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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 29, 2017 13:48:14 GMT -5
CAS parts for clothing have both a category and tags for category and tag value that is more specific. Example for shorts: Category Lower_Body Tags Category Bottom TagValue Bottom_Shorts I don't see any of those terms in a search of the database under "Export Tuning" in the program... So how would those things be referenced? If, for example, I wanted a sim to play on a pirate ship while wearing shorts, what would go where I put the question marks? <I c="Objective" i="objective" m="event_testing.objective_tuning" n="objective_Asp_Child_PirateInShorts" s="BlahBlahBlah"> <L n="additional_tests"> <L> <V t=" ??????????????"> <U n=" ??????????????"> <T n=" ????????????"> ????????????<!--Wearing_Shorts--></T> </U> </V> </L> </L> <T n="display_text">0xBlahBlahTag<!--Play on a Jungle Gym while Wearing Shorts--></T> <V n="objective_test" t="ran_interaction_test"> <U n="ran_interaction_test"> <L n="affordances"> <T>13513<!--jungleGymBoat_Play--></T> <T>13520<!--jungleGymRocketShip_Play--></T> <T>13514<!--jungleGymBoat_Slide--></T> <T>73950<!--JungleGymRocketship_Spacewalk--></T> </L> <V t="enabled" n="running_time"> <T n="enabled">5</T> </V> <E n="test_event">InteractionUpdate</E> </U> </V> <T n="satisfaction_points">75</T> <T n="tooltip">0x67B5CA25<!--Jungle Gym objects can be purchased from Build Mode under the Outdoors Sort.--></T> </I>
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 29, 2017 9:04:00 GMT -5
How does Sims 4 identify an article of clothing as a shirt versus shorts, etc? Is there an interaction call when one is changed out?
I'm asking because I want to make an objective for an aspiration that requires the sim to be in a specific outfit while accomplishing a task.
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 29, 2017 0:57:37 GMT -5
Mmmm, that mod does seem like it would do the job, but I was looking for something a little less... evil? Still, I suppose looking at their code would be a good starting point for me. Thanks for linking it. I'll go ahead and start tinkering with aspirations, but in the mean time, anyone got any further advice or comment on the skill thing? I technically don't even know if it worked, since my current problem is technically more of an object mod issue (the book not appearing on the shelf) than an issue with the new skill itself. More to the point, any comments on the philosophy of structure presented in my op?
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 29, 2017 0:28:59 GMT -5
Hey Leniad! Thanks for the feedback. I did notice that very few people have put a new skill into the game before, at least from the mods I've searched, and I worried that there might be a difficulty factor involved in that. As far as bottom concepts go, though, it seemed the easiest - making a new mood would require way too much artwork (I haven't even really explored yet how to get new icons and pictures into the game, although that's a big question I have for people down the road), a new Age category would require a complete overhaul of everything to make sure that the new age would have access to stuff, Money's just a static variable, and Needs, I suspect, are buried so deep in the engine that it would probably be fundamentally impossible to add another (if you want to talk ambitious, though, I do eagerly want to try reskinning the vampire interface as part of a long term goal to add a spellcasting career to the game and make human wizards who use the Vampire Powers bar as a Mana bar. But that's waaaaaaaay down the line, I know I'm nowhere NEAR ready to tackle that).
I suppose I could start with something at the top of the chain, which for me I guess would be making a few new Aspirations (object mods are all well and good, but as I'm not an artist, I'd only be essentially making an object that "cheated" in some way, and it's hard for me to get much motivation for that. What I really want is to expand the game as much as I can. Although I suppose it could be fun to use a shower skin to make an Age-o-Matic Box that could age you up (or kill you, once you're elderly - I rather dislike that my elderly sims are immortal when I play with aging off, so it would be a nice way to send them off into the sunset.)
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 28, 2017 23:56:34 GMT -5
Hey, welcome to the gang! I'm afraid I'm just as new as you, but (and I'm not just saying this because we're on the S4S forums) in my research as a primarily XML modder, I found all these tools that do this or that or the other thing, only to find at the end of 12 hours researching that S4S did all those functions seamlessly together. (Not that I regret the journey, mind you - it gave me a great foundation into the process and allows the S4S program to make sense to me in a way that it just didn't when I first launched it.) One thing I noticed peripherally was that S4S seems to have Blender integrated into it? At least when I click on Create 3D Mesh in either CAS or Object, it brings up this pretty blue drawing thing that I have absolutely no idea about because I have about as much hope of being a graphic designer as I do of being a nuclear physicist. I'd be surprised if that section of the tool didn't do what you were looking for it to do.
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 28, 2017 23:41:13 GMT -5
So there's an argument to be made that this post belongs in the Creator Help forum, but I'm putting it here because I also want to discuss the wider implications of what I'm messing with. I spent some time just exploring the ins and outs of modding and learning about how the process works before I started tinkering. The whole thing strikes me as a big Jenga tower, so the first thing I wanted to focus on was what aspects of the game were at the very bottom of it - things that were solely referenced by the rest of the game, rather than always making references to other parts of it. What I came up with is that there's five pillars at the bottom - Skills, Moods, Needs, Age and Money. Would everyone agree with that assessment? Anything you think should be on that list, or shouldn't? I figure Careers always reference moods and skills, Relationships reference all but Money, Traits and Rewards and Aspirations modify all that, and objects, of course, can mess with everything. So in taking a first step, I thought I'd start with creating a skill. I decided to go with Drawing, because a skill like that could make the most use of existing data without having to alter it (IE if a Teen were doodling in his homework book, it could use the actions of the teen writing in his homework, and then produce an object the way painting does, only the object would go directly into the teen's inventory instead of being out in the world). I don't know if I'd actually implement the Drawing skill in any special way - I'm just getting my feet wet. And I've already run into a problem, which I suppose isn't a good sign. ( Here's my package if you want to take a look at it.) I took the two Painting statistic files which I believe are the skill itself, and I cloned them, changing the Instance IDs and calling them Drawing instead. (I didn't really bother going too crazy on the flavor text yet, I just changed the skill name and description in my key file). I needed a way to test leveling it, so I also cloned the four painting books, and modified the references in them to level up drawing instead of painting. I wanted to put the book for sale, but I noticed the Purchase_Books Interaction (which appears in my package unaltered, just for my reference) gets the list of skill books by calling Func_PurchasePicker_Category_Book_Skill (I assume this means the list is in Python somewhere? Guess this explains why the Vampire Lore books have their own special purchase command, even the Maxis personnel didn't want to mess with adding books that deep in the code?) so I grabbed the Bookshelf object and added the Beginner Drawing book to the list of books it starts with, just to test the leveling (my string file also contains a new name for the beginner book, so I could easily recognize it). I started a new game, bought a bookshelf and looked inside it, and the beginning drawing book isn't there. So I guess I'm looking both for help with that problem, and an analysis from you experienced modders about whether my approach here has any merit or I should be doing something else to try to learn.
Everything below this line is mostly for me, feel free to skip it. I didn't want to create a new thread for personal notes, and the rules say I can't make a studio until I have a product to share on it, but I do want to share my progress and keep a checklist of where I am, both for myself and for anyone who wants/needs help to know what I can and can't do at this point. Task List: Create a Custom Skill - In Progress, PausedCreate a New Aspiration Category - SuccessfulCreate a New Aspiration Track - Successful (With Custom 64x64 DST Icon)Create a New Aspiration Objective - In ProgressCreate a New Complete Aspiration - In Progress
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 28, 2017 13:49:13 GMT -5
Is there a cap to how large those decimal numbers can get? The algorithm I'm using to generate my Instance IDs is giving me a decimal number of 1153339282910400514 for my book. I added it to starting books and it isn't showing up in-game, and I'm wondering if it's just because my number's in the stratosphere.
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 28, 2017 10:23:21 GMT -5
All easy and valid points to agree to.. after establishing a relationship with a site. I'm just saying it's a rough first impression.
Made no better by the fact that all of you seem so focused on putting me in my place, that no one said welcome. :P (Kendo, in particular, seemed to imply the opposite.)
Thankfully, Orangemittens did PM me with a more welcoming and inclusive message, and even encouraged me to post this thread.
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Post by jerrycnh on Jan 25, 2017 9:58:28 GMT -5
So here I am, a happy go lucky guy buying the Vampires expansion on Day 1. I found out through reading reviews and other articles that child vampires aren't going to be able to do a lot of the vampire stuff from the get go, and I decided I'm going to want to override that to some degree. Hence, I find this cool how-to article that refers me here.
Now, given that chain of events, my registering here someday was probably inevitable. Modding is a drug; I know this from my time modding Fallout 3. Once you start, ESPECIALLY if it's made as easy as S4S seems, from the screenshots, to be making it, you start going crazy with it. You want to share your creations, get feedback, ask questions of other modders... there's a natural flow there.
But when you're first downloading the modding tool, you don't even really know for sure if you're going to get serious about it yet.
So being forced to register here in order to download the tool is... let's go with "inappropriate", as it's a nice diplomatic alternative to the more choice words that are dancing in my brain right now. I really REALLY don't like that I had to put my email in here and be assimilated by this forum just to try the tool out at all. That's horse$#@!, bluntly.
So, let me begin my relationship with this community by stating clearly that it's way too early for me to be here. I don't WANT to be here yet. I have a VERY bad taste in my mouth because I was forced to be here if I wanted to try the tool. But, that said, I haven't actually tried the tool yet, and perhaps it will astound me so much with its awesomeness that my opinion of its creators will turn around. Who knows.
Anyone else feel similarly?
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