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Alchemist
Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Jul 2009 at 1:28 PM Last edited by aelflaed : 19th Jul 2009 at 2:22 PM. Reason: found a little more info
Default creating maternity defaults?
Hi...I'm not sure what I'm embarking upon here, but it's worth asking at least.

I'd like a set of Sims 2 maternity defaults that fit in with my current islander theme. There are a couple of default replacement sets available, but nothing suitable. How hard is it to do?

I have SimPE and can use it (if I have good instructions). Do I need any other tools? (Edit - I finally found a Wiki article, looks like SimPE is enough for this part of the job.)

I've never made clothing, but I would use some pre-made meshes I like. Sadly, they don't have pregnant morphs so I would presumably have to add that first. (Edit - Still not sure if I need another program to do this part?)

I can't find any tutorials about this. Possibly I'm just blind.

So, am I way out of my depth?
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Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
retired moderator
#2 Old 20th Jul 2009 at 8:53 AM
Its pretty easy depending on the scope of the project and how you want to go about it. If you want to completely yank out and replace the maxis mesh and texture and replace them with your own mesh and texture it is the easiest method, but it will replace your maternity clothes for all your hoods everywhere. If you want to go grab that PregMorphHack that seems to be so popular (I myself don't use it so I can't tell you where to find it) and just add pregmorphs to your existing island themed outfits thats a more delicate and precise way of doing things but a tad tricker (mostly because I don't know how to do that off the top of my head and we'd have to research it. )

Pick your poison
Alchemist
Original Poster
#3 Old 21st Jul 2009 at 7:21 AM
Oooh, a reply! Must have overlooked it earlier. I've been thinking no one must be reading this section anymore.

I've been messing about with a number of tutorials and such for the last two days...and have reached the conclusion that I don't need to add pregmorphs. I think I can use the_mystical_one's files and make some of those into defaults. With recolours (which I now know how to do) some of the BV meshes can be perfectly acceptable for my purpose, and t_m_o has already given them all pregmorphs. And posted an open TOU.

So that's poison number one, please.

Thanks so much for offering to help - I can't find out how to get at the default clothes in SimPE. I have no idea where to start, now that I have realised I want to do a total swap. The recolouring turned out to be even easier than doing objects, and I don't think I need to extract .obj files or anything I found tutorials about.

I would like to replace each type of maternity clothes, PJs and all. Not sure how many that makes, but I suppose once I know how, it's just a matter of doing it.

So where do I begin, maestro?
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
retired moderator
#4 Old 21st Jul 2009 at 7:49 AM
Well, I'm not too clear about the 'pjs and all' bit, but let's start with the gerenic everyday ones and go from there.

You will need to open the Sims03.package file (its in Sims3D or something similar) of the basegame files. You are looking for the GMDC of the Maternitywear. It is likely named something like afBodyMaternity-ugly or something. Find all of them, I think there are 4 or 5. Extract them all. Then open up Sims07.package and find the related TXTRs, extract them as well. Then open up Sims08.package and find the LIFOs - 0 (the bigger ones) and extract those out as well.

Create a new package and include the GMDCs and the TXTRs. Don't do anything to that package except save. Don't 'Fix Integrity' EVER. This will be your default replacement package. Next 'Replace' the GMDC files with the meshes you want to use but be sure to rename the file back to what it was before you replaced it. Then if they had textures you liked use 'Build DXT' on top of the previous images, if you didn't like those, edit the LIFOs until they look like something you want to use and 'Build DXT' those files onto the TXTRs instead. Commit after every step. Hit Save. Test in game.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#5 Old 21st Jul 2009 at 7:58 AM
Cool, I'll see how I go with that. Thanks a bunch.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#6 Old 21st Jul 2009 at 1:38 PM
Okay, I've had a certain amount of success. Thank goodness you told me where to look for the initial files; that was a major step forward!

I haven't got the correct mesh happening somehow - I managed to get a replacement texture, but it's still trying to wrap itself around the orginal mesh (which doesn't work very well!).

Maybe you'll be able to help again with a bit more info...

I only found two GMDCs for the afbodymaternityshirtpants_tslocator_gmdc, one with LOD and one without.

After extracting everything, I extracted the replacement mesh, then rightclicked and replaced the second GMDC file - not the LOD version - then renamed it to match the original filename. The new mesh didn't seem to have a LOD, so that might be where it has gone wrong. I didn't alter the LOD one, but replaced all the TXTR files with recolours of my chosen mesh.

It's bedtime here now, so I'll check in tomorrow and hope to be able to continue. Probably it's just some small thing I've got wrong. (Crosses fingers)
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
retired moderator
#7 Old 21st Jul 2009 at 4:07 PM
Don't keep the LOD version in your package, delete that. Hopefully that's all it is that is keeping it from working correctly.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#8 Old 22nd Jul 2009 at 1:37 AM
Do I need to build DXT on the LIFOs as well as the TXTR files?

Sadly, deleteing that LOD file didn't help. To replace the mesh yesterday, I first extracted the new mesh as I had done with the default mesh. Then I 'replaced' the original with the new, and used a field down below to change its name back. Plugin View probably. Is there something there that was incorrect?

I'll go try again, anyway.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#9 Old 22nd Jul 2009 at 2:56 AM Last edited by aelflaed : 22nd Jul 2009 at 5:39 AM. Reason: Almost success
Hmm. I think I'm stuck again now.

I re-did the whole process from scratch. Didn't extract the LOD at all. Also left behind the folds-bump-txtr and -Lifo as I think they must be unnecessary.

When I R-click and replace the GMDC with my extracted replacement mesh, there are two files to choose from - one is gobbledygook-5gd, the other is gobbledygook-5gd.xml. I've now tried each of them as the replacement, but the mesh is still wrong. Is there a way to put them both in? I must be missing something obvious.

Then, as I said before, I paste the original name into the Filename field below, underneath where it says Blocklist in Plugin View. I made sure to Commit and save at this point today, in case that was the problem, but it didn't make any difference.

I believe it's the replacement step that is going wrong, but I'm out of ideas on how to do it differently.

Would it help to post screenshots, or the broken package?

EDIT- I was just looking at the Bodyshop meshing tutorial. Should I have used the PJSE tool in making my package? That might explain why I never saw the 'Fix Integrity' option you warned against.

MORE EDIT: Tried extracting ALL the parts of the Hula mesh - GMDC, GMND, CRES and SHPE (it looked as though you meant I should get only the GMDC from your original instructions). 'Added' them to the package which already included the four maternity mesh parts gathered by the PJSE tool. Copied the maternity filenames onto the hula parts and deleted the original maternity versions.

Thought I must have got it that time, but still no luck. My test sim is still wearing default maternity.

EVEN MORE EDIT: Found a post by Wes_h which said the instance numbers had to match the original GMDC. Edited that under the Resource tab, but still no change. Grrr.

I'll try checking the instances for the other parts, just in case. Unless the solution is obvious to someone else, then I'll try replacing with a different mesh altogether, in case that mesh is the problem.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Almost succeeded - corrected the instance numbers, took out all other CC, and then I get the correct mesh shape at last. So something else is conflicting with it - not the original of the Hula pregnant mesh, becasue I took that out already. But I think it will work now, once I find what's blocking it and get the textures added again (the default texture actually comes out okay on that new mesh, but it's not staying).

Phew. Only a few more days' work on this 'easy' project, and it will be ready.
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
retired moderator
#10 Old 22nd Jul 2009 at 6:20 AM
Quote: Originally posted by aelflaed
EDIT EDIT EDIT: Almost succeeded - corrected the instance numbers, took out all other CC, and then I get the correct mesh shape at last. So something else is conflicting with it - not the original of the Hula pregnant mesh, becasue I took that out already. But I think it will work now, once I find what's blocking it and get the textures added again (the default texture actually comes out okay on that new mesh, but it's not staying).
That would make sense as you've been doing everything else perfectly right. Sorry I wasn't around earlier to help, rl calls sometimes (not often though!)
Alchemist
Original Poster
#11 Old 22nd Jul 2009 at 12:30 PM
No problem, you've been very helpful.

The conflict, unsurprisingly, was with the maternity outfit - I still had my normal default replacement in. Dumb.

I seem to have the mesh sorted out now, but I may have jiggered something else - I can't seem to get my test sims pregnant! None of the cheat objects seem to 'take' - the command falls from the queue - and they've gone at it like rabbits with every man they see, all to no avail.

Well, they're having fun, but no babies at all. Yesterday's test sim got pregnant just fine. Surely adding a default replacement can't mess that up? Have to investigate.

Thanks again for your help. Hopefully I won't need any more.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#12 Old 22nd Jul 2009 at 2:55 PM
Found the problem - basic as ever - filled the lot with sims and then naturally couldn't get them pregnant. Duh. Fixed easily enough...move one out, instant chimes: presumably it's all good now.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#13 Old 23rd Jul 2009 at 2:42 AM Last edited by aelflaed : 23rd Jul 2009 at 12:08 PM. Reason: new info, pic
My default mesh is working, but doesn't look right in-game...can someone tell me what needs changing?



I can fix the coloured body (seen in the green example) by erasing the background of the texture image. I've partially done that with the blue one on the right, so I think that will be fine.

However, the seamlines of the original shirt/pants are still visible on the new clothing, and the hula decorations are missing - belt, wrist and ankle bands. The blue dress at the back is a Bodyshop recolour of the same mesh I am using for the maternity default, and it still has its decorations and its own seams.

The only thing I can think of is that the original mesh had a folds-bump texture which I have not altered. It's not in my replacement package at all, and the replacement mesh didn't include any similar file, so I can't swap it.

How can I get the decorations back, and remove those incorrect seams and folds?

Thanks for your advice.

EDIT: I've got rid of the seams by erasing everything from the folds-bump texture. However, that leaves an odd section across the chest of the sim - skin colour, but not skin tone. You can see the edges at the shoulders and throat.


Should I put a shadowtoned version of my chosen texture onto that file, instead of erasing the picture?

And I haven't made any improvement on the belt or wrist/ankle decorations. I'd be grateful for help with that.
Screenshots
Alchemist
Original Poster
#14 Old 24th Jul 2009 at 1:04 PM Last edited by aelflaed : 24th Jul 2009 at 3:12 PM.
Still working on this. I put a shodowy version of the texture into the folds-bump file and that gives the correct fold lines. Problem is, all the sims suffer from that odd skintone problem. Not sure how to fix it...anybody?

I may be getting somewhere with the wrists and ankles - I got a grey set on one sim where I put the shadows in at the right spots. However, no belt at all.

Would it work better if I unlocked the maternity outfit? Would my new mesh appear, or the orginal one? And would it then be recolourable in Bodyshop?

EDIT - couldn't unlock the maternity outfit, must be an extra tricksy one. However, I found a set of buyable maternity by Motiki on MATY - with that and my default file installed, my maternity recolours do appear in Bodyshop, so I can mess with them there. Hooray.

Also found a possible reason for the missing accessories - my file has fewer parts than the original Hula dress. Don't know why. Where could they have gone?

I know when I recoloured the non-preg mesh, I had to alter different files for the lei and for the other accessories, while the dress itself was active in the main bmp to be edited. So now I wonder, can I add the missing files and then colour them? Have to try that tomorrow.

Still no luck getting the skin to show normally behind the clothing.
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#15 Old 24th Jul 2009 at 4:14 PM
I took a look at some of the parts, and Bodyshop is very far from my comfort zone. But the GMDC for the Hula has four parts: Body, noblend, alpa3, and alpha5.

Body is the clothes, noblend is the lei, and the two alphas are both the ankle/wrist parts. If the only part in your package is the body, then that would be where the lei and accessories went. I don't know much about bodyshop and can only relate to objects, but I could guess that some aspects are similar. The shadowing on the blue dress could be a result of the mesh part for the lei not being there, but the shadow remains.

And I have obviously done something wrong with my attempt since the original BV outfit is now invisible. Do I need more than the GMDC, GMND, CRES, SHPE, TXTR? Can the SHPE point to the Hula MATD?
Doing all the things, and *mostly* not failing.
retired moderator
#16 Old 24th Jul 2009 at 6:30 PM
Aelfaed, you need to add the extra groups in to the GMND and SHPE. The GMND should have a few drop downs in the block list. Open each of those and if you see 'body' in any of them, add 'noblend', 'alpha3', and 'alpha5'. In the shape it is in the parts tab. Adding them into the GMND should make them appear.

As for the bumpmap, you should select the grey color that is on the edge of the image and bucket fill the entire thing with that color.

As for the skin issues, if you are just using the BV twiki outfits you should just extract the original ones instead of bothering with erasing and such. They are in your BV/tsdata/res/3d/sim08.package file (you want the larger LIFO). That way you won't have to do any erasing.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#17 Old 25th Jul 2009 at 12:57 AM
Thankyou both.
Phaenoh, I'll try that method to regain the missing groups. I was hoping someone would know how to fix that!

I've been erasing because the picture you get out of Bodyshop is full of black (and other colours) which showed on the sims after building DXT with them. However, I didn't think of getting the LIFO from SimPE for that. Good suggestion.

(Mind you, I've done most of the erasing now, and I'd have to recolour them again...still, probably be neater.)

HL, don't know what you did wrong, but I'm sure I saw reference to things going invisible if the process was faulty. Not having made that particular error, I didn't read that bit carefully. I have the LIFOs in my package, in addition to the files you mentioned. Otherwise that sounds fine to me - as much as I know about it!

The shadows of the lei and belt are on the dress, yes, which looks weird when the accessories are missing. Don't care about the lei so much - I actually replaced with the no-lei mesh I believe, although maybe I should start again with the lei included.

I'd definitely like the belt back. Should work with adding those groups back in. Sounds like a plan! I'll report back when I've had time to try these fixes.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#18 Old 25th Jul 2009 at 5:00 AM Last edited by aelflaed : 25th Jul 2009 at 2:30 PM.
Update: I've looked at the GMND and SHPE. Both seem to have the noblend and alphas already there. Either I'm looking in the wrong place, or the problem is a bit different...or maybe I just need more instructions.

I'll post screenies of what I'm seeing in case that is useful. I'm often looking in the wrong place for things in SimPE.

If they are already present, how can I get the game to read them?

EDIT: I may have figured it out now - I located the txmt files for all those alphas and noblends, r-click & extracted them, and r-click & added them to my default package. Have to look in-game to see what that produces. Fingers crossed! (EDIT - Still missing in Bodyshop)

Which grey should I pick from the maternity bump image? Pic below.

EDIT: Not having any luck with this today.

I've redone the images using the LIFOs. Still no alphas 3 or 5, or noblend, found by Bodyshop (but there are grey bits now on the ankles where the LIFO had them shadowed in). I can colour in the wrists and ankles with grass texture, but that won't solve the belt problem. I tried pasting it onto the skirt, but it would have to be distorted just right to fit.

The skins still have seamlines, see pic. The sims' heads look dark, or is it that the lighter planes of skin are too light?

Oh, I think I may have found the reason for the skin oddness - from HYstericalParoxysm:
Quote:
bump map textures in SimPE using Build DXT. You have to change the format of the bump maps back to what they were originally using the dropdown.(...)Build DXT works fine for bringing in textures under certain circumstances - usually the texture file looks fine, and so will the bump map till you change it to Raw 8-bit. Best to really do it in Body Shop unless you're making a default replacement - you'll get better compression and smaller file sizes with less ickiness applied to your bump maps.


So I can try that next.
Screenshots
Alchemist
Original Poster
#19 Old 25th Jul 2009 at 2:45 PM
Hooray! That tip from HP fixed the skin issue. Marvellous.

Now it's only the belt that needs fixing. Hope for some fresh energy/ideas about that tomorrow.
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#20 Old 26th Jul 2009 at 4:04 AM
I fixed my invisible issue with a fix integrity. I've posted over at the forum with my package. I had used the mesh from mystical one, and extracted the files that Phaenoh said to. I put them in a new package, and changed the name on the mesh one to match the default maternity one. I left the SHPE pointing to the BV textures, but I would guess if you wanted something else you would have to add TXMT, TXTR, LIFO.

The only issue I could see in my short test was my thumbs in the catalog were still invisible, but I didn't delete them before I started.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#21 Old 26th Jul 2009 at 4:38 AM Last edited by aelflaed : 26th Jul 2009 at 6:12 AM.
So did you get the belt etc?

I replaced and renamed all four parts - GMND, GMDC, SHPE and CRES. Perhaps that's the difference.

I'll check out your file, thankyou.

EDIT: no good, I'm afraid. Maxis maternity wear, and no sign of HL's mesh in the catalogue. Yes, I checked that I put it in the right Downloads folder.

I tried picking out the noblend etc from the original mesh and putting them into one of mine (in the projects folder) where they were missing. Naturally no success; I presume Bodyshop isn't reading them since they weren't there when extracted. It was a pretty long shot.

Found this thread (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=631131) about adding groups...I don't understand enough of it to see if it contains what I need. Can someone assist?
Alchemist
Original Poster
#22 Old 26th Jul 2009 at 6:25 AM
Looked harder at the GMND, and noticed that while all four groups are listed in each of the dropdowns, they are labelled 0 for the most part - except for the one that labels them strings. Am I in the right place? What do I need to alter?
Screenshots
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#23 Old 26th Jul 2009 at 6:33 AM
Apparently creating default clothing isn't the same as default objects. I am guessing my packages by mystical one are in the mod folder, which I left in my downloads when testing and that is why it seemed to work.

So am I right in that I can link to the original hula textures in the SHPE without having to have the LIFO and TXTRs in the package?

aelflaed are you using the mesh with pregnant morph by mystical one? I cannot mesh anything with any type of joints (ok once I did but it was an object!), so I took that mesh to import into mine. It had the belt and lei's on/in it.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#24 Old 26th Jul 2009 at 7:03 AM
Yes, I'm using the_mystical_one's hula mesh. I don't know why the extra groups vanished.

If all else fails, I can snitch Yagami's skirt textures which don't have the belt, and then I won't have to worry about the belt shadow appearing on the skirts.

But it's frustrating - I suspect there's just some little value somewhere that needs changing (like the bumpmap format!) and then it will all work beautifully. I don't understand well enough, that's all.

Maybe I should re-start the project from scratch and see if it changes.
Alchemist
Original Poster
#25 Old 26th Jul 2009 at 11:06 AM Last edited by aelflaed : 26th Jul 2009 at 2:01 PM.
Default Got it at last!
Success!

I started the whole thing again, and this time it worked. So far I haven't altered the textures, but I currently have the new mesh in-game, with Maxis colours...including leis, belt and grassy bits stuck on top of the sneakers and so on. Hooray!

I've also done a step-by-step as I went this time, so I can make up a real tutorial. No one should have to struggle so much with this again. Specially not me.

Now, off to finish with the texturing.

Edit: Bodyshop still doesn't extract the alpha3, alpha5 or noblends, although the accessories do appear on the sim. So how can they be recoloured? The all have the same now.

Possibly I should take the lei off again - looks a bit silly when the belly is large.
Anyway, things are going pretty well with this at present. Thankyou!
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