you set this value too high,
visitors to your world will find it frustrating and slow, and they will not
come back!
Avatar Updates per second
This can be used to control how often avatar updates are sent to the
client. The maximum allowed is 15 updates per second. Setting this value above
the default value of 1 can smooth avatar movement, at a significant cost to
bandwidth.
Gravity
This can be used adjust the intensity of the normal gravity in your world,
or even reverse it's pull. For more information, there is a help page
specifically about Gravity which
you may want to also read.
Underwater Gravity
This controls the gravity under water, and only applies to worlds with water
enabled. This setting will not effect, the world's normal gravity setting.
Options
Disable "create url" and "create media"
This option allows you to enable or disable the use of the "create url" and
the "create media" trigger/action combination on objects built in your world.
Some people find this action annoying, since a "create url" will cause a web
page to appear in your web browser as soon as the object it is attached to
comes into visible range. Worlds open for public building usually have "create
url" disabled. If your world is not open for public building, then you may
want to clear this option so that you can use the "create url" command and/or
the "create media" command to achieve certain effects. Disable playing multiple media at once
This option allows you to enable or disable the option to play multiple
media, triggered by "create media", "bump media" or "activate media"at the
same time. Some worlds, in particular public building worlds, probably want to
disable playing multiple media at once.
Allow pass-thru
Disabling this option disables the use of the SHIFT key or Allow flying
Disabling this option disables the use of the +/- keys or assigned
Move Up and Move Down keys to fly in your world. Visitors will always be
subject to gravity and can
only walk around on solid surfaces. World Caretakers can still use the +/-
keys or assigned
Move Up and Move Down keys to fly even if flying is disabled.
Allow local teleports
Disabling this option prevents visitors from using the teleport function to
move from place to place instantaneously within your world. Any attempt to
teleport, including attempts to teleport into your world from the outside,
will bring the user to 0N 0W instead. Local teleports are typically disabled
in conjunction with pass-thru and flying in order to create a world that is
more "realistic" and which can allow the creation of challenging puzzles,
mazes, and other games which could otherwise be circumvented using those
functions. Caretakers are immune to this setting. Note: "teleport"
commands attached to building objects will still work normally even if local
teleports are disabled.
Allow object selection
If this is disabled, users who cannot build in your world will not be
allowed to right-click on objects to select them. This is useful for example
if you are building puzzles or games and want to prevent users from "cheating"
by examining the action fields of objects.
Allow tourist whispers
If this is disabled, tourists will not be able to send whispers to
other users in your world. The ability of citizens to send whispers is not
affected. Note that tourists are currently allowed only in specially tourist
enabled worlds.
Allow citizen whispers
If this is disabled, citizens will not be able to send whispers to
other users in your world. The ability of tourists to send whispers is not
affected.
Hide chat
This option will prevent user's from seeing chat messages from each other.
Everyone that has speaking rights may still type messages, but only bots with
caretaker rights will be able to see them. This is only useful if you are
using a bot to manage chat in the world. Using this option, a bot could send
"chat" out to other users using console messages. This would enable the bot to
filter chat, control message distribution, perform "emote" commands, and color
and format text.
Always show names
This option will allow all users to see the names of others over their
head. Normally, you do not see a user's name until they speak unless you have
"Eject" privileges or "Caretaker" status. This option allows everyone to see
all names, regardless of rights. This is intended to be used in game worlds
where the owner might not want people to be anonymous, or in a world where
users would not otherwise see each others' chat, such as when the "hide chat"
option is selected.
Allow avatar collision
This enables avatar-to-avatar collision in your world. This may or may not
be desirable depending on the other options you have set. For example, if
avatar collision is enabled it is sometimes possible for two people to get
"stuck" inside each other's avatars if they both try to occupy the same space
at the same time. Normally, if this happens, users can use the SHIFT key to
disable collision detection and become unstuck. However, if you also have
"Allow pass-thru" disabled in your world, this disables the SHIFT key, or assigned
Pass Through key, so they could potentially become permanently stuck.
There are ways to work around this problem, if you choose to enable avatar
collision and disable pass through at the same time. For example, you may
choose to enable local teleports, and teach people how to teleport out of the
entry point if they get stuck together. You may choose to place an elevator at
the entry point, to teleport to a vacant entry portal, and have several such
portals to choose from. You may even choose to use a bump warp in some
creative way to sort out the avatars as they come in. Just keep in mind that
if you make the decision to allow avatar collision and not allow pass through,
this is something you will probably want to choose an effective way of dealing
with.
Enable 3-axis object rotation
This enables the 3-axis object
rotation building feature in OuterWorlds 3.3 or later. 3-axis object
rotation requires a 3.3 or later world server and browser. With this feature
disabled, builders will only be able to rotate objects through the X-Z plane,
around the Y (vertical) axis. If you enable this feature in your world,
builders will have the added ability to rotate objects through the X-Y plane
or the Y-Z plane, giving them much more flexibility in the possible usages of
the objects made available to them within your world.
Disable Avatar List
This feature allows you to keep citizens in your world from using their
Avatar menu to change their avatar. You will probably want to leave this
option turned off unless you have a bot that has been programmed specifically
to choose avatars for people and wish to restrict the choice of avatars to
those the bot picks. There are many ways such a bot could be implemented, and
for many different reasons.
Allow Tourist Building
Selecting this option enables building, for
tourists. If you wish to have your world open to citizens for public building,
and want to allow tourists to enter your world but not to build in it, then
you will want to clear this checkbox.
Sound Use these settings to assign sounds stored in the world's object path to
the specified events.
Global ambient sound The " Footstep
The "Footstep" sound plays twice every time the user walks the distance of their own height or once every time the user runs the distance of their own height. For example, for a 2-meter tall avatar, the sound would play once for every meter they walk or every two meters they run. The footstep sound should generally be assigned a very gentle sound effect to sound realistic, and works very well when combined with the "autowalk" feature to produce footsteps that match pace with the avatar's movement.
Enter Water
The "Enter Water" sound plays when the when the mid-point of the user's
avatar drops below water level and the avatar begins swimming.
Exit Water The "Water Exit" sound plays when the user's avatar completely emerges from
the water, and should generally be assigned a very soft and subtle sound
effect. Ground Ground object repeats
This option was introduced in OuterWorlds 3.2 and allows you to enable or
disable the repeating ground. When a ground object repeats, the browser
automatically repositions it every 60 meters as you move through the world, so
that it remains underneath you at all times. This creates the illusion of an
"infinite" ground, which is particularly useful in larger worlds. When the
repeating ground is disabled, the ground object is always centered at 0N 0W
regardless of where you are currently standing in the world. Note that this
means that with this option disabled, it may be possible to walk all the way
to the edge of the ground object and fall off, if the ground object is not
designed to prevent falling off and nothing has been built to keep people from
reaching the edge.
Ground Object
This is the name of a RWX or COB file to be used as the ground object in
your world. As with the backdrop, you may leave this field blank if you do not
want a ground object. The ground object file is downloaded from the "models"
directory of your world's Object Path.
Note: if you do not specify a ground object, and terrain is
disabled, your world will not have any gravity.
Enable terrain
This enables the new terrain feature
which was introduced in OuterWorlds 3.3. Terrain requires a version 3.3 or
later world server and browser.
Terrain surface ambient
This values control how much ambient lighting the terrain surface will
reflect. Values range from 0.0 which reflects no ambient light, to 1.0 which
reflects all ambient light. Terrain surface ambient and terrain diffuse
settings are new to OuterWorlds 3.4 and make it possible to match the
terrain lighting properties to the objects in your world.
Terrain surface diffuse
New to Outerworlds 3.4, this values control how much directional lighting
the terrain surface will reflect. Values range from 0.0 which reflects none of
the world's directional light, to 1.0 which reflects all of the world's
directional light. Lighting
Enable Fog
Fog is a rendering effect that causes objects to become less and less
visible as they recede into the distance, until ultimately they become
invisible. It is sometimes used to obscure the fact that you can't see objects
beyond a certain distance, so that it doesn't look so much as if objects are
appearing and disappearing in the distance.
Usually the fog effect works best if there is no backdrop image in the
world , so if you want to turn fog on in your world, be sure to remove the
backdrop image as well. However there may be cases where subtle combinations
of both fog and a backdrop image can be used to achieve certain effects.
When enabled, fog has two parameters: the distance from the camera at which
fog begins (the "minimum" distance) and the distance from the camera at which
the fog effect reaches 100% (the "maximum" distance). Any objects that are
beyond the maximum fog distance from the viewer are completely obscured and
cannot be seen.
Fog Color
This is the color of the fog in your world, if fog is enabled. Note that in
pre-3.4 versions of Outerworlds, this will also control the background
color, which has been replaced in Outerworlds 3.4 with the new Gradient
Sky colors.
It is important to note that fog generally works best if it closely matches
the colors of the sky in your world.
Fog Min
This is the distance at which objects begin to be affected by fog.
Fog Max
This is the distance at which objects are completely obscured by the fog.
Important Note: This is also the distance of the far clipping plane,
beyond which point objects will vanish from your view completely, even if fog
is disabled!
As of Outerworlds version 3.4, the maximum fog distance is no longer
limited to 400 or less. You can now set it up to 1200 meters. Note that this
does not change your visibility range for property-based objects but rather
allows you to extend the visibility range for world-based geometry such as
ground objects and terrain. While this can be used to create striking vistas,
it should be noted that this will also greatly increase the number of terrain
polygons in view and lower the accuracy of the z-buffer. You may want to
consider carefully whether it is more important in your world to see far into
the distance, or to preserve performance and avoid the annoying z-buffer
"bleeding" that some users may experience if this value is set too high.
Ambient Light The ambient light is a light source that shines on all polygons equally
from all directions. The exact degree to which the ambient light shines on a
particular polygon is determined by that polygon's ambient surface
property. Since the ambient light is directionless by definition, only the
color of the ambient light can be adjusted. To disable the ambient light
source, simply set its color to black.
Directional Light The directional light in the world is the light source that shines in a
particular direction. It is used to approximate the light coming from an
extremely distant light source, such as the sun. Generally speaking, polygons
facing the directional light source will appear brighter than polygons facing
away from it, although this does depend on the surface
properties set for a particular polygon. Both the color and the direction
of the directional light source can be adjusted. To disable the directional
light source, simply set its color to black.
Position X (West - East) This controls the position of the directional light source along the
X-axis. Moving the slider to the left will move the light to the west, while
having the slider on the right will move the light to the east.
Position Y (Up - Down) This controls the position of the directional light source along the
Y-axis. Moving the slider to the left will move the light up. If you move the
slider to the right, the light source will be moved down, and thus your world
will appear to be lit from below.
Position Z (North - South) This controls the position of the directional light source along the
Z-axis. Moving the slider to the left will move the light to the north, while
having the slider on the right will move the light to the south.
Light Source Texture It is possible to add a texture to the world (directional) light source so
that it will be visible within the world. For example, you can use a sun,
moon, or a generic "corona" type texture. The texture will be tinted according
to the color of the light source.
The use of filmstrip
textures is not supported by the directional lighting source texture feature
in this version of Outerworlds.
Light Source Mask This mask - while optional - is highly recommended in order to produce an
attractive light source. Note that, as with coronas, you can specify the same
JPG image for both texture and mask to create a self-masking texture, which is
particularly useful when creating corona effects.
Light Source Size This number specifies the size of the light source image, in terms of
percent of the viewport size. So, a value of 100 would cause the image to fill
the entire screen.
Draw light source in front If this is checked, then the world light source will act as a corona,
overlapping the scenery.
Light texture glow If this is checked, then the world light source will be blended with
existing scenery to "brighten" whatever is behind it. Otherwise, it will be
rendered as a normal texture. Sky These options control the look of the space your world is contained in,
including the color of each area of the sky. These colors will fade to one
another across the sky, allowing you to create different effects. For example,
you could set the west color to orange, and the rest of the colors to blue or
black to create a "sunset" effect.
Backdrop
This is the name of a JPEG file to use for the backdrop image of your
world. If you do not want a backdrop in your world, leave this field blank.
The backdrop file is downloaded from the "textures" directory of your world's
Object Path.
Skybox
This is the name of a RWX or COB file to be used as the skybox object in
your world. The skybox file is downloaded from the "models" directory of your
world's Object Path. See Skyboxes for more
details on skybox objects.
Top This controls the color of the sky directly overhead.
North This controls the color of the northern part of the sky.
East This controls the color of the eastern part of the sky.
South This controls the color of the southern part of the sky.
West This controls the color of the western part of the sky.
Bottom This controls the color of the sky that is below the horizon. Usually this
color is never visible, since either the terrain or ground object is in the
way, but all of the colors blend into each other for a smooth gradient effect,
so this color will effect the look of the world's sky near or below the
horizon. Cloud Layers There are three layers of clouds available for use in your world. Each
layer may have its own texture, an (optional) mask, and an opacity. The layers
are "drawn" in numerical order, with layer three being drawn last. This means
that if layer two is opaque (it has no mask and the opacity is set to full)
then it will block your view of layer one. Similarly, if layer three is
opaque, it will block your view of the first two.
Note that the world light source texture will be rendered after cloud layer
1, but before layers 2 & 3. This makes it possible, using a starfield
texture for cloud layer one, to have stars in the sky that will not overlap
the "moon" texture.
The use of filmstrip
textures is not supported by the layered clouds feature in this version of
Outerworlds.
For each layer you have the following options:
Texture This controls what texture will be used to paint the clouds. Note that it
does not have to be an image of clouds. For example, you could specify
an image of stars to create a night sky. Leave this field blank to disable the
cloud layer.
Mask You may specify a mask to go along with the texture for a particular cloud
layer. This field is optional. You may also give the same name for both
texture and mask to make the texture "self-masking". This means that brighter
areas will be more opaque, while darker ones will be transparent.
Speed X This defines how fast the clouds will move. Positive values will cause the
clouds to go east, while negative values will move them west. Larger numbers
will cause the clouds to move faster. Set this to zero if you don't want the
clouds to move.
Speed Z This defines how fast the clouds will move. Positive values will cause the
clouds to go south, while negative values will move them north. Larger numbers
will cause the clouds to move faster. Set this to zero if you don't want the
clouds to move.
Tile This controls how many times the texture will tile across the sky. Setting
this to 1 would cause the texture to fill the sky from edge to edge without
repeating. Setting this to 4 would cause the texture to tile four times in
each direction.
This is a tradeoff setting. Lower numbers will make each area of the sky
more unique, but also more pixilated. Higher numbers will make the texture
sharper (and thus seem more detailed) at the expense of making the sky more
repetitive. One good technique is to make layer 3 less repetitive, but
transparent enough to let the clouds above it show through and add to the
level of detail.
Opacity This controls how opaque this layer of clouds is. Setting the slider all
the way to the right will make the clouds fully opaque, thus blocking your
view of the sky and any preceding layers. Setting this to the left will make
the layer more transparent. Water The water effect produces an infinite plane of water at a given level in
your world. It is particularly useful when used in conjunction with terrain. The
water will generate waves based on its own depth (distance above the terrain)
and will manipulate the surface texture to create a "liquid" look. When the
user is underwater, their avatar will "float", and the viewport will be tinted
according to the given water color.
Water has some limitations imposed in order to preserve framerate. The
polygons are not "alpha-sorted", meaning the water may have unwanted
transparency issues if the opacity is set too low. Also, masked objects (such
as most trees) may not look right when viewed through the surface of the
water. These problems can be avoided by making the water fully opaque.
The use of filmstrip
textures is not supported by the parametric water feature in this version of
Outerworlds.
Water Enabled Select this to enable the use of water in your world.
Top Texture This defines what texture will be used on the water surface, when the user
is above the water looking down. Note that the texture is tinted by the water
color (see below). Leaving this blank will cause the water surface to be flat
color. The texture is mapped so that it will match the terrain. Thus, the
texture repeats once per cell.
Top Mask This defines what mask will be used for the top water surface. If this
field is used, it must either match the name of a zipped mask file in the
world texture path or it must match Top Texture (for a self-masking texture).
Bottom Texture This defines what texture will be used on the water surface, when the user
is underwater looking up. Note that the texture is tinted by the water color
(see below). Leaving this blank will cause the water surface to be flat color
when viewed from underwater. The texture is mapped so that it will match the
terrain. Thus, the texture repeats once per cell.
Bottom Mask This defines what mask will be used for the bottom water surface. If this
field is used, it must either match the name of a zipped mask file in the
world texture path or it must match Bottom Texture (for a self-masking
texture).
Color This controls the color of both the water surface and the "underwater"
effect used when the viewport is submerged. The texture will be colored
according to the given value, so it is possible to use a color-less texture
for the water surface. In this way a single texture could be used as the
surface for almost any liquid - water, lava, green slime, oil, etc.
Opacity This controls how transparent the water will be. Setting this slider
farther to the left will make the water's surface more transparent. Note that
other factors such as the depth of the water will also effect the transparency
of the water in certain places.
Water Level This is the altitude of the water in the world, expressed in meters.
Wave movement This specifies, in meters, how large the waves can be. The deeper the
water, the larger the waves. Water that is "underground" - meaning beneath the
terrain - will never have waves. Set this to 0 to disable water waves.
Surface movement This specifies, in decimeters, how far the surface will move. The entire
surface of the water will move up and down according to this value. When used
with gradual beaches, this can create the impression that the ocean is rolling
in and back out. Set to 0 to disable the effect.
Movement speed This is used to control how fast or slow the waves move, and how fast the
surface glides up and down. 1.0 is a good setting for a normal "ocean" look.
Higher values can make the water look stormy or just strange, while lower
numbers will make the liquid seem heavy and thick.
Underwater view distance This is the distance at which objects are completely obscured from sight
while viewed from under water.
