Post by Cidira on Nov 29, 2020 22:15:43 GMT -5
For the last couple of weeks, when not distracted by something else, I've been working on an invisible build mode set. It started with someone else's inquiry about "transparent wallpaper" or frameless/invisible full wall segment windows. I figured out how to create a fully invisible window with a massive cutout that could make entire walls disappear, and very quickly realized it had a lot of interesting applications... especially if I could also make an invisible roof (to be specific, a roof pattern). Well, turned out I could! Then I realized it wasn't going to be very useful without an invisible roof trim. Well, TSRW can make roof trim recolor packages... and once I had a package to edit in S4S, it turned out I could make an invisible roof trim, too! I added a door that works a lot like the windows, and everything's largely been coming along very well, but I have two problems now:
FIRST, I can't get my roof trim to stop casting a shadow.
My windows don't cast any shadows, and they eliminate the shadows that would normally be cast by the rest of the wall segment too (except for the narrow ends of each wall perpendicular to the actual useable wall surface, and if anyone has any ideas there, I'd love to hear them). My roof pattern doesn't cast any shadows. But the roof trim persists in casting one.
I'm not sure I can even remember everything I tried. I know I unchecked the Shadow Caster checkbox, I know I messed with SSAOIntensity, I tried adding a ShadowOpacity entry, I tried changing the shader to various things... I've edited things in the Material Set resource in the package file, and the same entries (editing one set does not change the other set) accessible via Model - Lods - Edit Items -> Meshes - Edit Items. Nothing has changed.
I've thought about trying to replace the mesh with a tiny speck to see if it replaces the shadow with a tiny speck, but I'm not completely confident in my ability to do that even if I already had such a mesh. (Totally on board to try it if someone provides a mesh and confirms it should just work, though!)
I suspect that my package might not contain the resources I need to edit, but of course S4S doesn't properly support roof trims, and not only do Roof Trim resources either inside my package file or in the game cruiser contain nothing but error messages when viewed in S4S, but S4PE also displays similar errors when trying to view Roof Trim resources, so I can't really dig much further (though someone who knows more about the guts of TS4 stuff than I do might be able to come up with something even without being able to make sense of the roof trim resources).
Here's my in-progress package file, if anyone wants to see if they can figure something out. I'm sure I've probably missed a promising possibility.
drive.google.com/file/d/1PMt8TRGuzh25C1dOdBzeMo4nA2YWWUqV/view?usp=sharing
SECOND, I can't get snow to stop accumulating on my roof pattern (or, well, roofs I'm using my roof pattern on).
I have tried adding the 'Never Receives Snow' tag, adding a SnowDisallowed entry in the Material Definitions (Material - Items - Edit Items), fiddling with SnowHeightParams and even SnowLocalNormalUvScaleOffsets just for giggles, changing the value of the Seasons field in the Roof Pattern resource (there were different values for, iirc, glass roofs, thatch roofs, and most other roofs, but that doesn't do it either), and possibly some stuff I forgot.
Someone suggested that I might need to actually edit (and therefore clone) a roof type (i.e. the hipped roof, since hipped roofs don't generate wall segments, so I've been using it for all my tests) instead of just a roof pattern, but there isn't any tool available that can do that as far as I know. (Add the appropriate 'Roof' resource from the game file cruiser, yes -- I was able to figure out how to locate that -- but I suspect that would either do nothing whatsoever or do more than I wanted it to do, probably the former.)
Package link again in case anyone knows something or wants to try something.
drive.google.com/file/d/1WNtfZ4APJxvBtpDFgW2-27b0uY91Hnq9/view?usp=sharing
It may be that one or both of these things is impossible, or impossible with our current level of knowledge. I can live with that, especially since there are going to be some visual issues (especially with snow) no matter what, but I'll feel better if I know I've exhausted more than just my own capabilities, which are extremely heavy on the metaphorical duct tape, bubble gum, and paper clips.
FIRST, I can't get my roof trim to stop casting a shadow.
My windows don't cast any shadows, and they eliminate the shadows that would normally be cast by the rest of the wall segment too (except for the narrow ends of each wall perpendicular to the actual useable wall surface, and if anyone has any ideas there, I'd love to hear them). My roof pattern doesn't cast any shadows. But the roof trim persists in casting one.
I'm not sure I can even remember everything I tried. I know I unchecked the Shadow Caster checkbox, I know I messed with SSAOIntensity, I tried adding a ShadowOpacity entry, I tried changing the shader to various things... I've edited things in the Material Set resource in the package file, and the same entries (editing one set does not change the other set) accessible via Model - Lods - Edit Items -> Meshes - Edit Items. Nothing has changed.
I've thought about trying to replace the mesh with a tiny speck to see if it replaces the shadow with a tiny speck, but I'm not completely confident in my ability to do that even if I already had such a mesh. (Totally on board to try it if someone provides a mesh and confirms it should just work, though!)
I suspect that my package might not contain the resources I need to edit, but of course S4S doesn't properly support roof trims, and not only do Roof Trim resources either inside my package file or in the game cruiser contain nothing but error messages when viewed in S4S, but S4PE also displays similar errors when trying to view Roof Trim resources, so I can't really dig much further (though someone who knows more about the guts of TS4 stuff than I do might be able to come up with something even without being able to make sense of the roof trim resources).
Here's my in-progress package file, if anyone wants to see if they can figure something out. I'm sure I've probably missed a promising possibility.
drive.google.com/file/d/1PMt8TRGuzh25C1dOdBzeMo4nA2YWWUqV/view?usp=sharing
SECOND, I can't get snow to stop accumulating on my roof pattern (or, well, roofs I'm using my roof pattern on).
I have tried adding the 'Never Receives Snow' tag, adding a SnowDisallowed entry in the Material Definitions (Material - Items - Edit Items), fiddling with SnowHeightParams and even SnowLocalNormalUvScaleOffsets just for giggles, changing the value of the Seasons field in the Roof Pattern resource (there were different values for, iirc, glass roofs, thatch roofs, and most other roofs, but that doesn't do it either), and possibly some stuff I forgot.
Someone suggested that I might need to actually edit (and therefore clone) a roof type (i.e. the hipped roof, since hipped roofs don't generate wall segments, so I've been using it for all my tests) instead of just a roof pattern, but there isn't any tool available that can do that as far as I know. (Add the appropriate 'Roof' resource from the game file cruiser, yes -- I was able to figure out how to locate that -- but I suspect that would either do nothing whatsoever or do more than I wanted it to do, probably the former.)
Package link again in case anyone knows something or wants to try something.
drive.google.com/file/d/1WNtfZ4APJxvBtpDFgW2-27b0uY91Hnq9/view?usp=sharing
It may be that one or both of these things is impossible, or impossible with our current level of knowledge. I can live with that, especially since there are going to be some visual issues (especially with snow) no matter what, but I'll feel better if I know I've exhausted more than just my own capabilities, which are extremely heavy on the metaphorical duct tape, bubble gum, and paper clips.