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Getting started

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Getting Started with your Palace Server, in this section describes everything you need to know in order to get your Palace Server up and running:

This is the reworked Palace Server manual

For a quick guide to Palace Server operations you can check out the HowTo: Server Guide for inspiration, detailed info on how to plan and run a Palace you should check out the Palace Builders guide.

Requirements

The Palace Server software is available as a Windows based home server, a Mac OS9 or Classic server and as a professional Linux server. There are versions of the Palace Server for BSD and Windows NT but they do not support the plugins which make the Linux server secure and stable. Only the Linux server supports that latest plugins and can easily be installed on a Linux server or VPS. All professional Palace hosts use Linux servers and offer a wide variety of plugins to keep you save and happy.

For home use the Palace Server has the following requirements:

32 megabytes of operational memory (RAM).

Disk space: The amount of disk space required for your Palace Server initially depends on the number and size of the sounds and graphics you decide to make available. Palace Servers typically take 5-20 megabytes of space. Large sites can take over 200. If you have a popular Palace with many users wearing props, your prop file (pserver.prp) can also grow quite large; it's not uncommon to hear of 10- or 15-MB propfiles. See
Maintaining Palace files and network settings for more information.

NOTE: Art and sounds are stored in your Palace media folder. You can keep these in de media folder by your Palace installation, or move this media to a web server of your own. This will greatly improve download speeds for media and allow you to free up bandwidth for chatting. See HOW TO: Serve your media from a website for more information.
Operating system: the Palace Server described inthis manual is for use with Windows: 95, 98, XP or Vista. There is a Windows NT Palace Server, which runs as a service on Windows NT, this server does NOT run on 2000, XP or Vista and does not offer support for plugins. As mentioned before the Palace is also available for Linux and comes with a wide range of social and security plugins. This server does not come with a graphical interface and needs to be run from a Shell account. Some hosts offfer a web based control panel to run this server if you host it with them. In this maual we will focus on the Windows Palace Server.
Web browser. Though not actually required to run your Palace, you need a Web browser to see the help pages you are reading right now, so we can safely say you got that covered. We recommend using the FireFox browser, but this is off course a personal choice.

Installing and configuring your Palace Server

To download The Palace, go to the Downloads page of The Palace Planet website (downloads.palaceplanet.net), choose your operating system and scroll down to the Palace Server software download. You have a few options:

If you are a new palace owner you just download the basic Palace Server install, this has all you need to start. Or you can download one of the templates that will install a specially themed Palace Server on your system. It is possible to add themes later and change anything on your Palace Server.

To install your Palace Server properly you need a registration code, you can use the following registration code: 6DV3K-PVY6F-RF2VT-QFG8S This code wil give you unlimited user acces and turn any unregistered user into a full member, best yet: this code works with all types of Palace Server.

Download as many Palace templates to your machine as you like. Then, you can pick and choose among them whenever you want to change the look of your Palace.

After you install, you can customize your Palace look and feel by obtaining new templates. You can also customize your Palace room art, layout and scripts by using The Palace Client. In fact most Palace authoring is done through the Palace Client. We asume you have the client installed to administrate and author you're Palace Server. If not, it is available from the Palace Planet Downloads

Options for authoring will be explained later.

NOTE: The Palace Authoring Tool has been discontinued but there are several alternatives still available like loghelp and addOmatic.

both available from the Rescued Resources here on Palace Planet

Registering your Palace Server

To make sure other people can find your Palace Server, you must register it with a directory. There is a new live directory with live info on all Palace Servers who have signed up. Palace Planet also offers a very basic directory which serves more as a listing. You can choose to use the PalacePlanet version on this site, or use the Palace Portal version or just signed up on both. To get listed on the Palace Portal Live directory you need to follow these instructions: Getting Listed - Editing Your Site Page. To be listed on the Palace Planet directory you just need to be a registered member, then you can submit a link to the PalacePlanet directory.

Users can click your Palace link to bring up a web page with your Palace information. If you do have your Palace running, users can even access your Palace from the Live Directory.
You receive your registration code by e-mail when you register The Palace software. You should follow the instructions carefully it will save you some headaches. Remember: this will only register you with the Live directory, it will NOT solve any connection problems you might have. For more info on Conneciton problems and internet security please visit our FORUM

Getting your site up and running

Once you have installed your Palace Server, you can go ahead and start it. Note that once you start your site, you must still connect to it through a Palace client in order to view it. This is documented in Connecting to and visiting your Palace Server. Starting your Palace Server

On your machine, select Programs / PalaceServer / The PalaceServer for Windows from the Windows Start menu, or click The Palace icon. The Palace Server control panel launches.

The Palace Server control panel For detailed information on using this control panel, see The Palace Control Panel Interface.
The first time you start your Palace Server, you are prompted for the registration code fill out this one: 6DV3K-PVY6F-RF2VT-QFG8S

Connecting to and visiting your Palace Server

After you started your Palace you can connect to it using the following adress: localhost. or if you like to use IP numbers: 127.0.0.1
Welcome to you're new Palace home!

Once your Palace Server is up and running, you can explore it, socialize with other people, and do various maintenance tasks such as adding scripts, rooms, and artwork. You do this by connecting to your site from a Palace client. A Palace client is similar to a Web browser; it is a graphical interface that lets you visit Palace Servers (including your own). There are two type of Palace clients you can use:

The standalone Palace User Software. This is an application that you download from the Downloads page of The Palace web site, and install on your machine. You must use this client to add and edit rooms, or use the operator interface (described in Owner and operator commands).

Instant Palace: This is a JAVA based applet that you can access from a web page. However because it was build on very old microsoft java technology it has become harder to make it work. There is a version on Palace Planet in the downloads section that works with new browsers like firefox, please see the Palace Planet Downloads for more info. You cannot administer and maintain your rooms through Instant Palace; you must use the standalone Palace User Software to do so. To make it work on a Windows Palace you wil have to have a Webserver installed on your computer. It might take a lot of tweaking and installing an apache webserver. We do not recommend this unless you are familiar with the material.

Both clients let you connect to your site either locally (that is, from the same machine) or remotely (that is, from a different machine).
Connecting through the standalone 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 Servers.

Connecting from a client on the same machine

This section describes how to connect from The Palace User Software for Windows that resides on the same machine as your site.

From The Palace Server's control panel, the Visit This Palace button will probably not work unless you set your Palace entry page to palace://localhost. You can click the localhost link on this page as well it wil take you to your Palace server if its runnig.

Because of the many changes in Palace land most buttons on the server control panel are out of date and wil only send you to dead links. In your Palace Preferences:Display page, make sure you also set your launched-client preference to The Palace Windows client (using the localhost. instead of "Visit This Palace" button...).

Your Palace client launches, and automatically connects to your Palace Server.

If your Palace User Software is already running, you can connect to your own Palace Server directly from the client:

Select Connect to a Palace from the client's File menu.

In the resulting Connect dialog, enter one of the following:

To connect without having to go through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), enter 127.0.0.1 or localhost in the Connect window. This is The Palace local host address.

If you are on a Local Area Network (LAN), or going through an Internet Service Provider (ISP), you can enter your machine's name or IP address.

Connecting from a client on a different machine
You can connect to your Palace Server 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.

Connect to your own Palace Server. To do this, select Connect to a Palace from the client's File menu.

In the resulting Connect dialog, enter your Palace Server's machine'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)

Connecting through Instant Palace
In contrast to The Palace User Software (which is an application that resides on your machine), Instant Palace is an applet. Applets are programs that run inside of a web page, often initiated when you click their link.

The Instant Palace applet has to reside on a web page run from your computer. This means you have to have a webserver installed on thaat computer. By default, your Palace Server page (in The Palace Directory) contains a link to Instant Palace pointing to your Palace Server; see Maintaining your site page in The Palace Directory for more information. You can also embed Instant Palace on any part of your website, just as long as the website aand Palace server are running on the same server.. See To use Instant Palace on a web page for more information.

* To connect to your Palace Server using Instant Palace

Launch your Palace Server according to the instructions in Getting your site up and running.

Do one of the following:

On the site's control panel, click the Visit This Palace button. In your Palace Preferences:Display page, make sure you also set your launched-client preference to Instant Palace (using the field The "Visit This Palace" button should...)

Or

From your web browser, launch a web page containing a Palace Viewer pointing to your Palace. By default, you can follow the link from your Palace Server Page in The Palace Directory (on www.thepalace.com).

Click the link to Instant Palace.

Making your Palace Server accessible to others

Users can visit your Palace Server 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 and Instant Palace documentation.

Embedding Instant Palace on a web page

Embedding Instant Palace applet on one of your web pages and pointing it to your Palace Server encourages users to visit your Palace. Anybody visiting your web page can also visit your Palace Server simply by clicking on the link. They do not have to download any software themselves.

To attract even more visitors to your site, you can encourage others to embed Instant Palace in their web page and point to your site. They don't have to have a Palace Server installed to do this.

See To embed Instant Palace on a web page for more information.

While you might welcome having your Palace linked to by many web pages, you might also want to control the web content surrounding this link. For example, if you operate a family-oriented Palace Server, you probably don't want links to your Palace Server appearing in web pages containing adult content. For information on controlling which web pages can point to your Palace Server, see Maintaining information for web-based users.

You can set privileges and access rules for Palace Viewers using the Preferences page of your Palace control panel. For information on how to control access from Palace Viewer users, see Setting user access and privileges.

The Palace Directory

By default, your Palace Server is listed in The Palace Directory. The Palace Directory resides on The Palace website, and lists all registered Palaces in the entire Palace space.

Each Palace in the Directory has its own Palace Server page; users access this page by clicking on The Palace's link in the Directory. Palace Server pages include information such as a description of your Palace Server, any announcements you want, and a link that the user can click to visit your Palace Server. This page is displayed 24 hours a day, whether or not your Palace Server 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 Palace Server Administration form. This is a web page that is automatically created when you register your Palace. For information on the Site Administration Form, see Maintaining your site page in The Palace Directory.

Direct web access for standalone Palace User clients

Even if users use the standalone Palace User Software instead of the web-based Palace Viewer, you can give them direct web access to your Palace Server.

You can give users your machine address (in the format machine.domain, such as test.communities.com) 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 (if they have the standalone Palace User Software) or their web browser. Once they have visited your site, they can return to it by bookmarking it or selecting it from their list of previously-visited Palaces.

You can even give Palace users access to specific rooms in your Palace Server. To do so, give the user your Palace Server URL, port number, and the room ID (from your Palace User Software, enter operator mode using the instructions in Owner and operator commands, go to the specific room, then select Wizard:Room Info to find the ID). Users can then enter this URL in their web browser. You can also include this reference in one of your Palace Server rooms as a "hot spot" link. Note that users cannot access a URL-addressable room through their Palace User Software's Connect window.

This example illustrates the extended URL specification, where 89 is the room ID on The Palace Server located at mansion.thepalace.com (port 9998).

palace://mansion.thepalace.com:9998/89

NOTE: If you don't provide a port, The Palace client always assumes port 9998.

To include a room reference in your web page, use the HTML <a href> command, the Palace protocol start with palace:// instead of http://. 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 Server and encourage people to attend them. To publicize your event, list it in your Palace Server Page and also The Palace Event Calendar, which publicizes events to the entire Palace community on The Palace website (www.palaceplanet.net).

The Palace Event Calendar
To list your event in your Palace Server page, use The Palace Server Administration form (described in Maintaining your site page in The Palace Directory). To list your event in The Palace event calendar, click the link on The Palace website (http://calendar.palaceplanet.net) and fill out the event form.
You can use The Palace Events Moderator (PalacePresents) to host moderated auditorium-style events such as meetings, lectures, and other "one-to-many" interactions. The Palace Events Moderator allows you to control every aspect of these events, from show time and participant notification to security and web-based "slide shows." You can get The Palace Events Moderator at http://downloads.palaceplanet.net

Shutting down your Palace Server

You might need to shut down your Palace Server periodically for maintenance.

* To shut down your Palace from a local machine

Select File: Exit from your Palace's control panel.

Or

Close The Palace Server's window as you would close any Windows window.
* To shut down your Palace Server from another machine

Connect to your Palace Server from your Palace client (this must be the standalone Palace User Software).

Select Wizard Mode from the Options menu, and enter your owner password to enter owner mode.

Type the owner command `shutdown in your client input window, and press the Enter key.