Recolor no effect in Neighborhood View?

[maybesomethingdunno]

I hope this is the right place. So, I'm using Irma's Seasons Roller Rinks Replacement (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=380744) for a completely invisible skating ring.

The problem is that the recolor does not show up in the neighborhood view. I figured that since Sims can't use the parking lots, they might as well as skate in them. But, as you can see in this picture, the effect is only good in the lot view. How would I go about fixing this? I've seen the tutorial about how to make something visible in the neighborhood view, but I don't think I understand it well enough to do the reverse effect.

Click for a larger version:
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3796/visibilityproblem.th.jpg (http://img521.imageshack.us/i/visibilityproblem.jpg/)

[MogHughson]

I don't know much about this side of things, but I would expect that this object is already visible as per that tutorial but maybe you need to follow it through to make the recolor do the same? I would say think of the "invisible" recolor as just another colour and see if it make sense - instead of thinking of it reversing the tutorial. Does that help?

[maybesomethingdunno]

Hi MogHughson.

Thanks for the response. Yes, I understand. From what I understand of Jasana_BugBreeder's tutorial, I may need to make an adjustment to the original object. If that is the case, I may need to ask Numenor directly. The latest CEP is what actually makes the skating surface recolorable. If I must make a modification to the rink's GMND, I might override the necessary changes made via CEP. Of course, I could append changes onto the GMND from the CEP. But since this might go towards something that may be uploaded, I would want to make sure I asked permission before I release a Frankenstein'd version of someone else's creation. :) Who knows? Maybe he will update the CEP?

I did find and extract the rinkRollerLargeLOD90_tslocator_gmdc and rinkRollerSmallLOD90_tslocator_gmdc from the Program Files directory to import into a separate package file. I'm still a bit hazy on Jasana_BugBreeder's tutorial, but I'll give it another attempt.

[HugeLunatic]

I don't believe this has anything to do with CEP to fix it. The rink roller has LOD files they just are not in the replacement file by Irma. I would guess that if you had the proper LOD files in the replacement package with the correct filenames that it should work. I am not sure if Object Workshop actually pulls when cloning, I couldn't find the ice rink in a quick look in the catalog.

There are more files for the LOD than just the GMDC, and I think the original replacement package would need all of those. When I searched I found that the LODs use there own texture, and they all have there own cres, shpe, txmt.

In SimPE use Finder and search "NameMap Search" with "rinkRollerSmall". You can then double click the resource name and it will open the correct package allowing you to export.

[maybesomethingdunno]

Shows what I know. I did mention that I had a loose grasp on that tutorial, right? :lol:

I wasn't sure about the whole "let's make the changes in the original package: 1) to GMND, add cDataListExtension, Name = tsDesignModeSlaveSubsets..." part.

I've got the GMDC, GMND, CRES, and SHPE for both the large and small versions. I could only find the TXMT for the small one (even with searching), but it seems the two share it(?).

I am thinking it would be necessary to split the LOD90 mesh into separate subsets if that is possible. I'm not entirely sure what she means by "By the way, you can pass not all mesh subsets to the 'neighborhood version' of the object." Is that to mean that you can pass up to a certain number of subsets? Or, absolutely only one mesh group? Maybe I could use the underlying shadow mesh in the neighborhood view version as one of the subsets? (As a cheap cop-out, I tried changing stdMatAlphaBlendMode to "blend" and stdMatAlphaMultiplier to "0" to prevent it from being visible regardless of the visibility of the recolor, but the shadow seemed to remain in the neighborhood view.)

It's been so long since I've done anything this extensive with the package structure, I feel a little overwhelmed or over my head. Am I on the right track with anything beyond merely collecting all the files? I keep reading the tutorial, but I just cannot seem to comprehend what exactly I need to do (i.e. where I should start in the tutorial if not from the beginning). Maybe I should move this issue over to that thread?

[HugeLunatic]

Ok, you were right about the CEP at first. And when it comes to viewing objects in hood view I don't know much about that either. :) I only apply what I know about normal objects.

I've looked deeper into the files required and the CEP. It turns out that the CEP makes the rink recolorable, but not the rinkLOD version. So then when recoloring it doesn't pull those resources and your left with the standard ones.

Quick way? Pull the txtr (right click/export) files for the roller/ice skate rinks and put in new package. Replace texture with an invisible one and all hood view of those will be invisible. :) Basic Override. You could even put it in this package so that when/if you take it out of your game the hood invisible one goes with it. Although I am confused as to what this package does. Has the mesh been modified from the original? Or is it only supposed to be a recolor? If not all it really needs is the TXMT, MMAT, and TXTR. LOL Can you tell I've never used this mesh in game?

Long way? Add all the LOD resources to the default package and make sure they are named correctly. I wouldn't worry about splitting the LOD mesh apart, I am guessing by that statement if you have say 4 subsets in a mesh not all can be part of the LOD GMDC. But anyway, for each of the resources in the package bring in the LOD counterpart. And yes the large/small seem to share the TXMT, if you look in the SHPE it says which TXMT it is using.

The easy way did leave a hood shadow. To get rid of the hood shadow, I believe in the GMND you add a line for tsNoShadow, then add a value line with your subset name with a value of 0. Similar to adding a recolorable subset only use value instead of string. This part might work in the GMND of of the package itself, not the LOD resource. Not sure since most stuff I do doesn't have LODs.

So if something in the long way isn't clear let me know. What is logical in my head tends to become illogical when typed. :p :

[maybesomethingdunno]

I know the right thing to do would be to make the neighborhood view version pick up whatever recolors of the rails and/or rink surface a person would have. But, I may need to let someone more knowledgeable than me make that correction unless multiple brains can work together to figure this out. :) For my purposes, it is sufficient for the rink to always be invisible in neighborhood view. I would likely only use invisible skating rinks outdoors and, if the rink is indoors, would it really matter that much to be visible in the neighborhood view?

I can post what I have for anyone to look at and play with. I tried adding the tsNoShadow element to the LOD version (using both the merged rink/rails mesh name and the shadow in the name field) but it didn't seem to have any effect. If I must add it to the GMND in the original object, then I'm back to the CEP issue. What exactly would I need to update if I just delete the "neighborhood_rectangularshadow" mesh from the neighborhood view version?

Upon further inspection, Irma's replacement is really just a set of recolors placed into a single package. Unless I've overlooked something, I do not see any changes made from the original. I was using it because I figured "why reinvent the wheel?" But, it does have more files than what is necessary (i.e. no replacement necessary). I've made my own invisible recolor that has the files regarding this matter added into its package file.