first we were a private grid with Reaction Grid, then an integral part of their public grid, and later we went to SimHost. each one of those three deployments was easy because of OAR files
but . . . avatars . . . ugh, yes the inventory archive files (IARs) do make that easy but for some reason (ID10-t error) my avatar always needs an hour of work to get back to normal. i don’t seem to be able to grasp how to export a shape (always comes out as a 3 KB file that fails on upload) and i resort to screenshots of my sliders (wow, non-tech or what!?!) =/
then i always lose some textures, not that i have many – parasol, tee, skirt, and stockings
now i *hope* i have that all squared away in my binders full of avatars (sorry Mitt, couldn’t resist) =p
so where did Enclave Harbour move to now?
to Kitely!
the move is a bittersweet dealio because i absolutely have loved James and SimHost for the last 26 months – total freedom and awesome performance. James knows his stuff (he’s also an admin on OSgrid) and is a great OpenSim partner – he never stuck his nose into our business but was there quickly if we needed him
but our project is taking longer than we desired (best laid schemes of avatars and men) and each month means x number of books that need to be sold to break even . . .
thankfully i can say that the delay isn’t because of my virtual world work – i’ve been stellar (if i humbly say so!) and 90% of what needs to be done is done (wow, what an awesome builder – gosh *eyes twinkling*) =p
unfortunately, i can also say that the project is behind because of me *boo, Ener sucks* =(
i’m doing the pre-press work for the workbook and it’s taking forever! but it’s not all me – subQuark is still writing “at desk” activities (like making a hovercraft from a CD, water bottle cap, and balloon). plus he’s adding Sim-on-a-Stick projects so that kids can create their own virtual activities that can be done as science projects (me and my big mouth – why not add some SoaS activities? derr)
the exciting side of the move is that i finally get to try out Kitely. we could have just used Sim-on-a-Stick and Enclave Harbour seems to run fine on it, but subQuark wants to start getting some feedback soon on the virtual world aspect so that it can be tweaked while finishing his book. Kitely’s $35 a month Gold plan lets us save big money ($125 a month or ~25 books) and allows us to open it up to others =)
i don’t know how much longer it will be until we are done, but we definitely missed the goal of last summer! oops . . .
since the official OpenSim 0.7.5 with megaregion OAR support isn’t out yet, i used Sim-on-a-Stick to load up the 16 individual OARs and then followed Diva and Dot’s procedure to export it out as one 4×4 megaregion OAR. it took me a few tries but the results were good once imported into Kitely
it is sad to leave SimHost, they have been awesome and we might be back, but i’m looking forward to seeing how Kitely performs and to completing this big project and moving on to the next! =)
a few wrinkles, but very minor
Great to see you using Kitely Ener, I’m happy we’ve met your expectations :-)
Ilan Tochner
23 Oct 12 at 2:19 pm
so far so good – your performance is great. i think my longest time is about two and a half hours so far and it ran strongly
one minor issue that i bet is resolved with 0.7.5 or sooner – sometimes when i use numeric values to place an object, it shoots to 512.000. i think this only happens on the X axis and i can’t say it always happens
you have exceeded expectations when it comes to new user flow – simply point them to my URL and your website sets them up with access (fb, twitter, or making a named user), sniffs if they have a viewer, and starts the world. pretty smooth flow and in the words of one of the most awesome OpenSim educational power Users ever, Kate Booth, “super easy”!
Ener Hax
23 Oct 12 at 3:01 pm
There’s a fix for that, Ener, though it means editing one of the viewer’s XML files.
https://getsatisfaction.com/kitely/topics/building_in_megaregions
Sarge Misfit
23 Oct 12 at 3:16 pm
Welcome to Kitely, Ener. I’m sure James will have his hands full looking after the jokaydiaGrid migration so I wouldn’t worry overly.
Graham Mills
23 Oct 12 at 3:47 pm
Thank you for the info Sarge :-)
Ilan Tochner
23 Oct 12 at 4:14 pm
i dont understand kitely. i used it before when it was free for experimenting. and it used my facebook account.
want i would to do is be able to use firestorm (or some other v3 viewer) when my own login and be able to load oar and iar at anytime.
finally, hypergrid. i dont think kitely has that yet.
i dont see how you can have control of the server since you are using their servers. but i have never figure out how that is done with the grid servers anywhere.
and i have a domain that i am not using. where is the connect for the domain name and the server. i am sooo confused. but my other choice is a business comcast for $90 and i dont know how to set my domain to point to the external IP. also i have to buy another router and hope that my machine does not have a problem (which never happens).
bristle
23 Oct 12 at 4:21 pm
Hi bristle,
You can configure the Kitely Plugin to use Firestorm in your Kitely account’s Settings page. See: http://blog.kitely.com/2012/03/30/teleport-between-kitely-worlds-and-additional-viewers-supported/
You can manually login to Kitely without using the Kitely Plugin by following these instructions: http://www.kitely.com/#!startviewers
You can upload an OAR file when you create a new world and you can replace an existing world with a new OAR file. See: http://blog.kitely.com/2012/05/24/replace-existing-worlds-and-automatically-disconnect-idle-users/
Kitely hasn’t added support for IAR files and hypergrid yet. Until these options are available, you can upload content into Kitely using the Imprudence viewer. For details see: http://wiki.kokuaviewer.org/wiki/Imprudence:Content_Backup
Alternatively, you can rezz your inventory into a region, save it as an OAR file, upload that OAR file into Kitely, then get the items from the Kitely world you created using that OAR file.
Ilan Tochner
23 Oct 12 at 6:05 pm
yes thank you Ilan. things how change since i was on before. i check out kitely and found my firestorm works ok — and gave me a avatar it is not cloud. my comments before are old. you have improve a lot since then. even my mischiefworks.com would work by a redirect but i can use the url, as ener hax pointed out.
even for $60 for 4-regions, that still cheaper than what i get for $90 and not have to replace anything if the system breaks.
bristle
23 Oct 12 at 6:47 pm
Thanks bristle :-)
I’m happy to hear you like Kitely’s current offering.
Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Ilan Tochner
23 Oct 12 at 6:49 pm
thanksSarge!
wow, you are exceeding my label for you of Viewer Ninja/Guru!!!
thanks! =)
Ener Hax
23 Oct 12 at 8:24 pm
well i tested everything that wanted to for kitely.
but when i use firestorm viewer (not going to the web) it say:
bristle chesnokov_2@kitely. when i tried to use the password, it starts to connect but it cant.
now i dont know why _2 except maybe i was there as bristle chesnokov and i am still on the database. and i know im at bristle chesnokov_2 when i login by using the web and then firestorm.
1) i would like to be bristle chesnokov
2) why wont it let me in through firestorm when i bring up the viewer and not through the web?
i am seriously thinking of using kitely.
bristle
23 Oct 12 at 11:18 pm
Hi bristle,
Did you create a new account using the same name you used previously when connecting with Facebook? If so it would have given that new account the same name but with a “_2″ appended at the end. If you contact us via email we can delete your previous account and give the new one your name without the “_2″. See: http://www.kitely.com/#!contact
If you want to be able to manually log in using Firestorm then please configure Firestorm using the instructions listed here: http://www.kitely.com/#!startviewers
Please note that the password you use to login to the Kitely site is not the same as the one your viewer needs to login to the Kitely grid (the grid password is a long random string that our system generates). If you wish to change your viewer grid login password then configure it in your account’s Settings page: http://www.kitely.com/#!settings
Ilan Tochner
23 Oct 12 at 11:47 pm
oh, i didnt read the whole thing than.
i will have my name change to bristle chesnokov. thanks.
bristle
24 Oct 12 at 12:05 am