Using Devices

The panel

/evdevices opens the devices panel for admins and helpers; /evdevices 12 opens device 12. The panel lists every device with filters, shows them on a map, and holds the pages for player items, apps, signal and activity. Every change is written to Activity.

Placing a device

Place a device (or Move on a device) hides the panel and starts a free camera. You move, turn and raise the device at the same time; Enter or a click places it where it is, Esc stops.

Placing is refused with no surface for a laptop or computer, a slope over 25 degrees, too close to another device or too far away. A slight slope, no table edge or floor in front, or no room in front of a terminal only gives a note.

Using a device

Players walk up and press Use. The player walks to the stand spot, the camera moves in front of the glass and the page is drawn flat over it. Escape, Leave, or holding Escape on a laptop or computer leaves.

• One user per device. Dying, walking off, another UI, losing access or the device being switched off ends the use with a reason.
• People within Config.general.watchRange see the page in the monitor with the user's pointer. The user's game sends the screen only while someone watches, so a bystander may wait up to half a second for the first picture. Screens cast a soft light in front of them.
• Each player's game learns only the devices of the space they are in (the open world, their routing bucket or the home they are in), and gets the devices of a new space when they move there.

Sleep and night

A screen nobody used for Config.general.display.sleep minutes (3 out of the box, 0 = never) gets darker and its light goes out. It wakes as soon as someone uses it or any player stands at it. Close by, the live screen draws the dimmed picture; further away the model shows a dimmed copy of its picture. During the night hours screens go black instead. A tablet in the hand sleeps the same way and wakes on the next touch.

Sounds

Laptops and computers make a mouse click (a press and a lighter release) and chime for notices; the tablet only chimes for notices. People within a few metres hear the clicks quietly from the device. Volumes are in the panel under Settings, Sound.

Twins

A page on a screen replaces the screen texture of every copy of that model, so devices of one kind within twinRadius get different models (4 laptops, 4 computers, 2 terminals). Past that a device shares a model with a neighbour: its user still sees the page, people nearby see the idle picture while the neighbour is in use. The panel warns about a twin when placing or moving.

The Evolent OS

Laptops and computers run the Evolent OS: a window per app, a taskbar, a launcher and notifications. The tablet opens the same apps full screen. A terminal shows one app page full screen instead.

Built-in apps on laptops and computers:

• Notes: kept on the device for the next user, installed from the Store.
• Files: the notes, pictures and a trash.
• Photos: pictures added by link from the sites an admin allows (off out of the box).
• Settings: sign-in password, sound volume and notice sound, wallpaper, brightness of the own view, sleep and lock after a few minutes, 24-hour clock, the order of day and month, less motion, do not disturb, pop-ups per app, and About.
• Store: install and remove the apps the server allows on the device.

The wallpaper belongs to the device: everyone sees it on the desktop and on the screen while nobody uses it. The owner, players allowed to manage the device and admins change it. Only they also delete notes, empty the trash, remove photos and apps and clear the notifications of the device; everyone else who may use it still writes notes, adds photos and installs apps. The volume and the other personal settings are kept for each player.

A device with a password asks for it on the lock screen; five wrong tries make the player wait a minute.

One app

On the device page of the panel (Apps on it) a laptop or computer can be set to open only one app, a script's app or a built-in one. After the lock screen and the password that app fills the whole screen with no desktop, taskbar or other apps, and closing it leaves the device. People nearby see the same. Scripts set it with spawnDevice({ onlyApp = 'id' }) or setOnlyApp. See One app on a laptop or computer.

Brand and Settings

The bottom of the panel's sidebar has two cards for admins:

• Brand: the colour, the logo, the name of the OS, the wallpaper and the picture idle screens show (the Evolent one or an own picture, for laptops, computers and terminals each). It colours the panel, the Evolent OS, the tablet, the idle and out of service screens and the ground markers. One click takes the colour of evolent_dealership or evolent_garage when they have a saved brand. Apps of other scripts keep their own brand. Reset goes back to Config.brand.
• Settings: every setting in groups (Devices, Using a device, Sound, Screens, Evolent OS, Tablet, Notifications, People nearby, Placing and markers, Signal, Advanced) with a search, a dot on changed rows, Reset per row and Reset everything to config.lua. Values the dialog changes are kept as a difference in the database and reach the server and every player at once. Rows marked so take effect after a restart.

Security (aces, commands, trusted scripts), rate and list limits, item names and all model geometry stay in the files. What admins change in the panel is kept in the evdev_settings table and wins over the files. See Configuration.

Signal

The Map and signal page shows the antennas on a map: own masts placed with the free camera and towers of the map picked from a list (config/towers.lua), each with a radius, a strength and an on switch. It also sets which kinds need signal (laptop and tablet by default; computers and terminals are wired). A fresh server starts with a set of starter antennas (Config.signal.starter).

Bars come from the best antenna: quality = strength x (1 - (distance / radius) squared), 0 to 4 bars at 5, 25, 50 and 75. A home costs homeLoss bars. An app with network = true says "No signal" without bars.

Tablet

Players take the tablet out with the item, admins with /evdtablet. It opens full screen in the player's hands with the same apps as the OS. /evdtablet colour 0..9 sets its colour, /evdtablet close puts it away. The tablet is put away when the player goes down, falls, gets into a vehicle, swims, or gets cuffed.