Mutantbunny, I think Mootilda would probably be fairly happy for you to publish a beach lot for testing, with suitable warnings, preferably in this forum. (Correct me if I'm wrong, I've had no feedback on that idea.)

As far as I know, Mootilda and Inge are working hard, around their real lives of course, to revamp the shrinking process and make it more stable. When they have something new, we will test it.

If you feel your current beach lots are ready for wider testing, then put them up here. I keep suggesting it. It is courteous to take Mootilda's qualms into account, but in the end you are responsible for what you publish.

Hooray! Numenor has fixed my tutorial thread.
Here's the link:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=255110

I think it's the same, but I'm posting the link in case, as Numenor has moved the thread to the Tutorials section.

Now people will be able to find and use it more easily.

aelfled: no aelfled, I don't think you really understand the issues here. You haven't read this whole thread?

The point it my lots HAVE been available for testing. No one is playing them. They've had one dl (and that since I started begging to allow a wider testing base.) but no reports on them todate. We obviously need a larger testing base -posting them for the general public upsets mootilda. Mootilda is worried the lots are corrupt (although my lots have played for me flawlessly) and therefor may corrupt the game files themselves and as such are a 'danger.' I agree that the lots should be tested more before being called 'final' in any way and tested on other peoples systems (my system hasn't crashed any lot--only one of EAs! lol)

But if no one here wants to test them, ok then we need to widen the playfield and allow testers--I have offered to go find them. She doesn't want that to happen, is totally against this saying the lots aren't 'safe'. Which brings me to begging for her to cough up some definition of what IS 'safe' at least 'safe enough for wider testing'. I ask for a 'goal line' and a 'how to get there in a fashion acceptable' to her. She needs to address this. We, the group here, could go years, lol, and not satisfy her. Several of us have offered up what we think a 'safe' lot consists of. She has ignored these ideas.

I'm frustrated over it.

Mutantbunny, I'm sorry you are feeling frustrated about this. Electronic communications can be very tricky, and we all have non-Sims lives to lead as well.

I repeat, you can upload your lot/s here on the Modding / Research and Development forum, which is publicly accessible, but used by people who are hopefully more aware of testing risks.

Look at the top of this screen and you will see that this is -not- the 'hidden' forum. If you create a new thread for your test lot, under the Research and Development forum, it will be open to more than the little LE group, but will still be obviously a test-and-report item.

This should get you some wider feedback, while keeping the risk contained.

My own shrunk lots have never crashed on my system, either, but did when other people used them. I have been unable to produce a crash with any shrunk lot, mine or anyone else's. Which apparently doesn't make them safe, which is why we are waiting for another breakthough.

I'm not sure how to make my explanation any clearer, but hope this helps. Remember that we are all doing our best.

No need to correct you; this sounds right to me.

Yes, I'm working on the shrinking process to make it more robust, with a lot of help from Inge. However, real life is interfering quite a bit for me right now. I'm really hoping that the new object logic will decrease or eliminate the crashing problems. I've also been looking into some of the other structures, like roofs, walls and fences, but I haven't been having much luck coming up with a better algorithm than the one that we already have.

I am stuck on XOBJ. There is a tiny section of it that can be variable length and I have not yet discovered which bytes indicate what that length is. However, I don't think it is of any concern to the LA as the only parts which contain coordinates are the part originally identified near the beginning. Mootilda if you are happy with that verdict I will put the XOBJ to one side and go on to the next file type of your choice.

That sounds reasonable to me.

So what is the next type you want?

aelflaed! Thanks for offering this info up! And thank you Mootilda for changing your mind on this! This is a welcome turn around! Thank goodness!

Small Beach lots! All of them require an initial entry, build action, save and exit to 'heal' the blue tears apparent from the hood initally.

The 2xs and above have played perfectly for me, appear perfectly, placed perfectly. I have tried these on the two custom beach-usable terrains I have. Of course, the lots require placement on the 'right' slope. But they have placed fine for me on the beach terrains I play. Please test them on your terrains.

The 1xs (1x3, 1x4, 1x5) have a 'blue tear' at the water end which simply will not go away! This tear was not apparent in the original hood where these were made after the inital entry/build/save and exit. I could move them anywhere in that hood and they appeared fine. However, when moved to my second hood, the blue tear appears and will not go away (out out damn spot!) Because of this tear, I have not played these lots much. You might not want them either because of this. BUT, I have played one of Andi's lots which has the tear and it has played fine over and over again. So I don't think the tear interfers with play, just looks. The tear is such that it can be hidden easily--have a look. There is the possiblity that the 1xs blue tear will go away on a different terrain than what I have. Testing is needed here!

All of these lots were not placeable on some other beach terrains I tried. I don't think this is a problem with the lots--but it may be. I think it is a problem with beach lots in general on slopes that are wrong for beach lots.Testing is needed.

I think the 2xs and above sizes are fine. The zip contains a complete set of 'missing' sizes from 1x3 on up. Anything shorter in length than 3 squares simply isn't playable as there is no build area available. The notation of the sizing of these lots is consistant with most EA sizing--add one more square to count the road area for total length of lot.

Have fun with them!

NOTE: Some here are worried that a corrupt lot file can corrupt your other game files. This may be so, so be safe: MAKE A backup OF YOUR GAME FOLDER before installing and using these lots.

EDIT: There are three files in the lot packages along with the lot file and if you use Clean Installer to install a lot you'll see them. What they are: pedestrian, car, beach and wave effect portals. Inge made a buyable version of these and that is what got packaged up with the lots. Simply don't load them into your game (uncheck them in the clean installer) if you don't want them, the lot will simply grab the maxis originals and all will be fine.

I finally had some time to work on the OBJT structure again. Here are some comments about Inge's OBJT documentation:

"DWORD - Unk (from the CRES cResourceNode, Settings, "Unknown 2"?)"
does not exist unless cObject version = 17 = 0x11. For example, see OBJT Instance 0xA6 in N001_Lot11 in Pleasantview (version = 16) or OBJT Instance 0x12B in N001_Lot18 (version = 15).

"DWORD - terminal zeroes" in the "blend pair" entry is not always 0. See OBJT Instance 0x83 in G001_Lot19.

"Blend pair entries" (including count) do not exist unless cObject version >= 16. For example, see OBJT Instance 0x168 in N001_Lot16 (version = 15).

These are the currently known (and handled) versions:
cPerson: 3
cLocomotable: 4
cAnimatable: 14->17 (hex 0xE -> 0x11)
cObject: 15->17 (hex 0xF -> 0x11)


If you have time available after working on OBJT, I think that the roof structures are the ones that I'm most concerned about.

Do you want to answer my question about the next file type you want analysing?

I must have been updating my last post at the same time that you were posting.

What file has the roofs in it?

ROOF: 0xAB9406AA
After that, I'd be interested in WGRA: 0A284D0B (especially if this contains the attic walls).

Can you tell me what particular information you'd be wanting to edit wrt roofs? To move them onto the lot like with the objects? That will help me know what to focus on.

Just in case for this possibility,
if the roof is larger than trimmed region, it'd better to remove the roof before lot shrinking coz the roof wouldn't fit into trimmed lot anyway unless that's what is wanted.

At this point, I've tried to move roofs and walls onto the lot and to delete them. Both attempts created lots which crash the game. So, I'm trying to figure out whether there is anything that we can do which will be better than just leaving them where they are - ie, moving them so that they remain in the same relative position on the lot, which may be off-world.

I assume that my attempts failed because I don't have enough information about these record types, although I have also been looking at the logic to see whether there is some other problem.

Update:

Unfortunately, I may not be able to work on this for a while. When I get a chance, I'm still trying to fix the OBJT / XOBJ logic - I've been having some problems with shrinking 13 Dead End Lane and want to try to fix this known problem before going back to the roofs, walls and fences.

Well surely the user is told to remove any spare roof and walls themselves? As for the fact the roof always has an inbuilt overhang as part of its mesh, there is nothing that can be done about that. You might wish to make a martyr of yourself but I am not prepared to waste hours on something just so the end user can be lazy and not bother to follow a few simple instructions. The work I have willingly done so far is of use on objects which are meant to be on lot yet are invisible and the user cannot do anything about those. I am not running a nanny service.

No problem. Just let me work on the objects and have a nice holiday season.

Well if you can think of any files that need decoding that will help with stuff the user *can't* reasonably and easily do manually, then let me know.

Will do. Thanks.

1. I'm busy on mod-to-build lots... :D
2. Season greetings to you all...

Back at you niol and all: Happy Holidays!

One week till Christmas - all the best to you for a safe and happy holiday. Come back refreshed and relaxed, everyone.

What I did:

Fixes:

1. fixed the W and H values in 3D arrays instance 3 from 30,30 to the 10,20 or 20,10

2. fixed the service stop portal by zeroing its coordinates @ corresponding Xobj instance 2.


Rotations:

1. Andi original 1x1 lot is defined as Andi_1x1_BL
It means that the lighting is from the back left corner, so the shadowing is pointing towards the front right corner where the lot origin is at.

2. Andi_1x1_FR
- @ neighbourhood package file, U10: 1 -> 4; U11: 0-> 2
- portals and mailbox, trash cans were relocated properly.
It means that the lighting is from the front right corner, so the shadowing is pointing towards the back left corner where the lot origin is at.

3. Andi_1x1_BR & Andi_1x1_FL
- the W & H values for the 6 file types of lot package files as well as the lot description file of the neighbourhood package were switched
- @ neighbourhood package file, BR {U10: 1 -> 2, U11: 0 -> 1}; FL: {U10: 1 -> 8, U11: 0 -> 3};
It means that the lighting is from the back right corner, so the shadowing is pointing towards the front left corner where the lot origin is at, and vice versa



Please use experimental neighbourhoods for testings for your played game's safety.



Testings for 10x20 lots for both Residential and Community Lots
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...7&postcount=291