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After the shopping guide for Roth2 v2 (https://opensimworld.com/post/77385), here comes the one for Ruth2 v4. Quite a few things are different, so she deserves her own guide for those who don't know which boxes to take with them.

Again, this starts with the bodies, for Ruth2 v4 comes not in two, but in three variants: "BoM" (red), "0.8.2.1" (blue) and "Business" (green).

The "BoM" body is the regular one. It's fully featured with BoM and Bento and what-have-you and fully scripted. And it comes with a HUD that lets you control a number of things: You have an alpha HUD (useless because it has only got seven areas and not dozens upon dozens, but who needs an alpha HUD if you can wear alpha layers), you can tint fingernails and toenails (works much better with universals), you can control your finger and foot positions (not really necessary for the feet, I'll come back to this), and you have some control over BoM including being able to turn it off for the body or the eyes altogether by selecting a built-in skin or built-in eye textures.

The "0.8.2.1" body is the same as the "BoM" body in shape, but reduced in scripted functionality. It doesn't have a HUD, so all functionality that requires the HUD is missing. The body still has BoM, but it's permanently on. "BoM" and "Business" are only guaranteed to work from OpenSim 0.9.1.0 on whereas the "0.8.2.1" body is said to work with OpenSim versions all the way back to 0.8.2.1.

The "Business" body comes with basically all the same capabilities as the "BoM" body, but it's more geared to be SFW. This starts with the mesh itself which is different in two places: The "Business" body doesn't have nipples. Besides, the choice of skins on the HUD is different and smaller, again, in order to be SFW. That said, the "BoM" and "Business" HUDs are compatible with both bodies, so if you use both bodies, you technically only need one HUD.

If you're serious with Ruth2 v4, I suggest you get all three boxes. The "Business" body can be useful if you're wearing layer clothes, and you don't want your nipples to poke through them (e.g. most bras). Also, keep the "0.8.2.1" body as a fallback for grids with older OpenSim versions.

Otherwise, the box contents are similar. You'll get a lot of mesh parts, though, because Ruth2 v4 is much more "modular" than Roth2 v2. So first of all, there's the body itself including Bento hands and a Bento head, but with no feet. The feet come separately, and they come in three positions (flat, 5cm/2" heels, 10cm/4" heels) so you can use outfits to change your foot position.

Both fingernails and toenails are separate, too. The toenails are separate not only because they have to match the feet, but also because they aren't affected by what BoM does to the feet, and you have to take them off under socks and stockings or if you alpha the feet out. The fingernails are separate because they come in five shapes.

Furthermore, you get a shape, you get BoM-capable eyeballs, you get eyelashes, and with the exception of the "0.8.2.1" box, you get the dark version of the unisex Biker Hair, you also get the HUD. Some classic items are in all boxes, too, namely a bald hairbase, one set of eyes, one skin and one set of dark grey underwear with editable shape. Like with Roth2 v2, the "0.8.2.1" box comes with Ferd Frederix' elf ears.

Otherwise, these can only be found in the Extras box. I strongly recommend you to take this one with you because it's much more essential than the one for Roth2 v2. First of all, it contains both the "BoM" and the "Business" body (saves you getting the "Business" box), both bodies without heads, the head, the head with a neck extension and the hands. Feet are only available in the body boxes.

As for accessories, these start with what really makes the Extras box so quintessential, namely two sets of "shoes" that adjust the height of the entire avatar for wearing heels. So wheras Athena 6 requires you to open the HUD, switch your feet to tip-toes, then edit your shape and raise your entire avatar that way, Ruth2 v4 makes the same possible by replacing the feet and the toenails (no HUD needed) and putting on the corresponding "shoes" (no editing the shape needed). This can be reversed just as easily, and it can be saved with outfits.

But wait, there's even more: The Biker Hair comes in two colours, and there are hairbase tattoos in four colours (unfortunately not in black). There's an alternative shape for realistic body heights. In addition to four alpha layers which are the most useful when BoM is off, there are three that can be quite useful on the mesh body itself when BoM is on, reducing compatibility issues that may arise from the change in shape between Ruth 2.0 RC#3 and Ruth2 v4. Granted, all three could have covered more skin, but the nipples alpha layer may save you from switching to the "Business" body when your nipples clip through your mesh clothes.

Last but not least, you get two universals for painting fingernails and toenails with BoM (another advantage of Ruth2 v4 over Athena 6), a set of white and therefore tintable underwear by Linda Kellie (I suggest you go get the full set from your nearest LK layer clothing provider, though) and of course Ferd Frederix' elf ears.

The Ruth2 v4 Skins box goes even further than that for Roth2 v2, and all without containing sub-boxes that need to be unpacked. There are various skins by various makers, all coming with their corresponding textures right away. Three of them were carried over from Ruth2 v3, formerly known as Ruth 2.0 RC#3. Unfortunately, some textures for Linda Kellie skins are missing.

The Resources box is not nearly as important, but it can get interesting because it contains a few exclusive things again. Next to the textures the various layer items were made from, there are three textures for eyelashes. These allow you to change the density of the eyelashes from the body boxes by replacing the texture.

It also contains a number of boxes again. Unlike the Roth2 v2 Resources box, it doesn't contain any skins, but there's one box with little textures with skin tones. Another one contains Ada Radius' eye textures which you can select on the HUD, but as wearable classic eyes. The third one slightly expands upon the dark grey underwear again. The fourth one contains the box art.

The Mesh Uploads box is completely useless for end users again. Containing the raw meshes of all Ruth2 v4 mesh parts, it's rather meant for creative people.

Just like Roth2 v2, I also recommend you to look for third-party accessories. Those made for Ruth 2.0 RC#3 or older are generally useless for Ruth2 v4 with the exception of the Physics box. You may need physics anyway because Ruth2 v4 doesn't even offer these in the Extras box. And as for skins, some shops that offer at least a good chunk of the Ruth2 v4 boxes now also have my Starlight Remix skins if you happen to find these to your liking. (But I'm not here to plug my stuff...)

It's always worth looking around older sims that still offer stuff for the system body. Unlike most other mesh bodies including the entire Athena family, Ruth2 v4 was designed in such a way that she can use old system skins with no problems, i.e. the "duck feet" features of classic skins such as drawn-on toe gaps and toenails are completely left out by Ruth2 v4, as are drawn-on fingernails.

Next to early mesh clothes which don't necessarily work worse on Ruth2 v4 than Athena clothes (there are no mesh clothes specifically for Ruth2 v4 yet), it's also worth looking for layer clothes because female avatars are more likely to wear skin-tight clothes in plain sight than male avatars. This ranges from underwear and lingerie to hosiery to swimwear to some sportswear to leggings. And let's not forget make-up tattoos.

Some places worth visiting are:
Deva Moda at Klamotto (https://opensimworld.com/hop/78282; here you can get just about everything including make-up and mesh clothes, but be warned, this place isn't BoM-friendly yet)
Astralia ShoppingCity (https://opensimworld.com/hop/85405; here you can get even more of everything, especially exclusive content by Cloe Kegel)
Shinobar Annex (https://opensimworld.com/hop/82007; some of the items offered there work really great on Ruth2 v4, and the lingerie box is an essential)
Zoe's Mall at Oceanid (https://opensimworld.com/hop/80390; check the Body Shop for lingerie/hosiery items that you haven't gotten from Shinobar Annex yet)
Coney Island (https://opensimworld.com/hop/74920; go here for exclusive beachwear and various unusual "tattoos" such as body oil)
La Tortuga (https://opensimworld.com/hop/76639; the enormous choice of skins, hair and underwear makes this place worth waiting for as it starts up, and you can pick up some Linda Kellie layer clothes when you're already there, especially the swimwear)

If you're still looking for the body itself and the additional grey boxes, the number of sims which offer them is slowly but steadily increasing. One would be:
Uzuri (https://opensimworld.com/hop/86638)