CaSTable Magic Gnome Overrides - Randomly AutoColoured - Convertible to Garden Gnomes

I love gnomes, but I kinda got tired of always having to hover the mouse over them to see their name because I couldn't tell them apart, so I fixed 'em up a bit. Please read everything carefully to be sure that you are ok with any changes that have been made to the game.

This mod adds CaSTability to pre-existing magical gnomes and also randomises colouring when new magical gnomes are discovered, rewarded or otherwise spawned. If the random colouring goes a bit overboard and produces something you don't like, you can simply use the cast tool to recolour things the way you want. I also grouped all gnomes together for easier selection should you wish to create your own right away. See below for any notes pertaining to certain models.

Important Notes:

Any objects from "Store Sets" use data that correspond to the original "unmodified" versions of those packages. If you have edited anything before or after installing your store stuff, you will also need to edit these files in the same manner, or the resources will probably not match up or function correctly. ALL objects rely on resources from the originals in order to look and/or function correctly. Only resources that required editing are included in the downloads.

It's recommended to delete the compositorCache and scriptCache packages from your Sims 3 folder when adding new mods to the game.

**The BASE game package is required since it contains the script that other downloads may depend on.**


**HOW TO USE

• File Location: After downloading, unzip the .rar file and place the unzipped .package file into your Mods/Packages folder.

• Catalogue Location: Buy Mode --- Decor - Sculptures | Outside - Lawn Decor

• Usage: Simply wait and discover gnomes through gameplay or select directly via the catalogue.

• CaST: As per usual.

**Brief Note On Aging

The "Mysterious Mr. Gnome" is now the only gnome that should be spawning toddlers as well as gravestones once an elder reaches the end of life stage. This is the only gnome that actually has mesh resources for different age groups.

There were three other gnomes derived off of this particular model, but either the various age meshes were never completed, or the code that deals with spawning / dying wasn't accounted for, thus resulting in toddlers and gravestones for these three models. This has been changed and should no longer happen.

This pertains to:

Gnome of the Darned (Supernatural)
Graduation Gnome (University)
Mech Gnome (Into the Future)

**Catalogue Selection

Clicking on the catalogue thumbnail will randomise the colouring AND the poses for any** gnome that has multiple positions available. Once you get the pose you want (may take several clicks since it's random), you can then use the regular "randomise" button on the sub-window to further experiment with the colours without changing the pose. Of course, you can always just place and CaST it the way you want from the start.

**The catalogue will only create "Adult" versions of Mysterious Mr. Gnome. You will need to obtain the other life stages through gameplay (having at least two adults --elders work too-- on the lot will cause toddlers to spawn). GENERATIONS required for families / spawning / aging / dying.

**SCULPTURIFY Interaction

The "Sculpturify" interaction strips the magical aspects from the gnome (literally turning them into a regular type garden type gnome). This is useful for preserving a gnome in a particular pose or life stage, i.e. a cute toddler that's just too adorable to let age up any further OR to stop the random moving about that creeps some people out...lol. But be warned, this is a one-way trip and cannot be undone. Though completely painless, be sure you really want to place the gnome in a state of suspended animation before you hit the YES button.

• Gnome will no longer move about or age up.

• Gnome value will drop from magical to garden gnome price ($1000 to $50, $10,000 to $500 for Mech gnome).

• Gnome will no longer have a name.

**Gnome-Related XML's from GameplayData.package

A couple of these had instance name typo's in the "No Kick" poses area, and one was missing a pose altogether, so I included overrides to sort that out. For example, "magicGnomeIventorShortCircuit" is missing an "n", so the No Kick interaction shows up on this pose when it shouldn't (not game breaking in this particular case).

I didn't do anything but correct the typo's. There are some poses that are allowed to be kicked over and look really strange, especially when an outstretched arm sinks six inches into the hard ground, but I'm probably being overly attentive.

I've run across XML string typos before. They need to be exact in order to work. If there's a typo, could it possibly cause an opportunity to fail or become uncompletable? Something to think about, but that's a whole lot of searching and definitely for another project.

The overridden XML strings will conflict with any other package that overrides the same resources, probably not an issue, but I put them in a separate package that can be moved to the Overrides folder if necessary (will negate any edits from conflicting package, so you made need to merge info if a conflict does turn up). Their resource ID's are as follows:

0x0333406C-0x00000000-0x1F4F0C889D416C93 MagicGnomeEgypt
0x0333406C-0x00000000-0xFD1B52D3CAADEFDE MagicGnomeInventing
0x0333406C-0x00000000-0x094516A4BAEC99FF VGnome

**Model-Specific Notes

Mysterious Mr. Gnome (Generations required for gnome families and aging / dying)
Only the adult gnome is available from the catalogue. You can put two of these on a lot to begin spawning toddlers and creating families. Toddlers will be randomly coloured when they are spawned.

There is an optional "CaSTable" gravestone included with the Generations package. When an elder's life ends, a gravestone will appear, and it's colours will automatically be influenced by the deceased elder gnome as follows:

Statue itself - elder's hair colour
Statue's hat - elder's hat colour
Statue base - elder's shirt colour
Statue plaque - elder's pants colour

Pre-existing gravestones should be recolourable as well, but any pre-existing gnomes will only produce a gravestone in it's original colours. The automatic colour influence only starts working at time of death from gnomes that were newly created after this mod was added to the game. You can still manually redo anything if you don't like the results of the auto colour.

Evil Mr. Gnome
The only way to get the "fighting" pose is by having an adult Mr. Mysterious Gnome on the same lot as Evil Mr. Gnome. You can "Sculpturify" it into a garden gnome if the pose is one you wish to keep.

Magical Gnome of Sculpting
If you end up making one of these gnomes when you use the scultping station, it will NOT be recolourable. The station is designed to use certain materials and components so that the end results remain consistent with the sculpting material. However, the one in the catalogue and ones that you discover during gameplay should recolour with no issues.

Gnome of the Darned
These gnomes will randomly change colour as they change poses. I wanted to remain somewhat consistent with the original EA behaviour, so although they do have 4 channels available, CaSTing them will not stick as long as they are magical. They will just change colour again the next time they adopt a different pose. The only way to permanently change the colours is to "Sculpturify" them so that they become regular non-magical garden gnomes.

The original ghost gnome resources were assigned colours based on the pose itself, and they were always the same as follows:

pink - attack pose
blue - relaxing pose
teal - scared pose
white - levitate pose
yellow - flying pose

There's nothing in the script that ties this to the colour of an actual ghost...it's just a coincidence if they happen to match.

Mech Gnome
The 5 Llama Robot statue pieces required to assemble the Mech Gnome have been made CaSTable and are located in the catalogue right after the gnome. When you locate a piece during gameplay, it will be randomly coloured (same if you select it from the catalogue). You can recolour it if you wish. The assembled gnome will use the main body colour (Channel 1) from these 5 pieces as follows:

Mech Gnome head - piece ARC-021
Mech Gnome body - pieces TRN-115 / MCH-043 (random pick due to only 4 channels vs 5 llama parts)
Mech Gnome left leg - piece VUL-009
Mech Gnome right leg - piece GRX-965

If you decide to disassemble the Mech Gnome at a later time, the 5 llama pieces will randomly recolour again once they have been separated back into individual pieces.

**Bonus Objects

• Sleeping Gnome McMulty (BASE game) - now has a 4th channel to recolour the hair

• Feline, Canine & Wildlife Stray Attract / Repel Gnomes (Pets) - now have a 4th channel to recolour the hair

• Zombie Lawn Gnome (Supernatural pre-order) - now has 4 CaSTable channels

• Glass Gnomes x5 (Prism Art Studio store set) - now have 4 CaSTable channels

• Persnickety Puddlewonk (Outdoor Living) - OBJD override to group with other gnomes

• Char-le-Gnome (Viva Las Vegas Living store set) - OBJD override to group with other gnomes

• Happy St. Patrick's Day Lucky Gnome (St. Patrick's Day store set) - OBJD override to group with other gnomes

• Holiday Good Cheer Gnome (Tis the Season for Gift Giving store set) - OBJD override to group with other gnomes

Additional Credits:
Inge & Peter for their wonderful S3PE / S3OC tools that have made this possible
A special Inge for her Tweaker -- she'll never know how much enjoyment I've gotten from this one
All the other modders who continue to provide us with more great game content.