Tutorial: Converting Videos for Sim TV Viewing

[Vchat20]

How to Convert Videos for Sim TV Viewing for Dummies

In this new tutorial we will be showing you how to convert your videos to import them into the game. This tutorial assumes the original video format is AVI, so if you have a WMV or RM file, please google for a separate tutorial to convert from that format to AVI.

In this tutorial there is only one program that will be needed:
VirtualDub (http://www.virtualdub.org/)


===================
First thing you will need to do is open VirtualDub. once open you will be greeted with a screen like this one:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images3/MTS2_113442_Vchat20_vdub_blank.gif

and just like any other program, locate and open your video file:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images13/MTS2_113450_Vchat20_vdub_open.gif

once opened, go to the video menu and select filters:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images11/MTS2_113447_Vchat20_vdub_filters_open.gif

you will now be greeted with this window:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images8/MTS2_113445_Vchat20_vdub_filters.gif

Click add, find the resize filter and click ok:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images11/MTS2_113446_Vchat20_vdub_filters_add.gif

you will be greeted with this window. fill it out exactly as shown here then click ok and ok again:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images4/MTS2_113444_Vchat20_vdub_filter_resize.gif

you should now be back to the main virtualdub screen. go back to the video menu and select Frame Rate this time:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images10/MTS2_113448_Vchat20_vdub_fps.gif

you will be greeted with this window. fill it out exactly as shown and click ok:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images4/MTS2_113449_Vchat20_vdub_fps_window.gif

you should now be back to the main virtualdub screen. go back to the video menu and now select compression:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images20/MTS2_113443_Vchat20_vdub_comp.gif

you will be greeted with this window. once again, fill it exactly as shown and click ok:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images20/MTS2_113454_Vchat20_vdub_vid_comp_window.gif


now to do the audio. :D


click the audio menu and select Full Processing Mode. this will not bring up a window:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images10/MTS2_113455_Vchat20_vdub_vid_fulproc.gif

go back to the audio menu and select compression:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images9/MTS2_113440_Vchat20_vdub_aud_comp.gif

you will be greeted with this window. fill it out as follows:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images4/MTS2_113441_Vchat20_vdub_aud_comp_windows.gif

thats it!


nope. hold on one sec. still got one last step you cheeky bugger :D now we have to save it.

go to the file menu and do save AVI:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images8/MTS2_113451_Vchat20_vdub_save.gif

you will be greeted with a standard save window. just save it anywhere (or into a sims 2 video folder to go directly to the game). once you hit ok, you will be greeted with this window where it will now be encoding the video:
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images10/MTS2_113453_Vchat20_vdub_save_window.gif

depending on the speed of your system, the length of the video, size, etc. it may take a while to encode. but your patience will soon be rewarded.

[rjizzle]

Thanks =D

[gr33ndayrox]

dude thnx again

[DoggyFizzle]

Nice tutorial. A Great alternative to using some costly tool.

[gr33ndayrox]

hey i just realized that this program doesnt just resize avi's it also converts other files such as mpg's to avi's, but wmv doesnt work

[bairy]

Yes, licensing means that wmv isn't supported.

Virtualdub is very versatile and can convert certain filetypes though

[vickysakamoto]

Hi everyone.
I was wondering if anyone could help me. I am trying to make music videos for the TV. I seemed to have got it right and the videos are working fine on the sims 2 tvs. only one problem.. the audio.

It seems to start for just a second, and then it loops, like a really bad CD skip. The video continues, but the sound just keeps looping like a bad cd. I was wondering, any of you out there who make custom tv stuff, can you help me with this? is there particular audio settings needed to be used? or something, I am really stuck any help would be so appreciated.
Thank you
Vicky
[email protected]

[coffeehedake]

Try to stick with MPEG Layer-3 (MP3) for the compression, I believe Vchat was recommending 56kBit 22050Hz Stereo. (Believe that's what I used for all of my Thundercats episodes :) ) Also, make sure you have the mode set to 'full processing mode' for the audio compression, not 'direct stream copy.' This will allow you to access the compression options instead of copy the audio directly out of your source material.

As far as why it's skipping... could be a error in your source material's audio track which would cause funky things to happen when the AVI is being re-encoded.

Just a thought, though.

-Coffee

[vickysakamoto]

I tried this tutorial as well, the same thing though, the audio just didnt want to progress.

It didnt have the option of 56kBit/s, 22.050 Hz stereo. Unless i clicked on 'show all formats' and it had it there, only it didnt save when i tried it.

So I chose
56Bit/s 24,000.
still the audio didnt work. I really dont know what else I can do.

[coffeehedake]

You may have a mono audio track.

If you open the audio conversion options, you can copy the mono tack into both channels (making fake stereo) and also allowing you to use the 22.050Hz Stereo option in your compression window. :)

Should be in audio->conversion (or CTRL+N) on the bottom right of the audio conversion window is the "channels" options, if it says "No Change (mono)" you have a mono track, just tick the stereo option there, and try to open up your audio compression options again.

-Coffee

[vickysakamoto]

Try to stick with MPEG Layer-3 (MP3) for the compression, I believe Vchat was recommending 56kBit 22050Hz Stereo. (Believe that's what I used for all of my Thundercats episodes :) ) Also, make sure you have the mode set to 'full processing mode' for the audio compression, not 'direct stream copy.' This will allow you to access the compression options instead of copy the audio directly out of your source material.

As far as why it's skipping... could be a error in your source material's audio track which would cause funky things to happen when the AVI is being re-encoded.

Just a thought, though.

-Coffee

Hi there,
thank you for the reply. I tried a few different files and they all do the same thing. I wonder if there is program that converts layers? ill keep on trying though :(

[coffeehedake]

LOL... Sorry I keep editing my post while you are writing a new one... oi!

Any luck as far as the channel conversions within VirtualDub?

[vickysakamoto]

You may have a mono audio track.

If you open the audio conversion options, you can copy the mono tack into both channels (making fake stereo) and also allowing you to use the 22.050Hz Stereo option in your compression window. :)

Should be in audio->conversion (or CTRL+N) on the bottom right of the audio conversion window is the "channels" options, if it says "No Change (mono)" you have a mono track, just tick the stereo option there, and try to open up your audio compression options again.

-Coffee
The audio conversion is disabled for some reason so i cant select it.

[vickysakamoto]

LOL... Sorry I keep editing my post while you are writing a new one... oi!

Any luck as far as the channel conversions within VirtualDub?

its got 'no change stereo' on. So i guess its not mono. hmm

[coffeehedake]

Do you have the audio set to 'full processing mode' ? If not, all of those other options, like conversion, etc, would be greyed out... Otherwise, Hmm... I might have to sit and ponder this one for a second.

- Coffee

[coffeehedake]

Okay... well from the sounds of it... there may be an problem in the audio track in your source material... you *MAY* be able to export the audio track as a wav file, and import it back in under full processing mode if it's giving you trouble. Keep in mind, the wav file is going to be rather huge.


File-> Save Wav

Then, select Audio-> Wav Audio and browse to your wav file you just extracted
-Coffee

[vickysakamoto]

Do you have the audio set to 'full processing mode' ? If not, all of those other options, like conversion, etc, would be greyed out... Otherwise, Hmm... I might have to sit and ponder this one for a second.

- Coffee

yup at least i figured that out lol but its says that its stereo though.

[vickysakamoto]

Damn :( ive tried a few and they are all like that. Oh well. Thank you for your help though. I aprpeciate it.

[coffeehedake]

Did you give that Wav export option a try... sorry I keep editing my posts to give you a better explanation and by then you have already posted...

I'm very tired, and not thinking quite right tonight. (Hey, that rhymes!)

-Coffee

[vickysakamoto]

Did you give that Wav export option a try... sorry I keep editing my posts to give you a better explanation and by then you have already posted...

I'm very tired, and not thinking quite right tonight. (Hey, that rhymes!)

-Coffee

So i choose the wav i saved, and then try to convert it again? it still only has the option of 24000

[vickysakamoto]

I tried it and it still does it,

Oh well, thank you though, you have been very kind.

[coffeehedake]

That is very, very odd indeed.

Here's a question for you... how big are your source videos? Maybe I can convert them for you. If they're huge, how big is that wav file you just extracted. Chances are the audio needs to be fixed (either with downsampling or whatever) maybe I can fix the audio for you seperately.

-Coffee

[vickysakamoto]

Hi there,
they are th length of like a music video, 4 mins or so each. Can you tell me how to fix the audio? maybe I can do it myself if I have the right software. If not thats ok, I dont want to bother you with it dear. Youve been nice enough.

[vickysakamoto]

I tried other files that did have the 22.050 thing and they didnt work out either, I so far I tried about 9 differnet files, i figured they cant all be bad, and none of them worked.

[Vchat20]

one way i would suggest to fix the audio is to save it out as a wav like coffeehedake mentioned, but then open it up in a program called Goldwave (do a quick google search.) open up the wav file in goldwave, then simply go to save as and make sure the save as type dropdown has wave (*.wav) selected and the attributes says PCM signed 16 bit, stereo. then take that new wave file and again follow coffeehedake's directions by going into virtualdub, go to the audio menu, select wav audio and browse for the new wave file you saved in goldwave.

this in most cases will fix odd corruptions in the audio. should get you back on track with the tutorial.

[vickysakamoto]

one way i would suggest to fix the audio is to save it out as a wav like coffeehedake mentioned, but then open it up in a program called Goldwave (do a quick google search.) open up the wav file in goldwave, then simply go to save as and make sure the save as type dropdown has wave (*.wav) selected and the attributes says PCM signed 16 bit, stereo. then take that new wave file and again follow coffeehedake's directions by going into virtualdub, go to the audio menu, select wav audio and browse for the new wave file you saved in goldwave.

this in most cases will fix odd corruptions in the audio. should get you back on track with the tutorial.
Hi there
I use goldwave all the time, I will give that a go right now.

[Vchat20]

on another quick note: if that doesnt work, one last thing i would try is to download a new mp3 codec you can find here: http://www.short-media.com/download.php?d=86 . now with this, there may be 2 mp3 codecs that will show up in virtualdub. a good way to tell the difference is that the new codec will go up to 320kbps whereas the default system codec can only go up to like 56kbps.

[vickysakamoto]

Do i still set the thing to 22.050? or just use the wav without changing that

[Vchat20]

no. continue following the tutorial and use 56kbps, 22khz, stereo.


i think i should also make a note for skeptics on why i chose to use the VP60/61 codec. reason is not only does this codec have low cpu usage, but it is installed and used by The Sims 2 so everyone here has it. makes it a great choice.

[vickysakamoto]

it didnt work. Ill install the codec, but i dont know what that will do, dont know anything about codecs.

[vickysakamoto]

it didnt work. Ill install the codec, but i dont knowhat that will do, dont know anything about codecs.\\um

where do I extract it to? it doesnt seem to do anything but extract.

[Vchat20]

run the file inside the zip file it will install the codec.

[vickysakamoto]

No matter what I do, it just doesnt work. I tried again, and I just tried agian and again. I guess I should give up. It just shits me that it workds for some and not for me blah! I hate computers.

Anyway, thank you to both of you for trying to help me. I appreciate it.

[vickysakamoto]

Okay, so this is what it does.

I resample the wav to like 2000! really really bad quality, then use virtual dub following the tutorial. Then I put it in the game..

The audio plays for longer the less the resample number, only still, at some point it started to loop again from beginning while the video continues normal.

Does anyone have any idea why? I really want to get the audio to work.

[coffeehedake]

Good call :)
Goldwave is another one of my "install this first after reformatting" proggies :)
Along with VirtualDub, Premier, Photoshop, 3D Studio MAX 7, Sims2, FireFox, and WinAmp.

At the very least, if there is nothing 'wrong' with your audio track, goldwave will let you convert it to 22.050Hz before you send it back to VirtualDub to encode the Avi, which should, in theory and hopefully, solve the problem.

- Coffee

[vickysakamoto]

Good call :)
Goldwave is another one of my "install this first after reformatting" proggies :)
Along with VirtualDub, Premier, Photoshop, 3D Studio MAX 7, Sims2, FireFox, and WinAmp.

At the very least, if there is nothing 'wrong' with your audio track, goldwave will let you convert it to 22.050Hz before you send it back to VirtualDub to encode the Avi, which should, in theory and hopefully, solve the problem.

- Coffee

It didnt solve the problem though, But Still once again, ide like to thank you all for your help anyway. I tried. Maybe I could one day try one of the movies from you, or someone on the forum to see if they work Just to see. Out of curiosity, how long do you make them in the game? a minute? just curious.

[Vchat20]

actually i have a channel full of full length movies on mine. these are the movies ive got in there so far:

Twister
I,Robot
Loony Toons: Back in Action

and each run fine for me albeit i never make it through the whole movie due to Sim ADD ;)

[vickysakamoto]

actually i have a channel full of full length movies on mine. these are the movies ive got in there so far:

Twister
I,Robot
Loony Toons: Back in Action

and each run fine for me albeit i never make it through the whole movie due to Sim ADD ;)
Oh I am so jealous. :) Thats pretty cool. Still, I wonder why the audio just wont work for me.

Anyway, have fun :)

[teeny@lucky]

I have a question. How do you save the file on your computer so you can open it on VirtualDub.

[Vchat20]

depends on what file it is and where it is. got a link?

[teeny@lucky]

Well theres no link. But I have a movie I bought from the store. It is Looney Tunes back in action. Sorry if I'm confusing you. I'm a mess.

[Vchat20]

well, thats a little more difficult. for converting from a dvd you will need to go to a site like videohelp.com and find a tutorial for converting dvd's to avi. there are a number of tutorials there. after its converted to avi, then you can follow the tutorial shown here.

[teeny@lucky]

Thanx, I will try. Btw where di yu get your movies?

[simmygurl]

Erm... this may not be right bt for vidoes doesnt it have to be 120x120 frames or something like that? Why do I just keep on getting a flashing blue screen?! I had 2 Sim Videos in there, but I dont think the frames were right. OK I'll shut up now I feel intimidated you all know so much and I don't ..

[teeny@lucky]

I don't know. I did have a blue flashing screen but I just made sure to change the video clip. It worked for me. If it desn't change read the posts @http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=66769&highlight=channels.

Hope this helped.

[Monicasim]

Is there a downloadable version of this tutorial.

[coffeehedake]

Erm... this may not be right bt for vidoes doesnt it have to be 120x120 frames or something like that? Why do I just keep on getting a flashing blue screen?! I had 2 Sim Videos in there, but I dont think the frames were right. OK I'll shut up now I feel intimidated you all know so much and I don't ..

Yep, the AVI needs to be 128x128 framesize, and 15 frames per second (FPS), Vchat20 covered that in his tutorial though.

It didnt solve the problem though At this point, I'm pretty baffled. Only thing I can think to do is have you send me the source video, and I can have a go at it.

But Still once again, ide like to thank you all for your help anyway. Sorry I couldn't help more. :( I would've really have liked to help you solve the issue completely.

Out of curiosity, how long do you make them in the game? a minute? just curious. Most of mine are around 10 minutes, and I've sat through watching a good majority of them with sims that have low Fun bars. The Thundercats episodes I have on there are a good deal longer than the 10 minute Robot Chicken episodes, as some of them have 3-5 episodes rolled into one single AVI file.

At the moment, I'm working on a custom object (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=66769&page=4&pp=25) (a TiVo box) that everyone will be able to download and just drop their own AVI's into

[coffeehedake]

Is there a downloadable version of this tutorial.

There is now. :)

You'll need Adobe Reader (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) (free) to view the tutorial, as it is in PDF format.

Enjoy.

[sentairanger]

Some of my movies are 30 minutes to 60 minutes long

[Green Shoe]

I'm slightly new to Virtual Dub, for starters. I thought this might help some new people like myself and save them from searching all over the net for answers.
I had an .mpg of my favorite music video (Oingo Boingo--Private Life, if you'd like to know). I read the tutorial and saw that I needed an .avi.
I converted my .mpg to .avi using Auto Gordian Knot and plugged it into Virtual Dub. I got an error message right after I clicked "save as AVI" that said something to the effect of, "decompressor not found for codec type 0050"(or something close to that).
I was bummed.
I decided to try my original .mpg file instead, since I was going to save it as an .avi in the tutorial's last step anyway. I figured, what the heck? Worst that can happen is another error message.
Well, the .mpg(mpeg-1) works just fine with the same settings as the tutorial says.
I did have to fix the interlace a bit. I set the audio to delay 150ms.
Just goes to show ya, that you might as well try stuff out.
I plan on posting a bunch of my Oingo Boingo videos.

[allstar]

wow i like it but i can't use it now as i am not playing the sims 2 as my sister, titi is so she will be playing for a while with her new downloads she got from the sims connection

:group hug: this is a nice way of saying hi to all and i will be using this as one of my fav tricks on the sims and there is also a cheat about using ipods in the sims i don't know where but i'll try getting it bye!!!!!!!!!! :cool: and don't mind my signature..................

[allstar]

:grouphug:

lol

[SMOKED]

video convert master is tight it converts anything and it's kool icons on it for the link go to phazeddl.com and browse it..

[oliblake]

I tried this and put the avi file in the Movies folder in My Documents and in the Sims 2 folder. nothing worked and the video never played.

[Green Shoe]

I'm pretty sure you need to pick a station you would like to see your movie on.
Not just the /Movies folder, but /Movies/whatever station you pick folder.
Or you can create your own station with SimPE using this tutorial (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=66769) by eric etc (http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=37874).

[SKYLINE 2X]

I should learn to read the rules.

[cheesysteakranch]

Well I downloaded these files (rar)and Virtual just won't open it!
So I tried extracting them and the file was in windows media, and it still wont open it.

[SKYLINE 2X]

how long does clip it post to be, b/c i dont if a full .avi movies will work on the sims any request..

[coffeehedake]

I don't think you can post links to WAREZ sites here Skyline. Cheesy, virtualdub doesn't open WMV/WMA (very few programs do) because microsoft charges HUGE fees for anyone to incorporate a WMV import/export into their video software.

Either find some video in a different format (mpg, avi, etc), or find someone with software that will convert WMV to something you can use...

[SKYLINE 2X]

so you saying that i can only put the name of tha soft and that it b/c i prefear to use video convert master..

http://www.video-convert-master.com/screen/main.jpg

[coffeehedake]

Just saying it isn't wise to place links to an illegal warez site, is all. That is a good way to get the wrong kind of attention from the moderators.

[SKYLINE 2X]

hey is only the main pic of video convert master is not a link that have warez or crackz on it and thatz the actual site for it..

[SKYLINE 2X]

kooL 50 Cent feat. G-Unit & Joe - Wanna Get To Know Youl music video for people to enjoy. That i made from video convert master, if you wanna it ask me for THE full video for it b/c somehow i cant upload the full video and i will give youre video..

[SKYLINE 2X]

is pretty hard to upload something on this neighboard hood, i try to upload the videoand too me sometime to accept my upload and this what i hate about to try and try to upload so they can accept my uploads..

[Ailias]

I was looking for some light pretty tool for this. Thank you - you saved my money and time! :)

[KHFF2]

Thanks alot for this! Now I can add some of my favorite shows to my Sims TV's. Thanks again!

[Venkmansim]

Thanks. I just put FBI Warning of DOOM in The Sims 2. YAY!!!!

[Duckjob]

Any idea what this means?

Crud...

[Frenchie]

Hi,

I've already made several sim movies that read wonderfully on my Windows Media Player, I've compressed them to the right format, some other people report them working fine in their game, but I've got the same problem as vickysakamoto : the video works on my sims' TV, the sound doesn't. It desperately loops !

Having met no trouble with MenaceMan's Smart-Milk commercial (in the screenshot... "trames" is "frames" in French), I'll try to use his format to compress my audio.

The results :
The sound does NOT crash like with Vchat's ormat, but the video itself stops before its very end.

[Frenchie]

Ok, can someone please test this video by putting it into the game ? I did and it keeps looping on a part which sounds like "Oh... theeere shoe." It's a bit annoying, I'd like to know whether any of you can hear the complete soundtrack by putting the video in the broadcast folder. If you can, maybe my system is not powerful enough to play my videos with sound. I'll nevertheless keep on sharing them !

If someone could test the other videos I uploaded, it would be fine too. For these, I followed the exact tutorial but I still had this sound loop.

Please inform me by private message. Thank you very much.

[Aikagi000]

booya.. flawless man. thanks.

[Maetel of La Metalle]

I have .avi's which will run on S2---I just don't know the name or location of the directory to put them in so the prg can access them.
Sorry for such an idiot question, but I can't find the answer anywhere. :sorry:

[Boring Dude]

Any idea what this means?

Crud...

I have yhat same problem could someone help please

[200109220josh]

Hello All i just finished making a music video and was looking at the size and was overwelemed to find that it was 170mb thats far to big then i put it in a zip and it was 70mb wich is far to much so if ne one know exactly know how to decrese the file size

[simman24]

I don't see any pictures in the tutorial.

[vividwolf]

For people wanting to convert wmv goto http://www.oldversion.com/ and download the virtualdub they have. it's an older version made before micro$oft made the licencing law.
you can happly have the old version and new version of virtual on your maching. because they don't install too your pc

[PGTDigital]

could you use something like WinAVI and convert the movie to DivX AVI?
PGT

[scrivtwin2]

can you repost those pictures at the begining? all i see is red x

[scrivtwin2]

scratch that just realized the pics at the bottom go with the top

[Kissamies]

I have managed to convert .wmvs with RAD Video Tools. As a general note, the frame rate doesn't HAVE to be 15, that's just the max. If you have a relatively slowly moving picture and you want to use a compression that gives better picture than VP, shaving some frames off will reduce file size nicely. I use 10 and 12 FPS a lot and they are perfectly tolerable.

[zims 2 man]

vchat, were arer all the pictures

[IgnorantBliss]

You can see the pictures as attachments at the bottom of the post.

[zims 2 man]

is that all of the pictures, because i dont know what to fill in on resize

[HIM666]

Thank you so much for this! It worked perfectly and the video quality is pretty cool too. Excellent straight forward tutorial ;-)

[AbstractSIMmer187]

oh nooooooo everthingelse worked but when it comes to the part were you have to pick MPEG layer-3 56k thing it doesn't show up ???????? :( PLEASE HELP.

[Kissamies]

Perhaps you have VirtualDubMod, which doesn't have the sound conversion thing included. In that case get the proper virtualdub, or extract the sound, use some other program to convert it and then re-add it. I did this for a while... inconvenient.

[shorty1k]

I've discovered a fast and really awesome way of extracting and converting videos from youtube. All you need is the Video downloader plugin for firefox and a free program called Riva FLV encoder. Use the videodownloader to save your movie, then get the Riva FLV encoder to convert them to an avi, you even can set the resolution and the framerate on the side, so it does everything for you.

Link to the Videodownloader: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2390/
Link to Riva FLV encoder: http://rivavx.de/index.php?downloads&L=3

[Symanteco]

If you are getting an error when attempting to play your videos, go to this site: http://www.on2.com/downloads/vp6-decoder and download the latest VP6 decoder, which is the decoder used by Maxis.

USE THE VP60 OR VP61 DECODER FOR YOUR VIDEOS

[MicBri]

Oh I am so jealous. :) Thats pretty cool. Still, I wonder why the audio just wont work for me.

Anyway, have fun :)

We had the same exact prob with same results, selected show all as you did at first & to get by the prob. "all we did" was went to "audio conversion" and selected 22050 hz in there. & it worked!

Hope this helps anyone with this prob. :!:

[MicBri]

:beer: Great and simple tut. thanks so much:!: It Works:!:

[nodgree]

Great tutorial but, here's my problem.

I have converted 2 music videos just the way the tutorial says. Once I have added them to the game, my sim will watch 3 seconds and suut the tv off. This happens EVERY time. I shut free will off and still have the same issue. I removed the videos and tried the normal sim stations and I still get the same issue now.

Anyone have any ideas about this?

I emptied my downloads folder thinking I may have had something in there that was making this happen but I still have the same issue.

-Chris

[TK666ply]

Now how do i get my video into game?

[nodgree]

Now how do i get my video into game?

C:\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Movies\Broadcast and then choose the appropriate folder :)

[TK666ply]

But dosent need to be a .movie? and what about the broadcast ini? and how do i make my own channle

[nodgree]

But dosent need to be a .movie? and what about the broadcast ini? and how do i make my own channle

Read thru this tutorial. It needs to be an .avi .
As for custom channels. Do a search, there is a tutorial for that too.

[TK666ply]

Thank you but onthing what is simPE and how do i get it?

[nodgree]

Thank you but onthing what is simPE and how do i get it?

You do not need simPe to edit vids for the game. Just the movie file and virtualdub.

-Chris

[ryan.stewie]

I followed the tutorial correctly but every time I am finished and click Save as AVI I get the error shown below.

[Seuss]

Just a quick question. I have all my videos converted and they work great (thanks for the tutorial.) My only problem now is that my girlfriend enjoys watching television episodes in the background while she's playing, sadly the sims are either always changing the channel or turning off the TV when they get up. Is there any way to avoid this at all, possibly a hack of some sort?

[Spong3y]

hey i tried placing one of the captured video files in the movies folder itself (the video files that you captured in the game) and imported it into one of my channels. Worked pretty fine though. The quality of the video was 800 Kbps video, with a 128kbps bit rate audio (i think), 320x240 resolution and frame rate of 29.98 fps.

[Spong3y]

Just a quick question. I have all my videos converted and they work great (thanks for the tutorial.) My only problem now is that my girlfriend enjoys watching television episodes in the background while she's playing, sadly the sims are either always changing the channel or turning off the TV when they get up. Is there any way to avoid this at all, possibly a hack of some sort?

When you're playing that lot just click options.../game options. On the bottom you should see free will. Turn it off to stop them from switching the channel or turning the tv off. :!: but the downside is that they will stop making automated actions (in other words, they will not act themselves, you'll have to control them all manually). Should be no problem, even a household full of even more than 28 sims shouldn't be hard to handle.

[birdyfly]

What version are you using?
I am using 1.7.2 and it looks different

[clubpenguin]

thank you

[silenthill_addict]

Tnx So Much!!!!

[ChrisyMc06]

Virtual Dub Has Updated Can We Have An Updated Version Of This Cos The Screens In My New Virtual Dub Are Different From This One Please Help ME!!!!!!

[MetalChick]

Thanks A Lot!

[Sophie-David]

Has anyone tried converting down to 256 x 256 pixels rather than 128 x 128? A have found a slight but visible increase in smoothness when playing back 256 x 256 video with the game's player, for only a trivial (1% or so) increase in file size. Yes, the player only displays 128 x 128, but oversampling improves the clarity. After noticing this, I remembered the Nyquist-Shannon Sampling Theorem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist-Shannon_sampling_theorem) from tech school way back when. It is because of this theorem that CDs are sampled at 44.1 kHz, even though we can only hear up to about 20 kHz.

I noticed that there are some issues about using Virtual Dub for WMV video. I have got along well with SUPER (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html), which is also free. The attachment shows the settings that work best for me.

[the_legend_of_zelda]

Thanks, now I can convert anime and video games for my Sims viewing and video-gaming pleasure! <3

*wants to see her Zelda sims playing Zelda on their GameCube*

[Switched]

HELP!

I get videos playing in the game but they don't fill the whole screen. When I resized them as instructed in tutorial the video filled only upper half of the screen. Not resizing resulted the video appearing only in upper left corner, filling 1/4 of the screen. The video itself looks compressed horizontally, but it looks normal when I play it outside the game.

What am I doing wrong?

[Sophie-David]

All I can suggest is to try using Super with the settings shown in the post above. It always works for me. What is the video format of your source file?

[Switched]

bik. I converted them to avi using Rad Video Tools. I'll try Super and let you know if it works.

[Switched]

Well...better than before. :D Now it's less compressed and fills almost the whole screen. I should test different resolutions. Thanks for help Sophie-David. I'll return once I have found the solution or...um...haven't.

[Switched]

the easiest solution is always the hardest to find. that means I got it fixed. all I had to do was set the 256x256 and 15 fps already in Rad Video Tools. 128x128 didn't work well so bigger reso seems to be the correct one. the video looks stretched when watching with video player but in game it's perfect.

[Sophie-David]

Well I did find 256 x 256 was an optimal size, as mentioned above. But in my case it was a question of smoothness rather than of actually filling the screen. 128 x 128 should of worked of course, but sometimes these things are magic! Yes, the in-game televisions do have a non-linear projection, so the picture will look somewhat distorted outside of the game.

[BobSalawalatski]

I have a problem.

I followed another tutorial on MTS2 on getting the custom channels to work, but I only get the top-left quarter of the video. The corner is in the correct place, but the center of the video is stretched to the bottom-right corner of the screen, and the rest is simply cut off. Everything else works perfectly.

I've been using SUPER for a long time, so I used it again this time, but I cannot select the settings in the screenshot above.

I have build 30, whereas the screenshot Sophie-David posted shows build 23, and for whatever reason, this one is a lot more limited.

I'm pretty sure if I could convert the videos with the settings above, my problem would go away, but I am unable to with SUPER. Are there any other good and free converters that can help me?

The image I've included shows what I'm working with as far as SUPER goes.

I've tried several different combinations of settings, but only the quality of the video changes at all.

[sweetpea4040]

After I done everything you said about the Virtaldub I got a blank after I selected MPEG Layer-3. Did I do something wrong or is it mt program. I just downloaded it today. :(

[schettino123]

Hi, just wondering if you could help me, see, when i convert a file to AVI and i try to transformit to a sims 2 format (with virtual dub) when i try to charge it virtual dub, it says that needs to be a VFW (videos for windows) i tried everything to do that but it dosent works with any converter, in fact, HELP :cry:

[marlowe94]

I can't see the images!
Please give my a tutorial without images but with text only.

[Karreaux]

Haha, awesome! My Sims are watching my favorite anime show now. Sweet. :D

[mj_killah]

virtualdub is not working for me i downloaded it and i can find out to start it!

[JKBecasen]

aw this use to work for me before (a year ago) but now it doesnt. when i play the channel in the game where i put my video file, it crashes.

[spike101]

:help: Please help
when ever i try to open my avi. file to virtual dub it says it does not have the right decompresser and dosnt load the file any help?

if someone could give me help thx

[SimBeatle1979]

I should download that program, as soon as my computer gets more disk space.

[Barack Obama2]

I know it's been a while since this was active, but I'm having a problem no one else has had so far. The audio is working fine, but the image itself is not showing up. There are no problems otherwise. Anyone have some suggestions?

[smurf667]

I know that this topic is some years old, but I hope someone can still help me.

Ok, I've got a really wierd problem. I've tried using custom channels to use custom videos in The sims 2 (the Sophie David ones. plus the custom television channels by Eric.

Now when there are no files in the Movie folders I've created, I obviously get the screen with the large X in the middle over the name of the tv channel, which is what I expected.

The moment I put ANY file( it doesn't matter if I've converted them myself or downloaded know working files - I've got both SUPER and virtualdub) in any of the folders, and get my sim to change to that channel, my computer immediately crashes to the desktop and the sims 2 is no longer running. BUT, if I copy one of the files from the games own folders (ie pets go bad) into the custom folders and get the sim to change to that channel, everythings fine and the file plays. What the heck is wrong, why won't my avi's run?

For information perposes, I've got every expansion up to and including pets, plus Glamour life stuff and family fun stuff.

I've tried all the solutions described in the threads (not just this one), but nothing works.

Can somebody help please, this is driving me nuts, but I don't intend giving up.

Thanks in advance.

Pete

[teeth]

you can go to media-convert.com for an online converter

[simetra866]

Virtualdub says it can't open the video file. ):