Title says it. I have some connective lamps that are supposed to be placed in a row, but if you place 5 lamps next to each other, it's way too light. So I wanted to create some dummies that have the same mesh but don't actually shine. My first approach was to clone a curtain and replace the mesh, but it just gave me a lamp in the curtain category. How could I "break" a lamp clone so that it doesn't give off any light anymore?

Is there a way to get this done with a recolour? I did that before because I could never get recolours of some of the nightlife lamps that have different light colours to work.

Why not clone a sculpture instead? Use the lamp mesh in place of the sculpture, repository it to the original lamp, so that any recolors work, and go from there?

I wanted to ask, wouldn't it be best to repository it to the unlit version of the lamp? I am assuming that would be possible, anyway. I haven't worked with lamps that much. I am assuming you meant a floor or table lamp. Otherwise, I would do a painting instead if it is a wall lamp?

Ok, out of curiosity, I went and cloned a floor lamp. I deleted the bhav CT light on from the lamp, and while it has the turn on option, it doesn't actually turn on. I don't know if that would work for you or not, but I suspect it wouldn't be that hard to tweak it, so it behaves like a deco object, if for some reason you can't get the deco version to work correctly. I think it would still be easy enough to start with a deco object and go from there however.

Ok I PROMISE this is my last edit I went and tested it more thoroughly. There is still a weird fade in/out, even with the CT light on bhav deleted, so I replaced functions with a sculpture's, changed the globals to painting etc. And tried it with the CT light off deleted as well. The thing is, then it only uses the lit textures which makes it still look lit. So I went ahead and moved the mesh from the uni groovy floorlamp over to the on a pedestal clone, moved the UNLIT textures over, and it works fine as an unlit lamp. Looks just like the groovy lamp, but unlit. I don't know if this helps you or not. Hope it does! If you want it to look lit, but still not produce light, you might be better off keeping them all as lamps, and trying to tune it to lower light? I haven't played with that part either, so don't know how hard it would be.

If you were happy with your clone, you can change the category it's in in SimPE. It's in the OBJD, there's a little drop down box, just click the category you want, commit and save. Then your clone will be in with the rest of the lighting.

Oh duh... I was thinking they meant that it was a working clone, I wondered how they did that without moving bhavs over... I need sleep evidently :D

No, it is what I meant. It was in fact a working, shining lamp after cloning a decorative object and replacing the mesh - that's why I was confused and came here. It's a wall lamp btw, that's why I used a curtain, I didn't want sims running to a lamp and behaving like it's a work of art, so I used some other shiftable thing. http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=169185
I might have gone about replacing the mesh differently, though. (I don't actually have a clue what I'm doing. It's a lot of trial and error.)

So... I'd repeat that trial and error process on changing functions and globals now... but maybe you're right and I'm better off dimming the light on the original lamp. Which is actually the effect I'm trying to achieve here, but the tutorial for that did look rather scary to me. xD It doesn't actually contain anything about the light, as far as I can see, it just "uses the light" that's already in the game so I'd have to first figure out how to give it its "own" light. I don't think there's a lamp in the game that's still dark enough after you placed 5 of them in a row.

Would you mind explaining what you did there after the last testing in a few more words, though...? Then I can try out which way works better.

Sorry, I got busy, and am trying to get ready for work. I will come back this afternoon and explain further.

I've made this thread a while ago , but had even less of a clue what I'm even doing then, and it died anyway. Recently I've run into this old problem again... so here goes another attempt:

There's lamps that look best if you put several of them next to each other, but then it's way too light if they're all on. Now I've seen "broken" CC lamps that are exactly the way I'd need them for this purpose... you can turn them on, they seem to shine (lit state texture is used, they glow) but they don't emit any light into the room.

Any ideas how I can do this on purpose? Any hints where to start? I've never really fiddled with lamps and light so I'm at a loss here. I thought cloning a decorative object and replacing the mesh would do the trick. Weirdly though, it still lit up the room.

Example of a lamp that is "broken" this way:
http://www.parsimonious.org/furnitu..._Chocolate.html

The lamp I'm trying to "break":
http://modthesims.info/d/169185/lt-...-system-gt.html

Tagging @gdayars because you seemed to have a clue in the other thread.

I've merged your threads, because there is really no reason to make a new one to continue with the same conversation.

If you cloned a curtain but still ended up with a functional light in the curtain category, you've done something wrong. The new clone should behave exactly as the item you cloned, aka, a curtain.

The "broken" lights from k8, it looks like she links to the LGHT resource in the package rather than a game one. And since the game does not know what to do with that light reference, it does nothing. You could try changing the light value in the cLightRefNode in the CRES to a different value (as well as the value in the Light Name STR), you can find the available game ones in TSData\Res\Sims3D/Objects01.

One way may be to make a sculpture of the lamp, and use one of the settings in the TXMT to make it seem to emit light (I don't think this setting makes it work like a lamp, and i don't think it actually emits light, but it appears to glow). Can't remember which setting it is, but I think the TXMT overview here tells you how: http://modthesims.info/t/316260. For the off-position you can make a recolor that's got regular non-glowing settings in the TXMT.

Unless you also edit the placement and price of the object in the OBJD, the clone will show up close to the original object you cloned. Clone a curtain, and the object thinks it's supposed to be a curtain, until you tell it otherwise.

It's possible to lower the light emission of lamps (don't ask me how, I don't know), so you could make a clone that has a lower light level.

Take a look at Numenor's Lighting guide: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=103817
Go to the section labeled "3 - THE "LGHT" FILE". There he explains how to tune the brightness, fall-off, and colors of the light you are making. You will want to edit Value 1 and Value 6. There is an explanation of their functions in the paragraph just above this section of his guide.

If you have University, I recommend cloning the Blinding Soldier Wall Lamp, which has a very very dim light intensity and small fall-off already, as well as three separate light sources (cLightRefNode) already defined in the CRES. Import your mesh into the clone, reposition the light sources to match the bulbs in your mesh, edit the LGHT file per Numenor's instructions, and you should have the light you want.

Example: the light intensity in k8's lamp is 0.2. I think the Blinding soldier lamp is something like 0.4 or 0.5

How would I reposition the light sources? It might not be necesssary cause that part is kinda off in the spotlight lamp and I feel like if I use the blinding soldier lamp, it might even fit better... but for the future: Would that be possible in SimPE, or would I need to learn about meshing?

One more question: If I'm gonna edit the light to be dim in the LGHT file anyway, is it even necessary to clone another lamp? Couldn't I just make those changes directly in the lamp I'm editing, or a clone of that?

Little summary to avoid getting completely confused...

- cloning a curtain and replacing the mesh SHOULD work, so going to test that again
- the CC lamps I've mentioned might just intentionally be very dim, so gonna try editing the LGHT file
- the k8 one does seem to be broken light-wise, so gonna try that too
(I have before posting cause I figured "LGHT" had something to do with light and the thingy referencing itself can't really work, but it somehow still lit up the room. Gonna see if I missed something. I'm really just guessing here.)

I'ma go make a clone and do all these things to it and report back when my game loaded.

to reposition in SimPE: Determine the X Y Z coordinates of the bulbs in your meshing program. Then, depending on your program, convert those coordinates to Sims 2/SimPE coordinates. (This is especially easy if you use Blender, because you can set the X,Y, and Z axes to exactly match Sims 2. There are several guides around for converting Milkshape and Wings coordinates.) In SimPE, just use the X, Y, and Z values to edit the (cLightRefNode)s in the CRES to be in the same spot as the bulbs in your mesh.

If you added a LGHT file to your cloned curtain package, then you can certainly just edit it as is, to see if you get the desired results. I suspect, however, it is more an ambient light file instead of a point light file if it was already in the package, which could give some unexpected results. OOPS, I misunderstood the question. Yes, of course you can edit the LGHT in the original lamp's package - that would be the simplest solution, and not require editing the (cLightRefNode) positions. (Since it is another modder's CC, you might want to make sure you have their permission or that it is officially unsupported before altering their work.)

Alright, thanks. Still hope I won't need it. I'm using ailias' mesh either way, so not gonna upload it without their permission of course, original LGHT edited or not.

What's the smartest way to go about replacing the mesh? I've used several different ways in the past and had issues with all of them depending on what I was trying to do, but never quite understood the difference.
Do I wanna keep the GMDC and use the export/import buttons to swap things out in there? If so, do I have to tick any of the boxes in the window that pops up?
Or will simply importing the mesh I wanna use and making the STR point to that do? A few times that way has worked like a charm when objects ended up broken, but maybe in this case it's where I went wrong?

Nvm, it actually did all work at the first attempt, no need to sort out any sources of error beforehand...

You can most certainly edit any cc that you have downloaded for your own personal use. No need for permission, no one but you is going to know or use it. ;P

If you want another light, I would simply clone that light, then edit either how I mentioned above, or edit the values from the tutorial d4re linked to. Then repo it to the original. Otherwise, I'd edit the original if it were for my own use.

Okay, it's all how it's supposed to now. I got it to work and it's picking up the recolours and everything. Thank you guys so much, this lamp has been bothering me for way too long!!

Hugelunatic was right, replacing the mesh should have worked, and it did now. Went about that a different way this time and it's all fine. Bulbs are glowing, room is still dark. Next thing I'ma have a look at the LGHT and see if I can make a version that's just really dim.