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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 5:14 AM
Default need help creating wall templates
I've been reading the tut,
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=399388, and I'm a little confused about some things.
The tut used the sims 2 wallpaper from homecrafter, but I don't have that installed anymore. I was looking at some of the replies in the thread and it mentioned the size, 256X768, so if I were to create a new wall, is that the size I would make my new image?
Also it says at the bottom that GIMP does not create a dds file that size? Is that true?
I don't quite understand why the tut is written for GIMP then.
But anyway I did try to save a dds file of that size and it did save.
But then I tried to save it with mipmaps and it said it could not save it compressed as it was not a multiple of 2, or something like that.
I didn't' quite understand that because 256x678 would be multiples of 2..so I thought maybe that's what they meant about not saving but I'm still not sure.
The thing is I'd rather not have to use another program if there was anyway to do it with GIMP.
I'm just wondering if anyone can clear things up for me.
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staff: administrator
#2 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 6:18 AM
That tutorial is geared towards converting TS2 walls to TS3. 256x768 is not a multiple of two, so if Gimp gave that error that would by why. I don't use Gimp so I can't say for sure about that error or any way around it in Gimp. There are programs that can handle dds, I know Paint.net has a dds plugin. What size is the dds images from your wall clone?
Scholar
#3 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 11:32 PM
but the wallpaper from sim2 and sims3 is 256 x 512. No idea why they would change the size for the tutorial.

EDIT* I just looked at the tutorial and it doesn't mention anything about size, forget the comments, just use the tutorial.

The size you need is 256 x 512
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 1:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
That tutorial is geared towards converting TS2 walls to TS3. 256x768 is not a multiple of two, so if Gimp gave that error that would by why. I don't use Gimp so I can't say for sure about that error or any way around it in Gimp. There are programs that can handle dds, I know Paint.net has a dds plugin.
The whole image had to be a multiple of two? I thought it meant each number had to be..Anyway that doesn't matter, I guess.
Anyway, you say that tut is geared toward converting TS2 walls to TS3..are there any other tuts about this subject that don't involve converting?

Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
What size is the dds images from your wall clone?


Well the wall dds images are different sizes since the tut said,
"You should select a wall that has the same amount of recolorable channels you want your wall to have, and that is located in the same area of the wall catalog you want your wall to have. "

So I chose a pattern with a large border at the bottom a pattern in the middle and and a thin border at the top.

So when I look through the actual images I extracted I get a little confused since they're all different sizes.. There is one blank image that is 256 × 512 pixels. And there is another of the thin borders that is the same size. I guess that's the actual size of the wallpaper as a whole?

I think maybe I should pick a simpler design.. And maybe try to install sims 2 again and that way I could also convert and could follow along better..this way just confuses me more.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 1:50 AM
Quote: Originally posted by fluttereyes
but the wallpaper from sim2 and sims3 is 256 x 512. No idea why they would change the size for the tutorial.

EDIT* I just looked at the tutorial and it doesn't mention anything about size, forget the comments, just use the tutorial.

The size you need is 256 x 512

Okay I know where my confusion came from. At the end of the tut
it adds:

"For better quality walls, you can use paint.net to create a .dds of 256x768, gimp can't produce a .dds that size though"

I took that to mean that the image size I would need is 256x768 and since GIMP can't produce a dds image that size, so you can't use GIMP to make these walls.

When it's really saying you can produce a higher quality wall at 256x768 in paint.net if you like. But it is not necessary.

So I just misunderstood that part.

Okay I'm going to go back and start this again. Sometimes when you read something over from the start again it makes more sense.
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#6 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 2:34 AM
Pretty sure images from TS3 for walls are 256x512 as fluttereyes mentioned. And I guess I would disagree with getting a better qaulity image making it larger as I had no issues with my own walls that I made. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=401643

There are no other tutorials, but I've thought about making one but mine would be geared towards new wall creation and not converting and also would use Photoshop since that is what I use.

After cloning you have 4 images to change. The mask (RGB), the multipler (dark grey), the specular (white-ish to light grey), and the bump map (another grey with details). The easiest way to create a wall is based on channels and the textures on the wall already in game. Simply because changing textures/colors is tedious. It is easy to change the category the wiki has all the information on that.

To see some examples of the dds images and how they are used see Sims_3:0x00B2D882wiki
To change your category after making your wall see Sims_3:0x515CA4CD#Category_Flagswiki
Scholar
#7 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 5:27 PM
HL, I'd be interested in a tutorial for completely new walls. I haven't done a thing lately due to world building but once this world is finished want to move on to things that don't take six months to make, lol
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#8 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 5:33 PM
768x256 really improved the walls I made, so it's an option open to those situations that call for it.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
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staff: administrator
#9 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 5:51 PM
Inge can you link to your walls? I didn't see them at simlogical. I'm curious in which situation a larger wall will appear to look better and I remember you posting that the odd size now also works with Macs. I didn't notice any odd stretching/squishing with mine but I didn't compare 256x512 and 256x768 side by side.
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#10 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 6:07 PM
I haven't actually published them was just using them in my own game for now. Ok you know some of the EA walls for instance the tiled ones? If you look at the horizontal grout lines you will see some of those are fuzzy or almost missing. That is what I was getting with my sharply-defined multiplier when it was being stretched by the game. I mean, it's pretty obvious really that where an image is going to get resized before being displayed, it's gonna lose some definition. This probably is only an issue where you are hoping to have narrow lines and sharp edges.

"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#11 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 6:38 PM
ah, makes sense yes. Thanks. Similar to TS2 in that respect then. Some walls may require them a bit taller to look good vertically else they appear squashed.
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#12 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 7:23 PM
The logic with those wall sizes is that a diagonal wall will have a ~ 1:2 ratio (that'll use the 256x512 with next to no stretching), but straight walls are much more narrow, close to 256x768. Since straight walls are much more common than diagonal ones, it makes sense IMO to use 256x768 for patterns that are sensitive to horizontal stretching.

(I tested Inge's walls under OS X – the one I tested was not a tiled wall so I haven't compared it directly, but I can confirm that in TS3, 256x768 works fine under OS X).

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 12th Jun 2010 at 9:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
Pretty sure images from TS3 for walls are 256x512 as fluttereyes mentioned. And I guess I would disagree with getting a better qaulity image making it larger as I had no issues with my own walls that I made. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=401643

There are no other tutorials, but I've thought about making one but mine would be geared towards new wall creation and not converting and also would use Photoshop since that is what I use.

After cloning you have 4 images to change. The mask (RGB), the multipler (dark grey), the specular (white-ish to light grey), and the bump map (another grey with details). The easiest way to create a wall is based on channels and the textures on the wall already in game. Simply because changing textures/colors is tedious. It is easy to change the category the wiki has all the information on that.

To see some examples of the dds images and how they are used see Sims_3:0x00B2D882wiki
To change your category after making your wall see Sims_3:0x515CA4CD#Category_Flagswiki

thanks for the links.
The image I used had ten DDS images. I guess that's because it was divided into sections and then each section had the different kind of dds images to it.
I went looking around in my files and found a folder from Sims 2 that had a couple wall templates from Home Crafter. So I'm going to try and use that and try the tut again. Well see how it goes.
thanks again.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#14 Old 24th Jun 2010 at 10:03 PM
I've finally finished this tut and created a wall but for some reason I got four images..or walls instead of one..see pic.
In other words instead of one wall in the buy menu there were four to click on..The wall I made is the four brick ones in the middle.(They were each applied separately).
So, I did something wrong but can't figure out where i made my mistake..can anyone help?
Screenshots
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staff: administrator
#15 Old 24th Jun 2010 at 10:58 PM
Yes that's normal. All walls have multiple presets included in the package and all use the same multiplier, specular and bump map. If you don't want the others you can delete them.

Here's a pic to show where they are.

http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?t..._Materials_.jpg
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#16 Old 25th Jun 2010 at 4:48 AM Last edited by Tuesday7 : 25th Jun 2010 at 10:32 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
Yes that's normal. All walls have multiple presets included in the package and all use the same multiplier, specular and bump map. If you don't want the others you can delete them.

Here's a pic to show where they are.


http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?t..._Materials_.jpg

HI. Well I know that usually when you click on a wall it will then have choices of different colors within that one wall. I guess that's what's called multiple presets? But what is happening that doesn't seem right is that they are all showing up in the catalog as separate walls.
See picture circled in red. Those four are all from the one wall I made. I would think it should be one wall in the catalog and then when you click on the wall it would give you the other choices..I hope i'm explaining this right..Well if not I think the picture will help.
Edited to add:
I went back through the tut to see if I could find anything I did differently. I did notice this paragraph
"Now you can save this over your exported Bump Map from s3pe. As always select BC3/DXT5 under compression, and make sure generate mip maps is slected. You should also save this over the transparent looking file (it looks like a bunch of grey squares). But make sure that when you save over the transparent looking one you bring your opacity down very low."

I just saved my new bump map over the original bump map. I did see the transparent one but I think I skipped over that one..I must have just been saving the new DDS files over the originals so I just did the same for the bumpmap without realizing I was also supposed to save over the transparent one as well.
Anyway I'm going to try again and save the new bump map over it like I was supposed to and see what happens.
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staff: administrator
#17 Old 26th Jun 2010 at 11:33 PM
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#18 Old 28th Jun 2010 at 11:53 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
Yes the game does show all wall presets individually in the catalog as well. Highly annoying "feature" that is present on all game walls as well.

Really? That is highly annoying.
I'm going to try and delete them then. Thanks for your help.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#19 Old 1st Jul 2010 at 1:26 AM
I have some more questions about this if anyone can help me..I made one wall successfully*cheers, applause* and I tried to create another one in another category.
This one has 6 images
I"m a bit confused because the tut only talks about what to do with 4 images;
the main one,
the bump map,
the blank image(which you also apply the bump map to),
and the RGB mask .
So, I dont' know what to do with these extra images. They are two blank images, that measure 256 × 256 pixels each.
The wall is "Wall_Moulding_EndStiles_4Panel".
I've included pics of the wall itself and then a pics of the image names, you can see the two I'm talking about , they are called wood pine.
Screenshots
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staff: administrator
#20 Old 1st Jul 2010 at 1:42 AM
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#21 Old 1st Jul 2010 at 5:34 AM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
Not positive what they are without looking at the file, but they look like the default textures used. You can safely ignore them. =)

I was looking at other walls and I've found that a lot of them have extra IMG files.
It seems that they have the four IMG files that the tut uses and then other IMG files that are different sizes like 256x256 and 64x64.
They all have names like chrome01, wood etc.,etc., instead of the usual ones like Wall_Misc_Baseboard, etc.
And some are all full color images.
I guess by default textures you mean they are the textures that are applied to the other IMG files.
Like the main IMG file is a greyscale and these and full color textures so I guess they are then applied to the greyscale image?
I"ll try making a wall and ignoring them as you suggest and see how it comes out.
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