HOWTO: Creating non-replacement archetypes- UD 7/20/07

[Argon]

Writer's note: This tutorial is very sloppy and written at about 1:30am, please notify me of errors or confusing parts which need further explaining.

7/20/2007 @3:41am
good grief why do I stay up so late?
-Clarification on instance ids
-fixed note about fix TGI in SHPE
-U=F in instance naming scheme
-reference tab mentioned is in plugin view

**BEFORE YOU BEGIN, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING:**
- Saved sims in BodyShop for all the ages you want (they should all be clones), the files should already be open or renamed for easy access
- A name you want for your archetype,
     ex. Argon
- A temp BodyShop project to steal a group id and/or family hash from
- Patience, while the process is not hard, it is time consuming.

Ages are always P (Toddler), C (Child), T (Teen), A (Adult/Young Adult), and E (Elder)
Genders are always U (Universal) for P & C and F (Female) or M (Male) for all others


:Replacing the face in the template

- Extract the Geometric Data Containers (GMDC) from your saved sims. You should have two, the normal one and a lod15. I prefer to extract them one at a time so I can give them easier to remember names; my files are named [age][gender][lod?].5gd (ex. pu.5gd and pu lod.5gd)

- Extract argon arch.rar and rename the package however you like, then open it in SimPE

- right click on each GMDC and replace it with the files you extracted (say yes to have it reloaded), in the Filename box name as follows:

     [age][gender]Arch[name][LOD15?]_tslocator_gmdc
     ex. afArchArgon_tslocator_gmdc
          afArchArgonLOD15_tslocator_gmdc

   **DO NOT ADD THE "##0x1C0532FA!" BEFORE YOU FIX TGI!**

     Click commit and then fix TGI, once the instance number has changed add ##0x1C0532FA! to the beginning of the filename
        ex. ##0x1C0532FA!afArchArgon_tslocator_gmdc

     Click commit again and repeat for all GMDC files.

Next, update the names for the following files:
     GMND - [age][gender]Arch[name][LOD15?]_tslocator_gmnd
         copy name to cObjectGraphNode
         commit
         fix TGI
         add ##0x1C0532FA! to the beginning of the filename
         commit

     CRES - [age][gender]Arch[name]_cres
         copy name to cObjectGraphNode
         select Practical under blocklist and copy [name] to cObjectGraphNode
         commit
         fix TGI
         add ##0x1C0532FA! to the beginning of the filename
         commit

     SHPE - [age][gender]Arch[Name]_[name]_shpe
         update [name] in Items
         commit
         fix TGI
         add ##0x1C0532FA! to the beginning of the filename
         commit


:Updating references

**Clarification**
The BINX, XFCH, and 3IDR instance numbers are named like so to assist in finding the correct values: 0xFEBA0[age][gender], where age is 01 for P, 02 for C, 04 for T, 08 for A, and 10 for E. Gender is 1 for F and 2 for M. U is F (hex, not female), P and C are the only two of these.
Instance (High) values are found on the Resource view (where you go to change the group id for a file) and must be copied to the Reference tab (Plugin View)
     ex. 0xFEBA0082 means Adult Male
          Copy Instance numbers from amArchArgon_tslocator_gmdc to GMND
          Copy Instance numbers from amArchTemp_Argon_shpe to CRES and 3IDR

In both GMND and CRES files, update the Sub Typ. (Instance High) and Instance values in the reference tab (Plugin View) to reflect the new values. Commit when done.
Do the same for SHPE in 3IDR


:Finishing up

Change the group ID for 3IDR, BINX, XFCH, STR#. It can be anything you like, group ids from temp BodyShop projects work best.

Copy this new group ID to the objectgroupid line in each BINX.

Use SimPE's hash generator (Tools>Object Tools>Hash Generator) to generate a new GUID and copy it to the family line in XFCH.

Update the text in STR# if you wish

Save the file and test.

The current sortindex will place the archetype at the end of the list in CAS, use debug mode to determine sort order for later.

**Clarification**
Incorrect mesh references will prevent the face from changing in BodyShop and CAS, check the references in GMND, CRES, SHPE, and 3IDR if this happens.

:Credits
Motoki for archetype replacement instructions
wes_h for reminding me about the ##0x[group id]! part in his dog collar tutorial

[Ambular]

Thank you, Argon!  It looks pretty clear from where I'm standing, though I may have questions when I actually try it  XD

[wes_h]

Good work.
Thanks for the credit, though. At one timewe had to force the relocations (##0xnnn!) all the time.
A recent post by Numenor revisiting this subject indicates that the forced relocation on the pets collars was probably only necessary on the TXTR names.
I think the posting is worthy, although experience has shown me that it may take a while before most of the rest of the community discovers it.
Except, of course, cheesemongers.
<* Wes *>

[SaraMK]

This explains why my own attempts failed.

Awesome work... this is going to be really useful.

[Argon]

A recent post by Numenor revisiting this subject indicates that the forced relocation on the pets collars was probably only necessary on the TXTR names.

I tried it without the forced relocation, and I got the icon to show up, but the face wouldn't change lol. It got me so frustrated because I knew everything else was set up right, I was about to delete it all and start from scratch again until I saw your writeup. It was really appreciated I hadn't done very much with meshes before now.

[Ambular]

Okay, got a few questions...

1.  Is it unnecessary to click "fix TGI" when updating the SHPE names?

2.  "[age][gender]Arch[Name]_[name]_shpe" <-- In this string, if the name I'm using is cmpt, does this mean the string should read (for example) "amArchCmpt_cmpt_shpe"?

3.  Re. gender when updating references: F = 1 and M = 2, so does U = 3?  Or does U = F, as seems to be the case in at least one place in the file?

4.  How does one determine which line in 3IDR corresponds to each age and gender? <-- Figured that one out myself

5.  "In both GMND and CRES files, update the Sub Typ. (Instance High) and Instance values in the reference tab to reflect the new values." <-- Just so I'm clear, the strings you provide (0xFEBA0082 and so on) are the values to be entered into the Sub Type and Instance fields?  3IDR already appears to have those values...

6.  Is it very common to have unexplained read errors in the BINX and/or XFCH at random times, and is it safe to fix them by deleting those values and replacing them with copies from the original file?

I've tried this twice so far; the first time the faces showed up but didn't change when clicked, and the second time they showed up but crashed BodyShop when clicked.  I'm starting to think this might be a project too awesome for me.  ><

[Argon]

Okay, got a few questions...

1.  Is it unnecessary to click "fix TGI" when updating the SHPE names?

2.  "[age][gender]Arch[Name]_[name]_shpe" <-- In this string, if the name I'm using is cmpt, does this mean the string should read (for example) "amArchCmpt_cmpt_shpe"?

3.  Re. gender when updating references: F = 1 and M = 2, so does U = 3?  Or does U = F, as seems to be the case in at least one place in the file?

4.  How does one determine which line in 3IDR corresponds to each age and gender? <-- Figured that one out myself

5.  "In both GMND and CRES files, update the Sub Typ. (Instance High) and Instance values in the reference tab to reflect the new values." <-- Just so I'm clear, the strings you provide (0xFEBA0082 and so on) are the values to be entered into the Sub Type and Instance fields?  3IDR already appears to have those values...

6.  Is it very common to have unexplained read errors in the BINX and/or XFCH at random times, and is it safe to fix them by deleting those values and replacing them with copies from the original file?

I've tried this twice so far; the first time the faces showed up but didn't change when clicked, and the second time they showed up but crashed BodyShop when clicked.  I'm starting to think this might be a project too awesome for me.  ><

1. No, I'll fix it now.
2. Yes, but the two names can be different if you like (such as in my example; amArchTemp_Argon_shpe)
3. Yes, U=F I completely forgot to mention that. The instance scheme I set up here is so you know which instances to copy from their sources, 0xFEBA0082 (adult male) means to copy instance numbers from amArchName_name_shpe
4. (for further clarification) XFCH, BINX, and 3IDR must all have the same instance number
5. eek NO! This is probably what is causing your errors, you have to take those instance numbers from the GMDC & SHPE files (resource view) and replace the lines already there in the reference tabs of GMNC & CRES; 3IDR is unrelated
6. Read errors? That's weird, I've never had that happen... but I'm using the latest QA version of SimPE so I dunno. It should be safe to replace them with extracted copies from the original I think.

EDITED: Updated instructions

[Ambular]

Thanks for the clarifications!  Okay, before I go through all this again, since the various instructions about updating the instances are making my brain hurt slightly, let me take a look at the package and make certain I'm reading you correctly:

Copy Instance numbers from the Resource view in amArch[Name]_tslocator_gmdc to the Reference tab in Plugin view in GMND.  (ETA: and all other GMDC's)
Copy Instance numbers from the Resource view in amArch[Name]_[name]_shpe to the Reference tab in Plugin view in CRES and 3IDR.  (ETA: and all other SHPE's)

In the above procedures:
1.  Instance (High) = Sub Typ?
2.  By "Copy Instance numbers" you mean both the Instance and Instance (High) values?
3.  There are no other instance numbers that need to be copied anywhere?
4.  It's correct to copy the instances from SHPE to 3IDR, even though you said earlier that 3IDR is unrelated and must have the same instance numbers as XFCH and BINX?

5.  Also, I note that at the right of the Reference tab there is a drop-down list with the names of the various resources, and the item that is displayed in this list by default is not the same as the resource I'm currently working on.  Do I change this to match or should I leave it alone? <-- I *think* I figured that part out.

I very much appreciate your patience; I've done some modding before, but nothing this complex.

[Argon]

1. yes
2. yes
3. that should be all of them
4. it's the instances you change in the plugin view

[wes_h]

I don't want to clutter up the thread, but Peter Jones (PJSE) has written a proof-of-concept SimPE plugin that you start with a single extracted ObjKey and it will hunt down all the other keys, textlists and other items needed for a new template item. This should work for either the XTOL (face templates) or XMOL (pet collar) templates and items.

If you are interested in something like this, please go to the current SimPE QA thread, review the last half-dozen or so messages, and post any feedback. Anyone that has played with these (Amber, Argon) knows how time consuming and error prone it is to make these manually.

<* Wes *>