The General settings are accessed from the Settings dialog.

Sound

This section allows you to turn sound in Active Worlds on and off.

Play background music (MIDI files)

This includes both music from the world's object path, and MIDI files downloaded from other places on the World Wide Web.

Play sound effects (WAV and MP3 files)

This includes both sound effects attached to objects via the Sound Command, and World Sound Effects.

Play building sounds

These sounds are played by the browser in conjunction with certain building events. The sound files for these browser sounds are stored in the /default/sounds directory of the folder that your Active Worlds Browser is installed in, and can be identified as follows:

• delete.wav - object is deleted.
• odrop.wav - object de-selected.
• omove.wav - object is moved.
• opick.wav - object is selected.
• oturn.wav - object is rotated.
• tdrop.wav - terrain is de-selected.
• tmove.wav - terrain height is adjusted.
• tpick.wav - terrain is selected.
• tturn.wav - terrain texture is rotated.

Play telegram sound

This is the telegram.wav sound that the browser plays when telegrams arrive, and the read.wav sound that the browser plays when you click on a telegram. These sound files are located in the /default/sounds directory of your Active Worlds browser's program folder. Uncheckmark this box to turn the telegram sounds off.

Mute all audio when in background

To allow audio when browser is in background or minimized, if sound is not already muted. This applies to all sounds and audio streams from media commands, except the telegram sound. Checkmark this box to turn the audio off when browser is in backrgound or minimized.

For more information, see the Sounds in Active Worlds help page.

Controls

Freelook mouse

Use this checkbox to choose what function the mouse will serve when Move Mode is turned on.

Invert Y-axis when in "freelook" mode

Use this checkbox to choose what function the mouse will serve when Move Mode is turned on.

When the Y-axis is inverted, moving the mouse up will lower your viewpoint, and moving the mouse down will raise it. Some people feel that having the Y-axis inverted is more intuitive, perhaps because it causes the mouse to behave similar to the yoke on an airplane.

Head Bob (Camera moves to simulate walking)

This will move the camera up and down in an attempt to simulate walking and give a more realistic feel to walking and running.

Ignore pitch when flying / swimming

When this checkbox is cleared, the user will move in the direction they are looking in as they flying or swimming, but with this box checked looking up and down will have no effect on the movement direction and the user will move along horizontally and need to use the assigned Move Up and Move Down keys (keypad + and - by default) to adjust their altitude.

Show targeting cursor when in move mode

This checkbox allows you to enable a targeting cursor while in move mode, that will highlight when the user is pointed at an activate object. This is to compensate for the loss of the "hand" cursor that appears when not in move mode.

Precise Movement

When this checkbox is cleared, the user will coast after moving, but with this box checkmarked, they will instead come to an immediate stop. This option may be helpful while building.

This section allows you to select your preferred maximum world rating.

If no rating password has been set, simply click on the rating drop-down to change your maximum rating.

If a rating password has already been set, type it into the rating password box and then click on the ratings drop-box to change your maximum rating.

If you wish to set a rating password, click the Set Password button and a dialog box will appear in which to specify the ratings password you would like to use.

If you would like to modify the rating password, first type your old rating password into the rating password box and then click the Set Password button and specify the new rating password in the Rating Password dialog box.