Tutorial: Creating Custom Sims 3 Fully Functional TV Channels! (With your own video clip, sync'd audio!)

[Odistant]

:alarm: NOTE: This guide is currently extremly outdated with the current version of S3PE and only reccomend to be used for the experienced. A newer version is in the works :alarm:
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/1314/customs3tvchannelslogo.png


This guide will go through the steps on creating a channel that's viewable to your Sims WITHOUT overwriting any files! You will also be able to use your own video clip(s)!

The tutorial contains pictures for almost every single step for the visuals, as well as gives detailed pointers to make sure that nothing goes wrong when your creating your channel.

I spent almost a month creating this tutorial, and very proud to release it. However, I could not of created this tutorial without the many people who helped come up with theories in the discussion thread for custom channels as well as the creators of the many programs out their making modding easier every day.

Anyways, here's a list of features of the tutorial:

Lots of pictures!
Contains the converting programs, so no need to download much!
List of all the programs being used
Offline and Online Version (Online being worked on)


The tutorial is contained as a .pdf for easy viewing. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 9 to view the tutorial.

If you have difficulties, you can post them at the Sims 3 TV Channels discussion thread located at http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=349447 or here.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

:new: If you are getting a blank pie menu, then you haven't set the STBL location right. Under the S3PE STBL Editor (Opened by right clicking on a STBL file and selecting Edit STBL) create a new string. Generate a FNV64 hash for the following code:
Gameplay/Excel/TV/TVChannel:OdistantTest <--- Change odistant test to whatever your channel name is in the .XML file.
Now put that into the string id and to the big box on the right side input the name that you wish to give your channel that's viewable on the PIE menu.

I found it best to install a fully codec pack and then re-boot the computer. The one I used is: Cole2k Media Codec Pack Advanced
You can get it for free from their site, or if you google it.


The EA Converter contained will allow you to convert .video files into .avi so you can view them. I included the program in case you wish to extract a original video file. They can be found in Fullbuild1 as "Sims3TV_". Just drag and drop the file onto eaconv.exe.
_____________________________________________________

:!: Please, please, don't give me ALL credit for figuring out the solution to custom channels! Their were a bunch of us who came up with the right theory. You can view the "Credits" section to see all who helped in the creation of the tutorial. :!:

:With some great development, we have been able to solve the issue with out-of-sync audio! I updated the guide to add-in an easy method for this. I have also went through and re-did the STBL part since Stubble is way out of date and no longer works with Night Life. I'm also working on the Wiki version of the guide in-case you do not wish to download it. If you come across anything that has a issue, please send me a PM or post here :)

[crappyone]

Wow.
Tutorial looks great and very easy to follow.
It's looks like a lot of work people, but it really isn't. Just a lot of writing in tutorial, but that's to help make it noob friendly.
I know alot of you have been waiting for this, SO make sure to say THANK YOU to Odistant for the time he has put into putting all this together and making this.

THANK YOU Odistant!

CO

[Odistant]

Added updated tutorial version.

The updated tutorial changes the dimensions used. It was 245x245, but it should of been 256x256. Please download the UPDATED version or use the dimension of 256x256 for your video instead.

[jaredis1]

How long did it take u to make the picture?

[Odistant]

How long did it take u to make the picture?

About 10 minutes. I used the Sims 3 logo with the Sims Font as well as the Sims wingdings for the TV.

[joninmobile]

Oh awesome! I can't wait to try now! :D .

[Odistant]

CrappyOne and I have been working on getting the Mood Buffs to affect with the TV Channels, and so far, so good.

Look forward to a tutorial showing you how to add in Mood Buffs to your Channel (:

[jaredis1]

About 10 minutes. I used the Sims 3 logo with the Sims Font as well as the Sims wingdings for the TV.
what did u use

[SirProniss]

wow thanks a lot not i can begin making tv channels =D

[SDBrandoHendo]

Awesome tutorial!! Sheer genius!! I added two custom channels: CNN and an "adult" channel. They both work perfectly. I was wondering if you can have the custom channels increase any skills besides gardening, fishing, and cooking. I tried to have my CNN channel increase logic but that created some sort of glitch. Once my sim would sit down to watch tv, he would suddenly appear standing behind the couch and the tv would turn off. Once I removed the logic skill from the xml file, everything worked fine. Maybe I'm just being greedy. I just think it would be amazing if my "adult" channel could increase charisma!

[blackg72]

So far creating video only channels worked great. But trying to create the channels with audio gives me some problems. I noticed that I have been able to create a channel with audio only if I set the video fps (frames per second) to 5. With that said the video is very choppy. If I set the fps on a video beyond 5 for some reason when I play back the video using VCL it will not complete. The video cuts off at a certain point which seems the video and audio are not synced. Is there a way to get the video and audio working together using higher fps so that the video is improved? Any tips apreciated.

[hilptsukka]

Would there be away to create also custom radio channels? Would it be similar to this?

I know I can put my custom music in TS3, but I'd like to make more than one custom channels and have them all as separate favorites, plus give names to them. I dearly miss the music from TS2 and I've been dreaming of making/having back some of the radio channels from TS2. I find the radio channels in TS3 so limiting and I always have trouble choosing a proper favorite music for my sims. (I dearly need metal, hiphop, pop and country channels.)

[darkcradle]

so...it didnt work for me lmao!!
im completely new around coding and this stuff so probably i messed up a lot during the process....
one thing that i remember oddly is the fact that when i was with the _XML file in the notepad++ after i save it....no "commit" popbox showed up...
well at the end of everythin i opened up the game and not even the name of my chanel was in the tv xD

and one more question...wheres supposed for me to put the vp6 and wav files of the video?? i got really confused...i still have them in the folder refered in the tutorial...next to GUI.exe etc....arent the files supposed to go somewhere...any attention or help would be greatly appreciated....but great tutorial man...im the noob here xD

[Odistant]

This tutorial is a bit outdated and was made for support with the base game only. I will have to test these methods myself since it's been a while since I last made a channel.

The problem also is the fact that S3PE has also been updated, so I'm not sure if this method will still work either.

Again, I'll work on updating this guide when I can.

[darkcradle]

oh ok man...sorry to bother you if i did..was just curious...keep up the fun guys!!

:D

[vidov]

how i want to get the vp6 codec? when i get into the virtual dub, and select Video>Compression, there are only Uncompress RGB, Cinepack Codec, ffdshow video codec, intel iyuv codec, microsoft rle, microsof video 1, microsoft windows media video 9, and xvis mpeg-4 codec... no vp6 codec :'-(

[Odistant]

I have updated the main thread with some new information. Cheers go to Vidov for sending me a PM so I can update it. :)

[blackg72]

Well guys I figured out the problem to why the audio and video is out of synch and not looping.
From my testing, on a Vista machine, the GUI.exe isn't converting the audio correctly when creating the dat file.
I found a link: http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php..._Sound_eXchange that explains the syntax of sx.exe.
There are two ways to fix this.

1) Create a .bat file to run the sx.exe file
2) Add -fps"yourfpsvalue" -loops"-1" -loope"-1 in the GUI.exe block

USING SCRIPT METHOD
If you create a .bat file named convert2dat and add the following line of code it will convert the wave file to the dat file. You will use this instead of the GUI.exe file. This script will need to be in the same folder as the sx.exe file.

Script: Copy section below here. Do not copy this line.

@Echo off
SET filename=yourfilenamegoeshere
SET fps=yourvideoframespersecond

sx -sndstream -fps"%fps%" -loops"-1" -loope"-1" "%filename%.wav" -="%filename%.dat"

Script ends here. Do not include this line.

fps = frames per second. This value should match the frames per second (fps) on your video conversion when using virtualdub. If they do not match your file will be out of synch.
yourfilenamegoeshere = is the name of the file you want to convert without including the .wav. You should change this value to your own wav file you want to convert.

NOTE: the sx.exe file and the wav file should be in the same directory as your convert2dat.bat file

USING GUI.EXE METHOD
Open GUI.exe and browse the file you are looking for. Once the file is showing in your window you will need to add the following to the end of the Input file:
i.e. say the audio file you want to convert is c:\MooMoo.wav. You will change the Input file to look like this: C:\MooMoo.wav" -fps"30" -loops"-1" -loope"-1

30 is the fps of your video file. So if that number is different you will need to change it. Also notice I have " behind wav and -fps but nowhere else. Do it just like this otherwise it won't work.

Now when you use the VP6Converter it will correctly synch the audio and video file and replay it when completed.

[Simtyp]

I want to make a German translation of your tutorial.
Can I do that, please? :|
The people who read my German tutoral translation MUST download yours because they need the video conversion programs.
And I´ll tell them that you wrote this :up: good tutorial :up:.

[Oldcustard]

The channel doesn't appear in the pie menu at all! Is there a solution?

[SeeMyu]

how i want to get the vp6 codec? when i get into the virtual dub, and select Video>Compression, there are only Uncompress RGB, Cinepack Codec, ffdshow video codec, intel iyuv codec, microsoft rle, microsof video 1, microsoft windows media video 9, and xvis mpeg-4 codec... no vp6 codec :'-(

I am having the same problem.. and i cant find the VP6 Decoder on my computer.. even after i installed it on there.
:faceslap:

[claudiasharon]

This tutorial is great! I had trouble with the stbl stuff, until I used the stbl program which worked just fine for me. I couldn't do it manually though, I don't know why. Anyways, now my sims can watch their custom channel, it's great. I wonder how to make videos for the default channels and replace them. That's what I'd really like to do.

[mitsuhoney]

Is this Mac compatible?

[Odistant]

All translations of this tutorial are welcome, no need to ask!

I will be working on a updated version of this.

mitsuhoney, I'm not sure if the programs will work with mac or not. I'll update the tutorial and hopefully have a advanced part on adding a moodlet after a certain time that your channel gives. I have already been messing around with this, but is not working the way I want too. Might be a couple days before I get it.

Also, amazing work blackg72. I will add in the credit for your find in the new tutorial, as well as try out your method!

EDIT: Updated tutorial added. I'm currently working on the Moodlet version of the tutorial, after I finish up the wiki version witch can be found here: http://www.simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorial:Sims_3_Custom_TV_Channels

[AAshleySEG]

I was wondering if we have EPs installed, would we try the same route just instead of in The Sims 3 GameplayData.package, would we use the package in the respective Expansion folders. Such as The Sims 3 Late Night GameplayData.package? I know up towards the top it says everything hasn't been fully tested for EPs, I thought I would try on my own, but was wondering if I was thinking in the right direction or can something like this only be changed in the original game's package file? Thanks
___________________________________________________________
I tried the above technique and this is what happened. When you click Change Channels on the TV, the channel name was blank but an extra one did appear. Then, when I clicked on that the TV turned off automatically. So I'm guessing that isn't going to work? There may also be some tweaky things that need to be done but I have no idea what those would be as I am not as familiar with all of these things as you all are. :) So I guess for now I am going to be on hold with this until there is some new info available. Thanks for all of your hard work as well as everyone that helped on this project. ;)

[Odistant]

I was wondering if we have EPs installed, would we try the same route just instead of in The Sims 3 GameplayData.package, would we use the package in the respective Expansion folders. Such as The Sims 3 Late Night GameplayData.package? I know up towards the top it says everything hasn't been fully tested for EPs, I thought I would try on my own, but was wondering if I was thinking in the right direction or can something like this only be changed in the original game's package file? Thanks
___________________________________________________________
I tried the above technique and this is what happened. When you click Change Channels on the TV, the channel name was blank but an extra one did appear. Then, when I clicked on that the TV turned off automatically. So I'm guessing that isn't going to work? There may also be some tweaky things that need to be done but I have no idea what those would be as I am not as familiar with all of these things as you all are. :) So I guess for now I am going to be on hold with this until there is some new info available. Thanks for all of your hard work as well as everyone that helped on this project. ;)

No, the Gameplay package that you use should not matter, as long as your game is up to date. I use the base game Gameplay Data file.

Your problem with the TV might not be it turning off, I think that your video file is not being played correctly. Have you made sure to make a unique ID for it, and also imported the correct vp6 file?

[Oldcustard]

How is the game supposed to know where my TvChannel.package is? If I put it in a random directory, how does it know where it is?

This is probably why the channel doesn't appear in the pie menu?

[Doczott]

The package should go into "My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages" directory. That is where the game should look for packages.

My problem is my video doesn't loop. It plays through fine but just freezes at the end. If I change channels and come back it plays from the beginning. But then it still won't loop.

Edit: I assumed that this was due to me having only 1 video for the mod. I made 2 more and inserted them into the package. It still locks at the end of the first. I also notice that it is showing the color clip on a BW TV.

[Oldcustard]

I made a mods/packages directory, still no luck.

[Doczott]

http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Sims_3:Installing_Package_Files

This should help.

[Oldcustard]

Thanks so much!

The video and audio works now, but I get a similar problem, my video won't loop. I get a black screen at the end.

[Vondure]

Have you tried this converter?

http://files.planetcnc.ru/sg/video/VP6_Builder.rar

Use it instead of the one included in Odistant's download and you should get a looping video.

[angsaysrawrr]

Okay I'm a little confused on this portion:

We can now insert our .vp6 file. With S3PE open, also open up the Snaitf's FNV Hash Generator. Now, go under "Resource>Import>From File" in S3PE. For type, select "_VID 0xB1CC1AF6". For group put in "0x00000000". With the Hash Generator, insert the name of your video file. Copy and paste one of the FNV64 codes into the Instance section. Your S3PE should not show EPFlags unless you’re using a later version, if you are use 0x00.

What file are we importing? I think that should be made much clearer and also when I attempt to put in the FNV64 coding that Snaitf's FNV Generator gives me for the instance in S3PE, I can no longer add the resource. Help?

[Odistant]

Okay I'm a little confused on this portion:

We can now insert our .vp6 file. With S3PE open, also open up the Snaitf's FNV Hash Generator. Now, go under "Resource>Import>From File" in S3PE. For type, select "_VID 0xB1CC1AF6". For group put in "0x00000000". With the Hash Generator, insert the name of your video file. Copy and paste one of the FNV64 codes into the Instance section. Your S3PE should not show EPFlags unless you’re using a later version, if you are use 0x00.

What file are we importing? I think that should be made much clearer and also when I attempt to put in the FNV64 coding that Snaitf's FNV Generator gives me for the instance in S3PE, I can no longer add the resource. Help?

Working on a updated version as we speak. Had a bit of technical difficulties with my Win 7 installation :(

The file you're importing is the .vp6 you had created. Once you made the resource, right click on it and select Import from file and choose the .vp6 file.

Since this guide was made with an outdated version of S3PE, you no longer need to use Snatifs FNV Generator. Just use the FNV64 button on the resource edit screen. You'll need to select the check box that says "Resource Name" and give the resource a name and the select the FNV64 button next to it to the right and it will give you a Instance ID.

Because of how long ago the original version of this guide was made, I'll be completly redoing the whole thing and make it less confusing. I'll also go over the full process of resizing through Windows Movie Maker and VirtualDub if you don't have WMM. Expect it to come out at least next week. I'll also have to redo the whole wiki page too for the tutorial, but I'll do the PDF first.

Also, I'm sure you're going to get a blank pie menu. To fix that just use:
Gameplay/Excel/TV/TVChannel:OdistantTest <--- Change odistant test to whatever your channel name is in the .XML file.

Good luck and please do post your results. Will help me in improving the tutorial.

[angsaysrawrr]

Working on a updated version as we speak. Had a bit of technical difficulties with my Win 7 installation :(

The file you're importing is the .vp6 you had created. Once you made the resource, right click on it and select Import from file and choose the .vp6 file.

Since this guide was made with an outdated version of S3PE, you no longer need to use Snatifs FNV Generator. Just use the FNV64 button on the resource edit screen. You'll need to select the check box that says "Resource Name" and give the resource a name and the select the FNV64 button next to it to the right and it will give you a Instance ID.

Because of how long ago the original version of this guide was made, I'll be completly redoing the whole thing and make it less confusing. I'll also go over the full process of resizing through Windows Movie Maker and VirtualDub if you don't have WMM. Expect it to come out at least next week. I'll also have to redo the whole wiki page too for the tutorial, but I'll do the PDF first.

Also, I'm sure you're going to get a blank pie menu. To fix that just use:
Gameplay/Excel/TV/TVChannel:OdistantTest <--- Change odistant test to whatever your channel name is in the .XML file.

Good luck and please do post your results. Will help me in improving the tutorial.

Thank you! I figured it was because their were updates but I wanted to be sure. Looking forward to the new version. :)

[faccione]

I have a nasty problem.
When I sit and turn on the tv I can interact with a void bar... there isn't the name but I'm pretty sure it's my channel.

So the channel is created. Problem one... why I can't see its name?

Problem two: the video is black, pure black. You don't see or hear anything.
Probably it isn't correctly loaded!

Please help me, I'm so near to do this! :cry:

[jean8389she]

Thanks a lot! :up:
It's very patient of you to write this tutorial!
whether I success to patch or not, I'm still grateful~ :rofl:

[jean8389she]

I can't find GUI.exe???
Plz tell me where I was wrong??

[faprod]

I might need help. :(
When I go to convert the video with VirtualDub I can't find the VP6 compressor. I already installed the codec and everything, but I don't know what to do.

[Odistant]

That's the thing with VirtualDub. I had the same exact issue as you. Did you try the cole2k codec pack? You can uncheck the things you don't need in the installer. Using that was the only way I could get it to show up. You might need to reboot too Also, use the newer tools for compressing the video into .vp6 since the ones that I included are outdated. Readme file gives links to where you can find them.

[faprod]

^No, I didn't. I'll try that right now and see if it works. :P
Thank you! Awesome tutorial btw! Should have said that earlier.

[ocorreia]

Great tutorial! Thank you!

I created my own TV channel and everything is working fine except for the STBL. When I send a sim to watch TV and then click "Change to...", the new TV channel option will appear empty. Even though it is working it does not display the TV channel name I specified on the STBL.

Could it be because I have the game in the Portuguese version, and I should specifiy an STBL for Portuguese??

[blakegriplingph]

Sorry for the bump, but the same went for my case. Can you clarify that part for me? Also, the FMV files don't loop at all and end with a blank screen. Do I have to use the Cole codec pack instead of On2's official codec?

[Odistant]

What part is it that you're having trouble on exactly? The codec pack doesn't really matter, as long as it shows in virtualdub, then your good to go. How long is the video file you're trying to use?

Also, the string paths for the TV most likely changed, so use ScriptError and see what the new string path is. You'll be using ScriptError to view the string path which Sims 3 will read from. They removed words and changed it to nothing at all if a string couldn't be found some time ago. Twallan brought it back with that mod which is very helpful when scripting. (I'm assuming this is what you meant when you said you were having the same issue)

And could you post the XML code for your channel that you're using?

[blakegriplingph]

What part is it that you're having trouble on exactly? The codec pack doesn't really matter, as long as it shows in virtualdub, then your good to go. How long is the video file you're trying to use?

Also, the string paths for the TV most likely changed, so use ScriptError and see what the new string path is. You'll be using ScriptError to view the string path which Sims 3 will read from. They removed words and changed it to nothing at all if a string couldn't be found some time ago. Twallan brought it back with that mod which is very helpful when scripting. (I'm assuming this is what you meant when you said you were having the same issue)

And could you post the XML code for your channel that you're using?

The video's a 28-second clip based off this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKwWm2aYNsk

And here's the XML code for the channel:
<TVChannel>
<Channel_Name>FegelStation</Channel_Name>
<Channel_Level>Level1</Channel_Level>
<Video_File_Names>Sims3TV_DerUntergang</Video_File_Names>
<Associated_Traits></Associated_Traits>
<Effect_On_Skill></Effect_On_Skill>
<Sync_Event_Name></Sync_Event_Name>
<Buff_Prereq></Buff_Prereq>
<Target_Buff></Target_Buff>
</TVChannel>

The converted clip does sync fine ingame, though.

[Odistant]

In Assocaited_Traits, Effect_On_Skill, Sync_Event_Name, Buff_Prereq, and Target_Buff, insert a "-" without the quotations. That could be the problem because in the script the games checking if there is no "-", and if there isn't then to try and run those events.


Try that and tell me if that works.

[blakegriplingph]

I can't find the ScriptError mod, and I doubt that it'll work with my 1.29 install.

[Odistant]

It's called ErrorTrap. It's been so long since I modded for TS3, I'm starting to forget things :(

Patch Level: 1.29, so you're in luck!

http://nraas.wikispaces.com/ErrorTrap

[blakegriplingph]

I actually have that mod already, but it didn't pick up the missing string.

EDIT: NVM, I just figured out that in order for the text to appear ingame, you'll need to change the resource name to "Strings_ENG_US_0x000f16b00ba8342f" (or whatever language file you're using), or else it will still display as a blank menu item.

EDIT 2: The one Vondure suggested works better than the VP6 Builder tool included in the tutorial file. Tried re-encoding my Downfall parodies using that tool and it now loops! :D

[Maglassan]

Have you tried this converter?

http://files.planetcnc.ru/sg/video/VP6_Builder.rar

Use it instead of the one included in Odistant's download and you should get a looping video.

Is there a workaround for it, or newer version?
Get everything working from 1 minute video with sound to 10 minute video with sound, but none loop (used " -fps"30" -loops"-1" -loope"-1 to encode audio).
Please advise.

[blakegriplingph]

It only works properly on 30-second clips. Anything longer should be cut up to 30-second chunks so that the game can use it properly, afaik.

[Citysim]

Well following the tutorial when all smoothy despite looks like I got a newer version of s3pe, until I got to the point where I'm supposed to open up "Snaitf's FNV Hash Generator" which I don't appear to have.

Ah screw it, I guess I can live without custom channels and videos