Broken Maxis Window (granted)

[Sevenskellington]

Hi guys! I was wondering if somebody could bust up the "Independent Expressions" window? I'd like most of the middle gone, with just bits of broken glass around the edges. What do you think? I haven't been able to find any broken Maxis windows like this.

[Graverobber]

I'd like to try this. I did something similar to another window a long time ago following Numenor's tutorial, but I have no idea if I'll be able to do it again. So, don't expect success.

[Sevenskellington]

Thank you! I'd still appreciate the effort! 

[Graverobber]

Don't think I gave up on this, I'm just preoccupied with something else at the moment. But I already started working on the window and I hope I'll get it to work soon. I'm so sorry for making you wait. 

If anybody wants to give this a shot, here's Numenor's tutorial at MTS I mentioned earlier, if you need it of course.

[Sevenskellington]

There's no rush! Thanks for giving me an update.

[Graverobber]

Seven, I don't think this is possible. This particular window has two recolourable subsets: frame and overlay. In order to "break" it, it's necessary to make glass subset recolourable as well. The problem here is that the game doesn't support three recolourable subsets.

If you'd like this on another window mesh, tell me and I'll see what can be done. 

[Sevenskellington]

Tha's okay, thanks for trying! Would it be possible to do the "Embrasure" (or any of the big OBF windows) or "The Function of Plate Glass" (I think it's from the base game)?

[Graverobber]

Unfortunately, I don't have OFB, but here's what I did to The Function of Plate Glass window:



Is this acceptable? Oh, and would you like more recolours?

[CuriousB]

Seven, I don't think this is possible. This particular window has two recolourable subsets: frame and overlay. In order to "break" it, it's necessary to make glass subset recolourable as well. The problem here is that the game doesn't support three recolourable subsets.

If you'd like this on another window mesh, tell me and I'll see what can be done.  

Graverobber, in case you're interested, there is a way to effectively give an object three recolourable subsets, by making one of the subsets the slave of another, but obviously this would mean making a clone of the Maxis window rather than just a recolour. See post #64 here by Numenor for brief instructions on how to do it. If it's any help, I used this technique in my revamp of tigmom's utility poles, so perhaps you could use the master mesh from that set for guidance if you wanted to try it.

Oh, and I think what you've done with The Function of Plate Glass looks great!

[Graverobber]

CuriousB, yeah, I'd love to try it. Thanks for that link and for permission to use your file as a reference. I hope it won't be too complicated, because, gosh, this is unbelievable! I have to learn how to do it. 

[CuriousB]

Oh, cool - glad to help! It's no more complicated really than slaving one object to another, or making something recolourable, it's just that there's no real tutorial on it and I think it's not widely known about (I only stumbled across it by accident).

EDIT: the only thing to bear in mind is that of course you will still only see colour options for two of the subsets in the build mode catalog (whichever you choose as the master subsets), and that each slave subset colour option will be linked to only one master subset colour option - maybe try making a test recolour of my utility pole to see what I mean if I haven't explained it very well.

[Sevenskellington]

That looks great, Graverobber! Is there a black recolor of the window frame? I would like that, if possible, but I'd still be happy just with these. Thank you so much!

[Graverobber]

CuriousB, those are great tips, thank you. I'm going to try it out tomorrow to see how it looks in-game, as I don't remember having such objects before. This is so exciting!

Sevenskellington, yup, there is black frame. I'm glad you like these, get them here.

There are three recolours, plus UV map fix for the glass subset. For all I know, it might not be needed for later EPs, but for my game it was. Credit goes to Numenor, of course. I only changed a couple of strings and textures.

And one more thing, if I figure out how to do this CuriousB's trick, I'll try to break the Independent Expressions window too and post it here.

[Sevenskellington]

Yay, thank you so much! These will be great for storytelling!