Syncshells
Syncshells: The best way to experience venues or handle friend groups/FCs.
What are syncshells?
Syncshells are a way to mass pair with people without having to exchange codes with everyone. They're intended for friend groups, but have found use at venues and FCs as well.
Joining a syncshell
To join a syncshell, open the main window and press onto the Syncshells tab.
Similarly to adding a player, paste the name of the shell - whether it's a Snowcode or a vanity ID - and press the plus button. A disclaimer will show - read it, then put in the shell password. If it's correct, and the shell isn't full, you'll be joined.
If you don't want to be in a shell any more, or you've left the event it's for, it's recommended to leave the shell.
Syncshell Chat
Snowcloak offers secure and encrypted chat on syncshells. This is useful for if, as an example, you all hang out on Balmung, but your main characters are on different datacenters and can't travel. This also provides a convenient way for venues and larger friend groups to bypass the CWLS/LS size caps.
In the syncshell window, syncshells have a number in square brackets next to them. This is your client's internal ID for that syncshell.
Syncshells IDs can be re-ordered or reset in the settings menu, on the chat tab.
To chat in a syncshell's chat, use the chat command /ssX, where X is the ID of the syncshell - for example, if a syncshell has
the ID 3 for you, the chat command /ss3 Hello! will send a message to that chat.
The settings menu allows you to disable or enable chat for a syncshell as needed, in the Chat tab. Public syncshells have chat disabled by default.
Public Syncshells
Each datacenter region has official, sanctioned public syncshells. To join one of these, open the Snowcloak main window, and navigate to the syncshell tab. Click the button at the bottom of the window.
If you get an error, the syncshell is likely full. Each shell is capped by what we think we can reasonably allow to not interfere with the service as a whole. The cap is automatically raised as we get more servers through the Patreon donations.
This feature requires your account to use XIVAuth authentication for safety reasons.
Creating a syncshell
To create a syncshell, hit the plus button without entering a name. Read the disclaimer, then agree. You now have a syncshell!
To change the password, find your syncshell in the list - it'll have a crown icon - and open the hamburger menu (the button with three lines). Open the admin panel, and change the password.
Auto-joinable housing syncshells
Housing shells are intended for use by venues, FCs, or anyone who just hosts little hangouts. Colloquially, we call these venue shells as they were designed with them in mind.
A venue shell allows people dropping by to automatically join your syncshell, and automatically leave it upon being away from the grounds for a couple of minutes.
Upon stepping onto the grounds of a housing plot with a registered venue syncshell, they'll be greeted with a window similar to the one below.
The venue shown in the screenshot - along with any and all other venues, FCs, and hangout spots using the feature - is not endorsed or vetted by Snowcloak staff. Anything you choose to put in your plot description is considered public information, and will be viewable by anyone who steps foot on your grounds.
As a visitor, you can join a housing plot's syncshell by simply setting foot on the grounds, and confirming you'd like to join the syncshell. If you leave the grounds for more than a couple of minutes, you'll automatically be removed from the syncshell.
To register a housing plot syncshell, you first need to create a normal syncshell, as outlined above. You also need to meet one of the two following criteria:
- Be the owner of the house if it's an individual plot; OR
- Be a member of the FC that owns the plot if it's a free company plot.
At present, there is not a convenient way to retrieve, in-game, the "rank" of someone in an FC. This means that anyone in the FC can register a syncshell for an FC plot, rather than being restricted to officers. Ways to work around this are being looked into.
If one of these conditions is true, stand on the grounds of your housing plot, and in chat type the command /venue. You'll be asked
to open the placard to verify your ownership. Note that entering another plot, teleporting, or logging out will cancel the process.
After a couple of seconds, Snowcloak will read the placard and verify ownership. If ownership is confirmed, you'll recieve a popup where you can enter your plot's details, including a description, name, ownership details, linking to a website or carrd, etc. Clicking save registers the plot formally.
If you later wish to edit the information saved in the plot's profile, simply stand on the grounds and run /venue again - the
window will show up pre-filled with the existing information, and saving it again will update it.
The description field of the venue window uses BBCode. A tutorial on this can be found in another section.