BAT - Troubleshooting & General Discussion

[SimsPlanet2 7]

Does anyone know how to get those black parts away? I don't know how to fix it. Thanks

[Gn_leugim 853]

Bixel already answer to you that in your thread, but anyway I say here what he said.

most sure is this, if you made a line and then extrude it, make sure that all points in the line are aligned if that does not work, check the Capping from morph to grid.. that once worked for me..

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Cool SimFox, that never occured to me. I just tried it out in Gmax and it seems to have worked (but it seems like you need to have an omni or some other nitelite in the scene in order for it to render as part of night).

However, how do you manage the switch between night and day? I don't know how you'd separate the renders or have materials switching between night and day.

[mosin33 5]

I have a ton of questions but I will not bore you with all of them. Here is a quick question, I want to make a pipe with rounded corners. I currently use the line tool and turn on meshes, like when creating a window frame. What is a better way to make PIPES with round corners???

Also how do you make props? Such as open, say a door and open it with a new drawing, so I do not have to remake simple items in each new building. Thanks.. Mosin

[Jasoncw 11,840]

That way works well for making pipes.

Go to File>Merge, and find a file, and you can select which objects you'd like to merge into your current scene. Make sure you name your objects properly so that you can find them.

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: SimFox Penguin:

in case you are using GMAX it wont work. It must have something to do with how render for BAT is scripted by Maxis, because basic setting (same as with bump-maps) is there in GMAX. but both are in fact render-time effects and that is controlled by Maxis render.

Far better solution would be to use self-illuminated materials. Those, despite common perception work not only only MAX but in GMAX bat as well.quote>

Any info on how to self-illuminate in gmax?  I'd love to know...step by step with pretty pictures would be awesome.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

In the material editor, to the right of the diffuse slot where you put in your bitmap, and above where you can change the opacity, there is an area titled "Self-Illumination". Then there's a little box to the right of that where you put in your bitmap (the one that is to illuminate, so for this some kind of night window image), just like you would for a normal texture.

[SimFox 802]

I wouldn't recommend this method for Night Windows, as (at least at thme momnet) I don't know of the way how to control day/night switch. But it is perfect for all sort of signs like this:

there are couple of trick in making such signs hat is good to know. For instance NEVER apply illuminated material to teh sides of the texts - that would severely diminish readability. Another this is to make ALL other colors in the material editor BLACK, apart from the self-Illumination one.

I'll try to write a mini-tutorial if there is a demand for such a thing...

[delija21 295]

could someone help me with this....when i export the model from gmax there is no .SC4Model at the end of the filename. but when i open it in plugin manager it's not missing. I can't render anything in max because of it,i've tryed to reinstal everything but nothing helps. btw i'm using vista if that have something to say

[SimFox 802]

delija21:

Currently your Windows is set not to display extensions for know file types.

You can and SHOULD IM(not so)HO disable this function, as often you would have many files with exactly the same name but of different types and may not tell difference between them.

To fix the problem you should go to Folder options, there in View Tab in Advanced setting uncheck "hide extensions for known file types"

[Sky Guy 163]

Hi, would anyone tell me where to get similar textures to the ones on the houses? Or just a site to good (free?) textures Thanks

[Gn_leugim 853]

simfox, tutorials are always welcome

actually, I was thinking in making one about neons too ^^

[madhatter106 3,903]

Originally posted by: SimFox 

I'll try to write a mini-tutorial if there is a demand for such a thing...quote>

 

I'd love to see it.  I messed around with it a little in gmax, but can't seem to get it to work properly at night...I'm sure there's a button or something I haven't selected which is preventing it...

Originally posted by: Gn_leugim

actually, I was thinking in making one about neons too quote>

Would love to see how you and others do neon.  At the moment, whenever I do neon, it's utilizing the night texture method, as I've created a couple of custom night textures for my neons (the red on the Bail Bond place from my first volume of commercials, and such like) - then it's just a matter of contsructing rectangular splines with meshes or extruded text, and applying the "nite" prefix....

The only drawback of this method is that you can only have one color of neon this way...any other neons would have to be either self-illuminated or lit with lights...

[s1l3n7gh057 0]

Can someone help me with this please?

How do you make a rectangle that fits the angle of the edge of this floorplate that juts out? In general how do you make a spline align with the edge of another spline that is at an angle other than that of the X, Y, or Z axis?

Here's a picture to show what i'm talking about:

Also, when making windows, how do I make the rectangles align with the wall?

(Note: I'm trying to make a NYC style hi rise.)

[autoVino 26]

Select the rectangle and convert to editable spline. Make sure object snap is set to vertex snap (right click and check vertex) and 2.5 mode and in vertex mode of the editable spline select the two points you want to align and move them (snap) to the desired position. For windows, extrude your rectangle and convert to editable poly. Use the different poly functions to create windows instead of extruding the windows straight from the rectangle. This is always more reliable.

Here's a tutorial that explains some of the functions for edit poly:

[s1l3n7gh057 0]

Also, I'm trying to do something like this on the angled portion, except that it's mostly made of glass:

Below is a building, the facade of which shows the angled protrusion akin to what I'm trying to make. The building is called "The Biltmore" in New York City.

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=258866

[jon7985 3]

Here is an issue posed a long time ago and the solution wasn't the one for me. I was working on an Office Building and am ready to put in windows and add some flair to the building when my Opacity setting decides it isn't going to work for this BAT, So I go ahead and start a fresh scene to see if it was my model and the Opacity modifier dosen't modify anything on the models anymore. I've provided a screenie of my problem using a colored texture, no JPEG or BMP files. As you can see, with a opacity setting even as low as 53, the object is solid and I cannot see through it.

 

Plz help, I think I pulled some hair from my head.

[autoVino 26]

Even though it's not visible in the view port, it should still render fine, opacity wise. What this looks like is opacity was disabled for the viewport, maybe because your settings were reset. Goto Customize->Viewport Configuration and change transparency from none to blend or stipple (blend is recommended because it just looks better).

s1l3n7gh057: really the best way, in my opinion, is to model via poly editing. Create a simple box that approximately fits the area you want to model on and right click on the object when it is selected->convert to->convert to editable poly

the go to the modifier tab and go into the vertex mode. Make sure the snap is on (should be a little horseshoe magnet with a 3, 2, or 2.5 depending on your settings. I would use 2.5. right click and make sure vertex snap is checked). Then in top view, move the vertcies in the desired position so that you could correctly position your edit poly.

Then click slice plane in the edit geometry tab and move and rotate the slice plane accordingly so that you could create windows and click "slice". Move it again and click slice until you have all your windows drawn out. Make sure that the slices you make outline the windows perfectly, so that each window has its own border... ie it does not share borders with other windows! Un-click the slice plane button and go to polygon mode (should be a square) and select the new square (polygons) you have just created with the slice plane tool which you want to make into windows. Press the "exturde" button and move the windows back using this tool. If you like you can also delete the polygons that were just created.

This should work pretty well... and I very often use this method to model because it is easy, reliable, and it works. I recommend that you look up a tutorial on how to use the rest of the tools because they can be very useful when modeling, remember that gmax doesn't have all the tools that are available for edit poly, but it still has enough for edit poly to be very useful.

[s1l3n7gh057 0]

I converted it into an editable polygon, but now I have one side visible and the other side invisible. Is this normal?

*EDIT* Nevermind, I fixed it. I just finished that part of the facade. Here's the result:

The glass part extends from the 1st through the 40th floors.

Thanks alot for the help!

[jon7985 3]

Yeah the problem is fixed and  Changing the transparency in the viewpoint customization was the issue, I guess some how it got shut off. I'm going to play with the Edit poly function, it sounds pretty useful.  Thanks Vino

[s1l3n7gh057 0]

So how do you make a poly with all faces visible?

[autoVino 26]

All the faces should be visible, but from the side that the normal vector is positive. The other side will never be visible in gmax, or at least as far as I know. If you like you can go into poly->element and select the element of interest and press flip normal and they would be visible from the other side only.

In the view-port you can force 2-sided rendering though by going into customize->view-port configuration and check force 2-sided and set apply to all view-ports. You can toggle wire frame on and off using F3, you can toggle outline polys when wire frame is off using F4 and toggle shade selected faces using F2... which can sometimes help. This has no effect on the render though.

[olskeevi 0]

Does anybody know if there is a BAT exporter for Blender 3d? I have a few years experience with Blender and none with Gmax or 3ds max, so if anyone has any information on this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Brady Baker 1]

I have a question that I have been trying to figure out for a few days. I am looking to make a lot that will fit around the NAM 90 degree turns for Avenues and Roads. I have the rough shape I need. I just am not sure how lot it so it works. I have seen several lots where the buildings overhand from the tiles. The Paris Diagonals are a good example of what I am essentially trying to do. I just am wondering if there is a way to make the building overhang. The Lot Editor will not allow overhanging buildings. If there is no way to do this, I will just have to make changes to my designs. I hope there is a way. Thanks

Brady

[autoVino 26]

Olskeevi: Select the whole object in blender, and export it as a 3ds file and in sc4bat go to import 3ds file and seect the file.  You may need to re-scale your file in sc4bat.  Texture coordinates (not the actual texture) should be preserved, so all you will need to do is to apply textures to your model in sc4bat.

Bradyseitz: Using ilive's reader, open up your sc4model file and select the xml file and change the model's default size and width and save.  Or you can select the *.desc file after you create it and change the model size from the exemplar file, make sure you save and lot editor or plugin manager is not open when doing this.

Also make sure that the part of the building that you want to be on a lot is centered about the origin before you export, or else the buidlng size will be cut off at the wrong place!  You may need to play aorund with this to get it exactly right.

Finally, make sure that your lod is not just a box, but a low poly (try to limit poly count to as low as possible, otherwise game performance issues will arise), but tight fit around everything you want to be outside the lot.  This is important or else you may get visual glitches in the game

[Sky Guy 163]

Hi, first off, If anyone knows where to get some good tile roof textures, that would be great

Also, whenever i try to texture the roof of my house and some globe decorations, it doesn't show up it just stays the same gray color

But on all the walls and stuff the textures show up fine. PLEASE HELP thanks so much!

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Is this isolated to the viewport or does is happen in the render as well? If it is just in the viewports, make sure the texture is turned on in the material editor.

And for textures, try here: http://www.cgtextures.com/

[autoVino 26]

Three things that I know of can cause the problem:

1. Make sure you have applied the material correctly to the object in question.  No material applied results in no texture!  Similarly, makes sure that you have correctly applied a texture to the material.

2. The show map in view-port button is not pressed (represented by a box with blue checker box pattern next to the material name).  Gmax is only capable of displaying one shader per material in the view port at a time (unless multi-material, then one per sub material) so if this is not checked it will default to opacity or diffuse color/shader.  Press the button so that the diffuse texture would show.

3. Sometimes the object that you have is missing mapping coordinates or there are too few for mapping of a texture to be possible (mapping coordinates work completely differently form physical/mesh/poly coordinates).  To fix this apply a uvw map modifier to your object and the coordinates will be reset to the selected mapping type that you have chosen.

Sometimes the problem is just that the gmax is not able to display the textures in the view-port, in that case it should show up in the renderer, if it doesn't refer to the three above suggestions.

[Sky Guy 163]

Hi thanks guys for the help. I have everything you said right. It is actually a roof and I can see the texture on the sides but not on the slope part. I think it will just show up once exported as autoVino said.

@SimHoTToDDy: I have been on that website and found some great stuff, but i want the roof textures in the picture i posted near the middle of the page up.

Thanks again guys

[Jasoncw 11,840]

What you get in your preview renders is what you'll get in the game.

The problem is one of the three that autovino stated. I think that it's probably #3. To apply a UVW Map, with your object selected, go to Modifiers>UV Coordinates>UVW Map.