After a several month period of downtime, Canadian Grid is back online, with a new approach, upgraded infrastructure, and a target date of July 1st — Canada Day — for an official reopening.
The grid, now running on a customized build based on the latest OpenSim development code, is taking a cautious approach to expansion, starting with a small set of regions and gradually rolling out new features and updates.
“We decided to remain off of the Hypergrid to protect both assets and people,” said Chris Strachan, founder and developer of Canadian Grid. “We’re doing this again because I feel this is the time when Canadians need our own grid for us and our friends to be proud to call home.”
Custom Code, Familiar Update Cycle
Canadian Grid is taking a page from Second Life’s development strategy. Select regions will receive early access to new features before a wider rollout, with updates scheduled weekly.
“Our rolling cycle will be the same as SecondLife,” said Strachan. “Tuesdays the main regions get the update from the previous Wednesday dev test release.”
Among the new features already implemented is PBR terrain texture rendering in the Warp3DMaptile module, enhancing visual realism on the grid map. Canadian Grid is also collaborating with Misterblu to bring WebRTC functionality online.
The grid is currently running on .NET 8, with plans to migrate to .NET 9 once OpenSim support is stable — hopefully in time for the Canada Day launch.
Economy, Marketplace, and Land Options
Canadian Grid features a custom, modded virtual currency system known as M$. While not yet exchangeable for real-world currency, the team hopes to enable Canadian dollar conversions in the future. The grid does not use Podex or Gloebits.
A custom marketplace website is in development, but for now, Kitely Market deliveries are functioning, and Strachan confirmed he successfully purchased an outfit for himself.
Premium memberships will offer increased land allowances:
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Free: 512 sqm
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Premium: 1024 sqm
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Premium+: 2048 sqm
Free-tier access to mainland parcels is still under discussion, but region rentals will not require a subscription.
Land pricing is straightforward:
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$15 per region of 30,000 prims
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No setup fees or tariffs
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Discounts packages are also available
“Carbon Tax will not be included either,” joked Strachan.
A Fresh Start — Not to Be Confused with GCG
Strachan emphasized that Canadian Grid is not affiliated with the Great Canadian Grid, or GCG, which is owned by a different Canadian.
”I’m actually the one who helped Roddie get GCG going properly before Terry Ford took over,” Strachan said.
The grid’s infrastructure is hosted by OVH in Montreal, with one dedicated server already online.
“We plan to get another one with more hard drive space very soon and will be moving our Robust server to it,” said Strachan.
Canadian Grid currently has nine public regions and one private, with plans for a mainland and residential community underway.
Our earlier closure was due to some technical issues on my end, said Strachan. “This time I will develop and test locally before submitting the code changes to the server.”
