Getting Started with Worlds.com

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This will be updated as time goes on.

The Basics
Before we begin, you can install and download worlds from Worlds.net. Just go to the Download page and install.

Starting out
When you first launch Worlds, you'll be greeted with a dialog box asking for you to sign in or register. The registration process is easy and simple, with the majority of the form being optional. Answering these form questions however, will grant you bonus points, which may extend your free trial of VIP for a few more days, which is already around a week upon account creation.

VIP
VIP is the premium of Worlds. VIP allows you to wear 3D avatars and save them, and will also prevent you from accessing certain worlds with VIP only restrictions. While it's not possible to purchase VIP today (yet), you can win some at special events like Poetry and Hide & Seek.

Worlds and Marks
When you log in, you'll appear to be in an open-feeling world. This world is known as GroundZero and is the landing world. It's where most of the players hang out. If you don't see any, it might be because of a strange bug that occurs after signing in. This is normal and they will load when you leave and re-enter the world.

Upon the right sidebar buttons are two important ones for worlds and exploration. Teleport is used for locally installed worlds, which include any you've downloaded through the client downloader. These are official and are not user-made, and can also be found within the Universe Map accessed by a button on the bottom right corner. For user-made worlds, they are hosted on third-party sites that can be accessed via a link to a .world file. Once you have a link to a .world file, you DON'T DOWNLOAD IT. Instead, you will paste that link utilizing the WorldMarks menu. Opening it up and selecting 'Change Location...' will allow you to paste a mark in you want to go to, and you'll be teleported to that world.

If you find any worlds you want to save, you can worldmark them using the menu and go back to them later. They'll appear one after another after the divider on the menu, and you can edit them or delete them as you see fit.

Avatars
Attached to GroundZero is the Avatar Gallery. This world contains pre-made default avatars for you to wear, and they are also the base of other custom made avatars. You can customize these slightly using the Gallery of Metamorphics and Jimblys' Texas, which will allow you to change basic parts and textures.

The avatar code allows you to get more in-depth with your avatar, but is a pain to master since it's essentially just random characters mashed together for anyone who isn't aware of it.

You can save your current avatar if you have VIP by going on the right sidebar and selecting "Save Avatar" under VIP. You can then select your saved avatars from within this menu.

Shaper
Shaper is a built-in tool for Worlds that allows customizing and creating your experience. It allows for easier access to editing the avatar code, the world, and creating new worlds. It's a pain to master, but if you would like to enable it, check out Jimblys' Shaper Guide. You can also check out the official GammaDocs.

Q&A / Troubleshooting
For most of the common misconceptions and rumors of Worlds.com, I've created a blog post answering these as truthfully as possible, with both an English and Spanish version. I would recommend reading through "Common rumors and misconceptions about Worlds.com: Debunked" first before asking questions on it, as this clears up a lot and explains why most of these rumors exist.

Q: What time are the events?
You can find the complete list of events and their time on the "Worlds Event Calendar" thread.

Q: Every time I try and log in, it tells me I am connecting from an invalid IP.
It's recommended to view and read the Worlds Terms of Service as that is a sign you've been booted. Maybe you should take the time you aren't on Worlds to think about your behavior.

Q: How do I download version xxxx?
The 1920 versions are easily available on the official site, but users sometimes prefer the older versions. This can be useful for building a world since the newer versions aren't focused on fixing anything with Shaper for now.

For older versions, Worlio hosts archives of every known and saved version including 1890 and 1900-04. You can download and see them here. I should note that Worlio is not officially endorsed by Worlds.

Q: I can see people in multiple places.
You are most likely seeing "reskins" or recreated worlds. This means you are going to see the same people in these worlds, but they will not be in the same world as you.

For a more technical explanation: Only two things are considered when showing you other users inside a world: The world name (not the url, but the title of the world), and the room you are in. The landing world is for instance "GroundZero#Reception", with the pound-symbol being the separator for World#Room. If someone else is to make a world with the title being "GroundZero", and they were in a room they named as "Reception", they would see the same people, and they would see them. This allows to create custom types of Worlds without not seeing others.

Q: Worlds installed but won't open.
This has been a known problem to happen on some modern systems. The solution is to download cnc-ddraw and place it's contents (ddraw.dll and ini) into the Worlds installed folder, usually found within your "Program Files (x86)" folder on 64-bit systems.

Experimental version 1922a10 on the site already has cnc-ddraw included with it, and should not face this problem.

You should also try running as administrator. The modern 1920+ clients will automatically set their shortcuts to, but older clients will not. You can set your shortcut to always run as administrator by editing it's properties.

Q: When I try to download worlds, it fails.
You should try running as administrator, otherwise the program has no permissions to write to it's own folder.

Q: I am missing textures from worlds.
There are three possible causes to this.

The most common issue is that you are loading a broken world. Considering the .world format and how resources are loaded alongside it, it becomes ever more possible and likely to lose some resources from the world along the way, as over time many worlds bounce from server to server. There are a huge amount of worlds lost or broken after ages. There is however, a current project going on to help restore and fix up the worlds we do have. There might be working links out there too.

The second issue is that the world you are viewing uses default world textures, which are installed to your home folder, otherwise known as your own Worlds folder. This requires the default worlds to download, and you can install them all thanks to Jimblys' Gauntlet. When you get asked to download a world, download it but click "Keep Playing" when it is done. Do this for every world in every room. Once you reach the end (you should exit out of a doorway into a beach area), you can restart your client. It might take awhile for the world unpacking to finish, but once it's done, you should be able to access all the default worlds and see textures you were previously missing in some worlds.

The third issue is that your cache is full or needs cleared. Worlds can't directly load files from across the web, so it needs to download these files and store them somewhere. This is where the 'cachedir' folder comes in. It's possible for the folder to get "full" or broken, and it just needs a good deleting to refresh. It's also possible you could not be able to write to this folder, which would require you to run as admin.

Q: The graphics appear all glitchy.
Worlds appears to have a problem with higher resolution displays. It's recommended to play in a smaller window or lower the resolution of your display. If this doesn't work, it's possible your graphics card just does not play nicely with Worlds. If you know what you are doing, you could try tinkering around with your graphics settings.

Q: How do I run on linux?
I have a nice WINE wrapper for Worlds on my Gitlab, check out "Worlds Linux Wrapper Script", with instructions on how to run it. It should be noted that Worlds is a very strange beast when it comes to running in the first place, so there are multiple factors at play when it comes to running on WINE, which could make it work better or none at all. 1890 does NOT work on WINE and there is no known solution to that yet.

Q: I get a Java Runtime error when trying to launch.
For older versions, make sure you have a 32-bit Java installed. This is required, even if running on a 64-bit machine, because Worlds is 32-bit and utilizes 32-bit code. It will not work with a 64-bit Java. 1920+ should have a bundles JRE with them, and should not require this.

Q: My antivirus is telling me Worlds is a virus.
Worlds is old, and while you should be careful with old software, Worlds is safe if you obtain it from it's official source. Anti-virus software hates it because it's an older software that uses old methods to manage files and interact with the system which are no longer seen as a safe and proper practice. However, nobody has had their hard drive formatted from installing worlds or anything so you can probably ignore it or whitelist Worlds in your antivirus.

Q: I tried registering but I have not received a codeword.
Sometimes Worlds has difficulties with it's services. If you have not received your codeword, you should email support@mail.worlds.com to let them know.
Please be patient! That is the only place you'll get help for your account. Do not bother HOSTs or other users as they can do nothing about it.

Q: I'm having account troubles.
Email support. support@mail.worlds.com

Links and helpful tools
Worlds Site Archives - Pastebin of sites hosted by users for worlds and other stuff.
Worlds Chat Fandom Wiki - A Fandom Wiki created for Worlds.
Worlds Organizer - A tool for organizing and fixing up your WorldMarks and Avatars.

Feel free to let me know if there are any more.

I hope you enjoyed Worlds.com. Have fun and happy exploring!