Some more notable changes from v7beta to v7.0
Numerous fixes have taken place and bugs have been fixed since the v7 beta(c) release, many thanks to everyone that helped test and sent in notecards. Tons of small things and script optimizations are not listed here but some of the more noticeable changes for v7 beta users are:
If updating your previous v7beta(c) vehicle to v7.0, your installed lights, doors, graphics, particles, accessories and the TurnSystem prim positions will continue to operate. The beta(c) scripts you would need to keep in place are TurnSystem and Accessories, as those store position data in memory which would be lost if replaced. You can update the LightSystem, ColorSystem and graphics scripts as their assignments are not stored in script memory. (You would need to re-enter Color/Shine group names). Updating ColorSystem is necessary to use the new Fixtures (v7.0) groups if you had recorded Fixtures (hide/show) previously, as you need to re-record those using the new format.
If recording new data you should use the v7.0 scripts.
Brake light color is now customizable in the Root Settings.
TurnWhileStopped engine behavior
TurnWhileStopped set to FALSE behavior now works more like one would expect when disabling the v7 style power on turns from a complete stop.
Fixtures
Fixtures aka "Hide/Show" system now has up to eight separate prim face sets (Hide/Show groups) to assign and now requires the ColorSystem script instead of the LightSystem script to record and use Fixtures.
Your existing Fixtures (Hide/Show) prims on builds using the v7beta will need re-assigning.
You can also name each fixtures group for identification from the fixtures menu. Group names for fixtures, as with the group names for color and shine, unlike the actual group assignments stored in the prim itself, are stored in script memory and will need re-naming when you update your ColorSystem script to v7.0.
Fixtures menu is under the Miscellaneous menu on the mechanic HUD.
If only one single group in a linkset is recorded for Fixtures, the Fixtures button from the vehicle menu (or Driver HUD) will toggle that single group. If there is more than one fixtures group, then a menu will be presented offering the choice. You can name these groups with the Mechanic HUD and those group names will show on the multiple fixtures choice menu, as they do with multiple color or shine groups.
The ON group for each fixtures is the equivalent to the v6 and earlier named Hide part of the Hide/Show system. You must record at least a prim face or faces to the ON group to ativate that fixtures group. Recording an OFF group is optional, and any recorded OFF group prims will not be selectable via the menu without a recorded ON group for that group number.
You can clear all ON and OFF groups at once from the main Fixtures menu on the Mechanic HUD.
Once you have recorded a Fixtures group, if you have also recorded an OFF group you will need to toggle it once through the vehicle menu to get either the ON or OFF prims to be hidden for that group.
Fixtures transparency levels For prim faces activated by fixtures that need a transparency level set when displayed, such as a windshield prim, there is a new method of storing the transparency for recall by the fixtures function. You will be manually adding a command to the prim name field that specifies a prim face and the transparency level. (Sculpted prims have only one prim face, 0).
The command starts with .pf followed by the prim face number (0-7) and a transparency level between 1-99.
So this example command: .pf350 added to the prim name field would display prim face three at 50% transparency when activated by fixtures (either the OFF or ON groups). .pf075 would set prim face 0 to 75% transparency. You can stack multiple commands for multiple faces. If your texture has transparency built in at the texture level, then you will not need to use this. Also make sure you add these only to the prim name field, not the prim description field which is fully used by the ACS for other data storage.
Page Down key will now start the vehicle when it is parked with engine off, as well as the forward+backward arrow combo used in earlier ACS versions.
ColorSystem
ColorSystem groups for color and shine groups have not changed, and your existing color and shine groups encoded into prims on a build using the v7 beta will work correctly. You can store up to 128 custom colors in the ColorSystem notecard.
If only a single color and/or shine group is recorded on the vehicle, the vehicle menu now will skip right to the selection for that group after choosing Color or Shine.
Also a new Color Picker element has been added to the Driver HUD. Touching a color on the displayed gradient texture will send that color to the currently selected Color Group as long as the color select menu is open on the vehicle. (The menu page that displays the actual color names) To use, open the Color Picker element on the Driver HUD, then go to the color select menu on the vehicle under Options, Graphics, Color. (If more than one color group is assigned you will need to select the specific color group). If the Driver HUD is connected, you can now simply touch the Color Picker element on the Driver HUD and that color (and tint from the grayscale bar) will be transferred to the vehicle.
If you prefer to create your own color selection system or use a different color picker prim on your custom HUD, it just needs to send a color vector the HUD root script on link channel 100. If a color group menu is open on the vehicle, the color will be applied to that group.
ACS v6-v7 Linkset Conversion Tool
Before upgrading an existing v5/v6 vehicle to v7.0, you can drop the ACS v6-v7 Linkset Conversion Tool script into a v6/v5 linkset to update certain older prim keywords to the new v7 prim tracking system. The script removes itself when finished.
What this script does is update certain older prim keywords to the new multi-face system automatically. The old keywords color1, color2, shine1, shine2, light, and panel are updated.
v7beta included this functionality built in, but the linkset update code was using needed space.
Note that the beta updated the hold hide/show groups but as the Hide/Show fixtures group has changed since the beta, you will need to manually re-record you hide/show groups using the Fixtures system.
45 degree align for all engines/mods
The 45-degree align in the v7 Drag Mod beta .45 is working 100% and is now incorporated in all engines/mods.
New HUD stuff:
You can now customize the HUD sounds. Also you can now send data back to the HUD linkset from the vehicle using the existing listen for your own custom purposes, see the bottom of the page at v7.0 Driver HUD
Disable Menu
This new DisableMenu setting in the Root Settings script, when set to TRUE makes it so the ACS menu system does not launch when you touch the vehicle. Your vehicle can have no menu at all. Or you can add your own custom menu script to launch when the vehicle is touched.*
You can then issue any of the Driver HUD/Gesture commands of your choice from your own menu.
*the ACS Menu script should remain in the vehicle to handle other tasks.
How to make your own custom menu for v7 using the API commands
Glow assist in Touch Select for Fixtures, ColorSystem, TurnSystem and LightSystem
It's now much easier to see which prim face groups you are working with using Touch Select as selected prim faces now use a glow effect to indicate their selected status.