Not sure if this thread should go here or in the object creation forum since this is object creation but also relates to CAW.

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So... I've gotten to the step where I'm experimenting with making a distant terrain for my world.

So I made a quick, basic ugly looking mesh in Blender for testing purposes, and cloned the distant terrain from Late Night, exported the MODL according to this tutorial.

Imported the MODL of the orginal mesh into Milkshape, imported the basic ugly mesh I made also into Milkshape. Deleted the original mesh. Renamed my mesh to group00, deleted the material, exported back to the .s3asc file.

Open the cloned .package in s3pe, import the .s3asc file of my ugly mesh to replace the original mesh. I click yes to all the boxes that show up in this process (not sure if I should do that, or click no to some of them? I remember following a tutorial when I at first tried to learn how to make custom objects that said something along the lines of "clicking yes to the first, no to the second" or maybe the other way around...)

Also, replace the texture image file as a test to see if replacing resources works.

Preview the MODL in S3PE to check if my mesh has been imported. It looks ok.

Commit and save. Move the .package file to where CAW can read it and open CAW.

Find the cloned distant terrain and place it in the world.

Result:



The texture has changed (as seen from the red spray paint I put on it - for testing purposes), but the mesh is still the original Late Night/Bridgeport terrain...

So umm.. this puzzles me, because I have been successfully importing meshes into packages before, but something seems different here. It's a while ago, so I may just be rusty...

If I was unclear on anything I did, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer..

Just as (another) test, I cloned the terrain from the Pets expansion pack, extracted it's MLOD to an .s3asc file, then (using Milskshape) saved that as an .obj file.

Then I opened the .s3asc file that contained the (previously) cloned Bridgeport terrain in Milkshape, imported the now extracted Pets terrain .obj file, deleted the Bridgeport terrain and renamed the imported Pets terrain to group00 and saved it over the Bridgeport .s3asc....

..before importing that one into the cloned Bridgeport terrain package.

Checked if it was imported by previewing it in S3PE (it looked like the terrain was replaced) before testing it in CAW, but again it was still using the Bridgeport distant terrain.. so, basically in short, the Pets EP (Appaloosa Plains) distant terrain mesh didn't work either.

*edit:

Well, since I had cloned the Pets distant terrain, I tried again to import my simple ugly looking test terrain into the cloned Pets terrain package (using the same method again from my first post and second post) to load that into CAW, but again that one was still using the Pets terrain and not the one I (supposedly) imported...

..doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results makes one into a fool, or so I've heard, but yeah, as of right now I can't figure out what goes wrong...

Maybe a cache issue? Did you clear your game and CAW caches?
Instructions to clear caches in the first post here:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=441595

Doesn't look like it unfortunately. I've cleared the cache files in the CAW folder a few times already, and Sims 3 caches files (except the ones found in ..\The Sims 3\WorldCaches\.. the ones you can clear if your're not on a mac, which I'm not).. so I cleared those too, then tried to open up CAW again and place both cloned distant terrains, but it didn't change.

@_@

Just to check, you renumbered the clone so that it didn't overwrite?

Yes, I'm pretty sure I must have because the renumber/rename internally is always ticked off by default when I try to make a new clone (as well as the enable compression button).



*edit:

So I just made another clone, tried to put my own test mesh in there once more. Checked that it was imported in the MLOD preview in S3PE, but...




..nah. It still doesn't work. And as you see, now there are two clones of the Bridgeport terrain, and one clone of the Appaloosa Plains terrain already in there...

Could you upload the package?
There are a couple of areas of interest I could see if the mesh links are intact

Well thanks guys for your patience with me and my questions.

Sure @CardinalSims I can upload it, there's nothing special in there except a very crude test mesh (the MLOD resource) that doesn't align with anything at all. :P

I think the issue here is that one part of that tutorial specifies the MLOD but then switches and specifies the MODL- which are different things. I would guess that CAW is rendering the one that didn't get replaced.
They're functionally the same, MODL are usually just the lower detail mesh (but it seems like it could be the opposite in this case?), so you can do the same .s3asc swapsies. It would be fine to replace both, just double check the polycounts of EA's distant terrains to see if it's reasonable to reuse the same mesh or if one needs to be reduced.

The imported mesh is also gigantic in scale, but I'm not sure if you already knew that as you said it's unfinished- just thought I'd note that incase the next problem you encounter is being unable to see it at all, as I had to to scale it to 10% size for it to even appear in Blender

Aha.. hmm. I read your post yesterday, and I didn't know my mesh was that big, but then again I'm still on a very early stage trying to figure out how to scale it to fit with the actual world terrain. So.. yeah, it does make sense that both (the MLOD and the MODL) have to be replaced. The way I read the tutorial I understood it as only needing to replace one - which did sound odd, but I went with it anyway...

So now I exported the MODL from the original package and imported it into Blender, and if my mesh was already gigantic... that one, the original Bridgeport MODL is.. beyond gigantic..

Like you did, I had to scale it down to 10 % of its size to see it... and scale my crude test mesh up to 1000 % of it's size to make it visible..



What is this madness? But I suppose this is how it's supposed to be and that EA actually made the mesh that big for whatever reason.. well, if this is correct I think I know now what to do, and I'll consider the problem solved. Thanks.

To summarize what I learned:

The MLOD resource is a small version of the terrain mesh that is also stretched in the vertical direction.
The MODL resource is a.. gigantic version of the terrain mesh with correct proportions. This is probably the one used in game.

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Also, as an ending note.. not related to this thread, but... I often find myself browsing the forum searching for answers to my questions before starting a thread, sometimes I find them, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I think I have found them because there's a thread with the same or a similar question to mine that even has in the title that problem has been solved. Oh joy!

Except that... for whatever reason the orignal poster has since decided to delete the entire thread.. I've seen that a few times... why? People.. if you start a thread with a problem, and the problem gets solved in the thread, please do not delete it.. others may find it useful at a later point...

Just a little rant there at the end... I'm not gonna delete this thread, but leave it here...

*edit: typo.

Well, so I finally made parts of my distant terrain and saved the MLOD to the package file and loaded it up in CAW.. and it turns out it's supposed to be so gigantically sized, because the mesh that I made was there and it was the right size in CAW, however.. it was also translucent to the point of being almost completely transparent...

I tried aligning normals in Milkshape, but that had no effect. Still almost transparent... so uh, from one problem to another.. Maybe I'm just not supposed to have a distant terrain for this town.. x_x

I've not looked at distant terrains from the largest world size before, so if they really are that big then fair enough! As long as it matches the map size you're using and shows up in CAW now, no worries.

Problems on problems is the modding experience, it happens
The mesh from the package looks okay for normals, maybe try a different terrain as the clone? The mesh will inherit the materials of what it was swapped into, so if EA was trying to achieve a certain effect on theirs you'll end up borrowing that whether you wanted it or not.
There is also a distant terrain tutorial by HydrangeaChainsaw that uses a different import method, if you'd like to skip past the meshing parts and see if that works better for you.

There might be a fair bit of trial and error, but it's worth it once you have a method that you can rely on.
I still have the self-illumination thing from your old thread on my to-do list, because it bothers me that I can't figure out what makes it tick! But if I keep coming back to it when I have new ideas, I'm sure it will eventually click. And that's how you get addicted to making CC

Yes, I was starting to think along those lines, to use the Pets terrain, but wasn't sure if that would work either, and then it was bedtime for me.

But I tried it now, and it works! The terrain is not see through or invisible! Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah! Now it looks like I can complete the terrain and start creating the texture file for it. Don't know what effect EA wanted on the Bridgeport terrain to make it invisible like that, but whatever...

Also, don't stress yourself looking into the self-illuminating building. I have started looking into what was suggested in the other thread by cloning one of the shell buildings from Late Night instead of the billboard, and splitting my building mesh into ten (I think it was) different groups to export to the .s3asc file.

However, I'm skeptical of those, since they disappear in CAW (and in game) when I get close to them. Haven't tested importing the building mesh there though yet, as it would require me to go the route of creating sunshadows and all that again... but it's on the to do list...

It will simply vex me for all time if I don't figure it out, or at least figure out if modding tools just can't access something EA could. The existing objects are proof that it is possible, and it would be useful not just for your own project but to have the documentation there on how to achieve it 100% of the time for anyone else.
I may end up pulling the Showtime item from Hydrangea's tutorial to see if I can find anything special about it, and if so, I'll make a base-game compatible file so it's easier for others to use that as the base.

But I'm glad you got the terrain working! Proof that being a little stubborn pays off eventually :p