Recolouring Roofs with Object Workshop (NEW Tutorial)

[Numenor]

>>> TUTORIAL <<<

RECOLOURING ROOFS with OBJECT WORKSHOP


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY
This tutorial explains how to create an additional roof colour, using SimPE's Object Workshop. The information provided are widely based on RGiles' findings about roofs; nevertheless, the method used here is different than the one explained by RGiles in his old tutorial, because in the meantime SimPE has gained the ability to automatically perform many actions, when creating a new roof.


:deal: This tutorial is also provided in PDF format. To view it, we strongly suggest to download the Foxisoft PFD Viewer (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php): it's free and small, less than 1Mb!

:new: Korean translation by Neirike can be found HERE (http://cafe323.daum.net/_c21_/bbs_download?grpid=RcUu&fldid=Gzyw&page=1&prev_page=0&firstbbsdepth=&lastbbsdepth=zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&edge=F&contentval=000CYzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz&selectyn=Y) (external link - free registration required)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WHAT YOU NEED:

SimPE: get the latest version at sims.ambertation.de; this tutorial applies to SimPE v.50b and newer.
The Nvidia DDS Utilities: get them from this page (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_utilities.html) and install them; then, start SimPE, select the menu Extra / Preferences and fill in the field "Nvidia DDS Tools" with the exact installation path.


PRELIMINARY STEP - ACTIVATE SIMPE'S "ADVANCED MODE" (needed only once)
The most recent versions of SimPE correctly manage roofs, fences and neighborhood objects; but these objects are visible ony when SimPE is in "Advanced Mode". To activate it, select the menu Extra -> Preferences, choose "SimPE Settings" and *check* the "Advanced Mode" option. Click OK and restart SimPE
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161008 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161008)
:cool: HINT: The Advanced Mode makes SimPE run a little slower; you can deactivate the option when you are done with the roof.


STEP 1 - START OBJECT WORKSHOP
There are different ways to start Object Workshop; the best way is to use the "Object Workshop" button located at the bottom of the screen; if you can't see it, select the menu Window / Object Workshop. (Don't confuse this menu entry with the one located in "Tools / Object Creation": that is a different version of OW that doesn't provide all the features of the main one).
Then click the Start button.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158516 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158516)
:cool: HINT: Use the "Start" button to recolour Maxis stuff (objects, roofs, fences, NH objects...); use the "Open" button to recolour custom objects.


STEP 2 - CREATING THE ROOF RECOLOUR PACKAGE
When you click the Start button, SimPE loads all the available objects, including the roofs (just wait a minute for SimPE to load them all). When the object list is ready, you can select the roof you want to use as a base for your recolour; in this tutorial, we'll recolour the "Burnt Red Tile", located into Other -> Roofs. Open the "Other" category and "Roofs" sub-category by clicking on the "+" mark, as shown in picture. Then click Next
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161009 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161009)

After having hit "Next", you are given only one choice: "Clone"; don't change any option, just click Start.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161010 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161010)

Choose a name and description for your custom roof (don't change the price: leave it to zero); then click "Finish".
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161011 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161011)

When the "Scenegraph Rename Wizard" window appears, don't change anything, just click "OK"
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161012 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161012)

The "Save As..." window opens up: choose a suitable name for your recolour package and click "Save".
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161013 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161013)


STEP 3 - REPLACING THE TEXTURES
In a matter of seconds, the recolour package is created and opened for you to edit.
Select the Plugin button in the bottom of the screen, then select Texture Images (TXTR) in the Resource Tree. In the right part of the window, you'll see several "Texture Image" entries; select the first one and click the Export button.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161014 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161014)

Save the texture somewhere on your hard disk (you can optionally assign a custom name, but it's not necessary).
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158522 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158522)
:cool: HINT: The best choice is to save the image in .png format, because the alpha channel (that stores information about the texture transparency, if any) will be stored along with the image; but if your favourite paint program doesn't support the .png images, you can save in .bmp format. Note: if you change the format to .bmp, you have to manually add the ".bmp" extension to the filename!

Do the same with all the other textures: select in turn all of them, except the "...-bump_txtr" one (that doesn't need to be modified), click the "Export" button and save them onto your hard disk.

Now you have to edit all the textures that you have exported onto your hard disk; read the hints and tips about editing the roof textures in Post #2.

When you have edited and saved the textures, it's time to import them back into SimPE.
For each texture (again excluding the "...-bump_txtr" one), right-click on the image and choose Build DXT.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158523 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158523)

The DDS Builder window will open up. Click Open and browse to your edited image (be sure not to confuse the different textures). Before building the image, check the Format drop-down list, in the DDS window and choose DXT1 format. Then click Build, and your image will be loaded into SimPE, replacing the original one. COMMIT AND SAVE.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158524 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=158524)
:cool: HINT: In the DDS window, you should always check the "Format" field, and choose the most suitable format for your image: the most used formats are "DXT1" for opaque images (that do no have any transparecy) and "DXT3" (for images with transparency) The other formats are rarely used: select them only if you have a specific reason for doing so.
:here: FAQ: Why should you use the DDS utilities, instead of the easier "Import" button? Because the DDS utilities, in most cases, ensure a better looking result (the "Import" button uses a compression routine that tends to lose details, thus creating inaccurate textures); this is mostly true with transparent textures. Moreover, the DDS utilities let you import images with different sizes than the original one, which is impossible with the standard "Import" function.

Import using the "Build DXT" function all the textures, then COMMIT AND SAVE.


STEP 4 - CHANGING THE GUID (not strictly needed but strongly advised).
If you never registered a GUID, just skip this step; but when you upload your new roof for other users to download, you should state that your roof uses a random GUID.
If, on the other hand, you are a creator and you have reserved a GUID block from the repository on SimPE site, then read on.
The roofs are identified by a unique GUID, just like the cloned objects; but the roofs can never create GUID conflicts with objects: a roof and an object can have the same GUID and nevertheless the game will run smoothly, without any problem.
When cloning a roof, SimPE automatically creates a random GUID for it; obviously, SimPE can't ensure that the GUID is really unique. The risks of conflicts are quite low, because the custom roofs made by users are very few. But we strongly suggest to re-use for the roof one of the GUIDs that you have already registered for an object (you can get a list of all the GUIDs you registred so far from the GUID Web-Frontend (http://sims.ambertation.de/reguser.php?&action=menu) on SimPE site). The GUID, in the roof package, is contained in the "Roof XML" file: select it and write your GUID into the "guid" field.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161015 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161015)


STEP 5 - MAKING THE ROOF COMPATIBLE WITH THE BASE-GAME (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)
The game can manage custom roofs (and custom fences, neighborhood objects, terrains, etc...) only with an EP installed. Without any EP, the custom roofs don't appear in the catalog.
There is a workaround, that will make your roof compatible with the base-game (without EPs), but this workaround might create conflicts in other people's games, so please read carefully the following instructions.
If you have provided a unique GUID for your roof, as explained in Step 4, then there is basically no risk in using this procedure: you can follow the instruction and make your roof safely compatible with all games.
If your roof uses a random GUID, you can make it compatible with the base-game, too; but you should state clearly, when you post your package, that your roof may create conflicts with other custom roofs.

Here are the steps needed to make the roof compatible with the original base game:

Select the Roof XML
copy the "guid" (which should be a unique value) into the following fields: "stringsetgroupid" and "resourceid"
copy the value 0x4C8CC5C0 (which is the global group for roofs, fences and stuff) into the field "resourcegroupid"
Commit the Roof XML
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161016 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161016)

Select the "Resource" tab, below on the screen
Select the Roof XML; change the "Group" to 0x4C8CC5C0; put your GUID in the "Instance" field
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161017 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161017)

Still in the Resource tab, select the Text List, and put your GUID into the "Group" field
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161018 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161018)


Save your package




You're done! Copy the package into the downloads folder and start the game: your custom roof will be available in the Build Mode catalog, in the Roofs section.


----------------------------------------------------------------




-----
Tutorials:Recolouring_Roofs_with_Object_Workshop

[Numenor]

HINT AND TIPS ABOUT EDITING THE ROOF TEXTURES

PART 1 - UNDERSTANDING THE ROOF TEXTURES

In a roof package there are several textures; in particular, we find the textures for edge, trim, under and bump; plus, obviously, the main roof texture.

The main texture, and the edge / trim / under textures are shown in the following screenshot:
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161433 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161433)


And the "bump"? The Bump Map is a special "overlay" texture that is used to give visual depth to a bidimensional image; it alters the way the light hits the surface, thus creating the illusion of a 3D mesh: look at the following screenshot, keeping in mind that in both halves of the picture is used the very same "plain and uniform grey" texture.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161434 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161434)

Quite astonishing, uh? :)
The problem is that not all the graphic cards have the ability to use and show the bump maps: we always have to keep in mind, when creating recolours with bump maps, that they may look ugly in someone else's game!
For this reason, in all the Maxis roofs, the bump maps are deactivated by default; instead, Maxis preferred to create detailed textures, that have a "3D look" even without the bump maps.


PART 2 - CREATING CUSTOM ROOF TEXTURES

The edge, trim and under textures are fairly simple: just use a uniform pattern, or a solid colour, that will match the main roof style; avoid using "orientated" patterns: vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines will look terrible in edge, trim and under!

The only texture that needs some work is the main one; you can use different methods to edit the main textures: as usual, the more effort and work you put in your creation, the better result you'll achieve ;)

Method 1 - Difficulty: extremely easy - Result: good, but not always...
The method consists in recolouring the main texture with plain, solid colours, and rely on the bump map for adding a touch of realism.
In order to activate the bump map, you have to open your package, select the Roof XML and change the parameter "mayusebump" from "0" to "1".

The result is quite good, even with the simplest recolour:
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161460 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161460)

In this example, I've coloured some parts in red, but the result would be equally nice even with a completely, uniform green texture, because the bump map adds the 3D details where needed.
But my graphic card can render the bump maps... How will the same roof look in a game where the bump maps aren't supported? It will look like this:
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161462 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161462)

Not so good-looking, uh? That's why I said that this method leads to good results, but not always.


Method 2 - Difficulty: easy - Result: quite good (always :))
We can leave the bump maps deactivated, and fiddle with the texture, in order to create a roof that will look the same in every game.
Download the "Roof_Template_Simplified" texture, at the end of this post, and recolour is using an orientated pattern: use a vertical pattern for all the green parts; for the red parts, try recolour it respecting the orientation of each single part. Look at the following example.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161470 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161470)


Method 3 - Difficulty: easy - Result: quite good (always :))
Another method to create good textures without much efforts, and with good results, is to re-use the "bump" texture contained in the package, and tweaking it in order to give it more contrast and colour. Just load the "bump" texture in you paint program, and fiddle with tint, hue, contrast, brightness and so on, until you get a satisfactory result.

The results, using this method, are basically the same as the Method 1, but in this case we don't activate the bump maps, and therefore there is no risk that our roof will look ugly in other games.
The only drawback is that the bump maps provided by Maxis are a limited number: if we all use them to create our recolours, soon we'll have tons of very similar roofs, around the forums :D

Method 4 - Difficulty: average/difficult (depending on your skills) - Results very good
The "hard way" to create a good-looking roof texture, complete in all its details, is to use the template that Maxis has graciously left in the game files :D
This is a preview: download the full image "Maxis_Template_Complete" below.
http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161477 (http://thumbs.modthesims2.com/getimage.php?file=161477)

You have "just" to edit each and every section of the template, changing the pattern and the colour, following the alignment references in the template.
Remember that the brighter yellow parts are the "top" junctions of the roof, while the darker yellow parts are the "bottom" junctions (where two descending roof sections meet).
As you might guess, it's a hard work, but if you have the needed skills, this is the only way to create a really brand new and original roof. Good luck! ;)

[Tschutschu]

Wow, I think I'll try one of the easy ways! I'm very bored by the Maxis-Roofs.
Thanks!

[Numenor]

Yes, I personally like Method 2 (for more original creations) and Method 2 (for easier but "standardized" roofs).

[Cilou]

Thank you so much for this new tutorial, it's a lot easier (for me) with this one ! Even I was able to do one recolor !! But it's not really good...

I wanted to make kind of a "straw" roof, to make little houses on the beach for example.
Here is a picture of what I've done (it's a random house so just look at the roof! :D ).
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/2025/snapshot906edcc4f0853c273fc.th.jpg (http://img36.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snapshot906edcc4f0853c273fc.jpg)

I'm not happy about it, because texture's repetitions are too visible. I'm not really good at texturing, I'm a beginner but I'd like to learn.
So please if you have any idea of what I could do to make it look better (I already tried some smaller repetitions, it's better for repetitions problems but it doesn't look like something "tropical" anymore :disagree: )
I suppose it would be better if I could find a texture that allows repetitions (I don't know how to explain this in english : you can repeat the texture but you don't see the repetitions cause the texture was made for this) but it's hard to find a repeatable texture of this kind :(

I give you my texture too, if it could help (I used Method 2) :
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9783/roofpalme33vp.th.png (http://img36.imageshack.us/my.php?image=roofpalme33vp.png)

Thanks in advance for any help :bow:

[Numenor]

The "textures that allow repetitions" are called seamless textures: there are many sites that offer seamless textures for free; and if you use PaintShop Pro or PhotoShop, you can transform any image into a seamless texture using the "Simple QuickTile" plugin offered for free on THIS SITE (http://www.btinternet.com/~cateran/simple).

I've copied your pattern from the image you've posted, and applied the QuickTile effect, and then I've tiled the new seamless pattern on the image.

A couple of suggestions (I'm not much of a graphic artist, but these are my findings with TS2... :)):
1) If the image has too much "sharpness" and contrast, the result will look unnatural: I've applied a very mild blur and reduced the contrast a little.
2) Specifically for the roof textures: the game always darkens the image, when rendering the roof; therefore, the original texture should have a slightly excessive brightness, if you want to find, in the game, the desired tint (I've enhanced the brightness a little).

Try and replace your texture with the modified one, that you can find attached to this post: I haven't tested in game, and anyway my modified texture is far from being perfect; but I'm quite sure that it will give a more natural look to your roof (please, post a picture of the result).

[Cilou]

Thank you so much Numenor !!

This plugin is simply fantastic, I can now make my own seamless textures! (thanks for the word, creating for TS2 is a good way to learn english lol !)

I tried with your texture and it's really better ! You're right about brightness, I knew this but I didn't enhance it enough obviously.
So, here is a picture of the new roof :
http://img429.imageshack.us/img429/6956/capturetoit23fj.th.jpg (http://img429.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capturetoit23fj.jpg)

Now I have to work on the edge and trim files to make it look more realistic.

Thanks again for your help and your advices ! You made my day ! :D

[Numenor]

Yes, now the junctions between the tiles are not visible any more.
I'd increase the brightness some more: the roof still looks too dark, compared to your original texture, in my opinion.

[tkdjunkie]

First of all, THANK YOU for this wonderful tutorial! It is very well-written, complete, and easy to follow. This is the first time I've ever made anything in SimPe that actually worked in the game. It's a small feat, but it made me excited! :jest:

The first thing I've tried making is a snow-covered roof. I made a snow ground texture (which turns out nicely in the game), so I tried applying the same texture to the roof. But it didn't turn out very well because the texture is darkened once it is applied. (The actual texture is attached along with a screenshot of the roof).

Can anything be done to prevent/lessen the darkening of textures? Is there a way to add reflective or transparent properties to a roof?

Thank you very much for your help!

[Numenor]

I'm afraid the answer is "no" for all your questions... I'm not sure 100%, but for what I could see, all the roofs use the same materials definition (called placeholder_roof_material_txmt). Changing its parameters would affect all the roofs at once (including the Maxis ones).

The only thing I can suggest is to enhance the brightness and (slightly) the contrast of the original image.

[tkdjunkie]

Okay -- thank you! :)

[Cilou]

Hi !

I finished my roof. I tried to make a straw texture for the edge and trim files, but it was all messy so I finally let them black.
It looks ok I think, or at least, I'm ok with it! :D
I uploaded it here : http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=862109#post862109

Thanks again for this great tutorial and for your help Numenor !

[Numenor]

Good work! The roof is very nice :)

As for the edge & trim, as suggested in the tutorial, the best choice is to use uniform colours: any pattern will look terrible!

[Airelda]

Wow - all this work just to get a new roof colour. I am grateful for the tute - it is really well written but I don't think I could ever have the time or patience to do this.

Why didn't Maxis stick with the old Sims 1 way of doing roof textures when we could recolour and retexture them as easily as a floor tile??

[missyorkiebar]

Hi, can you help me..I think I am going wrong somewhere! When I get to the part in the tutorial that tells you to right-click on the image and choose Build DXT, my build DXT is not highlighted..any suggestions?

Thanks A

[Cathriona]

Hi, can you help me..I think I am going wrong somewhere! When I get to the part in the tutorial that tells you to right-click on the image and choose Build DXT, my build DXT is not highlighted..any suggestions?

Thanks A

you probably don't have the Nividia DDS Utilities installed, or SimPE didn't find them. I had the same problem when I did my first recolor in Object Workshop - if you don't have the DDS Utilities, download them from Nvidia, there's a link from sims.ambertation.de and also directly inside SimPE at Extras/Options, if you don't have it installed. If you have them already, go to Extras/Options in SimPE and browse for the folder where you installed them.

[missyorkiebar]

you probably don't have the Nividia DDS Utilities installed, or SimPE didn't find them. I had the same problem when I did my first recolor in Object Workshop - if you don't have the DDS Utilities, download them from Nvidia, there's a link from sims.ambertation.de and also directly inside SimPE at Extras/Options, if you don't have it installed. If you have them already, go to Extras/Options in SimPE and browse for the folder where you installed them.

Thats great! thank you for your help! They were installed some time ago, so I found the folder again. :)

[Ben♣]

The DDS Builder window will open up. Click Open and browse to your edited image (be sure not to confuse the different textures). Before building the image, check the Format drop-down list, in the DDS window and choose DXT1 format. Then click Build, and your image will be loaded into SimPE, replacing the original one. COMMIT AND SAVE.
http://www4.modthesims2.com:81/getimage.php?file=158524 (http://www4.modthesims2.com:81/getimage.php?file=158524)
:cool: HINT: In the DDS window, you should always check the "Format" field, and choose the most suitable format for your image: the most used formats are "DXT1" for opaque images (that do no have any transparecy) and "DXT3" (for images with transparency) The other formats are rarely used: select them only if you have a specific reason for doing so.
:here: FAQ: Why should you use the DDS utilities, instead of the easier "Import" button? Because the DDS utilities, in most cases, ensure a better looking result (the "Import" button uses a compression routine that tends to lose details, thus creating inaccurate textures); this is mostly true with transparent textures. Moreover, the DDS utilities let you import images with different sizes than the original one, which is impossible with the standard "Import" function.

Can I use this when I recolor objects ? Because when I recolor, I always get a bad texture, and a bad result ingame (like big pixels...) so this might help me to win qualitiy, no ?

[Numenor]

Using the DDS Utilities should be always the first choice, in my opinion. Only in some rare cases (cartoon-style images of grayscale images) the DDS give a poor relsult.

[buntah]

Hey Numenor. Thanks for this great tut and the link to the seamless mesh filter (though I can't seem to figure out how to use that yet LOL)... but, I want to ask you. Since I have the Nvidia plugins for Photoshop, instead of using Build Txt, I just right click on the texture and choose Import DDS...is there any advantage to using Build Txt or is it the same thing?

I'm off to try to make some roofs now :-)

[Numenor]

No, it's exactly the same. But Photoshop is the only program that has a correctly working DDS plugin, that's why I always suggest the "Build DXT" way...

[niol]

Just wonder if it's good to create a local materials definition yet?

If that can be done, one can really play around many other settings. But, will it affect te shadowing effect and other graphical effects?

[Numenor]

Niol, as I've stated in post #10, all the roofs use the same built-in TXMT; I still don't know if there is a way to make the roof use a custom TXMT, but I think it's not possible.

[Mehrlicht]

Thanks so much,Numenor,and of course Thanks to all people who helped on this thread.
I am just a beginner at recolouring objects and I am very bad with Paint,Corel etc.But since I love this game I practiced and learned a lot...Just today I followed your tutorial and was able to recolor a Roof + a Fence.They work fine in the game!I am lost in Happiness(Yes!).Don't ask me if they are beautiful and well done..The answer would be "no", they are only poor recolors,but they are done and they work.For me it means a huge step.And its the result of your genial teaching.I am very grateful.Thanks forever!

[SaraSimgirl]

Oh thank you numenor!!!!!!!!! I always wanted to make my own recolors, and now i finally understand how!!!
first time i saw a tutorial about this i was like: :confused:
then i tried something: :wtf:
something did'nt work out::argh:
I dont understand this message!!!! :wtf2:
but now i díd make this fantaaastic roof. hahaha
thanks for the tutorial !

[CheetahBaby]

Thanks so much.. I just finished my 1st roof..a tin roof

[Numenor]

Well done! :) :gjob:

[alyson_m12239]

Hi it wont let me recolor can you tall me what im doing worg plz.

[Numenor]

Can you be more specific please?

You mean that you follow exactly the tutorial and the new roof doesn't appear in the catalog?

[Ghostsim]

Thanks for the greate tutorial! here is a picture of my first roof... a pink roof... :rofl:

[Numenor]

How nice! Good work! :)

[moonlight_muse]

Thanks for a great tutorial, very easy to follow :)
I also made my first custom roof today. I need to work on the textures a bit, but practice makes perfect ;)

I was just wondering about the unique registered GUID that I used, it didn't ask me to register the object, do I have to do that via the SIMPE site? And if I make another roof do I just use the same GUID again or the next unused number?

Also, the tutorial went well, but I did have a slight problem with importing back the txtr images. I could Build DTX on the main roof tile and my new image was imported, but for the 1st and 4th texture images, the picture loaded into the DTX view, but when I clicked on build, the new tile wouldn't show in the plugin view. I ended up just having to click on Import instead, which worked.
Did I do something wrong?

Thanks

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/muse2u/MuseChocolateRoof.jpg

[Numenor]

As for the GUID, I understand that it may be confusing, but the GUIDs used for roofs are of a different type, compared to the GUID used for objects; in other words, you can safely use the same GUID for an object and for a roof, without having any conflict.
Therefore, SimPE doesn't provide an automated way to register a GUID, because you don't need to register one. If you are an object creator, you are encouraged to reuse one of the GUIDs that you have already used in one of your objects.


As for the picture not appearing in plugin view, be sure that the image has the right size: both the height and the width must be a power of 2 (...16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, ...). Sometime, when you resize an image in a paint program, though you set a desired size of 256x256, the paint program might create a 255x255 image... At least, this happens with PaintShop Pro! :)

[buntah]

Hey Numenor. I finally got around to doing this. It's great! I made these two roofs on my laptop where I only have the original game installed, and I followed your instructions to assign my unique guid and that global guid the way you said to. And, I tested them on my big machine that has all the EPs installed and they seem to work fine on both machines and I still have all my default roof colors and some others.

I started with the subtle cream colored one, but then my ol' tacky side kicked in and I did the blue one LOL

Fun Stuff! I put them at my site in the free section if anyone wants them ... and, of course, thanked you there, Numenor ;-)

[moonlight_muse]

Thanks Numenor,
I understand about the Guid number now :D so that helps a lot.

Sorry to be a pain, but I'm still a little confused about the dtx box. I've made a few roofs now and sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.
The tile I most have problems with, is the last one (under) it exports at a size of 102, I leave it that size, take it to psp and colour without resizing, then dtx import back in. Should I resize it to 128? Also in the dxt format box, it opens at DTX5. I've tried importing it as that, and when that didnt work, I changed it to DTX1, but still no show in the plugin view, unless I just use the plugin Import button.

You're probably going to tell me its the resize thing again, lol, :p but I just want to be sure that I haven't got some kind of glitch in simpe.

I took a couple of screenshots of what I was getting when the image wouldn't export with dtx, maybe they will shed some light on what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks again for the help

[HugeLunatic]

Wow, this worked great for me to make downloaded roofs that otherwise didn't work, I only have TS2. Will this same process work for railings? I have downloaded some, one is ailas white wood railing, and I can't find it anywhere.

http://modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=147955

[Numenor]

HugeLunatic - Yes, for the fence you can use a similar method, but not identical 100%.
You can find the tutorial for the fences at SimPE site: LINK (http://ambertation.de/simpeforum/viewtopic.php?t=1751).
When following the tutorial, you have to choose whether to just "recolour" a Maxis fence, or create a new one, with its own mesh.
If the former ("recolour"), be sure to check the "Reference Original Mesh" option.


Moonlight_Muse - I'm sorry! I missed your post...
I don't know if you have solved the problem, but anyway a size of 102 is not standard: all the textures from the roofs are 512x512. I'm surprised that a texture extracted from a maxis roof is exported as 102x102... What roof are you cloning/recolouring?

[moonlight_muse]

Hi Numenor,
thanks for the reply and its ok, I know you're busy creating wonderful things, and having a life outside the sims, if there is such a thing, lol ;)

It's not so much of a problem, as the roofs work fine without resizing that tile. I was just curious really.
The main roof tile is 512 x 512, the under texure is 64 x 64, but the first texture file, the Edge texture, opens at an export size of 102 x 102

Attached Screenshot included below of what first opens in the plugin view, before any modification, using the Redroof tile, as per the tutorial.

Thanks again :beer:

[Numenor]

How odd... I never noticed it! :) You know, I've explained the recolouring process but I don't use it very often! :lol:

I see that the image format for this texture is "Raw24bit", that is unsupported by the DDS utilities anyway.
So, my suggestion is to edit the 102x102 texture without resizing it, and import it in the package using the "Import" menu, instead of the "Build DXT": since the image has no mip-maps, you should not have any image degradation.

[moonlight_muse]

Ah, well that explains why the "build DXT" won't import that particular retextured tile, lol.
I've just been leaving the size as it is, and then using the plugin button to import it back instead, which does work ok, so we're all sorted on that ;)
Thanks for the explaination, I appreciate it :)

[lazius]

Thank you, Numenor, for this great tutorial!
I always wished to have a simple black roof without any patterns but with a white edge in my game.
The only problem I have, is, there is no star which stands for custom content... What did I do wrong? This custom roof is my first recolor at all and I don't have any idea about my problem.

[Numenor]

What game do you have? Base game? Any EPs?

In step 5 of the tutorial I've explained a way to make the custom roof compatible with the base game: if you perform that step, your custom roof will be base-game compliant, BUT will lose the asterisk in the catalogue.

[lazius]

I have the base game and Universiity, Nightlife and Open for Business.
And I performed all of the steps you describe in the tutorial (except number 4 - I didn't change the GUID).
Does it means, everything is okay with my custom roof?

[Numenor]

If you haven't registered a unique GUID, performing step 5 will create a roof that potentially can create a conflict in other user's games. The chances are quite low, but if you plan to upload you roof to MTS2 you should alert the users about this potential issue.
On the other hand, if you created the roof for personal use, obviously there is no risk of conflicts; but then, the step 5 is useless, because your game is not a base game, and therefore is pointless to make your roof base-game compliant...

In other words:
- step 5 is optional, not required;
- if you are creating a roof for personal use, you should perform step 5 only if you have the base game only (no EPs);
- if you are going to publish your custom roof, and want to publish it as base-game compliant, you should register a unique GUID before performing the step 5; or you can avoid registering a unique GUID and omit step 5 (and the resulting roof will require an EP in order to work).

[lazius]

Thank you for the explanation, Numenor.
I plan to use my custom roofs in houses for my website and not to upload only the roofs. My houses are installable with the three EPs, so I don't need to make them base-game compliant, what means I can omit step 4 and 5... right?

[Numenor]

Right :)

[ParsimoniousKate]

I'm having some problem with roof recolouring - in 0.58 I noticed that its not possible to uncheck create standalone object when cloning a roof, secondly despite following the instructions my roof still over-writes the original it is based on as well as having a second instance of itself in the catalogue.
After doing the same method with 0.50b it works, however the roof thumbnail doesn't have the custom content flower which worries me - can this be fixed?

Edit: ignore that last bit - re-read the thread :)

[Numenor]

The "Create Stand-alone" option is irrelevant for roofs, so Quaxi decided to grey it out, as well as some other useless options. Don't worry about it.

As for the overwriting problem, have you used a unique GUID of your own, or have you just accepted the one suggested by SimPE (that should be random, anyway, and thus quite safe...)?
Try changing the GUID (remember to replace all the occurrences of the GUID, as explained in the tutorial).

[JM23]

Numenor: i need your help please. I did the tutorial * great tutorial Numenor* but when I got it into my game it was not colored green but it was sort of white. I know it is on my end would you be able to tell me what I did wrong??

I used the color green and followered you instructions to the tee. I did not put anything in for a guid number as I don't have one yet.

One more question when you do the build thingy do you change the top number in the box? I noticed your had a 7 there. * I did change all of the number to a 7 when it poped up. Could this have been the problem ??

Thank you JM

[Numenor]

Please, JM, post your package, because I don't understand what does it mean that the green look white... Are you really sure you didn't confuse the main texture with the bump map?

As for the GUID, as said, it's not a compulsory step to perform; therefore, it is safe to skip the whole GUID changing.

Lastly, about the number that you changed to 7: I don't understand what number you are talking about. Is it perhaps the "Model Name" that is suggested when the Scenegraph Rename Wizard pops up? The one that in my tutorial is labelled as "Do not change anything"? ;)

[JM23]

Thank you for replying so fast to me. I was talking about in the dds builders window I changed the 7 where it said levels.

But I went over it again and you were right it was the bump that came into the game. I have that fixed now.

Thank you for your wonderful tutorial and all that you do for us.

JM

[Numenor]

In the DDS build window, that "7" is usually automatically determined; if you didn't change the size of the picture, 7 is the right value.

In any case, whenever you are in doubt about this number, use a high number (for instance 12), and the DDS builder will cut it down to the right value.

[lazius]

With your help, Numenor, I made some nice roof recolors.
I tried to make a white roof but it does not work. The white recolor looks like light-grey in my game. Is it not possible to create a white roof?

[JM23]

In the DDS build window, that "7" is usually automatically determined; if you didn't change the size of the picture, 7 is the right value.

In any case, whenever you are in doubt about this number, use a high number (for instance 12), and the DDS builder will cut it down to the right value.

I noticed that my edge trim and under color is lighter than the roof. And this is not making it look like the real roofs. Should I darken these two to make it look better ? Just using basic colors. * No textures*

Thank you JM

[Numenor]

You mean that the roof you are editing has *no texture* for the trim? BTW, I don't understand... Are you talking about the "trim" or the "edge"? Look at post #2 to see the difference.

I thought that all the roofs had a specific texture for all the parts; what roof are you editing?

In case the textures do exist in your package, then it's perfectly safe to edit them, using colours more consistent with the main texture. You can change whatever texture you like: trim, edge, under and even the bump map (which I don't suggest, anyway).

[niol]

lazius,

May read posts 9 and 10.


placeholder_roof_material_txmt seems to be for the texture called "roof-manor"
Is it stdMatDiffCoef=0.8,0.8,0.8 that darken the roof so much? I'm thinking of the shadowing effect instead and a light mod...
Oh my goodness, the roof meshes...!

[lazius]

*urks* Sorry my inattention... Thanks, niol.

[fleshapple]

Numenor, to whom we are all appropriately reverent,

This is my first experiment with recoloring anything. My resuts weren't half bad, with only one fly in the ointment: from a distance, as in when I back the camera away to a larger field of view, the roof still looks like red tile. When I zoom in, no problem, there's my roof. What on earth did I miss?

Thanks for your time.

[IgnorantBliss]

fleshapple, did you use the Build DXT for importing your texture, or the normal Import? If you used the latter, you will have to Update All Sizes also.

[fleshapple]

I'm using the latest version of PE (0.58.1.29278), and honestly, when I right clicked the image as directed, the Build option was greyed out. Import worked, but as you noted, I may have to change the resolutions myself. Have I misstepped somehow during the process (which frankly, seemed pretty straightforward) to grey out the option?

Also, the "all sizes" option worked charmingly. Ty so much :)

Many thanks for your time :)

[IgnorantBliss]

See the beginning of the tutorial, it has instructions for getting the DDS Utilities.

[mappam]

Okay - I want to know where all you talented people are submitting your new roof creations - for us poor untalented folks :P

[IgnorantBliss]

Well, you can always upload to MTS2 :).

[niol]

Oh well, not a solved puzzle yet.. but hey what a "high-light"!

# texture, lit, normal mappedm, no specular
# modify this material for roof highlights
materialDefinition RoofTopHighlight
setDefinition StandardMaterial
addParam stdMatSpecPower 0
addParam stdMatDiffCoef (0.4, 0.385, 0.38)
addParam stdMatBaseTextureName roof-redtile
addParam stdMatBaseTextureEnabled true
addParam stdMatNormalMapTextureName roof-redtile-bump
addParam stdMatNormalMapTextureEnabled true
addParam stdMatBaseTextureAddressingU clamp
addParam stdMatBaseTextureAddressingV clamp
addParam stdMatBaseTextureAddressingW clamp
addParam stdMatNormalMapTextureAddressingU clamp
addParam stdMatNormalMapTextureAddressingV clamp
addParam stdMatNormalMapTextureAddressingW clamp

& an amazing imposter!

define ImposterRoofMaterial()
material
shader -layer ($stdMatLayer * 8)
vertexFormatPred position 0 true
numLightsPred $kShadeLight (numLightsOfType(${kShadeLight}))

pass
create NonStandardLighting()

shaderProgram -target vertexProgram -method assemble

bindConstants 0 -bindingID geomToClip -constantCount 4
setf invRoofTextureTiles (1 / 64)

shaderSource
vs_1_1
def c4, $invRoofTextureTiles, -$invRoofTextureTiles, 0, 1
dcl_position v0

m4x4 oPos, v0, c0
mad oT0.xy, v0, c4.xy, c4.zw
endShaderSource
end

alphaBlend srcFactor(one) add dstFactor(zero)
fillmode $stdMatFillMode
cullmode none # roof imposters are single-sided

create ImposterColorScalar()

stage
texture "roofs"

textureFilterHint bilinear bilinear
textureAddressing clamp clamp

textureBlend multiply(texture colorScalar) select(colorScalar)
end
end
end
end
enddef


Edited, but it's the roof top definition that affects the most.

[Numenor]

Where have you found these parameters? Is it a shader?
What is suppose do do the "clamp" setting? And what should be the third "Addressing", the one ending with "W"? I always see the U and V names...

[niol]

From this file in the .../material/material.package...
I'm still finding instances to learn how to use the "clamp", cutout" and others for the addressing... Sorry, I've not got to the point to use them with some certainty. The W has often been around, but I 've yet to really learn how to use it, too. And hopefully, analysing these scripts can help me learn how to use them...

Surely, I'll tell when I think I've got it.

[Ailias]

I always wondered why there are no WHITE roofs at all.
Now after try I know why...
the stupid game darkens them all...
My white roof look dull creamy
:(

[niol]

I always wondered why there are no WHITE roofs at all.
Now after try I know why...
the stupid game darkens them all...
My white roof look dull creamy
:(

Actually, the roof shader darkens the roof top so much by keeping only about 40% of the textural colour strengths. No wonder, white beomces grey. The creammy look is due to the shader has R the highest and the blue the lowest.

But, this is not a matter anymore.
Try out this mod with your custom bright light roof recolours/recolors

roof global mod for opaque bright and light roof (not just white)
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=1419790

Now, transparentcy is achivable with cares.
Hopefully even more can come out.


All,

Wanna help test it out in various game versions...?
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=192699

Just to confirm if it works and not causing any game crash in these game versions. Thanks in advance.. :)


Related thread linkage for roof-products modding:

lot files
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=ROOF
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=3ARY
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=WGRA

attic wall
Modding InfoCenter - Partitions: walls, fences, fence arches
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=106473

shaders
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Talk:ShaderRoof
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Talk:ShaderWall
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Talk:ShaderWallPS

threads
Mod the Sims 2 > Modding and Creation > Sims 2 Creation > Modding Discussion > Research & Development
Roofs > Roofs - Engine-Generated Geometry (Maxis Roofs)
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=318988
Mod the Sims 2 > Modding and Creation > Sims 2 Creation > Modding Discussion > Research & Development > modding - roof - material shader modded at the roof top texture definition
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=192699
Mod the Sims 2 > Social > Social Groups > Moo Tools > Roof Pitch Adjuster
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=328329
Mod The Sims > Modding and Creation > Sims 2 Creation > Modding Discussion > How Do I Change The Defoult Roof Colors?
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=225532

tutorials
Recolouring Roofs with Object Workshop (NEW Tutorial)
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=103082

[blake_boy]

Love the clear tute. Cheers Numenor, you mustve been sick of being called this, but, youre a genius, mate! Ill give this a try and see, it seems easy enough to follow

[Alafel]

There is a good DDS converter program that I have, and it works fine:

http://eliteforce2.filefront.com/file/DDS_Converter;29412

Convert the textures to DDS using this program, then just select "Import DDS" when you right-click on the texture. The quality will be retained and it's much faster.

[Numenor]

Alafel, thanks for the link, but the program you mention is exactly like SimPE, because it uses the same external DDS Tools by Nvidia.

From the link you have provided, scroll down and you will red this:

|---- Manifest ----|

The setup program has installed the following files:

|- Readme.txt
|- DDS Converter 2.exe
|---------------------
|- DevIL.dll ; open source image library used to load images in the previewer and
|- ILU.dll ; perform generic conversions such as PNG -> JPG, DDS -> TGA etc
|- ILUT.dll
|---------------------
|- nvdxt.exe ; nVidia's command line tool used to create DDS files
|---------------------
|- s3tc.exe ; older tool from S3 Graphics included as an alternative to nVidia's
|- vic32.dll

The latest version of nvDXT can be obtained from this link: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html

Of course, this tool is good for the other conversion features (different from the DDS), though they are not useful for this tutorial.

[burcu0701]

I wanna make realistic snowy-roof..Is it possible?

[niol]

I wanna make realistic snowy-roof..Is it possible?

may read post post 69 for the mod that can allow bright textures to show up on the roof.
Then, make out your own snowy roof recolour(s) or search for other available snowy roof recolours if any...

Anyway, it says the next coming EP has weathers for the sims including a snowy scene, so you may get that instead.

[onespiceybbw]

you are amazing. i think 85% of my mods are yours or have been influenced by you in some way. truly the "modfather".
;-)

[beehive]

I am new to this and I want to learn. I am following your instructions and found that I had this instead of what your instructions look like
I am using simspe 60b version

What do I do here with this . It says advanced open by group id then it says open by guid and after that it says open by crest name ? don't know what this all of this means

[niol]

beehive,

updated:
sorry, my eyes were getting blind... :P No, I didn't realise the pic was made smaller by the browser I was usiing that made me think it was the finder. I've learnt that lesson now :P .

Just click the "start" button for the in-game objects supported by the game itself as well as CEP, or click the "open" button to select the custom objects you wanna recolour.

or, you're trying to send a pic for updated infos for the advanced preferences?

[beehive]

Noil , I don't think that is the finder as I got it when I had clicked on the advance tab. I had object workshop open are you sure about this as object workshop was open .

tks for helping and can use more of the help

[IgnorantBliss]

Those options in Object Workshop show up when you use Advanced Mode, yes. You can just ignore them if you don't need them. You can turn off the advanced mode in SimPE Preferences.

[beehive]

I have followed the instructions and came up with my first roof. Now I did see where a guid number is recomended and I do not have one. How do I get a guid number.

I have the roof that is the instruction in my game but it will not show up in the catalog. So I use the other red roof for this. I hope that is ok for the instructions.

tks for all of you help

[neirike]

Hello, Numenor.
Thanks for the great tutorial.
I've made several roofs for my own, and I had a little problem that I can't fix by myself.. so, I ask you for help.

I think I did all right just like you said.
but the problem is, I 'cloned' the roof, but the original roof changed to the roof I made.. so that made two new roofs. even though I made one.
You know what I mean??
So.... original Maxis roof that I cloned disapeared.......
It's the same for custome fences I made. and custome contents mark(*) doesn't appear for some of cc I made.. actually, most of them.. so I can't delete in the game.. Why is that happen?

What is the problem? What did I do wrong?
Please help me~~ :help:

[Numenor]

Whenever a custom creations replaces the original Maxis one, there is a GUID problem.

Talking about roofs and fences, the GUID is created automatically by SimPE, choosing one randomly.
This "random" GUID is quite safe: there are millions of possible GUIDs, and it's very unlikely that SimPE chooses an already existing GUID; nevertheless, it IS possible that this happens (though it might happen ONCE: it's almost impossible that SimPE chooses the GUIDs for TWO custom roofs, and both are already used by Maxis!)

One solution to this problem is the one lined out in step 4 of the tutorial: if you are an object creator, and you have already registered come GUIDs for custom objects, then you can re-use one of those registered GUID; but if you never registered any GUID, then just skip the entire step 4: there's no need to register a new GUID purposely for the new roof (or fence).

The second solution to the GUID problem is the most suitable for you: just start again from scratch, and clone again the Maxis roof; SimPE will create a new random GUID for it, and - as said - it's almost impossible that SimPE can make a "mistake" a second time.

Anyway, you say that you have created some fences, and they suffer for the same problem; and you also mention that some "cc" you created replace the original Maxis items in catalog: therefore, I guess that you are making a mistake while following the tutorials; as for custom roofs and custom fences, just follow exacytly the tutorial, and SimPE will automatically take care of the GUID problem.

As for custom objects, the problem is quite different: SimPE will NOT create a random GUID for the objects; you must manually register a new GUID for them.

[neirike]

Thank you, Numenor for your kind answer..
I went over the tutorial but I don't think that I did something wrong...
So,,, I think the only solution is that I have to remake Maxis roof since I don't have registered GUID.
Well,,, It is really wired thing this happened to me.

[niol]

neirike,

lol, you can go to the simpe site
http://sims.ambertation.de/en/guiddb/
to register yours easily...

[Numenor]

Niol, Neirike: for roofs, fences and neighborhood object is NOT required to register a new GUID. If you already have registered a GUID in the past for an object, then you can re-use it (an object and a roof *can* have the same GUID, without any problems).
Registering GUIDs when it's not needed only leads to a waste of GUIDs, that are not infinite...

EDIT: I've written a tutorial about GUIDs (LINK (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=32228)), but I'm still haven't finished the part regarding roofs etc. (coming soon)

[IgnorantBliss]

neirike said earlier that she hasn't registered any GUIDs before, in which case she'd probably has to register a whole new GUID for this purpose since there is no old object GUID to reuse.

[Numenor]

Probably I wasn't clear in my previous posts...

I said that yes, SimPE might choose a random GUID that conflicts with an existing GUID; but the chances that this happens a second time are so low that we can consider them null.
Of course, reusing an already registered GUID (which doesn't exist, in this case) would grant the 100% of chances to get a really unique GUID; but cloning the roof a second time would grant again almost the 100% of success, without the waste of a GUID (actually, the waste of an entire GUID block, unless Neirike is creator of objects: I still haven't got a confirmation on this)

That's why I suggested, and still suggest, to just clone again the roof.
On the other hand, if Neirike has already created some objects, then she should first reserve a GUID block for herself (as explained in my tutorial), then register a GUID for her object, and then re-use that GUID for the roof.

[Numenor]

This is the roof i made.
Congratulation! It's nice to create your own stuff, isn't it? ;)

[neirike]

Ah.. I'm not an object creator yet, but I will be. (I'm trying!) :)
And... some of my recolored roofs and fences don't have custom contents mark(*) on their icons in the game. They appeared just like Maxis original roofs so that I can't delete them in the game. I ask this because some of people who use my recolor roofs complain about this and I don't know what to do or what is the reason.
Could you help me one more time?? :)

[niol]

neirike,

if you've made them base game compatible and that means you input string values to fool the game to recognise the custom fences or roof recolours as in-game contents instead of custom objects.
But, I'm unsure if this is the reason why the files of them have to be manually removed outside the game to remove these custom contents.

[Numenor]

I think Niol is right; anyway, if something doeas not have the asterisk, can only be removed by deleting the package from the Downloads folder.
Users should not complain about it: they should only follow the instructions that you (hopefully :) ) posted along with the roof recolour.

[neirike]

Thank you so much! both niol and Numenor~ :)

[simsgirl604]

I don't undurstand... :cry: Where can I find the "object workshop" download?? :help:

[IgnorantBliss]

simsgirl604, Object Workshop is included in SimPE, you don't have to download it separately.

[Laduk]

What a fantastic in-depth tutorial!

Unfortunately though, when I tried to create a custom roof, the roof I was trying to base it on (Tanned Slate) disappeared from my game, and my custom roof didn't show up!

I read step four but as the SimPE link (http://sims.ambertation.de/reguser.php?&action=menu) wasn't working I just kept the randomly selected one that was already in the box. Then I went on to step five, copying it into the other fields. Then I fired up the game and found that the roof I cloned and based my custom roof on had vanished. And also the custom roof I tried to make wasn't showing up :(

What's also weird is that a few days later, I downloaded a custom roof from TSR and found that it didn't have the custom object star in the thumbnail. Could this have somehow replaced the Tanned Slate roof?

Would it be also possible for you to explain about the roof GUIDs? I'm just wondering what GUIDs we should and shouldn't use.

I'd really appreciate your help!

[niol]

Laduk,

The roof recolour you got from TSR was added after the problems have already been there, so it should be unrelated.

As for your roof recolour-clone, I suspect it interferes with the cloned default roof colour. you may wanna double-check if anything missed from steps 4 to 5.

The major purpose for steps 4 and 5 is to input IDs to fool the game to recognise the custom roof recolours as default roof colours. Thus, you see no asterisk.

Good lucks.

Should the problem persist, may upload and attach it to your post(s) here.
Someone may check it for you.

[Laduk]

Thanks for the advice!

I skimmed throuh the tutorial again and I think I forgot to rename the package on step 2! After deleting the recolour the tanned slate roof has reappeared and I was also able to recolour it okay after that.

Thanks again!

[niol]

Laduk,

so, the "set custom group ID" wasn't checked.
Glad you can do alright after that particular instance. :)

[i like cheesey oranges]

First of all, THANK YOU for this wonderful tutorial! It is very well-written, complete, and easy to follow. This is the first time I've ever made anything in SimPe that actually worked in the game. It's a small feat, but it made me excited! :jest:

The first thing I've tried making is a snow-covered roof. I made a snow ground texture (which turns out nicely in the game), so I tried applying the same texture to the roof. But it didn't turn out very well because the texture is darkened once it is applied. (The actual texture is attached along with a screenshot of the roof).

Can anything be done to prevent/lessen the darkening of textures? Is there a way to add reflective or transparent properties to a roof?

Thank you very much for your help!


dear tkdjunkie,
i brightened up ur texture, so it might wrk btr. i also changed da contrast a little
C:\Documents and Settings\test\My Docments\My Pictures\snow.png if ur image waz copyrighted, ill cry cuz wat i did waz llegal :-( :cry:

[i like cheesey oranges]

u can also try this hack
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=193906

[niol]

dear tkdjunkie,
i brightened up ur texture, so it might wrk btr. i also changed da contrast a little
C:\Documents and Settings\test\My Docments\My Pictures\snow.png if ur image waz copyrighted, ill cry cuz wat i did waz llegal :-( :cry:

It says she has kinda quit the MTS2 scene, may read her signature
http://www.modthesims2.com/member/tkdjunkie

You may ask a moderator if one knows her copyright policy or someone who knows.

[blackivy]

I'm sorry for bothering you, but I'm new to SimPE and I have a problem. The first thing I recoloured was a lamp and that turned out great. Now I tried to make a custom roof, but when I get to the part where my package was created and ready for me to edit...well, it isn't! Im in Plugin View, did everything correctly, but I cant' edit my package! Why is that? What did I do wrong? Help, please...

[niol]

I'm sorry for bothering you...
As you know it, you still did it :P .

Tease apart :D, so is the "commit" button clicked after every edit before moving on the next file in a given roof package?

After editing all the files, save the package?

[blackivy]

I did all of that...since I'm new to all of this I follow all the instructions step by step :p And I know it because the recolor I did before I tried to do this roof works fine.
Now, I tried again and it worked, but the list option is no longer up, next to the resource tree, but below, with all the other options, (plugin view, hex, package, etc.) I'm glad it showed up, but why wasn't it there when I tried to do a roof recolor?

[niol]

blackivy,

So, now it works for you? If so, congratulations.

The resource list could have been blocked by the resource tree or the workspace windows, just maximise simpe and readjust the in-programme window sizes to see if it's that case.

[B_RE]

.Zip file in the first post is corrupted.
WinAce and WinRar are not able to extract it.

[niol]

B_RE,

may try to download it again. There're many reasons for a download to be corrupted. It can be the connection was reset from your end or the site end or your internet service provider.
Also, may try to avoid download from the beginning of an hour or a day, I'm unsure if this is true when there're resets during these moments.

[stealthspy589]

Once again I must thank you Numenor. My roof is now ready for download :]. I will be putting it up shortly ^^,

[burningglare]

15th Nov 2005, 10:27 AM # 6
Numenor
The ModFather

The "textures that allow repetitions" are called seamless textures: there are many sites that offer seamless textures for free; and if you use PaintShop Pro or PhotoShop, you can transform any image into a seamless texture using the "Simple QuickTile" plugin offered for free on THIS SITE.

I've copied your pattern from the image you've posted, and applied the QuickTile effect, and then I've tiled the new seamless pattern on the image.

Numenor,
thanks for this tutorial. I've been working with it the last couple of days.

I am new to recoloring and "paint" programs (I just learned the usefulness of layers yesterday-LOL) so I am on my 3rd try. (trying to get it to look good in the game)
OK...so now that you know what a noob I am hopefully you can give me an easy answer to my question:
I DL the QuickTile plugin. I am using Paint.NET. All the plug-ins for Paint.NET are .dll format. Is there a way I can make that plug-in (qtile.8bf) work in that program? (I don't have photoshop)
I DL a plug-in called Seamless Texture Maker but when I tried to use that it messed up my roof completely....so either it does not work for this application or I just don't know how to use it correctly.

Thanks again...it's wonderful to find tutorials that even people like me can follow and learn from.

[burningglare]

:help: OK...I am looking for some help/suggestions.
I recolored the simple template but I am not getting the result I want.
This is supposed to be a metal roof.
But as you can see...not much detail (I only blurred this slightly), but I also lightened it. (so many roofs I've D/L look great in thumbnails but are very dark in-game)
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r256/burningglare/Sims%20Houses/roofin-game.jpg

This is what it looks like close-up....I was surprised to see that the lines don't line up (is that normal?)...they were straight lines all on a layer by themselves.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r256/burningglare/Sims%20Houses/roofin-gameclose-up.jpg


This is the background layer:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r256/burningglare/Sims%20Houses/roof-template-BACKGROUND.png


This is the layer with the lines:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r256/burningglare/Sims%20Houses/roof-template-metalrooftexture.png

I also am not happy with the edges, but I just need to experiment with those to see how the color adjusts between Paint.NET and the game.

I hope someone has some suggestions.
So after 2 days of playing with this ONE roof recolor I better get busy with my real job today :rolleyes:

(Hopefully people are still following this thread)

Feedback from Niol:
As for how to make roof recolours lighter, you can try this mod,
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=193906

As for how to get a metallic look, unfortunately, since Seasons, the envcubemap no longer works for the roof by default unless some modded codes are added in to retain that. But, I'm presently too busy to solve it. I've too many things to finish on my hands and the list is too long for now. Sorry.

[mammut]

Hallo Numenor!

THANK YOU so much for your brilliant tutorial!

I've already cloned several roofs, but now, with Niol's hint to your tutorial, I'm able to make them work in the base game as well! :rofl:
That is really great!

[shery00]

Numenor : Thank you so much for your great tutorial. Here is my first custom roof. I just test in my games (base game only) and its look fine. :up:

[Yagishna]

thanks for this great tutorial, I'm gonna start the game and see how it turned out now ;)

[libellule]

Thanks to this great tutorial, I have been able to make some decent recolors.

My question: Is it possible to extract the roof object mesh from the game to test my recolors? If so can anyone tell me where to find it? I am currently doing the trial and error thing in and out of the game which is quite time consuming and crashes my game overtime.

Thanks

[lilfixit]

Thankyou!

I'm not a fan of the maxis-made roofs, and the set of roofs I downloaded only had white trim and that annoyed me because it only looked good with white walls, but now I can't complain because I've made my own/fixed the trim.

So thanks for showing me how!

[niol]

...
My question: Is it possible to extract the roof object mesh from the game to test my recolors? If so can anyone tell me where to find it? I am currently doing the trial and error thing in and out of the game which is quite time consuming and crashes my game overtime.
...

I've not read on any published infos about TS2 roof mesh, but we'll see anyone may bring in this here.

Generally, we know there is a file in a given lot package file, and it is responsible to record down the necessary coordinates for the TS2 engine to draw the roof.

Maybe, a modularly designed roof object as a custom object based on decorative is more approachable for aesthetic causes (The custom object take care of the appearance while an in-game roof-tool-based roof or floor-tile-based roofs is necessary for in-game roof functions.).



I am not sure why do I have to type those numbers in (0x4C8CC5C0), along with the GUIDs. Also, do you just make up a number for a new GUID? I do recall a BHAV tutorial on how to make GUIDs. I have to separate the old GUID in 2's and write them backwards. Do I do the same in this roof tutorial when I create a new GUID?

0x4C8CC5C0 from step 5c is said to be the global ID for the file type used in order for the TS2 engine to recognise this type of file (here, the custom custom roof recolours), so it is mandatory to copy it exactly as it is suggested.

But, the GUID from step 5b is the specific ID for the newly cloned roof recolour file locally/internally in order not to get mixed with other roof reoclour files. This GUID can be a reused one from any custom object the roof-recolour maker (a person) has registered from the simpe site because it is known that this series of GUID won't get mixed with the custom object one. That is because 0x4C8CC5C0 has already done the job to separate the two series.