New Truth & Beauty Lab Products 2/2012

The Truth & Beauty Lab (formerly Restless Studio) would like to inform you of some new products that may be useful, interesting, fun, entertaining, or otherwise of value.

Smart Rings and Smart Cuffs - http://bit.ly/y1hNrX

Stylishly textured in gold or silver, this line of single sculpted prim Smart Jewelry from the Truth & Beauty Lab can query Wikipedia, provide answers from Wolfram Alpha, emit a wide variety of particle displays, animate your avatar during particle displays, scan the area for objects and avatars, and target an object or avatar with a particle beam. One advantage of owning a Smart Ring or Smart Cuff is that, since the items are worn as attachments, you can travel anywhere on the grid and your Pandorabot featured ring or cuff is there to command.

Menhir Internationalized Pandorbots - http://bit.ly/ysFh7w

The Menhir Pandorabot is a single prim object shaped and textured as a Menhir ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhir ). Menhir Pandorabots are scripted to include all the features of the Truth & Beauty Lab Pandorabots and the textured single sculpted prim provides a realistic recreation of a Menhir. Preconfigured Menhir language versions are available in English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Polski, and Português. The language configured Menhir will query the Wikipedia in that language, understanding that language chat and responding in that language when possible.

Smart Dance Pole & Smart Tip Jar Combo Pack - http://bit.ly/rMzxle

Automatically login an avatar and have it automatically start pole dancing, chatting, quoting Wikipedia, greeting new arrivals, delivering notecards and landmarks, monitoring and responding to group chat, and more. A super smart pole dance bot! The Truth & Beauty Lab Smart Dance Pole is scripted with the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On and configured for use as a dance pole. It is an artificially intelligent dance pole and integrates with the Smart Tip Jar, accepting tips, triggering a pole dancing bot to undress, emote, change outfits, and interact with your visitors. Using an integrated Smart Dance Pole and Smart Tip Jar allows you to maintain an artificially intelligent pole dancing bot avatar who accepts tips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year round without monthly fees or hourly charges. The Smart Tip Jar can automatically trigger your dance pole bot avatar to undress when a tip threshold is reached and get dressed after a specified duration. NOTE: The Smart Tip Jar splits all tips - 90% going to the owner and 10% going to the Truth & Beauty Lab.

T3-M4 Scanning Follower Droid - http://bit.ly/zj69hQ

The Truth & Beauty Lab T3-M4 Scanning Follower will follow its owner at a configurable offset and can be controlled via a dialog menu interface. Included in its features is the ability to scan the area for objects and avatars then assemble and display a report which includes statistics on the resource consumption of the detected objects and avatars. The T3-M4 Scanning Follower can fire a laser at selected avatars or detected objects/avatars from one of its scans. It also makes cute bot sounds. The boxed product includes preconfigured Scanning Followers - two T3-M4 Astromech Droids. The droids are a realistic reconstruction of the T3-M4 from the Old Republic Star Wars era. The T3-M4 Scanning Follower integrates with the Truth & Beauty Lab Pandorabots so versions of it that chat, query Wikipedia, supply answers from Wolfram Alpha, greet arrivals, etc are also available in the marketplace store. A single prim Eye Candy Scanning Follower is also available for those who prefer to conserve resources and display cool visuals while providing identical functionality as the 39 prim T3-M4 Scanning Follower.

Particle Textures Display Heart - http://bit.ly/y0Fyaa

This single prim sculpted heart rotates, emits particle displays using the particle textures in its contents, and accepts new particle textures allowing you to view your particle displays easily and quickly. The prim cycles through whatever particle textures are in its contents. Clicking the heart prim steps to the next particle texture.

Truth & Beauty Lab Heart Follower - http://bit.ly/y4rPKK

This single prim sculpted heart rotates, follows its owner at a specified offset, changes textures, emits particle displays, and can be used to scan the area for objects and avatars producing a complete detailed report.

Second Life Haiku Generator - http://bit.ly/AjiqZ9

Rez this portrait of Basho, the famous Japanese haiku poet, and click it to get an automatically generated Second Life related haiku. Each time the portrait is clicked a different Second Life related haiku will be generated. The large collection of words and phrases used to construct the haikus is constantly growing and the haikus are generated on a server so you never have to update the inworld object.

The Truth & Beauty Lab Marketplace - http://bit.ly/xaFZ92

Many more new, entertaining, informative, useful, fun, and interesting products are available at the Truth & Beauty Lab Marketplace. Please visit https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/44210 and browse the shop.

Feedback

Do you have suggestions, requests, comments, criticism, kudos, testimonials, funny stories, etc. concerning any of the Truth & Beauty Lab products? Email missyrestless@gmail.com or IM Missy Restless and let me know what you think. I'm always happy to help if I can and many products ideas and improvements have originated with suggestions and requests from clients & casual encounters.

How to Make METAbolt based Pandorabots' Chat Appear to Come from the Alt Avatar

A new option in the METAbolt_Config notecard controls whether a METAbolt based Pandorabot's chat originates from the base prim or the alt avatar bot. Setting USE_LSL_SAY = TRUE in METAbolt_Config causes all chat from the bot to appear as if it is coming from the avatar thereby making it even more difficult for a guest to tell if he or she is chatting with a bot or a real person.

This uses METAbolt's LSL API and therefore only works if the MD5's METAbolt password is specified in the MD5SUM variable in METAbolt_Config. Find the METAbolt password in METAbolt preferences by clicking Application -> Preferences -> Security/L$. Copy the password and chat the following within 20 meters of your METAbolt based Pandorabot:
    /777 password=the-password-string-you-copied
The Pandorabot should then chat the MD5'd password. Copy the MD5 string, edit METAbolt_Config and set MD5SUM=the-md5-string-you-copied.

METAbolt based Pandorabots supporting this feature include:

• Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On
• Smart Dance Pole & Tip Jar Combo Pack
• Smart Dance Pole
• Smart Sex Bot Fur Base

Note, you must have the METAbolt LSL API plugin loaded for this to work. The METAbolt Wiki has instructions on auto-loading the LSL API plugin.

METAbolt Based Pandorabots Updated With Multiple Tip Jar Support

All METAbolt based Pandorabots have been updated to provide support for deployment of multiple Smart Tip Jars. The products updated are:

• Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On
• Smart Dance Pole
• Smart Dance Pole and Tip Jar Combo Pack
• Smart Tip Jar 

The Smart Tip Jar now includes a notecard setting to specify the key of the METAbolt based avatar bot to associate with the tip jar. The Tip_Config notecard in the Smart Tip Jar can be modified to set BOT_KEY. Once a valid key is specified in Tip_Config that tip jar will only trigger outfit changes in the avatar designated by that key. The avatar bot's key can be located in the base prim description field or, with some viewers, in the avatar bot's profile. Connecting the Smart Tip Jar to an individual avatar bot allows multiple tip jars to operate within 20 meters of each other.

If you only deploy a single METAbolt based Pandorbot and a single Smart Tip Jar then there is no need to set the BOT_KEY in Tip_Config.

Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On is not associated with or sponsored by METAbolt (http://www.metabolt.net).

How to Animate Your Actorbot or METAbolt Pandorabot

The Pandorabot Actorbot Add-On and Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On can utilize dance, sit, and stand animations much like an Animation Overrider (AO). To enable this feature, drag animations from the owner's inventory into the base prim. In order for the preconfigured dance, sit, and stand commands to function properly the dances must contain the string “dance” in their name, the sits must contain the string “sit” in their names, and the stands must contain the string “stand” in their name. The strings “dance”, “sit”, and “stand” are case insensitive. To rename an animation in your inventory, right click on the animation and select “Rename”. Alternately, you can simply load your animations in the dance pole without renaming them and ignore the dialog menu otions to specify animation type. Renaming animations according to type is recommended.

Note that any AO the bot is wearing will most often have no effect since the bot is "sitting" on the base prim. In fact, it is recommended that bots detach any AO prior to being deployed as some AO's can interfere with the animations in the base prim.

Many excellent animations are freely available either inworld or on the Second Life Marketplace. Once you have located an AO for your bot, extract the animations from the contents of the AO, rename them if necessary, and drag them to the contents of the base prim. To extract the animations from an AO, drag the AO from your inventory to the ground. Right click on the rezzed AO and select "Edit". Click on the "Contents" tab and drag the animations you wish to use from the edit window to your inventory.

A few Marketplace links to free or inexpensive AO's and dances:

• AO's L$0 - L$10
• Dance Animations L$0 - L$10
• Dance Pole with 17 sexy animations (for the Smart Dance Pole)
• Vista Basic Female AO (2 stands)
• TuTy's Elite Sexy Female AO (9 stands, 4 ground sits)
• Bright AO (lots of male and female animations - excellent AO)
• Restless Dance Ball (my dance ball - several dances, L$75)

Inworld you can find many excellent inexpensive animations for L$10 - L$15 at Kuso Kuso. Note also that you do not have to use animations from an AO. Many standalone animations are suitable for use in the base prim.

How to Start METAbolt Every Time Windows Starts

The PC on which your METAbolt client is running can restart for a variety of reasons. Microsoft frequently installs updates which require a restart. Power interruptions, system crashes, and other temporary failures can cause your computer to reboot. You can easily configure your system to restart METAbolt when this happens thus keeping your bot(s) active and logged into Second Life.

Follow the procedure outlined previously and create a BAT file to start your METAbolt bot(s).

Copy the BAT file(s) to the Windows System Startup Folder:

Start -> All Programs -> Startup on the Start Menu

On Windows 7 this is the folder: 

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Windows 7 does not allow shortcuts in this Startup folder so a copy of your BAT file rather than a shortcut must be created. Earlier versions of Windows will allow a shortcut.

Setup the Smart Tip Jar with the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On

You can easily configure your Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On so that it will operate with the Restless Studio Smart Tip Jar. This can allow your Smart Tip Jar to accept tips, trigger outfit changes, and chat emotes when tipped. Normally the Smart Tip Jar is used in conjunction with the Smart Dance Pole to accept tips and trigger outfit changes of a pole dancer. However, it can also be used in conjunction with the latest Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On.

To configure your Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On to work with the Smart Tip Jar, edit the METAbolt_Config notecard in the add-on's Contents. Set the following variables at the top of the notecard:

DEFAULT_OUTFIT_UUID = some-clothing-folder-uuid
NAKED_OUTFIT_UUID = clothing-folder-uuid-used-when-tipped
TIP_LISTEN = TRUE

Also edit the Tip_Config notecard in the Smart Tip Jar's contents and set the following variables at the top of the notecard:

DANCER_NAME = Bot's Fullname
WILL_STRIP = TRUE

The NAKED_OUTFIT_UUID is the UUID of the clothing folder that will be worn when the tip threshold is reached. The DEFAULT_OUTFIT_UUID is the UUID of the clothing folder worn after the tipped outfit duration is over. Setting WILL_STRIP = TRUE simply means that your bot avatar will change outfits when the tip threshold is reached - that may or may not be a naked outfit, it's up to you.

In addition to the above notecard changes, follow the setup procedure detailed in the Restless Studio Smart Tip Jar Manual.

You can purchase the Restless Studio Smart Tip Jar on the Second Life Marketplace.

Smart Tip Jar Enables Pole Dance Bot to Act as Tipped Stripper

The newly released Restless Studio Smart Tip Jar integrates with the Restless Studio Smart Dance Pole accepting tips, triggering a pole dancing Pandorabot to strip, emote, change outfits, and interact with your visitors. Using an integrated Smart Dance Pole and Smart Tip Jar allows you to maintain an artificially intelligent pole dancing bot avatar who accepts tips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year round without monthly fees or hourly charges. The Smart Tip Jar can automatically trigger your dance pole bot avatar to get naked when a tip threshold is reached and get dressed after a specified duration.

The Smart Tip Jar is designed to be used by a bot logged in via METAbolt and utilizing the Smart Dance Pole but can be used as a normal tip jar as well. The tip jar is a sculpted single prim with a gothic design and glossy glass texture. The tip jar object has No Copy / Modify / Transfer permissions to allow the owner to resize, retexture, configure, and give the Smart Tip Jar as a gift.

Both the Restless Studio Smart Tip Jar and the Restless Studio Smart Dance Pole are available on the Second Life Marketplace as follows:

• Smart Tip Jar - L$295
• Smart Dance Pole - L$395
• Smart Dance Pole & Tip Jar Combo Pack - L$650

The Restless Studio Smart Tip Jar Manual is freely available for download or viewing in PDF format.

Setup a Pole Dance Bot with the Newly Released Smart Dance Pole

I recently modified the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On and integrated it into a dance pole I created. I released this as the Restless Studio Smart Dance Pole, available on the Second Life Marketplace. Using the smart dance pole you can easily setup a pole dance bot.

Setup steps are detailed in the Restless Studio Dance Pole Manual. To setup your Restless Studio Smart Dance Pole for use with a METAbolt avatar:

1. Create a Second Life account with Scripted Agent Status set to bot 
2. Install METAbolt on a Windows computer and enable Auto Sit 
3. Drag the Restless Studio Smart Dance Pole from your inventory to the desired location 
4. Right click the pole and select "Edit"; Click the "Contents" tab of the edit window
5. Edit the Configuration notecard and set FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME 
6. Drag desired animations from your inventory into the dance pole Contents 
7. Set the "Description" field of the dance pole to your dance bot avatar's Key 
8. Place your dance pole bot avatar within 10 meters of the pole 
9. Login your dance pole bot with METAbolt

This allows you to have a dancer on her pole in your club 24/7. Since the smart dance pole is a Pandorabot, it can chat with your guests, query Wikipedia, send email, check spelling, greet new arrivals, deliver notecards and landmarks, and all the other features of a standard Pandorabot. All for L$395.

How to Upgrade Your Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On

There have recently been a number of improvements to both METAbolt and the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On. Support for the recently released METAbolt Group Responder has been added to the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On. This allows your bot to detect trigger phrases in group chat and respond with customized group IM's. Additional security has been added to the METAbolt LSL API and configuration for this security feature has been added to the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On. Also added is support for easily moving your Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On to another SL object (e.g. a drum kit or dance pole). Many improvements have also been made to the Pandorabot scripts.

If you own a Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On and want to freely upgrade to the current version, you can do so by following these steps:

• Copy any changes you have made to configuration notecards
• Copy/Move any items you have added to the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Base Prim (e.g. landmarks, notecards, textures, ...)
• Take the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Base Prim back into your inventory (log your bot out, right click the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Base Prim and select "Take")
• IM Missy Restless (search for "Missy Restless", click on the "Missy Restless" search result, click on "View Full Profile", click "Instant Message")
• Drag and drop the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Base Prim item from your inventory onto the Instant Message window (note, the object will have the name of your bot)

You should receive the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On update as soon as I receive notice of the transfer. When you receive the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On box, rez it, open the box, copy the contents to your inventory, and rez the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Base Prim. You will need to re-do any changes you made to your previous Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Base Prim (use the saved configuration notecards as reference). Note: I may be away from my computer - if you do not hear from me drop me a reminder.

Enjoy!

Moving the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Into Another Object

The Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On base prim is, by default, a box. The box disappears when the METAbolt logged in avatar bot sits on it and reappears when the avatar logs out. What if you want that base prim to remain visible and you want it to be something other than a boring box ? Maybe you want it to be a drum kit for your bot drummer or a bar for your bot bartender. Here's how to do that.

First, get the latest Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On from the Second Life Marketplace or by exchanging your current base prim for the latest. Follow the setup procedure described in the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On Manual but add these two settings to the METAbolt_Config notecard:

INVISIBLE_BASE = FALSE
RESIZE = FALSE

Set TEXT_ENABLED = FALSE in the Configuration notecard.

That's it, you can move the scripts and notecards into any object that has Modify permission. I've even had success moving the scripts into already scripted objects although of course this can be problematic if the existing scripts have channel or other conflicts with the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On scripts.

When moving the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On to another object it may be necessary to adjust the sit target. This is a vector consisting of 3 offsets from the base prim - left/right, forward/back, and up/down. The sit target can be specified in the METAbolt_Config notecard with the TARGET setting. For instance, a sit target for a thin vertical object where you want the avatar at the bottom of the object might be:

TARGET = <0.0,0.0,-0.6>

A drum bot might need a sit target toward the rear of the object:

TARGET = <0.0,-0.5,0.2>

How to Enable the METAbolt LSL API for Outfit Changes

Quick & Easy Summary
To enable Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On dialog menu outfit changes, set your METAbolt preferences to disable LSL command security and autorun the LSL API plugin.

Background
Recently the METAbolt LSL API was moved from the METAbolt core to a plugin. In addition, preferences were added to allow METAbolt users to restrict the LSL API use to the owner and/or a scripted object. These changes, although arguably beneficial for METAbolt architecture and security, broke the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On dialog menu commands for outfit changes.

If you are not using outfit folder changes via the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On dialog menu interface then you do not need to make any changes.

In order to re-enable outfit changes in METAbolt 0.9.51.0 and later you will need to make the following changes to your METAbolt preferences (Application -> Preferences).

Enforcing LSL Command Security
The easiest way to enable dialog menu outfit folder changes is to disable LSL command security. This can be done in the Application -> Preferences -> General -> Security/L$ METAbolt preferences pane by unchecking the "Enforce LSL command security" checkbox. See the section "Enhanced LSL API Security" below for an alternate, more secure, and somewhat difficult way to enable outfit folder changes via the dialog menu.

Loading the METAbolt LSL API Plugin
In addition to disabling LSL command security (or using enhanced LSL API security) you will also need to load the LSL API Plugin. To load the plugin automatically on each startup of METAbolt, go to the Application -> Preferences -> Plugins METAbolt preferences pane. In the "Available plugins" window, click on "MB_LSLAPI" then click the ">" button to add it to "Selected plugins". Click "Apply" and "OK". Alternately, the plugin can be loaded manually by clicking "Plugins -> MB_LSLAPI".

Individual Avatar Preferences
Each avatar you login with METAbolt has their own individual preference settings. The preference settings described above (disable LSL command security and autorun the LSL API plugin) must be done for each avatar. To do so, login as an avatar and make these changes to your preferences. Repeat for each METAbolt avatar you use for which you would like to enable outfit folder changes via the dialog menu.

Enhanced LSL API Security
Additional LSL API security is available with the "Enforce LSL command security" checkbox in the METAbolt preferences via the Application -> Preferences -> General -> Security/L$ checkbox. To enable outfit folder changes via the dialog menu _and_ enforce LSL command security you need to set the Master Avatar and Object UUID's. To find the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On base prim UUID you will need some elementary LSL script skills. Create an LSL script with the default state entry as follows: 

state_entry() { 
        llOwnerSay("Owner UUID is " + (string)llGetOwner());
        llOwnerSay("Object UUID is " + (string)llGetKey()); 
}


Drop the script into the base prim Contents. Copy the base prim owner's UUID to the "Avatar UUID" setting. Copy the object UUID string to the "Object UUID" setting. Delete the script from the base prim Contents. Make sure the "Enforce LSL command security" box is checked then click "Apply" and "OK". Repeat for each avatar for which you wish to enable enhanced LSL API security.

METAbolt LSL API Documentation
METAbolt maintains an excellent website with News, Announcements, Downloads, an Add-On/Plugin Directory, a Community Forum, and the METAwiki which provides extensive documentation & tips. The following METAwiki pages provide information on the LSL API:

• General information on how to use the API
• Using preferences
• Controlling the API security level
• Auto loading the MB_LSLAPI plugin

How to Login Multiple Pandorabots with METAbolt

If you are using METAbolt to login more than one Pandorabot then you may find it convenient to create a DOS batch file allowing you to login multiple bots with a single click. To do so, follow this procedure:

• Exit METAbolt if already logged in
• Start METAbolt - enter your avatar's first and last name
• Enter the password
• Check the "Remember my password" option box
• Check the "Create av BAT file" option box
• Click on the login button

This will create a BAT file with the name of your avatar in the "Roaming" folder. To find the location of your Roaming folder:

• Click on the "Help" menu on the top right hand corner of METAbolt
• Select the "About METAbolt" menu option
• "Data Dir" is the location of your Roaming folder

If your bot's name is Jane Doe then the BAT file will be called Jane_Doe.bat, the INI file will be called Jane_Doe_METAbolt.ini.

Repeat the above procedure for each of the bots you wish to login with METAbolt, creating a BAT file in the Roaming folder for each bot. After this is done you can create a master BAT file for all of your bots as follows:

• Open Notepad from the Windows Start menu
• Copy the contents of each of the BAT files in your Roaming folder into Notepad
• In Notepad click  "File -> Save As" and save the file with an extension of ".bat" (e.g. by the name "Login_All.bat")

For example, a batch file to login two avatars named Anya Ordinary and Easy Islay with METAbolt might look something like: 

@ECHO OFF

START "" /D "C:\Program Files\METAbolt (64 bit)\" "C:\Program Files\METAbolt (64 bit)\metabolt.exe" Anya Ordinary password1

START "" /D "C:\Program Files\METAbolt (64 bit)\" "C:\Program Files\METAbolt (64 bit)\metabolt.exe" Easy Islay password2

You can now create a Desktop shortcut for your METAbolt login master BAT file:

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder where your master BAT file was saved
• Right click on the BAT file and select "Send to -> Desktop"
• An icon for the shortcut to your BAT file will now appear on your desktop

Make sure all METAbolt bots are logged out and click on the newly created desktop icon for your BAT file shortcut. Your bots will all be logged in with METAbolt.

Greeter Disabled By Default

As of 10/10/2011 all Pandorabots available on the Second Life Marketplace have default settings that disable the Greeter. To enable the Greeter in these newly revised Pandorabots:

• Edit the Configuration notecard and set 

     GREET_ENABLED = TRUE

• Edit the Greeter_Config notecard and set one or more of

    GREET_ENABLED = TRUE
     GIVE_LANDMARK = TRUE
     GIVE_NOTECARD = TRUE
     GIVE_NAMED_NOTECARD = TRUE

These changes are also reflected in the updated Pandorabot Actorbot and Pandorabot METAbolt Add-Ons. In addition, support for the Group Responder plugin was added to the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On.

NEW! METAbolt Group Responder Now Supported

A new revision of the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On was released today with support for the METAbolt Group Responder plugin. Now you can configure your Pandorabot to monitor group chat and respond when specified trigger phrases are detected.

This new feature is available in the version 6.0 and later Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On package at https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Pandorabot-METAbolt-Add-On/1793057

There are several add-ons and plugins available for METAbolt. These can be found at http://www.metabolt.net/metawiki/METAbolt_Addins.ashx . Included there you will find the METAbolt Group Responder plugin. Details and installation instructions for the METAbolt Group Responder plugin are available at http://www.metabolt.net/metawiki/METAbolt-Group-Responder.ashx

The Group Responder plugin allows your METAbolt Pandorabot to monitor group chat and respond when group chat contains one or more trigger phrases. To enable this feature first configure your group response settings by editing the METAbolt_Config notecard and setting the GROUP_LISTEN, GROUP_UUID, EXACT_MATCH, TRIGGERS, and RESPONSES variables.

Example Group Responder settings in METAbolt_Config:

GROUP_LISTEN = TRUE
GROUP_UUID = f8e95201-20af-b85f-a682-7ac25ab9fcaf
EXACT_MATCH = FALSE
TRIGGERS = permission to land|permission to takeoff
RESPONSES = cleared for landing on runway 23|cleared for takeoff on runway 11

Once you have configured your group response settings in METAbolt_Config, the Group Responder plugin is installed, and METAbolt is running:

1. Click “Plugins” ? “MB Group Responder” from the METAbolt menu bar
2. Check the "Enable LSL interface" checkbox
3. Click the "Start" button 

In addition to the added support for the METAbolt Group Responder, this new release of the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On has the Greeter disabled by default. To enable the Greeter edit the Configuration notecard and set GREET_ENABLED = TRUE then edit the Greeter_Config notecard and set one or more of:

    GREET_ENABLED = TRUE
    GIVE_LANDMARK = TRUE
    GIVE_NOTECARD = TRUE
    GIVE_NAMED_NOTECARD = TRUE

Text Clients Clothing Layer Problem

Recently several people have reported Second Life clothing display problems when using a text client to login their avatar. Users of both METAbolt and Radegast have seen problems which do not appear when a standard viewer is used (e.g. Viewer 2, Phoenix). I've verified this myself using a jacket layer corset from a Pandorabot owner.

You can read the METAbolt Forum topic discussions here and here.

The problem appears to be in the interaction between the libopenmetaverse library and the SL server code. Further complicating matters is the fact most clothing layers display properly and only a few items have been seen to display incorrectly.

So, what does this mean to you, the Second Life Pandorabot owner ? Well, if you do not use a text client then you have nothing to worry about. If, however, you own an Actorbot or METAbolt Add-On and log an alt in with one of these clients then you may see problems. Currently there is no known workaround and any fix needs to come from either Linden Lab or the Open Metaverse Foundation. All you can do is, after logging your alt in with a text client, login with a standard viewer and check your alt's appearance. If a clothing layer is not displaying properly you will need to replace that clothing item with another.

If you see any display problems with text clients please let me know and I will pass the information along to the appropriate forums. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.

How to Setup a Quiet Model Pandorabot

Recently I assisted a shop owner with the setup of 6 Pandorabot METAbolt Add-Ons to be used as models in her store. Basically, the Pandorabots just needed to login, stand in a pose before a product board, wear the skin/shape/clothing/attachments the shop was selling, and shut the f**k up. If you want to deploy multiple "quiet" Pandorbots, here is how to do so.

First, set NAME_ENABLED = TRUE. This means that the Pandorabot will only respond to chat that includes either her first or last name. Set the first and last names to some strings not commonly used in chat. Also, set the CHANNEL to a non-zero value - the bot will be listening on a private channel and not on local chat. Set AI_ENABLED = FALSE.

Here is an example Pandorabot Configuration notecard for a "quiet" Pandorabot:

FIRST_NAME = Something_Not_Common
LAST_NAME = Also_Not_Common
NAME_ENABLED = TRUE
TEXT_ENABLED = FALSE
RESTRICTED_ACCESS = 1
CHANNEL = 9
GREET_ENABLED = FALSE
AI_ENABLED = FALSE

If you are deploying a Pandorabot as a model you may not want her to act as a greeter, issuing a welcome to new arrivals and delivering notecards and landmarks. To disable the greeter functionality of the Pandorabot, simply delete the Greeter script from the Pandorabot's base prim. You may want to make a copy of the Greeter script before deleting it. Delete the Greeter script in all Pandorabot model's base prims.

If you have multiple Pandorabot METAbolt Add-Ons deployed in the same general vicinity then you need to assign them unique channels. Edit the METAbolt_Config notecard and set the CHANNEL for each Pandorabot to a unique positive integer.

Using the Free EVE Avatar as a Pandorabot

You can use the really cute and well done EVE Avatar as the avatar for your Actorbot or METAbolt Pandorabot. Login to the Second Life Marketplace as the account you use as your Actorbot or METAbolt bot and search for "EVE Avatar". Click on the "EVE Avatar (Free)" link (somebody else copied the original and is selling it for L$100).

Login to Second Life as the account you use for your Actorbot or METAbolt bot, accept delivery of the EVE Avatar, rez the new object from your inventory, unpack and copy it to your inventory. After delivery and unpacking you can simply wear the new EVE folder and your bot should look like the EVE avatar. Logout of Second Life and Log back in using either Actorbot or METAbolt (I'm assuming here that you have already setup your Actorbot or METAbolt as a Pandorabot).

Caution: you cannot use sit and stand animations in the Pandorabot base prim with the EVE avatar as they cause the underlying shape to stick out of the robot attachments.

Now METAbolt Site Is Down

Today the METAbolt site http://metabolt.net went down and continues to be unavailable. Earlier this week the Sine Wave Actorbot site http://sinewaverobots.com was down for several days. Kinda makes you wonder, huh? Is somebody attacking virtual world bot websites ? Probably just coincidence. Or not.

People who access Second Life with METAbolt can still login using the METAbolt client but issuing a command (e.g. change clothing folder) and anything else that uses the website does not work.

I'll comment here, post to the Facebook page, Plurk, and Tweet when metabolt.net is back up.

Sine Wave Actorbot Site Down!

The Sine Wave Actorbot site at http://www.sinewaverobots.com is down and has been down for several days. This means that all Pandorabot Actorbot Add-Ons are unable to login to Second Life. I do not know when or if the Sine Wave Actorbot site will be restored.

All owners of the Pandorabot Actorbot Add-On can exchange their purchased product for a free Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On by IM'ing Missy Restless inworld or  emailing missyrestless@gmail.com and requesting an exchange. The METAbolt Add-On can do almost everything the Actorbot Add-On can do, is lighter weight, frequently updated, and well supported. In fact, even when Sine Wave is up I recommend METAbolt over Actorbot for all uses except those requiring your bot to sit on another prim and return (e.g. sex bot).

Actorbot users who do not own the Pandorabot Actorbot Add-On may wish to switch to METAbolt. The Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On can be purchased on the Second Life Marketplace at https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Pandorabot-METAbolt-Add-On/1793057 for L$395

METAbolt 0.9.49 Released Sep 3

A new version of the METAbolt thin client for Second Life was released September 3, 2011. This version, 0.9.49, provides support for avatar physics and contacts sets as well as several other new features and bug fixes. Owners of the Pandorabot METAbolt Add-On are encouraged to update. If you currently have a previous version of METAbolt installed then all that is necessary to upgrade is to exit METAbolt if it is running then start METAbolt. You will automatically be prompted if you wish to download and install the update.

If you do not have METAbolt currently installed then you can download the current version at http://metabolt.net/downloadbinary.aspx

The new contact sets feature (METAbolt calls it friend groups) is pretty cool. It allows you to specify groups of contacts and is a planned but as yet unreleased feature of Viewer 2 and Phoenix/Firestorm. The avatar physics feature already exists in Viewer 2 and Phoenix. This allows your avatar to "wear" a physics layer that can specify how you want your breasts and rear to bounce.

Inara Pey has a nice review of the new features in METAbolt at http://modemworld.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/metabolt-updates/

The METAbolt Forum announcement for this release describing the features and bugfixes is at http://www.metabolt.net/METAforums/yaf_postst531_METAbolt-V-0-9-49-0-is-on-release---.aspx