This set of tools has been revised with a GUI version, located here.

<====== former message ===================>
This is the continuation of the development of the object meshing tools and plugins. No, it isn't a user-friendly shell yet, but rather a core revision in the process.

I promised someone that was interested in making a set of plugins for a different meshing program that I would get these out. In this set, the decompiler creates a set of ascii-oriented mesh data files (.s3asc, one per group). The MilkShape plugins, while still referencing the .mcfg file, reads and exports data to these files. The compiler picks up the mesh data from the .s3asc files, uses it to update the appropriate blocks and compiles the whole lot to a new .model/.lod file.

While the .s3asc files can be viewed and potentially edited in a text editor, you would normally only look in there for some trouble-shooting reason. However, I am hoping that by moving the complex manipulation required to recreate the modl/mlod binary format from the plugins to the decompiler and recompiler, plugins or converters for other programs can more easily be developed. I don't have the time or the ability to do 'em all myself.

A writeup of the file format specs is included in the archive. Future revisions will build on this base. For now, I am leaving the V0.09 plugins in place in the original thread, as they appear to be pretty stable and useful. All prior fixes should be incorporated in this release, but a lot of things moved when I reworked it.

Be sure to backup your old project stuff; the intermediate files have changed, so you should delete all of them and start by decompiling your work again (this could be your already worked-on versions in .lod or .model form).

History:
V0.12: 10-Aug-2009: Restored lost fix for normals that flipped.
V0.11: 08-Aug-2009: Reverted UV scaling back to pre-V0.09 value.
V0.10: 07-Aug-2009: Revised to use .s3asc files for mesh data.
V0.09: 06-Aug-2009: Changed UV compression scaling.
V0.08: 04-Aug-2009: Increased buffer limits.
V0.07: 03-Aug-2009: Fixed error exporting default 8-byte vertex (0x5003 block).
V0.06: 02-Aug-2009: Fixed assignment import problem. Increased size limits.
V0.05: 01-Aug-2009: Fixed some normals flipping. Added seam (UV)
splitting. Added scan for unassigned bones.
V0.04, 29-Jun-2009: Fixed bug in VPXY field from decompiler for some MODLs.
V0.03, 29-Jun-2009: Fixed problem caused by earlier fix.
V0.02, 29-Jun-2009: Added code to manage welded seams on export
V0.01, 28-Jun-2009: Initial release

do you think it would eventualy be possible to edit directly by opening a package?

Thanks for the new milestone Wes.

Testing and tinkering has to wait until after my vacation, however.

But I guess you'll have loads of willing guinea pigs.

Ok i have been playing around and trying to make a chair today, unfortunately it would not show in game, for some reason it only shows one group from the second LOD file which is a flat piece of mesh, i have no idea why the actual mesh won't show, i have edited all the LODs and the MOLD files, here is the file
and a screenshot of the issue; i have no idea whether it is my fault it doesn't work or it is the program, thanks.

I game tested this, there is some linking issue that needs fixed, I got invisible, too.

<* Wes *>

Ok right, i kinda took your advice, and it worked, i have made the rave disco ball chair:



yeah so i suck at meshing in milkshape, but at least it worked, and it is recolourable, however i don't know how to (in the future) make it which part of the object, for example it is part of the metal part of the chair, what if i wanted it part of the material part? Thanks so much Wes!

There is a colored map (DDS texture) in the object that defines the recolorable zones. You will recognize it, it is all basic colors. Each color block is a recolorable material zone.

This color map needs to be remade to match the UV map for your chair (rather than the UV map for the original clone mesh).

I am no expert on doing this, but that is where the designable is matched to the mesh.

<* Wes *>

where can i find the colour map in the object? thanks,
DD

The above problem isn't any sort of linking issue but something that can be fixed in Milkshape. The mesh is usually group00 and shadow plane group01. These need to stay the same order upon export -no matter what- otherwise you'll get an invisible chair and a fancy looking shadow. It's to do with S3PE/Postal assigning the material to the FIRST group in the .mcfg, and if that's the shadow then well... you can probably figure the rest out. I had this problem and took me hours to figure out, so just posted this here for future reference.

The colour map DDS in the project is a block image consisting of 1-4 colours. Because the chair has 2 subsets, it will be just red and green. If you want the spheres to be the other subset, colour over the part of the texture where the map for the sphere lies in the alternative colour.

~ Apple

I think I made that mistake this afternoon myself, and I should know better.
I want to do some material assigning capability when I plug the code in these two programs into a GUI shell. I have started on it, but progress has been slow because the code has to work reliably if it is to be of any value to anyone.

It has to make meshes that work, that's job number one.

<* Wes *>

Thank you Wes~~~You're the best code developer in Sims~
I'll try it.


And for Deluxe,about the color map you can see to this...
http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...762#post2775762
Two DDS with shape and color in the .rar.
And the default color set is in the objd files. Open it with ultraedit..But I don't know how to edit the 64code..>.<

I asked Wes yesterday and I thought that would be work.

Ah brilliant thanks all of you, i will see if i can make the other one work by changing those groups over i will also look into colours subsets from that link you provided everyer, i will post my results.

Ok i got the chair to work by switching around the groups and group names for the shadows and the actual object, thank you SO much for helping me do that!
However i am not completely understanding where i am able to find the colour map DDS, where is the file and what do i use to open it? thanks.

I have a problem with the uv map. For this test I only made the .lod0

Screenshots :

the right uvmap (ms3d to s3pe)


the uvmap exported (s3pe to ms3d)


armchair in game


I hope you understand me because my english is very bad

wow apart from that though that chair is awesome

It would help if I could look at the .lod file and the mesh you used, pre and post export (so I can replicate the problem here). It could be related to the UV seam vertex unwelding code.

<* Wes *>

WesHowe, I sent a private message to you for the link where you can find the rar file., I don't know how to put a file on the forum.

I know the cause of the problem now. It is the scaling change I made to better fit the EA texture mapping. The way this is mapped (which is normal) is overflowing on some values, making them large negative values.

I will find some way to make both work, but it appears that a single constant will not work for both the EA objects and those from other sources.

<* Wes *>

OK, good news on this. I was able to fix the problem. I am convinced there has to be something outside the mesh that is scaling the texture maps and making them not fit the EA textures, some as-yet undocumented part of the MATD. Because I went back to my original scaling and you mesh works just perfect. It's UV map has all of it's values in the range 0.0 to 0.99999 (and that is correct) and it plays very well in the game using the original scaling I had.

I will have a new version (V0.11) posted in a little while. I attached a screenie showing your chair (which is fully designable). I noticed that the upper edge of the chair arms seems to be off color, but the rest of it looks very good, and as you can see, it is fully usable by the game sim.

Thank you very much Wes :D

Hello,
may be anyone will write a tutorial how to make a custom objects?

Britany: I plan to make a tutorial on it for the wiki, however tools are being updated almost daily, so until we are out of the beta stage i will leave it.

I was going to suggest more of a checklist at this stage. I am actively working on a GUI shell program that will incorporate the decompilation and recompilation steps within it. By releasing it the way it is, we have had a chance to get the main bugs in the process located and fixed. There may be more, because we haven't tried all of the game meshes yet, but this appears to be relatively stable.

<* Wes *>

can an object currently have multiple textures assigned to it or does the whole texture have to be on a single uv map?

Yes.

While there are some objects with multiple UV maps (CarPolice), and MilkShape does not support this, most objects have the ordinary arrangements where there is one UV map per group. In TS2 and other games, this meant a single group had only one texture.

This hold true in TS3 for non-designable objects. But in TS3, the designable objects have multiple zones defined by a colored texture map (the pattern map). While this map follows the UV mapping for each group, you can apply different materials to each of the (up to) four zones that are defined by the colors on this map.

Objects are not limited to single groups, although we do not have any tools yet for changing the group count in objects. Many of the designables (the Venus Sculpture, for example) use only one group for the entire object, but the pattern map divides that group into two sections, the wood pedestal base and the marble bust. Of course, create-a-style allows those to be recolored by the user into any sort of crazy scheme they want.

So you can have it both ways, but you need to pick a base object that is already constructed with the right number of groups and designable/non-designable features already set, because there aren't any tools right now to redesign these basic features.

<* Wes *>

Windows really didn't want to let me associate .lod, .model, and .mcfg files with the ObjectTools V2 exes, but I insisted, and prevailed (using the mighty power of the advanced options button).

However, now when I double-click on a .lod or .model file, I see the DOS window flash by, then the following messages pops up:

Usage: C:\... \MTS_WesHowe_979111_S3ModelToolV2\s3modld.exe {infile}

Any ideas what's going on and how to fix it? Am I the only one with this issue?