World: r3wp

The typing area shows what is being posted ... and goes gray

But I think it should be considered a bug that you can still edit 
it... and those edits are *not* sent

I looked up an old post (2007) talking about how to start Altme Worlds 
on windows start-up. Brock had the answer but I could never get it 
to work. Three years later, I decided to try again. Here are some 
lessons I learned along the way:

Precautions:

You may want to back up the altme folder just in case something goes 
awry. You will also need to know where the files are located.

You may also want to create another temporary worldmaster user and 
note the password. If you're like me, it has been a long time since 
I had to type in the user password.


1. Before you turn off your worlds, go to http://www.altme.com/check.html
and check your world(s). Note the port number and write it down.

2. Create a shortcut icon on your desktop to altme if you don't already 
have one. Do this by right clicking on altme and select "Send to/Desktop."

2. Right mouse click your "Start" menu (I only did this in XP so 
adjust for any changes you might have in your OS) and choose "Explore." 
An "explorer" window will open.

3. Go to the "Start Menu" folder in the the explorer folder tree 
in the left column. In the right column open up "programs" then open 
up "Startup."

4. Drag the altme shortcut icon from the desktop to the startup folder.

5. If you have more than one world, right-click on the just added 
altme shortcut icon and rename it to something like altme-worldname.

6. Show the properties of the just added altme icon by right-clicking 
and choosing properties.

7. There, in the "Target" field, you will add on to what should already 
be there. It should have something like: "C:\Program Files\altme\altme.exe", 
telling the OS where to find altme and the name of the actual program. 
As you may know, the quotes are there because the "Program Files" 
folder has a space in it. Leave it as is and add:

-s "yourworldname" - p the-port-number. E.g., "C:\Program Files\altme\altme.exe" 
-s "myworld" -p 5402. Do not close the properties window but continue 
to the next step.

8. Below the "Target" field you will see the "Start in" field. There, 
enter where altme and its server files exist. The top level folder 
is enough. E.g., "C:\Program Files\altme\" 

9. Apply the changes to the properties and try it out by making sure 
the world is not running and then clicking on the altme icon in the 
Startup folder. This saves you from having to reboot if a mistake 
was made. You should see the familiar altme server window pop up.

10. You need to also check by logging into the world through the 
client. If you can and the data is all there. Great. The only thing 
left is to reboot and make sure it loads by itself.

11. Repeat for all the worlds you have. You'll end up with n altme 
icons each with a different name. 

Things that went wrong:
Before the server could be launched properly via the icon

1. Getting the wrong syntax in the properties/Target. - I thought 
everything had to be enclosed in a single quote string but it doesn't.
After the server was launched

1. Couldn't connect to the altme world - Seem to be related to the 
port #'s I was using. I went back and launched the worlds the manual 
way and checked the ports on the altme website.

2. Could connect but no users. - This had to do with "Start in" info 
or lack thereof. Altme was looking for the data in the Startup folder 
as opposed to my regular altme folder. Your actual data should be 
fine and of course you made a backup, right?

3. Some data (posts) got mixed up - Who knows on that one. I made 
so many attempts, I may have confused something.

4. My user profile was gone or had a different name. - Again, my 
guess is that this was due to the "Start in" info. Worst case, try 
the default "Master" "pass" user. I ended up using another known 
user (hence, my advice to create a temp worldmaster user), then I 
renamed the user I knew was me to me. Weird but it happened in a 
couple of my worlds but only to my profile.

5. I made a copy of the actual altme.exe and named it altme2.exe 
thinking that perhaps this was the problem. The target was then changed 
to reflect it. Don't do this, it  is not necessary and may freak 
you out.


Now I have 4 worlds up and automatically running when I need to reboot 
the server. Yea.

Congrats James and thanks for the extra info.

James, Cool.  I threw this into Qtask's REBOL-SIG project, and made 
it into a Wiki (you can edit it there if you like, as can others).

Here is a syndicated link for everyone.

https://www.qtask.com/qwiki.cgi?mode=previewSynd&uuid=XM56AUYGPJ6XSE5N8BUYLQX3W2QT


(Fixed your dupplicate numbers also.  What ever you used put two 
2, and two 1s.  I usually number "steps" and use bullets for lists 
that can change order).

Thanks Reichart and Brock. I'm a happy camper now and can reboot 
my server any time without that  oh man, now I have to start all 
those worlds again. :-)

Hello everybody, anytime I start AltMe I receive the message that 
there is a file to download. If I click yes, I obtain (you aren't 
allowed). If I click no, next time I start AltMe I obtain again the 
message.
Is there a way  to stop this pop-up?

I've never seen this message though others report it

I was only getting it on linux (even after it was thought to have 
been removed)

I was also getting it (linux), but now it the file appears to be 
gone and it's stopped

Let us know if this continues Max. File sharing has been disabled 
on this world, but there seems to be a glitch. I haven't seen it, 
and it's cleared up for others, so you may be our special test case 
to help track it down.

Even today, WinXp

You can see it at:

http://picasaweb.google.it/lh/photo/-RPEWNH_Ce2JZHUsxAwLpw?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.it/lh/photo/tceCVdV4J_juX1WAi_rqBw?feat=directlink

MaxV, fumbling in the dark, but does it also occur, if you click 
the drop down in the upper left corner (where the world name is labeled) 
and select the world you are logged into?

It happens also selcting Rebol3 world.

Is there a log file mode to activate?

I just tried to resolve upgrading from 1.2.25  to 1.2.26; but I have 
again this bug.

I don't think there is one. Are you using filesharing on other worlds?

No, I use only Rebol3 world

Is this world really slow for anyone else this past week, particularly 
when posting?

yes and so have some rebol sites

Thanks Max. My connection is sometimes to blame, and we're spoiled 
by how fast things usually are with AltMe.

though some groups like view have become sufficiantly big that they 
are starting to be slow to update.

I sometimes see a bit of CPU usage with this AltME world.

Bug: I just posted in Core group. There was a delay before the message 
was echoed back to me, so before that happened I switched to another 
group to continue reading. Then I switched back to Core, and found 
my message echoed properly. However, my message was still in the 
New message text entry area.

Damn, it just happened again with this message.

Anton, connection problems?

Yes, slow satellite connection, especially at this time of day. Nevertheless, 
AltME should not behave this way.

Altme is getting exeedingly slow in posting messages ... is this 
a network issue or some type of inherent lack of scalability?

testing....

about 5 seconds for a post for me. not slower than usual.

Graham -- please try an experiment:
-- Hop over to rebol-gate [id: guest password: guest]
-- Make a few posts in the Playpen group

rebol-gate is a tiny world, so it may help pinpoint if the problem 
is a world scaling issue.

Chris is reporting 30 seconds

but it varies throughout the day

rebol-gate is instant

Thanks. 

That's useful evidence that the problem is not network or server 
related [rebol3 and rebol-gate run on the same server]


Next step ---  is it better or worse in groups with many messages? 
(ie is the problem the world or the group):

--could you try a test post or two in a couple of groups that have 
less than 100 posts?
  list available here: http://www.rebol.org/aga-index.r

I was sending messages to chris here .. and they were taking 30 seconds 
too

-- Do you have a _lot_ of private messages between you and Chris?

-- Do you see similar delays when private messaging with other members 
of this world?

[It could be that the private message distribution process is affected, 
while the broadcast of public messages is  not]

i think it's time dependent

Thanks. That suggests the server running this world gets overloaded 
at times.

let me see how long this takes to post

3 secs

but 7 seconds to send a private message

a simple load indication from the server could tell something

private messages are single HUGE bin for every user.

so if you've PM many times in the past with anyone, it all adds up. 
 this *is* a design issue.

some groups also have started to become rather slow (the view group, 
for example)

Hmm, so if Graham rejoined as GChiu (say) he'd have an empty private 
message set, and his messaging would be fast again....

....Sounds like a good justification for a second account for a prolific 
member of a busy world.

....Or for AltME to provide a purging mechanism for old private messages.

(If the private message slowdown is true, that is.)

it is... I've discussed it directly with Carl  :-)