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Testers Wanted: Transparent Floor Tile Set

by RGiles Posted 24th Dec 2004 at 2:08 PM - Updated 15th Mar 2007 at 9:55 PM by MTS2Staff
178 Comments / replies (Who?) - 25 Feedback Posts
Picked Upload! This is a picked upload! It showcases some of the best talent and creativity available on MTS and in the community.
After some amount of fudging around I came up with some transparent floor tiles that are Homecrafters Plus compatible. I made clear, red, blue and green versions. You'll find that the clear ones are the least strange looking in the game because when shadows fall on partially transparent tiles, the shadowed part becomes completely transparent... meaning any color that was in the tile disappears. Please let me know if you have any trouble with these.

The 5th item in the zip file as a frost-covered partially transparent tile. I thought some of you might like it. However it DOES break compatibility with Homecrafters Plus. If you do not remove this tile from your downloads before you try to create or edit a floor tile in HCP, the program will crash. I'm still trying to correct this and of course I'll share any improvement I can make with you. But I thought some might like it for Christmas. It does look pretty cool in the game.

As far as I can tell so far, reflectivity and shine do not work on floor tiles at all. Applying the regular mirror reflection material to floor tiles gives a very freaky effect... it reflects your ground cover material, and the reflection moves as the camera does. It gives the effect of an extremely-well camoflaged house and makes me nauseous. I did not include it in this package. There are new setting for reflectivity in wall packages, though, so I'll keep experimenting.

EDIT: If you put any of these directly on the ground level, you'll get blue-tinted bright colors and bright blue shadows. It's ugly. They are meant to be placed at least on a foundation.

RG

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EDIT by MTS2 Staff: If you are interested in these transparent tiles, you might want to check the "Double-Sided" (i.e. visible from underneath, too) transparent tiles - downloadable from Post #126 - that also don't crash HomeCrafter.

You must have the expansion or stuff packs listed below installed to use this custom content. Please see the post text for any exceptions.

Sims 2
Key: - File was updated after upload was posted
Filename - Tip: You can click the magnifying glass to see the archive contents Size Downloads Date
rgiles transparent tiles.zip

Size: 102.0 KB · Downloads: 82,087 · 24th Dec 2004
102.0 KB 82,087 24th Dec 2004
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1. Download: Click the download link to save the .rar or .zip file(s) to your computer.

2. Extract the zip, rar, or 7z file

3. Place in Downloads Folder: Cut and paste the .package file(s) into your Downloads folder:
  • Origin (Ultimate Collection): Users\(Current User Account)\Documents\EA Games\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection\Downloads\
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4. CEP Required: The CEP is necessary for this download to work. Make sure that you have the newest version of the CEP installed. Get it here: The Official CEP Download.


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178 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 152 Feedback Posts, 20 Thanks Posts
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Motoki
Instructor
#2 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 2:12 PM
Did you make these via alpha channel or some internal setting?

I'm curious if it's possible to get alpha channels or normal maps to work on the floors and walls. I always thought that Maxis red carpet tile with the black snowflake/star design used a normal map but was rather dissapointed to discover it didn't.
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#3 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 2:15 PM
I used just internal settings for the transparent ones, and internal settings plus alpha for the frost one. But the frost one does break compatibility with HCP so far. I'm just about to try a normal map if I can work out how, so I'll let you know. Some of the defaults definitely do use normal maps, but HCP is rather lame and does not export them.
snazza
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 2:32 PM
These are the best floors ever!
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#5 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 2:58 PM
Thanks snazza. They should be good for skylights and greenhouses especially.

Motoki, I can't sort out how to import a normal map. Maybe SimPE can't do it, or maybe the floors can't support it. Or both. I think this is something you'd know more about than me, though. I'm not all that familiar with DDS files.
cleverbean
Field Researcher
#6 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 3:10 PM
Awesome work.. Thank you for your innovation and dedication!
seomi
Test Subject
#7 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:15 PM
Merry christmas RGiles, Thank you!
Braveheart
Field Researcher
#8 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:37 PM
Just tried these new tiles and unfortunately they crash HomeCrafter2. Not sure if they crash the game yet
AuntJean
Test Subject
#9 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:39 PM
THANKS RG...The tiles are just GREAT and I appreciate your hard work!!! Do you think a wall paper can be made like the clear tile? Thanks again...Merry Christmas!
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#10 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Braveheart
Just tried these new tiles and unfortunately they crash HomeCrafter2. Not sure if they crash the game yet

Only the frost one crashes Homecrafters Plus. The other 4 do not. If you want to use the frost one, you will have to remove it from downloads before you try to edit anything in HCP.

Or is anyone else having a different experience? I opened the 4 that do not have a texture in HCP many times without a crash.
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#11 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:42 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by AuntJean
THANKS RG...The tiles are just GREAT and I appreciate your hard work!!! Do you think a wall paper can be made like the clear tile? Thanks again...Merry Christmas!

You're welcome

So far no luck with applying anything transparent to a wall covering. It always flashes purple and black... which is a nice change from blue and black, but it's still not lovely :D

RG
ianthe99
Test Subject
#12 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:43 PM
That's really cool! Thanks! Hey, do you think you *could* post the reflective floor tile? It sounds really neat to me.
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#13 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:44 PM
ianthe99,

I knew someone would want it. It's very freaky. I'll post one soon. I'll try out the reflective material on walls too, just to see what happens.
AuntJean
Test Subject
#14 Old 24th Dec 2004 at 4:44 PM
I removed the frosted one and I have no problems with Homecrafter Plus or my game. LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!
gnohmon
Test Subject
#15 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 5:39 AM
I wouldn't say these are the best floors ever.

These are the best floors since Caro's transparent
floors for sims1.

I really liked the semi-transparent steel mesh floor
that became unavailable for distribution when Caro's
site folded. If you could make that for sims2, I'd say
that it was the best semi-transparent steel mesh
floor for catwalks and such since caro's in sims1!
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#16 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 5:32 PM
gnohmon,

Do you have that floor tile? If you have it, please post a screen shot and I'll try to make something similar. I'm still working on the semi-transparent ones with an image... like my frost one, so far they cause HCP to crash on loading the floors section, which is bad. But I'll keep working on it.

Note to everyone, don't be able to expect to use these as a base to "clone" from in HCP. It just does not support the property set I'm applying. It only supposed plain texture images. The best I'm going to be able to do is to make it not crash on load when you have these tiles installed.

RG
taoyingying
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 6:47 PM
RG, your floor is absolutly amazing! I really like it! However, do you think it's possible if you remove the shadow effect? I mean, when you put object on it, there will be no shadow so that the floor will be strictly invisible. We may need that for some special effect.
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#18 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 7:07 PM
taoyingying,

I don't think it's possible to prevent shadows from falling on just one object. As far as I can tell so far, the shadows are connected to each object that you place in the game, so that a tree has its own attached shadow which will fall on anything it its path. We could remove the shadow from the tree, but not tell a single object to ignore the tree's shadow. I'm a bit bummed about that, but so far I don't see a way to work around it. Even if I could change a setting to disallow shadows from falling on this floor, I think I'd have to do it in such a way that affected all floors. But I'll keep it in mind. Maybe I'll find something that I'm just not aware of yet.
gnohmon
Test Subject
#19 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 9:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by RGiles
gnohmon,

Do you have that floor tile? If you have it, please post a screen shot and I'll try to make something similar. I'm still working on the semi-transparent ones with an image... like my frost one, so far they cause HCP to crash on loading the floors section, which is bad. But I'll keep working on it.

RG


With the iron railings and iron archfences and iron spiral staircase, this floor was indispensable in sims1. Of course I still have it!
Screenshots
Mutantbunny
Forum Resident
#20 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 10:02 PM
Thank you, RG. Thank you very much for all your hard work and especially for your kind and sharing, caring spirit. Thank you.
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#21 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 10:56 PM
Oooh, cool looking floor. I'll have a look around and see if I've got anything that might be suitable to convert to a floor like that. Only trouble is, I believe when objects are placed on it, unless you turn off shadows in the game, shadows will be cast either across the whole thing or that make the textured parts disappear. I hope we can find a way to prevent that, but right now I'm not seeing any way to do it.

And you're welcome everyone. I hope they prove useful.
~kathy~
Ice Princess
#22 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 11:19 PM
Rg ty very much kind sir =)
harlequinnx
Test Subject
#23 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 11:39 PM
Yay! You have cool provided stuff like a happy little Care Bear! Thank you!


Note: Ignore the care bear bit. I have eaten too much food to be coherent.
~kathy~
Ice Princess
#24 Old 25th Dec 2004 at 11:41 PM
hahahahaha
RGiles
Administrator of Loverat's Tea and Underpants
Original Poster
#25 Old 26th Dec 2004 at 12:01 AM
Ain't I a vindictive little care bear? en7en thinks I'm petty for doing the same thing he or she did. *chuckle*

Enjoy your over-eating and everything else you over-do today. That's what holidays are for. (I will never finish all this chocolate, not ever!)

RG
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