"Plop" to Overhanging Prop

[Dreadnought 8,226]

YO, guys -- 

I know I'm about to stick my hand in the frying pan -- but I REALLY need some DETAILED guidance.

PROBLEM:

I have some excellent "water-ploppable" ship models and I'm working on a massive project to create a huge naval dockyard.  After extensive and tedious testing of various custom and downloaded docks and piers I have run into two problems. 

FIRST; docks either conform to the terrain height, or they drop the terrain to sea level.  This, obviously, creates a situation where you will have to transition from higher areas down to dock level.

SECOND;  Depending upon which type of dock you are testing, the "LOD footprint" of the ship will only allow you to "plop" the lot at a certain distance from the dock.  Obviously -- too far away looks ridiculous -- and too close usually encroaches on the edge of the dock.

The obvious solution to "docking" a ship with no "visual bloopers" was PEG's method of creating the ship as an overhanging prop.  With the overhanging prop, you simply open the lot in EDITOR and position your "prop ship" as desired.  (There are, of course, restrictions on HOW MUCH of the prop can be extended beyond the limits of the lot.)

WHAT I HAVE:

I have worked with EDITOR, READER, and PLUGINS MANAGER extensively and have a reasonably good grasp on them.  I have started working with TWEAKER and have successfully managed to shrink the occasional prop for use on a lot.  (About three day's worth of experience, there.)

WHAT I NEED TO KNOW --

How do I take a perfectly good, "water-ploppable" model, and use it to create an overhanging prop for use against a dock? 

(I assume there is also a process involved in actually getting it installed in PLUGINS so I can use it.)

Tutorials are a fine thing -- but they almost always leave out a small detail that frustrates people to the point of going off the idea entirely.  And they usually assume you know more than you do -- simply because you asked the question in the first place. 

Anyone kind and gracious enough to offer advice / guidance will be most welcome -- but keep one thing in mind -- you almost need to start with..."Step One: Turn on computer".  (I'm not quite that dense, but let's assume I am.) 

THANK YOU for your time and patience --- HELP !!

[Raymond7cn 6,772]

Dear Dreadnought, Before the real experts give a much more coherent explanation for this, I'm basing my guess on this part, I know we could make overhangs when modeling through adjusting the coordinates, however when I looked through your post, I also thought we may could using LE or tweaker to enlarge the model  and then shrink it with reader. But I don't know whether it's possible due to no experience, maybe some flaws with textures and shade, Besides, I remember that props in BSC CAL Ships Prop Pack Vol 01 which could be overhangs by using RKT1 and RKT4 properties, Anyways, those are all my conjectures, I hope you don't mind that I just want to follow your thread in this way, since I'm looking forward someone could tell me .."Step One: Turn on computer…" as well.

Sincerely,

-- Raymond

[Dreadnought 8,226]

@Raymond7cn

WELCOME, my friend !! The more the merrier! 

NOW THERE ARE TWO OF US ASKING FOR HELP !!!!

I'm pretty sure this can be done in Tweaker -- but I do not have enough experience with the app to know HOW it is done, or how and what to do with it afterward!  PLUS -- I don't want to risk altering the characteristics of the original PLOP lot.

HELP -- HELP !!

[xxdita 1,097]

Building Tweaker would allow such a thing. It can take a bit of playing around with it to get it right. 

[Dreadnought 8,226]

15 minutes ago, xxdita said:

Building Tweaker would allow such a thing. It can take a bit of playing around with it to get it right. 

Can you tell me HOW it is done ??

There does not seem to be an instruction book with Tweaker.

[xxdita 1,097]

Just now, Dreadnought said:

Can you tell me HOW it is done ??

I haven't used it very much at all, so I honestly don't remember much after the Step One Raymond mentioned above. Once you install it, there is a fairly detailed help file available though. 

[xxdita 1,097]

Open the model file in Building Tweaker, then right click the model and select Move It, which will have a pop up to enter Axis information. There are details for what each axis does on this pop up. And the values you enter will determine how many meters in any direction the prop is moved. 

I've just installed it, but after doing a factory reset of my laptop, Admin settings aren't quite right. So that's as far as I can go with you on this. Save a backup copy of the original file(s) and play around with it. 

[Dreadnought 8,226]

1 minute ago, xxdita said:

Open the model file in Building Tweaker, then right click the model and select Move It, which will have a pop up to enter Axis information. There are details for what each axis does on this pop up. And the values you enter will determine how many meters in any direction the prop is moved. 

I've just installed it, but after doing a factory reset of my laptop, Admin settings aren't quite right. So that's as far as I can go with you on this. Save a backup copy of the original file(s) and play around with it. 

I just got a PM that will, more than likely, solve my problem -- I'm going to go experiment with it and see if it works !!

Thanx for the lead -- you appear to have been going in the same direction as my new lead.

[xxdita 1,097]

Not a problem. Don't forget about @Raymond7cn please, though. 

[Dreadnought 8,226]

@xxdita

Once I have figured it out -- I will be more than happy to pass the info along !!

[Tyberius06 12,184]

I'm in bed half sleeping, so more details tomorrow. 

First thing with model tweaker if you want to make overhanging props, better not to use the original model. Otherwise you will get messed up situations with existing set-ups. The original model will be a dependency to your modified stuff to prevent conflicts. 

Basicly in reader open the choosen model or from a prop pack locate the group of s3d and fsh properties (pim-x could be a great help with it). You will have exactly 20 s3d properties for each model. Open/create a new dat in reader and copy/paste the 20 s3d properties of the choosen model. Then in reader (v1.5.4/v1.5.5) top right menu panel you will find the TGI editor. Open that, select the 20 s3d properties and in the Instance field move the cursor to the fifth digit/# and change it to a different number. I'm using 6, so you should use something else, but I don't think I ever will modify those files, though. Apply the changes. Then in middle panel, where the s3d properties are listed right click and reindex then rebuild dir property, then save this new DAT on a name which refers to the original model some way. 

Now after this you can go into the tweaker to start manipulating this modified versiom of the model. 

I have a detailed explanation how to move or rotate things in tweaker. I usually de-offset models, but that's the same as making a model offset.

You need reader, and if you able to get PIM-X to work, that would be great, and you need the tweaker of course.

Rest will come tomorrow.

- Tyberius