This tutorial will explain what slots are, how to move them to another position, how to rotate them and how to change the type of slot. This is an advanced tutorial. It is assumed you already know how to mesh and know how to work with SimPe.

Download PDF »

Slot tutorial part 1: Moving and rotating existing slots + Slot type changing

This is the first part of a series of tutorials about slots. In this tutorial you will find all the needed info about how to move the position of an already existing slot, how to rotate slots and how to change the type of a slot..

This is an advanced tutorial, it is assumed that you already have some experience in meshing and that you know your way around in SimPe.

Needed for this tutorial:

SimPe:  http://sims.ambertation.de/

A 3d modelling program. For this tutorial is used Wings 3d: http://www.wings3d.com/ 

Introduction

Objects in the Sims 2 can have 3 sorts of slots: container slots, routing slots and target slots. Container slots and routings slots are the most common type of slots. A container slot can hold something: another object or a sim. A routing slot gives the coordinates where a sim should go to, if it wants to use an object. Target slots are less common, they are used for things like effects. In this tutorial we will mainly focus on container slots and routing slots. 

Changing the position of a slot

The position of an already existing container slot can be changed in the Resource Node (CRES)

1. Clone and mesh a simple endtable and make it a bit higher than a normal endtable. You can use for instance the Country Comfort Corner Table to clone. 

2. Go in SimPe and look for Resource Node (CRES). 

3. Click on the tab CRES Hierarchie. Here you will find several settings for your object in a tree structure. Locate the line slot_table_std_0. You will see that there are 8 childs connected to it. Those 8 lines are the routes towards you object. Click on the line slot_table-std_0. 

4.You are now in the part that determines the position and rotation of you slot. 

 

5. The position of the slot is determined in the Translation part. The axes in Sims 2 are located different then the ones in most 3D model programs, so you will need to use the Z-value to change the height.

 In short:
 X = -X
 Y =   Z
 Z =   Y

 

 

 

 

 Sims 2                                                       3D model programs
 

6. Now go back to your 3D model program (don’t close SimPe) and determine the height of your new endtable by clicking on one of the top vertices. In the example the new height is 1, but it doesn’t matter if your mesh has a different height. Just use the height of your own mesh.

7. Change the height of the slot by changing the Z-value from the standard endtable height of 0,8 to your new value. The X and Y values are 0, which means that the slot is located in the middle of the table. Usually this is the most common position for a slot, but for this tutorial we will also change those values and place the slot more to the front left corner of the table.

  

8. Go back again to your 3D model program and determine the position where you want to have your slot. In this tutorial the new slot has the 3D coordinates (-0,2 1,0 0,2), which will mean that the coordinates in Sims 2 are (0,2 0,2 1,0). The Z coordinate has already been adjusted, so you only need to change the X and Y values.

9. Commit and save your package.

Changing the rotation of a slot

1. The rotation can be changed in the Rotation part in the resource node. SimPe will automatically change the rotations into the Quaternations the game uses for the rotations.  If you want the slot to face another direction, you can rotate it around the Z axis. Since we have positioned the slot in the front left corner, we will also face the slot in that direction. With the cheats ingame you can only place objects at angles of 45 or 90 degrees, but it is not necessary to use steps of 45 degrees. So let’s place the objects on this slot at an angle of 30 degrees, faced towards the left front part of the endtable. To get this result we need a rotation of 330 degrees around the Z-axis. 

2. In the Rotation table change the Z-value from 0 to 1 and the angle from 0 to 330. You will see that the Euler rotation and the Quaternation changes automatically, you don’t need to do anything with those two. 

3. You can also rotate around the X- or the Y- axis, or even around an axis that lies somewhere between the X- , Y- and Z- axis. In that case you can choose for instance the values 0,3 0,6 and 0,1 for the X-, Y- and Z-axis. The total of these values need to be 1.

4.   Commit and save your package.

Routing

You now have an endtable with a working slot on a different position and with a rotation of 30 degrees around the Z-Axis.

With the position of the slot being changed you might wonder if it is also necessary to change the route of the sim towards the slot. The answer is no, changing the route is not necessary. The reason for this is the tree structure the game uses.  The position of the routing slots is related to the position of the container slot.

Click on the CRES Hierarchie tab and look at slot_table_std_0 and the underlying routes again. To calculate a route, the game first looks at the slot itself. This one has the coordinates 0,2, 0,2, 1,0. From there the game calculates where the sim should go to, if it wants to use this slot. For the Southeast route, this means a translation of 0,51 X, -0,51 Y and -0,80 Z. So the target of the route for the sim will be at position 0,71, -0,31, 0,20. The game will however ignore the height position of 0,20, so the sim will not be floating in the air. You could change Z value of -0,80 into -1,00, but it will not make any difference in game.

In some cases you might want to change the position of a routing slot. For instance if you want the sim to stand further away from an object when using it. In that case you can change the coordinates and/or the rotation of the routing slot in the same way as for the container slot.

Changing slot types

Not every slot can hold the same types of objects. Kitchen supplies can not be placed on anything else then counters, toddler toys can only be placed on the ground and tables or shelves with a decorative slot can only hold very small objects. In most cases there will be no need to change the slot type. But what if you for instance want to make an object that can hold a toddler toy, for decoration or for selling in a shop? In that case can change the slot type.

1. Click on the Slot File (SLOT). Here you will see that there are 2 slot entries for this package: a container slot and a routing slot. The container slot holds information about the slot itself. The routing slot holds information about the route towards the slot. So to change the slot type, we need to edit the container slot. 

2.Click on the container slot and search for I7. You need to scroll a bit to the right for that. At this moment I7 has the value 8, which means it is an endtable slot. Every slot type has it’s own value:

    1.    Floor
    2.    Coffee table
    3.    Diningroom table
    4.    On counter
    5.    Non standard (preparing meals, eating meals, study assignments)
    6.    In hand
    7.    Seating (chair, sofa, bed, bathtub, etc.)
    8.    End table
    9.    In counter (Sink)
  10.  Under counter (Dishwasher, Trash Compactor)
  11.  Decorative
  12.  Driveway
  13.  OFB Shelves

3. Click on the tab “0x08+” and change the value of Int 7 into 1, so the endtable can now hold objects that normally can only be placed on the floor.  

4. Commit and save.These changes of slot type are mostly useful for decorative or alternative OFB selling purposes. In most cases an object placed on that slot can not be used the way it is normally used. If you change the slot of an endtable into a counter slot, it will not make your endtable a counter. So an espresso machine placed on an endtable with a slot that is converted into a counter slot can not be used to make espresso.

Summary

·         You can change the position of a slot by changing the translation coordinates in the Resource Node (CRES).

·         Compared to 3D modelling programs, the axes in The Sims 2 are:

          o   X = -X
          o   Y =   Z
          o   Z =   Y 

·         You can change the rotation of a slot by changing the rotation axis from 0 to 1, and entering the angle of rotation.

·         The slot type can be changed in the Slot File, value I7.

·         Slot types are:

          o     1 Floor
          o     2 Coffee table
          o     3 Diningroom table
          o     4 On counter
          o     5 Non standard
          o     6 In hand
          o     7 Seating
          o     8 End table
          o     9 In counter
          o   10 Under counter
          o   11 Decorative
          o   12 Driveway
          o   13 OFB shelves