Skin File Validation performs several validation functions on
most skin files. It does not internally check the structure of mesh (*.skn)
files but using them in SimEnhancer 3D performs the structure checks on these by
necessity anyway.
It checks all texture (*.bmp) files in paths it
sees to make sure they are the correct colors (256) and dimensions (Must be a
power of 2 on each side) most files will be 128 x 128, 256 x 256, or 512 x 512.
A few will be less and you might see higher however if you do I would scale it
down since the extra detail will not make any noticeable difference in the game
and will add to the resources required to run the game. Each jump is about 4
times as much resources than the previous (Not exactly because the header is not
4 times as big). This is just an approximation but you can easily see how larger
files may begin effecting performance. Anyway, If the colors are incorrect then
you can double click the texture listed to bring up a bmp edit window where an
automatic conversion to 256 colors is performed. Make sure it still looks good
and then save it. Here is an example of a 24 bit to 8 bit (256 colors)
conversion.
As you can see they are almost identical. Yours might not be since this was done
by converting an image to 24 bit that was already 256 colors for demonstration
purposes.
If you save at this point it will save the modified
file and back up the original in a sub-directory under SimEnhancer 3D. To
prevent the Backup uncheck the Backup Files box. I suggest leaving it at the
default though.
If you do not like the way the change looks just
close the window without saving.
For mesh configuration (*.cmx)
files two items are checked. These are both very common skin problems and if
they are not right will cause game crashes when they are used. I say when
because eventually the game is going to try to use them. If you are lucky it
will ignore them which is the case with the default L401 and L406 files that
have existed since Hot Date was released.
Here is a sample of 3
different problems. Actually two but one one does not have a solution. The CMX
Validation program on my site is not as smart and will usually find a solution
for this one but it will likely result in an odd looking character. (Hey at
least the game stops crashing)
The first problem found can be corrected. The file name is
"B984dog_SibHusky.cmx" so the name inside on line 5 needs to match without the
extension "B984dog_SibHusky" yet in the original it doesn't "B984dog_SibHuskie".
It is an example of a simple typo problem which is usually the problem with *.cmx
files (all three problems are just typos) (Well sort of, I did this on purpose
to demonstrate all three) In all cases SimEnhancer 3D should find the right
solution for this problem since the internal name always needs to match the
external name which is a known value.
For the second problem on line 10 there is no simple solution. The series
number does not match any files it can find. This is where SimEnhancer 3D shines
over the CMX Validation program. It would have found a match anyway but it very
likely could have been a different series and therefore a different shape than
that intended for the mesh. In this case it does not find a different series and
instead shows up in red. If you can locate a solution on your own you can change
it in this box, save it and run validation again to see if it passes. To
determine if a match looks right SimEnhancer 3D drops characters from the end of
the names and compares looking for a match. When it reaches the first underscore
it quits trying because anything before it will usually be a different series
and shape.
For the third problem on line 14 a solution was found. The problem was the
same as the previous one but the typo occurs after the series so it will usually
either be the intended mesh file or one that looks almost the same.
For some files where a solution is not found it is sometimes pretty obvious.
In this case if you study it for a minute you will see that the mesh with a
solution is a B001 series. Yet the one without a solution is B002. While you or
me may see this right off it is hard to tell a computer to find the solution
because all it knows is that the file can't be found. Even the last item was
just a guess but it was a pretty good guess due to the way it was found.
Once you correct any problems you will want to run validation again until you
get a message that no more problems were found. You will want to come back to
this any time you add any new skins to verify that they are good even if they
come from reputable places. After all we are just human and do make mistakes.
