Getting Set Up As An Alpha Tester
First thing you will need to do is get the software installed. For Windows, this should be simple and painless, while on other systems, it may be more complicated.
Installing The Game
Windows
See WindowsClientInstall.
Linux
See LinuxClientInstall.
Mac
See MacClientInstall.
Now What?
There isn't much to do in the game during the alpha test. Basically, you can log in, select a PC, move around, and chat with others. First things first, run the application. You'll see the Ogre configuration menu. Set your configuration as necessary. On Windows, make sure to use the OpenGL renderer and NOT the Direct3D one. Accept the settings and the MV3D window will open up. In there, you'll see the login window. Enter mv3d.dyndns.org:1999 as the server and then your username and password for the Alpha Test. After clicking connect, the window should disappear. If it doesn't, an error message should be displayed. If you mistyped your password, correct it and click Connect again.
After the login window, the select PC window comes up. Select the desired PC and click Connect. The select PC window should go away and you should see a view of the game world. It may take several moments to transfer the world to your system. You should see objects appearing in the view. As of this time, the view includes a ground and a bunch of robot models (on the development server, you may find a lake as well). You can steer your PC around with the arrow keys and use the chat window to talk to other online players. After entering text in the text input window, hit the enter button to submit it.
To quit the game, press ESC.
If you experience any problems during this, see below on how to write a bug report.
For more information on how to navigate within the game, see ClientUserInterface.
Todo: add screenshots, describe PC Creation.
Ok, That Was Boring.
Yes, it probably was. After you've successfully run the client and created a PC, the testing begins. As of yet, there is no official Testing Plan, but that will come soon. Some things you may want to try:
- Connect and disconnect several times
- Attempt to gain access to things you shouldn't be able to
- If you are programming minded, feel free to play with the source code. (On Windows, that will require installing a client development environment)
- Create several PCs, crash them into each other.
- If you have more than one computer, run the game on as many as possible.
- In general, try to break it.
Reporting Bugs
The first thing to do when you find a bug is to figure out what you did to cause it. Some bugs may just occur randomly, but the majority of them will have specific causes. Re-run the client after each time you encounter the bug (if applicable) in order to get a clean application state. Copy any error messages (On Windows, they may be in Ogre.log or CEGUI.log). Take screenshots using the Print Screen key. Screenshots will be stored in the mv3d directory as 'screenshot_yyyymmddxx.png' where x is a unique number.
Once you have a good set of information, you'll want to see if this bug has been reported. At the top of this webpage are two buttons View Tickets and New Ticket. Have a look at View Tickets or {2} to see if the bug you found is listed. If it is, you can certainly add information to it if you have figured out more than what is listed. If not, use New Ticket to create a new ticket.
Make sure to fill in as much detail about the bug as possible, but please try to keep it clear and concise. Please do not change the priority from "Normal." Make sure you have set your settings as well so that the bug is attached to your user and email.
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