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Mad Poster
#26 Old 27th Jul 2020 at 10:08 PM
I'm guessing you forgot to make the mesh standalone. If you do (fix integrity, give new name), and then link the mesh to the texture file, then it should be fine. No need to reinstall (you've just made an accidental default replacement mesh, that's all - fix and/or remove, and everything will be back to normal).

For the rest, have you made sure to
1: Made sure there's only one skeleton present?
2: Do joint assignments for the helmet (should probably be 100% to the head)?
3: Made sure the mesh comments are proper?
4: Exported as a Unimesh file?
5: Imported as a Unimesh file (Right-click/replace)?

I have a text-only tutorial that covers accessories here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/moo...rial-t1979.html
Could be of some help.
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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#27 Old 27th Jul 2020 at 10:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
I'm guessing you forgot to make the mesh standalone. If you do (fix integrity, give new name), and then link the mesh to the texture file, then it should be fine. No need to reinstall (you've just made an accidental default replacement mesh, that's all - fix and/or remove, and everything will be back to normal).

For the rest, have you made sure to
1: Made sure there's only one skeleton present?
2: Do joint assignments for the helmet (should probably be 100% to the head)?
3: Made sure the mesh comments are proper?
4: Exported as a Unimesh file?
5: Imported as a Unimesh file (Right-click/replace)?

I have a text-only tutorial that covers accessories here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/moo...rial-t1979.html
Could be of some help.

For the default replacement, do I just go back into bodyshop and select on the glasses, then fix their intergrity and save? I don't get what you mean by that and I think I've made a big mistake as I deleted the project in which I made the mistake. I'm a bit clueless with this stuff . Also, if I leave the glasses like that, will it create corruption? or will it just stay like that until its fixed?

As for the helmet, I got it to show up as I followed a different tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX_iMWcVWIw

The issue was, as you said, I was using the projects' package which was a template, rather than the actual one in the savedsims folder. This allowed the skeleton to show up properly in SimPE.

But now I have another problem, the helmet shows in the create a sim area:


Obviously, I have positioned it incorrectly and will have to make some edits.

But, I cannot recolor the helmet. For some reason in create parts, it shows up like this:



Trying to create a project from that also causes this problem:



I think this may have been caused when I was linking the 3d files, in the tutorial I followed there are supposed to be two XMOL files with a 3IDR file underneath each one (depending on the gender). I only linked one because I only saw one 3IDR file underneath the XMOL file I saw (I'm making this a adult male accessory, but I should also be making the helmet an adult female acessory as well)

If you don't mind again, could you talk a look at the files for me in SimPE to make sure I've done this right?
Attached files:
File Type: rar  samurai finale.rar (73.3 KB, 1 downloads)

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#28 Old 27th Jul 2020 at 11:19 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 27th Jul 2020 at 11:43 PM.
Currently, only the adult male is linked (instance = 802/2050), but there's a teen, elder and YA in the recolor file (elder and YA can use the adult mesh, teens will need a separate mesh. If you want female sims to wear the helmet, they may need a separate mesh, because female and male heads have a slightly different placement so it depends how wide the helmet is - you can easily test this by changing the gender in the XMOL and seeing if it looks fine as-is. If it doesn't, you need a new mesh for them).

The teen, elder and YA are still linked to the glasses, so you may want to link those too (remove the teen, maybe?) before you use the file to make a new project.

It looks like the mesh is standalone so the glasses are just showing as a recolor.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#29 Old 27th Jul 2020 at 11:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Currently, only the adult male is linked (instance = 802/2050), but there's a teen, elder and YA in the recolor file (elder and YA can use the adult mesh, teens will need a separate mesh. If you want female sims to wear the helmet, they may need a separate mesh, because female and male heads have a slightly different placement so it depends how wide the helmet is - you can easily test this by changing the gender in the XMOL and seeing if it looks fine as-is. If it doesn't, you need a new mesh for them).

The teen, elder and YA are still linked to the glasses, so you may want to link those too (remove the teen, maybe?) before you use the file to make a new project.

It looks like the mesh is standalone so the glasses are just showing as a recolor.

I decided to link them, but still, the glasses just show up as the recolor which means I can't recolor my helmet. Or is that how its supposed to be and in order to recolor I have to edit the .package and change the textures through there?

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#30 Old 27th Jul 2020 at 11:45 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 27th Jul 2020 at 11:58 PM.
You may want to first add the textures in SimPE, and then see what you need to add via Bodyshop.
I tend to fix as much as possible in SimPE first.

Also, between each edit in Bodyshop you'll want to delete the cache files (every time you edit a file in SimPE and reopen Bodyshop and/or your game). These files save a "shadow" of mesh and reoclor files, and can cause some items to show up wrong, and can occasionally cause errors and other strange issues, especially on files that are repeatedly edited.

(Cache files are strange - if you put a mesh on a sim, then edit the file, and put the same mesh on the same sim, without deleting the caches, there's a chance the mesh could "blow up" as if it's borked, even if it's perfectly fine. I once had an accessory "blow up" on one sim and look perfectly fine on another, side by side. I've also had an old mesh show up with a new recolor file even if all traces of the old mesh were wiped away and the new mesh should've been working fine).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#31 Old 27th Jul 2020 at 11:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
You may want to first add the textures in SimPE, and then see what you need to add via Bodyshop.
I tend to fix as much as possible in SimPE first.

Also, between each edit in Bodyshop you'll want to delete the cache files. They save a "shadow" of mesh and reoclor files, and can cause some items to show up wrong, and can occasionally cause errors and other strange issues.

I deleted the cache and now the helmet shows in the create a parts area. However, I still get the "there was a problem exporting selected textures" error when I try to create a project from it for recoloring. As for the texture, I managed to change it:



However, now it is very low quality because SimPE will only let me import a 128x128 image of the texture, while the actual texture is 1024x1024. What I'm also concerned of is that I had to use the default frame texture in milkshape which may mean if I can get the 1024x1024 texture into SimPE anyway, the helmet may not be consalidated properly.

Do you have a discord or steam if you don't mind? I feel like it is just easier to communicate on there rather than on the forum

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#32 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 12:06 AM
You need to build DXT3 or DXT5. This allows you to size up the texture in such a way that Bodyshop and SimPE allows the size change.

You may need this one:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/moo...impe-t1197.html

I don't have discord or steam.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#33 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 12:20 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
You need to build DXT3 or DXT5. This allows you to size up the texture in such a way that Bodyshop and SimPE allows the size change.

You may need this one:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/moo...impe-t1197.html

I don't have discord or steam.

Thansk for the tool, I'll use it and also check if I have it or not. As for the create a parts area though, how can I fix it?

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#34 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 12:53 AM
The "problem importing parts" thing tends to happen when Bodyshop detects a problem (the alpha and texture for the same group has to be the same size, group names have to be the same - things like that), but it's difficult to say exactly what it is without seeing the new files, and sometimes it's a tiny thing that's easy to overlook.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#35 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 1:14 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
The "problem importing parts" thing tends to happen when Bodyshop detects a problem (the alpha and texture for the same group has to be the same size, group names have to be the same - things like that), but it's difficult to say exactly what it is without seeing the new files, and sometimes it's a tiny thing that's easy to overlook.

I'm not the best with SimPE so trying to find these mishaps will be difficult for me so here's what I did, I decided to delete the links with the Elderly and teen models. The issue still presisted. I also deleted a duplicate of one of the texture file but I still got the same problem. I just don't know what to do at this point :L

I also fixed the default glasses issue by clearing my projects folder, the glasses are now back to normal which is good

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#36 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 1:36 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 28th Jul 2020 at 2:01 AM.
Maybe look through the tutorial and see if you forgot a step or two?

How did you delete the links? Safest way is to delete the Mesh overlay (XMOL) and nothing else. If you start deleting 3DIRs or TXMTs or other resources, that's usually when Bodyshop gets a bit grumpy (if you delete one you have to make sure to delete all properly, and it's easy to miss a step - deleting the XMOL simply wipes Bodyshop's memory of there ever being resources for that age/gender, so when you make a recolor, Bodyshop properly deletes the resources you don't need).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#37 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 1:42 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
Maybe look through the tutorial and see if you forgot a step or two?

How did you delete the links? Safest way is to delete the Mesh overlay (XMOL) and nothing else. If you start deleting 3DIRs or TXMTs or other resources, that's usually when Bodyshop gets a bit grumpy (if you delete one you have to make sure to delete all properly, and it's easy to miss a step - deleting the XMOL simply wipes Bodyshop's memory of there ever being resources for that age/gender, so when you make a recolor, Bodyshop properly deletes the resources you don't need).

I did follow the tutorial properly, its the linking stage which was the problem as there were supposed to be two AM XMOL files with a 3DIR underneath each one but there was only one AM XMOL file with 1 3DIR file underneath it (there were 2 other AM XMOL files, but I can't tell whether they had 3DIR's correlated to them or not). Ever since then, I have deleted XMOL and TXMT files which aren't AM which may be the problem. At this point I'm just thinking of starting over a third time and if that doesn't work then I'm just going to forget it because it just won't go anywhere :L

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#38 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 2:01 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 28th Jul 2020 at 2:20 AM.
There are never two AM XMOL files - there's usually one AM, one YM and one EM. You can spot them in the age category in the XMOL (and sometimes in the actual XMOL number). AM=08, YM=40, EM=10.

The numbers in the file are a bit weird, though. Normally, females tend to have odd numbers and males even numbers, but maybe I'm just so used to seeing it in the accessory files I make that it stands out a bit when something is a little different. Maybe recolors for these particular glasses generate differently than the ones I mostly use.

I did notice now that the last 3DIR and XMOL doesn't match in your file, and the 3DIR for the teen is missing a XMOL, so I'm guessing that's probably why Bodyshop is throwing a tantrum.

The easiest way to match 3DIR to XMOL is to look at the column of Instance numbers. If they match, it's a match. And it's the longer numbers along with the ones in a parenthesis - the 401, 802, etc. not the 01, 02, 03, etc.
(I have a list of the default numbers in the tutorial on my site - they seem to generally be accurate across accessories and hairs)

If you've done a lot of deleting the "unsafe" way, this could be why you've had issues with Bodyshop. It could be an idea to remake the recolor file, too - but only delete the XMOL resources (by the way - for hairs you ALWAYS delete via XMOLs and never touch any other resources when removing ages/genders, or you end up with some strange results).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#39 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 2:26 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
There are never two AM XMOL files - there's usually one AM, one YM and one EM. You can spot them in the age category in the XMOL (and sometimes in the actual XMOL number). AM=08, YM=40, EM=10.

The numbers in the file are a bit weird, though. Normally, females tend to have odd numbers and males even numbers, but maybe I'm just so used to seeing it in the accessory files I make that it stands out a bit when something is a little different. Maybe recolors for these particular glasses generate differently than the ones I mostly use.

I did notice now that the last 3DIR and XMOL doesn't match in your file, and the 3DIR for the teen is missing a XMOL, so I'm guessing that's probably why Bodyshop is throwing a tantrum.

The easiest way to match 3DIR to XMOL is to look at the column of Instance numbers. If they match, it's a match. And it's the longer numbers along with the ones in a parenthesis - the 401, 802, etc. not the 01, 02, 03, etc.
(I have a list of the default numbers in the tutorial on my site - they seem to generally be accurate across accessories and hairs)

If you've done a lot of deleting the "unsafe" way, this could be why you've had issues with Bodyshop. It could be an idea to remake the recolor file, too - but only delete the XMOL resources (by the way - for hairs you ALWAYS delete via XMOLs and never touch any other resources when removing ages/genders, or you end up with some strange results).

Thank you for helping me on this. By the way, how do I check the instance numbers? is this in plugin view? Tomorrow, I think I'm going to just do another restart and do it the right way, without deleting files incorrectly. I will continue updating this thread.

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#40 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 2:40 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 28th Jul 2020 at 3:07 PM.
There's "Resource Tree" to the left, and "Resource list" to the right in Plugin View.

"Resource Tree" has all the resources listed, such as "3DID (number)", "Binary index (number), etc.
In "Resource List" at the top there's headings that say "name", "instance", "Offset", "Size", "instance (high)", etc.

Click on "Instance" in "Resource List" to sort it by numbers (or alphabetically, if there are any Hex numbers there). Click it once more if it goes the wrong way. If the Instance column has moved very far back, you can click-drag it closer to the "Name" column.

If the instance numbers seem a bit odd, the ages and genders make sense in a "1+01=toddler female, 4+02=teen male, 8+01=adult female, 40+02= YA Male" kind of way, and the parenthesis numbers are the decimal numbers (101 in Hex = 257 in decimal, 4002 in hex = 16386 in decimal). Just in case you're curious.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#41 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 11:45 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
There's "Resource Tree" to the left, and "Resource list" to the right in Plugin View.

"Resource Tree" has all the resources listed, such as "3DID (number)", "Bunary index (number), etc.
In "Resource List" at the top there's headings that say "name", "instance", "Offset", "Size", "instance (high)", etc.

Click on "Instance" in "Resource List" to sort it by numbers (or alphabetically, if there are any Hex numbers there). Click it once more if it goes the wrong way. If the Instance column has moved very far back, you can click-drag it closer to the "Name" column.

If the instance numbers seem a bit odd, the ages and genders make sense in a "1+01=toddler female, 4+02=teen male, 8+01=adult female, 40+02= YA Male" kind of way, and the parenthesis numbers are the decimal numbers (101 in Hex = 257 in decimal, 4002 in hex = 16386 in decimal). Just in case you're curious.

This will help a lot. I have one last question though. How many 3IDR files do you link for adult male? is it only one?

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#42 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 3:17 PM
I tend to only use one for adult/YA/elder if it's on the arm/leg/head area (if it's on the torso/pelvis area, I'd probably use one for elders too, because of the different bodyshape).

You can see the setup I normally use in the tutorial I made, and it varies with the ages/genders I include. I never bother with YA, and instead add it in later, so I don't get the extra resources (I don't like clutter - if I have to edit something in SimPE at a later point, I want to edit as few resources as possible). I only include as many as I need, and eliminate any not needed. It does involve a bit of editing in SimPE when the files are done (mostly just age/gender editing), but I don't mind. Keeps the files looking a bit tidier.

If you don't mind the extra clutter, and don't want the extra editing in SimPE, it's easy enough to do all the age/gender editing on the first file, and Bodyshop will add in any missing ages/genders for your recolors, with no extra editing needed. The only times you can't do this is when adding infants (because Bodyshop is unable to add those resources properly and they have to be "cheated" - but most people don't need to add accessories for infants, so that's usually not a problem).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#43 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 4:45 PM
This time I have done the accessory well and it shows up properly in game with the correct texture I needed:



However, the "failed to export textures" in create a part error still presists. I now understand what you meant, the XMOL and 3DIR files are causing this problem. In tutorials I have read up on meshing accessories, they delete the TF,TM and AF XMOL and 3DIR files. Problem is, they do not explain that there are three types of AM and AF XMOL files which all probably have 3DIR tied to them. I found out that these three types correspond to Elder male and Young Adult Male as they both use the same base model fo Adult male. Now I know why the problem keeps presisting.

How can I either, link the Elder male and Young Adult male 3DIR's to the mesh or remove them? I really don't mind having the helmets for both YAM and Elder Male.

I also need to again adjust the helmet as certain faical features clip through it, I take it to do this all I need to do is edit the mesh in Milkshape then replace the GMDC file again like I did to port the helmet over in the first place

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#44 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 5:16 PM
You should only delete the XMOL files - without these, Bodyshop simply removes all the files it doesn't need. There's absolutely no need to delete any of the 3DIR files, and chances are you could delete the wrong ones if you're not 100% certain of what you're doing (and honestly, Bodyshop does a better job of deleting the files, anyway).

The other 3DIR files with just four lines control the Binary Index and thumbnails (if there are any - that's where you'd add them, anyway), and various other things in the file. They're important, too.

You can keep the adult age (the one that says age: 08) and delete the XMOL for the YAM and EM (they're the ones with ages 10 and 40). When you're done with the file, you can very easily add back YA and elder by setting the age to 58, which is all the 3 ages combined (8+10+40 = 58). That's what I do with head accessories to save on the work with the resources. Instead of making sure all three ages are fixed, there's just one mesh and one XMOL to link/adjust/test, so there's a lower chance of any problems happening.

(Just so you don't get confused, and again, in case you didn't know - when I say something like "age: 58" I mean "0x00000058" in the "Age" line in the XMOL - I just can't bother to write all the zeros all the time. And you don't have to write the zeros, because SimPE understands they're supposed to be there. It's enough to just write the actual number).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#45 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 5:41 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
You should only delete the XMOL files - without these, Bodyshop simply removes all the files it doesn't need. There's absolutely no need to delete any of the 3DIR files, and chances are you could delete the wrong ones if you're not 100% certain of what you're doing (and honestly, Bodyshop does a better job of deleting the files, anyway).

The other 3DIR files with just four lines control the Binary Index and thumbnails (if there are any - that's where you'd add them, anyway), and various other things in the file. They're important, too.

You can keep the adult age (the one that says age: 08) and delete the XMOL for the YAM and EM (they're the ones with ages 10 and 40). When you're done with the file, you can very easily add back YA and elder by setting the age to 58, which is all the 3 ages combined (8+10+40 = 58). That's what I do with head accessories to save on the work with the resources. Instead of making sure all three ages are fixed, there's just one mesh and one XMOL to link/adjust/test, so there's a lower chance of any problems happening.

(Just so you don't get confused, and again, in case you didn't know - when I say something like "age: 58" I mean "0x00000058" in the "Age" line in the XMOL - I just can't bother to write all the zeros all the time. And you don't have to write the zeros, because SimPE understands they're supposed to be there. It's enough to just write the actual number).

Absoloute life saver! After ridding of those two other XMOL files and replacing the 08 with 58, the helmet now properly works for Elder, Young adult and Adult and can be exported for recoloring! Just want to say that a lot of the stuff you've mentioned isn't in the three different tutorials I followed, so I'll read this thread again if I have meshing again in the future. Now all I need to do is just adjust the mesh (as some faces are clipping), test it in-game and I'll have the first part of the Samurai done.

Also, I just wanted to say, that Bodyshop has a resizing problem when I make recolors, for some reason, when importing to the game, bodyshop makes the edited recolor look blury. Is their a fix for this?

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#46 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 6:50 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 28th Jul 2020 at 8:34 PM.
It's half the reason why I made my own accessory tutorial, to be honest. When I first started out, accessories was one of the first things I made, and I had a lot of problems figuring things out and hit a lot of problems that none of the tutorials ever mentioned, so a lot of what I've learned over the years is either things I've put together from various sources or figured out on my own, and put in the tutorial I made. I think I've covered most of the issues I've ever come across in the tutorial, plus some explanations for the why and how of things (I hate when people say "do this and that" but don't say why - it's very frustrating).

The resizing problem in Bodyshop most likely happens because Bodyshop uses the wrong texture size when making textures (it's a "bug" where the graphic card isn't properly recognized by Bodyshop), and can be fixed two ways:
- Fixing textures in SimPE after making files in Bodyshop.
- Graphic Rules (fixes it once and for all) in the CSConfig folder. If you also have blurry textures ingame, it could be a good idea to fix this for your game, too (the Config folder).

https://simswiki.info/wiki.php?titl...y_Shop_Projects
https://www.simsnetwork.com/tools/graphics-rules-maker (this tool fixes the file for you, but make sure you fix the file in the CSConfig folder, not the file in the Config folder - the file in the Config folder is for the game. If you've already used this tool to fix your game at some point, you can try to copy the file from Config to CSConfig and see if that does the trick). And we're in Program Files here, not in Documents - there's a tutorial in the Wiki article.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#47 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 7:01 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
It's half the reason why I made my own accessory tutorial, to be honest. When I first started out, accessories was one of the first things I made, and I had a lot of problems figuring things out and hit a lot of problems that none of the tutorials ever mentioned, so a lot of what I've learned over the years is either things I've put together from various sources or figured out on my own. I think I've covered most of the issues I've ever come across in the tutorial, plus some explanations for the why and how of things (I hate when people say "do this and that" but don't say why - it's very frustrating).

The resizing problem in Bodyshop most likely happens because Bodyshop uses the wrong texture size when making textures (it's a "bug" where the graphic card isn't properly recognized by Bodyshop), and can be fixed two ways:
- Fixing textures in SimPE after making files in Bodyshop.
- Graphic Rules (fixes it once and for all) in the CSConfig folder. If you also have blurry textures ingame, it could be a good idea to fix this for your game, too (the Config folder).

https://simswiki.info/wiki.php?titl...y_Shop_Projects
https://www.simsnetwork.com/tools/graphics-rules-maker (this tool fixes the file for you, but make sure you fix the file in the CSConfig folder, not the file in the Config folder - the file in the Config folder is for the game. If you've already used this tool to fix your game at some point, you can try to copy the file from Config to CSConfig and see if that does the trick). And we're in Program Files here, not in Documents - there's a tutorial in the Wiki article.

Thank you for the fixes for bodyshop. Where are you tutorials that you've made for the sims 2 by the way?

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#48 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 7:06 PM
I've posted some longer ones on my site here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/moo.../tutorials-f60/, but I post quick-tutorials here and there (if it's something that doesn't require too much writing).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#49 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 8:23 PM
Thanks for the link to your tutorials, I'll take a look at those asap because I'm sure you explain things better than most tutorials out there.

I have tested the helmet in game and in CAS it appears fine, but in game there seem to be transparency issues:


Front part of the helmet is transparent for some reason


Face mask clips through the side and helmet looks awkward at the side


Face mask also clips through the back

What can be causing this issue?

(BTW, the sim looks like the armoured warrior from Sekiro )

JESSE!
Mad Poster
#50 Old 28th Jul 2020 at 8:36 PM
The transparent/see-through issue is covered in my tutorial (both in the recolor section and under troubleshooting), mostly because it's one of the most annoying problems I had back in the days, and it took ages to figure that one out (I swear, that one was a giant headache that turned out to have the easiest fix ever )

Simply set the "frame" and "Rim" textures (any TXMTs with textures for the helmet) to "SimStandardMaterial" instead of "StandardMaterial" in the "cMaterialDefinition" tabs in the TXMTs. Commit after each change, then save the file. It's a bug carried over from the original glasses. For some reason it's not a problem in the glasses (or so it seems, anyway), but it is a problem for cloned accessories.
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