In case anyone's interested, I am currently converting The Sims Life Stories walls and floors to the sims 2. I will post the rar files containing them as soon as they're ready. It's a long way to go, but I have converted about 50 floors so far.

Does anybody convert clothes and hair of the the sims 2 for the the sims life stories?

I'd like to issue a warning to all people that are thinking to convert or maybe just copy custom content created for the Sims2 to LifeStories.

LS is not as "powerful" as the main Sims2 game; in order to be less demanding and run smoother, it requires not to be overloaded with custom content. High poly-count and large texture size are the two "enemies" that LS users should always battle at best.
A clothing mesh, perfectly normal for the Sims2, becomes a monster that quickly eats up resources in LS; an object containing a (often useless) 1024x1024 DXT3 texture may be normal in the Sims2 (and sometimes it's not normal even there), but becomes a no-no for LS.

So, these are my (rough) suggestions:

1) LS users: be careful with what custom content you put in your game; always read the poly count from the download thread and possibly check the texture size within the package. In particular, install the fewest custom clothings and hairstyles possible: despite the efforts that a mesh creator can put in lowering the poly count, clothing and hairstyles meshes are always complex and require a lot of vertices/faces.

2) Creators of custom content for LS should keep at the lowest level possible poly count and texture size; this means - of course - less details for your mesh and texture; but LS users will thank you for that.

I see, that's the attention is at... :D
Where's the thank button?
Alright, I thank you, Numenor here... it's cool to know these infos...

Actually, the recommendations about the texture size are the same that I've tried (in vain) to give when dealing with normal Sims2 objects
But I still see monstruous textures, sometimes only partially used, in some custom objects... :P

I noticed yesterday that my copy of LS does not have either a snapshot button or a movie capture button, although the log file shows the capture and option parameters. I thought I had use them before, but I have to be confused because the Storytelling folder has no entries.

Functionally, the screenshots is not a problem, as there are alternatives for screen capture. The videos might be nice, although I can still stage things in TS2 if I need to.

So I wondered if that is the way somebody else's LS game is also configured, or if I have some parameter skewed here?

<* Wes *>

Thank Goodness. I've been dabbling with that as well, but I had to PrntScn from the game, and reshape them in photoshop


**EDIT**

is it possible that someone could make a tutorial (or some quick guidelines) on how to find the wall and floor tiles with simPE?

Last edited by delonariel : 15th Feb 2007 at 08:59 PM.

I love how smooth the game is, and I really wouldn't want to jeopardize that. So I was (optimistically) thinking that maybe there is compromise with custom content. Like a way to recolor meshes already in the game? If there is a way to recolor could someone point me in the right direction? thanx

I downloaded a small handful of maxis clothing and object recolors from MTS2. I filtered the downloads so that base game maxis recolors would be the only things to show up. And then was very, very choosy in what I put in my game. Like I said, a small handful. So far my game has been running great. But I've avoided anything with a non-maxis mesh.

Here are the steps I've been taking so far:

For the walls:

The wall textures are in c:\program files\the sims life stories\tsdata\res\3d\objects09.package

Open that package in SimPE and select Large Image File (LIFO). Scroll down to the W, where you will find the wall textures.

Note: only the ones with a '0' in the end matter, because those are the most detailed textures.

Select the texture you want to extract and on plugin view select export. This will save a .png file. Since HomeCrafter Plus only accepts .bmp files, you have to convert it first. You can manually convert it with windows paint, but I recommend that you use the program Imagicon (http://www.deviouscodeworks.co.uk/imagicon.html) which converts automatically large ammounts of files at one time.

After you have the textures, use Homecrafter to make the new wall. Right now, in order to copy the name of the wall and the description, I use two computers running simultaneously, one to run sim life stories and check the descriptions inside the game, and another one to run homecrafter, because homecrafter won't run while lifestories is running. There must be an easier way to overcome this problem, since not everyone is lucky enough to have access to two computers with the minimum specs. I haven't found it out, though.

For the floors:

Use the same proccess, except that the floor textures are located inside c:\program files\the sims life stories\tsdata\res\3d\objects08.package.

I haven't found some floors, though, they must be located elsewhere. However, most textures are inside that file.


I am currently converting the floors, but I could use some help with the walls, if anyone is willing to...

Providing everything goes well, I can start today ^^ Thanks for the help.
Since I don't have two computers, I've been going back and forth between homecrafter and SLS (thank god it loads fast), but I haven't been adding the descriptions, seeing as I have to write everyhing down manually

**EDIT**

Ok, I've got the hang of it now and I've gotten started with a good 100 walls (descritions and all). I've got a whole week's vacation coming up (though I should be studying for exams), and way too much energy, so I could gladly take the walls off your hands

Last edited by delonariel : 17th Feb 2007 at 01:10 PM.

That's great! I hope I'll finish the floors soon maybe tomorrow

great work numenor and by the way... is Sims life stories is called the SIMS3 or its just what people say?

Numenor,

A downloads folder is created when you download the 3 custom objects from the Life Stories site ~

http://sims.yahoo.com/downloads

From what I have read, Life Stories (and subsequent instalments) are not a part of the "Sims saga", it's not the Sims3.

No way... for a graphic-technically backward sequel...!

I guess Maxis is testing out how the story scripting works before implementing it into TS3. or just start a new product line...


Added after Numenor's pos, the next post:

Hopefully, LS is not as lame as WinMe...

Last edited by niol : 18th Feb 2007 at 07:58 AM.

This reminds me Windows Me, used by Microsoft as a testing ground for Win2000

I have finished converting the floors of life stories, except for some tiles which I couldn't find the texture, but now I don't know how to upload. I have got a rar file, but I still have to find out how to submit the content

On the top-right corner of each page there is the "User Tool" link. Click it, then "Upload", then choose the right section.

Thank's for the tip. I have uploaded the file, it's now awaiting aproval

I want to add wall and floor to LS ... And even CC (New meshes) ...
How can I do??

Thx

Dany

I finished the walls on sunday, and they are now pending too. Good work, us ^^
can't wait for the floors!

Is it just me who can't find the Life Stories objects in the download section?

I was just searching for them myself... with no success. I was wondering if they were still around too.

The Life Stories objects have been removed from the site according to Maxis/EA's wishes. As it was posted in the download thread from the beginning, there was always the chance they'd have to be taken down.