Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
MTS has all free content, all the time. Find out how YOU can help to keep it running. Tell me how...

*Universal* Rooftop Antenna in Three Sizes, with Slots

by Sophie-David Posted 31st Dec 2007 at 2:30 PM - Updated 4th Apr 2013 at 7:31 PM by Sophie-David : Made title more explicit
 
38 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 31 Feedback Posts, 6 Thanks Posts
Hide Thanks Posts for this thread (Show only feedback)
Page 1 of 2
Instructor
#2 Old 1st Jan 2008 at 3:20 PM
Interesting idea!
Thank You for sharing with us!

My DEVIANTART profile
Scholar
#3 Old 1st Jan 2008 at 4:48 PM
Ah the antenna finally !! Usually I'm not fond of television stuff but this time with all this realisation (recolorable, mixable, realistic, correct polys... ) and all this time of work, I have to thank you ! Really a lot of thanks Sophie-David !

All of nature is within us and we are part of all nature (Chief White Cloud)
Theorist
Original Poster
#4 Old 1st Jan 2008 at 4:57 PM
Thank you for the encouragement, kriselt and Mihura. And thanks again Mihura for your patient work at translation!

I am looking forward to using the ice recolour at one of my space colonies. I may just spoil myself and actually play the game for a change.
Lab Assistant
#5 Old 1st Jan 2008 at 9:45 PM
These are cool looking ! Thanks for sharing!
Theorist
Original Poster
#6 Old 1st Jan 2008 at 11:24 PM
Thank you swmeek. Yes I agree, Yagis are cool looking!
Alchemist
#7 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 7:59 AM
A very good idea, looks so cool and I just imagine the birds settling down on it! Thanks,
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 11:57 AM
Great! I could use these to make my Houses more realistic. Thanx!

Any requests, questions or queries just send them too [email protected]
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 12:00 PM
Actually. I would be interested in making a version that doesn't require seasons, if i gave credit to your one of course, if thats ok?

Any requests, questions or queries just send them too [email protected]
Test Subject
#10 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 1:45 PM
Id like to download this and so would many other people but the zip is corrupted any chance of a fixed zip please?
Theorist
Original Poster
#11 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 3:30 PM
Quote: Originally posted by DJSteveQ
Id like to download this and so would many other people but the zip is corrupted any chance of a fixed zip please?
As a test, I just downloaded and extracted the zip without problem. Several people have reported it working in-game.

The zip itself is fine but sometimes the download process can cause corruption when the servers are busy. The typical symptom of this is that the download completes almost instantly and you find that the archive is empty or only partially there. You will know the file has been successfully downloaded if it contains exactly 954,705 bytes.
Theorist
Original Poster
#12 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 8:58 PM Last edited by Sophie-David : 6th Jan 2008 at 10:44 PM.
Default Plans for a Base Game Rooftop Antenna - Now Complete!
Quote: Originally posted by webmessia
Actually. I would be interested in making a version that doesn't require seasons, if i gave credit to your one of course, if thats ok?
This antenna came out of the need for a realistic finish to my current contest entry (in the moderation queue at the moment) which is an interpretation of an actual country house in France that has a rooftop antenna. Since this project - La Maison Béarnaise - requires Seasons and Nightlife, it was obvious that the lightning rod would make an ideal base object. It has the big advantage of being sensitive to a roof's location and slope - i.e. it "knows" that the roof is actually there. A bonus of using the lightning rod is that it gives Seasons players an alternative to putting a lightning rod on every house.

Yes, I am a firm believer in making basic objects such as this base game compatible. I have a good idea how it might be done and plan to have one released by month end. So I would rather you not make another one using this mesh, at least until you see how mine turns out.

If you use your own mesh well that is a different matter. On the other hand there are so many other basic objects in the Sims 2 that need either improvement or to be created from scratch that is seems a shame to devote the many hours required to duplicating this effort. So please wait and see...

BTW, there are three beam type antennas available that are base game compatible, one by frillen and two by Sim2Lew, with a vertically polarized one here. They are not however rooftop compatible, which is what I wanted.
Theorist
Original Poster
#13 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 9:08 PM
Quote: Originally posted by verenaheu
A very good idea, looks so cool and I just imagine the birds settling down on it! Thanks,
Yes, that would be delightful! I see that FreeTime will having free-flying wild birds in it, but I suspect they will want nothing to do with this antenna!
Theorist
Original Poster
#14 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 9:19 PM
Default Lightning Strike Anyone?
If anyone manages to capture a direct hit lightning strike on this antenna and could post a picture here that would be great fun to see! I gave it a try last night, but could not even get a lightning storm to happen. Of course, that may be something to do with testing it in a low atmosphere space colony!
Scholar
#15 Old 2nd Jan 2008 at 10:41 PM
I've try too Sophie-David but without success for now. It's a long road.

All of nature is within us and we are part of all nature (Chief White Cloud)
Theorist
Original Poster
#16 Old 3rd Jan 2008 at 5:43 AM Last edited by Sophie-David : 6th Jan 2008 at 10:52 PM. Reason: Updated with further information on the lightning rod
OK, I picked up Paladin's "Wrath of the Gods" weather controller, which has the ability to specifically cause lightning storms. I put one of my antennas to extensive tests and found that lightning would strike everywhere but the antenna (if only it were that way in real life it would make my job a lot easier). Therefore please do not rely on this antenna as a replacement lightning rod. I will be looking into making the antenna more attractive to lightning, but am not sure it will be possible.

Update: the lightning rod (and effective January 6 the antennas), actually attracts lightning quite nicely, *provided* it is located on a flat roof or on the ground. It appears that objects placed on the roof are considered by the game to be within the building: lightning is not permited to strike objects located within the building.
Test Subject
#17 Old 3rd Jan 2008 at 12:32 PM
It seems to be working now SD, i managed to download it and install it fine.
Theorist
Original Poster
#18 Old 3rd Jan 2008 at 2:49 PM
Good news! Thanks for getting back to me Steve.
Theorist
Original Poster
#19 Old 3rd Jan 2008 at 4:57 PM
Default So What's the Deal with the Lightning Rod?
This morning I tested the original Seasons lightning rod in a hack-free AnyGameStarter environment containing just Seasons and Nightlife and got exactly the same results as I did with my antenna. The lightning would strike everywhere but the lightning rod.

Is this how it is supposed to work, the house itself is protected by the lightning rod, so instead the lightning hits all the objects - especially the trees - in your yard? This seems to be a very unrealistic way to code a lightning rod!
Scholar
#20 Old 3rd Jan 2008 at 7:39 PM
I have to test this Paladin wrath Sophie-David but (in reality) if lightnings strike the lightning rod it doen't strike elsewere right ?

For the snow I place the screens. No snow on it even when all is covered but it's the same for this (famous ) lightning rod.



So a Maxis will ? :p

All of nature is within us and we are part of all nature (Chief White Cloud)
Theorist
Original Poster
#21 Old 3rd Jan 2008 at 7:58 PM
Thank you Mihura, what beautiful pictures! I have never seen snow so deep in my games - the house and roof are completely obscured.

Yes, antennas - and lightning rods - do ice up in this reality, but are typically too round and slippery to actually hold snow. In my job in communications technology it is the ice that can cause us a big problem, because it blocks the radio energy from reaching or being radiated by the antenna.

Yes, I would certainly expect lightning to be attracted to a lightning rod - and unfortunately also to an antenna, unless a lightning rod is protecting it. I would have thought that Maxis would have made their lightning rod the same, but from tests so far it appears that lightning avoids the lightning rod. If that is true then the antenna is working properly as a Seasons lightning rod, because lightning certainly never strikes it!
Theorist
Original Poster
#22 Old 4th Jan 2008 at 2:23 AM
Default File Update: January 3, 2007
The object packages - SDrooftopantenna_master.package, SDrooftopantenna_medium.package and SDrooftopantenna_small.package - have been updated. Minor changes were made so that the lightning strike BHAV code specifically recognizes the antenna as a replacement lightning rod.

As I suspected, this has made absolutely no visible difference to the game: the antenna continues to be avoided by lightning strikes just the same as the Seasons lightning rod is avoided by lightning strikes. Possibly this is exactly what Maxis intended the lightning rod to do - or there is a bug in their lightning code.

So is it worth downloading this update? Personally I would not bother: the change appears to be theoretical rather than practical.
Theorist
Original Poster
#23 Old 6th Jan 2008 at 10:21 PM Last edited by Sophie-David : 7th Jan 2008 at 12:26 AM. Reason: Obsessive-compulsive editing
Default Jan. 6/08 Update: Universal Antenna, Lightning Attractive
The rooftop antennas are now compatible with the Base Game and all expansions. For Seasons and later expansions the antennas may be placed anywhere on a sloping roof directly, similar to the way that the lightning rod may be placed. For users of the Base Game through to Pets, the game's roof works in a different manner - this is nothing to do with the antennas themselves - and objects cannot be placed directly on the roof.

There is however a practical workaround that uses JohnBrehaut1's OMSPs, particularly the bookcase models from this set. The following procedure will allow these antennas to appear on the roof:

1) Make sure that you are outside the house, with your view at the highest level (use PageUp or the mouse controls) and that the roof is visible.

2) Place a suitably sized OMSP on the ground. The height that you choose will depend on how high the roof is, and where on the roof you wish to place the antenna. You may have to experiment a bit. Note that antennas are often not placed right at the peak of a roof, so as to protect them from the weather.

3) Place the antenna on the top of the OMSP, as in the attached picture.

4) You may wish to recolour the OMSP invisible at this point. This is optional, because it is a matter of taste whether you want the OMSP to show through the roof of not. They actually make quite convincing mounting platforms.

5) Now press Control-Shift-C and enter boolProp snapObjectsToGrid false.

6) Also enter move_objects on.

7) If you are using any of the expansion packs you may wish to enter boolProp allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true which will allow you to rotate the antenna to an 45 degree angle, if desired.

8) Now move the OMSP, with the antenna on it, to a suitable location within the roofed area, as shown in the attached picture.

This procedure is quite a bit easier to do than to describe or read about. Obviously if the roof is enclosing an attic room you will need to place the OMSP in an unused area.
Screenshots
Test Subject
#24 Old 6th Jan 2008 at 11:23 PM
This is just brilliant. Thank you!
Theorist
Original Poster
#25 Old 7th Jan 2008 at 12:29 AM
Thank you for the encouragement!
Page 1 of 2