pforestsims

[pforestsims]

Tutorial: How to adjust joint position (in TS2 object skeleton)

This tut is NOT meant for beginners because I don't explain how to use SimPe or Milkshape. But actual process is very basic: you change joint coordinates and do GMDC model rebuild. The tricky part is to get coordinates right.

If you don't know much about joint assignments, start with this tutorial: "Retaining object animations in your new package" by Bluetexasbonnie @ MTS2, which explains how to add joint assignments to custom stuff cloned from functional objects (to make parts of the mesh move when Sims interact with it).

The pic above: SimPe GMDC skeleton preview. You can click on each joint name to see which part is assigned to it. Gate is here.

This will work for simple object skeletons without IK Bones.

There are no plugins that would allow us to properly import TS2 CRES skeleton data with IK bones - like sims, pets and more - to any 3D program

If object has IK Bones - you'll find out when importing CRES to Milkshape. If it displays a notification "joints with rotation values found...", IK Bones are present and there's a high risk that skeleton: A. will not be imported. B. if it's imported, it will get mangled. C. will be mangled after using model rebuild option.

I've experimented with car skeletons (those have IK Bones), managed to edit car door joints but it required removing wheel bone assignments - because wheel movement becomes wonky after doing model rebuild

/FYI: steps 1 - 5 are optional, you can edit CRES joint coordinates right away if you know the right values - which is usually not the case/.

Export GMDC with your custom mesh

Export CRES (if you wish to preview entire skeleton and/or joint names)

Import GMDC to Milkshape

Import CRES (if you need it. Plugin is called: Sims2 AniMesh CRES Skeleton Import. Click 'yes' to 'replace all bones?'). You should be able to see entire skeleton imported. Note that Milkshape won't let you export a GMDC after you imported CRES skeleton unless you change joint comments (point 7.)

Measure how much you need to move the joint. You can create a box as ruler substitute, then check the distance with extended manual edit plugin. If you're not sure where to place your joint, you can move it and test if object animations look alright (import CRES again to reset joint position).

tip: when working on GMDC in Milkshape you can rename the model parts in model list (door right, door left etc). Only names inside the model comments actually get exported.

6. Go back to SimPe, open CRES resource. Remember TS2 is using flipped coordinates: X = -X, -X = X, Y = Z, Z = Y. Edit joint Translation data, commit, save.

Optional: you can export CRES skeleton again and import to Milkshape to test if joint has moved to the right position.

7. Go to GMDC, Model tab - hit rebuild, commit, save.

if you have the edited object placed on a lot, it's gonna look weird when you load the game. You need to re-buy it from catalogue to see results.

If for some reason you'd like to export entire GMDC with your imported CRES skeleton, Milkshape won't let you do that. You'll get "ERR: No quaternion values stored" error. You need to go to Joints tab and edit each Joint comment to ImpQuatDat: (that's imp, with capital i )

Notes:

if you go to GMDC Joints tab, there's also a rebuild option to update single joint - but I've tried it on car door joints and it didn't work.

If you edit joint coordinates in CRES, for example- move the car door forward, and preview skeleton in GMDC viewer, your model is gonna look fine. But in the game every vertex assigned to that joint will also be moved forward. That's why you need to use model rebuild option. In theory, if you'd like to skip rebuild, you could import GMDC to milkshape and move the door backwards to compensate for joint adjustments? I haven't tried that (yet).

[pforestsims]

Here's an updated version of my candle set with three new add-ons - ceiling pendant, wall sconce and small candle holder.

Edited candelabra are a bit less chunky. I've added five new candle colors, two metal recolors and edited old recolor packages - all lit candles use emissive map*

Elegant Candelabrum Set v2

Download: SFS | BOX

These lights require IKEA SP for the warm light settings but you can change it to something else

*you need Extended Standard Material Shader edit by @crispsandkerosene to see the glow effect on candlesticks in your game.

Enjoy 🕯️

[pforestsims]

📣 Recent Updates:

14.11.2024

I've shared alternative version of Atomic Fireplace Default - added emissive map so red hot specks glow in the dark (SFS DL link) - it requires Standard Material Shader edit by @crispsandkerosene (please note that recently CandK shared another shader edit, now it's compatible with Dreadpirate's shader fixes!)

01.11.2024 05.11.2024 11.11.2024

Updated my edit of Trait-based TO Chemistry Mod - fixed Lua script issues so Alien TO and Facial hair TO work. But I overlooked some things so it got updated for the second third time. Correct file has Update3 in the name. Download: SFS, BOX

04.11.2024

Edited Round Wall Lamp from 'Glass & Brass' set (Vintage Lamps pack), light settings switched from white light to yellowish. Here's just the edited mesh (SFS)

03.10.2024

Added the link to ko-fi account in blog description ☕

previous updates

[pforestsims]

Trait Chemistry Mod edit

yet another frickin' update (11 Nov 2024 )

After a day of intense testing here's third update for my edit of Trait-based TO Chemistry Mod by Atomtanned . Hopefully the last one but you never know with these mods, it's so complex and hard to test.

If you use this mod, please re-download again

Download: SFS | BOX

Servos now trigger Technology TO /even without high (default) mechanical skill/ Thanks to @ramblinsims for telling me how to fix it.

"Loner" trait now triggers "Introvert" TO, and "dislikes children" trait does not 🙈

Possibly a few more things got fixed?

*Correct file has 'Update3' in the name!

a few more notes to add on top of these:

Unfortunately the game doesn’t calculate TO chemistry level between Sims in real time, that makes it especially difficult to spot stuff that doesn't work right. You don’t see immediate results when you add some traits or change skills etc.

You can force chemistry bolt update by editing Sim’s appearance or loose/gain weight BUT I’ve noticed that sometimes the game stops recalculating TO chemistry altogether... Reloading a lot seems to help with that.

Zombie Turn-on (in this mod it’s ‘Indoorsy TO’!) in combination with certain hair color TOs can cause Sim’s TOs to reroll in some situations – it also happens in vanilla game, nobody seems to know why, there are no traces of it in BHAV so it’s probably not fixable. Personally I don't consider "Indoorsy" an interesting TO and I was planning to get rid of it but since I've been told about this bug, I decided to leave it.

[pforestsims]

This is a follow-up to this poll. TS2 CC hoarders, pick the most sensible slot arrangement for a one-tile coffee table.

so 'mild disarray' has won, but barely 🙄

[pforestsims]

TS2 CC hoarders, which of these is a sensible amount of placement slots on a one-tile coffee table?

[pforestsims]

Trait Chemistry Mod edit

! another important update ( 5 Nov 2024 )

Everybody who downloaded my updated (1 Nov 2024) edit of Trait-based TO Chemistry Mod , based on a mod by Atomtanned , based on a chemistry mod by Dill. I overlooked a few things so it still wasn't working properly, @episims has helped me fix it /again/. Thanks, Epi.

If you use this mod, please re-download!

Download: SFS | BOX

*Mod has been updated again, correct file has 'Update3' in the name!

In this latest edit I decided to remove One True Hobby checks, so only actual hobby enthusiasm points can trigger TOs.

A few words to anyone who'd like to make their own edit of the chemistry mod under the cut:

Have in mind that Dill (at the time of writing this) haven't updated their mod and it still contains quite a few issues, style TO doesn't work, Alien genetics do not trigger alien TO, and there are a few other less serious things like cologne or hats triggering TO's they shouldn't trigger. Any edit of that mod inherits the bugs and ppl editing it should mention having it fixed.

So if you'd like to adjust a trait-based chemistry mod to match your own needs, there are other, cleaner mods for you to choose from. There's trait-based chemistry mod by @curiousb , Fran provided detailed documentation so if I was to do an edit for myself now, I'd pick that one. And there's Epi's TO chemistry mod, not fully trait-based but it has a bit of trait functionality added.

The problem is, chemistry mods have lots of features and testing it is a hassle. I admit I didn't do a great job testing my mod edit - but since I noticed my edit doesn't work as supposed to, I tried to track down all the problems and Epi came to the rescue. I had to include modified perfume BHAV, which might cause temporary flower effects for some Sims (only once) but it was necessary to fix the cologne issue.

As far as I know, this chemistry mod edit by @ramblinsims (also based on Atomtanned's edit of Dill's mod) works (almost) fine, they've fixed all the known issues aside from the Cologne triggering TO that it has been replaced with (but they are aware of it and intend to fix it).

[pforestsims]

This is a replacement for various TS2 cutscene camera animation resources without bloom, grain, vignette and letterbox /OR with less of those/

NOTE: This mod is NOT an improvement of cutscene animations. It allows clean /or cleaner/ screenshots and that's it.

Less post effects in cutscenes

Download: SFS | BOX

Some effects might switch on and off, also - At the end of the cutscenes anims tend to look glitchy, Sims rapidly changing position etc. That wonkiness is normally hidden by letterbox blackout.

More under the cut:

The ugliest of the effects IMO, the filmgrain (especially in dark/night scenery), luckily takes up a few frames at most and was the easiest to get rid of.

Not all animations have all effects removed. To remove these, you need to click on each effect ('Joint') frame in cAnimResourceConst tab, Sub mesh: (dropdown menu) / Postprocessingmaterial and set parameters to zero.

Usually that's one, or a few more frames, but for some anims it's 60, 80 or even 289 frames (letterbox, enter college without parent anim) - so I've skipped most of those.

Replacement contains resources:

o-cineCam-alienAbduction_anim o-cineCam-proposeReject_anim o-cineCam-graduationParty02_anim o-cineCam-cinematic-EnterCollege-withParent-2_anim o-cineCam-firstKissTeen_anim o-cineCam-alienBirth-2_anim o-cineCam-homeBirth_anim o-cineCam-hotTubPlayInF2M-2_anim o-cineCam-hotTubPlayInF2M-1_anim o-cineCam-firstKiss_anim o-cineCam-cinematic-EnterCollege-withParent-1_anim o-cineCam-weddingReject_anim o-cineCam-graduationParty01_anim o-cineCam-moveIn_anim o-cineCam-alienBirth-1_anim o-cineCam-hotTubPlayIn-1_anim o-cineCam-weddingAccept_anim o-cineCam-a-cinematic-enterCollege-noParent_anim o-cineCam-ProposeAccept_anim o-cineCam-hotTubPlayIn-2_anim o-cineCam-returnFromAbduction_anim o-cineCam-ProposeMaleAccept_anim o-cineCam-playInBed_anim

In case of some effects, if they take up many frames - usually letterbox - it's not enough to zero frame parameters, you gotta go to raw view and zero leftover parameters in there too.

[pforestsims]

Makeup Room Lighting

Download: SFS | BOX

Polycounts: Makeup room lights - 1112 & 278 (single bulb), Makeup room lamps XL - 642 & 110 (single bulb).

Shiftable OMSP 90* comes in handy

Recolors make use of additive maps on the socket bit, but that feature requires Extended shader edit by @crispsandkerosene

*this is for The Sims 2

[pforestsims]

Animation done in Milkshape

The same animation in the game

😖

[pforestsims]

These are mostly edits of Animal Crossing conversions from this set by Decat @decat2 (or new clones with the same GUID) plus 2 new objects and 2 add-ons. Dollhouse is functional.

ACNH decor stuff / edits

Download: SFS | BOX

More info under the cut.

*This is for The Sims 2

I couldn't stop myself from rearranging "cleaning set WC" model, moved the plunger to the back where it belongs.

All objects have shadows added and sharp edges sorted out. Recolor textures were re-done (thanks for the files @episims ) I've applied original normal maps and AO shading*. (BTW anyone converting from Animal Crossing to TS2 please check out this post ).

Books and book stand now have two subsets - fixing integrity would break these objects so I had to make new clones but I've recycled Decat's GUIDs.

Experiment Set went through a general makeover, I've switched glass subset to bottle fluids and made a new recolor for these. I've also enlarged the object, now it fits one-tile desk.

Mop and bucket is a new mesh - Decat also converted it ( file called "cleaning tools") but my mesh has two subsets and different proportions, as I edited the model to make it more realistic. I've modified textures to add more mop/rag colors.

Texture sizes for these objects range between 512x512 - 384x384 (yes).

AO maps (basically - baked shadowing) in case of AC objects are a part of "mix" texture, so you have to separate the green channel, desaturate and make overlay out of it - set to multiply or similar. It's also necessary to improve quality or at least smooth it out a bit, these are quite crunchy. I give it brownish tones for dark areas + pale blue hues for the light areas, works better than just grey.

[pforestsims]

Oh, so I CAN use various DXT5 texture sizes for TS2 objects as long as I don't generate mip-maps?

Good to know

X_X

[pforestsims]

A few worn / grunge sofa recolors and add-on armchair for anyone who needs them. Old sofa model comes from Little Nightmares 2 game, it was converted to ts4 by Josie/Ellemant and to ts2 by MrsReval.

4t2 Ellemant LN Sofa

worn armchair add-on & recolors

Download (SFS)

Polycount: sofa (actually a loveseat) 7158, armchair 5178, textures are 1024x1024

Recolors featuring duct tape use 1024x1024 specular map 🖤 (Thx @crispsandkerosene )

Add-on chair has seat morph animation. I've edited the sofa mesh (shadows) so thumbnails are a bit improved. Here are a few other pieces from Little Nightmares 2.

*This is for The Sims 2

[pforestsims]

Shout-out to people converting objects to TS2 from other games. Don't ignore normal maps!

You can retain many details by desaturating (the right way) normal map and using it as overlay.

[pforestsims]

RC 4t2 Sehablasimlish Janis TF-AF

Animated edit & recolors

Download (SFS) 7306 poly, 'Familied' naturals

S4 Janis hair is here, and here's 4t2 conversion by @rascalcurious

More pics under the cut:

*This is for The Sims 2

"Purple" recolor above is included with original conversion by RC here (SFS)

I've edited UVs to make it possible to add ombre and a bit of alpha transparency. RC's 4t2 recolors work for edited version but the back looks a bit different.

[pforestsims]

Update! Epi has created a fix for TF sunburn and TM tan - it's included with the sunburn default - before installing please read README file (or my notes in the post above).

☀️ Sunburn [BV] & Overheat [SSN] txtr default

Includes AM overheat texture fix by Epi*

Download (SFS)

*In vanilla game AM overheat body overlay 3IDR is incorrectly linked to AF TXMT. @episims has kindly made a fix for it - it's incorporated with my overlay default.

Update: Added new (alternative!) version of the Sunburn default with teen overlay fix created by @episims - it contains GZPS resource overrides so now teens get correct textures BUT you need to make sure no teen sims in your game have old sunburn / suntan overlay applied when you install it!

More under the cut:

*This is obviously for The Sims 2

*Guys also get tan lines, archive contains preview pic

NOTE: TF overlay is borked - it uses AM overlay - unfortunately this issue goes deeper than TXMT / 3IDR. Tan overlay is also not right, in that case the TM is using AF texture. This default doesn't fix that.

With Epi's teen GZPS override / fix installed (it is optional, sunburn txtr default without this fix is also available) old suntan / sunburn overlays on teens (body) become non-removable. Can be removed only with Sim Blender (change appearance/..), but first you need to age sim to adult and apply tan or sunburn overlay again for the 'remove' option to appear.

So it's best to make sure you don't have any sunburned or tanned teens when you install the default with a fix.

Sunburn (pics above) consists of universal scalp and universal face texture, plus three body textures for CU, UF and UM. I've noticed PU texture in the game files but it's not used so I haven't touched it.

For Seasons EP, Eaxis recycled the BV sunburn texture. Overheated texture consists of universal scalp and universal face texture, plus four body textures: PU, CU, UF and UM, all of these are used (children and toddlers in TS2 might get overheated but are much more resistant to extreme weather than teens/adults).

My replacement has no redness on the scalp and nose. The body txtr was desaturated, made more transparent and darker, otherwise it's unchanged.

Some crunchiness cannot be avoided with transparent body overlays, especially with light-on-dark - there's always gonna be artifacts, even if actual texture looks ok. But I'm sure you'll argee it's way better than original.

Pic above: Sunburn & overheating. Fun! 🤪

[pforestsims]