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Mad Poster
#26 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 3:21 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
Otherwise, you should be able to use your google skills to find something or other that will translate hex code into decimal numbers for you.


http://www.hexadecimaldictionary.co...decimal/0x0032/


Or...faster, but less complete :
http://www.binaryhexconverter.com/h...cimal-converter

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
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Mad Poster
#27 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 3:29 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Rosebine
Who can live without HomeCrafterPlus !


me apparently. I've heard of it, but don't know what it is.

"Fear not little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom". Luke 12:32 Chris Hatch's family friendly files archived on SFS: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=603534 . Bulbizarre's website: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C...CoveredPortals/
Mad Poster
#28 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 4:14 PM
Well, when you want to create walls/floors covering, or terrain paint, THEN....you can't live without it.
If you do not create cc walls, floors and ground cover..what would you even do with it?

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Mad Poster
#29 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 5:15 PM
Here's a couple of non-Sim specific programs I use.

SyncBackFree to take backups of my neighbourhood after I finish each household. I compress it with 7-Zip.

For most of my day-to-day (not heavy-duty) archiving, I use Bandizip. It's very user-friendly and very fast.

Most of my renaming needs are met with Advanced Renamer. Other people use Bulk Rename Utility but the UI is a bit convoluted for me.

I use RidNacs (reverse the name!) to count files and see which folders take up most space.

Since some people report the free version of FRAPS will only take screenshots in BMP, I suggest those people use FastStone Photo Resizer. If you're converting to JPG, I highly suggest disabling the colour subsampling in the settings as it creates some nasty blotchy artifacts.

Empty Folder Nuker will find and remove empty folders in your Downloads folder. It probably wouldn't slow things down anyways, but it's a bit messy.

For grabbing system specifications, I recommend Speccy. I personally use HWiNFO myself but it's a bit less user-friendly.

If I think of any more I'll post them.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#30 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 5:31 PM Last edited by maxon : 11th Aug 2017 at 5:44 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
First, is it possible to create a custom careers in the latest [I]version of SimPE?
There are two tutorials, but one says it is no longer good with the newer version of SimPE. http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=51901
The other relies on photos, which are dead, and I'm guessing it isn't going to work either since this post was created before 2009, when the last SimPE program was released. (BTW, the writing portion I get, but not sure about the technical SimPE stuff): http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=170590

Works fine for me. My advice would be to use the plug in for careers. Most of what you need to do is very easy with that. You only then really have to change the GUID. I'd have to look up the complete creation process for careers myself because it's been a while (I have written a lot of careers).

Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
I'd also like to know how to make a custom painting, the kind that goes on the wall and has a positive affect on the environment. Maybe I'm using the wrong terms because my searches keep turning up information on how to make a custom easel painting. I just looked in the downloads forum and found these paintings that say they are "recolors": http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=597860 Would the same steps used in this tutorial apply? http://modthesims.info/t/102356

Depends on whether you want a new mesh or just recolours of something that already exists. What do you want to do?

Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Changing the Hunger value of a stove. I found this thread: http://modthesims.info/t/463774 See post #4 by Leefish. I was able to follow the steps she used, but I don't understand the number values. She said to change 0x0032 to 0x0096. I am guessing that these numbers are like memory cards and come in multiples such as 32, 64, 96, 128, 256, etc, but I don't know how they correlate to the hunger numbers 1-10 that we see in the game. In case I am not clear, I am wondering if 0x0032 = hunger 1 or hunger 3 or hunger 7. The same with 0x0096. I ask because I want to change my hunger 1 cooking appliances, but I don't want to raise them all the way up to hunger 10.

They're hex numbers - base 16 which is what a lot of coding uses apparently. I'll have a look at the tutorial. Hang on a minute. There are two straightforward ways to read Hex numbers - use the toggle in SimPE to display in decimal instead (caveat for that - see below) or use the calculator that comes with Windows to toggle values between Hex and decimal (it will do that). The caveat is, from what you're saying the values you're looking at might be codes rather than actual values, I'll need to check.

OK - the values 0x0032 and 0x0096 are 50 and 150 respectively which looks like the rate of hunger decrease to me. Things to do with food are usually about the change in hunger rather than the absolute value. You could consult the wiki and see if those numbers have been described.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
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Original Poster
#31 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 8:51 PM Last edited by SIMelissa : 11th Aug 2017 at 9:06 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Rosebine
http://www.hexadecimaldictionary.co...decimal/0x0032/
Or...faster, but less complete :
http://www.binaryhexconverter.com/h...cimal-converter


Ah, now I get it! Well, I don't really understand it, but I think I get the correlation. If 0x0032 is the decimal equivalent of 50, then that is 5 in the game. Is that right?

Hmmm... maybe I don't get it. When I take Leefish's suggested number of 0x00096 and plug it into the converter, I get 150. Using my thought process for a stove, that would be Hunger 15. I've only seen up to 10, but I suppose there could be a 15. Let's say I plugged in 0x000256, would that mean that each full meal would likely mean "fat" for my Sim?

Please let me know if my thought process is correct or wrong.

"Things to do with food are usually about the change in hunger rather than the absolute value."
Maxon, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "absolute value" when it comes to food, but I do get the "change in hunger" portion. I'm going to let this digest for a bit and do some playing around to see if I can see a difference in the game.
My thought is that a fish cooked on an expensive stove shouldn't be 10x more filling than a fish cooked over an open flame.

If I can figure out the Hunger, Energy, Comfort, etc scoring, on certain items, then I will likely learn how to change prices. It seems odd to have a cool looking chair with a comfort score of 10 sell for $50 or an ugly chair with a comfort score of 2 sell for $500.

Paintings -- I don't want to change an in-game painting, but I would like to have additional paintings with the same size and Environment score. I guess this would be recolor, something I've done once following the linked tutorial. I think I should practice recolor for awhile before I consider cloning (something I'm clueless about!). And I'm nowhere near thinking about meshing anything. I do have PhotoShop that I use for simple things like cropping, resizing a photo image or changing the image type.

@Maxon, which tutorial did you use that you say worked for you? Is it the Sticky tutorial with the warning at the top? If so, I'll give that a try.

So many things to learn; so few brain cells to process the info needed to learn things!
Shipwreck Island
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Original Poster
#32 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 9:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by smorbie1
me apparently. I've heard of it, but don't know what it is.

smorbie1, you wanna learn this stuff with me? We can pick a tutorial and walk through it together.

I'm kind of slow when it comes to this stuff, and I need to do something a few times then let it sink into my brain before moving on to something else.

At the top of my list to learn is:
1) new custom career
2) change Hunger, Comfort, Environment, etc on CC items
3) change price on CC items, so that it correlates better to the hunger, comfort, environment scores.

What would you like to learn? Do you have a tutorial in mind? I'd be quite happy to start my learning by using whatever program or tutorial you want to try.

So many things to learn; so few brain cells to process the info needed to learn things!
Shipwreck Island
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#33 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 10:29 PM Last edited by maxon : 11th Aug 2017 at 10:46 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Ah, now I get it! Well, I don't really understand it, but I think I get the correlation. If 0x0032 is the decimal equivalent of 50, then that is 5 in the game. Is that right?

Hmmm... maybe I don't get it. When I take Leefish's suggested number of 0x00096 and plug it into the converter, I get 150. Using my thought process for a stove, that would be Hunger 15. I've only seen up to 10, but I suppose there could be a 15. Let's say I plugged in 0x000256, would that mean that each full meal would likely mean "fat" for my Sim?

Please let me know if my thought process is correct or wrong.

No that's wrong. The number 10 is simply a ranking. The actual change seems to be hex 0x0096 which is 150 units per minute or something like that. It's how the hunger changes over time. There's no mathematical connection between the two numbers. 0x0096 does seem to be right for rank 10 cookers. I had a quick look at the cookers in game and in SimPE. EAxis seems to use four values for cookers from cheap to expensive with ratings of 1, 4, 7 and 10. The gain value in Hex for each is as follows:

Rating 1 Hex 0x0032
Rating 4 Hex 0x0064
Rating 7 Hex 0x0078
Rating 10 Hex 0x0096

So going off what Leefish said, they seem to be right and if you want to change the hunger rate for a cooker, those are the values you should use.

Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
"Things to do with food are usually about the change in hunger rather than the absolute value."
Maxon, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "absolute value" when it comes to food, but I do get the "change in hunger" portion. I'm going to let this digest for a bit and do some playing around to see if I can see a difference in the game.
My thought is that a fish cooked on an expensive stove shouldn't be 10x more filling than a fish cooked over an open flame.

Yeah, that's the point, it isn't. You seem to be reading the rating given in game as in some way mathematically connected to how filling the food is. It isn't precisely connected - it's just a rating. In fact, even if you changed the BCON value to change the rate of hunger gain, you would not see that number (10) change - it's in a completely different part of the file and you have to change that too to display properly in game but it has no effect on the hunger change. It would work even if you didn't make that change.

Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
If I can figure out the Hunger, Energy, Comfort, etc scoring, on certain items, then I will likely learn how to change prices. It seems odd to have a cool looking chair with a comfort score of 10 sell for $50 or an ugly chair with a comfort score of 2 sell for $500.

This is much simpler and is done in the OBJD. There's no connection between quality and price. You can decide the prices for yourself. I did recently post a tutorial on pricing as it happens (well, cataloguing but that includes price).

Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Paintings -- I don't want to change an in-game painting, but I would like to have additional paintings with the same size and Environment score. I guess this would be recolor, something I've done once following the linked tutorial. I think I should practice recolor for awhile before I consider cloning (something I'm clueless about!). And I'm nowhere near thinking about meshing anything. I do have PhotoShop that I use for simple things like cropping, resizing a photo image or changing the image type.

Yes, a recolour. This is simple and there are plenty of recolouring tutorials and advice around and, yes, I would advise recolouring first. Cloning is a whole other issue and usually involves meshing (that's usually the point of cloning something).

Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Maxon, which tutorial did you use that you say worked for you? Is it the Sticky tutorial with the warning at the top? If so, I'll give that a try.

Don't know, give me a link.

When I first started making careers, I used whatever one was recommended here.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
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Original Poster
#34 Old 11th Aug 2017 at 11:27 PM
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
No that's wrong. The number 10 is simply a ranking. The actual change seems to be hex 0x0096 which is 150 units per minute or something like that. It's how the hunger changes over time . . . You seem to be reading the rating given in game as in some way mathematically connected to how filling the food is. It isn't precisely connected - it's just a rating.


Yes, I thought the stove rating had something to do with how filling it was. But that's not it. The rating has to do with how slowly/quickly they become hungry again. Is that right? Sorry for being so dense. It's going to take me a minute (or a week) to wrap my head around it all.

Quote: Originally posted by maxon
This is much simpler and is done in the OBJD. There's no connection between quality and price. You can decide the prices for yourself. I did recently post a tutorial on pricing as it happens (well, cataloguing but that includes price).

I'll do a search for cataloguing and will take a look. I saw OBJD in the SimPE but have not touched that section yet. I did change the last name, and household name of one of my Sims using a Wiki tutorial -- and nothing exploded!

Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Yes, a recolour. This is simple and there are plenty of recolouring tutorials and advice around and, yes, I would advise recolouring first. Cloning is a whole other issue and usually involves meshing (that's usually the point of cloning something).

Sounds like a plan. I was able to follow Numenor's recolor tutorial for a lampshade, but I couldn't do it on my own if my life depended on it. I think I'll go back and mess with that until I have the steps figured out, then I'll move on to coloring other objects.

Quote: Originally posted by maxon
Don't know, give me a link. When I first started making careers, I used whatever one was recommended here.

There are two tutorials, the Sticky tutorial has a note at the top that says it is no longer good for use with the newer version of SimPE. http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=51901
The other relies on photos, which are dead links. That one was also created before 2009, when the new SimPE was released : http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=170590
If you say either tutorial is good to go as is, I'll give it a try.

So many things to learn; so few brain cells to process the info needed to learn things!
Shipwreck Island
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#35 Old 12th Aug 2017 at 11:23 AM Last edited by maxon : 12th Aug 2017 at 2:28 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Yes, I thought the stove rating had something to do with how filling it was. But that's not it. The rating has to do with how slowly/quickly they become hungry again. Is that right? Sorry for being so dense. It's going to take me a minute (or a week) to wrap my head around it all.

I'll answer some of your other points later because I have to go out shortly but I'll try and deal with this one. The rating as shown in the catalogue has no effect on anything - you need to get that clear. I'll try and explain using a completely different example: Usain Bolt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt).

Usain Bolt is a sprinter, as you probably know. He holds the world record for the 100m (9.58 seconds) - and for the 200m and 100m relay, as a matter of fact. Poor old Usain came third in his last major race a few days ago but, by any account, he is the fastest man in the world and, up until last week, you would be entirely correct to say he occupied rank 1 in the world. The world's no.1. Many people would say he is still the world's no.1.

So what does his world ranking tell you? It tells you two things - that he must be very fast indeed and that's because he is faster than anyone else. BUT what it doesn't tell you is how quickly he can run 100m. There's no information there about miles per hour or how many seconds it takes him.

And that's what's happening with these stoves. The rank you see in the catalogue tells you that cookers ranked 10 or 7 (the highest levels - it's the other way round to sprinters) are the better cookers which are more filling and nutricious for sims. Cookers ranked 4 are less effective and cookers ranked 1 are the least effective. So those rankings tell you something about their effectiveness but there is no information at all about exactly how effective they are - that information is contained in the BCONs and is unaffected by what the ranking says. There's no connection - just like Usain would still be the fastest man in the world even if no-one had ever seen him race - his ranking doesn't change the fact that he's bloody fast.

You could change the display you see in game - say changing the ranking of the Shineytyme cooker (currently ranked 10 - top of the heap) to 1 (equivalent to the Dialectric Ready Prep - bottom of the heap). You can do that in the OBJD. But doing so would make no difference to how filling the food from that cooker is. It would still be a rank 10 cooker even though it says rank 1.

You have to alter the BCONs - and the BCONs only - for the nutriciousness of the cooker to have an effect. As I said in my earlier post: there's no mathematical connection between the two numbers.

I hope that makes things a bit clearer.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Theorist
#36 Old 12th Aug 2017 at 11:24 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
I am vaguely familiar with the more popular user-created Sims programs, but I'm fairly clueless as to what I can do with each one.

Tell me what uses YOU have found for these programs:
Delphy's Downloads Organizer: http://modthesims.info/d/227925
Sims2Pack Clean Installer: http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com/ SimPE (might be too much to list): https://sims.ambertation.de/en/
Bodyshop: (comes with the game but you've gotta know where to look to find it)


Delphy's Downloads Organizer: I do not use this one.
Sims2Pack Clean Installer: For extracting content from sims and lots (sometimes this is the only way to get a custom outfit, hair, wall or floor someone has shared).
SimPE: Do you have a few hours for me to list things? Seriously, I use SimPE for so many things. A few of them are checking the poly count of downloaded content, tweaking mods for personal game use, creating custom majors and careers, updating items (e.g. bookcases, stoves, refrigerators) for later EP's, to re-categorize and price change items in-game, recoloring objects, custom food editing, and more recently custom food creation. Also use S3PE as well, to extract textures from Sims 3 content to use on Sims 2 creations.
Bodyshop: For making clothing, accessory and makeup recolors.

Not on your list:
HomecrafterPlus: For easy walls, flooring and terrain creating. Sometimes I use SimPE for this as well, but most of the time HomecrafterPlus is my go to.
HDCU: Double-checking that there are no potential mod conflicts.
Lot Adjuster: The name says it all.
Hoodchecker: Cleaning up neighborhood errors/issues.
JFade's Compressorizer: To keep files as small as possible.
JFade's Wardrobe Wrangler: To cleanup and/or fix CAS/body shop items. This mod has a lot of other uses though.

There are other programs I use, but these are the ones that are used on a regular basis.


“Seize the time... Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.” ― Jean-Luc Picard
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Original Poster
#37 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 7:29 PM
Well, dang! Looks like I'm a little late to the party.
I don't know anything about GUIDs and such and now with the whole SimPE forum fiasco, it looks like I won't ever learn that aspect.

Question: Is it possible to take someone else's custom career--one that I won't use--and covert it to a completely different career without a new GUID? Of course, I know it won't be something that I could upload or share due to conflicts and violations to the original designer's work. But is it something I could do and use in my own game?

The reason that I ask is because I'm hoping to create a Wild West / Prairie / Frontier type of game and would like to create a couple jobs that aren't necessarily modern or medieval in nature.

So many things to learn; so few brain cells to process the info needed to learn things!
Shipwreck Island
Mad Poster
#38 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 8:40 PM
Yes, you could. You seem to have the good idea behind why both would then be clashing with each other.
Oh, and it seems like other members have added their other tools/programs to their lists..I only tried to inform you about the ones you seemed interested in..but I use many more than these.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#39 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 8:56 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Well, dang! Looks like I'm a little late to the party.
I don't know anything about GUIDs and such and now with the whole SimPE forum fiasco, it looks like I won't ever learn that aspect.

Question: Is it possible to take someone else's custom career--one that I won't use--and covert it to a completely different career without a new GUID? Of course, I know it won't be something that I could upload or share due to conflicts and violations to the original designer's work. But is it something I could do and use in my own game?

You could just give it a random GUID- there are something like four billion combinations for Sims 2 GUIDs, and the GUID database issued them sequentially (meaning that they were given out from 0x00000001 onward). So if you generate a high random GUID, you will be okay for your own game- and the chances of it conflicting with anything anyone else has created will be slim, too.

Someone else wrote more about this here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showpost...592&postcount=2
#40 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 8:56 PM
http://modthesims.info/d/434016

CatofEvilGenius Hair Binner is a must when you're retexturing hair or just want to take out age groups.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#41 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 9:13 PM Last edited by maxon : 13th Aug 2017 at 9:32 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Well, dang! Looks like I'm a little late to the party.
I don't know anything about GUIDs and such and now with the whole SimPE forum fiasco, it looks like I won't ever learn that aspect.

Question: Is it possible to take someone else's custom career--one that I won't use--and covert it to a completely different career without a new GUID? Of course, I know it won't be something that I could upload or share due to conflicts and violations to the original designer's work. But is it something I could do and use in my own game?

The reason that I ask is because I'm hoping to create a Wild West / Prairie / Frontier type of game and would like to create a couple jobs that aren't necessarily modern or medieval in nature.

Oh yes, that's entirely doable. Get the career package file, open it in SimPE (or open SimPE and then open the file from inside SimPE), then go to Tools and open 'Bidou's Career Editor'. You'll be able to edit a lot of stuff in that (it's a pop up editing window - all fairly self-explanatory). Don't forget to save once you're done.

You can use this one if you like (http://simfileshare.net/filedetails/292966/) - it's a career I started to write but have not finished. The levels are all there but the chance cards are blank (writing chance cards is the bane of career writing - take it from me). The thing is with this one, I haven't changed anything unusual - like added a custom outfit, reward or anything, though I have worked over motives, hours, pay and so on but you'd probably want to change all those yourself anyway. It's a career for an academic.* I have the chance cards laid out somewhere, I just didn't get round to writing them. Writing chance cards is a bugger.

It has a unique GUID and is EP ready and it's unlikely I'll ever release it (it was made for a specific sim of mine) though I would ask you not to pass it about since the GUID is one of mine. Having said that, if you decide you want to release something you've made, you can always add a new GUID to it anyway.

*and any resemblance to my own career or the experiences of my friends and colleagues is entirely coincidental.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
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Original Poster
#42 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 9:22 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Rosebine
Oh, and it seems like other members have added their other tools/programs to their lists..I only tried to inform you about the ones you seemed interested in..but I use many more than these.

The tools/programs on my list were the only ones I knew about. <embarrassed; hangs head in shame; cries tears of humilation>
So please, if you know of more do list them and say what you use them for. I would love to know!
It's gonna take me awhile to get a good grasp of these tools. I'm not only green , I'm a bit slow. But I figure I need to start somewhere before the word gets out about how clueless I am and people start calling me a fool and laughing at me behind my back.

So many things to learn; so few brain cells to process the info needed to learn things!
Shipwreck Island
Mad Poster
#43 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 9:58 PM
You I tell you...
You only need most of these tools if you wish to learn to create for this game. The rest, is about maintaining your game in good health, shape.
And no one will see you as a fool, just because creating for this game is not something you know.
Though if it is something you want to learn, you are in the perfect spot to learn.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Theorist
#44 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 10:34 PM Last edited by PenelopeT : 13th Aug 2017 at 11:36 PM.
SIMelissa, no one is going to make fun of you - we all had to start somewhere. Just take your time, create a test neighborhood and have fun editing things for your own game.

There are lots of really helpful tutorials and information out there:
http://ts2tutorialdatabase.tumblr.com/SimPE
http://ts2tutorialdatabase.tumblr.com/program
http://ts2tutorialdatabase.tumblr.com/Recolouring
http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=MTS:Sims_2_Create
http://modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=8 .

It can be overwhelming when starting out, but just go at your own pace. The ability to modify your own game to suit your taste/playstyle, definitely makes learning something new worth it.


“Seize the time... Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.” ― Jean-Luc Picard
Mad Poster
#45 Old 13th Aug 2017 at 10:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by PenelopeT
It can be overwhelming when starting out, but just go at your own pace. The ability to modify your own game to suit your taste/playstyle, definitely makes learning something new worth it.

Exactly! So....

I wrote a tutorial about texture mapping..ions ago (2008!!!)if you are interested..and planing on creating objects/clothing meshes with Milkshape 3D...
Don't look at my grammar, I was not as good in English as i *think* I am now. lol
http://wiki.thesimsresource.com/ind...th_Milkshape_3D

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Mad Poster
#46 Old 14th Aug 2017 at 12:29 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 14th Aug 2017 at 8:43 PM.
SIMelissa, Everyone has to start somewhere. Personally, I started out making default replacement infant outfits back in 2007 (disregarding my horrendrous first Paint projects in Bodyshop - because those probably ended up in the trash bin...), and I've had a very steep learning curve since then.

My first tip is to start simple, so you get to know the programs. When you know the basics and how to navigate the programs, you can increase the difficulty. And there's nothing wrong in failing with a project, because the more you fail, the more you learn from your mistakes. When you've learned something through a bit of trial and failure, you soon learn to recognize problems or mistakes, and how to solve them.

I still make mistakes - but every time I do, I don't give up until I figure out what's wrong. Today, for instance, I was recategorizing some clothes, and had to delete a borked bumpmap. I had a moment when the outfit showed up naked on a custom mesh - until I realized I'd deleted the wrong texture... *facepalm* - so yeah... everyone makes mistakes . The amount of body-less or exploded meshes, objects turned sideways (yup, that's a thing), game crashing because of borked GUIDs, slots that makes things hover in mid-air, and whatnots I've experienced the past years is proof of that...

My second tip (for when you've checked out the programs and know how to navigate the basic tools) is to once in a while find a project that you reeeeeally want in your game, one that challenges you to learn something new. Doesn't have to be something big - it's always smart to start simple, and don't bite over more than you can handle. Start with recolors, or maybe a simple mod to get a feel for the programs. Then perhaps learn to make a body mesh or object mesh. When you know how to make an object mesh, you can learn how to repository a slave mesh to it, or how to add a new subset. When you know those things, maybe learn how to edit the TXMT, or how to add slots.
Forum Resident
Original Poster
#47 Old 14th Aug 2017 at 2:07 AM Last edited by SIMelissa : 14th Aug 2017 at 2:29 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by maxon
You can use this one if you like (http://simfileshare.net/filedetails/292966/) - it's a career I started to write but have not finished. The levels are all there but the chance cards are blank (writing chance cards is the bane of career writing - take it from me). .


This is great! I downloaded it already and will take a look at it tomorrow.

BTW, my previous post was mostly in jest and may not have come across as intended. I have a very dry sense of humor and, after nearly 60 years on this planet, I have no problem making myself the butt of the joke. I'm not hugely embarrassed by not knowing how to mod Sim-stuff and I don't really think anyone here would point fingers at my back and fall down giggling. Although, I do feel like I've entered the *real* fun super late in the game. It's like everyone else is doing flips off the high dive and I'm in the kiddie pool wondering if I will survive without my arm floaties. :-)

So many things to learn; so few brain cells to process the info needed to learn things!
Shipwreck Island
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#48 Old 14th Aug 2017 at 2:23 AM
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
This is great! I downloaded it already and will take a look at it tomorrow.

If you want my advice, and backing up what the others are saying, if I were you I would start with editing that career to see if you can make it how you want and possibly recolouring a simple object like a painting which is really straightforward. Editing BCONs is a bit more advanced and I'd leave that till you're a bit more familiar with SimPE.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Field Researcher
#49 Old 14th Aug 2017 at 4:19 AM
I vote with Maxon. Start simple. Read a tutorial about the Object Workshop tool of SimPE and start with a simple recolor of a Maxis object. Paintings are pretty simple, either through the PhotoStudio tool in SimPE, or using the Object Workshop. You could practice the Object Workshop steps with a series of painting recolors until you have the steps fairly well memorized. And a painting is just a 2D image that is displayed 2D in the game, so you can create them without worrying about shadows, wrinkles, folds and other little details that might distract you on 3D objects, which you can work at after you know all the steps.

I've never edited or created a career, because that's a lot of writing, lol. I keep wanting to make a realistic edit of the Music Career, though. Very few "rock gods" in real life were ever music teachers, concert pianists or symphony conductors.
Mad Poster
#50 Old 19th Aug 2017 at 2:17 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 19th Aug 2017 at 2:31 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by SIMelissa
Paintings -- I don't want to change an in-game painting, but I would like to have additional paintings with the same size and Environment score. I guess this would be recolor, something I've done once following the linked tutorial. I think I should practice recolor for awhile before I consider cloning (something I'm clueless about!). And I'm nowhere near thinking about meshing anything. I do have PhotoShop that I use for simple things like cropping, resizing a photo image or changing the image type.

@Maxon, which tutorial did you use that you say worked for you? Is it the Sticky tutorial with the warning at the top? If so, I'll give that a try.


Recoloring objects is one of the easiest things you can do with SimPE, so that's a good beginner project.

You need:
- A tutorial. Recoloring a painting is no different from recoloring any other object, so almost any covering basic object recoloring and uses Object Workshop will do (some of the old painting tutorials use the photostudio, so stay away from those if you want to also know how to recolor other objects).
- a mesh (needs to be recolorable - if you're unsure and don't know how to check in SimPE, check ingame with the recoloring tool)
- Photoshop or Gimp (anything that gives a better result than Paint, can work with layers, and can convert to PNG files)
- SimPE - The DXT tools for SimPE (the link shows you how to install and has a link to Nvidia). This gives you better quality textures. If you can't find a tutorial that shows how to use the tools, you can see how here (not an object recolor tutorial, but the DXT steps are mostly the same).

To boil it down, open the Object Workshop in SimPE, find the mesh ("open" is for custom meshes outside of the game, "start" is for ingame meshes), choose "recolor" in the dropdown list, choose the subsets if there are more than one, extract the texture, edit it in Photoshop and export as png, import as DXT3 or 5, click "commit" and save the file.

This tutorial looks alright and has the DDS tools explanation (though I do recommend using DXT3 because it gives a better result than DXT1. Use DXT5 for anything with transparency) - http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=102356
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