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Visual Effects

May I ask what resources contain visual effects such as candle flames etc? And then what techniques we are likely to need to create or edit these?

Comments

  • Shimrod101Shimrod101 Posts: 304 Member
    AFAIK they are all in the SWB Effects file, the same as with Sims 3. The resource is in the ClientDeltaBuild0 file, ID 6F6664543F71A573.
  • IngeJonesIngeJones Posts: 3,247 Member
    Ah thanks :)
  • zap608zap608 Posts: 82 Member
    Does this require something on the lines of SimsPE? I didn't play Sims 3 but did understand how to edit and change/build behaviour etc files, a bit in Sims 2. In this game however I am totally stuck when it comes to Effects, specifically the fish tank water and plants. I use Sims 4 Studio and understand how to edit the slots but a nothing about FX files. It would be very cool to add different effect to objects but at this time I have no idea how to even try.
    Find me; Freeasabird, The Shed @ Sims 4 Studio. Custom content for The Sims 4.
  • Shimrod101Shimrod101 Posts: 304 Member
    AFAIK there isn't currently any way to edit the SWB Effects file. For Sims3 a separate tool was made for editing SWB files which later on was included in s3pe.
    Certain things can be altered today in a standard fashion. Some of the sound effects are written into XML files, and they can be turned off there or swapped with a different sound. Some of the graphic effects will have a .dds image which works alongside the SWB file; the image can be edited or swapped with a different one such that the 'effect' would look different in game.
  • zap608zap608 Posts: 82 Member
    Thank you I'm still learning and any info along these lines is helpful. I'm very interested in the graphic effects and SWB files. I will have to do some reading.
    Find me; Freeasabird, The Shed @ Sims 4 Studio. Custom content for The Sims 4.
  • AlexCroft93AlexCroft93 Posts: 22 Member
    Hi guys! Any news about the SWB file's editing? Is it possible to edit those files? As SWB files are the same of sims 3, is it possible to import sims 3 effects in sims 4?
  • TURBODRIVERTURBODRIVER Posts: 68 Member
    edited February 2019
    Hi guys! Any news about the SWB file's editing? Is it possible to edit those files? As SWB files are the same of sims 3, is it possible to import sims 3 effects in sims 4?

    Hey! I took a quick look at it and S3PE, S4PE, and S4S do not support editing of SWB files. This means that you would need to either reverse engineer that file type or ask ModdingSimGuru for a binary template. Once you gather that, you would need to fork S3PE and S4PE and add support for it yourself. With that, you wouldn't be able to directly copy Sims 3 files (as they might have a different header), but if they have the same file structure, you could port it 1:1.

    Now, with all of that information, I'm pretty sure effects use additional files for textures and operating them in-game, as well as, the effect might need to register somewhere to be available. That is if you're planning on adding new effects and not making overrides.

    I have not looked at the existing tool for editing Sims 3 effects, but if that tool is open source then it shouldn't be too difficult to port it to Sims 4, if the same file structure is kept.

    This would be an awesome thing to have, to include custom effects for objects and animations, but the amount of work required for this might not be worth it unless you're really dedicated.
    I feel like there is a workaround for using effects that I've seen around but I can't recall where or what it was.
  • ChaosAlchemistXChaosAlchemistX Posts: 2 New Member
    As far as I know, effects are stored in Swarm Binary files, 0xEA5118B0, just like in The Sims 3. I am actually trying to create a tool for rendering them outside the game based on the code for the Halcyon project, created by Andrew Willmott, who created the original swarm effect engine that's used in The Sims 2, The Sims 3, The Sims 4, SimCity 4, SimCity 5, Spore, and I think a few other games.

    I did create a tool for S3PE/S3PI for cloning effects, which used a S3PI wrapper library created by Andrew Tavera. It was a success at cloning effects. The wrapper library and my effect cloning tool were originally located on Google Code, but I have since moved them to GitHub to continue work on them. I'm not sure, but it should be possible to convert them to work with S4PE. I would post a link to download them, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that here or if I'm even at a high enough level yet to be able to do that.

    I would also like ModdingSimGuru to post the binary template for the Swarm Binary files as well, so I can see how much the structure has changed from The Sims 3 and how much new data has been added. Then I could ensure that my Effect Cloning Tool and the library it runs on function properly when converting them from S3PE/S3PI to S4PE/S4PI.
  • IngeJonesIngeJones Posts: 3,247 Member
    Doesn't s4pe allow for user wrappers?
  • ChaosAlchemistXChaosAlchemistX Posts: 2 New Member
    > @IngeJones said:
    > Doesn't s4pe allow for user wrappers?

    Yes, it does, and porting the wrapper from s3pe to s4pe isn't the problem. In all likelihood that could be done rather easily.

    No, the real problem is any structural changes between the final version of Swarm Binary files in The Sims 3, and where they stand now in The Sims 4. If even so much as one new data field has been added to any of the effect types, it will completely break the wrapper.

    Without knowing the structure of data, I literally have to open up in a hex editor the one colossal Swarm Binary file that the game stores all its effects in and painstakingly go through it literally byte by byte to determine what new data fields have been added and what sort of data each could be (integer, floating point number, vector, a list of any of the above), just like I had to do whenever the data structure was changed in The Sims 3.

    This process can take hours if not days, unless ModdingSimGuru would actually be willing to share the binary template for Swarm Binary files for the current patch version of The Sims 4.
  • AlexCroft93AlexCroft93 Posts: 22 Member
    As far as I know, effects are stored in Swarm Binary files, 0xEA5118B0, just like in The Sims 3. I am actually trying to create a tool for rendering them outside the game based on the code for the Halcyon project, created by Andrew Willmott, who created the original swarm effect engine that's used in The Sims 2, The Sims 3, The Sims 4, SimCity 4, SimCity 5, Spore, and I think a few other games.

    I did create a tool for S3PE/S3PI for cloning effects, which used a S3PI wrapper library created by Andrew Tavera. It was a success at cloning effects. The wrapper library and my effect cloning tool were originally located on Google Code, but I have since moved them to GitHub to continue work on them. I'm not sure, but it should be possible to convert them to work with S4PE. I would post a link to download them, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do that here or if I'm even at a high enough level yet to be able to do that.

    I would also like ModdingSimGuru to post the binary template for the Swarm Binary files as well, so I can see how much the structure has changed from The Sims 3 and how much new data has been added. Then I could ensure that my Effect Cloning Tool and the library it runs on function properly when converting them from S3PE/S3PI to S4PE/S4PI.

    @SimGuruModSquad could we have this "binary template", please?
  • AlexCroft93AlexCroft93 Posts: 22 Member
    Bump, would really appreciate the SimGurus to give us the template.

    Yes. Could you help us? @SimGuruModSquad @SimGuruTwoLegs Thanks
  • simguyssimguys Posts: 62 Member
    Bump this!
    My Spanish Website Simlish 4 \ My Twitter @Simlish4
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