It shouldn't take 8 battery cycles. You can full evolve PM2 from Newborn to Juvenile in less (around 3 or 4 batteries in my experience).
More details:
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The old 1.1 personality has a short birthing cycle. Goes from newborn (barely moving) to full evolved Juvenile in usually less than a battery cycle.
The PM2 personality adds an inbetween birthing stage. It moves slowly and slowly explores in this stage.
Your PM2 Pleo needs
90 minutes of exploration time in this stage until it becomes the much more active Juvenile.
Caveats/Advice:
It is important that Pleo shuts down properly so that the exploration time is recorded.
If you pull out the battery or turn off the power switch too soon, it may not record the time you've spent.
Keep the Pleo alive and moving around. Wait until the battery drains down and Pleo PM2 shuts down on its own. That way it will record the time spent.
Another issue with the old software is they can corrupt the properties. The old version does not keep a backup like the Pleo RB.
If the properties get corrupted (by not saving properly on power down, or if you pull the battery or turn off the power at the wrong time), Pleo PM2 will restart from newborn (and you get to start the process all over ;-< )
ADDITIONAL: the 'statsRB' program (version 1.1) now supports the PM2 personality.
http://www.aibohack.com/pleorb/statsrb.htmUse it to track the progress as your Pleo PM2 grows up. It will tell you how much more explore time your Pleo PM2 needs.
If the numbers aren't changing, you may be powering down your Pleo improperly.
Also if your Pleo PM2 was moving well and all of a sudden becomes very lethargic, you can use 'statsRB' to check to see if it has slipped back into a newborn state.
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Good luck.
IMHO the PM2 personality has some good improvements, but the long birthing time stopped many people from trying it.