Object part behind invisible mesh part doesn't show anymore (again) -why?

[MysticRain]

I am working on a set of new meshes (plush toys). The package I cloned for this is the vase collection from the basegame.
Now I have a mesh for the plush character itself which replaces the vase and a mesh for a bow which replaces the flowers.

To keep the polys as low as possible, I used a flat plane and put a 3d texture of the bow on it. I made the rest transparent.

In the material definition, I changed the blend mode to "blend" instead of "none".
I thought this would mean only the parts of the mesh would be showing that are linked to a visible part of the texture like it is done with many plants, too.

The problem is that everthing behind/under the invisible mesh part doesn't show anymore, which means that my kitty has only half a head oO

Can this be fixed? Do I have to change something else in another part of the package?



edit: I didn't have this problem before I split the two parts into two seperate meshes. The texture now is the same though.

[bluetexasbonnie]

I don't really know about why your head disappeared, but the better TXMT for the bow would be
blendmode = none
stdMatAlphaTestEnabled = true

This tells it to make it either 'solid' or transparent depending on the texture.

[MysticRain]

Thank you! I don't know enough about all the different parts of a package yet.
I will change it.

erm..and can somebody tell me why it worked now that I started simPE again to take screens of it? *lol*
I didn't know that I had to restart simPE to get it to work.

I have another question now: Is there a way to direct the second mesh to the texture of the first one? so I don't need to put in two textures but can use the first one alone?

edit: Oh and my head didn't disappear -thank god *lol*

[bluetexasbonnie]

You could, but suggest you keep them separate.

Make the bow texture be JUST the bow and make it relatively large for the size in the mesh -- 64x64 or 128x128 (or really extreme- 256x256). This will allow you to have a lot more detail on the bow than it would typically get in all-in-one texture, where you wouldn't normally see so much texture space devoted to a small detail.

Plus by leaving it as a separate texture, people can just recolor the bow without making a bunch of duplicate versions of the body.

However, if you still want to put them in 1 texture, I think all you need to do is put the body texture name in the texturename area of the TXMT.

[MysticRain]

People can still just make recolors of the bow if the textures aren't split, I think.
They can just leave everything else as it is and only recolor the part where the texture for the bow lies. I already mapped the mesh and everything, so taking out the bow to use the space elsewhere, means doing it all over again...

The texture size isn't a problem either, I used a 1024x1024 map although it is a relatively small item to get all the details I wanted. The area for the bow is relatively large, too (more than 128px), as I made other parts smaller which have mostly bold colors and less details.

So if I want to use just one texture I only have to change the name in the TXMT?
Thank you for your help :)

[MysticRain]

I tried what you suggested and copied the name of the texture file into the TXMT file of the flowers. The only thing that happens is now the face is grey insted of wearing the texture of the flowers oO

DO I have to change sth else?

[bluetexasbonnie]

Probably ... I did that from memory. What you want to do is in essence a variation of the repository method. Igonorant Bliss has a good tutorial here.

If I have time this afternoon, I'll try to go thru it and find the exact right pieces.

You could post the object here for folks to review. There may be something else that is a problem - or someone else may have the exact answer you need before I can break loose to study the tutorial again.

[bluetexasbonnie]

This tutorial by Ignorant Bliss (http://modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=229452) is the one I use all the time for leading me thru repository kind of things. From looking at it, I didn't notice anything that jumped out at me. I think your object should have had all the parts & names all lined up correctly as it was cloned. It looks to me like the only issue would be the name in the Material definition.

It is so very easy to miss something when you are reading and but not doing --I'd suggest you post question and object in Creation Repair Center (http://modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=482).

The people who frequent that forum are VERY helpful and much more experienced than me.

[HugeLunatic]

Bonnie is right on having the linking like the repository. Have the subset in the SHPE point to the same material definition file, and make sure that the subset names are correct in the GMND, GMDC, and SHPE. You shouldn't need the tsMaterialsMeshName though since that is used when pointing to an outside mesh.

[MysticRain]

Thank you, I'll search for the name in each of the parts you mention.
If it doesn't work I'll post in the repair forum.

[MysticRain]

Okay, I deleted the second mesh and added the part to the first one again. I decided I didn't need two whole subsets.

Now, I scaled all three meshes down because they were far too huge to be toys. I imported the meshes into simPE again and everything worked fine -except that now the one which was okay the first time, now is showing the same symptoms I described the in the first post just with the difference that it doesn't change after closing and reopening simPE :\

I assume it has got something to do with the mesh itself bc it happened after editing it both times. This time it is only a one-mesh object.

Any ideas what to do?

[HugeLunatic]

If you have combined your subsets into one, you will need to remap so that it uses the one texture you now have in your package.

[MysticRain]

I know, I already did this. If hadn't remapped it would show only parts of the bow and parts of the other textures. This is not the problem with the transparency....

[MysticRain]

nobody who has an idea what's wrong with the mesh..? *sigh*

[HugeLunatic]

Either there are missing faces or the txtr linking is incorrect(assuming you have it mapped). You will need to find it yourself if you don't want to post the object for help.

[MysticRain]

I thought there was something you could do or someone who maybe had the same problem... I have to have it right (the linking) because before importing the scaled mesh everything looked fine. I will try again with the mesh I used before and see if it works.

[~Dee~]

You said in your first post that you used a plane and added a 3D texture of a bow
and made the rest transparent, is it still like that?
You can't have a solid and transparent texture in one.
And what you want to do with your bow is cut out parts of the mesh,not make it transparent.
You can use your existing map, but redo it in your graphics program.
Load your map, get a new raster layer, do the body and the bow, delete your map and keep the one with the transparent background.
Save as a .png file.
When you use your texture, in SimPE use DXT5 and in the TXMT,
click 'AlphaTestEnabled' and change it to '1'.
I wouldn't make my texture 1024x1024, it's way too large for a small object like that, a 512x512 gives you enough detail and keeps your file smaller.
Those settings are used with plants as well.
That's what I do and it works everytime.

Edit: Don't know nothing about the linking, sorry.

[MysticRain]

I wanted to scale to down my texture when I am done wioth everything else -it keeps most of the quality from my experience.

I didn't know about the DXT5 I'll do that now.

What you say about the graphics programm is what I already did, I made everything the way it should look and deleted the background in the part of the bow. Do you mean I need to make it two subsets again? the bow with the alpha part and the rest with the alpha set to none?

then why does it work with the other two meshes? oO

[~Dee~]

Mystic,
if you got it working disregard my post above.
The DXT5 or DXT3 and AlphaTestEnabled 1 works like plants do,
it cuts out part of the mesh.
If you got it working don't do anything to mess it up. :)

[MysticRain]

I haven't got it working yet although the mesh I have used before now only cuts out part of the shawl and not of the kitten anymore *sigh*

I have no clue what is different from the other two which were cloned from the package that doesn't work right now *lol*

[~Dee~]

You might want to upload your file to the Repair Center,
maybe someone can take a look.

[MysticRain]

I just started my game for something else yesterday and took a look at the files ingame.. they look completely normal *lol*

Strange..but it seems simPE wasn't truthfull about the preview *rofl*

Thanks anyway :)

[Dr Pixel]

SimPE's "preview" is just that - simply a preview to give you a rough idea what your object will look like. It's just a reference, it doesn't necessarily mean that your object will appear in the game exactly as you see it in SimPE.

Often things will look messed up in SimPE but look and work just fine in the game.

And sometime, it will look great in SimPE but not work at all in the game.

So don't think of SimPE's preview as the final word on an item - always try it in the game before deciding that something is wrong.

[MysticRain]

Ok I'll remember that ;)
Thanks for your help!