Getting Started

This aims to be a quick start guide to using MV3D. Follow this and you should be up and running in no time.

Try The Demo Server

You'll first want to give the demo server a go. To do this, you need an account. Create one for free on the MV3D Login server. If you are on Windows, the rest should be pretty easy. Head on over to the download page and get the client installer zip. Unzip it and run the exe that comes out to install. It should be self explanatory. Go to Start->Programs->MV3D->Client and away you go. If you are on Linux or OS X, you'll have to follow the guide on LinuxClientInstall or MacClientInstall.

Once you have the client running, enter your username and password, then click the connect button. If you get in successfully, you'll see a list with no PC's in it. Click the "New PC" button and enter your character's name and select the model. Once you click Create, you should see the name on the list. If you don't, you may have to log out and then back in again. The Escape key exits the client at any time. Select your PC and connect.

Assuming all that worked, you'll get a progress bar while your client downloads all the needed media and locations of objects. Then you should see the demo world! You can walk around with WASD or the arrow keys. Space bar for jump, k for kick (try kicking a white cube), and h for waving. All the keys are configurable either in the client config UI (when you first run the client), or via the keymap.conf file. To see statistics, use the F1 key, and F2 brings up a chat window to talk to anyone else online.

Start Your Own Server

You can easily run your own server that is disconnected from the multiverse. Follow the LinuxServerInstall or WindowsServerInstallation instructions to get to where you can run the server. Next, you'll want to configure your new server. Replace login.mv3d.com and alpha.mv3d.com with localhost (or your server's host name) in server.conf. Then you can start the server and build a demo world of your own with the following command:

twistd -n mv3d -i -n 1 -t 2

That will build a world with one PC and a 2x2 grid of terrain chunks. The next step is to configure the client. In the client.conf file, replace alpha.mv3d.com with localhost or your server's host name. Also replace login.mv3d.com with your server's host name as well. Start up the client and connect to your server with the default login (mike / pass). If all goes well, you should be able to log in to a PC. This PC will have access to the world editor. The tab key brings up the editor's interface. Keep in mind that this is a server that is isolated from the MV3D network. You'll probably not want to do any serious world building because of this. If you need to start your server from now on, use the following command:

twistd -n mv3d

If you want to wipe the world you made, just delete the store directory and use the -i options as above to recreate it.

Connect Your Server To The MV3D Network

Some parts of this process are still under development. First thing you'll want to do here is wipe out the world you created before. Its object ids overlap those used in real MV3D worlds, so it has to go. At some point in the future, there may be a way to export your creation and re-import it with real object ids, but at this time, this tool is not available. Delete the store directory (or rename it if you want to keep it around). You'll need to change some things back in the server and client config files. Starting with server.conf, under PBClient, change the loginServices back to https://login.mv3d.com:8080/Login/. Then under PBServer, change authenticators to https://user:pass@login.mv3d.com:8080/Login/. The username and password should be the login you created on the MV3D login server. These two changes will make your server authenticate users using MV3D's login service. Initially, you'll only be able to authenticate your own login, but you can request permission to upgrade your account to be able to authenticate others as well.

Next, you'll want to point your Asset service to MV3D's server. Under the Asset section, change the directoryServers to pb://alpha.mv3d.com:1999/Dir. Do the same for the Realm section. Under the main Server section, remove Login and HttpsServer? from the serviceNames since you won't be needing those. This should be all you need to configure the server.

For the client, you'll need to change the loginServices line of the PBClient section back to pointing at https://login.mv3d.com:8080/service/. That should be the only change you need to make. At this point, you can start up your server and it will log in to MV3D's server. The next step is to acquire some ids. Currently, acquiring those is free, but it is a manual process. You will need to contact info (at) mv3d (dot) com to have some allocated to you. These ids come in two types-- item ids and asset ids. If your assets will be freely available, then you can just add them to MV3D's AssetRepository. Item ids are required to construct your world. Some people may require a whole Realm or AssetGroup?. Contact the previously mentioned email address to do this.

Once you have ids allocated, you can start using the in game editor to create a new area and objects within that area, or you can log in to MV3D's asset server and enter your assets. When your world is ready for the public, you'll need to expand your authorization privileges to allow in new users.

Making Money Off Your World

Coming soon.

Hosting Multiple Servers

Coming soon.