With all that can be done with this program, our 3D Virtual Reality FAQs are extensive. To provide you with answers to each of the specific areas we have created the following sections for you:
3D Virtual Reality FAQs
How Do I Solve Problems Downloading, Installing, or Connecting to 3D?
How Do I Get
Started In 3D
And Become A Citizen?
Here you will find answers to questions from the basics about your computer requirements and how to become a Citizen, to the more advanced questions about your video card and firewall settings.
The four main areas to assist you in getting started are:
Getting Started
Getting Started
What Computer Requirements Do I Need To Access 3D?
The Minimum System Requirements you will need on your computer to enter the 3D Virtual Realm are:
-
Pentium CPU 300Mhz or
equivalent
- 64MB RAM Memory
- Microsoft Windows (98, Me, NT4, 2000, or XP)
- DirectX 7 or later
- Windows Media Player 6.4 or later
- D3D video card with at least 8MB and the latest
drivers
However, for the best possible experience in Destiny Worlds we recommend the following:
- Pentium
III CPU 750Mhz or better
- 128MB RAM Memory / 256MB RAM Memory for XP
- Microsoft Windows 98, Me, 2000, or XP
- 500MB free disk space
- DirectX 8.1 or later
- Windows Media Player 9 or later
- 3D accelerated video card with at least 16MB and the
latest drivers
Software Requirements:
If you do not have at least DirectX 7.0 on your computer, you should download and install the latest DirectX from Microsoft at: http://www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp. Good performance also requires that you have the latest drivers installed for your 3D video card. See our video card troubleshooting section for help with video drivers.
Internet Connection:
You must have an active connection to the Internet in order to access Destiny Worlds. You can access and interact in Destiny Worlds just fine with a dialup connection, however, the faster your Internet connection is, the faster the objects will load for you. Additionally, if you are running behind a firewall or a proxy server, Destiny Worlds must be properly configured to run. Please refer to our firewall and proxy server section for assistance.
Hard Drive Disk Space:
The initial installation of Destiny Worlds will take less than 5MB of space on your hard drive disk. However, as you travel around in Destiny Worlds, the objects you encounter are cached to disk for faster loading on your next visit. This can require a substantial amount of additional disk space. We recommend that you have at least 300MB free on your hard disk at all times for best performance.
What is "Immigration" And How Do I Become A Citizen?
In order to enjoy the privileges of a Citizenship in Destiny Worlds you must register as a Citizen. In the 3D Realm we call registering as a Citizen "Immigration" just like if your were to immigrate to another country and apply for Citizenship.
As a Citizen in Destiny Worlds, you will have access to the following features and privileges that Tourists do not have:
Reserve a unique Citizen Name for your use only
Send "Telegrams" to other Citizens.
Send "Files" to other Citizens.
Locate and "Join" other Citizens anywhere in Destiny Worlds.
Maintain "Contacts" to keep in touch with your friends.
Choose from a wide variety of "Avatars" available in each world you visit.
Own property and "Build" in the worlds open for building.
Your property remains under your control and ownership.
What you build can not by deleted by other users.
The frequent "Immigration Officer" messages in the text chat will stop.
A Citizen subscription costs just US $9.99 per month - Immigrate Today!
Billing Options:
All billing is processed through our monthly automated billing systems with credit and debit cards. However, if you would like to make your payments via Certified US Paper Check or US Postal Moneyorder, you may make payments up to one (1) year in advance. Please contact billing@itsyournet.com for more details on these payment options.
How To Register:
PLEASE NOTE: Because we have introduced our 2-Tier Free Affiliate Program, the "Register Now" button located in the top left corner of the 3D client toolbar will direct you back to get registered with the ItsYourNet Affiliate who referred you.
In other words, you can NOT use the toolbar "Register Now" button to register any longer.
To Register your Citizenship, or purchase other 3D products, simply go to our 3D Products Page and follow the instructions carefully. When you register in this manner, your credit/debit card will be charged $9.99 initially and again each month thereafter unless you cancel your subscription.
Once your registration has been accepted, you will receive an e-mail with further instructions and be able to log into Destiny Worlds as a Citizen and you will be able to enter automatically every time you login there after.
Incomplete registration forms can not be processed and will cause delay in your 3D product registration.
Please contact billing@itsyournet.com for additional payment options.
Your Citizen Name and password are used by Destiny Worlds to determine if you are a valid Citizen, to verify the ownership of the land you own, and to prevent others from deleting the objects that you build. Your name is also what other users will see in the chat window (or over your head depending on each user's settings) when you text chat, and when they select objects that you have built. When choosing a name, remember that many common names have already been taken, so you may have to be a bit creative. Generally, because Destiny Worlds is a Business to Business and Education environment, using your real name is a much more professional idea than using an Internet alias name, or on other words, think of how you would have your name presented on a business card (example: "John Doe", "Jane Doe", "J Doe", "John D USA", "Jane D USA", etc.).
Important: Be sure to choose a password that is not easy for others to guess.
(example: "secret", "password" or your Citizen "Name" are not good passwords)
A good password is at least six characters long and has both letters and numbers in it.
(example: "abc123", "123abc" are pretty good but passwords like "9g5m8y3x65" are even better)
Never give your password to anyone!
Your login password, or Citizen password is the password that you use along with your Citizen name, to log in to Destiny Worlds as a registered Citizen. If someone else has your password, they can steal your Citizenship from you. You will lose your ability to log in as a Citizen, and worse yet, before your account can be restored the thief may destroy all of your property. If this happens your property cannot be recovered.
Remember: If anyone claims that they are working for ItsYourNet, LLC., or that they are a system administrator or that they have any other type of official access, and that they need your password, they are lying to you in order to steal your account.
Employees of ItsYourNet, LLC will never ask for your password!
Report incidents of password theft to Admin@ItsYourNet.com immediately.
If you would like someone else to share access to your account, consider using a privilege password, but don't take this lightly. Always remember that your reputation is on the line whenever you choose to share your privileges, because you may be giving that person access to things that other people have entrusted you with access to. So, be very selective if you are going to even consider sharing a Privilege Password.
Using stolen credit or debit cards and credit card chargeback:
Fraud over the Internet is a serious problem and as a result this issue needs to be addressed. ItsYourNet is actively involved in putting a stop to Internet fraud (Remember we are also an ISP).
The bottom line is; if a user is tempted to use a stolen credit or debit card or a fictitious card number to fraudulently obtain any of ItsYourNet's products or services in any way including, but not limited to, "credit card chargeback", they need to think again. A user's Internet connection IP address is instantly obtained, time stamped, and logged in association with any purchase a user makes as well as the instant a user visits any of our Web sites. Further to our logging of this information, a user can not receive any of ItsYourNet's products unless they provide a valid e-mail address or they can not receive details to activate their account.
In the event anyone is so stupid to attempt making a purchase from ItsYourNet with a stolen card or fictitious card number, the user's IP Address (as well as electronic signatures of certain components in a user's PC) will be permanently blocked from accessing Destiny Worlds (even as a Tourist), permanently blocked from accessing ALL of ItsYourNet's many Web sites and Internet properties, and the user is not connected with ItsYourNet's dialup we will contact the user's ISP to have their Internet connection permanently terminated. Any information we obtain about fraudulent applications will be turned over to the user's local authorities, the FBI Internet Fraud Division for criminal investigation, and we will prosecute fraudulent card users to the fullest extent of the laws of the USA and the laws of the state of Texas!
If you have questions about the status of your registration, or questions about the registration process in general, please send an e-mail to billing@itsyournet.com.
I Am Having Video Problems, How Do I Solve Them?
While 3D hardware acceleration often brings greatly enhanced levels of performance to Destiny Worlds, it may also bring some annoying complications due to the enormous number of different 3D video cards out there. Some video cards might have bugs which adversely affect performance, cause bizarre rendering of objects or other errors, or in extreme cases, cause Destiny Worlds to crash or even make a user's entire PC locked up and requiring a reboot. Each video card also has many different possible software driver versions that may be installed on a particular PC, and some drivers may work better than others. The latest driver available for your 3D video card has the best chance of working well with Destiny Worlds.
This is why we can not stress enough the importance of making sure you have the latest drivers for your video card installed. The vast majority of problems reported with Destiny Worlds are fixed simply by updating the video driver. Keep in mind that even if you have a brand new PC, it may not have shipped to you with the latest drivers installed.
Troubleshooting:
If you are trying to run Destiny Worlds and are experiencing problems, there are several things you can try:
Update your video driver - this simple procedure fixes the vast majority of problems that people might experience (see details below).
Try changing your display depth to 16 bits - some video cards (especially many older cards in the Voodoo family) work better when your screen is set to 16 bit color (also known as "high color".) Also, high color mode tends to use much less video memory than 24 or 32 but true color mode, and using more than 16 bits per pixel currently has no effect on the quality of the 3D scene rendering in Destiny Worlds. To change your display depth, right click on the Windows desktop, select Properties and click on the Settings tab, and you will see a drop down box to change this setting.
Upgrade to the latest version of DirectX - the latest version (currently 9.0c) is available from Microsoft at: www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp. Destiny Worlds has been designed to work best with DirectX 7.0 or higher, and has been extensively tested with versions 7.0, 8.0, 8.1 and 9.0 of DirectX.
Updating your video driver:
If you have a "name brand" computer such as a Dell or Compaq, check their Web site first for driver updates. This is particularly important if you are using a laptop. Drivers can be found under the "Support" section of a PC vendor's Web site.
You can also get updated drivers directly from the video card manufacturer. If you do not know what type of video card you have, the first thing you should do is run the DxDiag utility to find out what kind of card you have and to determine if your card supports 3D hardware acceleration:
Click on the Windows Start button and select Run
In the dialog box that comes up, type in DxDiag.
If Windows says that it can not find DxDiag, you probably do not have DirectX installed. You will need to download and install DirectX from www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp.
In the dialog box that comes up, first look at the "System Information" section. Near the bottom, it should indicate what version of DirectX you are currently running. Verify that this is at least 8.1. If not, download and install the latest DirectX from www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp.
Next, click on the Display tab. In the Device section in the upper left of the Display page, it should indicate both the name and manufacturer of your video card. Make a note of both.
Now look at the section DirectX Features further down in this dialog. Make sure that both "DirectDraw Acceleration" and "Direct3D Acceleration" are Enabled. If they are not enabled, press the Enable button for both. If you cannot enable Direct3D acceleration, then your video card probably does not support 3D hardware acceleration and you will only be able to use Destiny Worlds in software rendering mode. Also, make sure that "AGP Texture Acceleration" is Enabled, if possible.
Finally, try pressing the "Test Direct3D" button and run through the simple tests, making sure they all complete successfully. It is possible that some computer systems may crash while performing these tests. See the DxDiag help files for more information about how to use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (DxDiag).
Another common way to find out what type of video card you have is by clicking the Windows Start button, selecting Settings, then Control Panel. Select the Display control panel application. In the dialog that comes up, click on the Settings tab. If there is a button in this dialog called Advanced, click that. The dialog that comes up from there should indicate your video card model.
If you completed the above steps without any problems, the next thing to do is to locate the Web site for your video card manufacturer. Below we provide links to some of the more popular video card manufacturer's Web sites:
Nvidia - TNT, Vanta, Quadro, GeForce, RIVA, and nForce graphics drivers
3dfx - Voodoo cards (note that the company 3dfx, Inc. is out of business and no longer provides any support for Voodoo cards. This link is to a third party site that has some Voodoo driver downloads.)
ATI Technologies - Rage, Radeon and Mobility graphics drivers
Creative Labs - 3D Blaster graphics drivers
Matrox - Millennium G200, G400, G450 graphics drivers
Intel - many common types of "onboard" 3D hardware acceleration, including the i740, i810 and i815 chipsets
Hercules - 3D Prophet and Guillemot graphics drivers
ELSA - Gladiac, Erazor, Gloria, Synergy graphics drivers
Diamond Multimedia - Viper, Stealth, SpeedStar graphics drivers
S3 Graphics - ViRGE, Trio, Savage graphics drivers
SiS - many different chipset families. Note that Destiny Worlds generally does not work well (or at all) in 3D accelerated mode on most SiS chipsets, even with the latest drivers installed.
Once you have located the Web site for your video card manufacturer, you will need to locate the drivers specific to your video card model and operating system. Note that many cards require different drivers depending on what version of Windows you are using. Drivers are usually located under the "Support" section of the Web site. Look for a link called "Drivers" or "Downloads."
Once you have located the correct driver, in most cases it is then a simple matter of downloading the new driver to your computer and installing it. When you start the download, be sure to note where on your hard disk you are downloading the file to. Once the download is complete, locate the downloaded file on your hard drive disk and double click it to install. After installing your new drivers, you usually have to reboot your PC.
Important Note:
In some cases installing new drivers can cause problems on some PCs, and even prevent some systems from running. In particular, installing the wrong driver for your video card can cause severe problems. If you choose to update your video drivers, you accept full responsibility for any problems that may result from doing so. ItsYourNet, LLC. is not responsible for any problems or damages that occur with your PC as a result of you installing new drivers. If you are unsure about whether or not you should install a particular driver on your system, always contact the video card manufacturer before proceeding.
What Do I Need To Know About Firewalls And Proxy Servers?
Firewalls are either computer programs or hardware that restrict access in to and out of a network. Most corporate networks have firewalls installed for added security. Many home users are now installing firewalls on their home networks as well.
Since firewalls block the vast majority of Internet traffic, in the past they have often prevented the Destiny Worlds browser from being able to contact the Destiny Worlds server, and thus prevented users who are on firewall networks from accessing Destiny Worlds at all. This has been a particularly common problem in corporate environments.
Many home and corporate networks also use proxy servers. Basically, a proxy server is a computer on a network that all other computers on that network must communicate through in order to access the outside Internet. If a computer on a proxy network attempts to access the Internet directly it will be blocked. By requiring all computers on a network to go through a single server, a proxy server creates a single point of control for Internet traffic on that network and provides additional security as a result. Proxy servers also often provide a service called NAT or "Network Address Translation", which allows multiple computers to share a single Internet connection.
The first time you launch a new installation of Destiny Worlds, you will see an "Internet Configuration" dialog box where you can indicate the kind of connection you have to the Internet. There is an "automatic configuration" button, which allows the browser to automatically detect and use several kinds of standard Internet connection types. Consult your system administrator if you are not sure what type of Internet connection you have.
3D Download Technical Questions:
Why am I getting a "Corrupt Install Detected" error when I run the 3D installer?
How to I fix the error "Login failed (reason 4)" when I try to enter Destiny Worlds?
When I start Destiny Worlds it never connects. Is this because I am behind a firewall?
When I try to enter Destiny Worlds, or shortly thereafter, it crashes. How do I stop this?
3D Download Technical Questions:
Why am I getting a "Corrupt Install Detected" error when I run the 3D installer?
The most common cause for this error is an incomplete download of the installer.
Try downloading the installer again.
How to I fix the error "Login failed (reason 4)" when I try to enter Destiny Worlds?
You are probably running an old version of the Destiny Worlds Browser that is having trouble with the auto-upgrade process. You need to download the latest browser from the Affiliate's site you originally entered through and re-install.
When I start Destiny Worlds it never connects. Is this because I am behind a firewall?
If you are behind a firewall you will need to configure your firewall to allow Destiny Worlds to run.
Can I use Destiny Worlds with Wingate?
Destiny Worlds works fine with the new version 3.0 of Wingate. It does not work with earlier (pre-3.0) versions of Wingate. If you are using an older version of Wingate we recommend upgrading to 3.0 before attempting to use it with Destiny Worlds.
When I start Destiny Worlds I get "Unable to initialize Internet functions (reason 12167)". What do I do?
This
error is coming from an Internet Explorer
configuration problem. Usually a bad URL has been
specified in the VIEW/OPTIONS/ADVANCED/AUTOMATIC
CONFIGURATION window. Locate the Automatic
Configuration settings in your installation of
Internet Explorer and delete any URLs that are
specified there.
When I try to enter Destiny Worlds, or shortly thereafter, it crashes. How do I stop this?
There are many possible causes for this to happen on a persons personal computer. The first step in resolving this problem is to be sure your system meets the "Minimum Requirements" to run Destiny Worlds.
If your computer is compliant with the Minimum Requirements, we suggest you try the following steps in the order that we have them listed here below. Once you have tried each step open Destiny Worlds again. If the problem still exists after each step then move on to the next step with opening Destiny Worlds after each step you try.
Step 1:
Locate the folder called "cache" in your Destiny
Worlds folder on your hard drive and delete it.
Go to: START > MY COMPUTER > HARD DISK DRIVES
(C:) > PROGRAM FILES > DESTINY WORLDS > CACHE
Step 2:
Make sure that you have the very latest video
driver installed for your video card. It is
possible that you have an old driver for your
video card that needs to be updated. You
can get the latest driver for your card from
your video card manufacturer's Web site. You can
usually locate your video card manufacturer's
Web site by doing a search for your video card
on the Internet. Please read our "Video
Card Problems" page for further details
about upgrading your video card drivers.
Step 3:
Try changing your screen display depth to 16
bits. Some video cards (especially many older
cards in the Voodoo family) work better when
your screen is set to 16 bit color (also known
as "medium color".)
To change your screen display depth, right click
on the Windows desktop, select Properties, and
click on the Settings tab, and you will see a
drop-down menu where you will find the 16 bit
color setting.
Step 4:
Be sure you have upgraded to the latest version
of DirectX. The latest version is
available at:
www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp.
Step 5:
Be sure you have all current updates and
security patches available from Microsoft.
Check for available Windows Updates at:
http://update.microsoft.com
Step 6:
An old, partially deleted, or corrupted
installation of Internet Explorer may be present
on your system. Downloading and installing
the latest version of Internet Explorer from
www.microsoft.com/ie can fix this
problem.
Step 7:
You may have a virus or hard drive disk problem
on your computer. To protect your computer
from viruses we highly recommend the
Free AVG Anti-Virus software. Try
running a virus scan, run the Windows Disk
Cleanup utility to clean up your PC, and run the
Windows Scandisk and Defragmenter utility to
check your hard drive for problems.
Step 8:
It is possible that you received a corrupted
download of the 3D software. Try
uninstalling and reinstalling Destiny Worlds
completely. Be sure to delete the Destiny
Worlds icon on your desktop if it is not removed
with the uninstall. Once you are sure you
have uninstalled the program, empty your Recycle
Bin.
Step 9:
Make sure that you have at least 50 megabytes of
free space on your hard drive disk. Keeping your
PC running at optimum levels by regularly
practicing the procedures in Step 7: can free up
a lot of space on your hard drive.
When I start Destiny Worlds I get "Internet Communications are being established. If this takes too long, check your Internet Connection..." and freezes. What do I do?
Verify that the Destiny
Worlds software is connecting to the
Universe server. Here is how to check this:
Step 1:
Locate the folder called "Destiny
Worlds" in your Program Files folder on
your hard drive.
Go to: START > MY COMPUTER > HARD DISK
DRIVES (C:) > PROGRAM FILES > DESTINY
WORLDS
Step 2:
In this folder, find an icon named "Gworld".
Right-click this file with your mouse and
choose "Open", and left-click. This should
open up the file in Notepad.
Step 3:
Scroll down to the section titled
"[universe]. Find the entry in this section
titled "host". Modify this line to appear as
"host=69.53.80.246". Click File, Save, then
File again, and Exit.
Step 4:
Close the open windows, and restart Destiny
Worlds.
There are many ways to communicate with others in Destiny Worlds. Below you will find everything you need to know about communications and why some Citizens can communicate in ways other Citizens and Tourists can not.
Communications
Communications
Talking to other users, or "chatting", in Destiny Worlds is similar to chatting in any other Internet chat environment. Simply type whatever it is you would like to say and hit the ENTER key. Your words will be broadcast to everyone else nearby. Similarly, whatever words other people type will be sent to you and will appear on your chat screen.
If you are new to chatting over the Internet, you will quickly discover that chat has a unique set of rules and jargon (sometimes referred to as "netiquette") that can be confusing to a newcomer. But never fear, in just a few minutes you can familiarize yourself with some basic guidelines and in no time you will be chatting like a pro.
Here are some basic tips to keep in mind if you want to have a positive chatting experience:
Never type in all capital letters. WHEN YOU TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING! People generally find this very annoying.
Be polite to strangers. If you don't know the people you are talking to, it is appropriate to be as polite as if you are meeting someone for the first time in real life.
If someone doesn't want to chat, don't harass them, just move on, don't pester them.
Don't be offensive. Offensive behavior is totally inappropriate. Otherwise, you will just annoy everyone and you will wind up getting muted. Also in certain worlds (such as in DestinyU) offensive behavior may be grounds for ejection. If you are ejected from a world you will not be able to enter that world again.
Some common terms
Over the years Internet chat has adopted some abbreviations for common terms. Here are a few of them:
LOL - Laughing Out Load
ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
BRB - Be Right Back
IMO - In My Opinion (also IMHO for In My Humble Opinion)
AFK - Away From Keyboard
Smileys
"Smileys" or "emoticons" are special combinations of characters that people sometimes use to indicate emotion. Most are intended to look like a smiling face turned sideways. There are an almost infinite number of variations on this simple theme, for example:
:-)
;-)
:)
;-]
Chatting with other people is an important part of the Destiny Worlds experience. When you enter a world, after the scene loads you may see Avatars around you representing other people who are near you in the same world. Depending on the world's settings, you might also notice that Avatars have names above their heads when you get close to them, or after that person has said something while they are in your chat range.
You can either read what people say as it appears above their heads with your personal settings, or in the Chat History frame which also displays messages from people who are behind you or off to the side, as long as they are within your chat range. The Chat History will also display whispers, and messages from parts of the system such as the Immigration Officer or the Building Inspector, and console messages.
To talk to other people, all you have to do is type your message. What you type appears in the Message box, also known as the Chat Entry box, which is located just below the Chat History. After typing your chat message, pressing the Enter key sends your message. Then you'll see your message appear in the Chat History window, and other people that you are within chat range of will see it also.
You do not need to click in the Message Box to start chatting, the default settings focus your ability to instantly start chatting. However, if you do click on something that makes it so your chat is not entering automatically, you will have to click in the 3D Window to return the focus of your keyboard back to the Chat Message Box.
If someone is speaking that you would rather not see any more chat messages from, you can mute them. To mute someone, right click on that person's avatar and select Mute from the avatar pop-up menu. You can un-mute them again later by repeating the same procedure.
You can resize the chat window by changing the border between the main 3D view window and the Chat History frame. Just position the cursor of your mouse over the border between the 3D window and the chat window until you see an up-down arrow, then hold down your primary mouse button and drag the border to the desired position.
You can also use the scroll-up and scroll-down buttons next to the chat history to look at messages that have scrolled off of the screen. These buttons move the text in the window up or down one line at a time. You can also click either above or below the 'slider bar' divider between the scroll buttons to move the text up or down one 'page' at a time.
The Chat History window displays any error messages you may get while building, for instance if you try to build too many objects in one place, or change someone else's property. These errors are given to you as a message from the all-powerful "Building Inspector".
The Avatar "pop-up" menu can be invoked in one of two ways. You can right click with your mouse directly on an Avatar in the 3D window, or you can right click on a line of chat text in the chat window to bring up the Avatar menu for that user.
The various options available on this menu depend on what rights you have and what type of user you are. The top line of the menu identifies the name of the user you clicked on. The menu options are as follows:
Mute - Allows you to mute the user. When a user is muted, you no longer receive any of their chat messages.
Whisper - Allows you to whisper to the user. Whispers are private chat messages that only the recipient sees.
Add to contacts - This option is enabled if the user is a Citizen. It adds them to your contact list.
Eject - This option is enabled if you have eject rights in the world. It allows you to eject the user from the world.
A whisper is a chat message sent directly to another user. When you whisper, the recipient is the only person who can hear what you say. The whisper controls are enabled by default. If the whisper controls are not visible in your browser, select Whisper from the Show Menu.
To whisper to someone, first select their name in the "Whisper To" list. Then simply type your message in the whisper field and press Enter like you would for a normal chat message. You can also whisper to someone by selecting Whisper from the avatar pop-up menu. Whispers appear in your chat history window in blue italics to distinguish them form normal chat. Whispers that you send are listed along with the name of the person you whispered to.
NOTE: You can quickly switch back and forth between the normal chat field, the whisper list and the whisper chat field by simply pressing the Tab key on your keyboard. Also note that in order to whisper to someone, they must be physically nearby and they must have already revealed their identity by speaking (either via normal chat, or by first whispering to you.) Mute blocks whispers as well as normal chat. If there is currently no one around to whisper to, the whisper field will automatically disable itself.
Be aware that in some worlds the ability to whisper may be disabled for tourists. This option is set in the World Features dialog. If you don't want to whisper you can hide the whisper controls from the Show Menu or by pressing the F8 key.
Using the Contact List, you can join other people in Destiny Worlds, wherever they happen to be. To join someone, right-click on their name in your Contacts List and select Join. You will be teleported to their current location.
A successful join requires that the join be allowed by the person whom you are trying to join depending on how they have set their privacy settings, and you also (in most worlds) will need to be on their Contact List as well. It also requires that you have Enter privileges in the world in which that person's avatar is located at that time. Don't take it personally if people fail to accept your join requests. They may have left their computer unattended briefly and missed the request, or they may have set it to auto-reject join requests during a private meeting and simply forgotten to change it back. In fact, there are many possible reasons why a join request may not be accepted. It's generally a good idea to establish communication through telegrams before attempting to join someone. You can control who can join you with the Privacy dialog box.
If the person you are attempting to join has set their privacy options to block join requests from you or from all people, your join request will automatically be rejected. If the person does not accept or reject your request within 30 seconds, the request will expire.
What Does The "Contacts" Tab Do?
This window is accessible through the Contacts tab and shows your list of "Contacts", or friends, in Destiny Worlds.
Your contact list is stored by the universe server to allow you access to it from any installation of Destiny Worlds on any PC connected to the Internet, and it also allows the universe server to implement your privacy settings (e.g. join blocking) even when you are not logged in to the system. If you are a new Citizen of Destiny Worlds, your contact list will initially be empty. As you meet people with whom you would like to say in touch with, you can add them to your list in one of two ways. You can right click on the person's Avatar and select Add to contacts from the Avatar pop-up menu, or you can right-click in the Contacts window itself and select Add New Contact and enter their Citizen name.
Once in the contact list, a green checkmark next to their name indicates that they are currently in Destiny Worlds. The world they are currently in is also shown if they have chosen to make that information available (see privacy.) A right-click on their name brings up a menu that allows you to join them, send them a telegram, etc.
To use the contact list, you must be a registered Citizen. Tourists cannot maintain contact lists. Also, you may not add a Tourist to your contact list.
You can right click on any name in your contact list to activate the contact list pop-up menu for that specific person. This menu includes the following options:
Join - Sends a join request.
Send Telegram... - Allows you to send a telegram.
Send File... - Sends a file transfer request.
Remove - Restores the default privacy settings for this person, and deletes them from your contact list.
When a Citizen is added to your contact list, they first inherit your default privacy settings. Choosing to turn a privacy setting on or off from the Options menu > Settings > Privacy tab will change the settings for all Citizens on your contact list.
The following privacy options are available through Options menu:
Joining - This option sets your browser to automatically accept or reject join requests.
File Transfer - This option sets your browser to automatically accept or reject file transfer requests.
Hide my current world - By default, Citizens who have you on their contacts list will see the name of your current world printed next to your name. This option allows you to keep which world you are in from being displayed in people's contact lists.
You may have up to 100 Citizens on your contact list at the same time.
What Does The "Telegrams" Tab Do?
To send or receive telegrams in any Destiny Worlds Universe, you must be logged in as a Citizen. You may send short messages to other citizens in Destiny Worlds regardless of where they are currently located, or even for later automatic delivery if they are not currently logged in. These messages are called Telegrams.
To send someone a telegram, right-click on their name in your contact list and select Send telegram. Alternatively, you may reply to a telegram that they have sent you, by right clicking on the telegram in your telegrams list and selecting Reply.
When you receive a telegram, you will see the message "You have a telegram" from the Operator in your chat window. To read the telegram, click on the Telegram tab. The telegram you have just received, along with any other previous telegrams you have saved, will be listed in the window. Unread telegrams are indicated by a red star. To read your new telegram, or any telegram for that matter, simply click on the name of the sender. The telegram will be printed in red text to the chat window.
If the recipient is logged in, they will receive the telegram immediately. If they are not logged in, the telegram will be saved and delivered to them the next time they log in. Undelivered telegrams are saved by the system for up to 28 days.
After reading a telegram, you can delete it or reply to it. To delete it, either select the telegram in your telegrams list and hit the delete key, or right-click on the telegram and select Delete. To reply to a telegram, right-click and select Reply.
NOTE: A telegram can not be more than 1000 characters long. If you are typing a telegram and you reach the maximum length, you will not be able to add any more to that same telegram, and may want to backspace and edit the telegram to your satisfaction within this length restriction before sending.
What Should I Know About Sending Files?
Important Note About File Transfer!
Be aware that damaging programs such as computer viruses can be communicated to your computer from other users if you allow them to send files to you, even if the person sending the files is a friend and means well. For this reason, if you are offered a file from someone you do not know very well and trust to have taken appropriate precautions, you are strongly encouraged to reject the file!In particular, never run executable programs (e.g. files ending in the .exe extension) sent to you by another user. Once running, executable programs can do almost anything to your computer, including (for example) deleting important files or erasing your entire hard drive disk!
WARNING: Deliberately sending damaging computer viruses or other harmful programs to another user in Destiny Worlds is a very serious offense and shall be grounds for immediate termination of your account. Furthermore, such action may be a prosecutable criminal offense. If ItsYourNet, LLC determines that you are responsible for deliberately communicating viruses or any other kind of damaging software (including, but not limited to, "Trojan horses" and/or other "back door" hacking programs) to other users in Destiny Worlds we may, at our discretion, turn all relevant details of your account over to law enforcement authorities for criminal prosecution.To send files to someone, they must be on your contact list and have enabled file transfers. To send someone files, right-click on their name and select Send File. You can only send someone files if they are currently online.
Sending files works much like joining in that when you attempt to send someone a file, they are first given an opportunity to accept or reject your request. If they accept your offer, you will see a file transfer dialog which says "Sending files..." on your screen and they will see a file transfer dialog which says "Receiving files..." on their screen.
Once this dialog is up, you select the files to send by pressing the Select Files button. You can select several files at the same time to all be sent at once. While you are selecting files to be sent, the person you are sending them to can select a directory to store them in.
Once the file or files are selected and the recipient is ready for the transfer, press the Send button to begin the sending the files. As the files are being transferred, a progress bar will display the percentage complete and the current transfer rate will also be displayed in kilobytes per second. (A kilobyte is 8192 bits, or binary digits, of data.)
Once the transfer is complete, you can leave this dialog box open for as long as you like and send additional files to the same user later. If either you or the recipient closes the dialog, however, the link will terminate and you will have to re-establish the connection like you did the first time in order to send additional files.
You can control who can and cannot send you files from the Privacy Dialog and your contact list, and to send or receive files, you must be a registered Citizen.
File Transfer and Firewalls
The file transfer function requires the ability to establish a direct TCP connection across the internet between the sending computer and the receiving computer. Firewalls and proxy servers will often interfere with this ability. In particular, if you are running Destiny Worlds from behind a firewall that does not allow inbound TCP connections to be created, you will not be able to send files to other users.
What Should I Know About Privacy?
The Privacy dialog allows you to control some of the information which other Citizens of Destiny Worlds can learn about you. It also lets you control whether or not people you have in your contact list can send you files or join requests. To adjust your privacy settings, go to the Options menu and select Settings then click on the Privacy tab.
Hide my current world
This setting allows you to hide which world you are currently in so that it will not be displayed next to your name in people's contact lists. By default, if someone else has you on their contact list, they will be able to see what world you are in when you are logged in.
Block join requests
With this option set, if anyone tries to send you a join request they will receive a message stating that their request to join was refused.
Block file transfers
With this option set, if anyone tries to send you a file they will receive a message stating that you did not accept their File Transfer request. Note that for security reasons, you will always be asked to verify a file transfer request before it is accepted.
Confirm join requests
Causes a confirmation message to be displayed when someone tries to join you.
Who Are The "Public Speakers"?
The owner(s) and caretaker(s) of a world may occasionally designate certain Citizens to be Public Speakers. Public Speakers are Citizens whose chat messages are transmitted to all users within a given area. Thus everyone in the area can hear and see a Public Speaker regardless of how many other people are around. You can tell who a Public Speaker is by the fact that their text chat messages appear in that chat window in bold text.
Since by default all users hear the nearest 15 users, the Public Speaker effect is only really useful in situations where there are more than 15 people gathered in a single location.
If you encounter a Public Speaker in a world, remember that they can hear all the conversations going on around them, so be patient if he/she does not respond immediately to your questions. In really crowded areas it is can be quite difficult for a Public Speaker to hold individual conversations since there are so many people talking at once.
Public Speakers also have access to additional special avatars which other Citizens can not use.
What Does The "Eject" Feature Do?
Certain users have the power to Eject other users from a world. The cause for ejection from a particular world is up to the ejector, but it is generally a good idea to save the Eject button for those users who are being offensive and/or abusive towards others.
To give a Citizen the power to eject other users from a world, the world's caretaker must place the Citizen's citizen number in the "Eject" field of the World Rights. Note that if you have the power to eject, you will see the names of all visitors to your world immediately (instead of only after they have spoken.)
The ejection function is available from the Avatar pop-up menu. If you have the right to eject you will see an additional Eject... option in this menu.
To eject the person you just clicked on, simply press the Eject button. You can also select the duration of the ejection. The default is five minutes. When you eject someone, they will see the message "You have been ejected from [world]" on their screen (where [world] is the name of the world they were ejected from). They will be forced to return to the previous world they came from. If they try to re-enter the world again while the ejection is still in effect, they will receive the same message.
The eject dialog also allows caretakers and users with eject privileges to query the IP address of other users. This can sometimes be useful for tracking the identity of users who are switching names in an attempt to remain anonymous; in extreme cases, it can even be used to file complaints with their ISP (Internet Service Provider.) The IP address of the user whose Avatar was initially selected is always displayed by default. You can also enter the name of another user and press the Lookup IP button to query their IP address. Note that you do not need to actually eject someone in order to look up their IP address. To leave this dialog without ejecting the user, simply press Cancel.
Right-clicking on the IP address field allows you to copy the IP address to the clipboard for pasting into other applications.
Note: World caretakers cannot be ejected.
How Eject Works
Ejections work by placing a block in that world on the IP address of the user. In addition if the user is a Citizen, a block can also be placed on their Citizen number.
The ejections that are currently in effect in a world are stored in a database by the world server. World caretakers can use the Ejections Dialog to view, add, change, or delete ejections.
PLEASE NOTE: The courtesy of 3D Land & Support cleaning up or removing unwanted objects will not always be extended! In the future, as Destiny Worlds expands and grows, Citizens that do not follow the advice to completely cover their land will not be able to request that we clean up or remove unwanted objects. This can all be avoided if you take the time to cover your land first!
To be notified when we have each of these 3D products available, go to our 3D Products Page, locate the product you are interested in, Subscribe to the 3D Virtual Realm Newsletter and you will be notified via e-mail upon each new 3D product going live.