Once your Palace site is up and running, you can explore it, socialize with other people, and build your dreamworld by adding scripts, rooms, sounds and artwork. You do this by connecting to your site from a Palace client. The Palace User Software
that you download from the palaceplanet downloads section or from the Quiclinks menu on your left. PC users should also install the Palace Upgrader, MAC users should check the Mac Fix link. Both can be found in the Quicklinks menu. You must use this client to add, edit rooms and the operator interface (described in Owner and operator commands).
Connecting with Palace User Software
You can use either the Windows- or Macintosh-based Palace User Software to access your site. Before trying to connect, be sure your site up and running (using the instructions in Getting your site up and running). After you
access your Palace for the first time, you can bookmark it or select it from
the list of recently-visited Palace sites.
How to connect to
your Palace with the Client Software
:
Select Connect to a Palace from the client's File menu:
Connecting from a client on a different machine
You can connect to your Palace site from The Palace User Software that sits on a different machine; this machine can be either a Windows 95/98/NT, or Macintosh. The following steps demonstrate connecting from a remote Windows 95/NT machine:
- Start your Palace client by choosing Programs:The Palace:The Palace32 from your Windows Start menu.
- Select Connect to a Palace from the client's File menu.
- In the resulting Connect dialog, enter your Palace site's address in the format machine.domain; for example, test.palaceplanet.net. You can also enter the machine's IP address (such as 205.999.99.99)
Making your Palace site accessible to others
Users can visit your Palace site when you have it up and running. There are multiple ways users can access your site; these are all documented in The Palace
User's Guide
. One of the most important things is to get your
Palace and its adress linked. there is offcourse the
Palace
Directory.
The Palace Directory:
If you have followed all the steps listed at: Get your Palace Listed. Your Palace site is listed in The Palace
Directory
.
Each Palace in the Directory has its own Palace site page; users access this page by clicking on The Palace's link in the Directory. Palace site pages include information such as a description of your Palace site, any announcements you want, and a link that the user can click to visit your Palace site. This page is displayed 24 hours a day, whether or not your Palace site is up and running.
NOTE: To allow users to access your site, you must have your Palace running.
You can control the content of your site page by using The Live Directory website and edit the Palace Details. For information on the Site Administration Form, see Maintaining your site page in The Palace Directory.
Dynamic IP adress:
If you have a Dynamic IP: This means that everytime you log onto the internet your ISP will give you a different IP number to connect with. With the Live Directory this information will be updated every 15 minutes, but you might consider looking into Dynamis IP clients. They are free pieces of software that give your computer a name. And everytime you you connect to the internet, this free client will tell theyr central server wich IP number your computer is using. There are several services out there you can try: The commercial ones: TZO, Dynip and the free one: DynDNS If you have Cable or DSL with a permanent IP you can simply apply for a Palace Planet Subdomain. E-mail to webmaster@palaceplanet.com with you IP numer and name you would like to use. Your Palace adress will then look like this: yourplace.palaceplanet.net.
Direct access for Palace User clients
You can give users your machine address, either by giving them the Dynamic IP Client name (yourpalace.dyndns.org or something similar) or IP address (such as 205.999.99.99) so they can access it directly without having to search for it on The Palace Directory. They can enter this name or address in either their Palace client Connect window and visit your site. Offcourse only a permanent adress can be bookmarked, a dynamic IP can be to ffcourse but the next time they will try to use it your Palace won't be there.
NOTE: If you don't provide a port, The Palace client always assumes port 9998.
If you do have some form of permanent adress it will be possible to make direct links from a website to specific rooms in your Palace. From a website this would look something like this: palace://mypalace.palaceplanet.net:9998/89. This will send users to room # 89 on your Palace Server. To include a room reference as a hotspot in a Palace room, use the Netgoto command. See The Iptscrae Language Guide for more information on the Netgoto command.
Publicizing events
You can host events on your Palace site and encourage people to attend them. To publicize your event, list it them on Palace Planet just go to the Home Page and click Submit event in the Calender.
