To begin, you'll first need to upload Nova's files to your server. This can be done through an FTP client (recommended) or through your host's web-based server management software like cPanel or something similar. If you're not sure how to connect to the server and upload files, contact your web host for help.
Installing Nova
To get started installing Nova, open your browser and navigate to your site. Nova should detect that it isn't installed and redirect you into the Setup Center.
Check that Nova can run on your server
The first step of the install process is to verify that your server meets all of the requirements to run Nova 3. If there's anything that does not pass, you'll be shown that information on the first screen of the setup process. If there are any failing checks, you'll need to work with your host to make the necessary changes and try again.
Connect to your database
Nova comes with a web-based tool to setup your database connection. You'll be prompted to enter some information you should have received from your web host when setting up your account. Nova will use the credentials you provide to test the connection, and if successful, create the necessary configuration values for you.
If for some reason your server doesn't support creating files from a web script, the setup process will show you instructions on how to get the database credentials into the right place.
Explaining the Options
- Username - The username used to connect to your database. This may or may not be the same as your FTP username, so if you don't know, contact your host.
- Password - The password used to connect to your database. This may or may not be the same as your FTP password, so if you don't know, contact your host.
- Database name - The name of the database you're trying to connect to and install Nova into. If you don't know the name of your database, contact your host.
- Database table prefix - This is the word or initials that will prefix all table names. This helps to keep Nova's tables together and allows you to install other things in to the database without causing conflicts. If you are not planning to install anything else in the database, you can leave this blank.
-
Database host - This is where the database lives. 99% of the time, this will be
localhostthough if your host has a different setup, they may have sent you a different host name or an IP address to use. If you aren't sure about this, contact your host. -
Database port - This is the port the database connects through. This will almost always be
3306, but check with your host to ensure they don't have a different setup. - Database socket - This will most often be blank, but if your host requires a socket, you can provide that value here.
Install Nova
Once you've finished connecting to your database, you'll be able to start by doing a fresh install of Nova 3 after entering the name of your game and selecting the genre that you want installed.
Tip
During the alpha and beta phases of Nova 3's development and testing, there will be an option for inserting demo data as part of the install process. This is a way to put some dummy data into Nova to help with playing around with it without needing to populate a bunch of information. If you choose to use demo data, you won't be prompted to create a user account and you'll log in to Nova using the email address admin@admin.com and the password secret.
At this point, you can either choose to continue with a fresh install or migrate your existing Nova 2 data. If you want to migrate from Nova 2, you should follow the Nova 2 migration guide. If you are installing Nova 3 fresh, there's one more step.
Setup your account
The final step of installing Nova is to create your user account. Once you have entered your user account details, your account will be created, access roles will be assigned, and you will be signed in to Nova.
Congrats! You've installed Nova 3 and are on your way.