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nevar530
Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 6:20 AM
Default Body shop like previewer in Sims 3?
has anyone made a Body shop like previewer in Sims 3? or a way to refresh installed content while Sims 3 is running. Just asking cause i can't find anything on the topic.
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daluved1
Mother Function
retired moderator
#2 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 7:02 AM
Someone mentioned saving your texture as a TIF or a BMP, then loading it in Milkshape.

I'll have to go do some digging through the forum to find out exactly what they said to do...

Edit: Here it is...

http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...090#post2697090
"Holy Shift! Check out the asymptotes on that mother function!"
sweetichigodream
Field Researcher
#3 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 8:41 AM
I would also love a preview! It is so tedious to fire up sims 3 to see if something turns out right... Maybe modding sims 3 somehow to search for new packages/updates ingame?

Previewing in other program won't work for CAS stuff that you want to check if it turns out ok with all the different options... How it will look like in thumbnail, how it work with all the small things such as different patterns..
Cheapncheerful
Lab Assistant
#4 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 8:47 AM
Loading Sims 3 and going into CAS is very faster than Sims 2 Bodyshop.
nevar530
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 9:37 AM
not on my machine, it takes a while to load in a town then load CAS if there was a way to load straight to CAS i would be happy.
daluved1
Mother Function
retired moderator
#6 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 9:48 AM
Yeah..I like the whole "town" concept, but it was so much easier in TS2 to get to Creat A Sim. Not to mention Body Shop was pretty convienient too.
"Holy Shift! Check out the asymptotes on that mother function!"
maxwell755
Test Subject
#7 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 10:01 AM
This is usually how testing an object goes for me. Watch the annoying intros, click off the intro movie, wait for the game to load, click my town with no active family because it loads faster, click create a sim, wait for create a sim to load, view the object in CAS, see it is broken and fix it, and then repeat the process. I think a bodyshop tool would have to be faster than that...
daluved1
Mother Function
retired moderator
#8 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 10:14 AM
Imagine having to load a town with a sim....over and over again..... Some times CAS just doesn't cut it for tiny creations like toenails.

Maybe EA will stop being snooty and give us a body shop with the next EP.
"Holy Shift! Check out the asymptotes on that mother function!"
Tashiketh
Warrior Gryphon
site owner
#9 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 12:56 PM
maxwell, use the nointro mod - cuts down a good few seconds of boot time, especially with the EA logo.

daluved1: I have a hacker girl who I have loaded up probably 3 or 4 hundred times... and never played her.

Considering that the in game CAS / CAST is a lot more powerful than the old Body Shop, the only thing that an external body shop would have would be some kind of 3d preview. I've pondered adding this to a later version of CTU (which seems to be turning into a Body Shop replacement) but it wont be for a while now.
Story books are full of fairy tales, of Kings and Queens, and the bluest skies.
HystericalParoxysm
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
#10 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 1:06 PM
It's actually a lot easier to load a town with a sim than to load into CAS. Load a presaved game and you're automatically taken to your active household. As long as what you do doesn't require it be done on a fresh new sim, you can have them change appearance or plan outfit rather than going to Edit Town and into CAS. I gotta say, it's WAY the heck faster than Body Shop ever was for me, and gives me a much better idea of how my stuff will actually look in-game.
my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
daluved1
Mother Function
retired moderator
#11 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 5:32 PM
I know it gives a better preview but all that quiting and restarting of TS3 makes my laptop unhappy. And I have to wait for that initial "household loading lag" before the game even becomes playable....But, that's probably more of a specific computer issue. =/
"Holy Shift! Check out the asymptotes on that mother function!"
sweetichigodream
Field Researcher
#12 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 5:40 PM
Sure Bodyshop took a while to load, but once it is loaded you can have it in background and return it to reload or create a new file so you can do alt-tabbing between editing textures and reloading it in bodyshop, which you can't do within sims 3. I really miss that.

And also I would love to have preview that also includes all the pattern showing editing ability to clothes... So you can see if it will work with different kinds of patterns/colors or change the default ones.
nevar530
Test Subject
Original Poster
#13 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 6:07 PM
that is what i am remembering the fact that you could refresh the previews instead of a total reload. Has any coders found a way to refresh installed content? I really doubt EA when testing loaded and Unloaded the Sims to test objects in game there has to be a line or code or command that will refresh added content. I am not a programmer so maybe I am wrong.
HystericalParoxysm
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
#14 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 6:13 PM
Some things can be overwritten - I know in changing some lighting files, you could do that on the fly and didn't even have to go to Edit Neighborhood and back - just switch back to the game window and it was changed. Which seems -very- inefficient, that the game would be reading (or even just checking for changes) that file all the time.
my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
sweetichigodream
Field Researcher
#15 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 7:03 PM
I think the programmers have some kind of previewer... not as easy to use as body shop but something like that.
piti_ange2
Test Subject
#16 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 7:31 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Delphy
the only thing that an external body shop would have would be some kind of 3d preview.

Oh yes please !
*beg on her knies*

I know the Milkshape tips but I'm don't know how to do that ... cause I have never played with a 3D editor and I hope that I'm not the only one

Another problem is that it work for the clothes but not for other Cas! part :/
So a preview should be great ^^
xanathon
Forum Resident
#17 Old 13th Jul 2009 at 9:14 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HystericalParoxysm
Some things can be overwritten - I know in changing some lighting files, you could do that on the fly and didn't even have to go to Edit Neighborhood and back - just switch back to the game window and it was changed. Which seems -very- inefficient, that the game would be reading (or even just checking for changes) that file all the time.

It seems to me that in Sims 3 the programmers did a far better job in resource handling than in Sims 2. Resources (as patterns etc.) are loaded when needed and not always. The game also probably is able to detect changed resources and reloads them. I experimented with a pattern and when I changed a pattern layer and resaved the package the new pattern (on a chair) could be seen without even leaving buymode.

From a programmers view it is probably more efficient and also cheap on memory usage which was a big problem in Sims 2.
happy simming,
Xanathon

Xanathon's Laboratory :: WishList

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~Bec~
Test Subject
#18 Old 14th Jul 2009 at 12:02 AM
the reason I liked bodyshop is you can leave your work open check to see any problems and then edit as required with going in game although it does not take me long I have to shut photoshop down completely so if the is a problem you basically have to start a fresh I think we have come a long way with the CTU but it would be wonderful if you could include a preview with it at some point or even better ea bring out a bodyshop with the next ep I really don't understand why they didn't bring a bodyshop out its a bit silly but hey what can you do
matildarose
Lab Assistant
#19 Old 18th Jul 2009 at 10:52 PM
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but Sims 3 greatly dislikes it if I change any packages at all while it's on. So I'm stuck closing and opening the program each time I want to check to see how the shirt looks like. Of course, the fact that my first attempt at editing a shirt (thank you, tutorial people!) is going swimmingly makes it a little less painless. XD
Tashiketh
Warrior Gryphon
site owner
#20 Old 19th Jul 2009 at 1:29 AM
Yeah, it doesn't like me changing patterns either. Maybe it's only Patterns it works with?
Story books are full of fairy tales, of Kings and Queens, and the bluest skies.
WesHowe
Alchemist
#21 Old 20th Jul 2009 at 4:49 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Delphy
the only thing that an external body shop would have would be some kind of 3d preview. I've pondered adding this to a later version of CTU (which seems to be turning into a Body Shop replacement) but it wont be for a while now.


I have a previewer I made that works for Sims 2 (and Spore), based on the Ogre rendering package, that I thought about adapting for TS3, but the materials are really a challenge. Instead of the two-layer skin/cloth used on Sims 2, there are the patterns, the alpha, the bumpmaps and so on. Replicating a texture map as viewed in the game to hang on the mesh looks like a real challenge without using the game engine itself.

And if you have to use the game engine, you are back to the same load time issue you started with.

<* Wes *>
RoguePilot
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 20th Jul 2009 at 9:31 AM
I think what would be useful is a very basic single texture viewer.

Basically, check multiplier -ok, check colour mask - ok, check specular -ok.

and so on.

Then if everything looks ok so far, package it and load up in CAS

Thats basically how I use Milkshape.

Oh and if I need to make changes, I use S3PE to export textures from the package and then re-import over the same files.

This saves time going through CTU again. (Unless I messed up in CTU first time out.)

So no bells and whistles required, just a basic 3d viewer that can handle one alpha channel and dds files.
Something, something, something, Darkside
matildarose
Lab Assistant
#23 Old 20th Jul 2009 at 6:19 PM
Quote: Originally posted by WesHowe
I have a previewer I made that works for Sims 2 (and Spore), based on the Ogre rendering package, that I thought about adapting for TS3, but the materials are really a challenge. Instead of the two-layer skin/cloth used on Sims 2, there are the patterns, the alpha, the bumpmaps and so on. Replicating a texture map as viewed in the game to hang on the mesh looks like a real challenge without using the game engine itself.

And if you have to use the game engine, you are back to the same load time issue you started with.

<* Wes *>


The load time is quick as is, actually- the main problem is that we have to select a neighborhood, have it load up our family, go to 'edit town' (or go to editsim <name> if we have awesomemod) and, even when we get there, if we change the package and click on the clothing again, it freezes the game and we start over. Lots of clicking and waiting, versus just a wait and maybe a few clicks to select your file.

So just dealing with the loading time, especially when it's just loading a few extra files, is okay with me.
Tashiketh
Warrior Gryphon
site owner
#24 Old 20th Jul 2009 at 6:59 PM
RoguePilot, I actually started on a basic 3d render, but just getting multi-texturing to work is a pain. in. the. ass. And it still doesn't look right. (All the documentation I could find plain flat out didn't work properly)

If anybody out there wants to take a stab at working this all out, I'm happy to provide my code (at the moment it just loads a single .simgeom, and 2 DDS files (base texture and stencil), and layers them on top of each other.
Story books are full of fairy tales, of Kings and Queens, and the bluest skies.
RoguePilot
Lab Assistant
#25 Old 20th Jul 2009 at 7:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by matildarose
- the main problem is that we have to select a neighborhood, have it load up our family, go to 'edit town' (or go to editsim <name> if we have awesomemod) and, even when we get there, if we change the package and click on the clothing again, it freezes the game and we start over. Lots of clicking and waiting, versus just a wait and maybe a few clicks to select your file.


Simple tip.

Next time you start up TS3, start a new game, save it immediately without creating a sim and then never ever save it again.

You'll have a save game file from where you can go directly to CAS. Saves a couple of minutes and a few clicks.

And you can still test your creation in-game by accepting the sim you have just created, just don't save again.

I tend to test a batch of stuff all at once.
Something, something, something, Darkside
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