NOTE: Do not send me your posebox if it is working incorrectly, as I no longer have the Sims 2 installed on my computer. 
You will have much better luck asking for help on ModTheSims. I'm also quite a busy person, so don't be mad if you send me a pm and I never reply back..._____________________________________________
Create your own Custom Pose Boxes from Scratch!
Don't let the title intimidate you! Regardless of your degree of familiarity with SimPE, creating pose boxes is an easy and painless procedure if done correctly. Now let's begin!
Tools Needed:--Milkshape v1.8.0 or higher:
Here--SimPE (newest version):
Here --AniMesh Exporter:
Here --Sim Body with Skeleton:
Here If you already have these tools, no use in downloading them twice lol
For those who are familiar with body meshing, you can also use custom body shapes when creating new animations*
Part OneIf you already know how to create animations you can skip to
Part Two, where we export the animation. To install the AniMesh Exporter, simply dump all the zip files into your Program Files-->Milkshape folder.
Step 1: Loading MeshNow that you have all your tools installed, let's open up Milkshape.
You should see just an empty screen with grid lines on it like the one above.
Now click
File-->Open and find the sim bodies that Dr.Pixel extracted. They should be in the same location that you saved them to, whether it's the Desktop, My Documents, etc...The file we want should be called AManimBASE, for instance. The names are coded for the age and gender they represent.
When the body loads, you'll see there are a ring of vertexes around his neck. This is because Dr.Pixel had selected these vertexes before he saved the mesh. I don't know why he did this. Just click any space in the screen, and they will disappear.
You may also notice that my mesh is yellow. That's because I have colored groups on. It's really only useful for meshing with groups, but not for animating. So don't worry about it if your guy is grey. Just ignore it lol
Step Two: Configuring Milkshape for AnimatingNow we want to have the skeleton visible. If you can already see a blue skeleton, don't worry.
Click On the
Joints tab, then select
Show Skeleton. Now you should see a blue skeleton like the image above**
Then click on
Window-->
Show Keyframer. A little box should pop up at the bottom. Click on the
ANIM button. Make sure your animation settings are the same as what I have entered: 1.0-0-30-30. These values go in the four boxes next to the ANIM button.
Now you want to make sure in the
Model tab, that
Select is set to
Joint. Just click the
Joint button.
Step Three: Creating the AnimationThe actual animating is very simple. When in Select Mode, drag your cursor around a joint attached to the bodypart you wish to move. Then you click on
Rotate. The rotate button allows you to move the body part up and down. When making Global Rotations, sometimes the mesh will grow larger and other strange things can happen. You may want to set the Rotation mode to Local. Simply click the radio button aside "Local" You can do with all joints until you find your desired pose. But remember...
NEVER MOVE the AUSKEL JOINT!!!Step Five: root_trans and root_rotRoot_Trans and Root_Rot are two very important bones. They control Global movement for a sim.
Root TransIf you were to create a pose where the sim is sitting, but you find that they are floating it is because you did not modify the root_trans!
Go to the
Joints Tab-->
root_transThe whole skeleton should turn green like in the pic above. This enables you to move the mesh around, forward, backward, up and down. You need to use the root_trans to do this. Think
translations, or movement, to help you remember this joint and not confuse it wth root_rot.
Root_RotThis joint serves a similar purpose as Root_Trans, only this joint allows you to
rotate the entire skeleton.
Step Six: Setting the KeyframeWhen you've finally found a pose you want, you need to set a keyframe. Click
Edit -->
Select All and his whole body should turn red. Then click
Animate-->
Set Keyframe, and his skeleton should turn yellow.
Looks like you're done with
Part 1 now!
---------
Extended Notes:
--*However, some female outfits will deform oddly when using animations assigned to the male skeleton. Thus it is best to use a female body for making animations intended for female sims.
--**If you see a gigantic mess everywhere, it's because your joints are too large. Make sure under
File-->
Preferences-->
Misc that
Joint Size is set to 0.010000
Part Two: Exporting the AnimationStep 1: Exporting AnimationWhen you've finally got your pose all set up, you can send it out Milkshape so we can begin building our pose box.
Go to
File-->
Export-->Scroll Down and click
Sims 2 ANIMESH ExporterStep 2: Naming the AnimationThis part is very important! You need to name your file correctly so that the game can read it.
Your anim must begin with "a-" then you can write out the rest. Also, you can only use hyphens "-". You can not use any spaces or anything else.
Sample Names:
1. a-model-dirtman
2. a-gun-shoot-gardener
3. a-sim-sim-do-something
4. a-wordsalljumbledtogethernohyphen
Get the idea?
Step 2: Export OptionsAfter you save the file, a dialog box should appear:
Look at the image and make sure that you have the same setting as I do. Click
ExportNow you're done with
Part 2!
In
Part 3 we will finally build our pose box in SimPE...
Part 3: Building the Pose BoxStep 1: Cloning our ObjectOpen up SimPE now. Don't be bothered by the interface change, I was hopping between two different computers. lol One has Vista, other has a Windows 98 taskbar.
Anyways.....you want to click on the little paper icon in the top corner to create a new package file. Then select the tab that says "Object Workshop." Then click
Start.
It will take a little while to load up all the items.
Now scroll down until you find the "Unknown" category and select that. Hit the letter "P" on your keyboard to jump you down a few spaces. Then search for an object called "Paul's Reaction Test Object." This is the best object to use when making pose hacks. Then click
NextMake sure you have the same settings checked as what I have up above. Then click
NextThe Scenegraph Wizard will pop up. Make sure you do not use the underscore "_" when renaming your object. You want to give it a unique name that describes your object. I called mine "jasumi-tutorial-anim-hack." Then hit
Update and
OK.
Another Dialog Box will appear asking you to save your object. Give it a unique name as well, and try to use your own name or username with naming the file. Save this to your Downloads folder.
Step Two: Updating the GUIDThis step is very important. If you make any changes, and then update your GUID later the object will not work. You need to update the GUID immediately after your initial save.
Click on the
Plugin View tab. Click
get GUID.
Again, ignore the interface change lol
Now another dialog box should have popped up. If you've never used SimPE to make objects before, click on register new user. Then follow the steps to registering an account. If you have an account then simply log in, or you may already be logged in.
The New Object tab should be open. Change the name to something unique (but memorable) and then hit
Register ObjectThen click
Update, then click
Commit, and then
Save.
Step Three: Creating our Animation PackageNow we need to create a new package where we can store the animation.
Click on the Paper Icon to create a new package file.
Then click
Add (the blue and yellow icon with the folder); you could also right click and select
Add A new dialog box should pop up.
Search for your animation (the one you named in Part 2) and hit
OpenYou should see this afterward.
Click on the
Resource tab, and in the drop-down menu select "Animation Resource"
Now click on the
Plugin View tab. Click a little button called "fix TGI". Then
Save. Name your package something unique but memorable, try including your username, and remember to only use hyphens.
Now copy the data under
Filename. Do
not copy the _anim part or it will not work. Hit Ctrl+C to copy the text.
Step Four: Editing TextlistNow open your hack again, the one we cloned from Paul's Reaction Test Object.
Select
Textlists from the AllRes List, and then select
Anims AdultNow we select the first filename under textlists. Mine says "a-reaction-jasumi-tutorial-anim-hack" and then click
Add.
In the clone, your want to paste (Ctrl + V) the text we coped from the other file. Your animation's name should pop up in the 2nd line now.
Step Five: Adding New Pie StringNow we need to add a new Pie String for our animation. The Pie String is the the text that shows up in the game when we click on the box.
Now click on
Pie Menu Strings in the AllRes list. Then click on
[Pie Menu Strings] in the Name section.
Here you want to scroll all the way down to the bottom. You want to highlight the string
Pet Reactions and hit
Add. Then select the new string, and hit
Add again. You can rename these strings to be whatever you want to see in-game. Just highlight the line of text and change the value in String.
The slash "/" symbol will make second-level strings. Like with the pose hacks, in-game first you click male then you click the pose you want, then you click start. Make sure that you have both
start and
stop file names. This is very important.
If you name your first String "Man.../Thumbs Up.../Start"
The 2nd one must be "Man.../Thumbs Up.../Stop"
When you're done, hit
Default Lang Only then
Commit File. Save.
Step Six: Coding the BHAVsNow click on Behavior Funtion (BHAV) in AllREs and you should see this:
Now click on
Funtion - Init and click on the clone button. It is the 5th one over from Add Button. If you hover your cursor over the right button, it should say "clone" or "duplicate"
Now select your cloned
Funtion - Init. It will be italicized. Click on the
Resource Tab. Here we need to change the resource so that our new function does not override the other ones. In the instance, type in the same value as the one in the picture. Then hit
force commit. then save.
Click on the
Plugin View tab. Under File name, call your BHAV "Start - ()" You can fill whatever you want between the parenthesis. But you must add "Start - " to the name of your BHAV.
Now highlight the first data block. You want to enter the save values as what I have on the right. It should look like the picture above. Only change the
OpCode,
True Target,
False Target, and
Operands. Then hit
Commit File. Save.
Now select the 2nd block of text. Here is where we will enter our data values. Copy the same values as what I have in the image. The Operands is important to notice. The
first square under operands is where the BHAV will call your animation. To know what to type in this block, reference the Text List. It will say right next to your animation what the Operand is.
Operands:
All the Operands are listed in the column under the "#" symbol. The Operand is the last two letters in that string.
For instance, the operand for "a-reaction-jasumi-tutorial-anim-hack" is 00. For our first animation, we will enter 01 as the Operand.
After you have typed in the values for our BHAV, hit
Commit File. Save.
Now clone the "Start - ...." BHAV that we created earlier. Change the "Start - " in filename to "Stop - "
Highlight the 1st block of text and hit the
Delete button.
Copy the same values as what I have above. Make sure your operands match up everytime you start a new BHAV.
Click the
Resource tab. We want to change our instance value from 2F to 30. You never want two BHAVs to have the same instance number, or one will override the other in-game. Hit
force commit. Save.
Step Seven: Changing the Pie Menu FunctionNow we need to link up our BHAV with our Pie Menu String.
Select
Pie Menu Functions-->
Reaction Test Interaction Table. You should see something like the above image.
Highlight
Pet Reactions, then click
AddDespite what my image says make sure that only
adults,
teens, and
elders are ticked in the dialog box. lol Big Dogs, Cats, and Visitors should
not be ticked.
Now in the Pie String ID drop-down find your "start" pie string.
Under
Action BHAV click the arrow and search for your "Start - ..." BHAV in the dialog box.
Then click
Add and repeat for your Stop BHAV, like the image below.
Hit
Commit File. Save.
Step Nine: Fixing the CategoryNow we want our pose box to show up in the right category.
Select Object Data from AllRes, and the Reaction Test. Tick the places you want your box to show up at.
Step Ten: Changing the ImageIf you want to change your image, click on Texture Image from AllRes, then the name of your texture under
Name. Mine is called "jasumi-tutorial-anim-hack_txtr"
Simply click the import button and find a suitable image. Make sure it is the right size, and that you update the other image files as well.
Well there you have it. Hit
Save one last time and you should be done!
If you have any issues, or would like me to expand upon something, think I made a typo, or whatever.....ask in this thread and I will answer. Or if I'm in the chat, you can ask me there (which I would prefer).
