Replacing Group ID in Reader. Is it possible?

[SimFox]

I've run into odd problem.
In one of my models Group ID of texture in s3D model is wrong - one of the games own. As a result model shows in the game and Lot Editor as a frag,ment of the Maxis buildings. Here is a screenshot from iLive Reader that illustrate the nature of the problem:



I wonder is there a way to fix this issue. I tried to change the Group ID to the proper one but the field sort of grayed out/unresponsive ...

[wouanagaine]

reader is buggy with some Texture ID, try to see if your model show correctly in LE and game before changing anything

[SimFox]

well, I've mentioned that it shouws exactly the same way in Game and LE.
In fact in iLive Reader it shows fine. See the right bottom part. This is a reason I didn't spot this issue till I tried to place in in LE although i Had to do some tweaking in iLive Reader.
I assume error occurred during the original LOD export in GMAX BAT since it is the only part that deals with creating S3D models, placing them into SC4Modle container and does assignment of TGI to all elements.
So I assume another export of LODs might fix that, since this in just one of many trees i've exported and all once before this one and few after turned out just fine (well relatively fine, but that's another issue)

I was just wondering if I could just edit the Group ID ot texture withing the s3D... I would only need to do few files...

[Diggis]

This is because you don't have the building names script update from the maxis site, so instead of generating new GIDs for each render it is creating new IID's.  I think Tage knows how to achieve what you are after.

[SimFox]

Diggis, you are correct in that when I export new LOD from GMAX it only alteres the Instance ID and keeps Type and Group as before.
But at this case this isn't the issue. as you can see the Group ID shown in s3D (0x1abe787d) is different (one from game itself) then ones used in all of my models (0x135c6ca8).

The script you´re talking about is ModelNames.ms in Scripts Folder of GMAX BAT, right? I have one... or should there be some new er version? How do I check what version I have I don't see any info in the script itself...

[Diggis]

I did see that issue with the GID's not matching, and not really sure whats with that, but I am surprised that you haven't had more issues already.  The Maxis models all have High IID's so the more you try the worse this is going to get.

Go to the offical SC4 Site and under the BAT page is a small note saying to update your modelnames.ms file, with a link to the new script.  If you don't know about this then I'm picking you still have the original one.   

[Andreas]

As for the original question: You can batch edit the group ID (or any other TGI value) by selecting "Tools/TGI Editor" and then enter the desired ID in the box at the top. Use "#" as a placeholder. Then select the files that should be affected in the list below (click the first, press [CTRL] and select the last for selecting all), then click "Apply".

[RippleJet]

The problem is exactly the same that bugged Superstar's Triangle Tower:
Triangle Tower by SuperStar Fixed
The conflicting textures are in SimCity_5.dat.

There was no way I could explain why the Group ID was erroneous.
And there's no way to change the Group ID.
I actually don't think the Group ID is even saved with the S3D model.
I think Reader only displays which texture it has found matching the Instance ID.
But don't ask me why custom S3D models with identical ID's don't conflict with each other...

For the Triangle Tower I instead changed the Material ID to the next available number (006F0411 in your case),
and also changed the Instance ID of the corresponding FSH texture to match that number.
After I changed those ID's in Reader, the Group ID automatically changed to point to the correct FSH file.

[callagrafx]

In fact in iLive Reader it shows fine. See the right bottom part. This is a reason I didn't spot this issue till I tried to place in in LE although i Had to do some tweaking in iLive Reader.

This is because Ilive does not load all the plugins (inc. the maxis dats) into memory so cannot check whether a conflict occurs...And this is why you should always check the model in LE straight after export, before you do any modding.    Be much quicker to re-export...

[Jonathan]

That would change the FSH file GID, not the Texture GID in the S3D.

Like Diggis said it is most likely to do with the export from gmax.

[SimFox]

Thank you all for you attention and help!
Problem solved.

RippleJet your solution worked like a charm! AGAIN!

Diggis, I just downloaded the new ModelNames.ms script and I can see that it is different than one I use currently. I'll replace it and see what new export IDs shall look like. I was actually wondering if there was a limited number of the Models that could be exported as I saw the numbers in IID climb high and close to the HEX limit... The new Script looks quite interesting inside...

Warrior, it actually did work, after I did as per Ripple's instructions proper Group ID miraculously appeared, well after save and relaod of the file.

Callagrafx, not quite so... in a sense that, just as picture showed ilIver reader does show the problem but only when you are checking the Mats tab of S3D model file.
But this wasn't the first issue with all these trees.
The original was due to MAX BAT making mistake in calculating the size of the output window. So the set of Zoom3 FSH turned out to be 64 pixel wide instead of needed 32. so naturally the FSH were "compressed" and looked very skinny. This is a mild version of the same problem that makes BAt4Max incompatible with MR in Max2009/Design. I had to either assign new UV values to vertices's of the s3D, or cut FSH's (actually rendered BMPs). I've chosen second route since the cutting is easily automated in Photoshop and index. FSH can be very quickly edited by hand or script.