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Overview

The Vircadia Domain server (codename Athena) is developed in this repository and uses the following stack:

  1. HTML & JavaScript - Web based control panel
  2. Qt - C++ framework
  3. Tooling
    1. VCPKG
    2. CMake

Command Line Parameters​

Environment Variables​

Features​

  • Networking
    • To support web, desktop, and mobile users in the same space, the Domain server connects with users over WebRTC and UDP simultaneously
  • Persistence
    • The world's state is continuously persisted to disk
    • The persisted state can be saved to a snapshot at any time
    • The persisted state is also backed up regularly through a rolling schedule
  • Scalability & Robustness
    • To enable scaling for hundreds or thousands of users in one instance, all major functions (avatars, entities, assets, messaging, etc.) are broken out into sub processes called Assignment clients
    • Due to the rapid start and stop of Assignment clients, the scaling of worlds and recovery of mixers in real-time is nearly instant
  • Functionality
    • Server side scripting in JavaScript
    • Extend core with C++ plugins
  • Communication
    • Realtime spatial audio for all clients
    • Server-wide text messaging

Compiling from Source​

You can find general build information here.

Specific build information for each platform:

Packaging​

All packaging specific information and steps for the Vircadia Domain server can be found here.

Configuration​

For configuration instructions, see the Hosting section of the user docs.

Assignment Clients​

Command Line Parameters for Assignment Clients​

The Domain server deploys a type of server called an Assignment client to provide different functionalities to a virtual world. Six types are defined and the domain server will spin up one instance of each:

  • Asset Server - Allows the upload and download of files from the server.
  • Audio Mixer - Receives all audio streams and mixes them into single streams to send out to each node (user).
  • Avatar Mixer - Receives all avatar and joint data and mixes them into single streams to send out to each node (user).
  • Entity Mixer - Handles the state of all entities and their respective properties in a virtual world.
  • Entity Script Server - Provides server side scripting functionality.
  • Messaging Mixer - Handles all messaging activity between nodes on the domain (users).