BAT - Troubleshooting & General Discussion

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

Well, you should update your game. You will not be able to see nightlights on custom content without it.

Silly me, I linked the wrong file. I was trying to give you the texture fix. Check out the other updates available here.

[nadav_82 26]

Still need help for the second question...

[Jasoncw 11,840]

It sounds like a roundabout lot would be more complicated than a typical transit enabled lot. You might get a better response by posting that question in the Modding - Transit Networks forum.

[nadav_82 26]

Ok, thank's for the advise

[ANightDude 0]

I've looked over the internet and the FAQ on here (among other places), but I can't find an answer. I'm working on my first BAT, and it was going great until the viewpoints got all messed up. Top and Left are fine, but the Front window, I can't describe it... it's like it flipped or something. If I get a legit "front view" in that box, the boxes seem to disappear, like they all lined up with each other, and there's just one thick, black line. Where did the boxes that were just there go? They really helped...

And the perspective thing, I don't even know. It worked brilliantly, and now it's all at a strange angle. I use the Arc Rotate, it flips fine but if I try to change which side I'm viewing, I start spinning it and it takes me out to around 900 units out, when my model is at the Vertex. Then I have to zoom and find it (which is acting strange too), and if I messed up I'll try to turn and it'll take me out hundreds (sometimes thousands) of units. I clicked something strange yesterday and now it's messing me up. Is there a way to fix these things to make it go back to normal, like when you first open the program? Please, thanks, it's bothering me so much.

[Jasoncw 11,840]

I'm not sure if I understand what's happening. If this doesn't fix the problem you'll have to post a screenshot.

It sounds like you might be confusing the front viewport and the back viewport. Depending on which direction you modeled your building, the "front" viewport might not actually be showing the front of your building. The front and back viewports look the same in wireframe mode, except they're mirrors of each other.

If you click and hold on the arc rotate button some more rotating options come up, which change what the viewport is rotating around. Also, with something selected (in any viewport), if you press the "z" key it will zoom into that selection.

If you use the arc rotate in the other viewports (like front, or right, or the others), then you will move out of the standard view that makes those viewports what they are (you will no longer be looking directly at something from the front, so it will no longer be the front viewport). The grids go away when this happens. The name of the viewport will change to "User" which is for a user-defined viewport. Actually this is useful, if you do a preview render and one of the viewports is stuck in that camera's view, you can press the "u" key on your keyboard and it will change the camera view to a User view, which you can then move around in. To reset the left or back or whatever viewports, right click on the label in the upper left corner, and go to "views" and find the view you want. There's actually a lot of other viewport related settings there which can be helpful.

[Mithokey 96]

When I try to open BAT, this image appears:

Gmax is downloaded and works properly too, by the way. What should I do?

[Mithokey 96]

Nevermind... EA helped me!

[murimk 217]

Hi

I'm having some issues with the arc rotate tool in gmax. I'm pretty sure this is just some simple thing... a button somewhere I have to push, but I can't find it. Also, I've tried searching this in the forums, also in this topic. When I did, i DID get a promising result... only thing is, almost all of my screen went black whenever I get the search results up, only a couple of centimeters (an inch, maybe) is left for the browser! I've never seen that before, but it happens everytime I search arc rotate... weird... Anyway, since I can't see the search results, I'll just ask...

Most of the time I rotate around the model, or the object (model part) that's centered in the viewport (perspective view). Then suddenly (I probably hit something by mistake) the camera position seems to be the point I rotate, making it all to easy to rotate away from the model... that I don't want to do. But I'm never able to turn back to rotating around the model.

I've tried the three different options under the arc rotate icon, I haven't found anything in the window I open by right clicking the icon... so what do I do?

As I said, I guess it's something really simple...

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Yeah, I've had the same problem with the black area in the search results. I had to use Internet Explorer.

I'm not a pro at moving around, and usually when I'm having trouble rotating, I keep the object I'm working on selected. Afterwards I rotate I press "z" to zoom into the selection.

[CO2 59]

hi, i have a problem while exporting my bat, when exporting it, it only keep exporting one side again and again, the cameras that shoot the pictures in the exporting process, are always on the same position, wether they were shooting north or south or whatever, always shooting the same side

[CO2 59]

i tryed to refit the LOD, and merge the bat on a new scene, and didnt work, i don't know what to do, i exported it again and again, i tryed to export it by parts, idk what's wrong

however when i maked a fast boxes, just for test, in a new scene, they have been exported normally from all sides, while my bat onyl have been exported on one side

[IDS2 3,346]

Okay so I know I already asked about this but since I got a free copy of 3dsmax I decided I might as well figure out how to use it...so I know I also need gmax and the BAT for LODs and of course LE...anything else? And do I have to have SC4 installed? Cause I kinda wanted it all on another laptop...

[princeonacastle 2]

Hello! Please help me with my problem. It started when I installed my BAT along with the other necessary tools for creating ploppables. Whenever I open the BAT, I get Grid=16. Even if "My Units Setup" is under "Generic Units", even if my grid and conversion are set as attached below, the grid is still equals to 16. When I extrude my splines, they aren't 1x1 so the values indicated in tutorials don't match and the render is much thinner. How do I fix this? Please help, thanks...

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

CO2- Can you post a picture please. I had a problem one of my bats in the past, some time it can be an object in the scene that can caused the problem, I remember in the past I downloaded some roof junk and added it to my scene becuase I was so lazy to make one and when I exported it did not turn out right, Once I deleted the roof junk I had downloaded and then export it, it look normal. I hope that story helps. I do want you to an post image of the building you are have problem with so I can give it a good look.

IDS2- Of course, you must have Sim City 4 installed, that's how your buildings you have created gets it ID so it can be identfied in the game.

princeonacastle- First off welcome to the world of bating. I don't understand much what you are saying but if you change the number in the Grid and Snap Settings and where it say Grid Spacing you can change the number and it will equals something else.

Now when you said something about 1x1 if you want to get the lot size right so you do not make you building lager than the lot size you wan it to be just change the Grid and Snap Settings and where it say Grid Spacing to the number 16, and each square in GAMX is the same size as Sim City 4 squares on the grid.

Then when you said something about the render is much thinner, I had a question what are you making, are you starting on a wall or what.

To all

I hope that helps Guys.

  Edited May 10, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[princeonacastle 2]

CO2- Can you post a picture please. I had a problem one of my bats in the past, some time it can be an object in the scene that can caused the problem, I remember in the past I downloaded some roof junk and added it to my scene becuase I was so lazy to make one and when I exported it did not turn out right, Once I deleted the roof junk I had downloaded and then export it, it look normal. I hope that story helps. I do want you to an post image of the building you are have problem with so I can give it a good look.

IDS2- Of course, you must have Sim City 4 installed, that's how your buildings you have created gets it ID so it can be identfied in the game.

princeonacastle- First off welcome to the world of bating. I don't understand much what you are saying but if you change the number in the Grid and Snap Settings and where it say Grid Spacing you can change the number and it will equals something else.

Now when you said something about 1x1 if you want to get the lot size right so you do not make you building lager than the lot size you wan it to be just change the Grid and Snap Settings and where it say Grid Spacing to the number 16, and each square in GAMX is the same size as Sim City 4 squares on the grid.

Then when you said something about the render is much thinner, I had a question what are you making, are you starting on a wall or what.

To all

I hope that helps Guys.

Thank you for replying! I'm using philippbo's BAT Essentials tutorial (). I'm just surprised because the render for his rectangular spline after he extrudes it and sets the amount to 0.3 is much thicker than mine, and his bottom bar shows grid = 1.0, even if we both have the same settings on Grid and Snap and everything on his first page. My 0.3 extrude looks like below (the boxes may not be as similar to philippbo's symmetry)

Thank you

[CO2 59]

@Aaron Graham

here's the picture

at each part of the exportation, that should export all sides, it keeps only exporting the same side again and again, 4 times at each view, instead of exporting each side 1 time in each view

there's no floating objects or something like that around

i tryed to refit the LOD, merge the model in a new scene and then export, none worked, always the same problem

(you can zoom it if it's small)

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

princeonacastle- Right now I'm thinking that your wall is to tall. The wall of the building should be about 4.5m high, that's just one floor of course, if your making a high rise the groud floor is a tad bit taller, but not to tall I will say. Just make a box in GMAX and make the hight about 4.5m high, that's the only thing I can think why you walls are so thin. If that does not work I will try to think of something else.

CO2- This is a hard battle to fight, when it comes to export errors. All I can say is maybe uninstall the GMax and BAT, and if the does not work uninstall the SIm City 4 game and reinstall it. there so many things that can cause this problem.

  Edited May 11, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[CO2 59]

is their anyother way? idk, like, do something to the exporting cameras or something?

[Odainsaker 2,134]

@CO2: I think I recall in your thread you mentioned that a new scene of test boxes renders correctly, so a reinstall of BAT or gmax is probably not necessary, as something is likely wrong with the specific building scene.

What you may try is to see if your Xref light and camera controllers on the bugged scene are correct:

Again make a new test scene and make sure it exports properly. If we know it is good, then look in that good scene under "File" --> "XRef Scene" and note what file is listed under "XRef Files." As an example, mine says: "C:\gmax\gamepacks\BAT\scenes\startup\TB2_CameraLightRig.gmax"

This XRef file contains the lights, cameras, and controllers used by BAT in gmax, and is usually kept protected away in a separate file to which your work is linked. When you preview or export your work, the program uses the cameras and handlers setup in this file. If the file has become corrupted or disassociated from your scene, you will get export errors.

Now we will go to the scene which is giving you trouble. Hopefully, you have made sure you have no stray geometry anywhere, that your building actually sits over the center, and that you have good fitting LODs. With that misbehaving scene opened, look again under "File" --> "XRef Scene" and examine what is listed as the XRef File. This should be identical to what was listed in the working test scene. If there are different listings, or multiple listings, or if it is highlighted in red, then we need to fix your "XRef Scenes" panel by using the "Add," "Remove," and "Update Now" buttons to remove different or broken listings and add the correct one. We should also now in this scene look under "Files" --> "XRef Objects" and make sure there are no problem-causing outside objects there by making sure there are no cross-referenced objects at all.

If the "XRef Scenes" was indeed the source of the trouble, then after making any changes, save your work, and make sure the Rotation and Zoom buttons in the Preview menu of the BAT rollout work correctly for this scene, with the model still rotating and zooming in the viewport in response to the buttons. We might even restart gmax and reopen your BAT afterwards, just incase changes to made to the XRef have not taken hold by gmax's quirky program. If the Preview Rotation and Zoom buttons still work, suggesting that the XRef is now good, then we can try an export, and watch to see if the rotations work correctly during export.

If this doesn't work for the issue described, then the scene has different or deeper problems.

Hopefully, this will help.

  Edited May 11, 2011 by Odainsaker  

[CO2 59]

so, i opened a new scene, and opened the xref file of my bat, so i got my model, surounded by a blue box(and another little one beside it, idk why is it their, there's nothing in it,if you have any idea how to fix it)

maybe i didnt understand the part of add and etc.. to fixe to xref file

so that's what i get

(the xref file don't get exported right?) anyway, when i see the preview, the view navigation, and when i see the cameras, they are stuck on one position, even if i change the view or if i change to to S or N or etc...

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Wasn't quite the instruction carefully laid out, which is why you have a blue box and your model as its own XRef, but okay...

Without saving anything, restart gmax, and open the original specifc problem scene with the model you cannot correctly export.

With that problem scene open, look at "Files" --> "XRef Scenes"

The ONLY thing you should have listed there under "XRef Files" is "D:\gmax\gamepacks\BAT\scenes\startup\TB2_CameraLightsRig.gmax"

If that filepath is not listed, you need to click the "Add" button, which will open a menu to let you find that file and add it into the list.

If a different filepath is listed, you need to highlight that file in the list and click the "Remove" button, afterwhich you click "Add" to add in the correct file as in above.

If several filepaths are listed, you need to remove all of those except the file you are now told to keep, following the steps above.

If the correct filepath is highlighted in red, then the filepath is wrong and you need to remove and correct it as above.

When done, the only thing now listed in "XRef Scenes" as "XRef Files" should be "D:\gmax\gamepacks\BAT\scene\startup\TB2_CameraLightsRig.gmax"

Go to the BAT rollout and ensure that the camera rotation and zooms still work for this scene after making the changes, and if they do, try to export.

What I suspect is happening is that you imported or merged scenes or objects, somehow breaking your scene's camera crossreferences, then further imported or merged it all into new scenes to try and fix it, while in doing so also inadvertantly imported the original broken crossreferences, thus confusing gmax's cameras controllers as it cannot determine which of the now nestled or overlapping XRef files to use. It is a similar issue to why it got broken as you mentioned in the post above, as the export program could rotate the cameras just as you could not then rotate the preview cameras, as the XRefs are now all wrong.

All of this can still also be fixed by merging into a new clean scene, but you have to be sure to deselect merging or importing of XRef scenes or XRef objects and just merge only geometry and textures, or you will again just transfer along the same problems into the new scene.

  Edited May 11, 2011 by Odainsaker  

[CO2 59]

the model is completly screwed! none worked

here's what i got

and when i try to export

i'm sorry that i made you waste your time for nothing

thanks for helping anyway

the model is totally screwed!

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Go to edit>select all, and then go to group>explode (or if that's not an option, just go group>ungroup until it's greyed out (from there being no groups left to ungroup).

After that, select every object individually and add an "XXX" to the front of the name. Then go to edit>select by name, and select all of the objects with XXX at the beginning. It's really important that you click and select each object individually so that you don't accidentally select anything unintentionally. Go to group>group and group the selection together, and name it something like "model itself" or something else that tells you that the objects selected are the building and not any rig or light stuff.

Then start a new file and then try to merge it into a new scene, but make sure that you select only the group that you made earlier.

[CO2 59]

great! i refited the LODs, after adding the xref scene thing, and i added al the building objects to one group, so the building became like one object, and it have ben exported with no problems

thanks Jasoncw and Odainsaker

[CO2 59]

well, it have been exported from all sides, but, uuh, anotherp roblem

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I'm having this same problem with one of my building right now.

Have you downloaded the Texture Problem Fix

?? If you have not you can download it from the link, it should stop that problem. Install it to your C:\\gmax\gamepack\bat\scripts\, yes copy and replace the current file, I hope that helps. Thanks to SimHoTToDDy on this I forgot about this. I end up some of the dumbest things.

Texture Problem Fix

  Edited May 13, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[CO2 59]

if you fixed it, pleas tell me

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I will let you know right now I'm exporting my other building, but I will let you know.

Well my problem is just one zoom, not on all sides.

  Edited May 13, 2011 by Aaron Graham  

[CO2 59]

I will let you know right now I'm exporting my other building, but I will let you know.

Well my problem is just one zoom, not on all sides.

i fixed it

opne your model file, and make sure it's in the center, you can put the cordinates, 0 in x, and 0 in y

then make the hall parts of the building into one group, to make it like if it is one object

then reset the cameras and light, and the LODs, then export it at draft quality, to test it, and tsya with it to see it, if it is exported properly, then export it again in high quality

worked for me