Hey there,

I am a Blender3D user, and am a big supporter of customisation in everything (yay mods!).

I have an issue
I can't seem to import something I have exported. I don't know whether I have exported it wrong, or what. I first cloned it in s3oc, then I opened that .package in s3pe, exported all the MLOD and MODL files, and then I decompiled both the MLOD and MODL. When I try to open one of the files, Blender pauses for a bit, and then crashes.

Blender Version 2.49a

Python Version 2.6.2

I have a few questions before I make some mods

- What defines low-poly and high-poly here? Look at my sign below, that's exactly 970 polygons, is that too high? The polygons are mostly spent on making the letters round, so I could lower it, but with negative cosmetic consequences. The letters are only as round as all the other round things in The Sims 3.

- How would I go about adding channels to my objects to make them recolourable? Does it involve adding channels to the texture or giving each separately coloured piece on the model a separate material (or both, or something different)?

- How does the game decide the position of a mesh relative to the object's grid square? As in, height and such? Is it based on the model's origin? Because what I have created is a sign to go on the outside of one of the walls of the second floor of the fire station at about 50% wall-height:




- The tutorials are very difficult to comprehend for me. I don't have a clue what the naming scheme is about - to me it looks like you name them with memory addresses. I'm also not sure what the "Main Texture" section is trying to do. Can I not create my own texture for my object? Also, if both the main and CaST textures use _m_, how does the game tell the difference?

- What object should I clone for the sign? What's the best object to clone (I would like to use CaST with my object too)?

Thanks in advance,

Last edited by PwnagePanther : 7th Aug 2010 at 11:01 AM.

Hi, fellow Blenderer.

Forgive me for taking this one question at a time(long night :P).


Are you decompiling the MLOD and MODL in the same folder? If so, that could be your problem. Put each of them in their own folders and decompile them there. And what file are you trying to open? Try selecting the one that ends with "_filebase.s3asc".

Okay, I'll try that and see if it works, thanks.

Best is to stick to comparable EA Meshes. 970 is fine for this object. Don't forget to make also a lowpoly mesh. (Link: Why are there high and low detail meshes?)


You 'separate' the mesh via UV map with a RGB Mask. How you actually enable the patterns for this object depends what program you use (see fourth answer).


Yes, this is based on the model's origin. 0,0,0 is the center of the first tile. If you clone an object you'll see this.


I can suggest to use TSRW then all this stuff is done for you in the background and you can work with what you actually need to edit.
Links:
How do I use the Workshop?
Blender WSO Export/Import
S3PE Plugin for TSRW


paintingMission is CASTable.

Thank you both for the very informative answers, hopefully I will be able to get my sign in-game and onto my fire station using that :D

Also, yes, I am familiar with the system of LODs, I will make sure to do that then.

EDIT: A shame though, I have had to comment out the UV exporting section in wso_export.py because it throws an error at me regarding the size of vertex/UV sequences. I can only assume this is a compatiblity issue - perhaps the script was written for an older version of Blender which calculates UVs differently.

It means I cannot check to see how things are done by looking at EA's own work.. so how does group_0 (the shadow) work and what should I name my materials? Is it a good idea to bake ambient occlusion, or not?

Apparently, UV mapping is not allowed to intersect either. Question - how fussy is that? Is this okay:



(each block is going to have a channel)

And where must the bones go? I'm not sure where I should place the bones.. just across the centre? Do I even need to place a bone? It seems that when I export, I get an error about list indexing:





I would really like some help, because I can't proceed if the script will not work. I know it might be a bit much to ask, but it would be cool if someone would make one single tutorial for using Blender to make Sims 3 objects instead of me having to try and translate from Maya to Blender and such ... :\

Last edited by PwnagePanther : 8th Aug 2010 at 08:09 PM.

I only can help you with one of your questions, the UV map, if you want correct shadows for your sign and the letters, you will need to separate the mesh in your UV map more.
None of the vertices/edges should touch each other.
I only use Blender to bake my shadows and they will turn out correct if nothing touches in your UV map, I use the ambient occlusion and it works great.
Group_0, if your sign is the same size as the object you cloned it from, you don't need to do anything to the shadow mesh, if it's bigger or smaller, you'll need to adjust the shadow mesh size as well.
If the cloned object has a bone ( what most of them have) you'll need to assign that bone in Milkshape as well.
To both high and low poly meshes.

Is this Ceixari's script? He's been using 2.49 for quite a while now. If I were you I'd post in the actual script thread and report the issue, instead of trying to fiddle with the script. It's not going to lead anywhere if you export a mesh sans UV.

I don't have Milkshape and when I tried to use it I didn't have a clue what to do with it (I don't like the interface of Milkshape and various other 3D programs, they don't make sense to me)... I thought this Blender script supported bones, can't I export the bones with Blender?

Also, how should I export them? Should I select both group_0 and group_1 and then export, should I parent them both to the bone and then export the bone, or what?

You can export bones directly from blender, no need to use Milskhape. As for how, isn't there a how-to included with the script? I know there is one in the thread on this site (s3ascg export/import), not sure about the wso thread.