iControl Manual

[RestrainedLife Viewer v1.19 or better required for complete functionality]

Version 2.0.2 is now in the store! See iControl Patch Notes for a list of changes. Alas, I haven't had a chance to update this manual yet…

The future of domination technology is here! The Dominatech iControl System is a high-tech alternative to the current crop of collars and cuff sets. It is a comprehensive RestrainedLife control solution, covering a wide range of needs in one integrated package. Components and features include:

• iControl Implant: A HUD representing a chip implanted in the brain of the wearer (sub), putting them firmly under control.
  • Animate: Force the sub into any supplied animation, or add your own.
  • Bind: Apply the restraints to bind the sub and possibly immobilize them (depending on which restraints).
  • Clothing: Undress, detach, lock subs out of their wardrobe, and wear or remove sets from the #RLV folder.
  • Leash: Take the subs leash, or chain them to any object. Leash can go from any worn LockGuard collar/cuff to any person or object!
  • Follow: Force the sub to follow you, another person, or any object (more amusing with moving objects).
  • Confine: Force the sub to stay in a particular place, from a specific spot to a 40m wide area.
  • Sit: Force the sub to sit on a particular object, and/or deny their ability to stand up.
  • Control: Control the sub's movement. Walk them around as easily as you walk yourself!
  • Abilities: Individually allow or deny numerous abilities, such as the ability to teleport, to talk, to hear, or even to see!
  • Release All: Each individual restriction can be disabled from its own menu, but you can easily release all restrictions from here.
  • Timer: Set a timer to keep the sub restrained until it expires, from minutes to days. Only online time counts!
  • Set Key: Set who can release the sub, anyone, anyone but the sub, owners only, or just you.
  • Teleport: Teleport the sub to you, or teleport them anywhere using landmark drag'n'drop! (See “Remote Control” below.)
  • Ownership: Add/remove owners, set “Hardcore” mode where sub has no control of owners and can be bought/sold by others.
  • Lock/Unlock: Prevent the sub from removing the implant, receive IM notification if they cheat.
  • Public/Owner Mode: Allow anyone to control the sub, or restrict access to owners only.
  • RLV Relay: No need to wear an RLV Relay in addition to the implant, that functionality is built-in.
  • iCuffs: Control the features and appearance of the iCollar and iCuffs from menus. (See “iCollar and iCuffs” below.)

• Remote Control: A HUD from which to command the implant, from anywhere on the Grid!
  • Control sub from anywhere on the grid. Just click on the remote to bring up the sub's implant's menu, or click-n-hold to switch subs.
  • Teleport the sub to any location in SL simply and easily! Just drag a landmark from your inventory onto the remote and off they go!
  • Control the sub's speech! Use the gestures including with the remote make the sub /whisper, /say, or /shout whatever you specify.
  • Control the sub's thoughts! Use the /think gesture to put thoughts in their head!

• iCollar and iCuffs: A set of stylish, futuristic restraints; a nice break from the “industrial” look.
  • Set collar and/or cuffs to be always visible, or hidden when not in use.
  • Hidden cuffs appear and activate automatically when bound or when sub “sits” on LockGuard-compatible furniture.
  • Collar/cuffs can use standard chain links, or switch to the forcefield emitters for links of glowing force!
  • iCollar has built-in collapsible yoke.
  • Modifable, but also easily adjustable in appearance from the implant menu. Select a built-in color scheme or adjust colors of parts individually.
  • Use of the iCollar and iCuffs is optional. Most iControl Implant functions work without any cuffs, and the “Bind” and “Leash” functions work with any collar or set of cuffs as long as they are LockGuard-compatible. However, the “yoke” bindings will probably look odd if not using the iCollar.

• iPost: A leash post for use with the iControl System. Since your can leash to any object, this post isn't needed, but it has some nice features:
  • Click the post for a menu of nearby subs, click their names to leash or unleash them. Requires fewer clicks than using the implant menus.
  • When using the iCuffs:Colors commands to change the color scheme of a sub's cuffs, if they are chained to an iPost, the colors of the iPost will also be changed to match the same color scheme.
  • If a sub is in hardcore ownership mode, you can sell them using the post! Just chain them to it, then set the post itself for sale. Your ownership of the sub will transfer to the buyer of the post automatically when they buy it. Chain multiple subs to the same post for a package-deal.
  • Settable hovertext over the post.

It costs a little, it does a lot, and it's the most user-friendly system of its kind in SL. What's not to love? :D

First of all, make sure you're using the RestrainedLife viewer (minimum version 1.19) or a compatible viewer. Go to http://www.erestraint.com/realrestraint/ to get it if you don't already have it. Windows users, just take the two files in the ZIP archive and drop them into your Second Life program folder (read the text file in the archive for better instructions). Mac users, just copy the RestrainedLife app whereever you want it and run it. Linux users… um, you're on your own. I'm geeky but I'm not *that* geeky. ;)

Second, remove any RLV Relay you may be using. The iControl Implant also functions as an RLV Relay, and you should never wear more than one relay. If you are wearing one when you attach the iControl Implant, it will warn you to remove it.

So, wear the iControl System Implant. The implant will attach to your HUD, on the bottom. If you don't immediately see it, you may need to press Esc to hide your chat bar, and if your screen is particularly small, you may also need to hide your toolbar (uncheck View > Toolbar on the SL menus). You don't *need* to be able to see it, but there's a couple reasons why you probably want to. First, you can click on it to bring up the menus, although there are alternate ways to do that (see below). Second, when you're restrained, it lights up yellow or red around the border (yellow if you can release yourself, red if you can't), so it's a nice way to see that status quickly. Third, if some other in-world furniture or device restricts you using the RLV relay, there's a little green LED on the HUD that turns red, and the name of the device appears as hovertext over the LED, which is nice to be able to see. So, if you want to be able to see all this, make sure the implant is visible. Either keep the toolbar off, or turn it off temporarily, then right-click and “Edit” the HUD and move it up higher so that it'll still be visible when you turn the toolbar back on. Depending on your screen size, you may also want to move it left or right to avoid the media controls, “Mouselook” button, etc. By default it's positioned to fall between them on my screen, but your screen may vary and thus require adjustment.

Next, wear the iCollar and iCuffs. Once worn, click the implant, select “Other…”, and select “iCuffs…”. From this menu you can adjust a number of features of the iCuffs, including their appears. When first purchased, they'll be using the “Gold Mine” collar scheme, chain links, collar always shown, and cuffs hidden when not in use, but all that can be changed from here.

Now, you can access the menus by clicking the HUD, and others can by clicking your iCollar or iCuffs, but you might not want to always wear the collar and/or cuffs. If you're using some other collar or cuffs set, or wearing an elaborate outfit that uses all the same attachment points, other people will need some other way to bring up the menus. One way it to just give them a remote (use the Other:Get Remote command, then pass the copy to them), the other is to throw an iControl-menu script in some attachment you are wearing. You will find a box called “iControl-menu Script Box” in with the rest of the system. Rez this box, then open it and copy the script contained inside into your inventory. From there, you can copy it into any attachment you're wearing that you have modify permissions on. I keep a copy of this script in my hair, so people can access my implant simply by clicking on my hair.

When you first attach the implant, you will have no owners. Owners have access to a few commands that other people do not, even when you're in public access mode. You also need at least one owner to operate in the other access mode: owners only. (Don't ask me how to turn off public access mode when you're unowned. Owner-only mode with no owners would mean no one could access the implant. If that's what you want, just detach it!)

Adding someone as an owner will give them access to the commands to Lock and Unlock the implant. When locked, you are not allowed to detach it, and if you manage to detach it anyhow (should be impossible while using Restrained Life, but nothing prevents you from loging in with another client), it will IM all your owners letting them know you did. It will also allow them to set the access mode to “Public Mode”, where anyone can access your menus and restrain you, or “Owner Mode”, where only your owners may do so. So if you only want particular people to be able to play with you, add those people and only those people to your owners list, and have one of them set your access mode to owner-only.

There is also a “Hardcore Ownership” mode. If it is off, only you can enable it. If it is on, only one of your owners can disable it. When in hardcore mode, you cannot add or remove owners from your ownership list, only your owners can. Once in hardcore mode, you will have no control over who owns you, you can find yourself given or sold to someone else without anyone asking your opinion! In hardcore mode, you're not a sub, you're a slave. Make sure that's what you want before enabling it. Finally, note that in hardcore mode, you cannot own yourself. If all your owners are removed (possible since owners can remove themselves), anyone can claim you and take ownership for themselves. Which could form the basis for some interesting “hunting” contests. ;)

New with version 2.0 is the “Casual” mode. In casual mode, you have no owners, but you have a friends list you can restrict access to. You retain control of all settings, even those that would normally be owner-only in standard mode, and changes you make to your friends list do not send messages to other people (unlike in standard mode, where adding or removing owners notifies them and everyone else on the list).

When you first restrain a sub using the iControl System, you get a menu asking who can release the sub. This sets the release key for the current “session”, and remains in force until the sub is released of all restrictions, or until changed using the “Set Key…” command on the “Other…” menu. The options on the release key menu are:

• Anyone: Anyone can release the sub, including the sub.
• Anyone Else: Anyone can release the sub, except for the sub.
• Any Owner: This option only appears for owners, and sets it so only an owner can release the sub.
• Just Me: Only you can release the sub.

The “Just Me” option requires a bit of explanation. It sounds straightforward, and it is, if you own the sub. In that case, “Just Me” means “Just Me” – no one else can release the sub, period. However, if you don't own the sub, “Just Me” can be overriden in a couple of ways. First, even if you set “Just Me”, if you don't own the sub, and someone who does own the sub comes along, they can release the sub. Second, if you don't own the sub, “Just Me” stays in effect only as long as you remain in the same sim as the sub. If you logout or leave the region, the release key downgrades to “Anyone Else”. Only owners can lock a sub up so that they can't be released by anyone else, even in their absence.

Below are more detailed descriptions of the functionality of the iControl System Implant. If you're read this far, you probably already know everything you need to to use the system, but the information below may help you better understand and exploit the full functionality of the system. Knowledge is power, right? :)

This command lists all the non-binding animations in the implant, and lets you activate one, or end the current one with the “End Current” button (always the first button if there's an animation active). By default, the implant comes with 11 non-binding animations built in (and 11 more under the “Bind…” command, see below). You can actually add as many as you like. If you add more, you'll get a ”« Page 2 »” at the end of the first page, and so on. But before you go throwing every last animation you own into the implant, consider the ramifications. The main reason I've narrowed the field to the 11 I felt were best suited for inclusion is because I used to have a collar with a very large number of them, and I absolutely hated it, because I could never find the one I was looking for, or had to page through a bunch of ones I never used to get to it. I highly recommend keeping it down to no more than 22, but, you can do as you wish. I may break the 11 limit on a future version of the implant but I will certainly not go over 22.

If the sub is using AutoZHAO, or any animation override that supports ”/1ao off” from attachments, or LockMeister's “bootoff” command, selecting animations will turn off their AO, and turn it back on when they're released.

This is similar to the Animate command, but whenever a binding animation is activated, it also activates some of the sub's cuffs (assuming the sub is wearing the iCuffs or any other LockGuard-compatible cuffs). For example, activating the “Elbowtie” binding animation will also link the sub's wrist cuffs and upperarm cuffs to each other. Furthermore, certain binding animations will also immobilize the sub, e.g. “Hogtie” will not only link all the sub's cuffs to each other, but will also prevent the sub from moving, although they can turn in place. Finally, some binding animations will cause the collapsible yoke to deploy from the collar, e.g. “Yoke”.

Just like with Animate, you can add more animations to this menu beyond the 11 it comes with. However, to make an animation a binding animation, you must include a notecard with the same name, plus ” data” at the end. This notecard must describe which cuffs are to link to which other cuffs, and can include additional commands to immobilize the sub (“hold”) and deploy the yoke (“yoke”). Take a look at some of the existing notecards for examples, it's pretty straitforward. The parameters of the “link” command take standard LockGuard tags. You may see some non-standard tags in the existing notecards, those commands will only work with the iCollar & iCuffs, which include some non-standard link points. Note that the first “link” command to fail will cause the rest of the notecard to be ignored. This is not a bug, it's a feature. :) It keeps the system from continuing to send non-standard command to standard cuffs, or stop linking at some point if certain cuffs aren't available (e.g. you can have link commands that don't execute if they aren't wearing knee cuffs by having them come after any commands that target the knees). Note however that the command only “fails” if the target doesn't exist, it “succeeds” (but does nothing) if the target exists but the source does not. This feature allows you to make the notecard terminate on failure in some cases but continue in others, which is a good thing (trust me). :)

New in version 2.0, you can struggle when bound in a pose that prevents movement! Your movement keys won't change your position, but they will make you wiggle around a bit. Not too much, though – those chains won't let you move very much!

This menu is where you control the sub's clothing and attachments. From here, you can undress them, remove attachments, add or remove sets of clothing and attachments from their #RLV folder, and lock their wardrobe so they cannot add or remove clothing themselves once they're dressed as you want them. Note that locking the wardrobe denies three abilities: Dress (@addoutit), Undress (@remoutfit), and Inventory (@showinv). These can be individually disabled or reenabled from the “Abilities…” menu.

New in Restrained Life Viewer 1.13, you can have subfolders under the #RLV folder to better organize the contents. The iControl System fully supports this feature, but there's a couple of caveats. In order to know whether to attach a folder or simply present a menu of its contents, it checks to see if the folder contains any subfolders. However, because no-modify items are also in subfolders and shouldn't be considered, it discards any folders it finds that end with ”)”, since no-mod item folders always end with it, e.g, “Buckled ankle boot (left foot)”. It also discards any folder whose name is over 23 characters long. So, make sure any folder you want to appear on the “Wear Set” or “Remove Set” does not end with ”)” and has a relatively short name.

This has the added benefit that you can temporarily hide folders by ending their names with ”(hidden)” or similar. However, those folders will probably still appear on the menus of other devices, just not the iControl System menus. Later releases of the Restrained Life Viewer added hiding of folders starting with a ”.” – this is now the prefered method of hiding folders.

This menu allows you to chain the sub to yourself, to another person, or to any nearby object. Leashing to an object does NOT require a special ring or “post” like some collars – you can of course use any such posts if you have them, but you can chain subs to any other object as well. Leashing to yourself or another avatar does not require one to be holding a handle, but it's visually more appealing if one is. You can get a leash handle from this menu, or use any LockMeister-compatible leash handle if you already have one you prefer. Note, however, that if you're going to be dragging the sub across a region boundry, it's best to use the one provided here, it has a little bit of extra code to help in that situation.

You can also set the “source” of the leash. The default is “collarfrontloop”, but you could, for example, select “leftwrist” and handcuff the sub to an object rather than tie their collar to it. Using the “Source…” command is also a neat way to get a complete list of all the LockGuard-compatible attachments the sub is wearing.

Also from this menu, you can set the length of the chain, and set the wait for return period. The latter is how long the sub is required to wait for your return if you get disconnected or teleport away while you're holding their leash. Until that period expires, they cannot move more than the chain length away from your last location, so they should still be there when you get back (or until you send them a TP lure).

IMPORTANT: If you disconnect while holding a sub's leash, it is assumed to be an accidental disconnect and the “Wait…” period will start counting down, and the sub will be released completely of all restrictions when the countdown ends, not just the leash restriction. If you want the sub to remain restrained after you logout, just no longer leashed to you, let go of the leash before you logout.

Finally, you can get an iPost from this menu. See the overview above for why you might want one, even though the iControl System doesn't require special posts or leash rings but can instead leash to any object (including any existing posts you might already have).

This menu allows you to force the sub to follow you, another avatar, or an object (more amusing if it's a moving object). It's pretty much just like leashing, but without the leash. Forcing the sub to follow another avatar can be quite amusing, since there's no visual indication that the sub is being forced in any way (unlike when leashed to another avatar). For all anyone else can tell, the sub is following of their own free will.

This menu allows you to confine a sub to their current location. It's pretty much like chaining them to an object, but without the chains… or the object. :) Their current location becomes the center of their confinement zone, and you can set a radius for the zone. While confined, they simply cannot leave the zone. Note the radius can be set to zero to keep them at one spot, or up to 20m, giving them a 40m wide area they can move freely inside, but cannot leave. In a sense, it's like an invisible cage that only exists for the sub. Forced mime transformation! :D

This menu has the wonderful “Force Sit…” command, that can be used to place the sub on any device around them. You can also lock out their ability to stand up if they're already sitting, or even lock it out before they sit down, so the next time they sit down, they can't get back up. There's also an “Unsit” command force them to stand up if they're currently sitting, but this is currently a bit unreliable (this is a Restrained Life Viewer problem that will hopefully be fixed sometime in the future).

This command allows you to take control of the sub, moving them around to where you want them. You can do this without a Remote Control HUD, but it really helps if you're wearing the remote, since the remote will enable follow-cam, making moving the sub around a heck of a lot easier by switching to the sub's point of view. All the normal movement keys should work pretty much as normal except for three things: (1) there's no running, (2) you can jump to any height by holding down the E or PgUp key as long as you want to continue going up, and (3) you cannot crouch, instead, the C or PgDn key is used to end control (think of it as the “Cancel Control” key).

This menu gives you fine-grained control over Restrained Life features. Most of the commands above set or unset groups of abilities (e.g. “Confine” turns off all three teleport abilities, as well as far sit); you can come here to reenable some, or disable others. There are 22 individual abilities you can toggle on/off from here. Most are self-explanatory, and if there's one you don't understand, toggle it – when you toggle it, it gives a more complete description of just what ability you've turned off or on. If it's not what you wanted, switch it back.

One of the abilities listed here is not a Restrained Life ability but a feature of the iControl Implant: “See”. Denying this ability turns off the sub's eyes, it literally blinds them until you allow them to see again. Essentially, a blindfold, but without the actual blindfold. So much more discrete to simply intercept the visual signal within the sub's brain. With the Restrained Life features to turn of the ability to speak and hear, it seems logical to put control over the ability to see here as well, even if it isn't a Restrained Life feature.

New with version 2.0, you can also add exceptions for some restrictions, for example, to allow the sub to still receive IMs from you, just not from anyone else.

This command only appears while the sub is currently restricted in some way, otherwise the button will be blank. When the sub is restrained, chained to an object, forced to sit on something, or whatever else, you could go into each individual section and turn off each restriction individually, but often you just want to release them from everything – this command does that without all that menu hunting.

This command also only appears while the sub is restricted in some way. It does the same thing as “Release All”, but only after a specified time period has elapsed. You can set any time interval from 1 minute to until doomsday (if you hit ”+4 hours” enough times – don't ask me precisely how many times is required to reach doomsday). If a timer is running, you can check in here to see what it's set for, and how much time has already elapsed. (The sub sees the timer as hovertext over the implant HUD attachment.) Don't forget to hit “Start” to start the timer! If there is a timer running, you can stop it from here, aborting the timer without releasing the sub.

This menu has a few more commands and settings you're less likely to use or fiddle with frequently, and thus don't deserve main menu spots:

When you first restrain a sub, you're asked for who can release the sub. Sometimes to want to change the release key to something else later on, without releasing and re-restraining the sub. You can do that with this command, assuming you have release permissions (i.e. if you can release the sub, you can also use this command – if you can't, this won't even appear on your menu).

(standard or hardcore modes)

From here, you can add or remove owners, or turn hardcore mode on or off (see “Understanding Ownership” above).

(casual mode only)

From here, you add or remove people from your friends list, or change to a different mode.

If you are an owner of the sub, one of thse two commands will be on your menu. “Lock” will lock the implant, preventing the sub from removing it. If already locked, “Unlock” will unlock the implant, allowing removal. If the sub detaches the implant while locked (possible if using the standard viewer instead of Restrained Life), all owners will be notified by IM.

If you are an owner of the sub, one of these two commands will be on your menu. If the sub is in public access mode, the “Owner Mode” command will be there, allowing you to switch the sub to owner-only mode. If the sub is in over-only mode, the “Public Mode” command will be there instead, allowing you to turn off owner-only mode.

One of these commands will appear if the sub is in public mode or you are an owner. This controls whether the integrated RLV Relay automatically accepts RLV commands from other in-world devices (like bondage furniture), or asks the sub permission first.

This menu has one useful function and one useful command. The useful function is that it lists the sub's current location. Since the remote control works sim-wide, you may be using it on a sub that's not right in front of you, this will help you figure out where in the sim they are. The useful command is “TP To Me”, teleporting the sub to your current location. To teleport the sub anywhere else, you can simply drag a landmark from your inventory and drop it on the remote control.

Note that some parcels in SL use a “landing point” that will redirect the teleport to that location, but many will allow you to TP in anywhere, and of course on your own land you can set this feature any way you like. An interesting oddity – if land is group owned and has a landing point set, group members teleporting in can sometimes be redirected to the landing point, and other times can teleport to any location (it seems to always work on the second attempt – it seems to depend on whether they were already on the same parcel or not, the first attempt fails because they weren't, but the second one succeeds because now they are).

From here, you can control a number of features of the iCuffs if they are worn, such as whether they are always visible, or hidden when not in use. You can also set whether they use standard chain links or sci-fi force-links, cause the stripes to light up, or set the colors of the various parts of the iCuffs. Other than the binding animations that require the yoke to deploy, these are the only commands in the implant that specifically require use of the iCollar and iCuffs rather than any LockGuard-compatible cuffs. If you're using a different cuff set, you can just ignore this menu.

I realize much of the above is a pretty high-level skimming of all the functionality here. A detailed description of each and every menu item would be very long, and make for some pretty boring reading, and be mostly unnecessary anyway – I've tried as hard as possible to make everything as obvious as possible, and easily discoverable if not obvious. Just play with things a bit, and I think you'll find it's all pretty self-explanatory when used. I believe I've noted above everything that you need to know to make sense of what you see. But be sure to let me know if there's anything I've missed! Also, I'm always happy to get feature suggestions. :)

Speaking of which, the implant includes an upgrade system that will allow new features to be added and sent to existing customers. It can even upgrade your scripts *without* resetting your options, owners, etc., a vital feature for hardcore users. So, let me know what you'd like to see!

Any comments or questions, IM Julia Banshee. Thank you for your patronage!