Vital Requirements

This is a list of the problems I am able to anticipate. The VRML viewers behave very differently, so it is very hard to give general directions. Some viewers ignore errors and displays what they are able to make of the rest, while others display nothing, if a single comma is missing.

Get a viewer
If your browser prompts you to save the ".wrl"-files, you probably need to get hold of a viewer like VRwave (Linux/ELF, SGI, Sun/Solaris, HPUX, DECAlpha), or CosmoPlayer (PC, Mac, SGI). Check your installation with VRML Browser Detector at NIST
Configure browser
If you just installed a viewer, and made changes to .mailcap, and / or .mime.types, Netscape (3x) will have to be notified, by selecting Options->General Preferences, and then OK.
Other products might require a reboot. :-}
Garbled text
If you just get garbled text in the browser window, (except for the uncompressed mailbox), your browser may need a definition of the MIME type x-world/x-vrml, and / or a corresponding helper-application or plug-in. You have to consult the installation instructions that came with the viewer.
No valid header
If your viewer fail to decompress the .wrl files, you may need a gzip program for your machine. (Mac users should look at MacGzip)
A very likely symptom is your viewer complaining about "No Valid Header". As a test case, I leave the mailbox (4.5kB) uncompressed. The source of the other models can be viewed with gzip -dc filename | less.
Blank viewer
Nothing shows up ? It seems like some viewers turn off the headlight, if the scene contains lightsources. I do try to turn it on, but the viewer may ignore the NavigationInfo node containing the headlight state.
Interaction
No movement ? It could be the viewer has interaction turned off.
Mailbox

Continue

Casper Maarbjerg
Feedback welcome.