Numenor. Procedure B - I have come to a crunching halt again. Colonial Ironwood Double Bed. It's to do with using SimPE 33b and the name of the resource node (without the cres extension). It's not that easy to find out what it is in 33b and at step E10 I'm supposed to add two new strings. One for bedding, one for frame, I'm supposed to know what the original resource node name is and I can't find it. I'm taking a wild guess that in this case it's for both bedding and frame:

beddoublecolonial

Is this wrong?

It's so hard.

From
Linking the new object with the original one

it's like crossing the Rubicon

do I need to fiddle with the shadows and link them to the original object too?

Help me please.

Samekh, I had the same problem. but, I have just thought of an idea. You know when you clone the original object with only pull default colour selected (Or whichever one it is, I forgot) look at fix integrity. There usually at the bottom is a filename with the _cres extension. You could use that, and seen as it's been saved with no additional names or anything it's exactly as the last one. If this works out maybe Numenor should add this to his tutorial so people know where they should be taking it from instead of the resource node?

I'll try that. I'm sorry I pointed you at the quick guide now. It's fine if you don't want to use all of the original textures but not for things like beds. I crashed the game trying to use beddoublecolonial. Then there's the shadows which, presumably, I should point at the original because you have to delete all the material definitions and material overrides (including the shadow ones presumably). Oh my...

Uhhuh, beddoublecolonial! I'm going to clone the light that Numenor talks about in his Method B and try looking at that in the fix integrity.

Yes, lightceilingdesigner... That's on the image on his tutorial in the string field in Geometric Node.

Samekh, you guessed right. The Resource Node filename for the Ironwood double bed is "bedDoubleColonial" (without the _cres extension).

If you want both the bedding and frame to "borrow" the textures from the Ironwood double bed, then you should include the two items in the tsMaterialsMeshName block with value "bedDoubleColonial". However, if you just want to link the bedding to the original but use your own textures for the frame then include the two items in that block but in the “String” field of the frame item write the name of the resource node in your package.

You don't have to delete all the material definitions and material overrides! In fact, you can't simply do that if you are using your own textures for the frame or shadows. Delete just the ones related to the subsets you are linking to the originals.

Thanks raquelcesar you're confusing me now and that's not good because

I'VE DONE IT. I can't believe it. You made that lovely set of 4 beds? Is that right. They're very good and I did, at one point, open one of your files to see if I could learn from it but the package files are so complicated!

Thanks for your comments. Give me a few days resting on my own meagre laurels and I'll probably be back to try and implement them and then get into more trouble.

I'm so HAPPY!!!

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you.

I'm happy that you did it. Congratulations!

Cheers. I made notes while I was doing it and I've tidied up my method that works. If anyone has anything to add (raquelcesar if you want to take it and amend it so that it has your procedures - particularly the one for dissassosiating the new package from the shadows which, for the colonial bed, are very dark please do) or any questions - maybe I haven't explained clearly enough... But here is my concise tutorial for getting a new bed mesh to use all the frame and bedding textures. Following on from Numenor and JWoods Quick Guide at the start of this thread - which definately works. After creating a package following the quick guide and testing it, open it in SimPE 33b and

This is specifically for double beds cloned from the Colonial Ironwood

I've missed certain bits out that only really need attention if you changed the model names at some point. And work on a copy, i.e., please make a backup before you start on the package.

Procedure B – Linking Bed Frame and Bedding to the originals and their recolours where the models have retained their original names after modifying a clone of the Colonial Ironwood Double Bed

Delete all:
Material Definitions
Material Overrides
Texture Images
Save
______________________________________________________________________________

SHAPE PLUGIN VIEW PARTS

return the subset name and Material Definition file to what they are in the original object (two shapes in a bed – including shadows - 7 parts to rename)



and these are - for the Colonial Ironwood Double Bed:

1st Shape File

frame beddoublecolonial_frame_mahogany commit
bedding beddoublecolonial_bedding_blue commit
beddoublecolonial_opacityplane beddoublecolonial_opacityplane commit

SAVE

2nd Shape File

groundshadow beddoublecolonial_shadows_alpha commit
eastwallshadow beddoublecolonial_shadows_alpha commit
southwallshadow beddoublecolonial_shadows_alpha commit
westwallshadow beddoublecolonial_shadows_alpha commit

SAVE





GEOMETRIC NODE PLUGIN VIEW EDIT BLOCKS

Pull down menu – select (cDataListExtension) click ADD but DO NOT COMMIT






GEOMETRIC NODE PLUGIN VIEW CONTENT

Select the cObjectGraphNode tab and click ADD change two of the values for the new line created in the Data List Extension Reference. Select the new line. In the enabled box change the value to 0x01

In the index box change the value to 0x00000005 so that it fits in numerically on the end of the list to the left.

DO NOT COMMIT

Select cDataListExtension in the pull down Blocklist
In the name field of the cExtension tab enter tsMaterialsMeshName and commit but do not save

In the pull down Blocklist select tsDesignModeEnabled and copy down the names of the items which should be bedding and frame if, when you made the new mesh, you kept the same model names.

In the pull down Blocklist select cDataListExtension again

In the pull down Blocklist in the bottom right corner (where you will see Array) select String
Click ADD twice
In the items box select the first of the two new strings
In the name field enter bedding
In the string field enter beddoublecolonial
In the items box for the second of the two new strings
In the name field enter frame
In the string field enter beddoublecolonial

Commit and save
Leave the second geometric node alone.




There's a better set out version in the zip file

If you want to make your own custom shadows, you just need to modify a little your procedure:

Don't delete the Texture and Material Definition for the shadows (the shadows don't have a corresponding Material Override).

Don't change anything in the 2nd Shape File.

The rest is the same.

You can then change the textures for the shadows as you like.

<--- Silently absorbing.... He He... I have been busy and wowza!! I am glad you two typed all that text and not me... LOL... I have DLed your notes and went over them... That reenforces the idea of creating recolors through the original bed, am I correct? If so how would the textures lie on custom U.V.ed Frames? I would imagine since the recolor for the new frame would be a texture map produced from the "new" frame it would look ok... If that frame recolor is used on any other frame the texture image would be odd due to the U.V. mapping I am thinking... In the contrary we would only use these recolors ourselves for the particular frame we made them for.... Just some thoughts to add...

UV maps.. I don't know. I was presuming that people are mapping their new meshes when they create them and, so long as you map your mesh to the image size that the Colonial Ironwood Bed uses - there are no problems. But I'll check it out because I have a couple of textures that I made for the frame that I know will look weird if the mapping has been messed up or is being ignored. Is that what you mean?

Sorry, I see what you're getting at... Yes, absolutely. Textures made specifically to fit the mapping of the new frame will look stupid on all the other frames which can use them - and they will. But I was trying to find the easiest way around the problems I was having with getting, primarily, the bedding to be the whole selection.

Thanks raquelcesar. That seems straightforward enough and should also shorten the procedure a bit!

JWoods, if you want the "new" frame to use custom textures, while still linking the bedding to the original one, you have to proceed as I outlined in post #106.

In detail, follow Samekh procedure except for these:

Don't delete the Texture, Material Definition and Material Override for the frame.

In the 1st Shape File don't change the filename for the frame subset. It should point to your new frame Material Definition.

In the Geometric Node, when adding the item "frame" to the new block "tsMaterialsMeshName", in the "String" field enter the filename of the Resource Node in your bed package (without the _cres extension) instead of "beddoublecolonial".

That's it! The bedding will be linked to the original one but the new frame will use your custom textures and recolours.

This was the method I used when creating my beds.

raquelcesar, I have been a bit tardy in this thread and missed the fact of where the frame is "housed". If in fact(I will re-read all the above posts when I can) the frame is in the first GMDC how did we get it there without spoiling the animations? I use the most recent mesh tool but haven't yet figured out how to import only the frame without hurting the animations... I must have obviously missed something above and will re-read...

Thanks for all of your input here as it is proving to produce answers to the complex objects such as beds...

I replace the frame in the "first" GMDC with my own using the Mesh Tool (version 0.9.46). I discovered that I can do it without eliminating the animations using two different methods: either not using the "3D View" interface or using the "3D View" interface, checking the “3 weights” box before replacing the mesh (otherwise I get the infamous vertex explosion phenomenon). It appears to me that the first method produces some alien artefacts, so I now always use the second method.

In detail, here’s what I do:

1. Clone a bed and extract the gmdc file and also export the obj file from within SimPE;

2. Modify the bed frame in my 3d program (actually, I usually use the original object as a reference only and make a completely new frame);

3. Export the new frame to a obj file;

4. Open up the mesh tool and load the new obj file;

5. Load in the gmdc file extracted from the package;

6. Open 3D View from the File menu;

7. Check the “edit groups” box;

6. Click on the "frame" entry in the object list;

7. Now click on the name given to the new frame in the models list;

8. With both entries highlighted, enter the number 1 in the “Sub-Group #” and click commit;

10. Check the “3 weights” box and click the “Replace” button to save the new gmdc file;

11. Open the new bed in SimPE and replace the gmdc for the new one.

I've been asked so many times how I import the beds into the game and replied with this same information that I probably should post a tutorial on it.

raquelcesar,
Thats what I was looking for... Thank you very miuch...

Hi, guys, sorry for not having posted for so long, but beside the death of the Pope (that here in Italy basically altered all the normal activities), there's a regional Election Day, here, and I volunteered to work in a voting office, so I'm quite busy...

Anyway, I'll try to give some answers, though you have solved many problems by yourselves.
The "original CRES name" in point E9 of the Procedure B is the same that you should have written down in the previous point C3.

About the shadows: if you have created a custom texture for the shadow, then you can follow Raquelcesar's suggestion about *not* deleting the shadow MATD and not restoring the original shadow reference in the shape. But if you are going to use the same shadow as the original bed (and actually, even if you re-mesh the frame, the ground shadow is likely to be always the same), then you can safely delete all the shadows MATD and textures. There's no need to put the shadow in the tsMaterialsMeshName, because it's not recolourable: the reference to the original Material Definition contained in the shape is enough to "link" the shadow to the original one.

As for the frame, what I strongly suggest is to re-mesh the frame and then try to UV-map the original texture on the new mesh; it's a bit more difficult then creating a new custom texture, but I think that it worths the effort: all the original (and downloaded) texture for the colonial bed will be immediately available for your new bed.
But if you want to use a custom texture for your new mesh, but you still want your bed to "borrow" the original beddings, then the procedure described by Rachelcesar is correct: basically, you use the "Procedure B" for the bedding only.
Samekh, you decided to link the frame to the original bed, too; but probably your UV-mapping wasn't that accurate: you should map on your mesh only the plain wod part of the original texture, avoiding all the decoration to be mapped on the mesh (unless you want to use them on your new frame, obviously).

I hope to have helped in clearing up something, and not having contributed to your confusion...

Numenor' I would imagine that the recent events with the Pope have turned life upside-down there... I wish you well and thanks for your additional input as it is always helpful...

I have followed raquelcesar's procedure and it worked perfectly... Very nice input' thank you.... I otherwise followed the "Quick Color Enabling" as it is what this thread is about... As I expected, I was able to produce an instantly recolor-able bed...

I highly recommend that raquelcesar if desired post a small tutorial on the proper way to extract and handle the "bedding"... It's good stuff and worth sharing... just a thought...

I have posted a screener of an in-game shot with the design tool in use and the package and recolor for anyone to examine or keep....

Again thank you all for each of your input on this... As far as 'Quick enabling" a bed is concearned we have suceeded!

JW, you forgot to link the bedding to the original bed (since you haven't altered the bedding mesh, there's no need to use custom textures.

I suggest, since now we have that wonderful tutorial by Raquelcesar, that we don't use any more as a base the double colonial, but another double bed (that has the bedding already linked to the double colonial). And if the creator wants to create the single bed, as well, he should link the frame to the double bed, too.

Numenor, I think JWoods was just making a point: we now have a way of quick enabling colour options for the beds.

When I created the single bed versions of my double beds, I thought of linking the frame of the single beds to the frame of the double beds. That was the logical procedure since I kept the textures for the frame unaltered. It would also have reduced substantially the size of the single beds packages. But I decided not to do that because that would force people who wanted just the single beds to also have to download the corresponding double beds. Also, most of the people that will download the beds will not be aware of that linkage or of its implications. And there might be the case that people decide to delete the double bed package after downloading both versions of a bed. What would happen then?

This problem has also arisen to me in other cases, with different objects. What I think would be advisable to do in these situations, where two or more objects are interdependent, is to have them all in the same package. What do you think of that?

Raquelcesar, Yes you are precisely right... I am trying to keep the package within the threads subject(quick enabling). I agree that the linking to the original bedding is a great idea but for two reasons I think its not...

1. The beginners may find the linking a bit difficult due to their lack of experience with SimPE and the terminology involved...

2. I have, just from this thread 3 or 4 new beds... If I were one who actually played the game (LOL) and made recolors for all my beds through the "colonial bedding imagine the amount of recolors to go through for each bed... My theory is that most of the "players" are big time downloaders who most likely have downloaded many more beds then I have... Imagine the amount of bedding recolors for every bed in their game...
With the idea of keeping the recolors within the bed it came from or one you wanted to create the recolor for it would be easier to maintain and find... To sum it up I think either way is good but to keep it easy for the new folks The (quick enabling) in my eyes would make more sense...

I am not trying to debate here or down anyones theories, I am just thinking of the "players" and "beginners"...

Also I wanted to mention and thank Samekh as he has contributed a lot to this subject as well... I missed that in my last post... You guys are all great people for sharing your knowledge and findings... I have learned a great deal from all of you, thanks again...

Silly. SHE.... And I did nothing really but get cleverer people thinking about the bed problems.

Do we use any bed other than the Colonial when we clone?

Also, I wanted to link the frame to the textures of another bed (one of the maxis originals), then I could have a double and a single that would refer to the same set of textures and then they could be independent of eachother (you could have a single without having to have the double and vica versa). When I used the Colonial bed it was only, after all, the colonial bed that could have the frame recolours I made for my new frame. And while the recolours I have for the new mesh frame look silly on the Colonial and the Colonial colour options look silly on the new frame it didn't bother me too much because the Colonial, in it's unaltered state, isn't one I like that much and serves better as a 'bank' than a bed. But yes, there are inherent problems with this.