Grim’s Medieval Custom Clothing Tutorial

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Index
Overview
Setup Grim’s CAS Part Cloner
Clone a CASP Clothing Object
Create Blend Geometry
Import into S3PE
Edit a Thumbnail (optional)
Edit a Texture (optional)
Update the CASP Preset (necessary for texture changes)
Edit Geometry (optional)
Reserved for Advanced Geometry (optional)
Reserved for CAS Presets (optional)
Reserved Extra
Reserved Extra
Epilogue


Please pardon the multiple posts and the reserved space. This will help insure the overall planned structure for the tutorial, and should help make it easier to find what your looking for. Each number in the list corresponds with a post number.

Please do not reproduce this tutorial without permission.

This tutorial is a work in progress, so check back for updates.

Special thanks to WesHowe and BloomsBase for their help with GEOM files in MilkShape.

Change Log
October 15, 2011
Tested Blender, and it isn't working for TSM. Removed places where it's listed as an alternative.

October 9, 2011
Initial Release.

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Overview
This tutorial will show you how to clone a CAS clothing part with my CAS Part Cloner. It will then show how to reassemble the output files in S3PE. This will create a package file that can be added to the mods folder, which will give us an entirely new clothing object. Once we’ve covered the requirements of custom clothing, I will discuss how to make some different edits to Thumbnails, Textures, and Geometry, and how to bring those elements into S3PE.

The tutorial will convert this outfit for male monarchs
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239158-before.jpg
into this outfit
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239159-after.jpg
While I will go over how to do certain things in other programs, this tutorial is not meant to teach you how to use S3PE, MilkShape, Photoshop, or any of the additional programs used in this tutorial.

Parts of this tutorial are very advanced. Some of the parts may be skipped, and I will tell you when or if they can. Other of the more advanced parts I intend to add to the tool as I am able, so check back for updates on both the tool and this tutorial.

Software Used in this Tutorial
Grim’s CAS Part Cloner (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=457224): Of course.

S3PE (http://dino.drealm.info/den/denforum/index.php?board=19.0) & velocitygrass‘s CASP Wrapper (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=440984): We will use this to create our final package, and to edit our CASP presets.

Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus-plus.org/): I like the tools available in this free program, so I use it, but any text editor will work.

Photoshop (http://www.photoshop.com/products) & NVIDIA DDS Plugin (http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop): I’m using 7, but any version should do. Also note that any image editing software that supports DDS files will work, including GIMP, but the methods may differ slightly.

MilkShape 1.8.5 (http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/) (Requires Registered Version ($35)): So far the best tool I’ve found for working with TSM geometry is MilkShape. There is a free trial version of the product, but unfortunately only the registered version allows use of the Q-Mesh importer and exporter. Blender GEOM plugins don't seem to work for TSM models, and it is also very limited with what it can do for TS3. Also note that a 3D modeling program is only needed if you wish to edit meshes.

MorphMaker (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=387348): This neat program will create the Blend Geometry that the game actually uses. Even if the geometry isn’t changed these files need to be created. Also note that this program was created for TS3 so several of the features will not work for TSM.

HxD (http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/): Helpful in discovering bone names among other things.

Let's get started!

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Setup Grim’s CAS Part Cloner

Extract the Cloner
It doesn’t have any fancy install program yet. Simply extract to a folder and use.

Set the Install Directory for the Cloner
Using the CAS Part Cloner first requires making sure it knows where to find The Sims Medieval packages. By default it uses the directory C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims Medieval. If this is not your actual install directory you will need to edit the options.cfg file in the Cloner folder.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239161-options.jpg

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Clone a CASP Clothing Object

This process is very simple. Open the Cloner. Select the clothing object you would like to clone. For this tutorial select amBodyKingCapeSword. Enter a new name in the edit box, I will only be adding Tutorial to the name, making it amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial. The name can be anything you want, but it may be easier to follow this tutorial if you use the same name as me.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239166-CASPC3.jpg

Now click Clone. The Cloner will create a folder with several files needed to clone a CAS Part.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239163-clonedirectory.jpg

When you get a message stating the clone is created you can close the Cloner.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239167-clonecreated.jpg

This is all the Cloner does at the moment, but more features will be added as I am able.

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Create Blend Geometry

TSM doesn’t really use the Geometry files we exported, it uses a compressed form of all the meshes known as a Blend Geometry. Because of the way the CAS Part exporter works at the moment, new Blend Geometry files need to be created for each new object.

This process is fairly simple with MorphMaker.

MorphMaker was designed for TS3 so many of it’s features don’t work. However, we can still use it to make BGEO (Blend Geometry) files for us.

Open MorphMaker. We need to make a new Blend Geometry file for each of the different morphs. It seems like only fat, fit, special, and thin are used, but I will describe elder as every other edit is the same, and it may be used eventually.

First we need to name our project. This is important because this is how the game finds our BGEOs. The name must be the same as the extracted Body Blend files. This is usually the new CASP name, an underscore, and the morph name. In this tutorial for elder it becomes, amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_elder. Place this in the project name box.

Click next on the Adult Male tab. Remember that TSM doesn’t have all the Age/Gender tags of TS3 when working with MorphMaker. You will see four sections in which you can add lod files. These files have been created for you, or edited by you. For this tutorial you are using a clothing object so we start importing in lod1. If you are working with a project that has a lod0 you should start there.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239168-mm1.jpg

You’ll see the first three lods have three slots, and the fourth has only two. These slots are for objects with multiple meshes. Our current object has two meshes, so we need to use two slots for each lod. Begin with the first lod, lod1. Click the first Select File button and choose your ‘S3_015A1849_00000000_E554319759BB9B04_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_LOD1_elder.simgeom’, then with the second Select File button choose ‘S3_015A1849_00000000_705E854838F862B1_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_LOD1-2_elder.simgeom’. Repeat this process for lod2 and lod3.

When you have all of your LODs loaded click on the Clothing button. Note: If you are modding other parts you may need to use the Slider button.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239169-mm2.jpg

Click on the arrow beside your project name to create an instance ID. Click Create BGEO, and tell it where to save the file. I create a Blend Geometry folder within my clone directory and save it there.

Tip: When you have your BGEO all set up in MorphMaker save the project file. That way if you decide to edit your meshes all you have to do to create the new blends open a project and click Create BGEO.

This process needs to be repeated for each of the six morphs.

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Import into S3PE
Once all of the necessary files are created the process is simple to import them into S3PE.

Open S3PE and create a new package. I recommend adding a _KEY file before other files so that filenames will be retained. Right click and choose Import-From File…. Then select the CASP file from your clone directory. Make sure that Replace Duplicates, and Use Resource Name are both checked. Then click Import. You must also add every file from all the sub folders and the Blend Geometry files you created earlier. The files are named so each should import with the correct TGI into S3PE.

After all this you should be able to save your package to your mods folder, and use it in the game. At this point in the tutorial we get two identical clothing objects. It’s hard to know which one is ours, but we definitely added one.

This ends the part of the tutorial that is required for all cloned clothing. The rest of this tutorial goes over editing different parts.

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Edit a Thumbnail (optional)
This optional step changes the Thumbnail shown in CAS. We will simply be adding some text to one set of thumbnails, but any image changes can be made.

Look inside your cloned objects Thumbnails folder. You will see several PNG files. CAS seems to use only the largest Thumbnails. These will all be 256x256, and their filenames will all begin with S3_626F60CE.

Open up Photoshop (or your preferred image editor), and open all of the 256x256 PNG files. I will just be adding the text Tutorial to the top of my Thumbnails to make the new clothing easier to find in CAS.

Adding text in Photoshop creates a new layer, and this won’t work in our little PNG file. We have to collapse the layers into one layer, but we must make sure that the transparent areas remain transparent. In Photoshop the background should show the little gray squares, not plain white. If you select Layer->Flatten Image it will make the background opaque which is not what we want. Instead choose Layer->Merge Visible, and the transparency will stay. Merge the layers in all of the files, and save them, overwriting the original.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239171-thumright.jpg

Now open the package we created before, and Import only the Thumbnails we edited. In the S3PE importer we can’t see the image size, remember the filenames will all also begin with S3_626F60CE. Save the package, and try it out. Now we can tell which object is the one we created. Although it seems my Tutorial texts is too big for CAS.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239172-thumgame.jpg

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Edit a Texture (optional)
If you want to edit a texture you will need to follow this part of the tutorial and the Update the CASP Preset section.

Look inside you Images directory. Inside are several DDS files. We will edit a couple of them, but first lets take a look at them, and what each of them does.

Open up Photoshop, and open all of the DDS files with it. Make sure to tell it to load default sizes, and to not load MIP Maps. Note: Photoshop will not open DDS file by default, you must download the NVIDIA DDS Plugin.

The filenames themselves contain data needed to import into S3PE, but the name is based off of the original name. The final portion of the name helps identify what the texture does, so it has been kept in the new filename.

Texture Types
So far I have seen six main texture types, but I think there are more. I’ll go over the ones I know, and add more as I find them. Note some of these seem similar to TS3 image types, but there are some deference’s.

_m (Multiplier):
The Multiplier seems multi functional. In the RGB portion of the file adds texture detail (wrinkles, folds, etc..), while the alpha channel masks out parts of the texture that the mesh can’t use. You can see in the image, the black and white sections are the texture detail, and the red sections are the alpha mask.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239175-m.jpg

_mask (Pattern Mask):
This image controls recolorable parts of a mesh. Looking at the image you can see Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow areas.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239176-maska.jpg

If you open the channels tab you can see what is really going on. There are four channels Red, Blue, Green, and Alpha. Each of these channels maps to one of four recolorable areas.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239177-maskb.jpg

Red being the first, and alpha the fourth. What about Yellow? Yellow is an area where Red and Green overlap. This adds an effect of blending areas together.

_o (Overlay):
The overlay image is one we will edit in this tutorial. This has the effect of adding static colors to the image. We will use this to change the color of the medallion on the cape, so keep it open.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239178-oa.jpg

_s (Clothing Secular):
Controls how shiny areas on a clothing object are.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239185-s.jpg

_sta (Stencil A):
We will also edit the stencil in this tutorial. The stencil is the image of the lion applied to the front of this outfit. The stencil location is controlled by the alpha channel, and the stencil color seems to be controlled by the RGB colors.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239182-staa.jpg

Notice, when you show the alpha layer you can see the lion image in the stencil.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239183-stab.jpg

_t (Transparency?):
This has not been tested yet, but I believe this controls transparent sections of the textures. I will try to test this soon. The CASP used in this tutorial simply shows plain white with twelve black boxes in the lower right corner.

Editing Textures

I explained briefly the texture types I know of. Now we will actually edit a couple of them. Editing different textures is similar, so when you know how to do one it should be easy to figure out how to do another.

First we’ll start with the Overlay file. Find the file in your cloned Images directory that ends with _o.dds, and open it in Photoshop. You can see parts of this image are black and white, and parts of it are colored. This image will allow you to add static color to an object. For this tutorial we will change the color of the medallion in the image. Feel free to mess with other parts, but unexpected results may occur if you add a static color to recolorable areas. If you turn on the alpha channel you can see areas to avoid.

In Photoshop you can easily change the hue and saturation of an area of an image by selecting it, and choosing Image->Adjustments->Hue/Saturation. You can then move the sliders to make any color you choose.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239179-ob.jpg
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239180-oc.jpg

Now we just need to save the file. Make sure the image is only on one layer by collapsing layers as necessary. Also, I get an error if I try to save a DDS with anything selected, so deselect everything. Click File->Save. A new dialog should show up for the DDS properties. Sorry my software isn’t getting a screen shot at the moment for this dialog. You need to select DXT5 ARGB 8 bpp | interpolated alpha from the drop down menu, and you must make sure Generate MIP Maps is selected. Click save.

Next we’re also going to edit the Stencil file in your Image folder with the name that ends in _sta.dds. This file is one of several possible Stencil’s, A-F.

The first thing to notice is in the alpha channel. Make it visible and you can see the lion image. First we will change this image, then we will change it’s color.

You’ll notice this image is similar to the overlay image. This is important because this image will align with the overlay image. When you show the alpha channel you can see where the image is placed, and what it looks like. White areas in the alpha channel are stenciled, and black areas are not. You can see this in the image.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239184-stac.jpg

I’m going to change the lion to a yinyang symbol. First I need to get rid of the lion. There are several ways to do this in Photoshop, but the easiest is to set the background color to black, make sure the alpha channel is selected, click Ctrl-A, and click Delete. Now the alpha channel should be completely black. It’s time to add our new symbol. For ease I’m going to use the yinyang symbol from the Wingdings font, [. Select the text tool, select the Wingdings font, make sure the font color is white, click inside the yellow box, and type ‘[‘. Now you can select the text and resize it or move it as you wish. When you’re happy with it move on.

Now I want to edit the stencil color. In the RGB channel select the yellow box. This is the color that will be used for the stencil. It must align correctly with the stencil. I’m filling mine with a multi-color gradient, but feel free to do as you wish. When you are ready make sure the image is on one layer, and nothing is selected. Save the file just as you saved the first one.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239181-stad.jpg

Once again open the package we created before, and Import only the Images we edited. Before you save the package we need to tell the CAS Presets to use our new textures, otherwise the defaults will still be used. Continue on to the next post Update the CASP Preset (necessary for texture changes) for detailed instructions.

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Update the CASP Preset (necessary for texture changes)

If you’ve changed a texture, now is the time to update the presets with the new texture. Presets are the different styles for clothing objects you see in CAS.

This portion is advanced, and will probably be integrated into the tool.

We have to change a couple of references inside of the CASP. Don’t worry, the edit takes place in an XML like environment.

With your new package open in S3PE, select your CASP file and click on the Grid button. Under XmlEntries there are four sub items 0-3. These are the presets for the new cloned object. These files are very useful, and will probably be added to the tool, but for now we need to export them from S3PE to text files. If you click the plus sign beside each entry you will have an Import/Export/Edit… option. Click on this and select export. I add a folder called Presets in my clone folder and save them there as 0.txt-3.txt.

These preset files control many aspects of the preset CAS objects. For our edit however we only care about two entries in each file. We edited the Overlay and Stencil A textures. If you altered other textures the changes needed are similar. Also please look deeper into these files as they control a lot of things.

Open up your exported preset and search for Overlay. It will bring you to a section of text that looks like this, ‘<value key="Overlay" value="key:00B2D882:00000000:383892D281C29318" />‘. We need to change the ‘383892D281C29318’ to the id of our new overlay texture. If you look into the Images folder you can find our Overlay texture, ‘S3_00B2D882_00000000_CF515F4925AA07DE_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_o.dds’. From looking at the filename, the ID we need is ‘CF515F4925AA07DE’. Simply replace ‘383892D281C29318’ with ‘CF515F4925AA07DE’.

The second example is similar. This time we edited Stencil A. If you search for ‘Stencil A’ it will bring you to a section of text that looks like this, ‘<value key="Stencil A" value="key:00B2D882:00000000:9084B44B768DF5C9" />‘. We need to change the ‘9084B44B768DF5C9’ to the id of our new stencil texture. If you look into the Images folder you can find our Stencil A texture, ‘S3_00B2D882_00000000_F075E270DCA08EB7_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_sta.dds‘. From looking at the filename, the ID we need is ‘F075E270DCA08EB7’. Simply replace ‘9084B44B768DF5C9’ with ‘F075E270DCA08EB7’.

Save the file, and repeat the change on all other preset files.

Now the files changed need to be updated in the CASP. In S3PE select your CASP, and click on the Grid button. Once again go through the XmlEntries, but this time import the files you edited. Click Commit, and save your package.

Now that we have edited the Images, and updated the presets our new textures should work. Go ahead a give it a try.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239192-texturegame.jpg

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Edit Geometry (optional)
In this step we’re going to change the clothing geometry slightly. We are going to make the cape longer. This object is more advanced, because the bones do need to be edited, however other objects do not need this step. I chose this object because of the problems I had working with it. I may add an easier object tutorial later.

Take a look inside your Geometry folder. You’ll see the Cloner has created three folders, lod1, lod2, and lod3. Actually if you tried cloning a face or hair part you will also have lod0. These are the meshes for the object, however TSM doesn’t really use any of these files except for the Base meshes in each folder. Morph meshes must be converted to work with the game. I guess we’re lucky that EA included them in the packages. In reality we need to create Body Blend files based off of these morph meshes, and these Body Blends are what the game actually uses. We have already gone over how to create Body Blends, and if you saved those projects updating them will be easy..

Open up MilkShape 1.8.5. Select File->Import->Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Importer V0.16 - by Wesley Howe. In the Open File dialog navigate to your Geometry/lod1 folder. There should be several simgeom files.

I want to take a moment to go over these files. The names, besides the data for S3PE, give a clue as to what each file is for. Let’s use this “S3_015A1849_00000000_A9731D353F509F39_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_LOD1-2_fat.simgeom” as an example.

S3_015A1849_00000000_A9731D353F509F39_: S3 means Sims 3, the 015A1849 is the type of GEOM, the 00000000 is the group, and the A9731D353F509F39 the instance id. This text is used to help S3PE import the files correctly and should only be changed by advanced modders.

amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial: This is simply the new name of the object.

LOD or lod: These correspond to Level of Detail. Basically, in TSM the closer to an object you are the more detail an object has. The lower the level the higher the detail. LOD0 is the highest detail and LOD3 is the lowest detail. In this case you also see some LOD’s with two numbers, this means this object uses two meshes. It’s actually possible to have three meshes on all but LOD3. The name scheme changes here.

If the name is a base mesh it is labeled lod1, lod1_1, and lod1_2.

If it is a morph mesh it will be labeled lod1_(morph title), lod1-2_(morph title), and lod1-3_(morph title).

There are six morph states, but it seems the game only uses four. The used four are fat, fit, special (pregnant), and thin. The other two are elder and teen, but seem unused.

We need to load the base meshes before we can load any of the morphs associated with it.

So, if we look at the filenames we see that this object has two base meshes, S3_015A1849_00000000_2372D6C769E3D665_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_lod1.simgeom, and S3_015A1849_00000000_7A016B9CA9631D71_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_lod1_1.simgeom. Let’s start by loading S3_015A1849_00000000_2372D6C769E3D665_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_lod1.simgeom.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239198-skeleton.jpg
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239195-bone.jpg

What happened?

Well, the importer first says it can’t find the skeleton file, so it loads the default Sims 3 skeleton. Then it says it can’t find several bones listed within the mesh. Most of the time this is fine, but I can guarantee with this model it won’t work. In fact, if we export this model right now without changing anything, this is how it will look in the game.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239199-bonesmfu.jpg

You can clearly see the Cape is messed up, but if you look closely you will see that the Sword, Tassels, and Knees are missing.

What’s going on here? Let’s see if we can figure it out. In MilkShape, click on the Joints tab, and Click on a button called SelUnAssigned. This selects all the vertices that aren‘t assigned to any bone.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239194-unselectedverts.jpg

Looking at the image we can see it’s only certain sections that are affected. These are the Sword, the Cape, the Tassels, and the Knees. Look familiar? Basically, any vertices which aren’t assigned to a bone seem to get messed up. We need to fix this to make the mesh look correct.

Advanced Section
I advise you to try other models out without using this section. If you find that there are errors in your geometry, and several bones are missing follow these steps.

We can shut up the importer by adding the skeleton to the geometry lod folders. Open S3PE and open the The Sims Medieval\GameData\Shared\Packages\SASFullBuild2.package. To make this easier on us we need to sort by Name then Tag by clicking on the tab titles. Scroll down to the BONE tags and look for amBodyKingCapeSword (or whatever file you’re cloning). In this instance you’ll see three files. amBodyKingCapeSword_LOD1Shape-morph-skin_0xc34142450b573e73, amBodyKingCapeSword_LOD2Shape-morph-skin_0x85ea584628e79474, and
amBodyKingCapeSword_LOD3Shape-morph-skin.

Since our edit will only be for lod1that is the only file we need, but it is best to extract the other files to their lod folder.

Select amBodyKingCapeSword_LOD1Shape-morph-skin_0xc34142450b573e73. The filename tells us it’s for lod1. Right click it, select Export->To File, and save it without renaming it to your lod1 folder. You can repeat this process to extract the other two lod skeletons to their appropriate lod folder.

Let’s try importing our model again.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239195-bone.jpg

What? Didn’t we fix this? If not then why did I just waste your time? Believe me, there is a reason for it.

When the importer loads the skeleton it uses the file we extracted to move and resize bones in the default skeleton. It does not actually load our skeleton. This is a limitation of the importer that I may try to fix later, but for now it must be bypassed.

So, why did we extract it? For two reasons.

First, if the mesh has significant size differences (ie a Child mesh) the adult default skeleton will cause size problems.

The second reason is we can open the bone file in a hex editor and try to make some sense of it. It’s possible to re-add the bone, and re-assign vertices to it. The importer only gives us hex id’s. The exporter can work with these hex values, but what vertices go to the missing bones?

We can use a program called HxD, and then Notepad++ (or other text editor) to make some sense of it.

Open your lod1 .skcon file with HxD. It should look like this. S3PE will allow you to look at the hex version of this file, but doesn’t allow selecting only the output. In HxD, on the left you see the hexadecimal view of the file. On the right you see a pseudo translated version of the file. Actually, it looks weirder because its Unicode.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239197-hex.jpg

Scroll down until the right side of the screen looks like junk again. This somewhat readable section is the bone names. With HxD, we can select the somewhat readable text on the right side, copy it, and paste it into Notepad++ where with a few tricks we’ll have a list of bones for the original file. From the last somewhat readable section, including the final underscore ‘_’, select up to the beginning of the file to the very first ‘b’. Copy the text output, and paste it into a new Notepad++ document. Then under Search->Replace…, put ‘.’ in Find What, and delete everything in Replace With. The click Replace All. It should give you a message about replacing the instances. Next, in the Replace dialog put ‘b__’ (two underscores) in Find What, and ‘\nb__’ (two underscores) in the Replace With box. Make sure the Search Mode is set to Extended (\n,\r,\t,\0,\x…), and click Replace All. Afterwards your text file should look like this

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239196-bonelist.jpg

You can see more of the bone names clearly. Now we can make an educated guess to replace the missing bones.

Looking at the unassigned vertices in MilkShape we can see it’s only certain sections that are affected. These are the Sword, the Cape, the Tassels, and the Knees. Well, lets look at the bone list we just made, and see if we can guess which bones these vertices should be assigned to. b__L_Sword, b__R_Sword, b__R_Cape, and b__L_Cape stand out to me. In fact if you fnv32 hash these names you will see that they are some of the missing bones. We could find all the bones, but I think we can do alright with just these.

Alright, before we add any bone we should load S3_015A1849_00000000_7A016B9CA9631D71_amBodyKingCapeSwordTutorial_lod1_1.simgeom. This is the second mesh for this object. If we load it after adding the bone we’ll get errors, so we load it before.

It’s also a good idea to give each group a descriptive name. Click on the groups tab. Beside the Rename button is an edit box. Type a new name for each of the base models. I will name the first mesh Base1 and the second mesh Base2.

Under the Model tab click the Joint button to select the joint creation tool. Then click three times in the view port to create three new joints. Click again on the joint tool to deselect it.

Open the Joints tab. You should have three new joints, joint122, joint123, and joint124. To fix our model we only need three of the missing bones, and some creativity.

Select joint122. In the box beside the Rename button we will type ‘b__L_Sword’ and click Rename. The other two joints we will rename ‘b__R_Cape’, and ‘b__L_Cape’.

Now we’ve added the bones we need, but we need to re-assign the vertices to them. Select only the sword vertices. I find it easiest to click SelUnAssigned under the Joints tab, then with the Select tool from the Model tab I Shift-Right-Drag away any unwanted vertices. When you have only the Sword selected, select ‘b__L_Sword’ on the joints tab and click assign. Repeat the process with the left and right side of the cape to their respective cape bones.

We also have to set the knees, which I chose to add to the thigh bone, and the tassels, which can be added to the sword bone. When all the vertices have found a bone we are ready to continue. At this point after fixing the bones the model will once again look correct in the game.

Editing the Geometry
Wow, all this, and we haven’t changed anything! I assure you, I use this as a teaching device only, most meshes shouldn’t be this complicated.

Ok, so we have our base meshes loaded, and we have fixed the bone issue. Now we need to load our morphs. These are all those files that end with _fat, _fit, _special, etc… We need to load all of the morphs for the first base mesh. Then in order to load the second meshes morphs we need to move the second base mesh to the top of the Groups list. Once it’s there we can load all of the second base morphs. We should continue the name pattern. I’m naming my morphs Base1_fat, Base1_fit, Base2_special, Base2_thin, etc….

Once we have all the morphs loaded we can make our edit. In this tutorial I only lengthened the cape, and made it slightly wider. This is a simple process with the move and scale tools. As long as you don’t add or remove any polygons you should be safe to do as you please.

After making your edit you must export the files back to their GEOM files. Select File->Export->Q-Mesh Sims 3 GEOM Exporter V0.16 - by Wesley Howe. It will give you a warning. Click ok. You will be asked if you want to export each individual file. These however have to be done in different groups depending on which base model is used. To export Base1 morphs, the Base1 mesh must be first in the list, and to export Base2 morphs, the Base2 mesh must be first in the list. While editing the cape we have only modified the Base1 mesh morphs so it is the only one that needs to be exported. If you modified Base2 morphs you will need to export those also.

Export the files over their original files. Now we need to update the Blend Geometry. The process is the same as before, but if you saved each morph project you should be able to just load each project and click Create BGEO.

Now Import your GEOMs and BGEOs S3PE and save. If everything was done correctly you will get something that looks like this.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239201-after.jpg

[grimreefer24601]

Reserved for Advanced Geometry (optional)

[grimreefer24601]

Reserved for CAS Presets (optional)

[grimreefer24601]

Reserved Extra

[grimreefer24601]

Reserved Extra 2

[grimreefer24601]

Epilogue
We’ve come a long way to get here. I’m sure the hours I’ve spent writing this tutorial will equal the hours you spend trying to understand it all. I have tried to provide enough information to get you going on your own projects.

I am planning already to add a couple of optional posts to this tutorial. The first will be about Advanced Geometry (Adding Polygons, UV maps, and such), the second will probably go over CAS presets in detail. The last two reserved are uncertain, perhaps a basic meshing section (because I know the current one is pretty complicated), or a Pattern section.

Following this post, this thread is open for clothing modding questions. Please keep bug reports and feature requests in the CAS Part Cloner thread.

[ChickieTeeta]

Firstly, thank you so much for all the effort you have put into this, and considering the amount of time you must have poured into this, thank you does not seem enough.
I don't have milkshape yet, since it sounds like it needs paid for, I'm working on fitting it in to my budget, but I've followed the parts for retexturing, (more to see if I could get it to show in game than a serious effort for my first attempt.)



For anyone who wants to give this a go but who might be put off by terms they don't fully understand this tutorial is wonderfully written and simple enough to follow even with a limited grasp of some of the terms used, so I urge everyone who might be interested to give it a go.

And since this space was for questions, I have one of those also :)
On the consort's outfit, the solid colored leg bothers me. It doesn't look like anything has been done to the leg mesh, so to get rid of it, and have the leg bare, does the color just need to be deleted to have the transparent background in it's place? Is this enough to have it show the skintone instead, or is it more involved than that?
Sorry my question isn't of a higher technical standard, I just really, really wanted to let you know how much your work on this is appreciated.
I will probably inundate you with questions after I get milkshape.

[grimreefer24601]

Why is your consort wounded?

The model seems to be amBodyWoundedPajamas. With a color change. Did you do this?

"Sorry my question isn't of a higher technical standard"
Actually, this question is about something I'll have to look in deeper.

Quote from Sims 3:CTU Guide Designing (http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Sims_3:CTU_Guide_Designing)
"The base texture--sometimes called the multiplier---maps out what parts of the mesh are used (via the alpha layer) and it adds texture (wrinkles and folds) to the CAS part."

In some models the alpha channel in this file which will end in _m.dds will be transparent in place where skin is shown. However this seems to only be for certain things, and this particular model uses a default multiplier.

My part cloner only actually exports two textures from this model. An _s and an _o. If you look at the _o with the alpha channel shown it looks like this

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239472-wp.jpg

Now if we take a look at the amBody _o with the same alpha we can see that the areas of the model which show skin are those in the alpha channel.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239473-n.jpg

I will have to test it, but I believe just editing the alpha channel in the _o file can make the bandages transparent.

[ChickieTeeta]

Ah lol no, this was my first go at getting something to show in the game. I figured this one wouldn't have that many files to deal with. The guy is the one I normally use as Monarch.
Yes the color change is mine. I think he suits the outfit, and it annoys me you can't change the color of this in game. It's not a serious attempt at recoloring, I just wanted to see if I could get it to show, I do plan to do something properly with the 'wounded pajama' though, and this morning I was wondering what I could do with the bandages on the feet, never thought to remove them *face palm* so thank you for that =)
Sorry it was the outfit the consort wears I was asking about, can't remember what it's called off the top of my head, bandita's *something*, but your instructions for the bandaged one should cover my question on the consorts leg too.

I'm so glad my question wasn't too silly =)
And thank you for your reply.

Oh love the longer cloak from your tutorial, it looks so much better than the original.

[ChickieTeeta]

I will have to test it, but I believe just editing the alpha channel in the _o file can make the bandages transparent.

Well I don't know what to say lol. I removed the bandages and got this in game (see screenshot) I have nothing in game that looks like this, the outline of the bandages I understand, but the mental hair on one leg I'm at a loss to explain. I use tummyza's overlay but that looks nothing like this.

:!: Update :!:
I removed tummyza's Hairy male skin overlay and tried again, and the leg now looks fine. So I opened up Tummyzas file in SimPE and can see by looking at the bottom left hand corner of the skintones where the problem with the mental hair lies. I'll say no more, if you have the file I'm sure you'll look for yourself.

I don't really want to go back to 'plastic' guys, so I may just edit tummyza's overlay for personal use, but I think most people play with this file in which opens up another problem....unless you can see a way round it?
I'm sure there must be something I've missed that will fix this.

(Oh the shadow of the bandage isn't as bad with the overlay removed either, there's just faint silvery outlines where the bandage should be, which could just be parts I missed)

[grimreefer24601]

Well, ChickieTeeta, I don't think it has to do with the "thing" at the lower left of the image, but you should still see if editing it may help :heyhey: . Honestly, by looking at the image it's clear that the bandages are only partially removed, so it must lie within an image that contains bandages.

Truely, it seems there is more to transparency than meets the eye. I wrote this tutorial to help get the ball rolling, but I'd be lying if I said I knew everything about modding every part. That said, I love a challenge, so I'll be trying to figure out exactly how this all works. I know right now parts of my tutorial aren't exactly accurate, but they're close enough to get people going in the right direction.

I encourage you to do what I'm doing, which is looking through info on TS3. Most of this stuff is the same. I know from looking at some threads there that transparency may depend on multiple textures, but this doesn't seem the case with your wounded mesh (however, I wonder if the default multiplier may be the issue). Can you post the alpha edit you made? Perhaps it's something with that.

Otherwise I'll let you know when I've figured out more.

[ChickieTeeta]

Well, ChickieTeeta, I don't think it has to do with the "thing" at the lower left of the image, but you should still see if editing it may help :heyhey: . Honestly, by looking at the image it's clear that the bandages are only partially removed, so it must lie within an image that contains bandages.

Well I edited just the tummyza skin tone that my monarch uses and it did fix the problem (see screenshot).
On the skintones I left unmodified, the hair and, indeed part of the ......'texturing' can still be seen. If you take another look at the odd picture I included in my previous post you'll see what I mean...it's definitely there. Don't know if I should remove the pic now that I can see it?

I've looked at the nude skin tones and what counts as the bottom of the leg in terms of retexturing is at the bottom of the leg, not off to the sides as this bandaged one is.
So the hair on the bottom of the legs in tummyza's files would have to be cloned over to the sides to make this consistent with the nude skin, don't know how easy it'll be to match up but I'll give it a try, and that'll only work for any clothing modification assuming all the clothing alphas have their parts consistently in the same place, which I don't think they do.

So it seems the nude files don't match up with the clothing files. Most noticable on tummyza's, but even the original game skintone is more plastic looking than usual with the bottom of the leg showing since it's a flat color (no texturing or shading) where the corresponding part of the clothing lies, which you can see if you take another look at the nude alpha you posted.

I also layered the rogue outfit for guys over the nude alpha, and the hand and arm on the right match perfectly with the nude, but the hand on the left doesn't, it falls over an untextured part, also the top of the trousers are down by the feet, whereas the bandaged one is matched perfectly with the nude one, which helps prove parts aren't consistently in the same place, so editing tummyza's file any further is probably a waste of time since it may only be useful for this one edited clothing.
I agree there is more involved to transparency than just removing any offending article of clothing.

I think the outlines of the bandages are probably bits I missed, the rest looks like it belongs to the arm bandages though, I'll (hopefully) take another look when I get in tonight, and if they're still there after my attempt I'll post the alpha.
I'll also try to look round at the TS3 tutorials before the end of the week and see what they have to say about transparency etc.

[ChickieTeeta]

I think the outlines of the bandages are probably bits I missed, the rest looks like it belongs to the arm bandages though, I'll (hopefully) take another look when I get in tonight, and if they're still there after my attempt I'll post the alpha.
I'll also try to look round at the TS3 tutorials before the end of the week and see what they have to say about transparency etc.

I removed anything to do with bandages in the end, arm ones and all, and the outline is still there.
Would you like me to upload the dds file (_o)?

[grimreefer24601]

It does seem that the transparency lies either within that _o file, or in the uv mapping of the mesh. Take a look at this image from MilkShape.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1239847-wm.jpg

This is after assigning the _o texture to the mesh. The mesh includes all areas of the arms and legs, but when the texture is applied parts dissappear.

I am still trying to figure out uv mapping with MilkShape (I wish I could use 3DSMax).

However, since the models vertices aren't arranged in the shape of the bandages, I don't think it has anything to do with texture coordinates, so I believe the solution must be in that texture. It may be helpful if you upload your modified _o.dds.

[ripple]

Great tutorial Grim.

You mentioned that Blender can also be used for the mesh editing. Have you worked with v. 2.59? I haven't been able to find a way to import/export simgeom files.

[ChickieTeeta]

However, since the models vertices aren't arranged in the shape of the bandages, I don't think it has anything to do with texture coordinates, so I believe the solution must be in that texture. It may be helpful if you upload your modified _o.dds.

I don't know if it's worth mentioning....I use psp7 and can't view dds directly in it.
I use a converter to change the dds file to a png, edit it and reconvert it to dds.
Maybe the problem has something to do with that?
The dds is in the rar, and I've included the png too, just incase.

[grimreefer24601]

Great tutorial Grim.

You mentioned that Blender can also be used for the mesh editing. Have you worked with v. 2.59? I haven't been able to find a way to import/export simgeom files.

Sorry, I haven't used Blender, only looked into it. When I read about it's limitations I decided to spend the $35 for MilkShape.

There are plugins for Sims 3 GEOM files, and Medieval GEOM files have the same format. If you look into the Sims 3 Meshing Tutorials there are tutorials on both using the plugins, and installing them.

If at some point I get a chance I may look further into Blender, but for now you should look to the TS3 meshing tutorials, and forums. Please do post any information you figure out, the point of this thread is for both teaching and learning, and I'd love to see some of this information come from other Sims Medieval modders.

@ChickieTeeta:
Looking at the dds there you've only made part of the change that I was suggesting (I probably wasn't clear). I have edited your dds in this fashion

Yours

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1240033-wct1.jpg

Mine

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1240035-wgt1.jpg

In MilkShape the difference show a such

Yours

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1240034-wct.jpg

Mine

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1240032-wgt.jpg

You can see even in MilkShape that some of the bandage lines remain on yours, but have dissappeared in mine. Please give this edit a try in game, and let me know your results.

[ChickieTeeta]

@ChickieTeeta:
Looking at the dds there you've only made part of the change that I was suggesting (I probably wasn't clear).
You can see even in MilkShape that some of the bandage lines remain on yours, but have dissappeared in mine. Please give this edit a try in game, and let me know your results.

I already removed those parts when I took the arm bandages off too, but had deleted that file.
At that point I was more concerned about the skintone not matching up.
I did take a screen shot though, and although the bandaged part is better it's not gone. To me it looks like the 'shadowed parts' are the actual skintone, and the lighter parts are the parts on the skintone file to the sides which are untextured (under where the bandages sit). So I guess this won't ever look right unless it can display the nude file properly.....unless this is due to something I haven't understood, hoping that it is :)

[grimreefer24601]

Alright, I've had enough of a chance to look into it that I know what is going on with the transparency.

Sorry, it took me awhile to figure out uv's in MilkShape, but I think I've got it now, and this is where the solution lies.

Editing the alpha seems it will only be a portion of what you are trying to accomplish. For a true fix the uv coordinates of the model must also be altered. I tried to see if I could figure out a trick, but it seems that TSM has no set area for things to be applied to (ie. in one image the legs are in one spot, but in others they may not be in the same spot).

Anyway, here is an image from MilkShape which shows the right leg selected in the UV editor.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1240308-wgt2.jpg

You can see that some of the vertices are on the actual foot, while the others are over on the bandages. The vertices on bandages would need to be moved over to the foot in order to make the legs appear as you want.

I know this makes it more complicated than a simple texture edit, but this seems to be the only consistant fix. You could alternatively copy the legs in the skins to the place where the UV's point to, but it would only work for this one model.

I hope this at least explains what is happening. I know you don't have MilkShape, but it seems this program will be necessary for the edit you're trying.

[grimreefer24601]

ripple:
After trying several different things, it seems the current state of Blender and it's plugins don't work for TSM. Also, 2.59 only has a GEOM importer, no exporter, so any change you made wouldn't be able to be added to the game. As far as I can tell, TS3 GEOM files are only truely workable with Blender 2.4x. I have not tried this version with TSM models, but I think it will also have trouble with TSM.

At this point the only 3D program that I know works with TSM meshes is MilkShape, and only the registered 1.8.5 version. If anyone knows of other alternatives let me know.

[ChickieTeeta]

Editing the alpha seems it will only be a portion of what you are trying to accomplish. For a true fix the uv coordinates of the model must also be altered. I tried to see if I could figure out a trick, but it seems that TSM has no set area for things to be applied to (ie. in one image the legs are in one spot, but in others they may not be in the same spot).

You can see that some of the vertices are on the actual foot, while the others are over on the bandages. The vertices on bandages would need to be moved over to the foot in order to make the legs appear as you want.

I know this makes it more complicated than a simple texture edit, but this seems to be the only consistant fix. You could alternatively copy the legs in the skins to the place where the UV's point to, but it would only work for this one model.

I hope this at least explains what is happening. I know you don't have MilkShape, but it seems this program will be necessary for the edit you're trying.

I'd guessed at this much, but didn't know the right terminology to express properly what I was thinking. Ouch.
I bought milkshape last night. Don't think I've ever felt so intimidated by anything before lol. So far I've figured out how to move things around, I added (very basic) 'rat tails' to the back of my monarch's hair but wasn't sure I'd done it right, or hadn't messed up something along the way, so I ended up not saving it.
Re-mapping the UV (if that's the correct term) is way out of my league.
I'm kind of missing the way TS1 textures were laid out now, they were so straightforward.
In your opinion, how easy should it be to fix the skintones in transparent re-textures if you know what you're doing?
I'll look at some tutorials and hopefully I'll figure it out to the point I can actually save something.
Thank you for all the help and the time you've spent on this, it's been very much appreciated :)

[grimreefer24601]

In your opinion, how easy should it be to fix the skintones in transparent re-textures if you know what you're doing?

If you mean fixing the UV's, I don't think it would be too hard. The only issues I had was figuring out where MilkShape hid the darn UV Mapper, and figuring out how to select vertices to edit. The UV Mapper is under Window->Texture Coordinate Editor, and to select vertices it seems you have to select the faces with the Select tool.

I'll try to make a tutorial section that covers UV mapping when I can.

[ChickieTeeta]

I'll try to make a tutorial section that covers UV mapping when I can.

That would be excellent, I look forward to that. No rush though :)

I managed to save something from milkshape and get it to show in game, I was so surprised, I'd expected it to crash the game at worst and not show at best.
I've included a screenshot since it was so exciting for me when it showed up lol.
It's a mess just now since I hadn't expected it to work at all, so I didn't want to waste time doing anything but the basic idea.
I looked around at some TS3 tutorials, but most of them are so in depth, and obviously written for people who already have some clue what they're doing, and the most common answer in threads to any basic question seems to be 'well if you don't know that you shouldn't be attempting to mesh' which is quite depressing. Your tutorial is the best I've seen.
I saw you said in another thread that you know you come across as being a jerk sometimes, but you really don't, you seem to be as far from being a jerk as anyone can possibly be.
So thank you for your tutorials and your patience and for your understanding that some of us have never done this before, which has been quite encouraging :) If I'd been relying solely on the TS3 forums I'd have probably given up by now.
I'll see if I can get my attempt to look better and more natural looking now (not holding my breath though lol)

[ChickieTeeta]

Would it be possible to get this thread stickied since it's a tutorial? :)

[grimreefer24601]

I appreciate that you think this thread is worthy of being stickied. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like this thread has inspired a lot of attention. I'll keep messing with this stuff anyway because that's how I am.

I've figured out a lot more stuff about meshing and textures and stuff, and I plan to update when I have time, and my AADD isn't acting up.

As always, I'm here to answer any question you may have.

By the way ChickieTeeta, I am glad to see you have made some meshes work. I actually had meant to post that earlier. I know it can be a challenge, so Good Job!

[DarthKitsune]

using this, can we remove parts of an outfit? like taking that cape thing off of the sorcerer's outfit with the ram-skull knee pads? I got the pants to look like leather, and it would look so badass without that gay cape.

[grimreefer24601]

Honestly, the best way to do this kind of modification is by editing the mesh. With Milkshape it wouldn't be hard to remove the cape. With textures, it may be possible to make the cape transparent. I know I can do this edit, in one way or another, are you asking how, or asking for? :D

[DarthKitsune]

If you have time in your busy schedule I would be most appreciative if you could. Unless you make a highly detailed tutorial video, I wont be doing any of this for myself anytime soon.

[mmp1966]

I was going to try some stuff, but after reading this my brain hurts a little :)

I will go through it a few more times before I attempt anything. Awesome stuff, keep on teaching us :)

[grimreefer24601]

Honestly, take things in parts, and ask questions. I'd hoped to fill this thread with questions and answers. I honestly don't even care if they seem like stupid questions. If you're wondering about something, chances are, someone elses is also wondering about it.

I could ramble about what I know, but I believe it's more helpful if I lead people to their own answers.

[DarthKitsune]

haha it's not that, but I have a nonverbal learning disorder so unless i see it being done before my eyes, i can't do it. But oh Lordy, if I could!

[ChickieTeeta]

I appreciate that you think this thread is worthy of being stickied. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like this thread has inspired a lot of attention. I'll keep messing with this stuff anyway because that's how I am.

I've figured out a lot more stuff about meshing and textures and stuff, and I plan to update when I have time, and my AADD isn't acting up.

As always, I'm here to answer any question you may have.

By the way ChickieTeeta, I am glad to see you have made some meshes work. I actually had meant to post that earlier. I know it can be a challenge, so Good Job!

IMHO I think this is the most important thread so far, because it's the best tutorial around, because of the heaps of work you've put into it and since it's the first steps towards cc for the game, (not including the thread for your core, shimrods threads for mods and simmodder99's thread, which obviously already offer a lot of cc) but I'm also confident you'll be the one that gets new objects into the game too, and to me I think clothing is probably easier to make, so it's an excellent place to start from to find your way round milkshape. I was kind of hoping it would be stickied according to usefulness rather than attention, so I'll still keep my fingers crossed.

Thank you for the encouragement =) I've redone that 'rat tails' hair from scratch 6 times now, each is different, but I've noticed that the skin on the neck becomes lighter than the top of the body mesh where it meets the head mesh. I did one long at the back still with the rat tails to the side, and the difference in skin tone is most noticeable on that one. I was going to start again and just change something very minor and run it in game to see if it's any change that causes it. It's probably something I'm doing to it though. I'll figure it out.

I've been struggling with pneumonia for the last month, so have pretty much forgotten how to do everything. I came looking for this tutorial last night and found it around page 3. Would so love to see it stickied.

[DarthKitsune]

well, in the mean time you can book mark it so it's easier to find. I tend to do that.

[ChickieTeeta]

well, in the mean time you can book mark it so it's easier to find. I tend to do that.

I already have Darth, but thank you :) I just think it should get the 'stickied importance' it deserves.

[DarthKitsune]

True, buuuuuuut until I become a moderator, all we can do is keep asking/pestering.

[grimreefer24601]

It sounds like you may have AutoSmooth selected on the groups tab ChickieTeeta. Milkshapes smoothing doesn't work well with TSM meshes. Unless you're adding polygons there should be no reason to apply smoothing. If you are adding polygons use Align Normals (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=139859), or similar plugin.

[ChickieTeeta]

It sounds like you may have AutoSmooth selected on the groups tab ChickieTeeta. Milkshapes smoothing doesn't work well with TSM meshes. Unless you're adding polygons there should be no reason to apply smoothing. If you are adding polygons use Align Normals (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=139859), or similar plugin.

Thank you I will check it out. I haven't touched any of the settings, so unless it's applied by default.....hopefully it is and that will solve the problem.
Thank you again :)

*Update*
Yes you are right it's selected by default. Thank you :)

[vidov]

did like what is explained in this tutorial (i did the burned pajamas), edited the dss as well but when i play the game, my cloth appeared in the cas but when i put it on my sims it looks no different from the original pajamas

[grimreefer24601]

What kind of edit are you attempting? (Texture/Mesh)

Do you mean the thumbnail showed up with no change to the sim in CAS, or does it not show in game after leaving CAS?

If you want to include the package your trying I can also give it a look.

[vidov]

What kind of edit are you attempting? (Texture/Mesh)

Do you mean the thumbnail showed up with no change to the sim in CAS, or does it not show in game after leaving CAS?

If you want to include the package your trying I can also give it a look.

i edited the texture. edited the dss file, removed the burned marks.
i did everything like in the tutorial. i made the bgeo by putting the simgeom files in the adult tab in morph maker (did the same for fit, fat, thin, special and teen as well). when i put it the game folder, it appears in the catalog but when i put it on the sim, the burned marks still appear like the original ingame burned pijamas

http://slavicboy.xtgem.com/simsupload/Capture.JPG

here is the files (http://speedy.sh/T9aGC/amBodyBurnedPajamasvidov.7z)
and here is the package file (http://speedy.sh/a4YbS/burnedpajamas.7z)

[grimreefer24601]

I see two problems with the files you uploaded.

First, your DDS Overlay file is not sized correctly. They should be 1024x1024. The one in yours is 1024x847. I can't even save a DDS at an odd resolution. This may affect loading, and will definately affect texture alignment.

The real problem, however, is in Updating the CAS preset. Any texture change will require updating the XML in the preset to to include the new texture ID's. Post #9 in the tutorial goes over how to do it.

Good luck.

[vidov]

it works!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH :up:

http://slavicboy.xtgem.com/simsupload/capture2.JPG

[ChickieTeeta]

it works!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH :up:

http://slavicboy.xtgem.com/simsupload/capture2.JPG

:gjob: Are you putting it up for download? :)

[vidov]

:gjob: Are you putting it up for download? :)

here (http://speedy.sh/5GJtF/amBodyBurnedPajamasvidov.7z) it is :D

[ChickieTeeta]

I'm having a problem with amBodySpy
I'd like to make the cross and slashes on the chest transparent.
I removed these parts on the mask, since I don't want them recolorable (occurred to me later that they probably won't be affected by colors if they're transparent) I ran the game, everything worked fine, the sleeve slashes etc that are controlled by the same color group can still be recolored and the parts I want transparent are now white and can't be recolored, which is what I'd expected.
I looked at the _o image file next, but the whole chest piece is already just a transparent area.
The only 2 images left showing the areas I want removed are the _m and _s image files. So I removed a small part of the cross from the _m file just to check and see if that would affect transparency, I ran it in game and now none of the clothing is recorable at all (and the bit I removed of the cross hasn't changed, it's still white)
I have accidentally deleted the files, but I don't mind starting again if it can be done. Is there a way to make these areas transparent?
I was going to try again, this time leaving the mask alone, but I don't think that will work either.

[grimreefer24601]

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1272946-51.jpg

Is this the result you're looking for?

This was made by simply adding an alpha channel to the m image. I've included the image as a zip file with this post if you want to look at it.

[ChickieTeeta]

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1272946-51.jpg

Is this the result you're looking for?

This was made by simply adding an alpha channel to the m image. I've included the image as a zip file with this post if you want to look at it.

Yes, that's mostly what I was looking for. Thank you =)
I ran in to another problem when I noticed my Monarch had apparently shaved most of his chest :O
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/2/4/8/8/5/MTS_ChickieTeeta-1273047-spyshaved.jpg
Seems it's all out of line with the nude skin again :(
I've made the cross and chest slashes on the _m transparent by removing them and then layered Tummyza's nude skin behind it in a better position, but that obviously goes back to being a recolorable area.
I tried adding an alpha layer to it like before but it ignores the added chest, because, I'm guessing, that's truly transparent.
I messed around with the mask for a while but couldn't get it to be non-recolorable and show the chest properly. When it wasn't recolorable at all it was just showing white on those areas, so it's currently in the blue and green channels because that can give the closest, most forgiving, match to his skin tone.
It means I can't change the color of his shirt on that one arm without affecting the chest, which isn't a huge problem. Not perfect, I know, but I really want the chest hair there *she said, in a non-perverted kind of way* :D
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/2/4/8/8/5/MTS_ChickieTeeta-1273046-spytransparency.jpg
Is there a way to layer it so the chest matches up but have it not affected by the color channels?
I've obviously got confused and missed something somewhere, which is a bit annoying, but I've learned a little bit about the mask image and alpha channels along the way so it's all good. Thank you very much for your included file, it helped a lot.

[grimreefer24601]

I'll have to mess with it further, but I think it has to do with the mesh object. However, I'll say, from the screen shots it looks like you've done a wonderful job at geting everything looking right. But, I know, there is a difference from looking right to being right.

I'll be honest, the texture I uploaded was not from my part cloner, because it's quicker for "me" to edit an individual texture. However the results should be the same.

I'm still installing stuff to bring my new PC back to where my old PC was, and Milkshape is one of the last programs still need to add. Give me a day, or a week, at the most, and I'll try to give you a more complete answer.

By the way, never noticed your avatar before, but if that's really you, you're quite a honney. Tell your boyfriend I'm jelous.

[ChickieTeeta]

I'll have to mess with it further, but I think it has to do with the mesh object. However, I'll say, from the screen shots it looks like you've done a wonderful job at geting everything looking right. But, I know, there is a difference from looking right to being right.

I'll be honest, the texture I uploaded was not from my part cloner, because it's quicker for "me" to edit an individual texture. However the results should be the same.

I'm still installing stuff to bring my new PC back to where my old PC was, and Milkshape is one of the last programs still need to add. Give me a day, or a week, at the most, and I'll try to give you a more complete answer.

By the way, never noticed your avatar before, but if that's really you, you're quite a honney. Tell your boyfriend I'm jelous.

The photo is a few years old, but that's me, and thank you.
The closest thing I've got to a boyfriend is a pixellated monarch, I tried to tell him but there seems to be a language....and sanity barrier lol

There's no rush for the answer, I'll use it the way it is just now, so take your time, and I have a new problem :) . I removed the chest piece but nothing I do will get rid of the leathery look.

Same process as the last one, I layered Tummyza's nude skin behind it. I've tried removing the piece from every file, I've made alphas for every file affecting that part, I've tried it inverting the alphas, but nothing seems to change it. I'm wondering if it might be a combination of 2 files affecting it, or something else entirely.

This is it truly transparent, the shading from under the arms lies across one side of his back too, not pretty.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/2/4/8/8/5/MTS_ChickieTeeta-1273136-spychestoutofline.jpg
With the nude skin layered behind and the leathery look, that won't go away. (I realize there's a width discrepancy between the 2 skin files here, but I can fix that)
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/2/4/8/8/5/MTS_ChickieTeeta-1273137-spychestleathery.jpg

I think the best long term solution is probably to learn how to get the actual nude file to line up correctly with any given mesh, but in the meantime, any ideas you have would be appreciated.
I was going to remove the solid leg covering from the consort's dress, but I assume that will have the same texturing problem if it doesn't line up correctly as well.
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/2/4/8/8/5/MTS_ChickieTeeta-1273145-S3_626F60CE_00000000_D830151E990664DD.png
Thank you for all your help so far and Happy Valentines Day

[grimreefer24601]

Alright, I guess I did get around to installing Milkshape already. However, it seems the chest hair is a texture alignment issue only. Actually, I should have noticed that last night. I think your best bet is to add the chest just like you've done. In the Sims 3 clothing is added over the nude mesh, but in Medieval the clothing mesh seems to replace the nude mesh. Take your consort dress for example. The nude parts are included in the clothing geometry. Sadly, there is no one fix for all of the meshes, and you'll just have to figure out what works best in each scenario. Welcome to modding.

The consort dress looks like it should line up correct with the nude texture. The more skin showing on the original texture, the more likely alignment will be ok.

I may be reading it wrong, but I'm not understanding the issue you have with the mask. The sword and slashes are on the alpha channel of the mask texture. I have no issue removing them for being recolorable.

The leather look comes from two places. First is geometry. Second is what's called a normal map. Sorry, but my cloner doesn't pull this texture for you mainly because of where it's located. In the geometry files. I haven't gotten into parsing these masssive files. You can figure out what file is used in a couple of ways. The one I use is loading the geometry into Milkshape, and looking at the comments on the Group tab. If you don't have Milkshape you can open your full or delta build package, and look for it by name. It should be named similar to the other textures, but have a _n in the name. In this case the file name is amBodySpy_n. This texture is basically a bump map, and its usually created by modeling software. Not texture artists. You can however just fill the texture with neutral gray to smooth everything out.

I've already pulled this texture, so I'll put it here if you want to use it. Just pop it in your packages after you smooth it out. It should be named correctly for import into S3PE.

I hope this is helpfull, and it doesn't deter you from working on this stuff. If you think dealing with EAs textures is difficult you should try working with their code. Sometimes I think they have a group of trained monkeys making this stuff.

[ChickieTeeta]

In the Sims 3 clothing is added over the nude mesh, but in Medieval the clothing mesh seems to replace the nude mesh.
I recently made a dress shorter when I was messing around in milkshape only to find she had no legs, just feet.
I was going to ask about that at some point, but I figured one idiot question a day was probably enough for you =) this answers it, although I was hoping I'd just messed up somewhere.
I regrouped it with the nude mesh just to see if I could, and although the legs etc showed fine in game, it seemed to have messed up the clothing at the front (looked like it had all been pulled down the way) the back was still fine...she also displayed as completely flat chested in game, which might account for the messed up clothing?? Her butt also stuck out textured in the dress which wasn't overly attractive lol, The model looked just fine in milkshape though, so I didn't know what to alter.
I guess the answer is to not use the whole nude model? or to keep an altered version of the nude model for the purpose of replacing limbs? I don't have any real clue what I'm doing, as you know, just experimenting when I have the time, so again if you have the answer, I'd appreciate any help with this.

The consort dress looks like it should line up correct with the nude texture. The more skin showing on the original texture, the more likely alignment will be ok.
I'll keep this in mind, thank you.

I may be reading it wrong, but I'm not understanding the issue you have with the mask. The sword and slashes are on the alpha channel of the mask texture. I have no issue removing them for being recolorable.
I can remove them, but it displays the now non-recolorable area white in game (not solid white because I can still see the chest hair through it)

The leather look comes from two places. First is geometry. Second is what's called a normal map. Sorry, but my cloner doesn't pull this texture for you mainly because of where it's located. In the geometry files. I haven't gotten into parsing these masssive files. You can figure out what file is used in a couple of ways. The one I use is loading the geometry into Milkshape, and looking at the comments on the Group tab. If you don't have Milkshape you can open your full or delta build package, and look for it by name. It should be named similar to the other textures, but have a _n in the name. In this case the file name is amBodySpy_n. This texture is basically a bump map, and its usually created by modeling software. Not texture artists. You can however just fill the texture with neutral gray to smooth everything out.I've already pulled this texture, so I'll put it here if you want to use it. Just pop it in your packages after you smooth it out. It should be named correctly for import into S3PE.

I saw a bump map in Tummyza's package, so am aware they're used in this version of the game, I think they first appeared in TS2, not that I've ever edited one, I've only ever looked at a few to see where they affect a skin. I just assumed your cloner pulled out everything associated with the file. So thank you again for the solution, and thank you so much for including it, I'll take a look in the build package and in milkshape too for future reference.


I hope this is helpfull and it doesn't deter you from working on this stuff .
very helpful.Thank you so much, and no it doesn't deter me, I feel like I've learned loads so far with your help, so until I hit a brick wall completely, you're kind of stuck with my dumb questions :P
If you think dealing with EAs textures is difficult you should try working with their code. Sometimes I think they have a group of trained monkeys making this stuff.
lol does that mean given a typewriter and enough time, the EA team will eventually write the entire works of Shakespeare :P

[grimreefer24601]

The pulled down clothing issue sounds like a missing bone. I can't be certain without seeing it though. It could also happen if you didn't renumber the polygons. When adding or removing polygons you need to make sure you renumber them. The morphs use these number to know which polygons are the same on the different morphs. Under the Vertex menu is Sims3 VertexID AutoNum. It should work as long as you have the right amount of polygons in each morph.

The "butt sticking out" is due to not removing the polygons hidden by the clothing. As the game blends the morphs together things can look messed up. In game sims are almost never solely one morph at a time, so even if the individual morphs look ok, a morphed sim may not. Even if this wasn't an issue, you should never have polygons in a game mesh that will never be seen, to keep the mesh working efficiently in game.

The "flat chested" issue I can't be sure. Maybe if I saw it.

When you're trying to do this kind of edit you have to be very careful. Any number of things can go wrong while putting two meshes together. You're doing well if you got it to load in game. When I was working on my nude meshes, I failed several times even just exporting the models. When you start adding and removing polygons things can get messed up quick. I always keep incremental saves when working on something like this. I also make one change, and test. Then the next change, and test. This way if something doesn't work you can quickly get back to a point that did work.

Good luck. And remember, I'm happy to answer any question when I have time.

[ChickieTeeta]

The pulled down clothing issue sounds like a missing bone. I can't be certain without seeing it though. It could also happen if you didn't renumber the polygons. When adding or removing polygons you need to make sure you renumber them. The morphs use these number to know which polygons are the same on the different morphs. Under the Vertex menu is Sims3 VertexID AutoNum. It should work as long as you have the right amount of polygons in each morph.

The "butt sticking out" is due to not removing the polygons hidden by the clothing. As the game blends the morphs together things can look messed up. In game sims are almost never solely one morph at a time, so even if the individual morphs look ok, a morphed sim may not. Even if this wasn't an issue, you should never have polygons in a game mesh that will never be seen, to keep the mesh working efficiently in game.

The "flat chested" issue I can't be sure. Maybe if I saw it.

When you're trying to do this kind of edit you have to be very careful. Any number of things can go wrong while putting two meshes together. You're doing well if you got it to load in game. When I was working on my nude meshes, I failed several times even just exporting the models. When you start adding and removing polygons things can get messed up quick. I always keep incremental saves when working on something like this. I also make one change, and test. Then the next change, and test. This way if something doesn't work you can quickly get back to a point that did work.

Good luck. And remember, I'm happy to answer any question when I have time.

Oh this is another file I threw out when I was clearing out those folders, because I had nothing to go back to so would probably never have attempted to sort it as it was. If I'm trying to do something seriously I keep multiple saves, but I was only curious with this one to see if I could get the legs to show in game.

I didn't know about renumbering the polygons, thank you for telling me how to do that.

Yes I've made a few attempts at different meshes that wouldn't let me export, when I hadn't changed that much, so I was surprised when this regrouped and shortened mesh not only exported but showed up in game.
I had one mesh that crashed the game when it was clicked on, but I know what I did (or didn't do) with that one, and it was deliberate, an experiment borne out of curiosity to see what would happen, the game didn't like it at all. That probably makes me sound a bit dumb, but it helps me understand why something's important, or even if it's wildly important at all, and the consequences of not doing things a certain way.

You've said things here that a few months ago would have just made my brain spin, but now I have a 'slight' grasp of what it means, given me a sense of some kind of progression, which is nice.

Thank you again for your help and quick reply, and thank you for actually explaining what's going on as well as letting me know how to fix it. It's much appreciated :)

[grimreefer24601]

Glad to help. I'm thrilled someone is getting some use out of this tutorial. I feel kind of bad because I suggested more advanced sections, but I haven't added them yet. Several of your questions would never have had to been asked if I had. If more people were asking I'd get on it, but I get few questions about it.

I wanted to mention, since I forgot in my earlier post, when renumbering a body mesh make sure to put 5000 as the first vertex number. I almost totally spaced that, but had a reply about sliders on my male adult mesh that reminded me.

[ChickieTeeta]

Glad to help. I'm thrilled someone is getting some use out of this tutorial. I feel kind of bad because I suggested more advanced sections, but I haven't added them yet. Several of your questions would never have had to been asked if I had. If more people were asking I'd get on it, but I get few questions about it.

I wanted to mention, since I forgot in my earlier post, when renumbering a body mesh make sure to put 5000 as the first vertex number. I almost totally spaced that, but had a reply about sliders on my male adult mesh that reminded me.

Don't feel bad :) I'm happy enough to ask questions as I run into problems, if you're happy to answer them.

Thank you for the added info on vertex numbering, I haven't tried it yet so you're in time to save another question lol.

Oh the bump map worked, thank you, although it now looks weird in certain lights (mostly when outside) which I assume can be fixed by altering the _s image?, although I think I prefer the subtle look of the removed cross and slashes to the 'let it all hang out' look, so I may not mess around with this one anymore.

[ChickieTeeta]

The consort dress looks like it should line up correct with the nude texture. The more skin showing on the original texture, the more likely alignment will be ok.

And it nearly did, it was still off though, enough to be noticable.....and backwards lol She looked fine till I turned her round.
The knee shading is on the back of her leg, and a part on the inside of one leg is a triangle shape and lighter than the skintone, I lined it up with the nude file so I can see where the lighter part is coming from, I had hoped this one wouldn't be a pain to do :faceslap:

Which brings me to my next idiot question....when dealing with a transparent area, is there a way to add modified (re-aligned) nude skin textures to a package for clothing so the game 'sees' those instead of the actual nude file?
Layering the body part underneath a transparent area is ok, but only really good for the one skin tone unless you want to spend ages fiddling with the colors and have another parts color dictated to you based on the skintone you're looking for.

[grimreefer24601]

I guess EA just decided to put stuff whever they wanted to in the textures. Except for the parts that they intended to be nude or partially transparent. I'm sorry I can't give you a better answer, but I can explain why a game developer may decide to do it like this. Basically, It allows them to make texture detail higher on more important pieces, while still being able to pack more into a single texture. I really thought EA would have been anticipating the mod community and not gone this route, but honestly, there's plenty of other stuff they neglected or screwed up in this game, so I'm not really surprised.

I did look to see if I could find a pointer to the nude textures, but I haven't found one, and didn't truely believe I would. It wouldn't make much sense, because of the multiple skintones.

I don't think there's any other option to make these edits apart from modifying the UV coordinates on the mesh, and realigning the textures. It's not too bad to do on a part of the mesh, but a whole mesh does get time consuming. If it's just the leg swap that looks bad in game, it really shouldn't be hard to move those UV's around, but as I was looking closer it seems the chest may be and issue too.

There's a good TS3 tutorial on UV mapping here, http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=135136, if you're interested in giving it a try. Give it a look, and see if it's something you want to try.

Good luck.

[ChickieTeeta]

I guess EA just decided to put stuff whever they wanted to in the textures. Except for the parts that they intended to be nude or partially transparent. I'm sorry I can't give you a better answer, but I can explain why a game developer may decide to do it like this. Basically, It allows them to make texture detail higher on more important pieces, while still being able to pack more into a single texture. I really thought EA would have been anticipating the mod community and not gone this route, but honestly, there's plenty of other stuff they neglected or screwed up in this game, so I'm not really surprised.

I did look to see if I could find a pointer to the nude textures, but I haven't found one, and didn't truely believe I would. It wouldn't make much sense, because of the multiple skintones.

I don't think there's any other option to make these edits apart from modifying the UV coordinates on the mesh, and realigning the textures. It's not too bad to do on a part of the mesh, but a whole mesh does get time consuming. If it's just the leg swap that looks bad in game, it really shouldn't be hard to move those UV's around, but as I was looking closer it seems the chest may be and issue too.

There's a good TS3 tutorial on UV mapping here, http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=135136, if you're interested in giving it a try. Give it a look, and see if it's something you want to try.

Good luck.

I've given the tutorial just a quick glance just now, but from what I've seen it looks well written, well broken down and informative, should be good. Thank you so much for the link, I noticed a few other links in the comments section to other relevant tutorials, which I'm hoping are similar in style to this one.
I got the impression right from the start that EA didn't want this game to be added to by custom content creators, which is a bit odd when your target group is simmers.

[grimreefer24601]

I got the impression right from the start that EA didn't want this game to be added to by custom content creators, which is a bit odd when your target group is simmers.

My comment was similar, but not the same. I think EA made the game moddable. I have been able to do a lot. Just, many things we consider make TS3 moddable are the tools that people have made. We truely lack the modder base that TS3 has. Really, sometimes I swear I'm the only coder that messes with this game. That's a big downfall, because it means much more than just script mods. It's tools that open up the game to other modders. Where would we be if EA had changed the .package format, and it no longer worked with S3PE? Look at the sorry state of my CASP Cloner compared to the equivalent TS3 tool. I had plans for this and the tutorial, but I'm ADD, and theres too much stuff I'm already messing with, like the Jealousy you requested, which I have working, but isn't yet to a standard that I feel is releasable (I will get it though), and NPC pregnancy, and Pose Player (which is also possible, if I ever get the time), and my adult meshes .... I'd love to see more coders get into this game.

The texture issue may be an oversight, or they may have expected texture and mesh artists to have a higher level of ability. This is where I think they missed the mark, because making a texture change is often one of the fisrt mods a person tries. However, I can see how being able to use any part of a texture for any piece gives a lot more freedom to the creators. Think of trying to put a long, wide dress on the default nude texture. Because the legs are so close, it's bound to have overlapping issues. Since a long dress doesn't use the legs, doesn't it make more sense to ignore their placement to allow the important parts of the texture to appear correctly.

EA has been good to us making this game as moddable as they have while trying to allow their professional artists as much freedom as possible. As modders, we too can enjoy the freedom that we get if we work a little bit harder. Perhaps it's unfeasable to expect one person to make these changes. Remember, EA has people who only do textures, and people who only do meshes, and people who only do code. It actually goes much deeper than this, but EA doesn't expect it's best people to do everything.

Sorry, to go off, but this seems to be a common feeling on this game.

[ChickieTeeta]

My comment was similar, but not the same. I think EA made the game moddable. I have been able to do a lot. Just, many things we consider make TS3 moddable are the tools that people have made. We truely lack the modder base that TS3 has. Really, sometimes I swear I'm the only coder that messes with this game. That's a big downfall, because it means much more than just script mods. It's tools that open up the game to other modders. Where would we be if EA had changed the .package format, and it no longer worked with S3PE? Look at the sorry state of my CASP Cloner compared to the equivalent TS3 tool. I had plans for this and the tutorial, but I'm ADD, and theres too much stuff I'm already messing with, like the Jealousy you requested, which I have working, but isn't yet to a standard that I feel is releasable (I will get it though), and NPC pregnancy, and Pose Player (which is also possible, if I ever get the time), and my adult meshes .... I'd love to see more coders get into this game.

The texture issue may be an oversight, or they may have expected texture and mesh artists to have a higher level of ability. This is where I think they missed the mark, because making a texture change is often one of the fisrt mods a person tries. However, I can see how being able to use any part of a texture for any piece gives a lot more freedom to the creators. Think of trying to put a long, wide dress on the default nude texture. Because the legs are so close, it's bound to have overlapping issues. Since a long dress doesn't use the legs, doesn't it make more sense to ignore their placement to allow the important parts of the texture to appear correctly.

EA has been good to us making this game as moddable as they have while trying to allow their professional artists as much freedom as possible. As modders, we too can enjoy the freedom that we get if we work a little bit harder. Perhaps it's unfeasable to expect one person to make these changes. Remember, EA has people who only do textures, and people who only do meshes, and people who only do code. It actually goes much deeper than this, but EA doesn't expect it's best people to do everything.

Sorry, to go off, but this seems to be a common feeling on this game.

I'd actually meant in some of the things EA have said themselves, they pretty much say 'don't touch it' without actually saying it in those words.
Not allowing patterns in cas kind of feels like saying (when put together with their hints at not touching it) that we can't be trusted to not put the sims in denim jeans and other inappropriate materials for the time period (which admittedly, I do, I love jeans), I don't know, maybe there's a reason for not having patterns in cas as well.
But yes I suppose they could have used some other format than .package for the files, so maybe they were hoping someone would do something to it.
I understand all that you said here, and I agree, and I love the detail in the meshes and the textures, things you'd find textured on to the skin in any other Sim game have been meshed on in this one, but I often wonder if the higher level of detail is because they didn't want, or didn't expect it to be modded.
Can't say it doesn't blow me away when all I want to do is remove a necklace or a close fitted top to find the ties are actually part of the mesh and the necklace stands out from the skin, and the only things stopping me from taking them out, but before I even thought about doing any kind of re-texture, I was incredibly appreciative of their attention to detail, so the fault lies with me I guess :P
I appreciate the way they've done skin textures gives them freedom to make it look better (although I didn't know this was the reason for doing it that way till you said, and your analogy with the dress makes perfect sense as to why this would be a better way of doing it), and I'm willing to learn because I love this game, not abandon it because I feel not enough can be done to it, which I'm aware others did, which is sad.
I stopped re-texturing clothing some time during TS2, but now wish I hadn't or I'd already know how to work properly with TSM textures, so a part of my annoyance with the misaligned nude skins is purely with myself for not knowing how to correct this stuff already.

I haven't used the TS3 equivalent of your CASP cloner, but yours does what it's meant to do and does it very quickly, and a monkey (i.e me, lol) could use it. I like it's simplicity, and the speed at which you put it together and released it as well was amazing. I think you're too hard on yourself with that one.

I wish there were more modders too, if only to take some of the weight off you, I considered begging the girl who makes meshes and skins at All About Style to take pity on us since she goes in for historical clothing quite a lot. And if the creator of pose player wants to make one for us I'll even buy them the game so they can look into it but hugs to you for adding it to your list. You are awesome, we all think you're awesome here, I'm sure anyone who posts here would agree with me, and I do realize we'd be completely lost without you. I actually worried the other day what would happen to what's left of the interest in this game if you decided to move on to something else.
If you can make no jealousy and get pose player to work in TSM I'll buy you a game of your choice off Steam to show my appreciation of all the effort you put into this (a serious offer....as long as you don't move away from us to mod that one of course :D ) we don't expect you to make all the changes, it just seems to be that you're the only one around who can, like I said I'd like to see more modders too if only to take some of the stress you must feel on occasion off of you (((hugs)))
I was going off this quote "Perhaps it's unfeasable to expect one person to make these changes." Perhaps I read it wrong, but I wouldn't ever want you to feel under valued, or that you have to make these things because no-one else can, you don't, we'll appreciate all you've done just the same :)

[Iam4ever]

For the 3d modeling will Daz 3d work?

I was wondering because I was able to get if fro free, they are still giving it away for free actually...

[Silverprinz]

I have a question, pertaining to this tutorial. I made a clone of the King's outfit, exactly the same one that the tutorial uses. I put it in my mods folder, it works fine... only thing is it is not a unique clothing object but rather a replacement for the standard one it was cloned from. The game only shows one of them. Where did I go wrong? I am attaching the package and a screenshot in CAS.

[Kamilia1010101]

I've also had troble with mods in sims medieval but this was really helpful :)

[Silverprinz]

Ok, aside from the fact that I do not seem able to create a unique clothing package this way, the one I make only replacing the one it is cloned from in the game. I also do not seem to be able to change the _o.dds image correctly. I am a poor boy so I can not afford high end stuff like photoshop so am trying to do this with gimp (yes I have a dds plug in for it) does anyone out there use gimp for this? Can you please give me a run-down on the proper settings, when to turn on mipmaps, etc?

I do not fault the tutorial for my failure in this attempt to follow it, I am the dumb one here. It seems all of you are like programmer/artists or something... I am not. Can anyone help a 10-thumbed goof like me or should I just give up?

[ChickieTeeta]

Ok, aside from the fact that I do not seem able to create a unique clothing package this way, the one I make only replacing the one it is cloned from in the game. I also do not seem to be able to change the _o.dds image correctly. I am a poor boy so I can not afford high end stuff like photoshop so am trying to do this with gimp (yes I have a dds plug in for it) does anyone out there use gimp for this? Can you please give me a run-down on the proper settings, when to turn on mipmaps, etc?

I do not fault the tutorial for my failure in this attempt to follow it, I am the dumb one here. It seems all of you are like programmer/artists or something... I am not. Can anyone help a 10-thumbed goof like me or should I just give up?

I've heard of people using gimp for TS3 so I'd say it's the same, and it should work fine for you.
I've never used gimp, so I don't know why you can't edit it....at a guess if you can't touch it at all, try inverting the alpha channel and see if you can edit it then. A wild stab in the dark, and probably not what your problem is.
I use a converter for dds as my version of psp is quite old now, but for me different items use different settings. Most things will work on Nvidia dxt5. If you're still talking about hair, I'd try dxt5 first, I don't know what other options you have available to you, since I know my converter has different options to Grim's paint program, so I don't know if Gimp is different again.

Here's what Grim says in the tutorial
Now we just need to save the file. Make sure the image is only on one layer by collapsing layers as necessary. Also, I get an error if I try to save a DDS with anything selected, so deselect everything. Click File->Save. A new dialog should show up for the DDS properties. Sorry my software isn’t getting a screen shot at the moment for this dialog. You need to select DXT5 ARGB 8 bpp | interpolated alpha from the drop down menu, and you must make sure Generate MIP Maps is selected. Click save.

As for your one replacing the game file, it must be using the same id. Did you extract the file using the cloner, or take it out the build files yourself?....the cloner should create a new id for you from what I recall.
If you're using the files from this thread you may have to update the instance ID to make them unique, I didn't download them so I don't know. I would imagine they're different to the game one, since I'm sure Grim would have done it this way......unless you mean your one is overwriting Grim's one, in which case you have to change the instance ID to get yours to appear as well as his.
Again just guessing.

I downloaded your overlay file and I can edit it fine in psp.....try saving it in another format and see if it will let you open that and edit it, then when you're done save it as a dds before importing into S3pe. I really don't know how gimp works, but I assume this is feasible. You could try making a small but noticeable change to see if this method works for you and checking it in game, before you move on to work on it properly.

[grimreefer24601]

This tool, like other TS3/TSM tools, uses the objects name to create the unique identifier for the game. It's an FNV64 hash. Google it if you want the specifics. Ultimately, to make a unique clone you only have to give it a unique name.

As for files created in GIMP or any other program, the output files is all that matters. I suspect you problems heart lies in the non-unique clone. Try giving your clone a unique name, and therefore a unique FNV64 hash tag.

[Silverprinz]

This tool, like other TS3/TSM tools, uses the objects name to create the unique identifier for the game. It's an FNV64 hash. Google it if you want the specifics. Ultimately, to make a unique clone you only have to give it a unique name.

As for files created in GIMP or any other program, the output files is all that matters. I suspect you problems heart lies in the non-unique clone. Try giving your clone a unique name, and therefore a unique FNV64 hash tag.
====
Ok, I guess my computer just can not handle this stuff or something then, because I followed the tutorial exactly, used the same names, used the cloner, and used the files made by the cloner --- and got a non unique part for all my efforts. sorry, I give up.

[Cuniculosa]

Okay, I'm trying to get it to run in wineskin, and it looks like it could work if it could find the files to clone (the window's there with the dropdown menus, but they're completely blank). I tried putting a folder path like the one it assumes in the .cfg into the wineskin bundle (C/Electronic Arts/The Sims Medieval) and plopping a copy of SASfullbuild2 in there, but the dropdown menu isn't listing any files it could clone. I don't know what the usual PC file structure is, so I'm hoping that it's just that the program's looking for packages in a currently nonexistent folder. So... would the relevant packages normally be right in the Sims Medieval installation folder, or should I put in a subfolder or two to place the packages in? Do I need to place copies of all the packages, or does it look for just one? Will it read any package in the right directory, so I could clone some custom content and have two versions available, or does it only get directed to particular files?

And, uh, let me know if I'm making any stupid assumptions about how the program would work.

[Silverprinz]

OK, so it seems that nobody is doing this anymore and that makes me sad. Well anyway, now that I have ditched Vista and have found that my current o/s (windows 8 pro) is more user friendly and has resolved some of the problems I had before, I want to make another try at this. Yesterday I downloaded 3 TS3 eyepatches, converted them to TSM files and put them in my game. I again find the old non-unique part issue cropping up. Although all 3 of them work fine in the game only whichever one I drop into the mods/packages/whatever folder last will be the one the game uses. This must mean that all were cloned from the same source and are not unique even though all have different package names.

From what I read before it seemed to say that giving a package a unique name would fix this but it does not. If in my ignorance I have misunderstood how to make a cloned package unique, please forgive that ignorance and enlighten me. It is such a shame to have come just far enough to make a clone only to find I can not then use it without loosing the original it was cloned from.

Help, please? (I did not want to upset anyone by posting the files, since I have not yet sought permission to distribute them; being as how they are not yet ready to be posted for distribution.)

[ChickieTeeta]

OK, so it seems that nobody is doing this anymore and that makes me sad. Well anyway, now that I have ditched Vista and have found that my current o/s (windows 8 pro) is more user friendly and has resolved some of the problems I had before, I want to make another try at this. Yesterday I downloaded 3 TS3 eyepatches, converted them to TSM files and put them in my game. I again find the old non-unique part issue cropping up. Although all 3 of them work fine in the game only whichever one I drop into the mods/packages/whatever folder last will be the one the game uses. This must mean that all were cloned from the same source and are not unique even though all have different package names.

From what I read before it seemed to say that giving a package a unique name would fix this but it does not. If in my ignorance I have misunderstood how to make a cloned package unique, please forgive that ignorance and enlighten me. It is such a shame to have come just far enough to make a clone only to find I can not then use it without loosing the original it was cloned from.

Help, please? (I did not want to upset anyone by posting the files, since I have not yet sought permission to distribute them; being as how they are not yet ready to be posted for distribution.)

It's what's inside the package that has to be unique.
This is why something like my no jealousy/auto woohoo mod and Shimrods seduce/execute mod will conflict, they have the same instance ID, but they have to so they can over ride the game file which also has the same instance as both mods.

[Silverprinz]

OK so I totally missed the mark then, remember the comment earlier about trained monkeys? Well the problem here is this monkey (me) is not trained very well yet. So if you have the patience of Job can you perhaps guide me like the untrained lab pet I am? Please, if you can bear it explain to me which file I need to change and how I need to change it. Do I simply rename a file, delete the old one and import the one with the new name or is there more to it? And of course I have no idea which file to mess with.

Along these same lines of monkeying around, I have been trying to make a wearable apron work and have gotten it to display (sort of) in my game. I do think some major rework will be needed but do not know exactly what or how to start. Do I need to deconstruct the whole package and build a new one following the tutorial, and making changes or what? I zipped some screenshots and the package and will attach them.

===oh how rude of me, sorry====
I got all wrapped up in trying to think (not easy to do) and went and forgot to thank you. From the bottom of my old pea-pickin' heart I thank you for taking the time to address my last post. If you and I were sims then I would bow and kiss your hand.

[ChickieTeeta]

I sent you a pm about the eye patches.

[Silverprinz]

Got it, sent answer back too. Thanks.

[grimreefer24601]

Ok, I'm coming in late, but have tried to get up to date on the topic. To generate a unique guid you have to clone the object with a unique name. It's not about the package, it's about the guid. ( Global Unique Identifier ). When you clone an object, using my cloner, you must rename it in the cloner for it to be unique. (The cloner does a lot of steps for you, so if you don't use it you have to do it all in hex) Now I've seen some misses with this, but they are rare. FNV64 is pretty tight.

[ChickieTeeta]

Ok, I'm coming in late, but have tried to get up to date on the topic. To generate a unique guid you have to clone the object with a unique name. It's not about the package, it's about the guid. ( Global Unique Identifier ). When you clone an object, using my cloner, you must rename it in the cloner for it to be unique. (The cloner does a lot of steps for you, so if you don't use it you have to do it all in hex) Now I've seen some misses with this, but they are rare. FNV64 is pretty tight.

It was errors in the casp files that were stopping them showing up together. I re-did the casps and sent them back so he could see what needed changed. I thought it was the instance IDs at first as well, given the nature of the problem, and was surprised to see there were no conflicts.
Welcome back again btw, great to see you around.

[nicolien76]

hi guys, i have a question. i have downloaded some dresses and converted them via sp3 for medieval. they show up nicely in game but in stead of the arms hanging down the sides, her hands disapear in her skirt (maybe she has an itch i dont know lol) is there anyway to fix this?

ps: when she moves you see her hands but when she stands still they disapear again

[ChickieTeeta]

It's a difference in the meshes, so unless you can use something like milkshape, then it's not fixable.

[nicolien76]

It's a difference in the meshes, so unless you can use something like milkshape, then it's not fixable.


i have milkshape, but so far i am only able to rescale hair and make a skirt longer, in the geom files are two bodyfiles, i have tried to rescale the arms but no effet. i have to say i am a noob :( i tried Grimms tutorial but its to advanced for me..ah well the dresses are worth it. ill see if it bothers me....i did want to ask you though, how did you recolor the grass?? im in love with the purple

[grimreefer24601]

It sounds like your running into a bone issue. As ChickieTeeta said, it can be fixed in Milkshape, but it is one of the more advanced edits. I'm still in the process of reinstalling stuff, so I can't walk you through it right now (I need a refresher), but I'll try later.

[ChickieTeeta]

i have milkshape, but so far i am only able to rescale hair and make a skirt longer, in the geom files are two bodyfiles, i have tried to rescale the arms but no effet. i have to say i am a noob :( i tried Grimms tutorial but its to advanced for me..ah well the dresses are worth it. ill see if it bothers me....i did want to ask you though, how did you recolor the grass?? im in love with the purple

They're just image files in the build packages. There's a few grass ones and they're layered really nicely in the game, so you can get some nice effects. The purple ones were just a recolor of the texture already used. The snow ones are a complete texture overhaul.

And speaking of nice effects, there's a tree that's quite strange. It can't be directly edited, but it seems to take the colors of the other trees and mix them to color it's own leaves, so you get one tree that's completely different from the rest. It's the tree that stands at the back beyond the knight's yard. If you're going to recolor or re-texture things, it's worth doing the trees so you can see this tree at work for yourself. I've taken to calling it the magic tree now.
(I don't really want it's process broken down and explained to me just yet, I'm very happy with this little piece of magic in the corner of my kingdom lol)

[nicolien76]

It sounds like your running into a bone issue. As ChickieTeeta said, it can be fixed in Milkshape, but it is one of the more advanced edits. I'm still in the process of reinstalling stuff, so I can't walk you through it right now (I need a refresher), but I'll try later.


i will wait patiently, thanks in advance though :) i did find a tutorial
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=482467
to combine two different meshes but got lost a long the way lol

and chickyteeta thank you very much i will defenetly try that! :up:

[nicolien76]

will it help if i send you one of the dresses?

[grimreefer24601]

I can get the models I need. I'm just a bit rusty pn everything right now, so I may have to work back through my own tuts. I spent half the day yesterday trying to figure out why S3PE was breaking my packages. Any save I made, even one's that had no changes, wouldn't load. I still don't know what fixed it. I still got to get milkshape back on my PC, and need to take some time to look into it in depth. Hopefully it won't take me too long, but I can't pin a date on it. This is something I know many people would like so I'll do everything I can.

[nicolien76]

I can get the models I need. I'm just a bit rusty pn everything right now, so I may have to work back through my own tuts. I spent half the day yesterday trying to figure out why S3PE was breaking my packages. Any save I made, even one's that had no changes, wouldn't load. I still don't know what fixed it. I still got to get milkshape back on my PC, and need to take some time to look into it in depth. Hopefully it won't take me too long, but I can't pin a date on it. This is something I know many people would like so I'll do everything I can.

im in no hurry, im just glad you are willing to help as i know its a lot of work, i did manage to change my grass in game so im verry happy at the moment :D

[grimreefer24601]

Ok, I think I've figured out your issue nicolien76. Is this what's happening?

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1347345-before.jpg

This is actually a Bone Delta issue, and can easily be fixed if you have TS3 and any expansion that this model relies on. This one only used the Base TS3 game.

Open the package you're trying to convert, click on the CASP, and scroll all the way to the bottom of Preview panel. There is a section called "--- CountedTGIBlockList: TGIBlocks (0x21) ---". In this section you can find the instance of the TS3 Bone Delta file used with this model. Look for entries that are of type "0x0355E0A6" (TGI is Type, Group, Instance).

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1347346-casp.jpg

These instances need to be copied from TS3's DeltaBuild0 or FullBuild0 package (if it's in delta use that one). You may notice that these files corespond to the thin, fat, fit, etc meshes.

Just copy those files to your package, and save it, you get this.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1347344-after.jpg

The hands are still kindof in the skirt, but that's due to the model itself. You could further modify the bone deltas of the arms to pull them a bit further out, but that requires some quaternion rotation (if you know what a quaternion is).

Also note this particular file has no feet. Youll find many TS3 models are absent feet, because shoes are separated in TS3, and not in Medieval. You could probably add feet in Milkshape using a model that has feet.

Also notice how the dress is black, it should be purple. This is a problem in the presets, and I'm still working out the details, but it seems CTU (the tool used to extract most TS3 clothing) doesn't copy the presets entirely, and uses clones from TS3. These clones don't exisist in TSM. Also, this dress, and others I've messed with, used patterns in their presets. This might work if they were TSM patterns, but so far I've had no luck bringing in patterns from TS3. You can however copy a know good preset, and replace the overlay, mask, and multiplier instance, and get a useable model in TSM.

I hope this help you and others a bit.

[Silverprinz]

Hmm, no feet? Or you could just put a pair of shoes on her. Hint: The boots I put on the sim in the screenshot are set up as an accessory.

[ChickieTeeta]

Hmm, no feet? Or you could just put a pair of shoes on her. Hint: The boots I put on the sim in the screenshot are set up as an accessory.

:D Awesome! How does she look when she walks?

[Silverprinz]

Everything appears normal so far. I am also getting closer to my naked tattoo and have made a custom skin that now stays on even when naked so should only be a matter of making the skin images. I will post it when I am finished and satisfied as to how it looks. I want to use the skin colors which I always use in my game so it probably will need to be delayed until I can get the CAS thumbnails changed, I have looked and looked but can not find the images.

The only problem I have noticed is that the boots and stockings stay on when my simgirl gets naked. Since in the casp file of both accessories I have naked false, I can not account for this. Any suggestions?

[grimreefer24601]

That's a nice hack/fix, but I'm positive that "normal" feet can be added to the mesh. It's truely a Milkshape / Modeling issue. If you're a 3D modeler I'm sure I could get you through it. If you're a newbie in 3D modeling, it will require more than just a simple explanation.

But, modders make sh*t work, and you've done just that. Great call, great work, great thinking outside the box. Really Silverprinz, you've done some great work here, which is why I personelly offered to help you.

One, Naked in a CASP has to do with sim reactions. I don't think Medieval sims have "those" reactions, so it a null variable. In TS3 if your sim ran around naked your sim would get responses from other sims. In TSM, as far as I can tell, there are no responses, so the flag is pointless. I've seen no other usage, in game or in code, for the naked flag.

Two, the nude mesh has feet. Your accessory is only covering up the feet, they're still there, or "not" depending on the model. Accessories are shower proof, from my TS3/TSM understanding, meaning they don't come off with outfit changes.

It's a good work around, but it's only a work around. I'm not trying to devalue it a bit, it's an awesome work around, but it will always suffer from these flaws. Unless ChickieTeeta proves me wrong (she's done it a few times), but on this topic, I doubt it.

[Silverprinz]

You are correct about the feet, and since they are slightly larger the toes will stick out a bit. A work around only, as you said. I never meant it to be anything more. Thank you for the info on the naked tag, I did not know that so I learned something, always good to learn.

[nicolien76]

Ok, I think I've figured out your issue nicolien76. Is this what's happening?

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1347345-before.jpg

This is actually a Bone Delta issue, and can easily be fixed if you have TS3 and any expansion that this model relies on. This one only used the Base TS3 game.

Open the package you're trying to convert, click on the CASP, and scroll all the way to the bottom of Preview panel. There is a section called "--- CountedTGIBlockList: TGIBlocks (0x21) ---". In this section you can find the instance of the TS3 Bone Delta file used with this model. Look for entries that are of type "0x0355E0A6" (TGI is Type, Group, Instance).

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1347346-casp.jpg

These instances need to be copied from TS3's DeltaBuild0 or FullBuild0 package (if it's in delta use that one). You may notice that these files corespond to the thin, fat, fit, etc meshes.

Just copy those files to your package, and save it, you get this.

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/3/3/9/5/9/0/2/MTS_grimreefer24601-1347344-after.jpg

The hands are still kindof in the skirt, but that's due to the model itself. You could further modify the bone deltas of the arms to pull them a bit further out, but that requires some quaternion rotation (if you know what a quaternion is).

Also note this particular file has no feet. Youll find many TS3 models are absent feet, because shoes are separated in TS3, and not in Medieval. You could probably add feet in Milkshape using a model that has feet.

Also notice how the dress is black, it should be purple. This is a problem in the presets, and I'm still working out the details, but it seems CTU (the tool used to extract most TS3 clothing) doesn't copy the presets entirely, and uses clones from TS3. These clones don't exisist in TSM. Also, this dress, and others I've messed with, used patterns in their presets. This might work if they were TSM patterns, but so far I've had no luck bringing in patterns from TS3. You can however copy a know good preset, and replace the overlay, mask, and multiplier instance, and get a useable model in TSM.

I hope this help you and others a bit.

that's it! TY very much :gjob:

[grimreefer24601]

Glad it worked, hope you'll share with us some of the conversions you make.

[Silverprinz]

I am still having problems making cloned clothing. Every time I make one, package it up, put it in mods and try to select it from its thumbnail in CAS; the whole body just disappears from my sim. I sure would like to know what I am doing wrong so I can make this work.

I do not know if it helps, but I attached a 7z of my latest attempt. :help:

[grimreefer24601]

You package is missing it's GEOM files. Actually your tatt one was too. My cloner changes the references, so if they're not included they won't show up. I say in the tutorial to add all the files, but you can technically get away with using only the base files.

Here's a pack I made up so you can see it.

[Silverprinz]

OK, my misunderstanding there, I did not include them because they were used to make the bgeo files and so I thought they were only for that. Now that I know where I went awry I shall re-steer my course and have another go. Back to the drawing board.... lol. Thank you.
----
That was the problem alright, now I can do this! I am grateful for the help you just gave me, really, thank you again.

[Amaryll]

I just used this tutorial to see whether I could make a 'new' mesh and get it into the game and it worked. So thank you for this information.

Unfortunately, I have come over an issue I am not sure how to fix. The meshes use normal maps, however, the cloner does not pull them, thus my file seems to use the normals map of the cloned item, which, of course, does not look very good. Any ideas how I could add a new normal map?

[ChickieTeeta]

I just used this tutorial to see whether I could make a 'new' mesh and get it into the game and it worked. So thank you for this information.

Unfortunately, I have come over an issue I am not sure how to fix. The meshes use normal maps, however, the cloner does not pull them, thus my file seems to use the normals map of the cloned item, which, of course, does not look very good. Any ideas how I could add a new normal map?

The normal maps can be found in the build files. They have _n in the file name.

[Amaryll]

The normal maps can be found in the build files. They have _n in the file name.

Yes. But the cloner renames the files for the new item, doesn't it? I don't know how to emulate that, so that only my new item will pick up the edited normal map and not the original one. Can I just give it a random name and put that in the XML? Will the game find it?

[ChickieTeeta]

Yes. But the cloner renames the files for the new item, doesn't it? I don't know how to emulate that, so that only my new item will pick up the edited normal map and not the original one. Can I just give it a random name and put that in the XML? Will the game find it?

Name the normal map in the resource box
hit fnv64
take a note of the new ID
export the xml(s) from the casp
open the xml(s) in a text document and change the entry for the normal map to your new ID (in every one that you exported)
save
re-import them into the casp
commit
save

*edit for anyone coming along later* this works for the multiplier, overlay etc but doesn't work for normal maps.

[Amaryll]

Thank you for the help. I was sure this should work, but unfortunately I cannot find an entry for the normal map in the XML file. Is the naming different? Or could the reference be located elsewhere?

[ChickieTeeta]

Thank you for the help. I was sure this should work, but unfortunately I cannot find an entry for the normal map in the XML file. Is the naming different? Or could the reference be located elsewhere?

You're right, it's not listed. The only times I've used them is to overwrite the game ones.
There are a lot of references to it in the geom files, so I'm going to leave you to Grim's superior knowledge now :P

*edit* written by bloomsbase (they were talking about a TS3 window I think, not sure if the process would be the same for clothing, but if you want to try something......) I'd make a copy of your package and keep the original as a back up and give this a shot.

Open the custom package
Add the normalmap DDS file
Give the file a unique instance number and fix the type and group number
Export the 3 GEOM files(Lod1/2 and 3)
Open each GEOM with Milkshape
Go to the comments in the groups tab
Change the Normalmap instance number from the first TGI into the one you changed on your added DDS file
Commit and export the GEOM
Import the GEOM back into the package
Do this also for the other lods

Grim will be along shortly to tell you this is all wrong and only for objects or something rofl (Hi Grim =D) I'd try this out myself, but I never got round to putting milkshape on this computer.

[grimreefer24601]

No Chickie, you've got the jist of what I would say. Thank you for helping what you can.

The only place I've seen a reference to a normal map is inside the GEOM files. I haven't broken them down, so my CASP cloner doesn't mess with them.

They are listed in the comments of the GEOM files in Milkshape. I've not messed with them to be sure that this is where the edit should take place. They are there. It's the only place I've found to reference the Normal Map files, so I guess that this is the place for the edit.

If you're inclined this is where you should start looking. Otherwise, let me look at it tomorrow, and I can give you moe info.

[Amaryll]

Thank you, the both of you.

After fiddling with the mesh and the UV map for so long, I am not worried about a little experimentation. The bump map is the TGIRef01 entry at the top of the comments page. I changed it to my new ID and the mesh shows up fine in game with the correct map. :)

[ChickieTeeta]

Thank you, the both of you.

After fiddling with the mesh and the UV map for so long, I am not worried about a little experimentation. The bump map is the TGIRef01 entry at the top of the comments page. I changed it to my new ID and the mesh shows up fine in game with the correct map. :)

So is the info I posted nearly correct? Just so I know for future reference...and should I ever get round to re-installing milkshape.
If it's not accurate, (which given what Grim says, it isn't) could you post an accurate instruction list?
I'm confused because those instructions say to open the GEOM files in milkshape and go to comments and edit the first reference, which seems to tie in to what both you and Grim are saying.

I'd love to see your new mesh btw :)

[Amaryll]

No, your directions were all accurate. I simply exported the normal map that belonged to the outfit I had cloned, renamed it in Sim3pe to match my new mesh, but left the number part alone (does that make sense?), then hit FNV64 for the new ID and exported it. I imported it into my cloned file and replaced the original map with my new one. In the lod1 file (I haven't made the others just yet, because I wanted to know that everything works before) I went to comments and looked for the ID of the original normal map. It was one of the TGI entries at the top. I changed it to the new ID, exported the lod, replaced lod1 in my cloned file with it and saved.

Here is a picture:
http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo307/SnowandEbony/S3/smwitch2_zpsad1e8e51.png

'Frankenmeshed' in the fullest sense. ;) I have used a texture by Sherahbim I thought would fit the style of the game. I have fiddled a bit with muliplier and specular and am content with the lighting all over, but the overlay still looks much too dark and saturated, although it is not actually. The stretching at the front of the skirt is due to the bone assignment. I used Meshtool and the female body mesh for a fast and easy fix, but it needs some fine tuning.

[ChickieTeeta]

It looks really nice, so nice in fact that the stretching is easily ignorable from what I can see in the screenshot....I know you say it needs fine tuned, are you going to upload it when it's done =D (although I'd be more happy to try it out now if you upload it as is =P)

Thank you for detailing what you did, much appreciated.

[Amaryll]

Thank you very much. :) I am afraid, however, that it is much more noticeable, when the sim walks. But I will share, as soon as it's ready.

[ChickieTeeta]

Thank you very much. :) I am afraid, however, that it is much more noticeable, when the sim walks. But I will share, as soon as it's ready.

I look forward to it.
I'm also going to start envisioning you as our future resident mesher if that's ok with you :D (Don't run away screaming btw I meant it as a compliment lol)

[grimreefer24601]

I have to say, Amaryll, your screenshots look great. I'm smiling like a new father to see someone making such great use of this tutorial.

Can you share with us an overview of your struggles to make this? I'm sure I've missed things in my tutorial.

I can't wait to see you upload you new outfits. If you need some specific help please PM me. I'll give you a good email that you can send me packages at.

[Amaryll]

Thank you. :)

I might actually take you up on that offer.

Well, I am still struggling and experimenting, but this is what I did:

I decided on recreating one of Sherahbim's outfits as a test and looked around the game files for meshes I could use for this and exported them.

Then I used your Cloner, cloned an outfit (the alchemist in this case), gave it a new name, made a new file in Sim3Pe, imported everything (I did not create a new _KEY file though; I simply imported the CASP file first and the _KEY seemed to just pop up along with it) and saved.

In MS I imported the meshes I wanted to use and hacked away at them, creating my "new" outfit.
At this point I did not pay much attention to bone weights, because I wanted to see what the Toolkit could do and there were missing bones anyway. But for the sake of better animations it might be worth trying to preserve them. I am still experimenting.

When I was content with the shape of the new mesh, I fixed the UV map and made the texture. I did this simultaneously, because the original mapping was pretty much all over the place. I "unwelded" the mesh, so I could move parts around freely.

Then I selected the whole mesh in the groups tap, and went to "weld together".
I have noticed that Sims 3 meshes seem to be big enough to weld them that way without issues, but in case there be any the mesh needs to be resized first (made bigger, welded, and made the original size again). Then I used Model Cleaner (under Tools) to split the mesh along the seams ("no" to everything, and then "ok").

Before exporting the mesh, I imported the lod1 (or better a part of it) from the outfit that I had cloned. I nabbed its comment and pasted it into the comment tab of my new mesh. Then I deleted the original lod, saved and exported my new mesh.

With the Mesh Toolkit I now replaced the bone weights of my mesh and created the morph files using the SM af nude body as reference.
I imported the morphes into MS to take a look at them and fiddle with them where I thought necessary. Toolkit usually works really well, but since a nude body is very different from a dress the morphes came out a little wonky, although it was only really noticeable on the fat morph. I am experimenting with a Sims 3 dummy at the moment to see if that yields better results.
The reason I chose the nude mesh is that most, if not all, SM outfits have their lod1 files seperated in parts. Those don't work very well with Toolkit. With Sims 3 meshes the bones might come out not assigned at all or not correctly, but the SM meshes all threw an error and exporting the meshes anyway led to the outfit being invisible in game.

The other lod files I created importing the lod 1, selecting it in groups tap, going to "weld together" and then using the DirectXTool to reduce poly count. I then used "smooth all" and exported the mesh as obj. I opened a new window, re-imported the original lod and then my exported lod2 (it might be necessary to rename the original one first), copied the comment from the original, pasted it to lod2, selected both in groups tab and used "weld together". This copies the bone assignments from the original lod1 to lod2. I deleted lod1 and used the Model Cleaner to split the seams.
Then I repeated all that for lod3.

When I had all lods and morph files I renumbered them with Toolkit.
I figured that since Sims 3 meshes explode if this is not done, I should do it for SM meshes as well. Since however this Tool is only for Sims 3 I could not renumber the morph files for teen and elder, thus my mesh does not have them. However, I just remembered that there is a Sims 3 plug-in that allows doing the renumbering in MS. So that way, I think, it should be possible to create all morph stages for a new mesh.

Then I built the BGEO files with Toolkit.

I opened my saved outfit file, imported the BGEOs, replaced the lods and image files and fixed the CASP and saved.
Since my mesh was in fact in one part I deled the lod1_X files. I did not replace the morph GEOM files in the package, I think, but I don't really remember. I was being really slap-dash, because I just wanted to see if it works. In fact I did only use the lod1 morph files to create my BGEOs, but I have not noticed a problem with that so far - the outfit morphes as it should.

God, I really hope that makes any sort of sense for you. That happens when I am trying to be short, apparently. :p

Btw. in the other thread you mentioned doing animations. So it is possible to import the SM skeleton into MS? Could you please tell me how?

[grimreefer24601]

Wow, Amaryll, it seems you've taken a different route than I knew about doing this. I have no idea even what the Mesh Toolkit you're talking about is. I guess I'll have to look into it, but it's great to hear how another tool can be made to work with TSM. You actually make a lot of sense to me, but I'll have to wait till I mess with the tool kit to know for sure.

As for skeletons, it depends on what skeleton file you're talking about. BONE files can be imported into Milkshape, and I go over that in this tutorial, so I assume that's not what you mean. CLIP files (bone animation files) can be loaded into Milkshape after converting them to SMD files using Wes Howe's AnimTool, but it errors in loading the skirt bone original matrix. This can be fixed by editing the RigFile.ini and zeroing out those particular matrices. Something like this:

"b__upper_skirt__" "b__Pelvis__" 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
"b__skirt_upper_Compress__" "b__upper_skirt__" 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
"b__lower_skirt__" "b__skirt_upper_Compress__" 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
"b__skirt_lower_Compress__" "b__lower_skirt__" 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000

This should make TSM SMD's appear right in Milkshape. I haven't messed a lot yet with modifying the animation from here, and using Milkshape, I think it would be easier to make a new animation from a base pose rather than edit one. Lately I've been on a TS3 to TSM kick, and have been trying to figure out to convert custom TS3 content to TSM. Meshes and animations almost work, so I'm trying to perfect the details, and then I hope to give you all a tutorial. I've tried to contact Wes for information on his AnimTool, but I have yet to hear back. If I know my simmer's he will be all too happy to help when he gets back. Otherwise, I have access to the file format, and I'll have to write a new AnimTool for TS3 to TSM conversion. Even then I'd love Wes' expertise.

_RIG files are the same in TSM except they are uncompressed. This makes them not work with other tools, but as far as I can tell this is the new format TS3 is also using, so hopefully someone will make a compatible tool or plug-in.

I don't know if I've answered you or not, if not please clarify what you mean by skeleton. I'm always open to helping people figure stuff out.

[Amaryll]

I think I have to apologize for what probably was a really stupid question. I have to admit that since I wanted to try Toolkit I only went superficially over that part of the tutorial and was sure it did not contain what I needed. I did mean the rigs, actually.

Btw. I have made another mesh based on the merchant one with the keys and I have found that if I make the hands a seperate part of the lod, using the body lod1 to assign their bone weights, and use the original dress to fix the missing bones of the other part I can retain all animations of the skirt area. This time Toolkit gave me no errors, so I figure I must have done something wrong last time.