I was wondering about that, because I find there are quite a few cool objects already in the game that would make cool inventions. Like the MinusOne Kelvin fridge and the teleporter and the body sculptor. I think if it would be possible to make these into inventions, the inventing skill would be even cooler! So your inventor could "make" these instead of being only available as lifetime awards (which makes sense, since the Simbot is available as both an invention and a lifetime award).

I have seen an XML that has a list with all the inventions and at what skill they are unlocked, but it's probably not as easy as adding the object to that list?

Sounds like a very good idea, right now the game lacks inventions that actually serve a purpose.

Oh well... editing the XML doesn't work. It's only for tuning how much scrap it costs to make an invention and a couple of other small adjustments. I looked through the game's code and the inventions that are available are governed by Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.HobbiesSkills.Inventing, which lists (and handles) all the inventions and their applications.
Since I don't know a single thing about scripting, I don't know how to change that. It would be cool to be able to invent stuff like the collection helper and the teleporter and the MinusOne Kelvin Refrigerator.

It's possible.

Ok...so now that that's been settled does the OP have to now post a thread entitled "Now that I know it's possible to add existing objects as inventions does someone have an idea of how to go about it?" or could you give a hint here?

Actually I don't plan on hinting or saying anything until I've released a mod on this. Afterwards I will post back and spill the beans. So far I have the Camera, the Kenspa and the Kelvin Fridge working.

Spoilsport! Honestly, I wouldn't do it any other way.

Lol...fair enough

Not that I want to brag or anything, heh, but I also have this for the Sculpture fans:

Aw man, that is so awesome! I've been experimenting myself and I got stuck. What objects are you planning on adding? It'd be great to have the lifetime rewards and other rewards be inventable...

I have all the Reward stuff like the teleporter, collection helper etc. working. Kelvin Fridge works. I've added a couple things that are standard buy mode/technology type stuff. What other rewards are there, from the other careers maybe? I don't remember if there's anything useful, lol.

I think you've got them all, as far as I know. So, yeah, I'm now officially excited for this mod!

Wow ! How did you do that? I tried to make that sculpture "sculptable" but I wasn't able. I figured out it was missing its FTPT because objects without it couldn't be made "sculptable" (at least for me).

Would you tell me once you release your mod? I want to make the gothique armor a metal "sculptable" !

Edit: Can the robot fish be invented?

I have a mod on the inventing now, here: http://ts3.tscexchange.com/index.php?topic=4058.0 It's late where I live so I'll post back tomorrow.

That's so cool! And also so weird? From what I can tell from your XML, you made the same changes as I did while I was testing... yet with my XML the Sim would not get the item, is it maybe because I didn't include the <EPversion> line? What happened in my game: my Sim would "invent" the item (it would be invisible), then grab it. But there would be no notification of having invented something and also the item would not be in his inventory. And the invention limit would never be reached (he could go on inventing the same item I added manually forever).
I'm highly intrigued now to learn what you did! Anyway, GREAT JOB!! This means we can even add more of our own objects later on by just editing the XML?

Here is an example from the Inventing XML of a new invention being added to the list:

<Inventions>
<Medator_Instance_Name>Teleporter</Medator_Instance_Name>
<Category>Invention</Category>
<ScrapCost>30</ScrapCost>
<ScrapCostIfMaster>25</ScrapCostIfMaster>
<SkillLevel>6</SkillLevel>
<MinTime>90</MinTime>
<MaxTime>120</MaxTime>
<MiniModelName>Teleporter</MiniModelName>
<FinalModelSlotName>ContainmentSlot_2</FinalModelSlotName>
<EPVersion>BaseGame</EPVersion>
<PutInFamilyInventory>True</PutInFamilyInventory>
</Inventions>

The Medator Instance Name and MiniModelName will usually be the same, but sometimes the MiniModel doesn't want to work, in which case the item will actually be created but be invisible on the Workbench; it will still work in the inventory or family inventory.

The EPVersion is EP2 by default which is Ambitions. To add a base game item type in "BaseGame". A WA item needs to have "EP1" typed in. An official EA store item needs "Store" typed in here and you need to have the file installed. Presumably a HELS item needs to have "SP1" typed in here, but I haven't tried this.

This EPVersion line is identifying the location of the item. So if it says BaseGame, the item will be searched for in the Fullbuild0 in Base Game installation. EP1: the item will be searched for in your WA installation in the Fullbuildep1. Ambitions items are found in the Fullbuild_p04. These fullbuild files are found in GameData\Shared\Packages in each game installation.

Concerning the names of items, an example: Open the Fullbuild0 and scroll down to the Telescope, of which there is none. But there is a Telescope Cheap, which aha! is the item we're after. This name TelescopeCheap may be the correct name, but it appears to me that this is not always the case. Mark the OBJD tagged file to preview it and read it (to the right in s3pe). Close to the top is the line:

Desc: CatalogObjects/Description:TelescopeCheap

I believe that this name in this Description line is always the correct one for the Medator Instance name. A few lines below is the line:

Name: CatalogObjects/Name:TelescopeCheap

In this case it's the same name, but if this is different it may be that this is the MiniModel name (maybe). Another place to look is at the OBJK tagged file at this line:

0x23177498 (Script); Data: Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.HobbiesSkills.Telescope

In this case typing in "Telescope" is not going to work, but sometimes this name is different and the others aren't working, so this is another place to look for a name. There is also a line sometimes that will say blahblah.mimics.'name'. This name will sometimes be different and is something that can be tried if the names aren't working and you know you have the correct item.

The Containment Slot. I presume that this is the placement of the item on the Workbench, but I haven't managed to place things differently by changing this around. The Time Machine uses slot 2, so I've simply copied this for the 4-tile objects like the teleporter, telescope etc. The other stuff I left at default.

The rest of the lines are pretty much self-explanatory.

I did not manage to successfully create fruit, fish, metals, or gems which would work. I have created a Robot Fish model and a Lifefruit model on the Workbench but the description didn't come up on the notification box and these items were empty icons, useless, in my sim's inventory. I think a correct Medator Instance name and/or description is missing on these items, they are not 'true objects' or 'true buy mode objects'; they are generated on the fly into the game as needed, similar to the books.

This may be what has caused Nukael's error (see most recent post), the Medator Instance name is incorrect; or as stated the EPVersion simply is missing. I have seen this error so many times myself when I first started on this that I don't remember now if it was the first cause or the second cause, lol.

What more? Okay, the Sculpting Station is exactly the same, follow the same steps. Don't tell anyone this though, as I haven't released my mod first yet on the sculpting, so mum's the word!

Not always. I made an sculpting mod and added Store items and some of them have "_batchxx" at the end of the Description line, but it is not needed.

For example:
sculptureFloorWeddingHarpIce2x1_batch25 won't work while sculptureFloorWeddingHarpIce2x1 will.



No, the mini model is used to reference a smaller version of a large item. That's why a mini miner and time machine can be bought from the Debug sorting category. Those mini sculptures show up instead of the "real-size" objects, which are too big to fit the station.



Really ? I did the same, but I wasn't able to get the Terracotta Soldier. I'll try again, perhaps I got the Mediator Name wrong.

On a sidenote, <EPVersion></EPVersion> can also be set as Undefined. Not sure what's the use though, maybe CC?

Thanks so much for the explanation! And also for your perseverance... when I noticed my tests weren't working I'd actually begun to make a script mod, duplicating the workbench's functions and adding separate calls to that script to the objects I wanted to be available as inventions. Guess your method is WAY easier though :D
I got the names for my objects from the Resource name in S3OC, which looks the same as the names you used. So I guess it was the EP flag that was missing, maybe the game didn't know where to look for the files.

So I presume then that anything that was never intended to be sculpted at the Station won't have this mini model? The other terracotta things need it...

Yep.

BTW I was able to sculpt the Terracotta Soldier today! As I suspected I had the wrong mediator name. I used "terracottaSoldierChina" instead of "sculptureTerracottaSoldierChina".

Right now I'm trying to get the Gothique Armor. I've tried "sculptureFloorGothicArmor" but all I get is a white box that claims to be a "Failure Object". I guess the name is wrong but I've ran out of ideas!

I have a mod on the sculpting now, if anyone wants to look at it. http://ts3.tscexchange.com/index.php?topic=4059.0
The things below are included and Pangu's Axe, functional in Ice or Clay or whatever.