Mesh Issue with Wallmasks

If the title hasn't scared you away, I thank you! This is my first post here--I'm having an issue with a custom door I'm making, and I've hit a roadblock that I can't seem to get past. I humbly entreat those more talented than I to see if anyone has encountered this problem before.

Background: I'm trying to turn the 2-storey, 3-tiled Maxis 'Hey Nonny No door' into a 4-tiled version. So far, and after much trial and error, I have successfully added the extra tiles, wrangled the BHAV's into submission, and scooched the mesh over in Milkshape so the door is centered on the 4 tiles. Next problem: wallmasks.

Obviously a project like this would be sooo much easier if I could just copy and paste onto an existing 2-storey, 4-tile door, but none exists to my knowledge. I need to add wallmasks for the new tiles that I added to the footprint. I thought it would be as easy as cloning the existing ones and renaming them. Its not. There must be some way to reference the new wallmasks to the tiles they should be paired with...but I can't seem to find where to do that! None of the OBJD, OBJF, or BHAV files mention anything about wallmasks, at least not that I can tell.

I've cloned additional LGHT files and updated them in the CRES, which has started to make the game crash when I open my object to test it. I see that as a good sign, though--I think the game crashing is evidence that its finally reading the new wallmasks, I just don't have them set up right. Could the Instance affect that? Every time I make a new file, I give it a new Instance. With the OBJD and OBJF files, the Instances run in a clear pattern, so I matched that pattern with my new files. The LGHT and TXMT files seem to have totally random Instances...so I just named mine randomly, but I don't know if that was the right thing to do.

Anyway, if anybody has any ideas, I would greatly appreciate them! Likewise, if anyone has any questions for me about adding more tiles to a mesh, ask away--I seem to have figured that much out at least!

I remember looking at this issue last year - and adding the tiles is doable - you are right about the wallmask being the problem.

I think - in the bhav for the tiles it looks to see if it requires a wallmask cutout - and then looks for the OBJF to do it. When you added the tiles, did you clone an existing objf and then renumber it? If so it may well still be linking to the existing wallmask and so you can clone the wallmask as well.

maybe post the object here?

Also, try looking at MaryLou's 4 tile window on MTS - its a template - that might also help.

Here is a link to the file so you can take a look at it if you like:

http://www.mediafire.com/?20vygd5tpz9rqjb

I got rid of the CRES that I added which caused my game to crash, so it won't give you that problem. On second thought, I don't even think I need to mess with the CRES.

For the specific coordinates associated with wallmasks, there is a BHAV that says "wall cutout flag." I've made sure that the tiles I added also contain this BHAV, but I don't know how to link it to the wallmasks I cloned. Even so, I cloned the BHAV's from other tiles that most closely matched the position of the new tiles I was creating, to theoretically the BHAV for 3,2,1 should pull the wallmask for 2,2,1, which it is cloned from, but it doesn't even seem to be doing that.

I feel like this is the last piece of the puzzle. If I can figure out these wallmasks, then adding tiles to doors, windows, arches, etc. should be a "breeze" from here on out!

Well, to be honest - this is the only 3 on 4 tile door I think. For others, rather than swapping all the bits of the file about you swap the mesh.

I will have a look at the file.

I know! I looked everywhere for an existing 4-tile door, but no cigar. The mesh is the easy part! Thanks for all your help--I hope it turns out to be something simple that I'm just overlooking!

Did you look at the windows as suggested?

I've been looking at the windows a little, but RL has been interfereing these past few days. I'm going to try to look more tonight.

So far one thing that has stood out are the differences in the BHAV's. The windows are set up a little differently, with no "cutout flags," like the door, but its tricky to compare two different objects because sometimes there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Other than that, I need to study the CRES more. I can see how I think I do need to account for the new tiles there, but I must not have been getting it quite right. Other than that, I still don't see where the wallmasks are specifically linked anywhere. Maybe the CRES is what causes the extra tiles to recognize wallmasks?

There are a few doors on 2-tiles that have 3-tile custom versions. I want to study these as well to see if I notice differences there.

I have an idea, I think the answer lies in the CRES, or I sorely hope it does. I'll let you know how it goes in the morning!

I think I've found the bottleneck. In the TXMT files, I cloned new ones to represent the wall-facing tiles. I noticed that under the "All References" tab, if you click to expand the "TXTR" and "stdMatBaseTextureName" options, it shows a wallmask file, but the "Values" in the box on the right are incorrect. Where it says "Instance," it should match the instance of the appropriate texture file under TXTR, and where it says "File" it should show the filepath to the .package file in the downloads folder for the item.

Unfortunately, it does not seem that it is as easy as replacing the values. When you click in the box and try to type something new, it doesn't let you. I have to figure out how those boxes are populated, and then change it.

The Instance that is shown instead of the correct instance appears to be totally random--I have not found anywhere else that that instance occurs. In the File box, it just says [unreferenced], and again, it doesn't let me type in the correct filepath.

Okay, so "Fix Integrity" seemed to fix that. Go figure. Putting on the finishing touches...