MLPV2 Tutorial
Setting up MLPV2
Get the scripts
Get MLPV2 (empty) from SLExchange. Cost, L$1. I also recommend the configured example for L$100.
Take a good look at the .readme file.
Install scripts
Either copy its contents into inventory and then into your furniture, or else edit the prim and use it in your bed. Life is easiest if you use the root prim for MLPV2; instructions below for when it's not. For your first try, stick with root prim and keep life simple. (An easy way to add it to an existing bed is to just float it slightly above your mattress and then apply a totally clear texture, available in any freebie depot.)
Click the MLPV2 prim so that it starts up for the first time. If you get a menu, fine; you've already done this.
Install animations
Drag all the anims you'll use into the prim. (You can pull these out of poseballs you like. If the animations are no-copy, this will render the poseballs useless.)
Create and edit your .MENUITEMS.* file
Create a new notecard, named ".MENUITEMS.mystuff", where "mystuff" can be anything you want. MLPV2 can take any number of these, and bed sellers can make different pose sets for different customers. For now we'll make just one, and talk about "pose packs" later. Drop this notecard into the object -- though you might want to do most of the editing first -- objects with lots of things in inventory react slowly to changes, and you might have a lot of animations.
Create a menu:
MENU MyMenu | ALL | PINK | BLUE
This creates a menu whose button in the top menu will be labeled MyMenu. ALL indicates that it will be accessible by everyone (alternatives here are GROUP, only allowing people in the same group as the object, or OWNER, only allowing the owner). After that, list each ball color for the poses in this menu. You can have up to four balls. If you have some solo poses, some couples poses, and some 3some poses, they have to be in different menus.
In this example, a pink and a blue poseball will be rezzed.
For each pose in this menu, add a line like this:
POSE pose1 | anim1 | anim2
where
- pose1 will be the button name for this pose.
- anim1 is the name for the animation for the first poseball (which happens to be pink in our example)
- anim2 is the name for the animation for the second poseball (which happens to be blue in our example)
For facial expressions, you add a suffix to the animation names indicating the expression. Note that you don't change the actual name of the animation in the inventory, you just add the suffix in this configuration notecard. These are explained under MLPV2 Expressions below. For a simple example, appending "*" will give an astonished open-mouth expression.
The following can also be included in your menu:
STOP SWAP BACK TOMENU MyOtherMenu
STOP makes a button labeled STOP that de-rezzes the poseballs and unsits everyone. SWAP makes a button labeled SWAP that exchanges the first two balls. It currently has no effect on any 3rd or 4th ball. BACK makes a button labeled BACK that goes back to the previous menu. TOMENU makes a button labeled MyOtherMenu, which goes to another menu (which you must create).
With MLPV2 (assuming you're using the .MENUITEMS that comes with MLPV2 rather than an old MLP configuration), any MENU that is not found in a previous TOMENU entry is added to an empty slot in the top menu. I'll talk more about this below, under MLPV2 Submenus.
It's a good convention to end each menu with
SWAP STOP BACK
For MLPV2 (again, assuming you're using the .MENUITEMS that comes with MLPV2 rather than an old MLP config), buttons are placed in the menu in the same order they appear in the config notecard.
As we all know, you get at most 12 buttons in an SL menu. However, with MLPV2, you can have more than 12 buttons in a configured MENU. If there are more than 12, MLPV2 will automatically add a MORE--> button after the 11th item, leading to the remaining choices. (And also after the 22nd item, etc.)
However, currently, MLPV2 does not automatically add a BACK button. (Maybe some day it will ...) So, in the meantime, it's best to manually add a BACK button as the 11th button in any menu with more than 11 other buttons.
Menu Reset
Save your changes. (If you're editing a copy in inventory, install it in the MLPV2 prim).
Click the MLPV2 object. If this is the first time since you installed the scripts, it will start up and read the configurations. If you get a menu, select OPTIONS -> ShutDown -> Menu Reset. This button causes it to re-read all .MENUITEMS.* files, including yours.
Watch for warning messages. The most common one is due to an animation being missing or misspelled in the configuration. Fix any mistakes and do another Menu Reset.
Click to get the menu. You should see the button for your new menu; click it. You should see the menu you configured. Click the first pose. You should see the right number and color balls appear. They may be in odd places.
The default pose
The "default pose" is a set of poseball positions and orientations that is used for any new pose, since new poses don't have saved positions yet.
Go to the top menu
Adjusting poses
A new pose will always be an unconfigured one. Unconfigured poses get the "default" pose.