Advanced

Diva distribution advanced tips
© Crista Lopes. All rights reserved.

You can change the value of any configuration variable included in the
distribution, but you should do it by overriding them instead of
changing them directly. Of special importance are these files:

bin/config-include/DivaPreferences.ini bin/OpenSim.ini

If you want to change the values of some variables DO NOT change them
on those files directly. Instead, use MyWorld.ini to override the
values. This is because future releases of the diva distro will likely
have important updates in these two files that you should not miss.

For example, suppose you wanted to change the size of the physics
capsule for avatars, which is captured in OpenSim.ini under the
section [ODEPhysicsSettings] by the configuration variable

av_capsule_radius = 0.37

Leave it as is in OpenSim.ini. Edit MyWorld.ini, add the section and
override the variable, like this:

[ODEPhysicsSettings]
av_capsule_radius = 0.20

The Update tool migrates your own MyWorld.ini to the new installation
preserving all the changes you have done.

Changes in regions setup

Region configuration is in bin/Regions/RegionConfig.ini. Edit that
file with any text editor, and change whatever you like — including
adding and removing regions, changing their locations, names, etc.

If you add regions, please use a UUID generator to get new random
UUIDs. Try this

Next time you start bin/OpenSim.exe the new information will be used.
The Update tool migrates your changes to this file into new releases.

Note that if you change the regions’ locations on the map, this may
affect users’ login, as their home locations may not be valid
anymore. You’ll need to set their homes again.

Changes in DB connection

DB configuration is in bin/config-include/MyWorld.ini. Edit that file
with any text editor. Notice one or more occurrences of the database
connection information. If you are familiar with MySQL, you will know
what to do. Whatever changes you make to the connection information
will have to be made in all occurrences of the connection string.

What this means is that you can have a grid consisting of multiple
standalones without having to run several servers (aka Robust). You can
have the MySQL server on one machine, and have all of your simulators
use it directly.

The Update tool migrates your changes to this file into new releases.

Backups

I strongly advise you to set up automatic backups of your
database. Please see instructions elsewhere on how to do that for
MySQL.

Additionally, I also strongly recommend making periodic OARs of your
regions’ content, and periodic IARs of your inventory.

OpenSim is alpha software, bugs happen. Better safe than sorry.

Troubleshooting your data

When everything fails, remember that all data is stored on your MySQL
server. You can always use the MySQL client to see what is wrong with
your data, and correct it when necessary.