FAQ's about your Palace Server


How do I set up my pserver.dat?

Email your existing pserver.dat ('Mansion Script' on Macintosh or 'PServer.dat' on Windows) to us at support@accesscom.com. We will modify the header so that it will run under Linux and upload it to your pserver directory.


How do I update my pserver.dat?

You will manually update your pserver.dat file with the following steps:

  1. Stop your pserver with the god command `shutdown
  2. Connect to the host 'shell.accesscom.com'
  3. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  4. Double-click 'palace' directory
  5. Double-click 'psdata' directory
  6. FTP your new pserver.dat file, replacing the old version
  7. Now your pserver is ready
  8. Restart your pserver by going to the URL http://www.accesscom.com/uutils/
  9. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  10. Select the "Restart" utility


How do I update my pserver.conf?

You should never edit this file. If you need to edit this file, please contact us and we will do it for you.


What does the header of my pserver.dat need to look like?

The following headers are required to for your pserver to run. You will need to modify this header for your personal information.

; Server Prefs
;
SERVERNAME "Access Internet Communications"
WIZARDPASSWORD "t\A6\0F]\12y}\"\0AX\"
GODPASSWORD "/5t\QWE\9N"
PERMISSIONS 0xE7F
DEATHPENALTY 120
MAXOCCUPANCY 9999
ROOMOCCUPANCY 24
MINFLOODEVENTS 30000
PURGEPROPDAYS 21
MAXSESSIONID 10000
PICFOLDER "media/"
SYSOP "AIC"
URL "palace://palace.chatserve.com:9998"
HTTP_URL "http://palace.chatserve.com/palacepub/media/"
AVATAR_URL "http://palace.chatserve.com/palacepub/avatars/"
MACHINETYPE "i586-unknown-linux 4.2.0 Build 253 Tue Sep  8 16:48:07 PDT 1998"
BLURB "Palace Server hosting at Access Internet Communications, Inc."
YPADDR "directory.thepalace.com"
AUTOREGISTER


How do I backup my pserver.dat and pserver.prp files?

You should backup your pserver.dat and pserver.prp file as often as possible. We have created a backup script which will allow you to backup these files on the fly.

  1. Stop your pserver with the god command `shutdown
  2. Using a web browser go to the following URL: http://www.accesscom.com/uutils/
  3. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  4. Click on the link labeled "Backup palace prop/dat files"
  5. Once the backup is complete, you will be given the option to restart your palace server
  6. Your pserver will be started immediately


Installing the pserver registration code

To install your registration code on our Unix computer, proceed with the following step:

  1. Email your registration code, exactly as it appears (including the dashes), to support@accesscom.com


Installing the image and sound files

  1. Launch any FTP client
  2. Connect to the host 'shell.accesscom.com'
  3. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  4. Double-click 'palace' directory
  5. Double-click 'media' directory
  6. You will want to upload all your 'image' and 'sound' files in this directory
  7. Now your pserver is ready


How should the image files be named ?

When uploading your image files there are a few important things you need to remember: "file names are case sensitive", "no spaces in file names" and "call out the file name in your pserver.dat file exactly as it is labeled".

  1. If you upload the image file names "example.gif", then in your pserver.dat file you need to call it out as exactly that and not "example.GIF" or "EXAMPLE.gif".
  2. Image files can not have spaces in the name. So if an image file such as the file name "party room.gif", this has to be changed to something without the spaces such as "partyroom.gif".
  3. If in your pserver.dat file you are calling for the image "partyr1.gif" there has to actually be an image in your media directory named "partyr1.gif". Having a file named "partyroom.gif" will not work.


Wizard (Operator) and god (Administrator) mode

  1. The default wizard password is operator.
  2. The default god password is administrator.
To enter either wizard or god mode, select Options, Wizards and enter the password. For Palace security, you will want to change these immediately.

To change the default password:

  1. Connect to your pserver using the Palace Software (for Macintosh or Windows 95).
  2. Enter god mode using the password administrator.
  3. Enter 'godpass password where password is your new password.
  4. Enter 'wizpass password where password is your new password.


Why does my pserver use the name Operator/Administrator instead of Wizard/God?

With the version of pserver we are running and future versions, it will no longer use the names God or Wizard. The new terms are God = Administrator and Wizard = Operator.


Restarting your pserver

  1. Using a web browser go to the following URL: http://www.accesscom.com/uutils/
  2. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  3. Select the "Restart" utility
  4. It will try to start your palace server.
  5. If you have a backup, you will be given the option to restore your pserver.prp.
  6. If you do not have backup or restoring from backup falis, you will also be given the option to clear your pserver.prp file (which means you will have no props on your palace server).


How do I manage my pserver.prp file?

It's a good idea to use the god command `flushprops <N> every week or so. This command flushes props older than N days from the prop file. Which reduces the pserver prop file size and improve your pserver's overall responsiveness. This should be part of your periodic pserver maintenance. If not managed, your pserver.prp file will continue to grow.


How do I use the GateKeeper plug-in?

Gatekeeper is a plug-in that allows you to restrict who is allowed to use the Wizard and God password. It does this by allowing you to register Wizards and Gods known to you for your palace. Anyone who has not been registered, cannot Wizard or God up - even if they have the password.

In order to use the Gatekeeper plug-in, you will need to go to the following URL and select 'Plug-ins':

http://www.accesscom.com/uutils/

You will need to provide your username and password to gain access to these utilities.

Once you activate the Gatekeeper plug-in through the above URL, you will need to restart your palace server.

Here is a list of the commands that you can use with the Gatekeeper plug-in:

'gatekeeper bless
'gatekeeper unbless regkey
'gatekeeper list

Blessing - Blessing someone registers them as a known Wizard or God and allows them to use the Wizard or God password. To bless someone, whisper 'gatekeeper bless to them. When you first start using Gatekeeper, don't forget to bless yourself. If you do not bless yourself and you log off the palace server, you will not be able to Wizard or God up.

Listing - the command 'gatekeeper list tells you who is currently blessed, listed by name and regkey

Unblessing - If you need to remove someone from the list of registered Wizards or Gods, type 'gatekeeper unbless regkey - using their regkey from the list.


Why doesn't my palace server register with the A-Z list?

In order to have your pserver register with the A-Z list, you need to check the following in your pserver.dat file:

SERVERNAME

You should put the name of your palace server. Use the God command 'servername Your_Server_Name. It cannot be left blank.

SYSOP
You should put the name(s) of your palace server operators or nicknames. Since we are using the Unix operating system you can not leave it as "Joe Sysop" either. It cannot be left blank.

URL

This is the palace server address to your palace server. It would be in this format:
"palace://palace.chatserve.com:9998"

BLURB

There can be no more than a total of 255 characters in this field (including spaces and punctuation).

There are some words that can not be found in the BLURB entry. We have put together a little script to check if your BLURB will pass or fail. Just paste your BLURB in the text area below and we will check it against a list of words or phrases that the YPD will reject.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Same rules apply in ANNOUNCEMENT that apply for the BLURB.

YPADDR

This should be "directory.thepalace.com".

AUTOREGISTER

Of course, you must tell your palace server to try to register.

If you are running a palace server on your personal computer and are using the same registration code while trying to register with the A-Z list from both palace servers, this will also cause a problem. You should shutdown that palace server and restart your palace server hosted with us.

BLURB Check


Checking the size of your rooms

There is an absolute room limit of 16K in any room (thats a design spec). If you look at the script file from "ROOM" to "ENDROOM", that has to be less than 16K of data.

  1. Using a web browser go to the following URL: http://www.accesscom.com/uutils/
  2. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  3. Select the "Determine room sizes" utility
  4. You will then be given a size of all the rooms you have


Do I get my own access log files?

Yes you will get your own access log files. With the current version of the palace server all access logs are kept in one file instead of daily files as in the previous versions. We have a cron job setup to rotate the access log files on a weekly basis. The rotation of the access log files will happen every Sunday morning. You can view these files by using telnet.

  1. Connect to the host 'shell.accesscom.com'
  2. Provide your 'username' and 'password'
  3. Change to 'palace' directory
  4. Change to 'logs' directory
  5. The access log file currently being written to is 'pserver.log'

All past access log files will have a 0-4 following the file name. These are past access log files that have been rotated out. These access log files will be compressed in gz format to save disk space. Access log files will be kept on the server for one month and then be removed.


What if I lost my palace server registration code ?

If you cannot recall or find your palace server registration code, you may retrieve it at http://www.thepalace.com/support/regcodes.html. (Note: this is not the same as your Palace client registration code.) You will need to use your email address to retrieve your registration code.

If you are running Windows version of the pserver, you may also be able to find your registration code in the 'pserver.prf' file.


How do I determine the IP address of my pserver ?

You can use the Unix command 'host' to find the IP address of your pserver. Type 'host palace_server_address.com' (ie. palace.chatserve.com). You can then use that IP address to access your pserver.

Using the example above, I would be able to use either of the following address to get to our pserver:

host palace.chatserve.com
palace.chatserve.com    A    205.226.156.195


My palace won't start, I keep getting a message saying it cannot open the pserver.prp, what is wrong ?

Your pserver.prp has become corrupt. You will need to log into the shell server and replace that file. If you do not have one. Just type 'touch pserver.prp' and this will create a blank one for you.


I set up my palace, but the pictures aren't downloading to people, why ?

In god mode type in `picdir media:


How many pictures can you assign to a spot ?

16


When I start my palace, it reports there are 0 or less rooms, what is wrong ?

You have a "crashed" or "corrupted" pserver.dat file. Restore your backup and you should be back up and running.


Using InstantPalace

  1. Enter god mode
  2. Type `fileserver http://yourhostname.com/palacepub/media/
  3. Type `avatarurl http://yourhostname.com/palacepub/avatars/
  4. Then go to the URL 'http://yourhostname.com/palacepub/client/instantpal.html'

Note: Your image files must end with the extension "gif" in lowercase. If you have it ended with uppercase "GIF" then your file will not be downloaded to the user using InstantPalace via the web browser. Just to be safe, you may want to name the entire image file in lowercase. So all your files should look like: "example.gif".


What causes lag on the pserver ?

Lag on a Palace server comes from several sources.

The most common source of lag on a Palace server is network congestion on the net somewhere between the user's home computer and the server. The source of network congestion lag can be anywhere on the net and is typically intermittent. Utilities like traceroute, etc are useful for identifying the location of network lag. You can use our traceroute script to view any possible congestion between yourself and our network. You will want to input your palace server address, ie. 'palace.chatserve.com'.

The second most common source of lag is server prop file fragmentation. As props are copied in and out of the server prop file in memory, it can become seriously fragmented which will slow prop access significantly. The wizard command purgeprops and the god command flushprops will cure lag caused by propfile fragmentation.

The third most common source of lag is server loading. If the server is heavily loaded, all server responses will be slow. The server hosting the chatserve palaces is monitored for server load and should never be a problem. -->

The least common source of lag on a palace server is bubble lag. In an extremely crowded room or when two or more users are close together, Palace will sometimes withhold drawing a word bubble on the screen until space is available. This type of lag is typically negligible.


I have my rooms locking, but people can still get in. What is wrong ?

You have to set your room to "private" or people will still be able to get in even though you hear the room lock and the door says "The door is locked" when you click on it.


How do I get a link from Access Internet Web Site/Palace server to my pserver?

We only need a couple of things if you wish to be listed on our web site and palace server.

  1. A graphic to represent your palace. It needs to be 108x88 pixels, in gif format and have the palace palette applied to it.
  2. The name of your palace
  3. Your palace address including port number.

Mail the above graphic and info to support@accesscom.com. We should have your link put in within a few hours.


Do I need my own domain name to set up a pserver?

No, you don't need your own domain name. By default, you will need to use the domain chatserve.com if you don't have your own domain name. For example, a typical Palace address would be username.chatserve.com:9998, where "chatserve.com" is the domain name and "9998" is the pserver port.

Virtual Domain Name
You not only get the speed and quality of service, but your own "unique" Palace address. Your address will be domain_name:port_number, where "domain name" is your unique domain name and the port number can be just about any number, including the standard 9998 port.

Non-Virtual Domain Name
You get the same speed and quality of service, but you don't have a "unique" Palace address. Your address will be username.chatserve.com:port_number. The standard Palace port is 9998.


Is there a charge for using my own domain name?

We do not charge you for using your own domain name however, you will need to pay a $70 InterNIC domain name registration for first two years of domain name registration, billed by InterNIC to you directly.


Standard care technical support

If you have technical support questions, please check out the following resources:

  1. Online Manuals - (http://www.thepalace.com/support/manuals/)
  2. Troubleshooting - (http://www.thepalace.com/support/trouble/index.cgi)
  3. FAQs - (http://www.palacespace.com/discover/faq/index.cgi)
  4. Mailing Lists - (http://www.palacespace.com/support/mail/)
  5. Discussion Forums - (http://www.thepalace.com/support/discussion.html)
  6. Iptscrae (Scripting) Manual - (http://www.thepalace.com/support/manuals/ipscrae.html)
  7. Reference Sites - (http://www.thepalace.com/support/ref.html)
  8. Customer Service - (http://www.thepalace.com/support/custserv.html)


Useful Links

If you have technical support questions, please check out the following resources:

  1. Ori's Palace Instructions - (http://home.earthlink.net/~oriterry/)
  2. Ali-Co Palace Tools - (http://www.ali-co.com/palacetools/)