The attached package is a pair of MilkShape plugins for working with Sims 3 body meshes. This version requires MilkShape 1.8.5, due to TS3 specific requirements. You can get the update directly from the publisher at http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/index.html. Note that while the update is free to registered users, MilkShape 3D is not a free package.

The plugins also require the "Visual Studio 2008 Runtime" package be installed. This is free from MicroSoft, and can be found here.

With these two prerequisites, you can download and use the plugins freely, provided you adhere to the licensing terms, which no longer restrict what you make with the plugins (included in the package).

They are much like UniMesh for TS2, although they are fundamentally different because TS3 is fundamentally different. Included in the archive is a new plugin, the CCTool, which allows editing some new TS3 specific values, the VertexID and the TagVal.

<* Wes *>

V0.16 fixes the exporter losing the 4th weight.

I have it all but now I have to work out how to use it. I'd be really interested in a tutorial, I never used milkshape before.

I plan to move this tutorial here to MTS soon. It is a basic how-to-get-started project, I think just what you need.

<* Wes *>

Wes, are you the one who's also working on the Maya Plug in? Do you have any rough idea when that might come out to public? Thanks

I haven't had a lot of feedback from the testers, except one. And none recent.
I do have a set of working Maya plugins, although I don't have copies of every version, because I don't have the libraries for all. These are .mll plugins, not .mel scripts, a file translator that does read and write.

I have Maya 7.0, 8.5, 2008 32-bit and 2009 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Given the way Maya is designed, they all compile from one source, and should be identically functional, but you have to have the right version.

Barring a major bug in the GEOM plugins showing up (requiring immediate attention), I intend to stay focussed on finishing an object mesh (.model, .lod) plugin next. I have not finished a proof-of-concept version here, but once I have gotten to the point where I can make a new object mesh, it should not take long to finish from there.

Wow! That's great!!

Well I have a lot of patience, hard to believe that modding for the Sims 3 is moving along so quickly.

Thanks for the response Wes, I'm sure once you're finished with the plugin it will work like a charm!

Wes - I would like to create a boat from a milkshape file i have made - i truley have no clue how to do this and i am wondering if i post the file if you wouldnt mind making it

I absolutely do not make things on request.
These plugins do not handle anything but Sims meshes.
Objects have a different format and will require a different set of tools, and they are not ready yet.

<* Wes *>

Thanks for the responce!
sorry for requesting new to this stuff

First, I'd like to say "thank you!!!" to you, Wes.　Much appreciated.
But, I'm a bit in need. The window of Sims3 Extra Data Tool is odd. Help.

Tamo, in my milkshape the right(<-) one is Save, and the left one(->) is Cancel.

Nandonalt, Thanks. You saved me.

So I found a screenshot of the window at hair basic tutorial. I didn't notice that tutorial has been updated. Anyway, thanks.

a small problem! the microsoft's website don't open in my firefox, IE, google chrome, opera...
I really need that Visual Studio 2008 Runtime!

hi nandonalt! its me lukas-couto (kachusims)

im almost positive that i downloaded the right milkshape program from the chumbalum website, but im still unsure with which to download from the microsoft website :/
could you please send me the exact link to the Visual Studio 2008 Runtime plugin i need to download?

this one

Unless you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, then this one.

Hi Wes,
The hair meshes imported with the tool don't seem to have morphs for all the body sizes. This means long hair will clip into fatter or musclier sims.
Wether this problem is because of exporting from Delphy's CTU or because of this tool I don't know, but I thought I'd report the problem.

Thanks for the fantastic tool, having heaps of fun with it.

I didn't think the hair had any morphs. But I haven't checked them all.

<* Wes *>

Hi Wes,
I think that just like with Sims 2 pregnant meshes, there may be some in-between morph meshes needed for the game to calculate the position of the hair for fatter sims or sims with whider heads. I don't think it lies within just the vertex assignments...
I don't have a way to find out and it's just a theory, but if it's the case, we'd need to make
- 4 lod meshes
- several morphs
Hehehe that would be some work.*cough* Peggy would never bother to do*cough*


Any way to check? For an amateur?

Thanks

For all of the body meshes, the morphs share the same group value as the "base" meshes. Someone else (Karybdis) told me that the group was a hash of the directory name (from the developer files at EA) but reversing a hash is difficult, and not needed.

The way to check would be to use Postal (which has GEOM preview) or S3PE and look in the FullBuild0.package and see if any of the original hair files have other GEOMs with the same group number, but a different instance value. If so, morph files carry the "type" value of 3 (type was a misnomer of mine, but it is good enough a term).

Adding morphs to packages not designed for them is beyond my knowledge level at this time. The morphs for body meshes are referenced by a VPXY file, but I haven;t researched that any deeper.

I don't know that a better job of bone assignments might not be able to be done on the longer hair. The few I have looked at from modders generally just block assigned the longer parts to b__Spine2__, some with little or no multiple assignments. While good assignments take time, there are lots of other bones, some that seem to be adjusted by the sliders, like the right and left breasts.

If you're up for a challenge, the meshes are fully animatable, so you can import the hair and a top/body mesh and go into ANIM mode in MilkShape and see roughly how the hair will animate in the game when the head and body are moved. You just have to remove the extra group(s) before exporting your reweighted mesh.

<* Wes *>

Hi Wes,
Thanks for the explanation!
When meshing body and hair meshes I always use the animation preview in Milkshape. Sadly, the hair does not seem to have a bone to be assigned to that will move the hair with the fat slider. I can check again, but I don't think it's in there... that's why I thought it could be morphs.I'll try and see if I can find proof for hair having morphs.
I will also try and see if I have really checked all the bones for longer hair, that could move with fatness.But, I'm not too hopeful, as hair doesn't move with head shape either, and there's no bone for that either...

Maybe I can find evidence for moprhs and maybe the new challange will be to get those working.

I'm very happy with your tools and your help! Thank you. I'll report back

Sorry to be such a noob at this, but I was trying to modify the long fitted gloves mesh to create longer nails for my sims, and it seems that every time I import the mesh geom (or any mesh geom, for that matter) I get the "Unable to located bone file. Default skeleton used" pop up--which I heard was normal (?)

So I click okay, then I get a big ball of scribbles for a mesh =/

I'm sure I missed a step somewhere

It is the Joint Size in preferences... those blue lines are a huge rendition of the joints. The default when installed uses a scale that is way to big for Sims (2 or 3) work. Set it to about 0.012 (less or more to your preference).

You can also make the skeleton invisible by unchecking the "show skeleton" box on the joints panel. While the default skeleton is OK to use for an adult, it is way off the mark for teen and childrens meshes. What was missing was the matching .skcon for your mesh, it should be extracted also, when it is present, the plugin resets the joint positions to the exact values in the file.

<* Wes *>

Would you look at that, it works now

Thanks Wes!

Hi Wes,

This tutorial is now in the wiki.

http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?t...ons_and_Answers

MilkShape GEOM plugins 0.1.4 can not save the mesh was not msS3Objexp.dll file. Where do I need to save the file msS3Objexp.dll? I'm sorry, but as dlfmap@hanmail.net Would you like to send?
This is Korea.
Please.