editing an object: can I un-define useless object functions?

[lucy kemnitzer]

This object I'm finetuning for my own use has a lot of extra things in it that I think may be problematic. For example, in the object functions list, "gardening" and "clean" are both defined with action: "0X2003[unknown BHAV]" and guardian: "0X2005[unknown BHAV]," though the item is never used in gardening, and the maid never cleans it.

Can I assume this is an error? Or is this the result of the object having brandnew interactions that have to be defined some place or other and the creator just choosing spots and plonking them them in? If the former, how would I go about undefining these things?

I have found some things in the package that were definitely extra, and I have deleted them. But this I am not so sure of, and I can't find a way to edit the OBJF at all.

[Echo]

Sometimes it is an error condition, sometimes it isn't. It depends on the specific circumstance. :) You've also got to be *very* careful deleting things, even if they look like they're not required. Objects are quite fragile and very fickle. :)

You can edit the objf by selecting the line you want to change and then editing the values on the far right. Setting the opcode to 0x0000 will remove all calls from that line.

[lucy kemnitzer]

Thank you! I'm editing the object by cloning it and experimenting with the clone: the original object stays the same, so when I make errors I have a thing to return to.

I already discovered right after I posted that at least one of the seemingly useless extra things in the original package was what gave the thing substance, so that when I took it out there was no object there, just the object description and green tile-placement arrow. So I'm guessing that in the package there are two objects, kind of: one with the characteristics of being an object, and the other with the interactions. None of the other objects with interactions that I looked at were like that, so I thought it was sloppiness.

Edit: another question: is RAW data supposed to be read-only? Does that mean it reflects information that is editable in some other place? I'm thinking of memories and wants.

[Echo]

Not quite sure what you mean there... Are you talking about OBJDs? If you have multiple OBJDs, they're related to the footprint. Single tile objects can get away with just one OBJD, but multi-tile objects (or objects which have been multi-tile but were reduced to one tile) normally have one OBJD for each tile plus one which groups them all together. It's safest to assume that everything is necessary in a clone, unless you're extremely confident with the construction of object packages. :)

RAW in the OBJD files should be writable. Are you having trouble editing the fields or saving them?

[lucy kemnitzer]

The RAW date is labelled read-only and there is no option to edit the entries. I tried right-clicking to bring up a menu, but nothing happened.

There are two sets of TTABs, one of which is greyed out, and two sets of pie strings, one of which is empty. There are also identical duplicates of the catalog description, the GMDC, the GMND, the global data, the OBJD, the OBJF, the CRES, and the shape. I didn't medss with most of them, because I really don't know what I'm doing, but I took out the seemingly extra TTABs and pie strings.

I had thought the object was a one-tile object because it has a one-tile footprint, but I no longer think so.

I figure that since the object is a kind of trivial hacked thing I'm willing to play around with it to learn things. I don't think it can easily affect any important game function if I wreck it, and I'm only wrecking the clone anyway.

(this is not how I approached learning to tune up my car)

[lucy kemnitzer]

Ugh. Now I've made a version with nothing changed but TTABS (autonomy and motives) and texture. And it still doesn't exist! (There is a catalog entry with *No Pic: when I try to place it I get just a green footprint and no object and the sims can't interact with the object.

If I include both the object and the one I cloned it from, I get the textures of the clone showing up as recolors of the original.

That looks to me like it's lost the mesh somehow but I can't find anything different in the package that would account for it. Where do I look, I wonder?

[Echo]

Any chance you could post your package? I'm having trouble figuring out what's gone wrong from just the descriptions. :)

[lucy kemnitzer]

It's not necessarily appropriate for here. I think I'm going to choose another thing to play with for a while, and probably be back with other questions.

[Echo]

No problems. :) If you're just worried about being "adult" and breaking site rules, you're welcome to email me the package directly and I can see if there's anything obviously wrong though :)

[lucy kemnitzer]

Thank you. I've messed with it some more. I did what I set out to do, which was to mess with the autonomy -- I made it more autonomous than I wanted, which was fine for a first pass because it showed me that I could actually do it. I never got the thing to clone properly and then I thought "it's only for me -- I can't distribute my results anyway -- I have other copies of this, like all my stuff, so --" and I have been making adjustments to the object itself.

I think I know something else about the thing. The sims don't interact with each other: they each interact with the appropriate version of the object. Is that the way all sim interactions are (including ones not obviously mediated by an object)? In this case I think the object is at least two objects, one for each sim. And maybe the greyed-out "extra" bits apply to one of those, or to an extra tile for the second sim to operate in.

I'm going to go mess with a different project for a while, and then I want to see if I can understand how interactions and sim relationships work, so I can do something more subtle with this. But not for a while. Thank you so much! You don't know how helpful it is to have someone talk to me like I have some brain cells, even though I know nothing.

[Echo]

Is that the way all sim interactions are (including ones not obviously mediated by an object)? Essentially, yes. (As always, there are some exceptions, but on the whole that's correct). You can create new sim-to-sim interactions by cloning and modifying an object called a "social plugin", which plugs into a sim's pie menu and uses "Push Interaction" to get both participating sims to run a particular interaction on an invisible "out of world" social object. :)

[lucy kemnitzer]

Thank you! That's really interesting. I can see now how newish interactions are possible.