Claeric
28th Jan 2010, 02:08 AM
Staff notice: Please note that this thread is unsupported, and although it contains some valid information is now slightly outdated. Current research into Sea/ Sky/ Weather parameters is being conducted in this thread (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=459198). Please post any questions there. :!:
What you need: S3PE and notepad. That's it! Although you also need a bit of time and competence. This is a somewhat advanced tutorial and I will not hold your hand. If you try and have issues, tell me, though. This is currently considered 100% functioning. It is also REVERSIBLE!
In ProgramFiles/ElectronicArts/TheSims3/Gamedata/Shared/Nonpackaged/Ini, there are various files which manage the color of the sea.
Each one is really simple to edit: It simply lists the values (Red, Green, and Blue) for that type of sky(clear, cloudy, etc) at specific times of day. While it is a complicated process to do this PROPERLY(By default, each sky type and each time of day has different numbers, changing the water color for different times of day), you can very easily pick a single color you quite like (My initial test was Red 0, Green 0, Blue 20) and apply it to all of them. Ideally, you'd tweak the water much more than that, but for personal use it isn't too bad.
If you're comfortable with that, you can change water color while in-game. Simply load the game in windowed mode and open one of these ini files. Change the values for the type of sky your neighborhood is currently experiencing and the time of day, and your changes *should* be reflected in-game. When you're happy with the color, copy the values and put them somewhere, or write them down, and CLOSE THE FILE WITHOUT SAVING. ALTERNATIVELY, you can use a site like this:
http://web.njit.edu/~kevin/rgb.txt.html
And copy the numbers for the color you think you'd like. I don't know what the number limit is when choosing colors. Usually it is 255 for each color, but the game has no colors anywhere near that in any of the files. So I wouldn't go above 30 for now, but feel free to play around with it and see what happens if you use higher numbers. If your chosen color is 255, 100, 200, then make it 26, 10, 20, instead. Just to be safe.
1. Copy each and every ini ending in SEA. Sky_ClearSea, Sky_CustomSea, Sky_OvercastSea, Sky_PartlyCloudySea, and Sky_StormySea. Paste them into a new folder.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6248/step1bj.jpg
2. Open your copied file for Sky_ClearSea. Note that there are various sections with R, G, and B, followed by a number. These are the color values for the water, for that type of sky, at that time of day. It's a tough process to keep these colors changing consistently, so for testing purposes, I simply made each and every one of these the same values(such as 0, 0, 20, instead of trying to do variations.)
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/3526/step2cn.jpg
3. Change these values for each and every file. Doing this PROPERLY would involve, like I said, making specific changes for each time of day. But simply to test, I did not bother.
Now you're going to learn how to add these custom water colors to ONE and ONLY one world!
1. Open the world file in S3PE (Documents/ElectronicArts/TheSims3/InstalledWorlds, if already installed). BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP.
2. Resource -> Import from File.
3. You will import each custom ini one by one. After importing one ini, skip to step 4.
Use the following for the instance box, depending on which ini you are loading(you will load each one, one by one):
Sky_ClearSea: 0xDAA2DD455D055F37
Sky_CustomSea: 0x577758BD99619673
Sky_OvercastSea: 0x14BCC166ED42C621
Sky_PartlyCloudSea: 0x3119E691AE6018C1
Sky_StormySea: 0x03091256E1A31960
If you used any other INI files, you need to press "Tools-FNV HASH" and type in the EXACT name of that ini file(such as Sky_Common). Copy the number next to FNV64 and use that for the instance when importing that INI.
After putting in the instance, click ok.
4. Right-click the new instance(it will already be highlighted after you click ok) and choose "details". Now put 0x1F886EAD in the type box, and click ok. Now go back to step 3 and repeat for the next ini, doing steps 3-4 until you have all the ini files imported.
5. Choose file->save. Do not save as a new name. Load the world(saved games included!) and marvel at its custom water colors! These colors will not appear in any of your worlds except the one you edited!
You can also change the sun diameter, moon diameter, shadows, sky color, anything by using the Sky_Common file. That is applied in exactly the same way. This has been confirmed and tested and works flawlessly, even if the world is already installed and in-use. :D
If you wish to remove your custom settings, open the world again and arrange the information by "Type". THen find type 0x1F886EAD and delete all the files with that type. You can also copy these files and paste them into other worlds, should you want to just add the effects to another.
Have fun. :D
Default water:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-103-1.jpg
0, 0, 20 water:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-102-1.jpg
Note: This does change the color of water on lots. All water is dictated by these ini files, so no, you can't have a lava world with little water ponds(not that that would make sense). Pools are still blue though, as they are actually clear and their color is dictated by the walls/floors.
Thanks to Ascarrott for posting this (http://forums.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=386817) which is the basics of how this works, and HP and Inge for helping push the idea along :D
Mod edit: There is more discussion and information regarding this here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=427478
What you need: S3PE and notepad. That's it! Although you also need a bit of time and competence. This is a somewhat advanced tutorial and I will not hold your hand. If you try and have issues, tell me, though. This is currently considered 100% functioning. It is also REVERSIBLE!
In ProgramFiles/ElectronicArts/TheSims3/Gamedata/Shared/Nonpackaged/Ini, there are various files which manage the color of the sea.
Each one is really simple to edit: It simply lists the values (Red, Green, and Blue) for that type of sky(clear, cloudy, etc) at specific times of day. While it is a complicated process to do this PROPERLY(By default, each sky type and each time of day has different numbers, changing the water color for different times of day), you can very easily pick a single color you quite like (My initial test was Red 0, Green 0, Blue 20) and apply it to all of them. Ideally, you'd tweak the water much more than that, but for personal use it isn't too bad.
If you're comfortable with that, you can change water color while in-game. Simply load the game in windowed mode and open one of these ini files. Change the values for the type of sky your neighborhood is currently experiencing and the time of day, and your changes *should* be reflected in-game. When you're happy with the color, copy the values and put them somewhere, or write them down, and CLOSE THE FILE WITHOUT SAVING. ALTERNATIVELY, you can use a site like this:
http://web.njit.edu/~kevin/rgb.txt.html
And copy the numbers for the color you think you'd like. I don't know what the number limit is when choosing colors. Usually it is 255 for each color, but the game has no colors anywhere near that in any of the files. So I wouldn't go above 30 for now, but feel free to play around with it and see what happens if you use higher numbers. If your chosen color is 255, 100, 200, then make it 26, 10, 20, instead. Just to be safe.
1. Copy each and every ini ending in SEA. Sky_ClearSea, Sky_CustomSea, Sky_OvercastSea, Sky_PartlyCloudySea, and Sky_StormySea. Paste them into a new folder.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6248/step1bj.jpg
2. Open your copied file for Sky_ClearSea. Note that there are various sections with R, G, and B, followed by a number. These are the color values for the water, for that type of sky, at that time of day. It's a tough process to keep these colors changing consistently, so for testing purposes, I simply made each and every one of these the same values(such as 0, 0, 20, instead of trying to do variations.)
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/3526/step2cn.jpg
3. Change these values for each and every file. Doing this PROPERLY would involve, like I said, making specific changes for each time of day. But simply to test, I did not bother.
Now you're going to learn how to add these custom water colors to ONE and ONLY one world!
1. Open the world file in S3PE (Documents/ElectronicArts/TheSims3/InstalledWorlds, if already installed). BE SURE TO MAKE A BACKUP.
2. Resource -> Import from File.
3. You will import each custom ini one by one. After importing one ini, skip to step 4.
Use the following for the instance box, depending on which ini you are loading(you will load each one, one by one):
Sky_ClearSea: 0xDAA2DD455D055F37
Sky_CustomSea: 0x577758BD99619673
Sky_OvercastSea: 0x14BCC166ED42C621
Sky_PartlyCloudSea: 0x3119E691AE6018C1
Sky_StormySea: 0x03091256E1A31960
If you used any other INI files, you need to press "Tools-FNV HASH" and type in the EXACT name of that ini file(such as Sky_Common). Copy the number next to FNV64 and use that for the instance when importing that INI.
After putting in the instance, click ok.
4. Right-click the new instance(it will already be highlighted after you click ok) and choose "details". Now put 0x1F886EAD in the type box, and click ok. Now go back to step 3 and repeat for the next ini, doing steps 3-4 until you have all the ini files imported.
5. Choose file->save. Do not save as a new name. Load the world(saved games included!) and marvel at its custom water colors! These colors will not appear in any of your worlds except the one you edited!
You can also change the sun diameter, moon diameter, shadows, sky color, anything by using the Sky_Common file. That is applied in exactly the same way. This has been confirmed and tested and works flawlessly, even if the world is already installed and in-use. :D
If you wish to remove your custom settings, open the world again and arrange the information by "Type". THen find type 0x1F886EAD and delete all the files with that type. You can also copy these files and paste them into other worlds, should you want to just add the effects to another.
Have fun. :D
Default water:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-103-1.jpg
0, 0, 20 water:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-102-1.jpg
Note: This does change the color of water on lots. All water is dictated by these ini files, so no, you can't have a lava world with little water ponds(not that that would make sense). Pools are still blue though, as they are actually clear and their color is dictated by the walls/floors.
Thanks to Ascarrott for posting this (http://forums.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=386817) which is the basics of how this works, and HP and Inge for helping push the idea along :D
Mod edit: There is more discussion and information regarding this here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=427478