Black BoxGet the HUD
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New sim checklist

The order to set up a new Black Box sim in, from the first admin signing in to players making characters, with the website page for each step.

For staff

This is the order to work in when your Black Box sim is new: from the first admin signing in to the day players make characters. Each step names the website page to use and links to the staff guide that covers it in full. Steps marked Optional can wait or be skipped.

Most steps happen on your sim’s website, the panel. The menu paths below use the default menu labels. Super Admins can rename and move entries, so yours may differ.

The steps at a glance

# Step Where Optional?
1 Staff access and roles Staff › Access No
2 Basic settings Server › Settings No
3 Game system and rules Game Design › Combat & effects › Game systems No
4 HUD look Server › HUD settings Optional
5 Characters Game Design › Characters No
6 Abilities Game Design › Abilities No, if you fight
7 Items, vendors and crafting Game Design › Economy, Game Design › Crafting & loot Crafting optional
8 Groups and ranks Staff › Groups Optional
9 Quests and events Game Design › Quests & NPCs, Main Menu › Events Optional, can come later
10 In-world setup Server › Auth Keys, Staff › Sim › Assets & delivery No
11 Test with a staff character The HUD and the website No
12 Open to players Server › Settings, Server › Panic buttons No

1. Sign in and set up staff access

  1. Wear the HUD once. The server makes your account from your avatar.
  2. Press Settings, then Web Login on the HUD. The website opens and you’re signed in.
  3. Set a password on the website so you can sign in without the HUD.
  4. Check you can see Staff › Access in the menu. You need the Super Admin role for the rest of this list. If the menu is missing, ask whoever set up your sim to give your account that role.
  5. Have each staff member wear the HUD once, so they have an account.
  6. Under Staff › Access › Permissions, use Look someone up, then Give a role for each person. A new sim has Super Admin, Admin, Storyteller, Game Master, Processor, Moderator and Demo.
  7. Optional: change what a role allows under Staff › Access › Roles, and rename or hide menu entries under Staff › Access › Menu.

See Groups, ranks and access.

2. Basic settings

Go to Server › Settings and open the Globals tab. Set these first:

  • web-title: the website’s title.
  • web-url: your website’s address, ending in /. The HUD builds the links it gives players from it, such as the link to make a character on the website.
  • hud-motd: the message of the day, shown in chat each time someone wears the HUD.
  • hud-tosLink and hud-simRulesLink: your Terms of Service and sim rules. Players see both links when they accept the terms.
  • hud-webManual and hud-commandLink: the user manual and command list that @help links to.
  • lang-default: the language new accounts start in, such as en. Players can change their own.
  • Optional: web-logo, web-theme and web-accent, the website’s own look.

Then open the HUD settings tab (or Server › HUD settings) and set coinMode. 2 pays in coins, which you set up under Game Design › Economy › Coins. Any other value pays for each vendor offer with a trade item instead. Decide this before you price anything.

See Setting up your sim.

3. Pick a game system and its rules

A game system holds your combat rules and the optional rule modules.

  1. Open Game Design › Combat & effects › Game systems and choose the one closest to your game, or make your own.
  2. Switch on the optional rules you want there.
  3. Set combat-defaultGameSystem on the Globals tab to its number. Every fight uses it unless the leader’s group sets its own.

See Rule sets and options.

4. HUD look

Optional. The HUD works with its defaults. When you want your own look:

  • Pick the default theme with hud-defaultTheme, and set each theme’s colours on the HUD themes tab.
  • Set the Home layout with hudLayout under Server › HUD settings.
  • Choose the buttons, bars and counters the HUD shows on the same page, such as bar1Text and bar1Show.

See The HUD look.

5. Characters

Build what a new character is made of, in this order:

  1. Stats, Base values and Starting stats under Game Design › Characters.
  2. Classes and Races. setClass and setRace decide whether the character creator asks for each, and hud-classSystem and hud-raceSystem whether their stats count. Rename the choices with createLabelClass and createLabelRace if you call them something else.
  3. Perks, Professions and Skills, if your game uses them.
  4. The Starting kit tab on the Classes page: what a new character is given.
  5. Levels: the level chart. Turn levelling on with hud-levelSystem.

Then decide how characters are made:

  • hud-createChar: 1 makes characters in the HUD. 0 sends players a link to make one on the website.
  • profile-maxChars: how many characters an account may have.
  • web-charSheetApproval: switch it on if staff approve character sheets.

See Characters.

6. Abilities

Make the formulas first under Game Design › Abilities › Formulas, then the abilities that use them under Game Design › Abilities › Abilities. Then open each class or race and add its abilities. Skip this only if your sim never fights.

See Abilities and effects.

7. Items, vendors and crafting

  1. Game Design › Economy › Items and Item attributes: weapons, armour, goods.
  2. Coins, if coinMode is 2.
  3. Vendor item lists, then Vendors.
  4. Optional: Recipes, Recipe groups, Crafting stations and Loot nodes under Game Design › Crafting & loot.

Put the starting kit’s items in place before players arrive, or new characters get nothing.

See Items and crafting and Economy.

8. Groups and ranks

Optional. Make factions under Staff › Groups › Groups, their ranks under Group roles, and put people in them under Group members. A group can have its own HUD theme, game system and stipends. group-roleMode decides whether a character holds one role per group or several.

See Groups, ranks and access.

9. Quests and events

Optional, and can come after opening. Quests, NPCs and the story map live under Game Design › Quests & NPCs. Events are planned under Main Menu › Events, with check-in times set by the events-* settings.

See Quests and NPCs and Running events.

10. In-world setup

  1. Make auth keys under Server › Auth Keys.
  2. Rez the Delivery Server and check it on Staff › Sim › Assets & delivery.
  3. Put out the HUD kiosk, doors, containers, crafting tables, nodes, the radar and the ban server.
  4. Check each object under World Building › Objects or on its own page.

See In-world setup and World building.

11. Test with a staff character

Run through what a player will do, on a staff alt or your own avatar:

  1. Wear a fresh HUD from the kiosk. Check the login message shows your message of the day.
  2. Accept the Terms of Service and check both links open.
  3. Make a character. Check the classes, starting stats and starting kit.
  4. Buy from a vendor, craft something, open a door and a container.
  5. Run a short test fight with an NPC. See Running a fight.
  6. Level up once, if levelling is on, and check there are stats to spend the points on.

Check: If Home says a level-up is available but there’s nothing to spend points on, set which stats can be raised, or stop giving points.

12. Open to players

  1. Run auth keys on Warn only for a few days, then switch key checking On. See In-world setup.
  2. Update hud-motd with your welcome.
  3. Optional: send alerts to your Discord under Server › Discord.
  4. Show your team Server › Panic buttons: Pause the economy and Turn the server off.
  5. Share the player guides, starting with Wear the HUD.

Tip: After opening, watch Logs for the first week, then tune prices, drop chances and rewards.