Hi IgnorantBliss,
I'm sorry to bug you again, but I have been trying to finish up this clock and let it have a wall shadow instead of a groundshadow, but it will not change the angle to be on the wall instead of the ground. I changed it in MilkShape and put it back in the game and it still comes out in the game on the ground, so I changed the resources for it and still its on the ground. I even tried adding a background mesh in with the root_rot_gmdc and named it background instead of groundshadow and left the ground shadow alone. I added all the new info for the groundshadow like the mat def and so forth for it and still that new one and the groundshadow show it on the ground, one in front of the clock and one in the back. I have looked on the site for a tutorial that explains either working with shadows or adding a shadow to the object and I did not see anything that delt with it. I know bobl cloned his clock from the same one and it has the groundshadow displayed as the wallshadow but I can not figure out how to do it that way. Would you know how and if your not busy explain it to me or if you know of a tutorial that talks about it, let me know where it is. I'm sorry for always being a pain and I hope to not bug you so much in the future. I'm almost done with it except for making it have more floor tiles instead of 1, but I know of a tutorial for that so I should be fine. Thank you again for helping me.

momma 'b'

Here's your clock with a working wallshadow . I used the groundshadow, turned it 90 degrees, made it a lot bigger (both the mesh and texture) and remapped it. It seems to be working

It cracks me up every time when I open up the catalog that this clock is categorized under Small Electronics. It's anything but small!

Thanks a million IgnorantBliss,
How did you turn it 90 degrees to get it to be the wallshadow if you don't mind me asking? That way I will know for future references. I tried the Resource node for it and MilkShape but would not work for me. Kept being on the ground.

I know its funny about the size and the placement in the catalog...lol. When I was creating it and my husband seen it in the game he laughed at it to. I'm still working on it and I will be putting it into its rightful place when I get it all done. I just thought I would get the hardest and main parts b/f I go to the little parts to work on.

Thanks again for your help.

Momma 'b'

I just turned the mesh 90 degrees in Milkshape, didn't need to do anything in CRES .

I feel very stupid, since no one else has asked this, but I am not sure how to understand the very first step in your tutorial.



Do I have to create my mesh and then open it again in SimPE and add the subset?
For example if my object should have two parts (subsets) A and B, do I first create the entire mesh with A & B and then open it and import only the B part again, or do I have to create only part A then open it and create part B to import it?

I hope my question is understandable.

No, you can import all subsets at the same time

So that part I made bold in the quote only applies if you want to add a subset to an object that already exists?
Because that was what confused me a little bit.

That part means that you need to have the new subset separate from the old ones. I didn't mean you have to import it separately as in at a different time, but rather it needs to be a different subset than the existing ones.

Hi IgnorantBliss,
Yes its pain again...lol. After I downloaded the clock you did and left you that message, I put it back into the game and guess what? The groundshadow is still on the ground instead of on the wall. Its doing the same thing that mine was doing. I don't understand what is going on with it so I think I am just going to leave it have the groundshadow instead of the wallshadow, that way it will finally be done. I even tried cloning the new moonstruck clock or whatever its called from Maxis and that one turned out good but it does not animate when you clone it but it animates with the original one. I even tried pulling the animations also, but nothing, it wouldn't animate. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I am doing everything as usual that I did before, unless its because they are new versions and maybe they changed stuff in the seasons or the new version of SimPe. If you have any other suggestions, I would like to hear them. Thanks again for all your help.
Momma 'b'

momma"b", are you absolutely sure you just have my new version of the clock in your game and nothing else? Because the wallshadow definitely works in my game, I loaded it several times when I was adjusting the shadow size. Make sure you clean out your game of any previous versions of the clock. I don't think it's possible for there to be an indoor shadow on the floor. Outdoor shadows, on the other hand, and rendered in game based on the map, and those you can't edit.

Hi IgnorantBliss,
Yes I took the old one out and put the one you did the background in and its still showing it on the ground. I took some snapshots to show you what I mean about it. You can see in the one without a clock it has a groundshadow of the wall and then when I add the clock, it has the groundshadow of that too but no wallshadow. I move the clock one tile to show that the shadow shows better in the last place better than the one in the middle. I don't understand whats going on if yours is showing on the wall and mine is showing on the ground and its the same clock. If you come up with something, please let me know for future ref. I hate to be a pain to you all the time.
momma'b'

momma"b", since you have the clock outside in that pic, also the shadow is an outdoor shadow and not an indoor one. As I mentioned in my previous post, generally the shadows that are editable are indoor shadows that are based on textures, and then the outdoor shadows are completely separate, rendered by the game "on the fly", and you can't edit them. The outdoor shadow is created based on which direction the sunlight is coming from. If you place the clock on an indoor wall (a closed space with 4 walls) you should be able to see the wallshadow properly.

IgnorantBliss,
I'm a dope...lol. I went into the game and seen what you were talking about. Yes it does have one and with walls around it. I was thinking it was something like the one bobl did, which I put a pic up to let you see and its outside with only 1 wall its attached to. I also created a home clock from bobl's and that's the other one I am showing and they both have the shadow behind them. Thats what I was thinking, but bobl must have used a different kind of shadow for it to be displayed behind it and outside. Thanks again IgnorantBliss for explaining it to me and for all the help.

momma 'b'

I will look into this later on today, I may have a solution in mind .

OK, I think I figured it out, and the wallshadow now works outdoors, too . I noticed the clock by Bob had a different BHAV than yours. I copied a part of the BHAV to replace the one in yours, and now the wallshadow works outside, too. But you need to test the clock a bit to see if it still otherwise works as it's meant to .

(The shadow in Bob's clock is exactly the same as yours, it's just the BHAVs were different.)

IgnorantBliss,
That was it. I fixed the package with the background and it works fine now the way I wanted it with just 1 wall behind it. I uploaded a close-up pic to let you see it and one to let you see it with just the one wall. I even got some recolors done of it and I will upload them with the original if you want to see them. Thanks again so much.
momma 'b'

I cloned an end table and then made some recolours of it, but it still uses the recolours from the original end table as well. How do I stop it from using those recolours and make it just use mine?

moonbeam13, I don't think your question is related to this tutorial directly, but it sounds like you didn't update the MMATs with your new GUID. Check what the new main GUID for your table is (the Object Data with the shortest name, usually with no numbers or letters after it), and then copy and paste that into the Value field of objectGUID in the MMAT, commit and save.

If i don't want to add a subset to an object and simply make it recolorable (enable design mode) what process must i follow?

I have resized some maxis meshes all have a tsdegidnedenabled block but the recolors don't show.

I would like to learn how to do that.Can i use this tutorial? Thank you.

Does your object also have at least one MMAT? If so, then following this tutorial should work. If not, then the procedure is slightly more complicated but it's still possible to do. But, before you do anything else, make sure the objectGUID in the MMAT matches your new main GUID for the object. Incorrectly updated MMATs are one of the biggest reasons for recolors not working correctly.

Ok i'll check that now IB and let you know , thank you!

However, if your objects are using the same textures as the Maxis originals, then I'd recommend using the repository technique, which I have another tutorial for. It's unnecessary to include the textures if they are already in the game.

Eeek...it has one MMAT, guid of mmat is the same with the fallback guid in object data. Can i fix this?

Yes, just manually replace the objectGUID value in the MMAT with your new GUID, commit and save.

All my 3 meshes had the same problem i changed guids now and i'll load game to see if the recolors show, thanks so much IB, i cant believe it was so easy to fix (well hopefully this fixed it) lol



edit:it doesn't work again, in the meantime i am in the create chat and stormwench is taking a look at it.I will let you know IB, thanks so much!