OpenSimuator Configuration Sandbox

Some example OpenSimulator configuration setups, using Docker (should also be compatible with Podman) for quick prototyping.

For accessing the OpenSimulator metaverse, I recommend Firestorm Viewer.

Warning

These sandboxes are built targeting the AMD64 platform. Machines running ARM or Apple Silicon may not work.

Experiments

Each folder contains a docker-compose file that will setup the OpenSimulator prototype.

Folder	Purpose
standalone	Sets up an OpenSimulator instance in standalone mode, using MySQL (mariadb 10.5) as the storage engine.
standalone-wordpress	Same as Standalone, but has a WordPress instance prepped to control the userbase.

Using Docker Compose / Cheat Sheet

• Start up an experiment: docker-compose up --build -d
  • --build will build the Docker file needed for OpenSimulator.
  • -d is optional - it brings you back to a prompt. If omitted, your terminal is locked to output (can return by typing docker-compose logs).
• Stop experiment: docker-compose stop
• Destroying: docker-compose down -v
  • -v will remove the associated volumes (e.g. database storage data). If you keep it, the files will still hang around for the next up.

Troubleshooting

I'm not able to run commands in the OpenSimulator prompt

You are able to attach a shell to the current entrypoint, but so far this doesn't seem to work for me. You can 'cheese' this process by adding screen, allowing you to 'resume' the actively running session. To do this, replace the entrypoint in the Dockerfile to this:

ENTRYPOINT [ "screen", "-S", "OpenSim", "-D", "-m", "mono",  "./OpenSim.exe" ]

You can now access the OpenSimulator admin prompt by running docker-compose exec metaverse /bin/bash and then running screen -r OpenSim.

This does not work on Mac

In 2020, Apple began switching to ARM-based CPUs instead of the common x86-64 type. Currently OpenSimulator does not officially declare support ARM CPUs, so the software will not work as expected.

There are builds of OpenSimulator that do work on ARM, but the current mainline build of OpenSimulator ships with x86-64-only physics drivers. This means that if you start the sandboxes on an ARM machine, you'll crash when the physics library starts operating. If you disable the physics library, you can run OpenSimulator in a crtically reduced state. You can do this by changing the following setting in OpenSim.ini.

[Startup]
    physics = basicphysics

or set an environment variable:

environment:
  PHYSICS_ENGINE: basicphysics

If you do this, prepare for a ... Weird experience.