Mod The Sims - Tutorial: Clone A Painting And Change The Texture (now wikified)

xanathon

27th Jul 2009, 9:41 PM

:new: Attached you will find a tutorial that explains the cloning of a painting and how to change the paintings texture. This will not replace ingame paintings.

The tutorial is a PDF and comes with lots of images. You will need a PDF-reader to be able to view it. Use Adobe Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader or any other reader of your choice.

If you have questions about the process please ask them here.

Please remember: Modding Sims 3 is highly experimental atm, so the way how to do this may change as the tools evolve.

Please remember: Extensive cloning may lead to a Clone War. You have been warned! :giggler:

Have fun :!:

Edit: New version online -> Typos and a highly superfluous german paragraph removed.

Edit: Tutorial - The Next Generation

This tutorial is now available in the SimsWiki (http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Sims_3:How_To_Clone_A_Painting_And_Change_the_Texture)

sweetichigodream

27th Jul 2009, 10:03 PM

Great tutorial! I will be using it later.

One thing, though, on the next-to-last page there's a paragraph in German language, you may want to change that. :)

Srikandi

28th Jul 2009, 3:26 AM

Very nicely done tutorial, and thank you for saving me the trouble ;)

The same method can be used for making recolors of almost any object with some non-CASTable regions... with a few exceptions for now, but keep checking back as the Cloner continues to evolve if you try to recolor something that doesn't currently work. The Sims 3 Object Cloner (s3oc) is still being updated almost daily. I'm assured that the steps involved in picture cloning won't be affected by updates, so the tut should remain valid, but the Cloner is getting a lot more capabilities, so I'd advise anybody using it to check for updates before each project.

The only comment I'd make on the tutorial itself is that you don't actually need to keep ALL the resources in the cloned painting in your package. Which means that after cloning and before "fixing", you can delete most of the other resources in the package; your new object will draw any resources you omit from the original, so omitting unchanged resources can keep your package size down. You need to retain the OBJD and OBJK resource and any IMG resources you modified, and you might want to retain the STBL resources so that you can edit them later instead of composing them from scratch... but that's it. Everything else can be deleted from the package in S3PE.

Xanathon, would be great if you wanted to make this into a Wiki page :D

Valencay

28th Jul 2009, 5:15 AM

Srikandi... The s3OC says we need the OBJK file too. Do we not?

Anyway, I was just wondering what kind of results people are getting now with their file sizes, because I know they were being discussed in the other thread. I've been playing around with different processes and have been getting very different results.

Currently I am doing this...

s3OC - Clone
s3PE - Delete extraneous files, replace DDS with my edit.
s3OC - Fix (changing thumbnail & catalog data). Resultant package file: 472KB

And then this...

Go back to s3PE with the fixed file, select all, export to an empty folder, start new & import all with "Compress" ticked. Package size is then reduced to 113KB.

I tested both packages in the game (deleting all caches in between) and both worked fine -thumbs, recolours, quality etc. So can I assume this is a good thing to do?

Srikandi

28th Jul 2009, 5:37 AM

Srikandi... The s3OC says we need the OBJK file too. Do we not?

Yes indeed, thanks, editing my post. And good tip on compression.

BTW, I've always done the image edit after making the object unique, instead of before... I don't think it makes any difference which step you do that at. So I do Clone (OC) -- Remove extra resources (PE) -- Fix (OC) -- Edit .dds.

Also, if you don't have the DDS viewer, it's not really a big deal to just dump all the DDSes into your editor and pick out the one you need there. Only whichever one you modify needs to be reimported.

xanathon

28th Jul 2009, 8:27 AM

I wanted to keep this simple to not overwhelm beginners. I thought about adding how to compress but left that out, I also left out how to change the STBLs to create catalog-strings for other languages.

There is always place for expansion.

As for the wiki: I'll think about it, but Mediawikis image handling is awful uncomfortable. While I like Mediawiki for it's flexibility I usually avoid to use it for image-heavy articles.

Valencay

28th Jul 2009, 4:49 PM

Well, I've just made a batch of 12 and all my compressed packages came out around 100KB, so I figure that is pretty good. I wish I'd waited a day before I started fooling around with s3OC though, because I spent hours working it all out just before this got posted. Lol. But I was doing the 3 thumbnails manually before the tutorial, so it helped anyway. Thanks Xanathon. :)

I'm glad that I learned how to do this all the hard way before the tools were ready, but boy do I love how easy it is now! In fact, the only tedious thing left is the way the lighting effects some pictures and having to check it in game and then go and re-edit the darn DDS by guess to compensate!

rian90

28th Jul 2009, 11:48 PM

I tried and it didn't work..probably my fault. I couldn't get the dds plugin for Paintshop Pro 10 to work at all so installed Gimp and I am really not familiar with Gimp at all. But I managed to finally get my poster image done. I saved the dds file and followed all the steps but when I tried it in the game, I had all this weird text...UI: blah blah at loadup and also in the game. My poster wasn't in the game and the Goth Poster was red/blue with a question mark.

When I removed the package file for my poster, it was fine again. Oh, and I did remember to delete the cache files and let the movie run so that wasn't the issue. I must have done something wrong in the naming somewhere, but not sure what.

Valencay

29th Jul 2009, 12:47 AM

I've been using GIMP and this is what I do...

1. Open the DDS file and measure painting dimensions.
2. Open/create the image I want in my preferred graphics program (Fireworks) and resize/edit/whatever then export as jpg.
3. Copy jpg. Go back to GIMP & paste. (It pastes in as a floating layer.)
4. Move it into position over the original image then "Anchor floating layer". DON'T "Flatten". (You can do this via a right-click->layers or there is a little button in the Layers toolbox.
5.Click Save AS. "Save" won't bring up the DDS dialog. Overwrite existing file to retain correct filename.
6. Select DXT1 from the DDS popup and tick generate mipmaps.

And that is it. :)

I am not an experienced GIMP user, but that is what works for me. And all my frames are recolourable with pictures displaying correctly. (Hopefully, that simplifies the GIMP learning curve for someone.)

But it sounds like something got messed up in the fixing for you because I know I had that same blue/red thing happen to me a couple of times when I was doing it all manually but I'm not sure how it could happen with the Cloner. Somehow, your package must still be using the original DDS filename, I think. Is it possible that you edited the file from the original clone and imported it (with the same name) to the package AFTER you "Fixed" it, instead of before?

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 1:33 AM

I am pretty sure I didn't edit the file from the original clone since I copied and saved to a separate folder and the changed name was the one in my game files (Mod). So not sure what happened.

Thanks for the GIMP info. I tried getting the PSP program to work again but no luck. It is a downloaded (Paid for) copy of PSP X and it appears it may be installing the trial version and not giving me the opportunity to put in my key. I called Corel but they have no idea what to do with me. I guess its an older version of the software.

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 2:34 AM

Okay, I think I found the problem. When I import the new dds file, it appears to replace the old one...at least the old one has a line through it. However, after I save and then go back and check on it, the old dds file is back in there. So basically, its not saving the new dds file when I click on save in S3pe.

Valencay

29th Jul 2009, 2:47 AM

When you have imported the new one, try using "save as" for the updated package, not save, and giving it a new name.

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 4:48 AM

Okay, will try that. Thanks.

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 5:02 AM

I figured it out I think. When I was importing the file, it was not replacing the duplicate but instead leaving two identically named files. I manually deleted the old file and am going to see if they show up in the game okay.

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 5:47 AM

It worked! Yay! It looks great in the game too. Thanks to all of you for your great tutorials and help.

Pynewacket

29th Jul 2009, 3:25 PM

Hey thanks a lot for this tutorial, I've been wanting to make my own paintings since I first got the game. You might want to mention in your tutorial about the ViewDDS app. It took me a while to figure out I needed something else besides what was listed in the tutorial since I'm a total noob at modding :)

One question I do have though is how to get the nice thumbnails like the Sims default. I've seen other custom paintings that have it as well and those show the painting within the default frame whereas mine is just this flat image. I know you say in your tutorial we can choose which one we'd like but how?

Thanks again for writing such a clear, easy to follow tutorial that even I managed to make a painting!

xanathon

29th Jul 2009, 4:19 PM

You're welcome.

ViewDDS is mentioned in the list of software you need in the first chapter.

You should transform your images to perspective view in your graphics editing software if you want the isometric look in the thumbnail.

Pynewacket

29th Jul 2009, 5:26 PM

Ah so it is! I just read down the list at every bullet and didn't read to end of the sentence :)

Yes I'm aware of perspective view but I was referring to the thumbnails that show the painting inside the sims frame. Some custom paintings I downloaded from simsartgallery all show thumbs exactly like the sims defaults and I thought maybe there was a way to do this other than the workaround in the graphics editor and applying a frame around it.

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

xanathon

29th Jul 2009, 9:48 PM

Do a screenshot of the painting in the frame, edit it and import it into the package..?

Srikandi

29th Jul 2009, 10:21 PM

One question I do have though is how to get the nice thumbnails like the Sims default. I've seen other custom paintings that have it as well and those show the painting within the default frame whereas mine is just this flat image. I know you say in your tutorial we can choose which one we'd like but how?

The way to get the game to autogenerate thumbnails is to remove the defaults from the package. I.E. use s3PE to remove all THUM resources. Voila -- new thumbnails by magic. That's something else that could be added to the tut.

Of course, if you want something different for your thumbs, you can edit the .png instead.

If you're making your painting or other recolor for upload here, you would probably want to follow the procedure I described above and delete extraneous resources to keep size down. Bearing in mind that MTS only accepts original or sims-related art in paintings.

Also, there's a new patch-compatible version of the Cloner up today, which also includes new compression code to make your object smaller. You definitely want to update.

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 10:36 PM

Srikandi

29th Jul 2009, 10:44 PM

I have an odd question. Is there any rules about using artwork found on the web in Sims paintings? I have found so much good stuff but not sure if I can share any paintings I make with this artwork. Thanks.

That's a complicated question ;) Unless the artwork is explicitly declared to be copyright-free, somebody does hold the copyright, and that person could contact you and ask you to remove anything you make with their art.

An attorney friend tells me that in the case of a photograph on the web of a painting produced non-digitally, the copyright holder for the digital image is not the artist, it's the photographer -- unless the artist paid the photographer or otherwise explicitly retained copyright.

If you're seriously concerned, you can contact the website owner and try to obtain copyright information and/or permissions for the images you want to use. I contacted a couple of artists for permission for images I wanted to use in patterns, and was turned down *shrug*, so I didn't use em, and focused on material I was sure was open source.

Not everybody does this, though... obviously ;)

As I said above, however, on THIS site, we only accept painting mods that are original art, sims-related, or modified in some significant fashion to fit the game. That's not because of copyright, but because otherwise we'd have a million uploads of everybody's favorite picture; and really, with the cloner, it takes about five minutes to do a painting mod.

rian90

29th Jul 2009, 11:44 PM

Thanks, Srikandi. I was not thinking of posting them anywhere for download but they might be in houses I upload..if I were to upload a house which is probably not likely since I haven't done that yet. :)

I have found a lot of open source stuff so that works too.

Pynewacket

30th Jul 2009, 5:58 AM

Thanks Srikandi, that did the trick! I was considering doing what xanathon said above but for some reason I didn't think that's how others got those thumbnails - it was too much of a workaround.

Will the new version of Cloner work if I haven't patched my game yet? I'm holding off until some of my favourite mods are also updated.

As for copyright, I don't think that would be an issue rian90 with all the adidas and nike t shirts available already but it's always nice to ask the artist and get permission.

Valencay

30th Jul 2009, 12:03 PM

Rian, the easiest way to make sure you aren't breaching anyone's copyright without all the hassle of trying to find contact details to ask for permission is to look for Creative Commons licenses.

At Flickr, you can search by specific CC licenses and you can use any of them for S3 stuff except the ones that specify "No Derivatives" provided you meet the other criteria specified. An "Attribution" license, for example, just means you need to provide a link to the original creator which, really, any polite human being would do anyway. :)

This is the page which links to the various Flickr CC license-specific searches... http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/. And it isn't all photos. If you are looking for paintings, just add that as a search term.

A lot of DeviantART artists use CC licenses too, but I don't think they have license-specific searching. (I could be wrong?)

Also, if you use Google image search, the advanced options have a "usage rights" box, so you can filter for images available for "reuse with modification". It isn't indexing a huge amount of stuff yet but it is getting there. Yahoo advanced image search has a licensing filter too, but it currently only does Flickr content. Basically, the search engines are all working toward doing the hard part for you. Lol.

Edited to add: I'm working on some Simlish adaptations of movie posters at the moment, which are obviously copyrighted material, but there are exceptions to copyright protection under "Fair Use" laws. ("Fair Dealing" here in Australia.)

Edited again and I can't believe I forgot to mention... Wikimedia Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/). Nearly everything there is either Public Domain (no copyright at all) or CC and all images have very clear descriptions of the copyright status. The database is huge, and if you are looking for older works like famous paintings etc, you will find and endless supply.

Hooray for Copyleft! :)

Inge Jones

30th Jul 2009, 12:35 PM

Will the new version of Cloner work if I haven't patched my game yet?

The cloner is designed to be backwards compatible. On the other hand it hasn't been tested for very long yet, so if you notice anything going wrong please let us know immediately, preferably in the s3oc forum at Sims3Tools.

rian90

30th Jul 2009, 4:23 PM

Thank you, Valencay!

coltraz

30th Jul 2009, 7:52 PM

I am patched, I used this method today and it messed up all the text in game when I put my .package into play. All words became things like, ***UI/blahblah/Text***. I'll give this method a whirl again because there may have been something I screwed up, but does anyone know what might have caused that?

xanathon

30th Jul 2009, 8:28 PM

Yes. You did not fix the package correctly.

Or: You did not use the newest version of s3oc - the one for the patch.

Or: The method broke with the patch, I did not test that yet. But I can't believe that...

Edit: Just tried the NEW cloner (the one for the latest patch) on the goth poster and included that into an UNPATCHED game. That worked.

rian90

31st Jul 2009, 3:17 AM

I had that happen a couple of times too. My problem was duplicate files. When you import the file at the end, it doesn't always replace the other file...It does put a line through it but if you don't click on the save (Upper left hand corner, not the lower right) right after import, it doesn't delete the file so you end up with two, hence the weird text.

Try going in and checking to see if you have two identical dds files in your package. If so, use the viewer to find the correct one and delete the other one. The correct one should have your new painting correctly displayed.

coltraz

31st Jul 2009, 3:54 AM

Where do you get this "viewer" everyone is referring to? When I click viewer is says "Application failed to start: c:\program files\viewdds\viewdds.exe/clipboard The system cannot find the file specified."

I've tried creating that directory and sticking something I downloaded off a site I found in google when typing in "dds viewer" but that was just useless. So where am I supposed to get this thing?

Srikandi

31st Jul 2009, 4:01 AM

coltraz

1st Aug 2009, 4:46 PM

http://www.simlogical.com/Sims3ToolsForum/index.php?topic=109.0

THANK you. :) Much easier.

Does anyone know a method of making the thumbnails look less horrible? In the buy catalog for other wallhangings it shows the picture on a sort of backwards tilt. I'd like my custom paintings to show up the same way, or at least close enough to it that they're not the only ones with big dumb thumbnails or big flat ones. I've tried to make my thumbnails tilt backwards like that but can't.

rian90

1st Aug 2009, 5:24 PM

Srikandi said further up in this thread that you can just delete the thumbnail files within your package and they will auto-regenerate. I haven't tried it yet but I am sure she knows what she is doing. :)

xanathon

1st Aug 2009, 6:37 PM

The method to import your own thumbnails was included for those who want more control over the look of the thumbnails. You can delete the three thumbnails from the package after the fixing process if you do not need them, they are autogenerated by the game. You may probably have to delete the thumbnail cache before they show up correct, though.

coltraz

1st Aug 2009, 7:34 PM

So the game generates a thumbnail to show your custom painting? Good. What's the thumbnail cache?

mtsimguy

2nd Aug 2009, 1:36 AM

When I click viewer is says "Application failed to start: c:\program files\viewdds\viewdds.exe/clipboard The system cannot find the file specified."

I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit and I had the same problem. I fixed it by editing the helpers.txt file in the S3PE folder to indicate where the DDS viewer is installed. For example on my computer the edited location is as follows:

dds.Viewer: C:\Program Files (x86)\ViewDDS\ViewDDS.exe

To get the actual viewer to install I had to extract the file to the desktop and cut and paste the ViewDDS folder into the C:\Program Files (x86) and give administrator permission for it to be done.

To edit the helpers.txt file I had to copy it to the desktop to be able to save the changes, and then cut and paste it back to where S3PE was installed.

What's the thumbnail cache?
I think its the ObjectThumbnails.package file found in the Douments\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Thumbnails folder.

coltraz

4th Aug 2009, 1:16 AM

Srikandi

4th Aug 2009, 2:28 AM

Cloning the same object twice should work, yes? I am getting the ***UI/blahblah/blahblah*** issue again, but this time I am not seeing any duplicate files in the package. What else would be causing this? I was thinking that perhaps where I already cloned that painting once, when I cloned it again, now it's conflicting? No idea why that would be but... :s

If you clone it again and want a new object, I think you need to give it a different identifying name. I believe the instance IDs are generated off the name you provide in the cloner dialog. They'll conflict if they start with the same string. Adding the date/time to the string should always provide a unique ID for every clone you make.

coltraz

4th Aug 2009, 2:50 AM

Hmm... I did make sure to do that. I guess I'll just give it another whirl.

mtsimguy

4th Aug 2009, 4:38 AM

Srikandi

4th Aug 2009, 5:07 AM

This is probably a stupid question, but how do I take a decent screenshot of the completed object in the Build/Buy catalog?

I've tried pressing 'C' and using the in-game camera but the user interface does not show up, only the current scene. I've even tried using an external screen-capture program such as Gadwin PrintScreen, but the image is too dark and still has the grid lines in place.

What platform are you on? In Windows, you can just press PrintScr (or Alt-PrintScr, if you have two monitors or are playing in windowed mid) to capture the game screen. That saves the screen to the clipboard; then just paste into an image editor.

Screenshots being too dark in full-screen mode is just a fact of Sims 3. Brighten them in an image editor.

As for the gridlines, you can turn the indoor ones off from the game interface.

xanathon

4th Aug 2009, 8:22 AM

You may want to have a look at the highly configurable and versatile FastStone Capture for taking screenshots (on windows):

http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=775

Synopsis: FastStone Capture is a powerful, flexible and intuitive screen-capture utility. It allows you to capture anything on the screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle regions, freehand-selected regions and scrolling windows/web pages. It has innovative features such as a floating Capture Panel, hotkeys, resizing, cropping, text annotation, printing, e-mailing, screen magnifier and many more.

dyokabb

4th Aug 2009, 11:54 AM

Hello,

I made a table, so far the tutorial is perfect, bravo xanathon, being French, I like images that helps a lot.

As against in the game, the sticker is still the original table, but the picture is the recolor.

How is it , I forgot what?

xanathon

4th Aug 2009, 1:32 PM

Could you rephrase, please, I am having difficulties to understand your inquiry...?

Valencay

4th Aug 2009, 1:51 PM

I think by sticker, she means the thumbnail, maybe.

dyokabb

4th Aug 2009, 3:52 PM

Sorry, I do not speak English, I use a translator :rolleyes:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5835/sanstitre11h.jpg

DOEreoh

4th Aug 2009, 5:38 PM

Sweet stuff. It took me a few tries before it came out proper, but it works!

My poster painting file size is at 76kb with nothing but the edited IMG, OBJDs, OBJKs and STBLs.

The thumbnail's ingame show up fine having only replaced the .png during the Fixing step.

Thanks for this sweet much awaited thread!

DOEreoh

4th Aug 2009, 5:53 PM

Hmm I'm getting an odd bug.

I've cloned, deleted, exported, edited, imported, fixed, exported all to be re-imported with compression and saved.

My custom poster is showing it's own thumbnail and working fine.
But i just noticed in game that the original goth poster painting, though showing it's own thumbnail, is actually using my modified poster's texture and not the "goth" texture.

I just tried loading the game without the custom painting and the original painting is once again showing it's original texture.

coltraz

4th Aug 2009, 6:23 PM

Did you try deleting your cache files?

DOEreoh

4th Aug 2009, 6:58 PM

Yes sir I did. :(

Ok anyways...
I just did a bit of experimenting with the different methods of procedure mentioned in this thread because it seem to be giving different results.

Using the tutorial only i obtained the following results...

-The originally cloned object retains its thumbnail and texture.
-The cloned object uses its custom thumbnail and custom texture.
File size: 599 kb

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using the tutorial and having deleted everything but the edited IMG, OBJDs, OBJKs and STBLs before fixing...

-The originally cloned object retains its thumbnail but does not use its original texture, it uses the same texture as the cloned object
-The cloned object uses its custom thumbnail and custom texture.
File size: 76kb

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using the tutorial and having only deleted the 3 thumbnail resources and all IMGs except the edited one before fixing...

-The originally cloned object retains its thumbnail and texture.
-The cloned object uses its custom thumbnail and custom texture.
File size: 84 kb

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And last but not least, using the previously mentioned method.

I re-opened the the already fixed custom package, exported all resources, made a blank package, imported everything making sure to click the compress button and my file size was still the same, 84 kb.

Anyone having similar results?

sweetichigodream

4th Aug 2009, 9:33 PM

As I said above, however, on THIS site, we only accept painting mods that are original art, sims-related, or modified in some significant fashion to fit the game. That's not because of copyright, but because otherwise we'd have a million uploads of everybody's favorite picture; and really, with the cloner, it takes about five minutes to do a painting mod.

I photograph a lot and I wonder if it would be OK to submit paintings that are basing on my own photographs? Or should I stay away from submitting paintings? This is for Sims 3.

Valencay

5th Aug 2009, 2:42 AM

Well, I have no authority, but it seems to me that photography is a form of "original art". :)

sweetichigodream

5th Aug 2009, 4:43 AM

Me too, but it could also be seen in other way too, I mean if everyone are uploading their crappy photographies it would not be so fun. ;)

I tried to make my first painting in yesterday, but it hmm, borked the game severly. haha. All the text strings in games did not get the proper English sentences/names, but remained as variable names... :P Not a pretty sight and kind of hard to play, haha. The painting was erratic too. It resided in the original painting, and when placing it, it randomly become the original painting or the new painting. So I guess that try was not very successful. ;) I believed that I followed the tutorial to the dots, but I used another painting (the 2-lips one) or maybe I got neglectful somewhere.

Srikandi

5th Aug 2009, 6:40 AM

I photograph a lot and I wonder if it would be OK to submit paintings that are basing on my own photographs? Or should I stay away from submitting paintings? This is for Sims 3.

That's an interesting question -- I'd suggest taking it to the Creator Issues forum, which is for discussions of moderation policies.

dyokabb

5th Aug 2009, 9:47 AM

Hi,

Where takes in the files?

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6821/importtexture.jpg

Is it because of this that I have no icon in the game?

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5835/sanstitre11h.jpg

Thank you for your answers.

xanathon

5th Aug 2009, 2:23 PM

Delete the three THUM resources from your package and also delete the thumbnail cache (Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Thumbnails\ObjectThumbnails.package), this will be regenerated by the game. Your new thumbnail should then show up.

dyokabb

5th Aug 2009, 5:09 PM

Thank you ;)

QBUILDERZ

6th Aug 2009, 7:38 PM

Thank you VERY VERY VERY much for the tutorial xanathon! My new upload wouldn't exist without it :D

tammy_trauma

6th Aug 2009, 9:33 PM

I was wondering, is it possible to change the look and texture of the actual frame around the painting?

dashboard00

6th Aug 2009, 11:08 PM

Ok, I feel like a complete idiot and sorry for being a total noob, but I can't figure out how to open the dds file in photoshop. I was following along with this amazing tutorial just fine, but then I got to the Photoshop section and can't open the dds file.

fluttereyes

6th Aug 2009, 11:15 PM

OK, I've read through this thread but unlucky for me nobody is as stupid as me and this question hasn't been asked. I really wish someone else had asked it first.

I completed the tutorial, step by step followed everything word for word. I changed the posterTeenBedroom to be a SmallFaces poster (personal use, lol)

Now I went all the way through to the end and the last line of the tut said basically

"and that's it done"

That's what done? Where is my picture? I don't use the game files to do these things, I have a seperate folder that is a copy of the originals, in case I mess up.

I opened the entire buiild0 again in s3pe and s3oc and can't see it.

How do I find my picture to make a .package file from it?

aeval99

7th Aug 2009, 3:39 AM

Great tutorial. Thank you very much! I got everything to work and I've never made anything before (except one failed clothing recolour about 4 years ago). It didn't even crash my game. :)

I do have a few questions though.

~ How do I delete things in SP3e, I didn't see a delete button anywhere and couldn't do it by right-clicking on a file.

~ How do I know which file I am looking for? How did you know that it was not the _IMG file ending in CA95 that you wanted?

~ How on earth did you get the right perspective for the thumbnail? Mine kept getting hopelessly bent. It took me longer to mess with that than it did to do everything else, and it still looks hopeless. :( Are there any presets for that?

Hi,
Where takes in the files?

Is it because of this that I have no icon in the game?.
I never generated these files anywhere and yet everything worked fine. I was working saving to my desktop and not a folder, is that why?
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6821/importtexture.jpg

aeval99

7th Aug 2009, 3:42 AM

I opened the entire buiild0 again in s3pe and s3oc and can't see it.

How do I find my picture to make a .package file from it?
It should be wherever you were saving things to while you were working. I was working from my desktop. When I was done, my .package file was right on the desktop where it had been since I cloned it in the first step (although now altered).

I just used Delphy's installer and installed it like any other package I had downloaded.

Motoki

7th Aug 2009, 8:43 AM

I made a very minor edit just for my own personal use to a painting I downloaded. Basically I just changed some small text under the picture from English to Simlish (yes I am anal like that).

Anyway, all I does was make a slight change to the image then resaved the DDS and put it back in to S3PE and saved. I checked and I didn't change anything else at all, though the file size of the DDS is slightly different.

The new picture shows with the Simlish writing shows up in the game (after deleting my cache files) but the strings got broken somehow as I just have *** and a long number.

I read the tutorial and tried to check and see if everything was okay along the lines of the tutorial and it seemed to me it was. Should I just start over from scratch and just clone this objects? Is there any easy way to make minor image edits without having to go through all this each time?

fluttereyes

7th Aug 2009, 9:16 AM

It should be wherever you were saving things to while you were working. I was working from my desktop. When I was done, my .package file was right on the desktop where it had been since I cloned it in the first step (although now altered).

I just used Delphy's installer and installed it like any other package I had downloaded.

Thank you, I didn't realise it would edit the original one from the cloning

You little beauty, I love you xanathon. I now have a small faces poster in my teens room. There'll be no stopping me now. Thanks for making the tutorial so easy to follow

xanathon

7th Aug 2009, 11:39 AM

@dashboard00: You have to install the DDS-Plugins for Photoshop, as mentioned in the first chapter of the tutorial.

@Motoki: You most probably forgot to fix the object in s3oc.

@aeval99: You find the texture by clicking the _IMG-resources and then opening them in ViewDDS. Do this until you find the correct texture.
The perspective view can for example be achieved with Photoshops transition->perspective.
I don't have S3PE installed on this computer, but the option to delete resources should be in menu->resources

I also asked for a context menu for operations like this on the s3pe-forum and was told "this is no priority".

I highly recommend to create a work folder for each and every object you are working on, this makes the process far easier and leaves less clutter to be puzzled by.

Srikandi

7th Aug 2009, 11:53 AM

I was working saving to my desktop and not a folder, is that why?

Your desktop is a folder :)

Motoki

7th Aug 2009, 7:27 PM

@Motoki: You most probably forgot to fix the object in s3oc.

I tried that and it didn't work. Funny thing is if I run it on the unmodified object which does work, it then breaks it.

Either the creator didn't make it via this method or I am doing something wrong. Probably the latter. :P

Sheesh, this is a lot of trouble for making a VERY MINOR edit to an image and reinserting it. I'm not sure why that would break it like this. *sigh*

Edit: Okay I got it working now. I don't even know how. I just did the same thing all over again, just replaced the DDS in the pack. This time I did change the string table reference to start with 00 (US English) since the original creator had it at 1D. No idea what that corresponds to, but the wiki only lists up to 15 (Swedish).

Odd thing is, it worked for her set that way but then when I changed the image it didn't until I set the language to English. Or maybe it's voodoo, I don't know. In any case it's working and I'm not going to complain.

dashboard00

7th Aug 2009, 7:36 PM

xanathon

7th Aug 2009, 8:10 PM

Do have to use "open file" instead of "import". See - that easy...

dashboard00

7th Aug 2009, 8:19 PM

When I tried to just open it instead of importing, it says it can't open it because it's "not the right kind of document", but I installed all the plugins and everything else the tutorial told me to.

xanathon

7th Aug 2009, 8:50 PM

Then you either have the wrong plugins or they are not installed correctly.

Any further advise has to come from someone else for some days, as I am on vacation.

Srikandi

8th Aug 2009, 1:02 AM

I installed everything the tutorial said I needed, including the DDS plugins, but when I try to import the file, it only has an option for importing pictures from scanners and cameras?

Scanners and cameras? What application are you talking about here? :) And which step of the tutorial are you on?

Sounds like you're talking about getting the exported .dds into your image editor. I do it like this:

- Export the _IMG resource

- Open my image editor and open (NOT import) the resource I just exported -- easiest method if you have a bunch of image files in the folder is to sort by date and open the most recent one.

- Save it before you edit it, under a different name -- that way, if you're not pleased with your results, you have a fresh copy of the image to redo it with.

- Edit it and save it as .dds, making sure to flatten the image first (combine any layers you may have created while editng).

- Go back to SimPE and import it. Again, you can sort by date to make sure you're importing the one you just modified.

And yeah, if you can't open a .dds file, then the .dds plugin is not installed properly for the application you're using. Go back and reread the instructions for installation of the plugin whereever you downloaded it from.

BTW, a note about the cloning process in general, for those encountering problems. I find that there are two main areas where I am likely to make a mistake that causes problems. One is not waiting long enough for the cloner to finish its processes... don't continue to the next step until you've seen the "OK" popup come up! The other is leaving files open in S3PE... S3PE does not release the package it has open until it's closed, so you need to close the app or at least the package when you're working on the package in the cloner.

dashboard00

8th Aug 2009, 4:45 AM

I was on the step with Photoshop. I exported the dds file and saved it to my work folder, then opened up Photoshop, and under Import the only option is "WIA support" and it opens a wizard that says "This wizard assists you with acquiring images from WIA compatible cameras and scanners." ??? I don't know, but then I tried opening the DDS instead of importing, but it said it wasn't the right kind of document. It doesn't help that I don't really know what I'm doing ha, but I downloaded everything it said I needed and redownloaded the plugins more than once. When I installed them, it kept telling me that it was already installed, but it still won't open the dds file, so I don't know. I may have to give up on cc creation for Sims 3. Sorry guys.

sweetichigodream

8th Aug 2009, 4:56 AM

In Photoshop you do not "import" but open the dds file. ("Open") At least that's working like that on my Photoshop. (an old thing, version 7)

xanathon

8th Aug 2009, 9:24 AM

Either your plugin is wrong or not installed or your plugin-folder isn't set correctly in Photoshop.

Sif

8th Aug 2009, 10:36 AM

I had trouble getting Photoshop CS4 x64 to open DDS files with the plugin but the 32 bit version opened them fine. No idea what I did wrong there! No other worries apart from that.

Thanks a lot for this tutorial, by the way. It's really easy to follow. :D

Keldaryth

8th Aug 2009, 12:20 PM

I'm having an issue with the thumbnails.

I can make the painting show up if I use a custom thumbnail (currently flat), but I can't get the game to autogenerate one for me.

The moment I delete the 3 thumbnail files from the package (using S3PE), the painting doesn't show up in game anymore. I did this after fixing it. Deleting the thumbnails cache has no effect.

I did just update to 1.4, so the patch may have broken it, but that seems odd?

damnedcitizen

8th Aug 2009, 1:10 PM

help :( I did everything as said (although I worked on Gimp not Photoshop) and both the original painting and mine appear in the catalog with their own thumbnails but when I try to place mine on a wall it just turns into a green question mark on a red-blue background. what am I doing wrong?

tammy_trauma

8th Aug 2009, 5:12 PM

Nobody has answered my question as of yet, so I guess I will ask it again, is it possible to change the actual frame around the painting?

coltraz

8th Aug 2009, 5:23 PM

Nobody has answered my question as of yet, so I guess I will ask it again, is it possible to change the actual frame around the painting?

I think that would mean creating a new mesh... which I know can be done, but I doubt there's a tutorial around for it. Hopefully I'll find one soon though because I want to make original frames as well.

tammy_trauma

8th Aug 2009, 6:07 PM

Thanks for the heads up Coltraz ;)

coltraz

9th Aug 2009, 12:55 AM

What are the chances S3OC will be updated to include Store items in its list of possibilities?

dsportsteen

9th Aug 2009, 2:10 AM

toyfaces

9th Aug 2009, 9:21 AM

ok i try to use the viewer in s3pe and it says this
error message the picture is below
i tried doing what it said but i cant seem to find the download link to the viewdds thing it keeps saying
please help
thanks

if you open the helpers.txt, you will see that the defult directory the program looks for viewdds.exe is c:\program files\viewdds\

if you extract the rar to a folder, sometimes the exe file might be in xx\viewdds\viewdds, if it is the case, just move the files one level up and delete the extra folder. :anime:

coltraz

9th Aug 2009, 6:38 PM

Thanks for the heads up Coltraz ;)

Unless you're talking about the COLOUR of the frame, so that it defaults in game to a different colour? Or are you talking about the shape/style?

I do wonder about the frame colouring. Does anyone know if you can alter that, and how?

dsportsteen

9th Aug 2009, 7:11 PM

if you open the helpers.txt, you will see that the defult directory the program looks for viewdds.exe is c:\program files\viewdds\

if you extract the rar to a folder, sometimes the exe file might be in xx\viewdds\viewdds, if it is the case, just move the files one level up and delete the extra folder. :anime:
Ya that's the thing i can't even seem to find the viewdds thing anywhere that's the problem i need to download it but on google it's always a different program if anyone can give me the link to download that would be great
:) :blink:

Srikandi

9th Aug 2009, 9:12 PM

Ya that's the thing i can't even seem to find the viewdds thing anywhere that's the problem i need to download it but on google it's always a different program if anyone can give me the link to download that would be great
:) :blink:

The Simlogical site is down, and will not be returning in its old form. Inge and Peter's tools (s3pe and s3oc) are being hosted here now: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=604.

As for the DDS viewer, try this one instead: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/windows_texture_viewer.html

Xanathon, you might want to update your tut with the new links, if you haven't yet :)

dsportsteen

9th Aug 2009, 10:10 PM

The Simlogical site is down, and will not be returning in its old form. Inge and Peter's tools (s3pe and s3oc) are being hosted here now: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=604.

As for the DDS viewer, try this one instead: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/windows_texture_viewer.html

Xanathon, you might want to update your tut with the new links, if you haven't yet :)

Thanks so much for the program but i still get the error even though its in the exact directory its saying its not here look at these screenshots
also the helpers.txt is exactly where its saying its not
sorry for bothering you guys so much its just frustrating

lilwashu76

9th Aug 2009, 10:25 PM

dsportsteen

9th Aug 2009, 10:27 PM

I am trying to figure out which folder is the Sims 3 installation folder needed for S3OC. Whatever I choose, a box comes up saying it can't find FullBuild0. I even found the folder containing that file, selected it in S3OC, & it said the same thing.

ok i had the same problem you need to just select the sims 3 folder only like this
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3
Just that nothing else

lilwashu76

9th Aug 2009, 11:49 PM

That worked. Thanks!

dsportsteen

9th Aug 2009, 11:51 PM

That worked. Thanks!

no problem

Srikandi

10th Aug 2009, 12:47 AM

Guys, can we keep this thread on topic, which as you will recall is Xanathon's painting tut? :) General s3oc, s3pe, and object modding questions should be in their own threads. I've split off a couple of posts that blatantly needed to be addressed separately.

Lemoncandy (object placement flags): http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=362751
beautifulcrazydisaster (fireplace cloning): http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=362748

beautifulcrazydisaster

10th Aug 2009, 1:52 AM

thankyou!

lilwashu76

10th Aug 2009, 2:04 AM

Argggh! Cannot open file in PSP9. I've tried the suggested plugins from the NVIDIA site, but nothing is working.*sigh*

coltraz

10th Aug 2009, 2:41 AM

Argggh! Cannot open file in PSP9. I've tried the suggested plugins from the NVIDIA site, but nothing is working.*sigh*

I was able to open .dds files in PSP8 after following the directions for installing the Adobe plugin to work for PSP. But the weird thing is, it only allowed me to view and edit .dds files once. When I tried again the next day, it didn't work. And since, it has not worked.

Now I am forced to use Gimp, which is one annoying-ass program.

But it's free and pretty full of features and gives me no trouble with .dds files. I just wish I could use my PSP8 with .dds... it would be so much more comfortable.

webwe

10th Aug 2009, 2:45 AM

( I Apologize I - use translator)

Fantastic manual for self - instruction ! Great thanks !
I remade "PaintingGoth", I remade "PaintingTrypticMusic".
It looks in game beautifully and thumbnails are and descriptions.
- Only that this alters original paintings they - are old and they are new and all they have new graphic arts. (20 tests and all the time the same)
Packed "fix" - s3oc_0907-29-1852 (s3oc_0908-08-1553 every time bug)
What is it bad ?

Srikandi

10th Aug 2009, 2:49 AM

There is a standalone .dds converter, which you can use with ANY graphics app: http://developer.amd.com/gpu/compressonator/Pages/default.aspx .

For those who are finding their painting unexpectedly overrides the original that they cloned from... this can happen if you "orphan" your image resource, i.e., if you break the resource chain between the image and the base object (OBJD) by deleting too many resources from the package. I've done that accidentally on various kinds of recolors :)

Try cloning without deleting any resources except the thumbs (which will auto-generate).

webwe

10th Aug 2009, 3:05 AM

I will taste to make how you tell. I fear about size of file only

I thank

dsportsteen

10th Aug 2009, 3:24 AM

omg omg omg i got it too work it turns out i was selecting the wrong thing all along thanks soo much everyone

damnedcitizen

10th Aug 2009, 10:35 AM

Srikandi

10th Aug 2009, 10:41 AM

Well, there's something wrong with your texture, obviously. Can't tell exactly what that is without knowing how you produced it. "I did everything as said" is improbable, given the result ;)

Number one thing to check would be -- are you sure you have the .dds plugin properly installed and used the right type of .dds compression when exporting?

damnedcitizen

10th Aug 2009, 12:18 PM

okay..now you scare me...if my gimp opens dds files then could the plugin be installed wrong? I had some problems with that because I couldn't find any instructions on installing this plugin. as far as compression is considered, I used this DXT1 because I worked on the same painting as in the tutorial (the goth one) and it didn't have alphachannels.
but I was wondering about flattening the image, because in tutorial it says I should do it and later someone who used gimp instead of photoshop wrote that I shouldn't flatten it. I tried both, none worked, but still should I flatten or not?

Balbesia

10th Aug 2009, 2:23 PM

Thanks a lot for this great tutorial!!! It's work just fine!
But I have a small problem, in tutorial it's says

"Mark the chackboxes for „Display: Names“ and „Tags“ so you can better see what resouces you
have in the package. Now the resource names and tags are shown in the resource list. This of
course is way more descriptive than the hexadecimal values."

But I can't find where to mark "Tags", I just don't have this options in s3oc, only „Display: Names“
http://s43.radikal.ru/i099/0908/c3/1cf4b3f0ab3c.jpg (http://www.radikal.ru)

so I have to go through all files until I find a correct one. Is there any other way finding _IMG-resource?

coltraz

10th Aug 2009, 4:07 PM

Balbesia

10th Aug 2009, 4:15 PM

Thank you coltraz!

sweetichigodream

10th Aug 2009, 9:43 PM

Hello paint modders! :)

I have made a few paintings now, there are some glitches but not bad enough for my own use. But now I want to share some painting, so it is not good to have glitchy ones, yeah?

The problems I have:

The names I give to painting in S3OC doesn't "stick" too often. In this Vespa Girl collection of 6 painting it only stuck to one of them, the rest got numbers instead in game. I open and close S3OC between every session, and of course all objects got unique names. It does not matter if I make new clone for every time, or if I use same clone file.

The other problem is not much of a problem, it is actually preferable: the thumbnail that I save in S3OC does not show, instead it generates ingame thumbnail, which is much better actually. But my worry is: is it safe to do this?

Note: I have deleted all the _IMG and THUM in s3pe to save file space. But this does not matter for the issue of names in game.

Here you can see that it shows numbers instead for name and description. Only one of them has proper name & description.
http://www.modyourpanties.com/images/090810161640-screenshot.jpg

I am also attaching a zip file with the collection of vespa girl paintings, so you can analyze them if you want.

Srikandi

10th Aug 2009, 11:59 PM

Numbers instead of names is what you see when the game doesn't find a string in the string table for whatever language is being displayed. Possibly you didn't have the "copy text to all languages" checkbox checked when you "fixed" your picture?

If you want the game to autogenerate thumbs, which is usually desirable, deleting the THUM resources in s3pe (either before or after "fixing") is the way to go. If you want to make your own thumbs, then you can replace them in the cloner, or edit them subsequently from s3pe.

sweetichigodream

11th Aug 2009, 1:06 AM

Thank you for your reply!

Then S3OC is somehow faulty? It is strange really, it works for the first (usually) painting and then the subsequent ones will not be saved properly.

I did save for all languages, and I use English language in Sims 3 after all (never like cheesy translations of programs/games!)

I also noticed that when I saved, and then shut down S3OC and then start again and open that previous file, it got empty fields.

hmm.

EDIT:
I just reopened all the Vespa Girl packages, and lo and behold, every file have proper names?! How odd.

Could you see on the package files I attached?

MetalKat0642

11th Aug 2009, 11:00 AM

Xanathon, thank you very much for the great tutorial!!!
I cloned the Book object and edited some textures... and it worked like a charm!

damnedcitizen

11th Aug 2009, 6:01 PM

hm I already fixed the last problem I had myself, but now I was recolouring the 4-photos set and it appears in game and all, but the frame is white in each case, even though in CAST it shows up as wooden. how did I mess up again? lol

Alteysha

12th Aug 2009, 12:07 PM

I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit and I had the same problem. I fixed it by editing the helpers.txt file in the S3PE folder to indicate where the DDS viewer is installed. For example on my computer the edited location is as follows: dds.Viewer: C:\Program Files (x86)\ViewDDS\ViewDDS.exe To get the actual viewer to install I had to extract the file to the desktop and cut and paste the ViewDDS folder into the C:\Program Files (x86) and give administrator permission for it to be done. To edit the helpers.txt file I had to copy it to the desktop to be able to save the changes, and then cut and paste it back to where S3PE was installed.

I'm having this problem and I'm not sure how to do what this person did :help: could someone help me please. I'm sorry if this has already been answered before and I have read most of the comments above. :help:

Mr X.

12th Aug 2009, 12:27 PM

I think i've got the same problem^^.
The link to the ViewDDS is down so i downloaded it somewhere else but it says the same messages as somewhere else up there
application failed to start:
c:/Program files/ViewDDS/ViewDDS.exe/clipboard
The system can't find the data
I made the folders myself because thy weren't there.
Help ? :)

Alteysha

12th Aug 2009, 1:10 PM

I think i've got the same problem^^.
The link to the ViewDDS is down so i downloaded it somewhere else but it says the same messages as somewhere else up there

I made the folders myself because thy weren't there.
Help ? :)

thing is I got the view DDS files from the main website it comes from and I still have the problem. My guess is its because we use vista and it places all files in a different folder

Mr X.

12th Aug 2009, 1:34 PM

i'm using XP... ^^

Dowch

12th Aug 2009, 4:48 PM

I have a problem with DDS VIEWER

I got viewer from "http://developer.nvidia.com/object/...ure_viewer.html"

I executed s3PE and chose 'paintinggoth_s_......', clicked 'Viewer'
But just 'Viewer' executed, I cant see painting( I removed 'alpha checkmark')

Digitalchaos

12th Aug 2009, 5:37 PM

The way to get the game to autogenerate thumbnails is to remove the defaults from the package. I.E. use s3PE to remove all THUM resources. Voila -- new thumbnails by magic. That's something else that could be added to the tut.

This also works for objects as well. Just need to delete: Sims 3\Thumbnails\ObjectThumbnails.package when changing the object to get the game to re-generate the thumb.

Mr X.

12th Aug 2009, 5:56 PM

@Alteysha:
Did you tried this ?

The Simlogical site is down, and will not be returning in its old form.
[...]
As for the DDS viewer, try this one instead: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/windows_texture_viewer.html
[...]

it works but then there is the next problem -.-:
it shows nothing. In the tutorial it says its normal, just turn off the alpha channel. But still nothing...
Can someone helpme there ? :)

Edit: aah nvm xD.
New Problem :D
Gimp still doesn't open .dss files.. xD
Help ? :P

simsgal2003

12th Aug 2009, 7:13 PM

I am having problems with the DDS viewer as well, not sure where it goes..have Nvidia DDS Installer but it just shows a dll file...and every time I get the application failed to start:
c:/Program files/ViewDDS/ViewDDS.exe/clipboard
The system can't find the data

any insturction would be wonderful as I am not that computer savy...
do I download the Windows Texture Viewer or the DDS Thumbnail viewer? I am asking becuase the html was missing someting cause I got a 404 not found

Mr X.

12th Aug 2009, 7:49 PM

Look at my Post^^

The Simlogical site is down, and will not be returning in its old form.
[...]
As for the DDS viewer, try this one instead: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/windows_texture_viewer.html
[...]
Download it, put it into C:/program files/ViewDDS/. (create the folders if they aren't there)
And rename the file you downloadet to viewDDS.exe. Then it works to show it. (there will be nothing but if you do the next step of the tutorial, there will be the picture).
But i've still have the problem that gimp doesn't open DDS files -.-".
Could someone help me there, please ?

Edit:

By the way i got it to work
i downloaded this (DDSplugin for Gimp ;D (http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/~cocidius/dds/) and it works..

Don't foget to put the .package into the Mods/packages folder...
I did and wondered where my poster is :jest:

Alteysha

13th Aug 2009, 12:27 AM

@Alteysha:
Did you tried this ?

Originally Posted by Srikandi The Simlogical site is down, and will not be returning in its old form. [...] As for the DDS viewer, try this one instead: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/...ure_viewer.html [...]

I tried that but its still telling me what it did before

oh and I also tried this too

Download it, put it into C:/program files/ViewDDS/. (create the folders if they aren't there)

EDIT: I was talking with a friend of mine who also had problems getting it to work and I was copying what you sugested and knotes I missed this part here

And rename the file you downloadet to viewDDS.exe.

After doing that to the file, it worked :rofl: Thank you so much for the help

Edit Again:
Okay now that the program is working, I have another problem, I can't seem to see the picture even with the Alpha unchecked. At first I thought it was the painting I wanted to use but its not, I loaded the one that used in tutu and still the same. :help:

Mr X.

13th Aug 2009, 10:36 AM

yeah i had the same problem. Just do the next step:

Now that we know the correct texture, we mark it and click „File → Export“ in the menu. Save the DDS- to your workfolder.

If you are just working with this posters.

If not you just have to export all _IMG that are there because the Windows Texture Viewer doesn't show it with the view button.

Just export them and look then with the Windows Texture Viewer.
if its the right congratz if not try the other _IMG ;D.

Hope that it helps and my english was not too bad :jest: (i llove that smilie xD)

Alteysha

13th Aug 2009, 11:50 AM

yeah i had the same problem. Just do the next step:

If you are just working with this posters.

If not you just have to export all _IMG that are there because the Windows Texture Viewer doesn't show it with the view button.

Just export them and look then with the Windows Texture Viewer.
if its the right congratz if not try the other _IMG ;D.

Hope that it helps and my english was not too bad :jest: (i llove that smilie xD)

kay I'll try that

edit the next day: YAY it worked. A Thank you to everyone who helped me =)

simsgal2003

13th Aug 2009, 7:05 PM

Srikandi

14th Aug 2009, 1:57 AM

I have a new question, I got the viewer installed and got up the the export the img file in the s3pe...but when I try to open the file in PSP I get the message that it does not support that format. I know I have the correct dds etc because I can do patterns. if anyone at all can tll me what I am doing wrong, I would appreciate it very much.

The DDS VIEWER is completely separate from the DDS PLUGIN, which is what you need to import/export dds files in a graphics app. As far as I know, Paint Shop Pro doesn't have a .dds plugin. You can however use a standalone dds converter, like this one: http://developer.amd.com/gpu/compressonator/Pages/default.aspx

simsgal2003

14th Aug 2009, 2:06 AM

thank you , I will give it a try

WesHowe

14th Aug 2009, 2:45 AM

As far as I know, Paint Shop Pro doesn't have a .dds plugin.

It can use the "legacy" NVIDIA PhotoShop plugin, although you have to specifically set the plugin path in preferences because the installer puts it in a different directory than the default for PaintShopPro.

simsgal2003

17th Aug 2009, 2:16 AM

when I open S3pe and open the Goth Painting, I click it, view it in he viewer. but there is no .dds at the end of the line.....it just says paintingGoth_o_0x15ef49aa7d8bca89_Img. I have all the necessary files and use PSP 8. I have aso tried PSP 9. a firend of mine has no problem with it and we checked to make sure I had the same files as she does.... What cn I do to fix this.....

mtsimguy

18th Aug 2009, 4:17 AM

When do you think it will be possible to change not only the texture/image of a painting but also to change the actual size of the object/canvas to create truly custom paintings? (For example The Sims 3 equivalent of justmoi's "Majestic Glamour")

How would I clone the paintingPosterChild which also has a greyed out DDS frame overlay of the painting's image? If I simply delete that DDS and only keep the changed image in the package would the game generate that greyed out DDS frame overlay based on the new image or still with the default image? If I have to do this manually, how would I get the same result?

goth_ME

19th Aug 2009, 3:10 AM

Please, someone can tell me how can I change the color of the frame (texture) of a painting? Thanks! :D

simsgal2003

21st Aug 2009, 4:58 PM

Is this forum closed??? or does no one have time to answer the questions...

HugeLunatic

21st Aug 2009, 7:50 PM

The IMG is the dds file. Export it and when you go to import into your graphics program you will see it is a dds file.

simsgal2003

21st Aug 2009, 9:42 PM

Then I guess I must be totally stupid because its telling me it cant read the requested format...and I know that I have all the necessary stuff....like I said I compared what I have installed to what a friend has and hers works fine....I just may as well give up

HugeLunatic

21st Aug 2009, 10:23 PM

It sounds like you don't have the dds plugin for PSP. I can't help with where the required plugin goes for dds files and PSP, as I use Photoshop. If you look in one of the tutorials for patterns and PSP, there should be a link to what you need. Also read through the comments as I think which version of PSP your using may make a difference in getting it set up.

simsgal2003

22nd Aug 2009, 2:10 AM

I have both PSP 8 and PSP 9.....the plugin I have is dds.8bi and that is in the plugin folder in C:/Programs in my PSP folder...

Srikandi

22nd Aug 2009, 4:27 AM

Is this forum closed??? or does no one have time to answer the questions...

Usually, if nobody answers, it's because nobody who has read the thread KNOWS the answer.

When do you think it will be possible to change not only the texture/image of a painting but also to change the actual size of the object/canvas to create truly custom paintings? (For example The Sims 3 equivalent of justmoi's "Majestic Glamour")

It's possible. That's a mesh mod. You can find relevant tuts and info in the Meshing forum.

Please, someone can tell me how can I change the color of the frame (texture) of a painting? Thanks! :D

The color can be changed in-game, in Create-A-Style. The underlying texture can be modified the same way as the image texture.

mtsimguy

23rd Aug 2009, 12:45 AM

I have a question about patches and updates in relation to cloning paintings.

If I create a painting clone in version 1.3.24 (the previous patch) and the I then download and apply the new patch to my game, would I then have to re-create (update) that painting whenever the game is patched? Would the painting clone continue to function normally and not cause any problems, such as the game crashing to the desktop, if I don't re-create (update) it for new versions of the game?

If I create a painting clone with an old version of the object cloner, would I then have to re-create (update) that painting whenever a new version of the cloner is released? Would the painting clone continue to function normally and not cause any problems, such as the game crashing to the desktop, if I don't re-create (update) it?

Srikandi

23rd Aug 2009, 9:28 AM

New versions of the cloner won't affect your clone at all. That's just the tool.

As for whether a patch (or EP) would affect your painting, it's unlikely... but not completely impossible, I guess. The kind of thing that could happen is that a patch could add new functionality to paintings, which CC paintings created pre-patch wouldn't have. For instance, in Sims 2, EPs added new options to the fridge and the bookcase, and CC fridges and bookcases created before those EPs didn't have those new functions unless they were updated.

Pictures seem like an unlikely candidate for that kind of change, though.

daisylee

30th Aug 2009, 5:49 AM

Hello, please forgive me if I have missed something as this is a long thread. I really want to be able to do this. Do we have to have the DDS utililities? For Sims 2 we could recolor paintings with or without it using the import and export buttons in SimPe. I am willing to use Gimp if needed.

I have Vista 64 and unless I missed something Nvidia has not provided the utilities for this. I don't think Sim3 will install on my other computer with XP and the intel graphics. I had Sims2, SimPe, and the DDS there. If need be I will have to see if it will.

I hope there is a way I can do this on this computer that has the new game.

Any/all help will be appreciated.
Thank you.

:)

redriaskyly

31st Aug 2009, 6:46 PM

hello i have a ?...i can make the pics in the poster format with no probs.but when i try with a frame all the frames are black,there no color i even tried using the DXT3 or DXT5 in the dxt5 the frames have the colors but it also has blended in the pictures 2...so i'm alittle lost on how to get the colors on my frames.thank u

austinf4564

31st Aug 2009, 11:56 PM

I can't find the Sims 3 Package Editor anywhere. Help?

Srikandi

1st Sep 2009, 9:01 AM

Do we have to have the DDS utililities? For Sims 2 we could recolor paintings with or without it using the import and export buttons in SimPe. I am willing to use Gimp if needed.

I have Vista 64 and unless I missed something Nvidia has not provided the utilities for this. I don't think Sim3 will install on my other computer with XP and the intel graphics. I had Sims2, SimPe, and the DDS there. If need be I will have to see if it will.

Yes, you need .dds export capability, but it's perfectly compatible with Vista 64 (that's what I mod on).

i can make the pics in the poster format with no probs.but when i try with a frame all the frames are black,there no color i even tried using the DXT3 or DXT5 in the dxt5 the frames have the colors but it also has blended in the pictures 2...so i'm alittle lost on how to get the colors on my frames.thank u

Hmm... I haven't had this problem. Which pictures exactly did you experience this with?

I can't find the Sims 3 Package Editor anywhere. Help?

http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=362412

daisylee

1st Sep 2009, 10:51 AM

Thank you very much for the reply! I have no idea as to why it did not work before but the 8.31.1127.1645 build just installed. Now I need to start going through all the information.

Thank you for helping us all ..... and I am sure I will need more when I get started.

And, Santa Barbara. How lucky! I am in No. CA. :)

redriaskyly

1st Sep 2009, 12:46 PM

hello it happens with all the framed pictures....if i try to use a pic with a frame the frames all come out black.if i use the goth poster without a frame it looks great on;y messes up when i use a framed picture.

Mystheri

4th Sep 2009, 10:47 PM

;) Hello...I've tried so hard to avoid asking a question I've noticed was asked more than once in this forum, and for two days of trying everything I am still yet unsuccessful with having my dds viewer work. I don't get any error messages in either program (s3PE, s3oc) but my dds files I was once able to see clearly on my desktop after completing a pattern. Without this I am much slower to prepare pictures since I often have similar patterns. I had to restore my pc a couple of days prior and when I put the dds viewer back into 'program files' I see nothing. I'm not sure exactly now how where to put what, hahaha...If someone would be so kind as to tell me what files go into what folder...then where this folder needs to be I'd be so eternally grateful lol...really. Thanks much in advance either way. :) Myst~

Add Edit: Problem solved. I went to the same site where I'd gotten my dds thumbnail viewer, downloaded and installed the WTV (Windows Texture Viewer). It does give me the dds thumbnails but I don't recommend to anyone else unless Xanathon does, but the link to this page for NVIDIA download is http://developer.nvidia.com/object/windows_texture_viewer.html Xanathon, I have loads to learn but wanted to thank you for the tutorial and all.

Sorry for the novel :bunny: xx Myst~

daisylee

5th Sep 2009, 8:27 AM

Hooray! I am on the right track at last! Excellent tute and help here. Thanks SO much to everyone!

:)

I can tell what I will be doing all weekend now!

VoiceIHear

6th Sep 2009, 2:40 AM

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOO much. It's exactly what I needed. :)

aerdehel

6th Sep 2009, 11:45 AM

The names I give to painting in S3OC doesn't "stick" too often. In this Vespa Girl collection of 6 painting it only stuck to one of them, the rest got numbers instead in game. I open and close S3OC between every session, and of course all objects got unique names. It does not matter if I make new clone for every time, or if I use same clone file.

Numbers instead of names is what you see when the game doesn't find a string in the string table for whatever language is being displayed. Possibly you didn't have the "copy text to all languages" checkbox checked when you "fixed" your picture?

I have the same problem, apparently other people have it too. I checked NameGUID and DescGuid in the Object Description (OBJD tag) and it matches the keys in the String Tables (STBL tags) for all languages. Something else is going on. :-(

I'd be happy if someone could come up with a solution for this one.

aerdehel

6th Sep 2009, 3:43 PM

I'd be happy if someone could come up with a solution for this one.

Ok Solved. I wasn't using the latest version of S3OC. This issue is fixed with it, I only had to reclone my Paintings (and not fix them).

hisui_hana

6th Sep 2009, 6:20 PM

s3OC - Clone
s3PE - Delete extraneous files, replace DDS with my edit.
s3OC - Fix (changing thumbnail & catalog data). Resultant package file: 472KB

And then this...

Go back to s3PE with the fixed file, select all, export to an empty folder, start new & import all with "Compress" ticked. Package size is then reduced to 113KB.

I would love further explanation. I tried it and got a slightly bigger file size than before. I think I don't understand what files to delete.

Edit-Also does all this cloning create the same kind of drain on resources like in TS2?

daisylee

10th Sep 2009, 2:21 AM

My files sizes are too big still also. My first clones of the Goth painting were over 900kb and the last one 250-ish. I pulled out all the other IMG resources.

The one poster said if we strip down to the OBJD, OBJK, one IMG, and STBL it affects the original.

Has there been a determination as to what is safe to pull out of the file?

Flipi234

11th Sep 2009, 5:40 PM

just a litlle question
do you need to place youre new poster(in package file) in youre mods folder or do you need to something else to get them into the game because it wont work when i put them in the mods folder.

Fantasy

12th Sep 2009, 10:51 AM

I have a question regarding the graphics of paintings in the game.
Why if it is still life image in the game very clear. And if it is a portrait (people) then the image is blurred or squares?
Maybe you need some special settings for portraits?
Thank you.
http://i036.radikal.ru/0909/12/6bc8f60cb5c9t.jpg (http://radikal.ru/F/i036.radikal.ru/0909/12/6bc8f60cb5c9.jpg.html) http://s09.radikal.ru/i182/0908/17/6ce61ab9e81ft.jpg (http://radikal.ru/F/s09.radikal.ru/i182/0908/17/6ce61ab9e81f.jpg.html)

Srikandi

12th Sep 2009, 11:17 PM

do you need to place youre new poster(in package file) in youre mods folder or do you need to something else to get them into the game because it wont work when i put them in the mods folder.

It shouldn't be in the "mods" folder -- just like any other mod, it should be in mods/packages, and that's assuming your mods folder is set up correctly. Have you successfully installed other mods? If not, get Delphy's Helper Monkey and follow the instructions.

If that is in fact where you're putting it, and you have other mods there that are working, there is a problem with your package.

Why if it is still life image in the game very clear. And if it is a portrait (people) then the image is blurred or squares?
Maybe you need some special settings for portraits?

I don't think the game can recognize the difference between still lives and portraits... but .dds compression does behave differently on different types of images, for instance, with more or less solid area or continuous tones. Try adding a tiny bit of noise to your picture to trick .dds into compressing less.

Flipi234

17th Sep 2009, 7:51 PM

It shouldn't be in the "mods" folder -- just like any other mod, it should be in mods/packages, and that's assuming your mods folder is set up correctly. Have you successfully installed other mods? If not, get Delphy's Helper Monkey and follow the instructions.

If that is in fact where you're putting it, and you have other mods there that are working, there is a problem with your package.

I don't think the game can recognize the difference between still lives and portraits... but .dds compression does behave differently on different types of images, for instance, with more or less solid area or continuous tones. Try adding a tiny bit of noise to your picture to trick .dds into compressing less.

Thanks :D

hisui_hana

18th Sep 2009, 5:22 PM

Uhmm, how do we add different recolors to the same cloned package? Does the package have to start out with more than one image then we recolor all the image files?

Numenor

18th Sep 2009, 10:09 PM

If the original painting that you cloned was recolourable, then your clone is recolourable, too. In order to create additional (separate) recolour packages, start SimPE and open the Object Workshop; *don't* click "Start" but rather "Open...", then browse to your clone. SimPE will create a recolour package for you: just replace the texture and your done.

hisui_hana

21st Sep 2009, 12:00 AM

demonet

21st Sep 2009, 3:38 AM

Hello Everyone...

I am rather new to the Sims 3 world (and actually I missed out completely on the pleasures of TS2--only experience I have is from 2 months of nonstop TS1 play back in 2001). And as such am probably more of a newbie when it comes to modding the Sims generally, but on the upside, I am very computer literate and have extensive experience with photoshop.

First I would like to thank Xanathon for the great tutorial (I read the wiki not the .pdf--assuming there was not any difference). While a lot of the terms in the "sims modding lexicon" were/are new to me, I made it through without any problem

.... except one... I am stuck at a particular spot.

I modified the dds file in photoshop (CS4), flattened the image, and saved it as a .dds file (which thereby overwrote the original dds file that was exported from s3pe and which I opened in photoshop), and now I am in s3pe and have the cloned paintingGoth package loaded. I have the correct IMG file line item highlighted.

The problem is that I cannot figure out how to import my newly modified .dds file into s3pe. The word "import" does not appear to be anywhere except on the lower pane of the s3pe and it refers to a .png file (and also its greyed out anyway). I read this thread and somewhere someone seemed to have a similar problem (I think they did anyway, a lot of french (or other language) imbued english often makes understanding posts difficult), and xanathon replied by saying to use "open" under the File menu. So I tried using open while highlighting the dds img I intend to replace, but by default it looks to open a .package file. This doesn't seem right, so I am posting here.

Also, so you know I attempted to be thorough before posting this, I also tried right-clicking on the line highlighing the dds img, and further, I read through every menu to see if I was missing something. I do not know what the console is for, or understand how or why you would "add a resource"--these are additional features in s3pe.

Also, I realize that this tutorial, the s3oc, and the s3pe have all evolved quite a bit since this thread first started, so maybe some features have changed and I just have not found the right resource for info.

Any help would be immensely appreciated. :up:

NEWBIE ISSUE: I did not realize (but was quite happy to learn) that there are more than one "Object Editors". My problem was that I was using "Postal" as the first link I found to "s3oe" was broken and I just assumed that "Postal" was an evolved version of the original OE. Still do not know how to import items into postal... but that is something on my to do list.

demonet

orangemittens

21st Sep 2009, 1:50 PM

I'm not sure if people are still answering questions in this thread but I am having trouble with making a painting that has a recolorable frame.

I have all the newest versions of the tools...updated my obj tool to VO 20 yesterday.

The problem I'm having is that my painting image is coming out fine but the frame shows in the game as solid black and will not take patterns even though the painting I cloned (Modern Painting) has a recolorable frame.

The only thing I really did differently from the tutorial was to change the frame size a small amount using Milkshape. I didn't remap and didn't change the greyscale IMG. I simply pasted my image over the Modern Painting's image, flattened all layers and saved as a dds using DXT5. Then I imported my new MLOD, new MODL, and the IMG files.

Since everyone else is getting nice recolorable frames I know it's possible and that I'm doing something wrong here...I just can't figure out what it is.

Thanks for any help.

OM

Digitalchaos

21st Sep 2009, 2:32 PM

Cocomama

21st Sep 2009, 6:29 PM

Demonet, I think it is Resource-Import-From File that you need, not File-Open.

demonet

23rd Sep 2009, 5:21 AM

Demonet, I think it is Resource-Import-From File that you need, not File-Open.

Thanks for the reply Coco... but my problem was that I was using Postal as an Package Editor instead of S3OE. I got everything put together correctly....

Except... this is a problem I do not understand... I read the thread that was split off from this one regarding object placement, but am not sure if that is the problem. Here is what happens.

My painting is in the catalog... it looks fine, and everything appears well.... But then when I try to place it on a wall, it does not follow the cursor (pointer/hand)...it actually goes 180 degrees in the opposite direction. At one point I just let go, and the painting became affixed to the wall which was my perspective was in the game. In other words, lets say I am at the edge of the living room.... let's call it the EAST edge. I grab the painting in Buy Mode and bring it to the screen facing the entire (or most of) the WEST side of the living room, and try to place it on the WEST wall. The hand wmoves, but the painting moves back towards me. As I mentioned above, I let go, and the luckily, the painting had found the wall, but it was not the wall I wanted.

Anybody ever have a problem like that. Otherwise everything is fine. When I look at my new painting (a clone of the gothicPainting) it look PURRRR-fect. It is just hanging it is virtually impossible.

Also...btw, paintingGothic now has the same problem... Is there some main resource reference that is gone.. Also, since I never purchased or used the gothic painting before, perhaps this was already a problem.. I dunno. But beyond that, does someone know the source of this problem?

Thanks a million...

demonet

EDIT Figured it out. Sorry to keep posting and then having to re-edit. But I am guessing I was just in an odd-spot or something. I tried it again and it worked, and then it stopped (hanging the pic became like I describe above), but then I moved to another place or zoomed-out, and it worked normally again. Everything is going well.

Also, ONE more question to Xanathon or whoever is in the know....I just need a confirmation. It seems from everything I have read, that when using S3pe it is important to keep the file names correct. That is, export the DDS img WITHOUT changing the name, then import that file again (after editing and saving it from photoshop WITH the ORIGINAL name), and then finally, when saving the modified PACKAGE, the name can be changed.

I think that is right. However, all my paintings (at least the one which used paintingGothic as a starting package) say mimics.paintingGothic, or has the name (alpha) as paintingGothic as resource files (but I know that the hex for the image is changed). Is there any way to rename these internal package references to paintingGothic? I just worry that I might have a problem if I create 10 paintings using the same original package (whatever that might be).

trastito

27th Sep 2009, 9:37 AM

Hello everybody:
I need to VIEWDDS link and now can not find it.
Thanks
Sorry, English is not my language.

Colour

2nd Oct 2009, 3:55 AM

i have checked it’s really great

Inge Jones

2nd Oct 2009, 9:10 AM

Hello everybody:
I need to VIEWDDS link and now can not find it.
Thanks
Sorry, English is not my language.

Hmm I *thought* we were distributing it as part of s3pe. I will have to check with Peter what's happening now.

superstition

2nd Oct 2009, 11:03 AM

I followed the steps carefully and ended up with a scrambled painting. It shows up in buy mode but the preview images are scrambled and when the paintings are hung they look the same as the preview images.

I used the Puck painting. I checked to see if the image I substituted is exactly the same size (dimensions) as the original Puck image and that it's in the exact spot. I can't get my new custom thumbnail to stick, either. It would show up in s3oc only after I double click on the page, choose replace, and choose the png. It shows up, but not after I save the file and open it again in s3oc. It just has a blank space where the thumbnail should be. So, I tried Srikandi's suggestion of deleting everything except the few things she listed in order to try to get the game to generate a thumbnail, but the result looks exactly as before - scrambled.

The painting seems to be part of the frame, and where the image is supposed to be is mostly blank. The frame is messed up. I tried using DXT3 with explicit alpha. The tutorial was vague about these. There are multiple choices for DXT3 and DXT5.

http://i34.tinypic.com/29bexhc.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/15ed82.jpg

superstition

3rd Oct 2009, 12:49 PM

Does anyone have any ideas regarding how to fix this? Has anyone else tried the Puck painting?

KendallSilver

4th Oct 2009, 9:50 PM

Does anyone have any ideas regarding how to fix this? Has anyone else tried the Puck painting?

I just tried it and it worked flawlessly. Make sure you exported the correct DDS file or if you're sure you did then make sure you replaced the correct one after you edited it. the recource on the "Puck's Soliloquy" painting that holds the image is:

paintingFairytaleFa_0x82ac8cb7a9b46424

Hope that helps.

SIMJONAS

9th Oct 2009, 10:36 PM

I was really excited when I found this thread but when I tried to us the S3PE I noticed that it didn’t have an Import/export. What can I do? :!:

EBBA

10th Oct 2009, 8:13 AM

I've been trying to work with this tutorial, but I can't...import...the DDS file...in Photoshop CS4.../huff
I'm really annoyed xD
Anyone else having this problem? Am I just stupid? I don't knoowww.../flail

curlz

11th Oct 2009, 12:15 PM

I'm using the newest S3pe version and it has no "export" option as per the tutorial. So I "save as", and when I open it in Photoshop I get a blank new document! I have the photoshop plugin...what am I doing wrong?

lemoncandy

11th Oct 2009, 1:48 PM

SIMJONAS, curlz, look in the Resource menu.
EBBA, you need a DDS plugin.

curlz

11th Oct 2009, 5:59 PM

It works!!!!! Looked in Resource before but I think that was the previous version. Thaks so much!!!!!

SIMJONAS

12th Oct 2009, 6:18 PM

SIMJONAS, curlz, look in the Resource menu.
EBBA, you need a DDS plugin.

Thank you.

drsims42

13th Oct 2009, 8:55 PM

:alarm: HELP :alarm:

I can't open the file with my image editor...
It simply won't let me!!! What did I do wrong? :(

please... REPLY

bist du deutsch?

Arisuka

15th Oct 2009, 6:04 PM

:alarm: HELP :alarm:

I can't open the file with my image editor...
It simply won't let me!!! What did I do wrong? :(

please... REPLY

bist du deutsch?

Did you install the DDS editor? If you use some other image program than Photoshop, just google the name of your program and "DDS editor download" :)

Misty_2004

21st Oct 2009, 8:00 PM

I can't open the file with my image editor...
It simply won't let me!!! What did I do wrong?

If you have the DDS plug-in installed and you are still not able to open the file, it may be that the file names are too long for your image software to open. I use PSP 9 and almost every file that I export for editing won't open until I shorten the name of it. If that's your problem as well, you'll be needing to keep two copies (in separate folders) of the image you want to edit: one with its original long name, and the other with part of the name cut off that you will use for editing. Once you are finished editing, copy the name from the original file to the file where you shortened the name, then import that back into S3PE.

poundingheart

23rd Oct 2009, 5:28 AM

Hello,

Thanks for this tutorial.
I am a bit of a dummy when it comes to recolouring,cloning etc lol. I worked out the import and export buttons are under the resource tree.
I have clicked on file-open then on the paintinggoth and opened it in s3oc.

the replace button is greyed out so I clicked on clone or fix button down the bottom on the right and then when the progrom changed clicked on cancel this then allowed me to click on replace and change descriptions etc of the painting but there is no start button down the bottom right for me to package the painting. Clicking on clone or fix doesnt do anything either.
I have downloaded the latest s3oc etc .

please help
cheers :cry:

ellacharmed

23rd Oct 2009, 6:24 AM

The steps are now more simplified.

After choosing your painting, click the Clone or fix button on the right panel
Then you'll have all these options and a Start button at the bottom on the left panel
Accept the defaults already checked, change the Unique name if you want, ensure the Rename/renumber is checked and click Start

There, all done!
And there is no need to Open (Fix) it anymore, everything is now done in one pass.

poundingheart

23rd Oct 2009, 8:00 AM

WOOT
thank u for your quick answer Ellacharm3d.
I will give it a go later

cheers
poundingheart

austinf4564

27th Oct 2009, 1:37 AM

Every time I make a painting, the thumbnail and description show up in game, but when I click on it to buy it, it is the original painting. Help me please! :help:

liegewies

7th Nov 2009, 12:53 PM

The steps are now more simplified.
///

Thank you, I had (!) the same problem :call:

ellacharmed

7th Nov 2009, 2:29 PM

glad it helped, y'all.

@austinf4564, re: thumbnails, you can try either of these or maybe all steps:

remove THUM resources inside your .package file - the game will autogenerate one for you
remove the ..\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Thumbnails\ObjectThumbnails.package - the game will need some time to re-generate thumbnails
delete the compositorCache.package in ..\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\ - the other 3 are not necessary but if you want to refresh all caches, deleting all four doesn't hurt anything except a little bit of lag while they re-generate

eta (I thought of some other things):
- maybe it is caused by the TGI keys too? if not renumbered or fixed 2x...actually, cannot really pinpoint any cause for sure until we know the exact steps you took - default unticked/ticked; included thumbnails or not; renumber options chosen; changed thumbnails at s3oc or s3pe; etc, etc

blackbow1517

20th Nov 2009, 12:39 AM

Master K

20th Nov 2009, 9:16 PM

Okay maybe I missed something but every time I try to clone something when it gets to loading objects it gets to 9% then I get an error message saying the program has to close. I'm very new to this and just wonder if I did something wrong.

This applies to me as well. I have World Adventures installed on my computer, I believe that is my problem. Anyone know if it is or not?

NclDanielle6

22nd Nov 2009, 4:32 PM

Thank you for this tutorial!

How would you go about making a poster collection with alternate images using the Goth Painting?

ellacharmed

22nd Nov 2009, 4:42 PM

blackbow1517, Master K,
If your game is patched to 1.7 or have WA, you need the new versions just updated today, available here (http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=604).
[note: not the stickied ones - further below with today's (11/22) post date and they are still test versions]

How would you go about making a poster collection with alternate images using the Goth Painting?
Maybe this tutorial (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=377737) can provide the steps you need to start...unless I misunderstood what your objective was.

NclDanielle6

23rd Nov 2009, 12:26 AM

blackbow1517, Master K,
If your game is patched to 1.7 or have WA, you need the new versions just updated today, available here (http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=604).
[note: not the stickied ones - further below with today's (11/22) post date and they are still test versions]

Maybe this tutorial (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=377737) can provide the steps you need to start...unless I misunderstood what your objective was.

I found that tutorial but it uses an object that already has multiple designs and a frame. I want to create a frameless object.

Thank you anyway!

mtsimguy

6th Dec 2009, 12:26 PM

:help: I'm having a problem with one of my custom paintings. It recently showed up in the family inventory as having been stolen.

The tagged painting's thumbnail shows up as normal in the family inventory with the changed image. When I take the tagged custom painting out of the family inventory and hang it on the wall the only thing left is the wooden frame. The image on the tagged stolen painting has disappeared.

An untagged copy of the custom painting taken from out of the Buy Catalog and put into the family inventory shows up as normal and displays the changed image when on the wall.

The painting is a clone of the Speedinator Marketing Poster. I deleted all the THUM resources inside the .package file when I created the clone.

Does anyone know what the problem could be and how it can be fixed?