My eyes are almost too tired to ask this question (from searches). Anywho, how in heck did Maxis make a fence with no vertical posts between tiles? The Academie Le Tour University has a default lot called Academy Gym. On the 1st floor, you'll see the Tornado Solid Steel Fence surrounding the pool with no vertical posts from end-to-end. If I drag the same fence for a few tiles, it has vertical posts at every tile. I've seen this with other lots, and user-lots, and I sure would love to know how to do this. I posted this question months ago on EA's site, but nobody answered. Perhaps this is the right place and somebody knows; it's been driving me batty for months!!!

No doubt it's one of the boolprop cheats, but not one that is publicized; I found all of them by accident and a good percent of them have really cryptic names that only object designers, Maxis, or TS2 hackers know the meaning of. Maybe it wasn't done with a cheat, but some key-combination I don't know about.

Forgot I was on a site I could upload pictures to.

I have never noticed this before. this is a good question and should be answerd.
perhaps [niol] or [patul] can give you an answer. I am am interested in this as well. I cant seem to think of a possible cheat to make this happen.

There are two things you can try. One is to clone the fence and change the vertical post frequency in the XFNC resource. Another is that some fences only put down a post where you release your mouse button while placing them.

I noticed that effect when i would to modify this building. I would re-do this look but after some tries I given up, It is not the mouse release, it is not the snapobjectstogrid cheat..
My ideas
perhaps a forgoten boolprop ?
I tried with NL installed, perhaps with base+Uni it works and the patches don't correct it ?
Or it was made with a beta version of the EP and stuff ?

Renee, ask nothing to Maxis, they never reply. Their interest is just sell their product, not to use them !

Thanks goodness, there're many talented lot-builders at MTS2, and many of them do like to help when they see fit... I can't name all of them here within this short post. They may drop-by anytime. n, I'm just one of those.

This's really interesting, and I didn't pay attention to that before. I don't know how exactly Maxis stuffs came up with it as shown in the pic.

But, here's a funny pic about the in-game fence "behaviour" with the foundation tools and the wall tools.


1. When the fence is built and connected to the foundation blocks, they just lose the post and so you can see the "hang-in-there" horizontal tubes

2. when a block of screen deck or foundation wall is built to a premade fence or wall, they'll lose the graphical presentation of the wall piece, and so as the posts of the fence... For further infos about the foundation wall tool, may read TS2 Foundation Wall behaviour Basic Build tutorial
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=87464
Don't get discouraged when you find it confusing... As the author of it, I can tell you that I don't even know what those all mean...!

3. The last foundation through the fence can be done by either building two foundation blocks separately from each side or using the undo-Ctrl deletion plus a left-mouse-click (If unsure what I mean, you can read the foundation tutorial mentioned above).

4. As you can see, walls can intersect the fence and silence the post regardless of its size. You can use invisible walls to simulate it. There're 4 common ways to do invisible walls.
a. May use Numenor's invisible recolour of the WallWindow
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=70222
b. May use Numenor's custom walls
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=59793
c. May use V1ND1CARE 's technque to simulate the same phenomenon.
Tutorial on Wall Height Reduction Under 4 Clicks
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=190663
So, you may reduce the wall to 0 high...! kinda invisible without modding or custom objects.
d. May enable the in-game invisible wall from the column deck when you're comfortable with modding the wall.txt file.
Modding InfoCenter - Partitions: walls, fences, fence arches
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=106473
In this case, wall4 may be modded out into the UI for accessment.

# non-rendered deck skirt
wall 4
defaultPattern "deckSkirtMinimal"
wallThickness none
mayChangeSurface false
mayAttachObjects false
mayCutAway false
requiresFlatBottom false
requiresFlatTop true
submersible true
verticalSpan floorToFloorBasedCeiling
blocksLight false
blocksPlacement false
deleteTool levelRoom
notRendered
#(add "#" to disable "notInCatalog" ->) # notInCatalog
thumbnailResource 0x499db772 0xe9261575 #(add this line for the UI icon)

Yet, walls done by modding the wall.txt can make some lots unsharable without demanding the users to use the same setting. Sometimes, some lots made of modded walls can become uninstallable. So, make some tests before actually using them.


What parameter Inge was talking about is "posttilespacing". Lol, just in case...

Good lucks...


Hopefully, someone will come up here and tell more. I know too little about it. :P

Added: may read Mootilda's post pn this thread here




Related thread linkage for partition-products modding:

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


Fences:

Is it possible to add bhavs & pie menu to a fence?
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...highlight=fence

New fence-need help!UPDATE 24/1 post#24
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=216472

Remeshed Fence
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...highlight=fence

What're the known links or references to correlate bhav, pie menus, OJBD, audio references, etc?
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...highlight=fence

Fences in lot package file:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...6&postcount=513
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...6&postcount=517
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...6&postcount=532
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...1&postcount=466
http://www.modthesims2.com/showpost...5&postcount=534
Continuous/Contiguous No Vertical Post Fences?http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=193824



Fencearches:
modding - Fence-arch: infos-sharing, ideas-mingling, etc...
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthre...light=fencearch

Oh my goodness, niol! You kind of lost me; not because I'm confused, because I was a pretty good hacker with The Sims 1, but I didn't know what you were talking about. I also thought I'd be notified of responses to this post, but I wasn't (booooooo)!

Anyway, MORE READING to figure out how to do this?

I used to love to read until the Internet became famous. I got my degree from an online school, and after having to do so much research using the Internet ... having one link lead to another link leading to another link ... I started to get burned out!!!

I think I'll use your foundation method. Leave it to me to find things nobody else has; it's my nemisis!

Yes, I know that about EA/Maxis; it's a damn shame, because there's nobody who can actually fix things about the game. I can't tell you how many times I put in a trouble-ticket thinking I'd get an answer to something, and all they wanted to do was play with my computer. Ever since EA came into the picture, Maxis has been untouchable, and EA doesn't know anything. Sigh!

Hi Inge Unfortunately, I don't know anything about hacking The Sims 2 objects. I held out as long as I could before jumping into TS2; now I'm green again, and don't even know how to clone.

Hi again, niol! Before I start reading more tutorials, because I wasn't really planning on hacking the solution and thought it would simpler, I do see the effect of placing a wall intersecting the fence making the post disappear. Unfortunately the fence I'm trying to change is that University lot, and there's not enough room for Sims to move around the floor above the pool with invisible or visible walls intersecting the fence. That makes me think that Maxis didn't use that method to create the effect. Deleting the wall makes the post reappear. Because of how things are placed around that pool, using the foundation tool doesn't work unless I use even more cheats to build a foundation on top of the split-level foundation I'm seeing.

So, back to the drawing board I go, but I'll look at what Inge was talking about again, and eventually the links. All current boolprop commands are in the configuration file with the name of your computer as the filename. I couldn't see anything related to this, and I may have already tried the posttilespacing command without knowing what value to give it. Time for some shuteye, and thanks for responding!

ReneeFox,
Sorry, i didn't mention the invisible walls are built not on the split level region but the outside of it. Basically, you may build a level of foundation outside to get the grid layer or support out to build the invisible walls outside the split level region. Don't worry about the invisible walls being in the outside of the split level will block sims passage outside coz that won't happen until you tile the outside grid layer with floor tiles or objects.

May read this post for the last few pix that shows the idea of what I'm suggesting here.

After building the invisible walls, delete the supporting foundation, so the scene will recover except that the fence post will have disappeared.

Once again, none of my suggestion has to be what Maxis staffs did coz I don't know how they did it either.

sorry again for the confusing post I made... You can see how messy my mind was at when I wrote it :P

Modding TS2 is quite different from modding TS1 in some areas while the recolouring process has been made in a similar manner for the processing.
Now, in TS2, almost all parts of an object need meshes just like the TS1 sims and/or some body accessories. Mapping is necessary. Yet, i can tell you recolouring had never been easier and creative! Many cool effects can result in TS2 recolouring... Plenty of material property parameters for your play-around... you may not just use the ones already there, but also make up your own... So, many things are possible... A monotonous recolouring can be done by altering the diffusion coefficients rather than the texture, so one can save a whole bunch of textures by the repository method. Surely, the file sizes can be much smaller and load faster...

PS: you can use the edit button to add the other quotes together into one post. And probably, remove the irrelevant contents in quotes as you see fit.

Good lucks...

I will attempt to get EA to tell me the secret. Half of what people are saying doesn't make sense to me until I get into creating fancy effects during the build-phase of lot houses. But, I do really appreciate ALL of your responses, and will update you if I can get EA to bite.

have a look :


It is from this lot : http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=197651

It is too easy : there are invisible fences to cross the black one in the non simhabited area, then delete the floor (it is not needed but to see easily)

Thanks _Moi for the help and renee for the idea

Patul, where's the invisible fence? Does it come with the lot? Way to go!



I should've known that Maxis/EA wouldn't tell me; I tried, but they redirected me and acted dumb. There seems to be a huge communication gap between their tech-support and the developers. But, if the invisible fence comes with that lot, I'm on it!

Reneefox, the invisible fences are in the non populated side, I put them on a tiled floor, 1 fence to cross each post (like the walls in niol's pic) it is a little boring..., then I deleted the floor.
The fences are packaged with my lot. You can find other one but they looks...similar

But it is not the maxis trick in LaTour !

I had made this invisible fence and gate if anyone wants this.

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=179868

Actully, patul is very clever to use invisible fence to play the role of invisible wall coz it saves the walls and is easier to do.

Niol I understood this with your pic above,
Sure fences are easier to use because they have nothing to interfer with other building tools, if you see my pic the staircase is quite impossible to build with invisible walls.

pfish, I had your fences but when I re-organise my dowload folder, they was in my 'unknown fences' folder because there is no mention of you in the package name or inside it,so giving credit was impossible. I always prefer use MTS2 stuff if I have choice. Now they are in my E:\MesDocs\EA Games\_Download-Base\_Fences-Gates-halfwalls\fe-pfish-invisible folder


Edit : sorry pfish but your invisible fences dont match for this purpose. Why..?

patul, I'm looking at your picture, and your explanation is a little confusing. All the fences displayed already have a floor on one side of them. Are you talking about having floors on both sides of the fences, then deleting the interior floors? Sorry this response is a month later, but I'm still struggling with this after stabilizing my Pets EP; it's a little screwy. And, what about laying down an invisible fence over a visible one with moveobjects on? Would that work just as easily?

A way to use invisible wall-window to do it is to place the invisble wall-window on the intersected walls before any stair deformation or tile-removal.

For an invisble fence to mask the intersected posts, to use an original clone which can do so in the first place is an easier means for this post-eliminating purpose.


ReneeFox,

walls or fences can't be made overlapped with the moveobjects cheat probably unless with modding.

It is possible to place Invisible fences without floor, but the easier is to place a floor then drag your fences and finally delete this floor.

That's why I like patul's way to use invisible post-eliminatable fence to do so.


Added:
In my test on the fence in that lot of the UNI, it's interesting that after I built and then delete a "mid-post-ful" fence across or a gate on the "mid-post-less" fence, the post(s) at the junction remained.
I've tried to delete across the "mid-post-less" fence, no post would result.
Undo-redo woulnd't affect the presence or absence of the posts in my tests..

My present view: the fence before TS2 release were probably post-less for the connecting part while the UNI lot was made around that time.
The cross-over of a new mid-post-ful fence or a gate can cause updates on the mid-post-less fences in the lot. Or, I just missed how to do so with my keyboard and mouse. Or, I really miss some untold commandline or else.

Yeah, it burns my bacon that Maxis won't just let the secret out. Instructions in here aren't making much sense to me. Intersecting a fence with an invisible wall still means there is a wall there ... its shadow, too. Mods aren't an option for me, because I just can't learn all that for this.

Oh, wait, I just got what you said, patul!!! Mark it up to a brain-cramp.

I'm still trying to find your invisible fences, though. I found a bunch of other invisible things on this site (walls/windows/etc.), but they're not exactly invisible when their shadows show up.

To eliminate the shadow effect, the invisible fence has to be a new complete clone of a mid-post-ful fence with a mesh of no datum, no vertice, no normal... basically nothing or empty... coz it's the shadow shader of the TS2 that will visualise the shadow of any mesh in the game except those empty meshes.

The clone source of the invisible fence has to be any mid-post-fence or any equivalent.one as suggested before.

For gmdc, one may try out the null.gmdc (if I recall it correctly...:P) to see if one can use it for this purpose

Uh oh, Niol!! There you go again talking about modding that I don't understand how to do with this game; I'm a smart cookie, but I do no mods with this game what-so-ever ... I'm just a player. Maybe you're just talking out loud to your comrades, but you might as well be talking Greek for as much as I can understand what you're talking about.

But, you did bring something interesting to the forefront of this brain. I have tons of files in my game that say there is nothing in them; they're only 1k in size, and I'm wondering if they are actually objects like you're talking about, or if SimPE & the Clean Installer just don't know how to read the files? Oh, but for a simple TS2 object-reading program. I don't have the time right now to focus in on learning SimPE. IFF Pencil 2 made it easy to see what was inside TS1 objects, even if other programs (or graphics programs) couldn't; that way I could tell if a file was just a mod of some sort, or whether it was a bad object. You're kill me (LOL)!

ReneeFox,

If you can't afford to make it on your own, try the followings.

you can try to ask "where to find at S2C first and then request it with a link back to that post or this thread about how to do the invisible fence to tell what you're really looking for -- "An empty-meshed invisible fence based on a fence with posts".

If someone misunderstood you by telling you some meshful invisible recolours, just state out you need "an inivisble fence with an empty mesh to avoid the shadow done by the shadowing shader" when used outdoor. That's a factual reason for your ask or request.

And if still they can't understand the point, you can show a pic in which the shadow of a meshful invisible fence in-game and tell that's the problem.
If all fail, ask them to visit and post on this thread and let the community at the build mode here help explain that to them.