Dono

It will be in the folder where you store your Blender files, specifically where the .blend file of the object that you rendered is. There will also be an XML file with it if you want to add it to the model file manually.

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.

I have been creating a lot of stuff for my sim nation and at some point will upload them if they are good enough. But in my travels looking for ideas and how to dos, I come across a lot of 3D creation sites that contain free downloads from some of their developers, all types of buildings and also other models that would be great props. All the sites have the same disclaimer that they are free to use, even commercially, as long as the downloader doesn't make revenue from the creators work and that the creator is credited and it is noted if the downloader has made any changes to the model. I read what I could find here in STEX and some of the things fell in the "Shades of Grey" area with being able to use these free downloads to be reworked into lots to share here. Are they OK to use?

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.

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..

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.

The Airport pack it comes from is earmarked for an overhaul, unfortunately it's among a large group of projects in the same basket with no proposed date yet. Too bad, as it was the best looking and fitting to my building style in there lol. I ended up using one of the control towers as my "Airport", as it had similar stats and works.

##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##

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.

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.

Below is the comparison of the Post-Processing and DXT3 files all done in BAT4Blender. Yes, I changed my fence lol, the 3 strands of wire at the top of my original fence was way better with DXT3 and could be seen, if just, at level 3, especially with DXT5, but the overall design failed at the longer zooms. As for my new fence above, DXT3 was definitely better in game than that showing in my pics (I just used the sc4 camera and resized in GIMP) The DXT3 shadows through the wire were a standout, especially in zoom 3. There was no obvious difference in zoom 2 down so left those pics out. The Post-Processing file was 60kB, DXT3 was 117kB and DXT5 was 125kB...I didn't post the DXT5 pics as there was virtually no difference to DXT3 for this model. As you suggested the possibility, DXT5 had some issues, In PIM-X it showed up as a white LOD box but was good in game. Obviously in DXT3 without post processing there was no .xml file, but without changing the 'gid' I just did a second render with post-processing enabled to generate one. (Although, I'm yet to get iLive Reader not to crash. After I add it to the model as an unknown file, as soon as I click on the entry in reader to add the tgi for the xml, it crashes) It would be nice down the track to have DXT3 with the SD and HD BAT4Blender options

Ok, I did give up trying to get the script to work, but after failing to improve on my model a gazillion times ( nothing to do with BAT4Blender, just my lack of Bating experience) I tried again and finally got it to work. Before I compare results of my B4B post-processing (ticked) and then manual DXT3 and DXT5 compiling I have a Q? In the script/command you posted, the "gid 0xffffffff" part, do I need to change that to the actual group ID of the files B4B created or is it just the command saying to look for this setup. The .obj files have the B4B generated gid that's displayed prerender, the .png files have a different one. Thanks.

I'd like to try this on the model I made, I did delete it to make adjustments ACEfantastic02 recommended but I just restored it to now keep as a fallback to test any new suggestions/addons/workflow improvements to see effects if any. EDIT: OK, I just rendered without post processing and have all the separate files, (.obj's and .png's), I'm not sure where to go now (I expected a single .obj file lol) @ACEfanatic02Great results, can't wait for the new lighting rig

Hi, just looking for some advice/tips from those who have probably been down the same road many moons ago. Using BAT4Blender it's my first BAT/Prop, I started a little too detailed and have been making numerous modifications along the way to retain detail (my security fence was transparent at one stage, just like wire lol). The first pic is my max zoom detail and pretty much all my zooms from 1 to 4 look like the other pic at zoom 3. I've added one of PEGs fences for comparison, and I can see they over exaggerated some aspects to retain definition, and their lot still looks like a fence when fully zoomed out. Do I need to simplify things a little bit more? Also, what's the FitZ5 button for, is it to assist here. (My fence is the one with the sign on it, rhs fence of each picture.)

I'm new to BATing so unsure with BAT4Blender, I know those working on it have talked about incorporating ways to improve the resolution even more but for me it's great as is. They are still working on the lighting and B4Bs built in lighting is functional but not right yet. A few posts back ACEfantastic2 has uploaded a lighting rig that can be used and at some point one will be incorporated into B4B.

@API'm not the greatest at this stuff either. So these are only suggestions (and probably very obvious at that). Did you download the correct file, it's the 8.74mb one, if there's no .jar file present, it sounds like you downloaded a source file.. Releases · memo33/fshgen In the folder the .bat file is for windows systems, the other fshgen file is for macOS/Linux. You need to point to one of these. Below are the only files within the fshgen-0.2.1 folder. My Java has all the same build number, mines older but is '21.0.6' for the 3 parts you have (my java is a different source so might be irrelevant) And a long shot, are you using OneDrive? I had unrelated issues with SC4 on OneDrive when creating or removing files. Ultimately, one of the guru's will look at your error code and will know the answer

It's not infront of me but I think it was the fshgen.bat file within the folder.

Cool, I actually started with 4.5...way back...but went back to 3.6 and also 4.2 as they were suggested. I'll have a crack later and just update this post with the outcome. EDIT: YAY!! lol, yes, the use of 4.5.3 worked without a drama. I can confirm I was using 4.2.14 and it didn't work so if anyone wants to use your rig, anything below 4.2 wont work it seems. My textures/materials were 100x better than before but still a little off, I'll go through them tomorrow with your prior suggestions to see if any of those factors are playing a part this time as I didn't implement them this test render. I know I asked before in a different situation, do I change the B4B camera window size if the Model/Object isn't completely in it or as mentioned before (I think), the B4B LODs are at work here and the camera is just setting the angles? Thank you for all the effort, knowing the time involved it's very much appreciated.

Ok so I tried all your suggestions and all failed as well as the monkey one, I just end up with a white box. Only time it didn't fail was when I didn't use the rig and I tried the 'no' rig B4B render on both my model and the monkey. I believe if it's working on yours it has to be something you've compensated for or had natively in your setup that I haven't. It would be good if a third party could try it.

I've got a few days off so hope to get on top of it. Have you tried a fbx since using the lighting? In all my searches have got on top of materials, textures and sizing stuff. Are there any file types you'd recommend.

Ok, so the last few days I have been trying to not annoy anyone and work this out. I believe everything is set up correctly and as mentioned before, I can get my model to render without the lighting rig, but I'm still having the same issue with it. One thing that I skimmed over, I think near my first post was that I'm using downloaded models. I started looking into that side of things and as I've imported .fbx files have found some posts saying that Blender can have texture issues with them...there were work-a-rounds I checked with. Also .fbx can have issues with Cycles rendering or certain lighting. But all in all, me searching for possible issues that's all I'll find, If I search is water bad for you I'll find a thousand post telling me not to drink it lol. To make sure it wasn't just the file I downloaded I've tried about 4 so far, some super simple two texture ones. Has anyone using the rig tried it with .fbx imports?

Ok, so I start in the right direction.... The Pic is my Collection Scene the instant I open your file and go to "Layout". Do I leave all the "visible" and "render" Icons as they are .... or do I for example, remove them on the "cube" and add them on the "b4b_sun"? Once my Object is in the scene and ready to go do I delete your LOD1 thru 5 and add them again in B4B so the bounding box fits them, or just leave them alone? and lastly, do I leave your camera alone or do I adjust its window to fit my Object through the render process. As before, I can render my Object with B4B without a problem but again is pretty crap visually without the lighting. But when I add the same Object (Security Fence) to the light_rig I get a white box at whatever size the bounding box is. I did look into all the available Blender info regarding the causes of the white boxes but couldn't find anything relatable in my Object. If anyone has a simple 3dprop file I could test on that would help, I'd at least know if it was my file or the way I'm executing B4B. Thanks.

Hey mate, BAT4Blender will be awesome when fully completed. It works but at the moment they are working on the lighting. Once you have created your object or imported one into Blender it literally takes minutes to have it ingame. If you are competent in Blender you might be able to manufacture lighting that works but that's above my pay grade so I'm eagerly waiting. To install just follow the readme from the download on the first post (disregard the 'Pull Request' file, it's no longer relevant), it was easy enough to follow. I don't believe there are actual instructions to use it...unless I've overlooked them somehow. Any other questions you may want to look at my recent posts, I've probably asked all the dumb'ass questions here and those involved have been nice enough to enlighten me.

Sorry for the questions. I had my setup as you suggested above. After a lot of trying to get things to work the only variable I can see causing the white boxes on my model is there's something in your settings or something I'm not accounting for. I started from scratch with your rig and as well as a new project. I did the exact steps in recreating my Object in yours and in the new one. Both projects set-up the same, apart from your lighting. With yours I keep getting the white box, the other works but without correct lighting is a bit dodgy. I don't mind if you suggest me to go and use gmax or bat4max, etc, I'd take no offence, I totally understand a group of you are working hard to get this 100% and me starting my Bating journey here could be more of a nuisance. Any suggestions would be nice but if none come to mind, at least I've learnt a lot about Blender 😊.