Options for tree assets?

[ReticentDaikaiju 26]

I'm working on a few flower assets that I would like to import as trees so that I am able to place them like such. Unfortunately, when the game applies the default tree animation for them it looks stupid:

 

 

Does anyone know a way I can import this so I can use it like a tree, but without the animation?

[Ryno917 102]

I thought there was something about that in TPB's thread (stickied one with the prefab modifiers), but browsing through it what I was thinking of was just a reference to the hope that the wind sway would be exposed with a later patch. So right now it doesn't look like there is a way to modify it, sadly.

[ReticentDaikaiju 26]

I was thinking maybe there might be some way either using ModTools or with a hex editor. I know I remember reading about a way you can use ModTools to let you place a building anywhere like you do with trees, but I can't seem to find it now. And if I could also find a way to make it show up in the trees menu so I could use it in custom parks that would be pretty much ideal.

[wallacet 336]

There is no way to turn of the sway, at least none that anyone has found yet. There's a workaround, in that if you plant/plop a "tree" in an urban area, it won't sway due to tall buildings blocking off the wind. You can check your wind data overlay to confirm. This is the only way I know of to stop your objects from swaying.

[ReticentDaikaiju 26]

Actually, it turns out it is possible using m_editPrefabInfo if you get creative... sort of. There are a few side effects which I will get to shortly. What I did is import the asset as a park and then "modified it" into a tree by changing the following properties:

 

m_circular = True

m_placementMode = OnGround

m_UICategory = BeautificationProps

m_autoRemove = True

 

Then I just changed all the electricity and water requirements and park benefits to 0 and set the cost to 10 and upkeep to 0. The asset now appears under the trees menu in the UI and behaves mostly like a tree, but there are a few side effects. Some properties intrinsic to parks still exist such as when you place it, the UI will switch to the leisure overview like when you are placing a park. Also each one seems to spawn a seagull for some reason (do parks normally do this?) Finally, the biggest drawback is that even though you can place it like a tree in the park editor, it doesn't seem to show up when you place the park in-game. This kind of defeats the purpose of making it a tree in the first place, since I might as well make one version as a normal prop and another version as a park that can be placed non-roadside by just changing m_placementMode and m_circular.

 

I did try importing it as a prop and as an intersection since these assets don't have the aforementioned drawbacks, but for some reason it still wouldn't show up in the tree menu even though I changed m_UICategory. I am hoping there is still some other way to fix the side effects I haven't discovered yet. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I'm hoping we get more options for trees too. I would like to make bigger trees. The scale of most of the trees in the game are small compared to RL ones. I'm wondering if trees are capped to to certain height.

[Sims firehouse 198]

Some properties intrinsic to parks still exist such as when you place it, the UI will switch to the leisure overview like when you are placing a park. Also each one seems to spawn a seagull for some reason (do parks normally do this?) Finally, the biggest drawback is that even though you can place it like a tree in the park editor, it doesn't seem to show up when you place the park in-game.

. . .

I did try importing it as a prop and as an intersection since these assets don't have the aforementioned drawbacks, but for some reason it still wouldn't show up in the tree menu even though I changed m_UICategory. I am hoping there is still some other way to fix the side effects I haven't discovered yet. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

 

Many properties are associated with building AI's, and there's a single field m_class which defines the building AI. It is not editable with ModTools though. You'll need to manually change it with hex editor. I have briefly described the syntax in But I'm afraid changing the building AI to that which is used for trees (examine the trees' m_class property in ToolController->BuildingTool->m_prefab), will make your model sway in the wind again, so there is no easy way to make a still tree prop apart from modding the building AI's.

[ReticentDaikaiju 26]

 

Some properties intrinsic to parks still exist such as when you place it, the UI will switch to the leisure overview like when you are placing a park. Also each one seems to spawn a seagull for some reason (do parks normally do this?) Finally, the biggest drawback is that even though you can place it like a tree in the park editor, it doesn't seem to show up when you place the park in-game.

. . .

I did try importing it as a prop and as an intersection since these assets don't have the aforementioned drawbacks, but for some reason it still wouldn't show up in the tree menu even though I changed m_UICategory. I am hoping there is still some other way to fix the side effects I haven't discovered yet. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

 

Many properties are associated with building AI's, and there's a single field m_class which defines the building AI. It is not editable with ModTools though. You'll need to manually change it with hex editor. I have briefly described the syntax in But I'm afraid changing the building AI to that which is used for trees (examine the trees' m_class property in ToolController->BuildingTool->m_prefab), will make your model sway in the wind again, so there is no easy way to make a still tree prop apart from modding the building AI's.

 

 

This is sort of correct but not exactly. I've actually been playing around with m_class extensively in trying to get this to work. The m_class property does not change the way the building behaves, there is actually a separate property that does this, m_buildingAI, which apparently cannot be changed... at least when I try to change it in the hex editor the asset does not load, and sometimes the game crashes. However, you are right that you can use m_class in conjunction with m_UICategory to change where the item appears in the menu. Both parks and trees have m_class = "Beautification Item" which is why I was able to change the location of the item in the menu for parks but nothing else before. The good news is that this means I can make any class of item effectively into a tree without changing the behavior so it sways in the wind (yay!) The bad news is that it still won't appear if I place it in parks, but this isn't a big deal since I can just make a separate version of the asset as a prop.