SimPE 0.60b and body meshing

[SkeleBear]

Either I'm doing something very wrong (which is always a possibility) or I just haven't found what I'm looking for yet.

Is there a tutorial ANYWHERE that explains how to extract a body mesh using the newer SimPE 0.60b? I've found a dozen tutorials for extracting the meshes, and all the tutorials seem to be referencing the 'older interface' of SimPE. I can't seem to open the Property Set to extract the individual parts (gmnd, cres, shpe, and gmdc files).

Am I doing something wrong here?

Help?

Please?

Anyone?

[marvine]

There's no reason to use a different tutorial, it still works in the same way even if there are some small graphic differences.
So in fact your issue is that you can't open the property set in the recolour package, in order to get the name for the base mesh?
I'm a little confused, I don't think you need the advanced settings for such a simple thing - but well, you can always try that and see if it changes something.
If not, could you explain exactly what is wrong? Is nothing happening when you click on it, do you have an error message, are there greyed out things in the window?

[SkeleBear]

First, thanks for responding. I truly appreciate the help.

Okay, I have always followed the steps found in tiggerypum's tutorial found HERE.

Now, when I open a package to get to the 'Property Set', I'm getting this:


The 'Property Set' is coming up as one file instead of four, and as a 'GZPS' file which won't open up into anything else.



I don't know what I'm doing wrong with this, but it's frustrating the crap out of me!

[marvine]

Cocytus,

You must have read the tutorials a little quickly; you won't find any mesh files in what is a texture package... The texture is linked to the mesh through the 3D ID referencing file, and when following the tutorials, what you are looking for in the property set is the name of the base Maxis mesh (the "name(dtString)" line), which will allow you to find the 4 parts in the game's 3D files in order to build a fresh mesh package (a custom mesh, of course, won't be in the game files, but in a single package somewhere in your downloads folder).

In this case though, unusually the name was changed, so it is of little help.
I'm not sure what the name stands for, either the custom mesh itself or the texture or simply a series for a bodyshape - only the original creator could tell.

At this point, the best advice I can give to you is to go back to the tutorials and follow them step by step until you're more acquainted with the method - it will then make much more sense, you'll learn more along the way than what I could possibly explain here; the tutorials may look challenging at first, or simply not directly related to what you want to do, but believe me, there's nothing gratuitous in them...

[SkeleBear]

Thank you, marvine, for taking the time to look this over and to point out that I was indeed opening the wrong file type for what it was I wanted to do. After addressing that issue and opening a MESH file from my 'Downloads' folder, I was able to find the file types I was looking for.

However, when I opened the mesh in Milkshape, it was very distorted and 'not the shape it was supposed to be,' so I think I'm simply going to back away from the meshing for now. I was doing alright before (when I only had Uni, NL, and OFB and was using the older Milkshape and older SimPE), but things aren't coming along so smoothly this time, and perhaps I should just wait until I can afford the newer Milkshape and for the 'Seasons' version of SimPE to come out.

Again, thanks for your time and help. It's greatly appreciated.

[marvine]

Well something else has to be wrong... You don't need the latest SimPE and Milkshape for meshes, no matter which EPs you have - just a version of Milkshape that works with the Unimesh plugins, and SimPE 0.58 works fine with up to Seasons if you don't use it for character or neighbourhood editing. And if you registered Milkshape once, you shouldn't have to pay for the upgrades?

Anyway this sounds like an exporter issue. What are you using? A screenshot of the mesh might have helped me figure out what is wrong...

[SkeleBear]

marvine,

Again, my thanks to you for your support and assistance. I have developed a renewed vigor toward meshing, and after very carefully following the steps of the tutorial and being sure that I selected what it was I wanted to work on, I hit a 'stumbling block,' which has not thwarted my efforts completely, but has forced me to look at another approach.

I wanted to work on an enhancement of Warlokk's 'Powergirl' mesh, but when I opened the mesh in Milkshape, it was a Maxis Default Adult Female. I'm not sure how that happened because I was VERY careful to choose a 'Powergirl Bikini' to work on, so I'm going to have to set aside some time to sit here and try to figure out what happened there.

I'm sure I'll have more questions when I get back to it (which will hopefully be sometime over the weekend), and I truly appreciate the assistance you offer.