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morgade
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 2:03 AM Last edited by morgade : 5th Oct 2014 at 1:24 PM.
Default Sims 4 Tuning Tool [update 0.2]
I'm working on this tool that makes it easier to visually browse, edit, and create tuning xml files.
It process all TDESC e XML tuning files to show all elements in a structured tree, cross-referencing tuning and tdesc elements, display descriptions and possible values for tunables, etc ... It think it makes a lot easier to create xml tuning mods.
Finally, it can generate a XML based on the edited fields.

It's at an early development stage, should have some bugs, and I mostly did it to myself for fun, but it is usable right now. If people become interested, I can work a little more on it.

Project sources hosted at https://github.com/morgade/s4tt



What's new:

0.2 - Fixed Fragment resolution. Some tree nodes now are properly ordered

*¹ As it proccess and indexes hundreds of xml files, expect it to use a fair amount of memory
*² Make sure to load ALL tdesc and xml tuning files to get cross-referencing properly working
*² Sorry my broken english
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: zip  s4tt-0.2.zip (321.1 KB, 1947 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Version 0.2
6 users say thanks for this. (Who?)
velocitygrass
Inventor
#2 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 8:53 AM
Great job! Makes cross referencing the tdescs so much easier.

Also, bug report: I had two exceptions:
* One was when trying to expand "Interaction" in the TDesc tree.
* Another was when trying to click on "tests" in the bed_TryForBaby interaction in the instances.
I've attached the stacktraces in a zip.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  stacktraces.zip (1.6 KB, 154 downloads) - View custom content
morgade
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 1:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by velocitygrass
Great job! Makes cross referencing the tdescs so much easier.

Also, bug report: I had two exceptions:
* One was when trying to expand "Interaction" in the TDesc tree.
* Another was when trying to click on "tests" in the bed_TryForBaby interaction in the instances.
I've attached the stacktraces in a zip.


Thanks for the feedback.
I messed and broke Fragment (TdescFrag) resolution in the last build.
It's fixed in the version 0.2
velocitygrass
Inventor
#4 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 9:06 PM
Thanks for the quick fix!
plasticbox
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#5 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 9:37 PM
That looks like it will be very useful =). I realise I need to read up on, um, modules .. and fragments .. and all those words though =P

Meanwhile, some small suggestions for the UI:

- The "Settings" window can't be X-ed out which I found a bit irritating (shouldn't that work like Cancel under Windows?)
- Would be great if the "Possible Values" list would be sort-able, or if the current value would be highlighted or had a tooltip or something (so that one can see what it is in the vanilla tuning I mean)


Other:

- In the XML tree I cannot open the nodes for situations.service_npcs and situations.bouncer.bouncer_request with no indication as to why

- The tdesc tree looks borked at one point (see screenshot)


(I may add to this list if I find more things like that)
Screenshots
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
morgade
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 10:13 PM
Thanks again for the feedback

Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
The "Settings" window can't be X-ed out which I found a bit irritating (shouldn't that work like Cancel under Windows?)

Sorry but ... what to X-ed means ?

Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
Would be great if the "Possible Values" list would be sort-able, or if the current value would be highlighted or had a tooltip or something (so that one can see what it is in the vanilla tuning I mean)

Under the value field, you can see a label "Ref:" that displays the current value description reference (the same you see in Knwon Possible Values)

Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
- In the XML tree I cannot open the nodes for situations.service_npcs and situations.bouncer.bouncer_request with no indication as to why

If you can't open the node, it simply means that there is no data under it according to the loaded file. Try selecting the node and clicking "Original XML" to see why.

Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
- The tdesc tree looks borked at one point (see screenshot)

That's because the tool read a tag in some xml file that is not recognized yet (like this Deleted tag, that I couldn't figure out what means )
plasticbox
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#7 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 10:31 PM Last edited by plasticbox : 5th Oct 2014 at 10:44 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by morgade
Sorry but ... what to X-ed means ?


Sorry, that was a colloquialism =)

I meant closing the window by clicking on the X in the upper right corner -- see screenshot!


Quote: Originally posted by morgade
If you can't open the node, it simply means that there is no data under it according to the loaded file. Try selecting the node and clicking "Original XML" to see why.


That gives me a Null Pointer exception. See second screenshot!



S4_date_and_time_03B33DDF_00000000_6B89E13D5EC198F5.xml reads:

Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<M n="date_and_time" s="7748972287566649589"/>


(Full quote -- it's pretty empty in other words, maybe that's why your tool gives an error? It can't find anything useful to display?)


Quote: Originally posted by morgade
Under the value field, you can see a label "Ref:" that displays the current value description reference (the same you see in Knwon Possible Values)


Thank you! I didn't see that.
Screenshots
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Fogity
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 10:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by morgade
That's because the tool read a tag in some xml file that is not recognized yet (like this Deleted tag, that I couldn't figure out what means )


The deleted tag means that there used to be a tuning value with that name that has later been removed from the game. This probably will be more relevant in the future as they make changes to the game with expansions and such. All the current ones where before the game launch and therefore is not relevant to any of us now.
morgade
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 11:15 PM
Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
(Full quote -- it's pretty empty in other words, maybe that's why your tool gives an error? It can't find anything useful to display?)

Nothing is shown under the node because the file has no child tags

Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
Sorry, that was a colloquialism =)
That gives me a Null Pointer exception. See second screenshot!


The exception was thrown because the tool tried to launch the system default XML editor to open the file and couldn't find one configured or had some failure launching it.
I should handle this error more gracefully.
plasticbox
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#10 Old 5th Oct 2014 at 11:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by morgade
the tool tried to launch the system default XML editor to open the file and couldn't find one configured or had some failure launching it.
I should handle this error more gracefully.


Oh yes, that could be. I never officially told my system about Notepad++ I believe. Thanks for the explanation!
Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
pcgeekri
Test Subject
#11 Old 8th Oct 2014 at 2:18 PM Last edited by pcgeekri : 8th Oct 2014 at 2:32 PM.
Default Noob here
Hey,

Installing the Tuning Tool. I'm a noob, what is this Tdesc file I need to point the tool too? I clicked on the link in the window where one points the application to the tdesc files and it opens The Sims forum page. Searched on there and Bing and all that comes up is peeps talking about tdesc files but nothing about how to generate or download them from Maxis.

Have used the Extracting tool and have all these XML files in different folders in special place. These are remade after a patch and backed up.

Edit: Found it. Okay it's in that old modding package I downloaded over a month ago from SimGuruModSquad. The tuning descriptions are contained in the download called "TS4_Custom_Content_Guide".
These don't have to be updated after a patch? interesting.

I shall continue with my install.

Thank you for any help, *hugz*

Pcgeekri
Wolfman2020
Test Subject
#12 Old 8th Oct 2014 at 2:35 PM
download the Custom Content Guide the files your looking for are in a .zip file in that download under Tuning Descriptions. Then unzip that archive and walla the .tdesc files your looking for.
pcgeekri
Test Subject
#13 Old 8th Oct 2014 at 3:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Wolfman2020
download the Custom Content Guide the files your looking for are in a .zip file in that download under Tuning Descriptions. Then unzip that archive and walla the .tdesc files your looking for.


Yes I have them. Thank you so much.

One humble suggestion. I'm presently looking at an "Affordance" with a value of 26145. I don't know what that does or what it is checking for. I see the long list of possible values which is just excellent so one may change the value for a mod.
Is there a button or a way to tell the application to go immediately to this value in the list so a person may read the description?
If there isn't that would be a nice spot to the left of "Copy Value" something like "Find Present Value" maybe? Or am I missing something which is very possible. I don't have the best eyesight.

This is really a great tool! *hugz*

Thank ye,
Pcgeekri
morgade
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#14 Old 11th Oct 2014 at 12:08 AM
Quote: Originally posted by pcgeekri
Yes I have them. Thank you so much.

One humble suggestion. I'm presently looking at an "Affordance" with a value of 26145. I don't know what that does or what it is checking for. I see the long list of possible values which is just excellent so one may change the value for a mod.
Is there a button or a way to tell the application to go immediately to this value in the list so a person may read the description?
If there isn't that would be a nice spot to the left of "Copy Value" something like "Find Present Value" maybe? Or am I missing something which is very possible. I don't have the best eyesight.

This is really a great tool! *hugz*

Thank ye,
Pcgeekri


Check the "Ref:" label just under the value
Gardan
Test Subject
#15 Old 11th Oct 2014 at 11:32 AM Last edited by Gardan : 11th Oct 2014 at 11:37 AM. Reason: Incorrect bug report
I love your tool, please continue updating it. It makes tuning so much easier!

I think I've encountered a bug, the steps are as follows:

1. Go to instances -> scores_socialoutcomes_romance_availability -> scores
2. Add a new score
3. Add test "social_context"

At this point 2 items (of type social_context) are added in the GUI. One of them is valid and can be used. If you try to add values to the "duplicate" you get a NullRefException.

So there is a workaround, just use the regular one (that already has Unnamed values, which you can set) and manually delete the duplicates.

I added a screenshot.
Screenshots
Oldcustard
Test Subject
#16 Old 18th Oct 2014 at 8:28 AM Last edited by Oldcustard : 19th Oct 2014 at 12:19 AM.
Hi, thanks morgade for this tool, it really makes tuning mods easier! I'm getting this exception when trying to add a TunableEnum to the ages TunableList under the Trait instance:


This makes me unable to add the enums for each age without editing the XML after I have exported it. Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: It seems I am getting the same thing trying to add a TunableTuple to a TunableList - perhaps this is a bug with all TunableLists?

EDIT 2: Yes, this seems to be the case. I cannot add any tunables to a TunableList without getting this exception.

EDIT 3: More info: It looks like the Enum is getting added to the XML as when I press generate XML it shows up there with a value of "none", however it doesn't show in the tree, making me unable to edit it. Also, I CAN add to TunableLists on existing instances, I am only getting this exception when I am editing a custom instance.
Oldcustard
Test Subject
#17 Old 1st Nov 2014 at 6:02 AM
Hi, sorry to Bump, but I would like to see if this is a possible fix or if perhaps somebody else will take up the source code?
morgade
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#18 Old 10th Nov 2014 at 1:05 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Oldcustard
Hi, sorry to Bump, but I would like to see if this is a possible fix or if perhaps somebody else will take up the source code?


Hi. I'm short on time to work in the tool for awhile.
The source is available for anyone willing to work on it !
Oldcustard
Test Subject
#19 Old 10th Nov 2014 at 7:26 AM
Quote: Originally posted by morgade
Hi. I'm short on time to work in the tool for awhile.
The source is available for anyone willing to work on it !


Thank you morgade. Do you allow the use of parts of the source code in other projects? We were wondering if zerbu could implement some features of this tool in the TS4 Mod Workshop
Simmiller
Rabid Recoloring Renegade
retired moderator
#20 Old 28th Oct 2017 at 8:00 PM
I'm trying to figure out how to make my own tuning files, and this tool seems very helpful. There are a lot of tutorials, I know, but I'm still figuring out the order of things LOL! But thanks so much for this!
Inge Jones
One horse disagreer of the Apocalypse
#21 Old 28th Oct 2017 at 8:39 PM
You might be better off learning with a more up to date tool. I'd worry that some of this isn't relevant any more after so many patches, or maybe even downright wrong in the game now,
"You can do refraction by raymarching through the depth buffer" (c. Reddeyfish 2017)
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