Object shows up in SimPE, but doesn't display ingame.

[LoveTheSims04]

I made an object for a large set, cloned from the Zecutime dining chair (TheaterSet.package). It displays correctly in SimPE when I use the preview option in the GMDC. When I try the object ingame, the thumbnail for the new object is there, right next to the original Zecutime chair thumbnail, but shows an object that looks like a blank. When I choose the new object and try to place it, nothing at all shows up on the lot. Just and empty, one tile square.

I'm not planning a public release of the object, at least not while I'm still negotiating object creation, but I wonder if anyone knows why nothing shows up. I have cloned other objects (Dress Dummy.package) from the same chair and made newly meshed items that showed up properly, up until a couple of weeks ago. Now those items display improperly, as one of the groups based on the groundshadow no longer shows up on the object.

I would appreciate any assistance.

[buggybooz]

I only looked at your first package and I'm wondering if its supposed to be that size:http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/4740_090113052535waytoobig.jpg Try scaling it down using a maxis mesh as a reference. There are also about 60 joints. Since this is deco only you don't need any joints. Importing into SimPe as obj. will fix that if you create a new package although you would be better off cloning a floor standing sculpture.

[Numenor]

I think that it *is* supposed to be that huge (it's a one-piece theatre, after all). But the mesh was seriously broken: about 500 faces were degenerated and about 400 were collinear. I've fixed it using UVmapper Pro, and now it shows up in catalog and in game.
However, the problem about the joints that Buggybooz mentioned is indeed real, and it causes problems (for example, when you place the theatre on the lot, you can't pick it up any more, because the bounding mesh is malformed, due to the wrong usage of the joints).

As for the dummy, the problem was that you used the "groundshadow" mesh as if it was a normal mesh. But it isn't :)
At least, you must rename the groundshadow to something else (like I did in the attached package).

That said, I frankly don't understand why you decided to clone a dining chair... If you want to create a decorative object, you must clone a decorative object. In this case, a statue would be perfect; the base-game Venus statue is probably the most cloned object ever: there's a reason for this ;)
Despite the mesh, the game will consider the theater a chair, and therefore - sooner or later - a sim will try "sittin" on it, causing errors or odd behaviours.

Another thing about the dummy: the game has problems displaying correctly multiple semi-transparent meshes layered one on top of the other; I tried fixing this problem, but still the skirt doesn't look perfectly.

As a bottom line, you say you don't plan to publish these objects, and therefore you should consider my notes mere suggestions; but be aware that objects like these won't pass the exam of the moderators (and if they are approved by mistake, they will removed lately).

[LoveTheSims04]

Thanks for looking at it. I had originally made the theater as a decorative object cloned from a rug, with new groups added. It also showed up fine in SimPE, but not ingame. So I decided to test on an object I had used years before (the chair) that worked in the past. Unfortunately, I ran into the same problem of it not displaying ingame. But I do still have the rug based package to play around with. I will try the Venus statue too.