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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 4:53 AM Last edited by OkamiFukuro : 19th Jun 2016 at 7:32 PM.
Default Conversions? [Solved]
So, I'm trying to convert a few favourite Star Trek themed items from TS2 to TS3 for personal use only, as there is virtually no stuff for TS3. I've started with the desk from Jasonduskey's (also known as BlueHeavenSims... I think. Could be wrong.) Janeway quarters set (found here: http://modthesims.info/d/274323). I wanted the table top to be one color (I'm thinking glass) and the base and legs to be another. I can get the mesh imported into TSRW just fine, but I can't texture it properly. I'm not sure if this has to do with the mesh itself, or perhaps the multiplier, as I can't get one that works. I can bake one in Blender, but when I put it in and try to add a texture, nothing matches up. It kind of just goes all over the place, if that makes sense. If anyone has any ideas as to what my problem might be, I'm all ears.

NOTE: I have checked; nowhere does it say that converting is not allowed, just that credit for anything done is required. If anyone finds anything written anywhere that says it's not allowed, I'll stop immediately.

If this is the wrong forum to put this in, my apologies! I wasn't exactly sure where this would fit.
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Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#2 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 11:50 AM
This link seems to be broken: http://modthesims.info/d/274323)

Anyway, if i'm right, what you're asking is that you can import the table, but you can't bake the multipliers properly in Blender?
Usually if that's the case, it's either that some UV map overlap. And with that I mean like, say the top of the table and the under part of the table. Though it would turn all black I suppose if that would happen.
Are you using the plugin with Cmomoney's baking plugin? Or Blender's ambient occlusion baking one?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 6:54 PM Last edited by OkamiFukuro : 16th Jun 2016 at 7:13 PM. Reason: Extra Info
Huh. The one I posted was broken, but the one you put down works fine. Strange.

And yes, I think that's what my problem is, but I'm not sure. I've tried with both Blender's built in one, and with the EZ Bake one.

I feel I should also mention that I removed the front, back and side shadows, leaving only the ground one present on the mesh, as it wouldn't import otherwise.

On a different issue, something else I've noticed is that if I try to put the mesh in (it's in two parts, legs and tabletop), one part is always essentially invisible in TSRW (depending on which group is labeled 0 and which is labeled 1), so I had to combine the two parts into one mesh just to get it to appear. I'm assuming that it's because with a desk, one group is meant to be the shadow mesh? (The base object I imported over was desk office modern, btw.) When I put it in with both parts meshed as one with the shadow as the second group, I can texture it all one colour, but I'd rather have the two different styles.
Screenshots
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 7:16 PM
These 3 photos show how the texture overlays when I put the mask image in the overlay spot. You may also notice in all the photos how the shadow group glitches out in 4 of the photos.
Screenshots
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#5 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 8:09 PM
OOoooooh okay! Well first of all, Have you looked into Blender if the mask works? Else, make sure the groups are in the right order, like this:

Group_0
group_1

Else TSrw will screw up the texture. Else, since you're using the one compatible with ts4 and ts3 and that one is very buggy and might even corrupt meshes, please try this version instead: http://greenplumbboblover.tumblr.co...005426/tsrw-172

Also! The link works for me now, I guess it was down when I clicked it ^-^
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 9:08 PM
I never seen it the groups needing to be written with the underscore... hmm. I'll give that a try. I've always seen them as Group0 or group0. I'll give the mask thing in blender a shot too. If nothing helps, I'll the older version of TSRW. I'll post back when I'm done to let you know how it went.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#7 Old 16th Jun 2016 at 9:37 PM
So, the older version of TSRW definitely helps; both the top and legs are visible now. However, the multiplier still seems to be faulty. When I put it on, the texture has blank spots, and it appears that the legs of the table are not colourable no matter what I put in the multiplier, mask or overlay slots.
Screenshots
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#8 Old 17th Jun 2016 at 2:06 PM
And what if you switch the position in Milksape the way I described? In Blender it won't really work out correctly as the names are usually going to be 'group_0 default Somethingsomething'

So open them up in Milkshape, rename them and add them to this order in Milkshape 3D:
Group_0
Group_1

Make sure to look what is suppose to be a shadow, and what is suppose to be the normal mesh. To see that, just go the mesh tab in TSRW and in group 0 or 1 you'll see the 'Mesh, material' tags in the info of the groups. If you click on material, you'll see a button with 3 dots, click that one and a window with textures should pop up. Usually it's group 0 that is the shadow mesh, but sometimes it's group 1. anyways, if you see this texture, it's a shadow group and please import the shadow mesh in that one too. It's a plane looking one:

Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 17th Jun 2016 at 4:20 PM
I have the groups named that way (forgot to mention that I had done that, my bad, sorry!). According to TSRW, it looks like group_1 is the shadow mesh, and I have a mesh set up properly, with the tabletop and legs as group 0 and the shadow as group 1. After inputting it in TSRW, I have the image below.
Screenshots
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#10 Old 17th Jun 2016 at 4:43 PM
Could you maybe give me the link? I'm running out of ideas XD It makes it easier for me to see if the UV map is working properly or maybe it is something side the mesh after all. a WKR file is okay. I'll tell about any fixes later on if there are any. ^-^
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 18th Jun 2016 at 12:33 AM
Alright. Will do. I think the majority of the stuff is there. https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ymcfy0p8...0Table.wrk?dl=0

It's got the meshes and the multiplier with it.

Sorry that I'm making things so complicated, haha. It's probably a really simple fix and I just messed something up along the way. Hopefully you'll be able to figure it out. Thank you for all the help.
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#12 Old 18th Jun 2016 at 4:03 PM
Allright! I fixed it! What I discovered was that the UV map was all screwed up so I remapped that for you. I also remade the textures, so I baked the multiplier, specular and the mask for you. They're not too perfect but it's working! ^-^
Mesh related, I only deleted the normals the table had so now it has sharp edges. if you don't like that, you can run Align normals on the table and the normals will be as they were before.

The download link is attached to the post ^-^
Attached files:
File Type: zip  Voy Table.zip (936.7 KB, 6 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Your fixed table! \ ^-^ /
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 18th Jun 2016 at 11:51 PM
Awesome! Thank you so much! You are my favourite person right now, hands down. If you don't mind me asking, how did you fix the UV map? I'd like to know in case I run into the issue again in the future, if that's alright, even for my own creations.
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#14 Old 19th Jun 2016 at 1:14 PM
I edited them in Blender since I have noooo idea how to do it in Milkshape. Here is a tutorial where I basically learned how to do it with Blender: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2-FfB9kRmE
I also made the multiplier with Cmomoney's plugin with Blender 2.65a (since that's the only version working for me and with that plugin to make textures, other ones will give me an empty texture)

Let me know if you come across other issues ^-^
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 19th Jun 2016 at 7:31 PM
Thanks so much! I'll give another item a try to see how things go as a test once I get home from work tonight. Once again, thank you so much for all of your help! I really appreciated it.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#16 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 10:38 PM
So! One last question from me. I just got the desk uploaded in game, went back to TSRW and Milkshape and moved it around so that things would sit on it properly (etc), and reloaded it. Despite the change, I'm still getting an odd reflection presumably from the shadow mesh (the dark lines that are underneath the desk from edge to edge). Any thoughts on what could be done to fix it? I can live with the issue, but it would be nice to get rid of it.
Screenshots
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#17 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 10:42 PM
I guess those are from like a desk shadow map. Like, as in mesh. The mesh usually is a plane, but there might be chance that there are these small squares in the plane mesh. I can't really remember if they were there. Delete those from the mesh or replace the plane with a mesh without those small squares. You can go with a shadow mesh from a decoration for example ^-^
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#18 Old 22nd Jun 2016 at 2:07 AM
Okay, thank you. I managed to find something that works, so no more weird shadow squares! I'm now moving onto a chair that goes with the desk (this one is from one of BlueHeavenSims sets because it looks more accurate) but much like the desk, it needs to be UV-mapped. So far, I'm not having much luck. I've removed the original UV map, but can't seem to get Blender to create the darn seams right or something. I've attempted to follow the video tutorial you linked me to, but every time I try, the multiplier just looks the same. Is there any chance you would be willing to give it a try and send me some images so I could get a better idea on how this is meant to work? I hate to ask more of you after you've done so much, but I'm just so confused. If you're willing to help me again, I've attached the base mesh.
Attached files:
File Type: rar  Medium Mesh 1.rar (63.5 KB, 9 downloads) - View custom content
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#19 Old 23rd Jun 2016 at 7:46 PM
I'm thinking I might give up on the chair and just get creative with one of the chairs already present in the game; see if I can make it look similar. Or maybe I'll try again later. However, there is another object that I'm attempting to map with absolutely no luck. Given that I never received a response to my last post, I'm going to assume you're busy, but I'll post this mesh anyways in case you or anyone else can help me with proper mapping, because I am quickly losing my mind. I'm getting the same problem that mentioned about the chair; no matter where I put seams before unwrapping, I get the same multiplier layout (one that doesn't work) so clearly, I'm misunderstanding something. I think once I've gotten a hand with this mesh I might be done with this creating CC crap for good.
Attached files:
File Type: rar  Mesh].rar (75.5 KB, 6 downloads) - View custom content
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#20 Old 23rd Jun 2016 at 8:36 PM
Oops sorry! I was around I just didn't saw your post >-< But i'll take a look at them both ^-^ Is it okay if I give them back as OBJ. files? Unless you want me to make them in TSRW and give a WRK file? Both are okay.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#21 Old 23rd Jun 2016 at 9:08 PM
Oh, it's no problem. I figured you were just busy with school or work or your own projects or just life in general. OBJ files are totally fine, as is a WRK file. Whatever is easiest for you. I'm still attempting myself, but as of yet, still no luck, haha. Thank you so much for helping again!
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#22 Old 24th Jun 2016 at 2:22 PM
So I fixed it, just wondering. DId you export them straight from SimPE? Because I had a screwed up UV map some time ago and exporting it as another file sort fixed that. So like something else than Obj.

Anyway! I also added the textures, just one thing. The specular map needs to be added in the alpha channel. If you're not sure, you could see this tutorial: http://www.simlogical.com/ContentUp...s/830/index.htm

(So I don't have a 'dds' save thingy to my Blender and it doens't have it as default as well, so just open up the file, Copy it in Alpha channel, You can delete the actual RBG texture but keeping it shouldn't give any issues. Save it as a DXT5)

Here is your textures and remapped meshes ^-^
Attached files:
File Type: zip  Okami.zip (1.53 MB, 7 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Textures and remapped Obj files
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#23 Old 24th Jun 2016 at 4:33 PM Last edited by OkamiFukuro : 24th Jun 2016 at 5:00 PM.
Oh wow, awesome! Thank you so much! You didn't have to do the textures, but I greatly appreciate it.

As for exporting the meshes, I do pull them straight out of SimPE. I export them as the generic 5gd file, then load it into milkshape and export as obj. Is it possible to export from SimPE as another file type?

Also, since I'll be importing the mesh into TSRW, is there a way to pull the texture files out of the .mtl files? I'm not sure how blender works, so I don't know how to just make the file in there.
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#24 Old 24th Jun 2016 at 6:07 PM
Oh no! I added them to the zip. Just convert them into DDS files and you'll be fine! Multiplier as DXT1, Specular as DXT5 and Mask as DXT1 (if having a alpha channel DXT5) I ususally do that in Photoshop but Gimp should work too! For Photoshop, here is the little tool I use: https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia...adobe-photoshop

Also, make sure you import the mesh as a WSOin TSRW. TSR has developed a plugin for that for milkshape to import/export your files as WSO: http://wiki.thesimsresource.com/ind...le=Milkshape_3D
If you wanna learn more about TSRW and object making, I highly recommend this tutorial as it is clear and it taught me the ways of object creating too ^-^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-llEzJO93Hs
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#25 Old 24th Jun 2016 at 6:17 PM
Would I just convert in gimp? Or is there some other method? The people outside workin on my front deck just hit the phone line, so I have to use data on my phone, and so replies could take awhile.
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