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Lab Assistant
#26 Old 22nd Apr 2008 at 11:16 PM
Quote: Originally posted by amjoie
Yes, I wanted all the cloned tables to have the same gold game pieces, and to all use the same three accessories. I did not want to make accessories for each table -- I want them to share. That's why I didn't mind making the accessories overwriting. The way you have it, should I have assigned new guids to the accessories, and still have my clones share one set of accessories, but with a unique guid? Or is it designed to still be overwriting?

I have attached a pic of what I did, that I *think* is what you wanted me to do. Is this right?

edit: ... added another pic, done a different way which is probably what you wanted?

edit: LOL! Well, obviously I did something wrong when I saved everything, (doing it the second way that I tried, with the longer names) -- because when I removed the red table from the game, I got the blue flashies. The blue table was working before, when the red table was in the game. pic below

Soooo, what should I have done, instead of what I did?

edit: ... I tried something else, see in the pic below -- where I added the subset name. It didn't work. Sigh. I have no idea what to try next.

Are you frustrated, yet? My head is about to burst.


No i am not frustrated but now i have a headache too, your cloned accessorys overwrite the tiles of the Original Table. First i was thinking i have done something wrong so i downloaded your original table and accessorys. Its still the same. There is an Evil hidden in the Maxis Table.
For the Material definition Names i have meant you have to replace them in the accessorys shape not to add.
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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#27 Old 23rd Apr 2008 at 1:19 AM Last edited by amjoie : 23rd Apr 2008 at 1:41 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Havelock
No i am not frustrated but now i have a headache too, your cloned accessorys overwrite the tiles of the Original Table. First i was thinking i have done something wrong so i downloaded your original table and accessorys. Its still the same. There is an Evil hidden in the Maxis Table.
For the Material definition Names i have meant you have to replace them in the accessorys shape not to add.


I made the cloned accessories overwrite the tiles (game pieces) of the EAxis original table, because when I tried to give the accessories their own guid, the tiles (game pieces) went invisible on the clones. But they all show up when the accessories overwrite the tiles (game pieces) of the original EAxis table. I like gold for the original table better than the blue EAxis put there, anyway. So it doesn't bother me, visually.

But if I want the clones to share the accessories, then maybe it is best to just say the red table has to be in the game. All the cloned tables work if the red table is in the game.

If I only have one material definition name in the accessories, then I need three accessories for each table -- and the accessories each need their own guids. I was trying to avoid that many packages.

I am making these for my daughter, who plays the game on the Mac, with a finite limit to how many packages can be opened. She has lots of downloads, so if I can have three packages shared by four tables, it gives her that many more other downloads she can use in her game. I don't want her to have to delete some downloads she wants to keep, just to add extra accessory packages that she doesn't really need -- as long as the red table is in the game.

So, is there any way to have all the tables share the same accessories, if they all have gold tiles (game pieces), and still not have the red table in the game -- or shall we just say the red table has to be there, in order for the other cloned tables to work?

If the red table has to be there, it isn't much different than if it were a mesh that had to be there for recolors to show up. I guess I don't think it is that much of a problem to say the accessories and red table have to be in the game, and then people can add the other colors if they wish, but they don't have to if they don't want them. The red table is the most Asian looking, anyway.

The only alternative I can think of is making the red table a mesh object, and giving it the ability to be recolored. But I don't know how to make an object that won't allow a recolor into an object that allows recolors. Either way the red table would still have to be in the game. Shrug.

What do you think? Shall we just leave well enough alone, and call it a day? All the tables work, and look good. So, I'm happy.

Here is a rar of all the tables that are working in the game, with your accessories -- as long as the red table is in the game. (in the previous rar, the green table had some txmts messed up, and wasn't working, so this is the rar to test with, if you want to see if you can get it working some other way.)
Attached files:
File Type: rar  finalworkingrarmahjongtableoverwritingaccessories.rar (1.33 MB, 5 downloads) - View custom content

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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#28 Old 23rd Apr 2008 at 2:01 AM
Serious question: I love these table and chair mahjong sets in my own game, and my daughter wants them: But do you think they are good enough to put up on MTSi2, when they have the blue shuffle problem and the red table needs to be in the game, and the object needs three accessory packages, just to work? Is it worth all that, just to have the four sets? Should I submit them for consideration at MTSi2 (would they even be accepted), or should I just use them in my own game and my daughter's game? Would anyone else want to fuss with them? Please advise ...

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Lab Assistant
#29 Old 23rd Apr 2008 at 10:11 AM Last edited by Havelock : 23rd Apr 2008 at 10:19 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by amjoie
The only alternative I can think of is making the red table a mesh object, and giving it the ability to be recolored. But I don't know how to make an object that won't allow a recolor into an object that allows recolors. Either way the red table would still have to be in the game. Shrug.


I have made the red table recolorable yesterday but by testing him i found the tiles overwriting the original ones. So thats not an issue. I will look what i can do if i come home after work.

Edit: Could you give me a recolored Table texture who is not compressed in a package? Put her in a rar und upload here please. I would like to test another possible way to make the table fully working on your daughters computer without need to mutch space on them.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#30 Old 23rd Apr 2008 at 12:10 PM Last edited by amjoie : 23rd Apr 2008 at 12:24 PM.
Ooooh. *That's* what you meant by overwriting. Now I see why it gave you a headache.

If you are still looking for solutions, I will do anything to help. :D

Here is a rar of all the images I used in the sets. They are all pngs. I found that they look much better as DXT5 than DXT3. There doesn't seem to be much difference in the size of the file (only about 3k when I tried it). So if you are starting from scratch, I'd prefer you use DXT5 compression in the tables.

I redid all the chairs, because I was surprised that they were in the 600 range for size. I had used the wizard, so I never even checked the size. I must have used bmps in the wizard by mistake. I remade them with pngs, and they are now about 170 or so. The size didn't go down when I tried DXT3. In fact it stayed almost the same when I used DXT5. I have no idea how you got the file size so low in the chair you made. The remade chairs I did are in the "final" rar, in the post from yesterday. But I put the pngs for the chairs in the rar today, also.

This has turned into some project! I really appreciate all the time you've put into it. I think if you get this working, you should put the four table and chair sets up on the website under your name, with a small credit to me for the textures. That makes more sense than me putting it up under my name, with a credit to your for *everything* else. LOL

[But either way, Inge gets credit for telling me about the tree parameter error solution, and Echo for giving me the link to the tutorial on how to fix it.]

And to think all this started because my daughter and I wanted a mahjong table that didn't clash with a dark wood-toned pool, poker, and chess table in a game room, on an Asian vacation lot .... we weren't even thinking of putting it online. It was just going to be a quick and simple little recolor for our own personal use, because we couldn't find one to download online (and now I know why). LOL

Well, I hope after all this, that some other people can benefit from it, too. After all, this will be probably the only Mahjong Table recolors that work, anywhere on the internet. :D
Attached files:
File Type: rar  textures used in packages.rar (786.0 KB, 5 downloads) - View custom content

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Lab Assistant
#31 Old 23rd Apr 2008 at 10:17 PM Last edited by Havelock : 23rd Apr 2008 at 10:30 PM.
I have made you a Override Texture for the blue Mahjong Tiles of the Default Mahjong Table. Put her in your downloads Folder and you get golden tiles on him even when Sim shuffle or loose. Also i made your Table textures recolors of the Ingame Mahjongtable but you need the CEP Enabler made by Numenor. There exists a MAC version also. I hope you like it that way. The Chair Recolors are the same you provided I have only Compressed the Packages.

PS : If you like to find the enabler only click on the underlined CEP in my post and you get forwarded to the tread where you could download him.
Attached files:
File Type: rar  MahjongtableOverrideandrecolors.rar (407.4 KB, 9 downloads) - View custom content
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#32 Old 24th Apr 2008 at 1:32 AM Last edited by amjoie : 24th Apr 2008 at 3:56 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Havelock
I have made you a Override Texture for the blue Mahjong Tiles of the Default Mahjong Table. Put her in your downloads Folder and you get golden tiles on him even when Sim shuffle or loose. Also i made your Table textures recolors of the Ingame Mahjongtable but you need the CEP Enabler made by Numenor. There exists a MAC version also. I hope you like it that way. The Chair Recolors are the same you provided I have only Compressed the Packages.

PS : If you like to find the enabler only click on the underlined CEP in my post and you get forwarded to the tread where you could download him.


Havelock, you are an angel! Thank you so much!! This is just what I wanted. :D

I'm going to try this out right away. Wheeeee!

LOL -- it's perfect! How did you ever do it? No, wait; don't explain, because I know I couldn't possibly understand. (giggle)

I'm going to tell you something funny. I was all excited to try the new tables and I started my sims playing mahjong on the blue table. They shuffled, and my heart sank. The game pieces were black on my PC. I took a picture to show you the sad news. But as I watched them shuffle some more, the game changed from night to day -- and lo and behold, the game pieces turned gold as the light changed. ROTFLOL see attached pics

So, if anyone thinks the shuffle is the wrong color, and it is night, check your lighting or wait until it turns to day. They really are gold.

I tried them out on the Mac, and they are perfect on the Mac, also. You did it. I don't know how, but you did it! I can hardly wait to show my daughter. :D

Sooooo, now the question: Do you want to put this on MTSi2? You really should, because this is your override and so much of your hard work. The textures are nothing special, and just manipulations of EAxis textures, anyway. But you have given people the ability to make whatever recolors they want, with whatever textures they need. I think the credit belongs to you. I really do. I would be so happy if you would share this little gem with the simming community, under your name. Would you do that for me, as one last favor? Don't say no. (big hugs)

Doing a happy dance ....

edit: I just had to try -- I successfully recolored one of the previous mahjong table recolors. See attached rar and pic of lighter set (the pic comes out looking darker than the set looks in the game -- it is substantially lighter than the other sets). I also included the pngs in the rar, if anyone is interested, and a template of the lighter wood that can be plopped over top of the darker pngs to make an easy lighter recolor of the other table colors. I have included a lighter wood chair template, too. So I proved anyone can now recolor mahjong tables with ease. Thank you, again, Havelock! Enjoy!
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: rar  lighterwoodrecolorsandtemplates.rar (581.0 KB, 4 downloads) - View custom content

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Lab Assistant
#33 Old 24th Apr 2008 at 6:09 AM
I am glad you like it. Feel free to do with the override what ever you like i have made him for you. Are you using the original Table with the recolors or the cloned one? If you use the clone you wont need to use the accessorys.
If you like to see what the override is, open the Package in Simpe. Technically the Override replaces the original texture of the Mahjong Table if you took him out you have the blue ones again.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#34 Old 24th Apr 2008 at 1:12 PM Last edited by amjoie : 24th Apr 2008 at 1:20 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Havelock
I am glad you like it. Feel free to do with the override what ever you like i have made him for you. Are you using the original Table with the recolors or the cloned one? If you use the clone you wont need to use the accessorys.
If you like to see what the override is, open the Package in Simpe. Technically the Override replaces the original texture of the Mahjong Table if you took him out you have the blue ones again.


OK, then I'm going to submit the table and chair sets along with your override, but I'm putting your name on the override and not mine, and I'm submitting it with your permission. The recolor of the red table will have your name first and then mine, because you made it recolorable. :D

All I have in my game was what you sent in the last rar, along with the override. I had taken all the other ones, from before, out of my game. So I'm not using any accessory packages. Just the table recolors and chairs that came in the last rar you sent, along with the override.

To make the lighter color table, what I did was use the object workshop in SimPE to open up the red table recolor that you had put in the rar along with the override, and then I chose to recolor (not clone) the red recolor. It worked. It made another recolor of the original table, not a clone. It was wonderfully easy to do. Just like any other normal recolor. No extra steps. I'll tell people how to do it, in the instructions section of the submission.

I did open up the override to take a peek inside it. Of course, I didn't understand much. But I was amazed how tiny the texture is, with everything still so clear in the game. I don't know how you get things to look so good in the game and still be such small packages. But whatever you did, I'm happy and very grateful. :D

Now I'm going to read about how to submit something to MTSi2. I've never done it, before. This will be a new adventure. :D

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Lab Assistant
#35 Old 24th Apr 2008 at 5:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by amjoie
OK, then I'm going to submit the table and chair sets along with your override, but I'm putting your name on the override and not mine, and I'm submitting it with your permission. The recolor of the red table will have your name first and then mine, because you made it recolorable. :D


If you would credit someone for the ability to recolor the Mahjong Table it should be Numenor he made the original Table recolorable with the CEP.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#36 Old 25th Apr 2008 at 2:51 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Havelock
If you would credit someone for the ability to recolor the Mahjong Table it should be Numenor he made the original Table recolorable with the CEP.


LOL! You won't get out of it that easy. Everyone knows that Numenor and Quaxi always get credited. Nothing happens without the CEP and SimPE. Numenor and Quaxi are legendary. (And they had lots of help, and we all know who helped, too.) That goes without saying.

But you had to put extra work into the mahjong table, because it wasn't automatically set up to recolor -- or this thread never would have happened in the first place.

So, I'm still going to sing your praise. Just blush and accept it. LOL :D

For every King, there is a Queen ...

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Original Poster
#37 Old 28th Apr 2008 at 6:43 AM
It took me a while, because I created some more recolors, but I have now submitted eight Mahjong table/chair sets in one giant rar, to MTSi2. I also included all my textures/templates in a separate rar. Hopefully I did it right, and in a few weeks, they will be available for download.

I also made both a dark and light matching wood tone recolor of the Lotus Ming dining table, so people can use the chairs for dining as well as playing Mahjong. Here's a preview ...

So, with this, the project is officially finally finished. And it only took a month. LOL :D
Screenshots

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Original Poster
#38 Old 6th May 2008 at 2:06 PM
The Mahjong Table/Chair sets and Ming Dining Tables submission has been accepted and is now available (listed under Hobbies, Recreation). Enjoy! :D

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