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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 1st Jun 2010 at 10:54 PM Last edited by M4RK13 : 11th Jun 2010 at 6:13 PM.
Object does not show up in game!
I am making my laptop for The Sims 3 but I have run into a lot of problems:

1. In game, the model shows up as expected in the game description window but it has got no thumbnail.
2. When I'm about to place the laptop, it is literally transparent except for a tiny little speck as shown by the red circle.
3. When in use, the laptop looks fine except that there is nothing on the screen. At all.
4. After my test sim uses it, the laptop returns to its usual invisible state.
5. This isn't really a major one, but the screen of the laptop is out of place when open. I know that it has something to do with joints, so I've uploaded a picture of the joint positions in Milkshape.

Can anyone help me at what I've done wrong?

UPDATE: As of 11 June 2010, All solutions conceivable have been tried and tested and still does not work. Until somebody finds a way, there is no way somebody can make a fully functioning computer/laptop for The Sims 3. Sorry folks!
Screenshots
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Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#2 Old 1st Jun 2010 at 11:36 PM
I don't know what the original joint assignment was, but that is what you need to find out and make sure each group is assigned to the right one. And one group may not be assigned to just one joint either, some groups have vertices assigned to different joints. What toolset are you using? I know for TVs that this isn't a problem with the the newer version of S3OC or TSRW so I would have to guess that computers would be fine too.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 2nd Jun 2010 at 1:59 PM
All the parts of the laptop were assigned to the right ones, i.e. the joints for the lid were assigned to the lid, etc. It was all a matter of the position of the joints compared to the laptop. Thanks for the help.

Anyway, moving on, I still have not got around a way to fix the other problems! Here is a list which I've tried so far:

1. Modified textures to plain, simple colours.
2. UV Mapped a model of the laptop without the screen, then merging the screen back in Milkshape.
3. I've even gone as far as modifying the mesh itself and starting again from scratch, but no luck so far.

P.S. Is it possible that the original laptop has double faces? Pleasee I need help!!!

EDIT: by the way, I have uploaded the PACKAGE file, the MLOD folders and the DDS folder so you can see the problem a bit clearer.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  laptopthing.zip (460.5 KB, 9 downloads) - View custom content
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 9th Jun 2010 at 5:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
I don't know what the original joint assignment was, but that is what you need to find out and make sure each group is assigned to the right one. And one group may not be assigned to just one joint either, some groups have vertices assigned to different joints. What toolset are you using? I know for TVs that this isn't a problem with the the newer version of S3OC or TSRW so I would have to guess that computers would be fine too.


I was using S3PE by the way, sorry
Alchemist
#5 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 2:40 AM
Not sure about your other problems...but the issue with nothing showing on the screen would appear to be a problem with the S3ObjTool's inability to decompile or recompile (or both) the thing successfully.

I cloned the EA laptop and simply installed the clone into my game. Everything worked just as it does with the original EA laptop.

I then cloned the EA laptop, opened in s3pe, exported and reimported the MLOD1 and MODL unchanged. Put that in the game and, again everything worked as it does with the EA original.

I took a third clone of the EA laptop, did as before, but this time decompiled/recompiled the MLOD1 and MODL. Imported those into the package with S3PE and installed the object in the game. This time, in-game, there were no animations on the screen.

Here is an in-game shot. The Sim on the left is using the laptop that went through s3oc, s3pe, and S3ObjTool. The Sim on the right is using the one that went only through S3OC and s3pe.



So, at least as far as the animations on the screen go, it would appear that your issue is not due to something you're doing and I doubt there is anything you could do mesh-making-wise to fix it. You should probably give that a try yourself to verify my findings.

This goes back to what Inge posted at some point. If you're working with a new object it's best to run it through all the tools first to make sure they can even handle whatever it is you're trying to make. Animated objects, in particular, seem to be a sticking point with the ObjTool.

And, if it's any consolation, at least in the base game, after I took a screenshot and minimized the game, when I went back into the game even the EA original didn't show animations on the laptop screen. I had to stop the Sim from playing and then give a new command to play to make them come back. So the EA object is sorta borked too...at least in my game.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 4:58 PM Last edited by M4RK13 : 10th Jun 2010 at 5:39 PM.
Thanks for the heads up, I realised this when I was making another computer (not a laptop) and nothing happened at all. So I used TSRW and although the screen itself worked fine, I ran into animation issues with the computer itself either moving or disappearing.
Maybe, in theory if I use both somehow... use S3PE for the mesh then edit it in TSRW to get the screen working...

EDIT: I just tried to do the above and had no luck whatsoever

Anyway, to all those budding meshers out there, I conclude that until S3PE and TSRW gets sorted, or somebody finds a way, a computer/laptop isn't an object you can do for Sims 3.
˙uʍop ǝpᴉsdn ǝɹ,noʎ 'oN
#7 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 5:38 PM
Geostates strike again :P

"Part of being a mesher is being persistent through your own confusedness" - HystericalParoxysm
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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 10th Jun 2010 at 5:41 PM
Damn I was about to make an iMac or a Macbook Pro for my story or upload it for MTS
I guess I'll have to screw the animation screen and stick to an iMac with a screenie of Mac OS 7 permanently in the computer for the meantime
Alchemist
#9 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 1:14 AM
Thanks for your observation M...whenever I run into somethin' like this I always get this sneaking suspicion I made a mistake somewhere and gave wrong information. But if you're getting the same thing that makes me more sure. And with the tool set here it isn't S3PE that's having trouble with them as far as my testing goes. It's the ObjTool or, when something with geostates is managed correctly by the ObjTool, it's changes made to the original object in an editor that causes the problem.

But of course, Cmo, you're right...it's all EA's fault for including this geostates rat-trap in S3. Between that and the geometry-lock on animation I don't think they love their adoring community If they did they wouldn't be torturing the finest minds in Simland like they are and we'd have custom working laptops and spiral stairs already.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 11th Jun 2010 at 6:10 PM
Yeah... I can't believe that Sims 3 is far less customisable than Sims 2... By now not only there should have been a Body Shop but also an object making tool...
CAW is just like neighbourhood tools in TS2 but with Terrain Painting tools and Terraforming. GRRRRRRR
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