Delphy this is terrific... I had no idea what polys or vertices were and I'm starting to really get the idea...

Some confusion tho, I installed the RCOL plugin to the SimPE folder and overwrote the existing file. I ran SimPE and am unable to find the 3d tab. I admit I am not a high tech wizard in any way so I've really only used SimPE Wizard and the Photo Studio plug in so far. I'm a bit lost on how to find the poly count.

I was able to figure out how to find the vertices count from one of the responses earlier in SimPE with no trouble. I've read vertices matter more so in the high count than polys correct? ...So this might sound stupid but forgive me, I'm very new to this stuff, but I'd like to know what exactly to look out for...
1. The vertices count should be under 800 or the poly count should?

2. When looking under the GMDC Items 2 section I have more than one item listed in there. I am wondering is the 1st one listed the one to be aware of or should I check all of those for any given item?

The vert counts are quite inaccurate. Just to clarify: this is because it's counting a single vertex over again when it's shared? (For example, on one object maya and milkshape count 900 or so vertices, your plugin says 4800).

With the new RCOL already is fine, but will be even better a check for scanner tool :D

thanks a lot for your effort, delphy!

Thx so much for bringing this to everyone's attention! A huge thx to Motoki for the list & Delphy for the plug-in. :D

Just so I am perfectly clear on things, I understand the lower the polygon/vertices count the better & that 800 vertices per tile is a good bet since that is what Maxis uses. But what number would be considered a low to moderate polygon count?

Also, I extracted an object's obj fiole to a folder & opened it with notepad. I saw this info listed:

# number of polygons: 11772
# vertsSoFar: 0
# totalVertices: 5916
# vertGroupStart: 0

The plug-in says:

Total polygons: 11772
Total vertices: 35316

So is the notepad info a more accurate vertices count?

-B

Thought I would see if I could ck out the vertice amount on an object rather than a hair mesh this time and don't have a GMDC option. lol Wow I feel stupid... I have no idea what I'm doing really. I'm going to wait and see what you're working on Delphy because after I posted I read you are implicating something more for SimPE.

Brianna,

Yes the plugin counts non-shared vertices, but these are merged back together when re-importing. zip is updated with the following changes:
- Now counts shared vertices on the 3d view screen
- Clicking on an entry on the items2 list gives vertexCounts in decimal not hex

simpe.rcol.dll version 1.0.1939.78 is the latest.

The notepad one is probably right HoneyB (the plugin in it's current state has been way off in everything I've opened compared to the count given by any of my 3D programs)-- but no, that object's not low poly. If it's a 6 tile bed it's not too bad, but if it's a desk or a vase it's got way, way too many verts.

Edit: I will check new version of plugin now, thank you Delphy!

Edit again: Looks great!! So HoneyB, get the new version. You want it to have around (or less than) 800 verts per object tile. Up to about 2000 I would say is within reason occassionally if your item absolutely requires it (medium poly, it counts as 2 objects worth of object) - any more is probably way too much.

Edit again: What I mean by "within reason" is that on rare occasions Maxis has objects with 2000 per tile. The squishy cheap couch for example, and a few of their plants. But you should try as hard as possible to be under 800.

Oh, ok. Gotcha BriAnna. Thx so much.

Thank u again Delphy for the plug-in. Looks like I have a lot of cleaning up to do. :\

Edit: I assume a 1-tile plant with a poly count of over 14,000 & a vertices count of almost 12,000 is a little over the top?

-B

*spits coffee everywhere.

1 tile plant with 12,000 vertices?! Thats... WAY WAY WAY over the top.... modelling every needle on a mini pine tree or something....

Yeah. Try making square pieces for your leaves and making their shape with alphas (dxt3 textures). Also - a stem only needs like 3 sides to look good since it's tiny.

As for Delphy's cofee in my eye: I've see even worse out there.

I think people are going to be very, very shocked to see just how high the numbers on a lot of these meshes floating out there just really are. I think this is so great though because now these meshes are not going to just be able to be passed off to an unsuspecting community because people will have easy access to this information.

A lot of these sites are going to have to clean up their act, especially the ones that either charge subscription fees or look for donations. If someone is paying their money, then people darned well better get a quality original (ie not swiped from some high poly render mesh site) item that's not going to cause their game problems.

Brianna has been responsible with her items, and there's some other places that have too, but there's also been a lot that have not been responsible and the quality control on some of the large sites just isn't there as they are passing off high poly meshes and lots with hacks.

You know the sad thing Delphy? That isn't even anywhere close to the highest poly decorative item I have seen. Some are much, much worse.

I'm lost.

I updated my SimPE to .35b and I looked under "Installed Plugins" in SimPE and see a 3d reference file wrapper in there but I don't know how to get to where I need to in order to see the poly count of an object.

Tazzianna: Look on the column on the left hand side for an entry called Geometric Data Container. Select that and then go to the plugin view in the middle right area. Not all package files have a GMDC though, only a new mesh item will.

*edited to add a picture showing where to find the information*

I loved buying meshes for the Sims 1 (ones with licenses that allowed me to sell and distribute the end result.) About a third of my TS1 stuff was made this way. But it's just not possible in TS2. I had also been hoping to convert my own TS1 meshes to TS2 - but again, not possible. They just have way, way, way to many vertices.

*Hands Delphy some tissue* LOL Yeah it is a spiky looking plant in my Downloads.

Like I said, I don't know crap about meshing but isn't it entirely possible that some creators just don't/didn't know more than they weren't being responsible? I am anxious to see how many with these big numbers will start fixing their stuff. And if they do fix pay/donation files, what about those that have already paid for them?

-B

Umm, just lurking around but which is the latest version of this plugin is it the one in one of your previous posts Delphy?
And is there a no-brainer tutorial on this yet? Just something short and simple, I learn pretty quickly (I think) and having 20 minutes of game loading time before I deleted Ellis's objects which is now 17 minutes, plus 8-9 minutes to just quit the game,
I can't go around the million sites I downloaded from begging them to tell me what their poly- counts are, I just have to learn this myself.
Maybe you geniuses could also make something (a plugin) that lowers the polys- vertexes? I'd be ever so grateful!!!! But thinking again, not all creator want their meshes to be altered in any way, so probably that's a bad idea, plus I could ruin all the pretty meshes!
(EDD is BAD!) :D

ohh see I didn't realize only a new mesh item is what I need to be concerned about. Recolored maxis items are excluded then.. I should have known that. I imagine I'm not the only dumb arse that is reading this going "huh?" lol.

So I have opened a new meshed object and have clicked on the plugin view tab and I know how to convert the .. items 2... vertex count.. but I'm still not seeing where to go for the poly count.

I know I'm brave to ask these minute questions but I'm sure I'm not the only person that is clueless but curious. I am addicted to downloading and imagine I am a candidate for high poly count objects in my game.

Tazzianna: I edited my reply above to you to add an image showing where the info is so hopefully that will help.

YAY!!! It worked! Blame the glass of wine I had 30 min ago but I downloaded the newest version of SimPE AFTER I had installed the RCOL lol. My version wasn't showing the attachment and thanks to you I was able to compare and figure out my mistake! Thank you so much for taking the time to put a photo up! Also thanks for the patience. I love this place!

I almost spaced out my thank you to Delphy for this add on... this is amazing! I appreciate all the work you do for we simmers, I could never thank you enough! I like to announce "I'm brilliant" even if its to an empty room at least 3 times a day to keep me centered but I'd have to say I'm going to share that title with Delphy today and the many other simmers out there that teach me something new every day I'm in here.

Thanks! :D

Thanks Motoki! I thought it was to do with geometric data count! Just didn't think of clicking it in the right hand side so something would show up in the Plugin view!
20 hours awake, does me no good, now if only this could be done in a quicker way, like in that awesome plugin that helped us find all the ep-non-ready files, and let us disable or change them all, like a batch poly counter or something!
Well I'll check (read) back here tomorrow!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Delphy said earlier in the thread he was working on something like that. I sure hope so. It would make things a whole lot simpler for people who have a lot of files.

Finished with my DLs. That plugin took the fun right out of EDD

Motoki,

Yes, yes it would. I'm working on it but it's 2am and I've been staring at RCOL stuff without typing any code for like an hour.... :P

LOL well I said it would be nice, I didn't say to deprive yourself of essential functions to do it. We waited this long for it a little longer isn't going to hurt anyone so get to bed!