EDIT by Numenor: Atavera has retired from modding; all his creations and tutorials are therefore NO LONGER SUPPORTED by the author. I'll do my best to answer to the questions, and to keep some hack up-to-date, if possible; but the entire production of objects/hacks/tutorials by Atavera is nevertheless to be considered DISCONTINUED.

27 DEC 2008 - EDIT by Numenor - Released v.4.2, compatible with any game up to Mansion & Garden.
NOTE for Freetime and Apartment Life users: the Violin (FT), the Synthetizer (FT) and the Microphone (AL) are not allowed to be used "in band" with other instruments; this is how Maxis designed it, and it's impossible to modify them (it would require creating animations and sounds and entirely rewrite their code).

04 DEC 2007 - EDIT (by Numenor) - Released v.4.1, compatible with any EP and SP up to TEEN Style.

WHAT'S NEW IN v.4.1:

• Full backward compatibility with Atavera's v.4.0: all the existing custom instruments will still work fine with this version.
• The "Rock Hammer" career guitar that comes with SSN no longer needs any separate hack: it can now be played in band simply installing this v.4.1. If you already downloaded and installed the "Fix for Rock Hammer guitar", you can now safely remove the file "Numenor_GlobalMod_SSN-Guitar-for-Atavera-Hack.package" from your Downloads.
• The Grand Piano that comes with BV can now be correctly played in band, without any additional hack.
• Tested and working with any game up to BV and Teen Style (UNI is always required!)
• Checked and updated the original post by Atavera, below.

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IMPORTANT: this is a GLOBAL MOD, i.e. it modifies the behaviour of ALL the instruments (including the Maxis ones) in ALL the lots; like any other GLOBAL MODs and GLOBAL HACKS, this mod might be unknowingly included in your exported lots, so be sure to clean the exported lots with the Clean Installer.


What this mod does:
The University EP introduced musical instruments and the ability to play them "in band"; but only Maxis instruments can be used this way: custom instruments can only be played "solo".
Using this hack, the custom instruments (if properly created) are allowed to be played "in band" with other instruments, either Maxis or custom.
An archive of Atavera's custom instruments compatibile with this hack can be found HERE.


Game Compatibility and Requirements:
This hack REQUIRES the UNIVERSITY EP. Any other EP, in addition to UNI is fine. The hack has been tested, and works correctly, in any game up to TEEN Style.


Compatibility with other hacks:
These hacks should work fine with Custom Instruments Hack:

• No Autonomous Instrument Playing - by Squinge
• No Buskers - by JM Pescado

These hacks are NOT compatible, so don't mix them with this hack:

• Move Away From the Instruments - by Squinge
• MQ No Autonomous Play Music Max Creativity - by Monique
• No autonomous instruments + TipJar Fix - by Squinge
• Tip Fixing - JM Pescado
• Instruments by proxy GUID by Argon @ MATY

If you suspect a compatibility issue between the Custom Instrument Hack and any other hack not listed above (any other hack related to musical instruments, of course), post a request in this thread providing the exact link to the hack you want to know about.

Having Problems with this mod?
Check these possible problems first:

1. Make sure you have the University Expansion pack installed
2. Ensure that "Atavera-CustomInstrumentHack.package" is in your Downloads folder (or a subfolder of Downloads)
3. Make sure that you do not have any of the known conflicting hacks mentioned above installed at the same time.
4. Make sure that you do not have an old copy of the "Bandcontroller Patch" in your downloads.
5. If it is a problem with a guitar, check the download thread to make sure that you have installed an amplifier (if instructed to).
6. Creators must use this to enable the "Perform" interaction on cloned instruments; if they didn't, then the instrument won't work for you even if you have this hack installed.
7. If this still won't work, then try taking all your downloads out except this hack, and an instrument that uses it.
8. Please try to provide an Error Log if possible. It will be vital to solving any problems.

Creators of Custom Instruments, please read:
Here is a mini-tutorial on how you can use this hack and be able to make your own custom instrument meshes that will function in the game:
Custom Instrument Tutorial