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Post by esmeralda on Dec 6, 2019 6:57:44 GMT -5
Hi, I haven't made stuff for TS4 in a long time and don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if something has changed, but I'm sure it used to be possible to merge packages successfully. Am currently trying to make a creation that will consist of 7 meshes and their 7 textures and can't figure out how to get that to work. Specifically, my goal is to make a default replacement for the new servo robots that came with the University EP, because I find them hideous and would like something more appealing.
The servos come with seven recolour choices. What I would like to do is to make each recolour use a different mesh, so that for the 7 recolour choices, you would get a different choice of robot, not just 7 recolours of one robot. I've seen that someone has already made a servo replacement with a different mesh for each recolour, so it can be done.
But I can not for the life of me figure out how. I made separate packages each consisting of one mesh and one texture, each cloned separately as an override for each default recolour, then merged them using S4S's Merge Packages feature, and the result is seven textures but only one mesh. I wondered if maybe what I'm trying to do, attaching a different mesh to each recolour, is something that requires some extra technical voodoo to enable.
But this is where it got weirder: To test what should happen when merging regular packages, I merged several random unrelated CAS items, as one would do if merging random cc to cut down on game lag, and to my surprise, that too resulted in a package containing only one mesh, but all the textures. I'm sure that's not what used to happen. What extra step am I missing to make package merges work properly?? I'll probably kick myself once someone points out what I've missed! (I also tried merging them using s4pe and got the same result, so it's not just S4S.)
Thanks!
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Post by MizoreYukii on Dec 6, 2019 8:42:11 GMT -5
Did you test it to make sure the merge worked or not? Does the other person's servo replacements contain the extra meshes from being merged?
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Post by esmeralda on Dec 6, 2019 9:30:08 GMT -5
Hi, thanks for the reply, nice to see you again! Yes, I tested to see if the merge worked or not: 1) After merging, I could see by looking at the package with both S4S and CAS Tools, that only one mesh had been imported into the package despite my having merged 7 meshes in. 2) I wondered if maybe they were actually there but 'hidden' or some such, and tested it in game. Nope, there was only one mesh and the 6 textures for the other meshes were being wrongly applied to it (the one mesh that did import, showed its texture correctly in game).
Yes, the other person's version does contain 7 meshes, one per recolour, inside the package. It had been merged with S4S (has an S4S merge manifest inside it) and I was able to unmerge it with S4S and see that they had made seven different packages and merged them, like I did. The only difference I could see was that their packages all had different Prototype IDs, so I tried changing mine, which were all the same Prototype IDs, to have random differing ones, but it still made no difference. Argh.
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Post by MizoreYukii on Dec 6, 2019 17:50:43 GMT -5
The only reason I can think of it not working is if they have the same instance. You made a new package for every single mesh/override?
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Post by esmeralda on Dec 7, 2019 4:10:59 GMT -5
Yes, I cloned each of the 7 recolours as a separate package, using CAS/Override, and they all have different Instance numbers.
Another modder suggested that maybe it was because the maker of the other servo replacement had categorised their separate packages as Skin Detail rather than Outfits and that by doing so, that may have 'tricked' the merge process into including all the meshes, but I've already tried that and got the same result of one mesh and all the textures. Truly baffled as to what voodoo one needs to do in order for all meshes to be imported in.
If all fails, I guess I'll have to make several packages each with a different robot with a set of 7 colours and players will need to choose which robot they prefer, although I would guess the packages could be swapped back and forth in the Mods folder between game sessions if the player wants a change. But I'd so much rather have several robots in one package, so that different households could have different robots instead of all having the same one but in different colours.
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Post by gauntlet101010 on Dec 7, 2019 7:03:47 GMT -5
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Post by MizoreYukii on Dec 7, 2019 7:53:04 GMT -5
That really is baffling. Try contacting that creator and ask them how they did it?
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Post by esmeralda on Dec 7, 2019 10:19:35 GMT -5
Hey that trait looks nifty, nice job! But, I only make standalone objects that don't require a 3rd party mod to work - for instance, in case of situations where a mod becomes broken by a patch and its creator has retired, etc. So I just want to make a simple item that merely overrides the appearance of the default robots. That really is baffling. Try contacting that creator and ask them how they did it? Hi there, if contacting the other creator was an option I'd have done it, but I'll carry on experimenting, surely something has to work! BTW, did you ever achieve success with deleting your vehicle FX? You mentioned the issue you had with your mesh coming apart after deleting or moving some FX, and I thought that hadn't happened with mine, but I later discovered that I had indeed had something similar - my handlebars on the bike had come a little askew to where they should be, which I hadn't noticed. I had to go back in and modify the handlebar position on the mesh, in order for them to look correct in-game! Very strange, never experienced that before and I used to do a fair amount of re-rigging. I do wonder if all the zillions of patches since I last made stuff for TS4 over 3 years ago have changed the way a lot of things work, and not for the better! |
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Post by MizoreYukii on Dec 7, 2019 11:55:58 GMT -5
No, I mentioned before cars don't have l a rig, and a messed up mesh I wouldn't care about since the cars would be invisible for this historical mod, but at least good to know that it can be fixed if we ever get more vehicles, or for other stuff. For cars though, something else is controlling it unfortunately. I don't know why Renumber would make the mesh move anyways, and doesn't seem intended to work that way.
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Post by secretlondon on Dec 15, 2019 10:49:54 GMT -5
I've just tried to merge two packages and only got one item - they must have had different instances as they came from different packages originally.
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Post by esmeralda on Dec 15, 2019 17:25:29 GMT -5
I've just tried to merge two packages and only got one item - they must have had different instances as they came from different packages originally. Hi there, I did eventually get it to work - I did it by cloning with CAS Tools, then doing the rest of it with S4S. Somehow cloning with CAS Tools seems to enable the meshes to take on different Instance numbers when imported, even though I imported them with S4S, whereas when I made the clones with S4S, the meshes got assigned the same Instance number when imported. I have no idea why, can only guess there must be some difference in internal coding, but it's what worked for me in the end! |
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