Basegame Bed, Broken Shadow [Fixed by EA patch]

[Menaceman44]

I have noticed that the double brass framed bed from the base game has an issue with its shadow. When you place it, it is fine but after the game has been saved the shadow moves:
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/4749/brokenbedshadowg.jpg
Is there a correctable error in the package file? I'm lost with the internal workings of them. Might it just be easier for me to create an override with the circular shadow parts removed? At least the movement will be less noticable then.

[orangemittens]

I'm impressed with your observation skills...I've been playing this game over a year and never noticed that.

Do all the beds do it? If not, is there any reason to not use one of the others for your clone?

Melanise had an issue with an original EA shadow also, although her issue was that the original shadow was borked right from the start and not only after saving. But she solved it by just replacing the borked EA shadow with one that she had made herself. Maybe that would work for you.

[Menaceman44]

As far as I've noticed it's only the brass bed.
I just realised I don't know where the shadow data is stored though. I cloned the bed assuming it would be an image file inside only to find it's not.
So the next dumb question is where do I look for shadow data?

[orangemittens]

Different shadows are stored in different places. The floor shadow when an object is indoors is stored in the MLOD1. It's that plane you see under the object when you decompile the MLOD1 and bring the object into MS. The plane is mapped onto a generic shadow IMG. This one:

http://jaue.com/om/dropshadowIMG.rar

To manipulate the shadow bring the MLOD1 into MS and apply that IMG onto it as a material. Then you can see how the changes you're making will appear on the floor shadow in-game.

[HugeLunatic]

The bed probably has two mesh parts for the shadow as I've seen this on chairs and couches. One for the whole bed and ones that are tiny squares intended to be under the bedposts. I guess make sure that the small shadows meshes are where there supposed to be as well as the mapping is correct using the image that OM posted.

[orangemittens]

It does and they are. Well...technically the shadow has 5 mesh parts and 4 are mapped to the same place on the shadow IMG. One little square each for the legs and then the big one that gives you the shadow for under the whole bed. I cloned this bed a long time ago and the mapping on the shadow part is correct. This doesn't necessarily mean it will show up right in-game though. The chair that gave Mel a headache looked as if its original EA shadow was mapped correctly too but it had some weird line in-game. I'm not sure the same thing that fixed her issue is gonna fix this issue though. But it might be worth a try. Otherwise you could do like you said above...just delete the 4 little shadow meshes altogether.

[Menaceman44]

Well I tried making a replacement mesh with the four little feet shadow parts removed, only when it shows in game I must have somehow managed to break the bone assignments as the cover is jagged when a Sim sleeps in it and the sheets look like someone took a pair of scissors to them when a Sim gets out.
Milkshape did say something about missing bone assignments but I don't know how to fix that. None of the objects I've worked on in the past have had animations.

I'm more curious why the shadow physically moves when the game is saved in the first place.

[orangemittens]

Did that fix your shadow problem or is the shadow still moving after a save?

There are a couple threads here about beds and bedding made with the tool set from here. I don't know if not having the joint assigned correctly will bork other animations or not.

But I can tell you that whether it's assigned or not your bedding will still be screwed up if a Sim uses the bed. The decompile/recompile messes that up somehow and this will happen no matter what you do. From what I've heard TSRW can make a bed with animations that work correctly. You'll may still have to assign the root joint to the frame though (and leave the mattress/bedding part of the original clone alone). Assigning that joint is the same as any other. You just have to scroll through the list of bed joints until you find the one that is for the frame.

[Menaceman44]

Well if the bedding is going to stay screwed up no matter what I do then I guess I'll have to live with the broken shadow, as broken bedding animations would annoy me a hell of a lot more.

I will take another look to see if my file actually stopped the shadow moving or not though.

[Menaceman44]

Okay, so my file didn't stop the shadow mesh from moving. I guess I'll have to live with it and just keep the usage of that bed to a minimum. :(

[Menaceman44]

Am I going to get in trouble for posting three times in a row instead of using Edit? I just want people to be aware I have new info.

This issue effects ALL beds. It has nothinng to do with saving the game as I originally thought.
The shadow moves when the bed sheets are out of their neutral position. When a Sim is sleeping or the bed needs making the shadow shifts. As soon as the bed is made the shadow pops back.
The BRASS Double Bed that I have been messing with has no bones assigned to the shadow group but this seems to have no affect anyway as the shadow still moved when I assigned it to the same bone as the bed frame (and the sheet animations were still broken anyway).