Hi, Jinxy! Thank you so much for your wonderful conversions! Please, can you tell, which tutorials you've used to learn? I would love to make conversions too, but some parts of creating process are quite confusing (like getting GUIDs for example). Any advices would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Hello, anon! I'm happy to offer up the tutorials I used to figure out (as much as I have, anyway...) this whole conversion and object creation thing.
@keoni-chan has a really well written tutorial on converting objects (with pictures!) available on her Livejournal here. For the most part, her instructions are what I do, we just have a few differences in settings. For instance, in blender, you don't need to check "Write Normals" and "Write Materials," because they just create unnecessary files for you to delete and if you're new to things, the fewer files you have floating around to confuse you, the better.
The other main difference would be that there is no longer a database for GUIDs in Sims 2 (as so many tutorials point you to). To create a unique GUID for an object, in SimPe, go to Tools > Object Creation > Hash Generator and make sure the little dot beneath the "string" box is on CRC 24. At the bottom of the box is a field marked "Hash Value." So long as you've given your object a thoroughly unique name, it will create a random GUID derived from that name that you can use. It's super easy to do. The picture below shows each of the necessary elements.
If the object you're creating requires multiple GUIDs (like a dining table or bed or the hutch I'm converting right now, for instance), I just use what would be immediately around the GUID SimPE generated for me. For example, if the GUID the program generated is 0x0075768B, I'd make the additional GUIDs 0x0075768A, 0x0075768C, and 0x0075768D. Or 0x00757680, 0x00757681, 0x00757682, etc. Just change that last letter or number, and you're good to go.
The only tutorial I regularly reference is by @hugelunatic and that's her repository technique tutorial. I can never remember all the steps on my own, so I check back on it every time I'm doing something I want slaved.
My biggest piece of advice would be to work smarter, not harder. Think about what you're creating, and clone something that makes creating your job easiest, at least until you really get the hang of SimPE and all the different parts of it. For instance, if you're making something decorative with glass, clone the football helmet in a case because it has a glass subset and you won't have to change a bunch of things in the TXMT because of it. If you want to make an end table with a lot of slots, clone an end table with a lot of slots already. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. Learning to do this can be time consuming and frustrating, but so much of it is trial and error and just getting used to the SimPE program. Any way you can make things easier on yourself... do.
Other tips based on my own errors... if at first your object doesn't succeed, go to Tools > Object Tools > Fix Integrity. More than once that's righted a frustrating problem I spent way too long trying to puzzle through. If you find your recolors aren't showing up, it's because you forgot to click the checkbox next to update all MMATs and update (see: Keoni's step 16 for reference). Go and check it, update it, and then redo your recolors with the corrected MMAT. For glass subsets, make sure the "stdMatAlphaBlendMode" in the TXMT has a "Value" of blend. If you have things like leaves or filigree or something that has a white outline that should not have a white outline, go to the TXMT and find the field that says "stdMatAlphaTestEnabled." Change the "Value" from 0 to 1 and the white boxes will be gone.
I hope this was clear enough to be at least a little helpful. I'm still learning myself, so I know just how overwhelming it can be. If I get a little extra time, I'll try to put together a step-by-step tutorial myself with all the little tips and tricks I've picked up through trial and error.
It can be really intimidating at first, but once you start spending time in the program, the pieces of it kind of fall into place. I know that may sound like a cop out, but it's really not. I'm nowhere near an expert, but I'm much more confident with it now than I was just a few months ago.
Be patient with yourself! If an object is causing tons of problems, sometimes it's best to start over from scratch, or at the very least, walk away for a while and come back to it. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. Good luck!
