#2

16th Mar 2006 at 4:27 PM
Last edited by Numenor : 16th Mar 2006 at
8:47 PM.
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Additional Info and Frequently Asked Questions
Additional Info and Frequently Asked Questions
WHICH "SIZE" TO CHOOSE? BIG, MEDIUM OR SMALL?
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU CHOOSE A "WRONG" SIZE?
Obviously, you *have* the possibility to set the size of the objects one by one, choosing the most suitable size for that particular object (you can understand what each object is, by reading its filename on the first column, or by selecting it and clicking "Open" in the bottom-right corner).
But if you have many downloaded objects to fix, it would take too long.
Therefore, you'll probably find more convenient to provide
the same setting for all the objects, taking the "risk" that som objects will get a "wrong" setting, compared to their real size. The consequences are not harmful, anyway: basically, some objects may show an inproper placing on the business shelves.
- All objects set to "BIG": if you choose to assign a "big" size to all objects, the smaller custom objects will be treated by the game as large ones, and therefore you'll be able to place only one item of that type per shelf; the shelves will look a little "empty", but that's all you risk. This is the "safest" choice, because in no cases the objects will intersect, overlap od collide with the other objects.
- All objects set to "SMALL": in this case, you'll be able to place up to six objects on a single shelf; but if the objects are big, they will overlap each other: not a beautiful sight
In any case, you can always choose not to put six objects of that type on the shelf...! (Note: when placing an object on the shelf, you can press the "M" key in order to select the location of the object, among the six available). - All objects set to "MEDIUM": this is an adviceble setting, because it allows to place up to two objects on the same shelf; some larger objects may overlap, and some smaller objects may look "lonely" on the shelf, but this is an overall good choice, in my personal opinion.
BATCH-FIXING ALL THE CUSTOM OBJECTS IN THE DOWNLOADS FOLDER WILL FINALLY SOLVE THE ISSUE CONCERNING THE "RESTOCK SIGN" BEING MISPLACED?
It will greatly help, yes; but from the reports I've recieved by many users, I guess that
there is a bug in the game that can't be solved that easily; therefore, every now and then, you still will see your restock signs being "teleported" at one corner of your lot.
AFTER HAVING FIXED MY DOWNLOADS, MAY I STOP USING NUMENOR'S HACKS?
Yes

You don't need it any more. If, while playing, you notice that a particular object (perhaps a recently downloaded one) can't be placed on the OFB shelves, run this tutorial again.
TECHNICAL EXPLANATION OF THIS "FIX"
Maxis started to use a previously unused data field in the Object Data: the data field 0x004F [Unused - Shadow Brightness (Sims1)]. I've noticed that almost all the existing objects, before OFB, had this field set to 0x96 (very few had a value of 0x64); while in OFB the objects have a value of
0x2 (small objects), 0x1 (medium objects) and 0x00 (large objects).
The Scanner, when used as explained above, writes in the data field 0x004F the value corresponding to the selected "size"