BAT4Blender

[Jasoncw 11,840]

If the model isn't centered then it also won't be centered in the game, but this is also done on purpose sometimes for making offset props. In 3ds Max, what I do is at the end I select a LOD, recenter the pivot, and then once the pivot is centered, I type in 0 and 0 for the x and y position in the scene, so the LOD is perfectly centered. Then I invert the selection to select everything else in the scene (including the other LODs), and then I move them to line up with the centered LOD. I have snaps on, so when I'm moving the other stuff, I move it from the vertex of one of the LODs and I snap it to the corresponding vertex on the centered LOD, so everything is lined up perfectly. 

The automatic LODs are mainly there to get something up for doing a preview render. I don't think I've ever actually used them to export with, since they always need some kind of manual intervention. For a wall to wall building the LODs need to be tight on the sides or else it won't fit on the lot and the LOD will intersect with neighboring buildings, but on non-wall to wall sides you want to leave some space between the building and the LOD. In the game the FSH and the model aren't perfectly aligned, so you need to leave some space so that when it shifts the building isn't cut off because it shifted outside of the LOD. The LOD is also is selected in the game, so you want it to be reasonably tight to the building's silhouette. For example, with this building, the penthhouse on top doesn't actually affect the silhouette in any of the rotations, so you don't want it contained within the LOD, you want the LOD lowered to the roofline of the rest of the building. The same thing often happens with signs or flags which stick out from a facade but don't affect the silhouette. 

[memo 1,439]

@Dono Nice to see the comparison with DXT3. One question though: The shadows in the Zoom 3 DXT3 image look a bit spotty, which is somewhat unexpected to me. I don't really know how to explain it. Did you make sure to disable the Alpha Clip section in the node graph of the rig?

@ACEfanatic02 Thanks for the feedback. That's very helpful. I'll keep those points in mind for the next updates of the add-on.

Regarding the centering issue, it's something I've been wondering about too. Notably, the XML file only contains the dimensions of the model, but not its offset from the origin. This could suggest that models are meant to be centered. I don't know how that part of the process works – how PIM-X would create a building/prop exemplar for the model using just the XML. Considering how important a correct Occupant Size is to avoid immortal lots, it would be good to know more details about this.

On 10/19/2025 at 11:30 AM, ACEfanatic02 said:

- The Day/Night collections for controlling lighting are nice, but it'd actually be quite useful to have multiple collections for each.

This is already possible. The prefix to use is `Night.`, so in particular Night.001 would work.

On 10/19/2025 at 11:30 AM, ACEfanatic02 said:

- Minor bug:  Day / MN / DN setting is not persistent in a file; if you render a night preview, save the file, reload, and preview again immediately, you will get a Day render with night lights on.

It was intentional that the Day/MN/DN setting isn't saved in the Scene, just like zoom and rotation, as these merely affect the current view, but don't change anything in the Scene. These settings toggle multiple times during a full render, but that doesn't mean that anything has been modified that needs to be saved in the .blend file. The issue of night lights in a Day preview render sounds like a bug though, assuming the night lights are set up to use drivers or the Night collection.

[Dono 177]

On 21/10/2025 at 4:39 AM, memo said:

@Dono Nice to see the comparison with DXT3. One question though: The shadows in the Zoom 3 DXT3 image look a bit spotty, which is somewhat unexpected to me. I don't really know how to explain it. Did you make sure to disable the Alpha Clip section in the node graph of the rig?

No sorry. I thought I followed what was required but I just reread your post regarding using DXT3 & 5 and noticed I overlooked you mentioning at the end there may be a need to disable the alpha-clipping in ACE's rig.  
I had noticed what you brought up about being spotty and then on checking closer, found my fence wire material was like a louvered security door mesh, when looking down at it from one side it looked like wire and had an 80% visual through it, where looking down through it from the other side it only had 30%. (This is seen in my pics in DXT3 No3, the shadow on the tiles only had a few spots where the same fence 180 deg had numerous spots on the grass).
Even though I've rectified the wire material to be uniform I'll still try a DXT3 render like I did before, and when I work out how to disable the Alpha Clip section I'll do the same again to compare.

EDIT: I couldn't disconnect the Alpha Clip, well I did, but in-game I just got a solid black LOD box with what looked like a .png picture of my prop on it, so I did something wrong beyond my understanding of the Nodes. Also not related to me trying to disconnect the Alpha Clip, but whenever I've run the DXT3 call, the produced .png files look as though the camera is out of wack (my object is 100% centred). I've tried deleting and re-adding the camera via B4B, but I get the same results, they don't seem to have an effect in-game though, unless it's normal, can I widen the camera view port. 

[memo 1,439]

On 10/21/2025 at 3:35 AM, Dono said:

whenever I've run the DXT3 call, the produced .png files look as though the camera is out of wack (my object is 100% centred).

It's normal and not related to DXT3. Open the Zoom 5 S3D in ilive's Reader and you'll understand. Click the individual checkboxes in the main tab or look at the uv texturing tab.

When rendering, the LOD will be aligned to the top left of the canvas. The canvas is then sliced into 256×256 pixel chunks. The right most column and bottom row can be smaller, as long as their dimension is a power of 2 (e.g. 128, 64, 32, …).

As the top left corner is empty in your images, it suggests your LOD is not very tight though. For a diagonal fence model like this, I'd suggest to rotate the LODs diagonally as well, so that they fit tight around the model. Again, inspecting the S3D in Reader will help understand the relevance of the LOD.

[Dono 177]

14 hours ago, memo said:

As the top left corner is empty in your images, it suggests your LOD is not very tight though. For a diagonal fence model like this, I'd suggest to rotate the LODs diagonally as well, so that they fit tight around the model. Again, inspecting the S3D in Reader will help understand the relevance of the LOD.

I got the LODs to fit perfectly as you suggested by rotating them and adjusting the LOD box to fit the actual dimensions of the object (instead of the diagonal object going from corner to corner in a big ortho LOD box). It made little difference and still ends up with 8 extra .png files (4xday,4xnight), I thought it was a camera issue, but if it doesn't effect the process and final outcome I'm happy as that was my only concern. 
Thanks.

EDIT: Out of curiosity I did a standard B4B render with Post-Processing enabled to see if the diagonal LOD box had any effect (LOD box size in PIM-X, etc), everything looked the same as all the past renders I did, even in the creation of the lot everything was the same and the generated XML files dimensions were the same as when it was the large ortho LOD box . In game though the lot was invisible from certain angles.

 

[Tyberius06 12,184]

5 hours ago, Dono said:

I got the LODs to fit perfectly as you suggested by rotating them and adjusting the LOD box to fit the actual dimensions of the object (instead of the diagonal object going from corner to corner in a big ortho LOD box). It made little difference and ends up with 8 extra .png files (4xday,4xnight), I thought it was a camera issue, but if it doesn't effect the process and final outcome I'm happy as that was my only concern. 
Thanks.

EDIT: Out of curiosity I did a standard B4B render with Post-Processing enabled to see if the diagonal LOD box had any effect (LOD box size in PIM-X, etc), everything looked the same as all the past renders I did, even in the creation of the lot everything was the same and the generated XML files dimensions were the same as when it was the large ortho LOD box . In game though the lot was invisible from certain angles.

 

As far as I know PIM-X and other tools for the model/prop/building dimensions (respectively Occupant Size) are working with standard orthogonal rectangles. I don't know how the modelling tools are handling this, but as far as I know there is supposed to be a tight LOD around the model diagonally, but the model size LOD box (that you see in PIM-X) would be an ortho rectangle around the angled model. It might be some kind of hidden LOD or transparency setting if Blender has such thing. 

For the model's XML the dimensions need to be as punctual as possible. IF there is a modelname XML in the model/DAT and the dimensions in the XML are not matching with how PIM-X measured the model upon loading, then PIM-X will tell you that something is wrong. For props first you will get the default value as PIM-X sees it, but you can edit it to a custom number, that will change the rectangle size in the LOT editor - this edit should be done before you start using the prop on a LOT. 

Quote

In game though the lot was invisible from certain angles.

That's the or part of the LOD clipping effect. The tight custom LODs are necessary around the model so props can be placed, otherwise the rectangle would clip them. It's a common issue with many models. But there should be a setting for that, to prevent the recengular LOD to kill its surrondings. 

[Dono 177]

On 23/10/2025 at 10:11 PM, Tyberius06 said:

In game though the lot was invisible from certain angles.

That's the or part of the LOD clipping effect. The tight custom LODs are necessary around the model so props can be placed, otherwise the rectangle would clip them. It's a common issue with many models. But there should be a setting for that, to prevent the recengular LOD to kill its surrondings. 

 

##This posts issue was FIXED and UPDATED in BAT4Blender##

Thanks for clearing up some things I'd been told or read but hadn't the perspective of. As for the clipping effect, I'll see if there's any info on Blender about it, but it might be something in B4B I need to look into. A takeaway for me at least was unfortunately a simple step. I was manually adjusting the LOD size to fit my diagonal object. All I had to do was make my object ortho, add the LODs and then keep them visible and select all, then rotate back to my diagonal....perfect tight diagonal LODS...I'm so dumb lol.
Anyways, the tight LODs didn't stop the clipping so I hope there's a box I need to tick somewhere. As for the XML, in PIM-X without adding the xml file they are both showing the same size so there won't be an issue there, I left out adding the xml file as I've just been trying to get colours right.

EDIT#1: I keep getting the above effect when using the diagonal LODs, below is what I've tried without any effect.
- Made my model smaller in length so it completely remained on a 1x1 tile and then even smaller.
- Made the diagonal LOD bigger in case I cropped something.
- Made the LOD perfectly fit my diagonal object.
- On creation of the .Desc file I enlarged the Occupant Size so my Objects LOD would defiantly be inside the PIM Box.
- Created a completely new object with different materials. (exact same area gets clipped)
- Only time it works without a problem is with the default big ortho box.

Any ideas??

EDIT#2: I have been testing and retesting the diagonal assumed clipping issue. Again, I'm very inexperienced in these things so could be overlooking something fundamental but I'm usually very good at problem solving, could the issue be associated to the B4B LODs, I'm unsure how @memo implemented them into the add-on and if rotating them diagonally has caused a breakdown in the construction. I have tried the above EDIT#1 points and in various configurations (one at a time, two together, all at once lol etc). I even rendered the blender box so various object sizes couldn't be the culprit. Has anyone with B4B tried rotating the LODs on a render or am I not doing something? 

 

UPDATE :

@Acefantastic02 has tested my issue which confirmed a problem when rotating an objects LOD in BAT4Blender, he has given me simple instructions to overcome the problem until it can be addressed in the addon. The issue only effects diagonal LODs and I am happy to post Aces fix if someone needs it before its rectified.

Thanks to all that have given their time to try and help, especially Acefantastic02 for pinpointing the issue and improvising an effective work-a-round.

##This posts issue was FIXED and UPDATED in BAT4Blender##

  Edited November 5, 2025 by Dono  
Solved/Fixed/Updated

[Ulisse Wolf 4,403]

Today I did a technical test (for now, a preview rendering) with a model that I can't export from Blender to 3DSMax 2012, so I decided to do a technical test with the new updated version and @ACEfanatic02 lighting.

In the preview, it seems that the rendering with the current settings works, especially the differences between Maxis Nite and Dark Nite (With Post processing and Super Sampling enabled)

DAY 

Spoiler

Maxis Nite

Spoiler

Dark nite

Spoiler

Since I come from 3DSMax, I have to say that Maxis Nite is acceptable in that a lot of blue has been reduced and it strikes a good balance between blue and black.

The lighting system is not very intuitive at the moment, and there are definitely improvements that need to be made. I wonder if it would be possible to apply the settings automatically without having to merge two Blender files. 

For now, these are my first impressions, especially when switching from 3DSMax to Blender, which is not very user-friendly. 

Tomorrow I will definitely test the model in the game to see if there are any possible improvements, but I think the tool is already ready for an official release.

 

[ACEfanatic02 259]

17 hours ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

The lighting system is not very intuitive at the moment, and there are definitely improvements that need to be made. I wonder if it would be possible to apply the settings automatically without having to merge two Blender files. 

For now, these are my first impressions, especially when switching from 3DSMax to Blender, which is not very user-friendly. 

Unfortunately the light rig (and compositing setup) depends pretty heavily on driver connections to know the rendering state.  AFAICT, drivers are very fragile and break as soon as you copy them, even within a file.  So we'd need some alternative means of getting the data around.  I've experimented with custom named properties for this, but annoyingly one of the fields I need to update (the rotation of the sun disk in the world lighting) does not support noodle-graph input and so can't be changed automatically without a driver.

I do absolutely agree it should be better, and I hope we'll get there in time.  For now, the expected workflow is to start by forking the light rig file and importing anything you need in there.  Alternatively, use linking to non-destructively load your model into the light rig scene (this makes it a little easier to update to a new version of the rig.)

Somewhat related:  in an attempt to make emissive night lighting easier to manage, a new custom node:

Work has been kicking my ass so I'm struggling to find time/energy to get this all ready to go, but updated rig should be out sometime this month.

[memo 1,439]

On 10/24/2025 at 7:39 AM, Dono said:

@Acefantastic02 has tested my issue which confirmed a problem when rotating an objects LOD in BAT4Blender, he has given me simple instructions to overcome the problem until it can be addressed in the addon. The issue only effects diagonal LODs and I am happy to post Aces fix if someone needs it before its rectified.

Thanks for the bug report. It should be fixed now.

Also, don't hesitate to create a new post if already some time has passed since your last post or you have significant new information. Otherwise, it's easy to miss the edit. Edits are for minor corrections like typos or clarifications.

[Dono 177]

Hello,
Is there a way to remove the shadows in zoom 3...I'm assuming LOD 3. I found how to turn shadows off in Blender but I couldn't work out how to do it for certain zooms or LODs.
Thanks.  

[memo 1,439]

8 hours ago, Dono said:

Is there a way to remove the shadows in zoom 3...I'm assuming LOD 3. I found how to turn shadows off in Blender but I couldn't work out how to do it for certain zooms or LODs.

Yes, you can animate the shadows using drivers. It works exactly the same way as for night modes (as described in the Readme). Right click the Zoom 1/2/3/4/5 panel, copy as new driver. Then go to the setting that turns off shadows, right click, paste as new driver. Then right click, edit driver, set it to Scripted Expression and enter an expression such as "zoom != 3" or "zoom == 3".

Though my question is: Why? Are you sure turning off shadows for one zoom level is the right solution to the original problem you're trying to address? It would break the illusion a bit.

[kaimai 1,041]

Quick glass update. In 3dsmax this was considered the "lazy way" of creating blinds but in Blender it was surprisingly labor intensive: half my windows were upside down for some reason (?) so each column had to be manually selected and rotated 180º, UV islands had to be reset and manually shrunk down to ~25% and then randomized, and some of them still don't line up. (Setting a random location on the blinds image using "random per island" also didn't work.) But at least I have something that looks more or less like glass with blinds behind it. Is there a better way to do this?
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Next texturing challenge for this will be metals (specifically the steel frame). Also I forgot to model a BMU and also should create the actual entrance to the building (and maybe model the surrounding plaza to make the reflections more accurate; currently just using an aerial photo)

[Dono 177]

On 12/11/2025 at 5:16 AM, memo said:

Though my question is: Why? Are you sure turning off shadows for one zoom level is the right solution to the original problem you're trying to address? It would break the illusion a bit.

I've temporarily held off on removing the shadows but they have been giving me grief on the DXT3 zoom 3 fence wire (They are better in DXT3 than the normal process). I have at the moment taken a trade off with thicker wire to get the shadows to look good but with a loss in quality of the mesh wire. ACEfantastic02 has recently let me know how to disable the Alpha Clip so I'll try that soon too. The main reason I asked was I noticed in searching for a fix, other developers of fence props had removed the shadows on zoom 3. They may have succumbed to the same issue I have. If all fails I'll use the Driver you explained..

[memo 1,439]

I've been experimenting with ways to integrate the light rig as an Asset Library.

This works well for the World, as worlds can be linked as asset directly. For the compositing, this is more complicated, as there's no way to use the entire compositing tree as asset, but only node groups can be used as asset. The Render Layers node cannot be part of a node group, so I've created a group of everything but the Render Layers.

The advantage of this approach is that everything inside the "b4b_compositing" node group is stored in a linked asset .blend file, so can be updated independently from the individual BAT project. The downside is that the node inputs still need to be set up in each project, which requires some manual wiring (but could potentially be automated later on, once we know where we're going). To avoid the manual wiring, I've created a "template.blend" file that can serve as starting point for every project.

I've completely recreated Ace's 005 rig in Blender 3.6 which should make it compatible with Blender 3.6 and 4.x. I've skipped the Anti-Fringe and Alpha-Clip sections, which seem to create more problems than they solve, but I hope I haven't missed anything else.

light_rig_006.zip     (see usage instructions, source code: light-rig branch of this Pull Request) (Edit: superseded by BAT4Blender 0.5.0 release)

For now, this is experimental, mainly intended to show how to use the light rig as asset library. The source code changes aren't merged into the master branch yet, as the changes are backward incompatible (any drivers using the "b4b.night" property will need to be recreated).

@ACEfanatic02 One thing that surprised me a bit is that the World graph does not seem to depend on whether it's day or night. My intuition would have been that the sun would have less strength at night, so that shadows become less pronounced.

Oh, by the way, copying drivers is possible if they're inside a node group.

[ACEfanatic02 259]

On 11/21/2025 at 4:02 PM, memo said:

@ACEfanatic02 One thing that surprised me a bit is that the World graph does not seem to depend on whether it's day or night. My intuition would have been that the sun would have less strength at night, so that shadows become less pronounced.

Oh, by the way, copying drivers is possible if they're inside a node group.

I considered doing this, but the way night is done in-game is just by multiplying a color on top.  Shadows are unchanged.  We could deviate from that here, but I think it'd be pretty noticeably different from existing buildings.

I've gotten sidetracked a bit lately (ADHD spun the wheel again and got me back into RCT2), but I am close to finishing up the updated light rig.  Moving everything into an asset library is a good call, I'll take a shot at that as well.

[memo 1,439]

Ok, I've gone ahead and published a first proper release, including the light rig based on @ACEfanatic02's settings:

BAT4Blender 0.5.0 (see Readme)

I've included the light rig as an asset and implemented all the automatic wiring, so that BAT4Blender can use the asset seamlessly. Simply install the add-on, open any of your blend files and click these new buttons once to load the light rig from the asset library:

(If there's a need to modify the light rig, one can either press the un-"link" icon to create a local copy unique to the individual blend file, or modify the asset file "light_rig.blend" instead which will affect all blend files linking to it.)

As the "b4b_sun" object wasn't needed anymore, I've removed it completely. The Sun Disk now uses the new "b4b.sun_angles" property, which is directly derived from the "b4b.rotation" property, so it updates immediately when you select a different rotation.

[Koonam 519]

Hello, thank you for developing a good tool.

This is a silly question, but even if I press the MN or DN button and preview it, the rendering results are all in the form of Day. Should I  set the lights separately for MN and DN?

First of all, I'm reading the manual on GitHub (I think Usage's 4th description is about day and night light settings?) I don't know if I'm doing it right. I don't see items like Float and Boolean in the expression.

[memo 1,439]

@Koonam Forget about the 4th point. You probably don't need it. It's only needed for advanced control over the lighting. To undo your changes, right click on "DN" → Delete Driver.

Instead, click on the new button under Scene → Compositing. Then go to the Compositing tab and check that "Use Nodes" is enabled and the node tree looks like this:

If you open the node group in the middle, it should look like this:

If you then open the "IsNight" node group, it'll look like this:

These values should toggle immediately whenever you switch between the different night modes.

Also make sure your scene doesn't have bright light sources that outshine the night.

If all this doesn't work, check the Python console for potential errors so they can be fixed.

[Koonam 519]

1 hour ago, memo said:

@Koonam Forget about the 4th point. You probably don't need it. It's only needed for advanced control over the lighting. To undo your changes, right click on "DN" → Delete Driver.

Instead, click on the new button under Scene → Compositing. Then go to the Compositing tab and check that "Use Nodes" is enabled and the node tree looks like this:

If you open the node group in the middle, it should look like this:

If you then open the "IsNight" node group, it'll look like this:

These values should toggle immediately whenever you switch between the different night modes.

Also make sure your scene doesn't have bright light sources that outshine the night.

If all this doesn't work, check the Python console for potential errors so they can be fixed.

Thank you Memo!

The node switching correctly, but it doesn't seem to affect the preview rendering.

I opened a Python console somehow, but there are no error messages added when I do preview rendering. What should I do in a Python console?

[memo 1,439]

@Koonam My bad, not the Python console, but I meant the system console. I don't know how it works on your operating system. I start Blender from the terminal and that's where I see log output, including potential error messages in case there are any errors.

Also, make sure to select the "Composite" image when displaying the Preview result.

Otherwise, I don't know what could be wrong. You can either debug the Compositor node graph, e.g. first Ungroup the "b4b_compositing" node, and then attach a Viewer node to see the intermittent results of particular nodes of the current Preview render:

 

Or wait for someone else to confirm whether it works or not.

 

[Koonam 519]

1 hour ago, memo said:

@Koonam My bad, not the Python console, but I meant the system console. I don't know how it works on your operating system. I start Blender from the terminal and that's where I see log output, including potential error messages in case there are any errors.

Also, make sure to select the "Composite" image when displaying the Preview result.

Otherwise, I don't know what could be wrong. You can either debug the Compositor node graph, e.g. first Ungroup the "b4b_compositing" node, and then attach a Viewer node to see the intermittent results of particular nodes of the current Preview render:

 

Or wait for someone else to confirm whether it works or not.

 

Oh, I click the "Composite" and the night lighting is working! Thank you so much Memo  

[AP 3,587]

hello everyone! 

I have just run another test render and wanted to see if you can help me a bit

[I have not downloaded and installed the latest BAT4blender pack yet that is mentioned above, so maybe some of it is adressed]

(top: textured ship rendered in GMAX, bottom new ship rendered in blender)

• The shadow resolution seems way below the resolution of an actual edge 
• the shadow in general is quite dark (compare to shadow of gun barrels on textured battleship above rendered in GMAX)
• I have the feeling that the quality of the model is still below the GMAX render (maybe I am mistaken), if I compare some of the edges

Anything that can be done about that?

In any case, I am incredibly grateful that BAT4Blender exists now, so thank you VERY MUCH for all your effort! 

[Ulisse Wolf 4,403]

3 minutes ago, AP said:

Anything that can be done about that?

Try using the latest version of BAT4Blender. I think the lighting and shadow issue should be resolved.

[AP 3,587]

I tried installing the first official release (uninstalled the beta first). I am experiencing a few issues now. 

My apologies for the many questions, I seem to be the only one who is that incompetent  

My renders look like this now:

when viewing the layers the detail still seems to be there:

I went through the log and notice the following: when I clicked the "compositing" button:

Compositor node 'b4b_compositing' has only been partially connected. Missing connections: Noisy Image, Combined_env_light

I also noticed that some detail that shows on the preview is lost when the model is in lot editor:

(see the railings missing on the stern section)

[memo 1,439]

@AP Check the Readme. Use Cycles as render engine instead of EEVEE. That will also improve your rendering quality.

[AP 3,587]

1 hour ago, memo said:

@AP Check the Readme. Use Cycles as render engine instead of EEVEE. That will also improve your rendering quality.

Genuinely thought I had, but in fact I had not. Really glad it is an easy fix. (and I appreciate your patience!) 

[Dono 177]

Hi, I have a .model name change Q?

I'm not using the Post Processing function in BAT4Blender as I'm using the DXT3 Command Prompt call to create the .model file, do I change the model name in the command call as I've highlighted.....( fshgen import --output model.SC4Model --force --with-BAT-models --semitransparent-materials --format Dxt3 --gid 0xffffffff *.obj *_Day.png *.obj *_MN.png) or is it ok to create the file then just right click it and change its name?....Or do I change it in iLive or Pim-X. 

Thanks.

[memo 1,439]

@Dono Just give it a try. If it works, it works. See also my previous comment.

[Dono 177]

19 hours ago, memo said:

@Dono Just give it a try. If it works, it works. See also my previous comment.

I rechecked the help file, but it doesn't go into much of an explanation on the naming side of things. Changing it in the command prompt call works as such but the reason I brought it up was no matter what way I named the model file, including within the command prompt call, a different name comes up in PIM-X, and I wasn't sure if it would cause an exemplar type issue with incorrectly changing it. Anyway...I just found where it comes from, the XML file that is generated has the .blender file name in it. Easy fix in notepad or in iLive Reader. I just thought I'd let you know in case you automate the integration of the XML.