You don't need to see the point.   Those who like toddler sims and dressing pixel dollies see the point.
You roast and stomp them, we'll dress them, everybody's happy.

Could you please elaborate on how the game doesn't support this?  The movie I put up shows a toddler changing into various separates.  There are problems, yes, but are they due to my not quite right CRES, or something unmoddable in the game?

There have been mods that affect how older sims change clothes or don't change clothes, so could one be made to prevent toddlers from changing into pj's in cribs?  Has this been tried and proven to be undoable?  If not, I see another project.

I'm attempting to make toddler separates, with mixed results.
Would welcome help with this project.  Details at MTS.



If this has been tried and proven to be impossible, would also like to know that before I get too far into this.

TS3 doesn't interest me at all.  Still love TS2.  Still finding new things to do with TS2.

UPDATE 6/10/2010 Fixed the UV bug,

PLEASE REDOWNLOAD

MILKSHAPE PLUGINS

I've made two moar plugins so people can make moar meshes moar faster!
If you have comments / questions / bug reports, please post in the MTS threads.


Sims Mesh Mirror




UV Flip




And here's two older ones, just in case someone hasn't seen them and could use them.

UV Data Merge - like wes_h's vertex and normal data merge, but for UV coordinates

Normal Smoother (you can use Align Normals instead, I plan to add selectable crease angle to mine later...  probably much later)

Wes Howe has my gratitude for helping me learn to make plugins, as do the makers of MilkShape for making MilkShape.

Anything Thoma$ spews needs to be viewed with skepticism, because he's a lying liar who lies, and when not lying, he spins.  Anything on Coconut's blog needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because while Coconut is trustworthy, Coconut's sources or intel may be TSR disinformation.  That's why I waited until Wes told his side of it before judging.  While I would have much, much preferred that all the licenses stay non-commercial because who cares if TSR employees have interoperable tools, I don't see it as Wes selling his soul.  There are those who argue that some free creators will also use TSR's tool, that tools are just tools, free of politics.  While I believe they shouldn't, I can see how Wes might see tool interoperability as a service to the free community.  Since TSR took Wes' research and used it for their own purposes, they are simply being parasites, business as usual.  Thoma$ spouting "we're BFF with the free community now and all get along so great, working hand in hand for the greater glory of TSR" bullshit, also business as usual.

Thank you, Wes, for all your contributions to Sims3 modding, and especially for the stuff that can be used instead of TSR's "gifts".

chobeegal, thanks for confirming lot borkage.
Must have gotten overzealous with my AdBlock and blocked my own avie somehow.

simsample - Thanks for the links, you're right, other folks had this problem.  
I have put the altered lot into the bin, then placed it from the bin.  Is that what you meant by move?
It still crashed after I did.  I might be being stupid, if there's a way to just pick it up, plop it down, w/o binning.
If that doesn't work, I'll just try building a mobile home lot from scratch.
edit: Duh.  That would be the hand/arrows tool.

edit: And nothing to do with apartments, but what happened to my avatar?  Had one, now don't have one.  Odd.  Go to profile to change it, still can't see it.  Not important, just wierd.  I don't suppose you see my Gadget cat avatar?

edit2: Moving the lot with the hand/arrow tool didn't help.  Here's what I did.
Plop down a vanilla EA lot from the bin.  Make changes (no rezone).  Save.  Move the lot.
Move in a sim.  Crash.
Is it just EA borkitude?

simsample - the MTS person was probably me, and this happens with and without rezoning

Pandaah - What I don't understand is why this only happens if I edit the lot.  The unedited lot works fine, with or without dickhurt's mods.

Would it be possible to use some of Inge's apartment mods with Pescado's?
Specifically, I want to have these:

Pescado's apthack and alfixes, want these because sims satisfy needs based on what objects they have in their apartments / community areas.

Inge's rent system, because it has no deposit, just a weekly rent, higher for furnished.  If Inge's rent system causes any incongruity in family funds upon moveout, I don't care, can change family funds with a cheat.  I prefer reasonable weekly rent to a large deposit at move in time.

I do not want to install Inge's mods for satisfying needs based on what pictures are hanging where, prefer the Pescado version based on what objects sims have.  

I know HCDU reports that Inge's controller mod conflicts with Pescado's mods.  I'm hoping I can just put a Z at the beginning of Inge's tenant and landlord mod names, have them load later, and have Inge's rent system with Pescado's needs satisfying system.  The problem is, I don't know if Inge's rent and need satisfaction mods are independent.  Do Inge's Controller mods have just rent stuff, or rent and needs stuff?  Also, I don't know if Pescado has separate pieces of code for rent and need satisfaction or not.  So if Inge's mod is overriding Pescado's rent code, would it also clobber Pescado's needs code, or not?

Can I just keep these

alfixes
apthack

ijApartmentControllerPatch
ijApartmentControllerResidentsPatch
ijApartmentJobsPatch (I know, not for rent, but I want it)
ijApartmentLandlordPatch

and get rid of these?

ijCommunal****

Also, can I use Inge's AL version of the 4key door mod with Pescado's apthack and alfixes?  I know Inge's site says it's okay, but I don't know if that was written before or after apthack came out.

I tried to edit an EA apartment lot.  After saving, it was broken. 
Would crash shortly after anyone rented an apartment.
The *unmodified* EA lot works just fine (but is ugly).
The lot is "Main Street Mobile Homes".

All I did was change some EA floor coverings to different EA floor coverings.
Did not enable non-apartment build tools.  Saved, moved some sim in, crash.

Then I nuked that lot, started over with a fresh EA lot.
This time, changed lot zoning to residential first, then changed the floors.
Saved as residential.  Reentered the lot, changed zoning to apartment base, saved.
The lot still crashed in exactly the same way.

I have Pescado's apthack and alfixes.  Don't have anything else that affects tenants, landlords,
except dickhurt's better locations for eating / serving.  HCDU reports no conflicts.
Don't have anything else as far as I know that affects apartment doors (such as Inge's mods).

I can't use Community Time with AL.  Need to have testingCheatsEnabled for Community Time to work, but when I do, the apartment doors in an apartment lot spew tons of error popups, making the game unplayable.  What's this about a no-popup version?  Did I miss it in the first post?  I checked, I don't have any replacements for AL doors, and I don't think I have mods that affect AL doors.  The apartment lot is one that came with AL, not anything custom built.  EA lot borkage?  Tight pants from some door affecting mod I'm not aware of?

edit: Nevermind. Stupid me.  I have Inge's spiffy key mod, and I haven't updated it to AL.

I love Mootilda's idea of making a secret hidden bunker.  Not sure how I would go about it though.  My idea of hiding the original house with hills and trees could be rather problematic when playing, due to view obstruction.  Perhaps surround the existing walls with another building?  Shopping center or something else innocuous.  Then put PMBD Super Sekrit Headquarters in the hidden house, or under it.  Might try this for fun, but don't think I'll be uploading anything until I learn to make basements that don't look like a sinkhole opened under the house.

There's also Micro$oft's Visual C++, if you're willing to port to C as you said.  You can get the Express edition for free from their website.

You might also try Cygwin, a free UNIX emulator for windows.  There are several GNU compilers for it, I believe Fortran is among them.  I use cygwin's C/C++ compilers, they make exe files.

I wish I had taken a picture of a paysite CC bathtub I got years ago.  It looked lovely in the preview picture, but when used, the water was *outside* the tub while the tub filled!  The creator had made the tub mesh too small, so the water stuck out.  Now I'll have to go see if the borked thing is in the Booty so I can get a picture.

rufio: It's the bed of accidental Kama Sutra poses!  Or maybe its a LOLbed?  Kama Sutra, Yur Doin It Wrong!

SalixTree: Whoever made that mesh screwed up the UV map.  It is fixable, if you know how to edit UV maps.  If not, check out the tutorials at MTS2.
edit: And if you want to get rid of that seam at the waist, do that with MilkShape's Align Normals plugin.

Rules question: Is it okay to just completely hide the existing house and build a new one elsewhere on the lot?  I'm thinking of raising the terrain around the existing house as much as possible, and putting trees on top of that.  Then build a steep climbing trail to an overlook platform at the top of all that.  The house gets completely hidden, can't be entered or used by sims, but is still there.  Is that allowed?  This is just a hypothetical question because my build-fu is weak, but I am curious about it.

I just posted the idea from MTS2, I don't have any mind bending foundations to contribute right now.
I figured those who wanted to give this a go would get together in small groups and organize by PM or in chat.
Or, as has been suggested above, just post some foundations in this thread, no time limit.

This is an idea for a small group of bored builders. 
In a nutshell, make a difficult foundation for others, then build on what they give you.

* Each builder creates a lot that's empty save for a building foundation.
  The foundation should be unusual and difficult to build on, but not impossible nor useless.
  The idea is to encourage creativity and work outside your comfort zone, not make unusable buildings.
* Each builder gives his or her foundation to the other builders.
* Then everyone tries to build something on each foundation. 
   Builders may NOT remove any foundation and may NOT add to it.
* Buildings are restricted to a certain theme such as family home, dorm, community lot store, etc.
* If doing this as a contest, all builders vote for the best entry on each foundation.
  No voting for your own work.

EAxis House of Phail often requires people to use an existing EA foundation.
This is slightly different in that each builder makes their own in an attempt to confound the others.
The idea is not mine, I'm just posting it.  I heard of it when several folks at MTS2 did it for fun.

Nobody accused you personally of making meshes with cracks so please chill.  You mentioned that folks should have wes_h plugins, you didn't say what to do with them.  I have seen tops made by others that were simply separated (sweaters, shirts) and did have cracks because wes_h's plugins had not been used at the waist.  If the body mesh you're separating has a skintight top or belly baring top, you can often get away with not using those plugins because the vertices and bone weights happen to be correct, but you can't always count on that. 

The person who originally requested your tutorial isn't the only one who'll read it.  Others who read it may wish to make many different kinds of tops, not just tucked ones.  All three kinds of tops, tucked, untuckable, and untucked, can start with the procedure you've described.  You can in fact make untuckable and untucked tops by separating Maxis meshes, it's been done.  It's true that the techniques for the last two merit their own tutorials, but I figure some MATYzens can benefit from just a few pointers.  If you're that bothered by others sharing what they know, I'll not bother you anymore.

Good tutorial, but I noticed a crucial bit missing, wes_h's vertex data merge and normal data merge.  If it's actually there, my excuse is no glasses.  

no crack at the waist

After you've chopped chopped off everything below the waist, you need to use wes_h's merge vertex data tool at the waist.  Not all body meshes have a waist at the same height as Maxis separates.  Not all body meshes have the same bone weights at the waist as separates do.  If the vertex coordinates of a top waist and a bottom waist don't match exactly, there will be a visible gap.  If the bone weights don't match exactly, you will see cracks appear when the sim moves.

To use the merge vertex data tool, you need a Maxis top and your chopped up body mesh top.  Make sure the Maxis top is at the top of the groups list, *above* your top.  Select a pair of vertices at the waist, one from the Maxis top, one from your top.  Use vertex data merge.  Do this for each pair, all around the waist.  Then do this for the fat morph as well.  MilkShape will complain that fat morphs cannot be donors, so rename the Maxis fat morph to something like "fat" and it will work fine.

no seam at the waist (may or may not be needed, depending on type of shirt)

If your top has naked skin at the waist, or is skin tight, or untuckable, or you just don't want any visible seam at the waist, then you will also need to use wes_h's merge normal data.  Do this for each pair of vortices all around the waist, regular mesh and fat morph too. 

untuckable tops

If your shirt mesh meets the bottom mesh at the waist, but the shirt texture extends down past the waist, you have an untuckable shirt.  If worn with naked butt untuckable pants, the shirt looks untucked.  If you are making an untuckable top, you'll want the UV map of your top to match up perfectly with the UV map of a bottom.  You can use Cat's UV data merge for this, same forum as wes_h's tools.  Note that most Maxis men's bottoms have the same UV at the waist, but women's bottom UVs vary widely.  Untucked tops / bottoms are easier to make for men.

no pants / skirt texture on shirt

If it has only one mesh group, you need to make sure the UV map of your top does not overlap the UV map of bottoms.  If you have overlap, the texture of the bottom will appear on the top.  Sometimes you're lucky and the Maxis UV map is fine as is, has no overlap, sometimes you're not so lucky.  If your top UV map overlaps the bottom, there's two things you can do.  Option one, squash the UV map upwards.  Original Maxis textures will no longer work on your mesh now unless you squash them too.  Depending on the texture, squashing may or may not make them look crappy.  Option two, should probably have its own tutorial.  Split your top mesh into two groups.  Each group gets its own texture.  More on that in the next section.

3D untucked tops (not the same as untuckable)

If your shirt mesh (not just the texture) extends down below the waist, you have an untucked shirt. 

* Untucked tops must have either squashed UV maps or be split into two parts so you don't get bottom texture on your top.
* Untucked tops must have correct bone weights so they don't intersect the bottom when the sim moves.

Here's how to split the shirt.  One group is the chest, arms, neck, the other group is the torso below the chest.  There are tutorials on MTS2 that explain how to add a mesh group (or several) to an existing mesh and recolor package, but there's an easier way.  Just take an existing CC two group mesh and its recolor and use those as your starting point instead of a one mesh group Maxis top.  Feel free to use any of my MTS2 untucked tops as templates for this purpose.

Untucked tops almost always need to have their bone weights adjusted so the bottom mesh doesn't intersect the top mesh when the sim moves.  You don't want the sim's butt, waist, or hips poking out of the top, that just looks wierd.  Use the bone weights of Maxis bottom as a guide.  Find top vertices that are close to bottom vertices and try to match up their bone weights.  Make your sims walk, run, jump, sit, lie down, do the smustle.  Adjusting bone weights can take quite a bit of time, but is worth the effort.  Keep in mind that some bottoms will never work with untucked tops, for example very wide ballerina skirts and the like.

New version available, get it here.  Files are not hosted on MTS2, so you can get them even if MTS2 downloads are down.
Please leave all feedback in the MTS2 thread, so it's all in one place.

what's new
* tooltips can be filename, user text, or both
* packages modified with the Wardrobe Wrangler are no longer erroneously ignored
.

Why not fix the string sets for all languages?  If a certain title has the same index in the string table for all languages, that should be doable.  If not, could require some translation.  I could help with the Polish stringset if you'd like.

Pescado, can the bad, bad shit be undone or not?  Would changing back to the original language help at all or just screw things up more?

This program automatically adds BodyShop tooltips to "mystery downloads".
Tooltips can be the package filename, user specified text, or both.
Tooltips added to clothing, hair, skins, eyes, makeup, beards, not other stuff.
Currently in beta testing, so please double check that the last statement is always true.
Make backups, natch, since we're testing.
Runs on Windows or Mac. 

Please post feedback in the MTS2 thread, not here, so it's all in one place.
Download links are in the MTS2 thread (they're offsite, so available even when MTS2 downloads are down, like today).

tooltip adder thread at MTS2





edit: post updated to show most recent version

You've made a much more human looking sim, thank you.  The downside is not much of a downside.  There aren't that many elder bottom meshes.  They could be default replaced to match up with your nude top.  Not that I'm volunteering, too many projects already.

Yup, I have Numenor's AnyGame and base game programs.  I'll test, just thought I would ask first, in case the answer was "it can safely be assumed to be compatible".  Probably better to be paranoid, assume nothing, and test.

I'm totally in favor of automatically splitting resources so that all resources associated with a certain age can be nuked without fear of breaking other ages.  That diagram is quite handy.  Right now, I clean hair packages by hand and with your binning tool.  Once I'm totally comfortable doing that, I'll write an automatic cleaner for Windoze and Mac.  After the duplicate TXTR remover is all finished, that is.  There's still some textures it doesn't recognize as identical, could be because of different compression schemes, as Pescado suggested.