This page contains information for Active Worlds UniServer administrators who wish to upgrade their UniServer to version 3.3

Summary

This is a summary of the steps required to upgrade your Uniserver:

1. Get the latest Uniserver software from Activeworlds Inc.
2. Shut down the "universed" process.
3. Make a complete back up copy of the Uniserver directory.
4. Install the new Uniserver.
5. Run the covert script.
6. Restart your Uniserver.
7. Upgrade world server(s) and browsers.

Upgrade Instructions

1. You must have already received the latest Active Worlds Uniserver from Activeworlds Inc. in order to proceed with this upgrade. If you do not have the Uniserver, you will need to contact Activeworlds Inc. to arrange delivery.

2. Shut down the "universed" process. Under Windows NT, you can simply press CTRL-C in the universed process window. Under Unix, first locate the process using the ps command and then stop it using the kill command.

3. Back up the entire Uniserver directory to a safe place! It is critical that before proceeding with the upgrade you make a complete backup of all your Uniserver files. A mis-typed command during the upgrade process can potentially delete one or more critical files!

4. Install the new Uniserver. Under Windows, double-click on the install program. Under Unix, use the tar command to extract the archive. On both platforms, you should install the new server into the same directory as your previous Uniserver installation.

   Note that under Unix, the .tar archive contains a copy of universe.ini which will overwrite your current universe.ini when you extract it. After extracting the archive, be sure to copy your original universe.ini back to the current directory from the backup copy you made in step 3.

5. If your current UniServer is version 3.2 or earlier, you will need to update the attribute, ejection, and citizen databases since the format of these databases have changed.

   To update your citizen databases to the latest format, invoke the uconvert script. Open a command shell, cd to the Uniserver directory, and enter the following command:

   uconvert

6. Restart your Uniserver. Note that if you have installed the 3.3 universe server as Administrator under Windows NT/2000, the 3.3 universe may have been installed as a proper NT service which will start automatically when Windows starts.

7. Upgrade world server(s) and browsers. Your Active Worlds universe is now running version 3.3, however in order to take advantage of all the new features in version 3.3 you will also need to upgrade the worlds and browsers in your universe.

   To upgrade your world server(s), follow the instructions here.

   To upgrade your browsers, simply modify the browser build numbers in the Universe Attributes. Note that this will update any existing installations of the AW browser via the auto-upgrade mechanism. We recommend the following settings for the browser and world build numbers:

   Minimum browser: 402 Latest browser: 419 Latest 2.2 browser: 419 Beta browser: 493 Minimum world: 20 Release world: 53 Beta world: 53

   Details on the significance of each of these settings are given on the Universe Attributes page. You are also encouraged to contact support@activeworlds.com to verify that these are the latest build numbers.

8. Finally, you will also need to contact support@activeworlds.com to arrange delivery of a new 3.3 Active Worlds browser installation built for your universe.