1) I'm new to dealing with outfits. I tried Skin Workshop and found that it doesn't list clothes from the latest expansion pack (and possibly some earlier packs too). Why that is? I tried deleting the SimPE cache in preferences.

2) Is there a limit to the file size when adding compression in SimPE? It refuses to compress most Large Image Files and GMDC resources. They have areas of single color and other redundancy visible and should compress. SimPE gives up quickly without trying to allocate lots of memory. A GMDC is only 200K.

3) Can we disable the message about Managed DirectX? I don't want to get visual previews or add Net Framework bloat to my system, but I'm being bugged by this message often.

1) You need to make sure you've ticked/linked all your packs in the settings, otherwise some packs won't show.

2) For compressing files, you can finish the files and then use the Compressorizer, either the original by Jfade or the edited version by LD. This one can compresses your entire Downloads folder without complaining.
https://sims.jfade.com/index.php-ca...1&subcat=5.html
https://lazyduchess.tumblr.com/post...r-no-path-limit
(If you ever experience crashing after compressing files, make sure to delete cache files, those are usually the culprit).

A GMDC can differ in size depending on polycount. They're usually not too big, though - textures take up most of the space in a file.


3) I've only ever gotten the DirectX issue with my game, and that one went away when I set it to run windowed, so can't help you with that issue if it relates to SimPE.

All expansion packs are listed in settings. In PJSE I can load the latest objects.package. The Object Workshop does show some new objects. But the Skin Workshop does not.

The original Compressiorizer works. The new one requires Framework 4. The result is still readable by SimPE, and the file sizes are slightly smaller compared to SimPE output. One feature I'd like to see is a selection of what resources to process, in order to leave smaller text file searchable. But since the tool is old, we have to deal with what it is.

I don't think I've ever used the Skin Workshop for anything. Have you looked up any tutorials on how to make clothes/CAS items? I don't think I've seen any of them mention the Skin Workshop.

You can extract meshes via Tools/PJSE/BodyMeshTool/ExtractingStage (I tend to use the https://sims2defaults.dreamwidth.org/ page if I'm unsure what I'm looking for), or look them up via the Finder tab, using NameMap for Type (or PropertySet search, depending on what I'm after. You can usually find the name of a mesh in the first part of the PropertySet name, though you may have to change the age/gender sometimes)

For Preferences, make sure you've set all the paths under System Folders, and ticked everything needed under FileTable. You may have to scroll through the list. Depending on SimPE version, it's possible it's not reading the paths properly - it was an issue with some of the pre-0.75 versions if you have the UC.

BodyMeshTool works. After I extract all the connected resources from Mansion, do I need to change any properties to make them work in earlier expansion packs? I changed the "product," but still can't get the clothes to show up.

Looks like Skin Workshop stops after listing 1000 skins, and I can't type a name in the box that is not already shown on the list. When it works, it extracts the other related texture resources too in addition to the mesh.

Are you using a recolor file from Bodyshop for the recolor package? Make sure it's from SavedSims and not the Project package file (those don't work ingame, they're just a template).

Bodyshop puts everything you need for a recolor to work together in a file, and adds all the references where they're supposed to be. It also adds a unique number to each file. I honestly don't know what the skin workshop does **.

You'll usually want the recolor and mesh in different files, unless you're making a default.

You can use a basegame item as the base if you're unsure whether some of the settings aren't working. If you get the wrong Product or other numbers in the PropertySet, Hat has a neat overview here: https://hat-plays-sims.dreamwidth.org/34791.html (search the page if you need to find anything in particular).

Make sure to use the proper age/gender (for clothes and other age-sensitive items, but for hairs and all-age accessories it doesn't always matter), and to start out with the proper item as a base - hair/accessory/top/bottom/fullbody/etc. - for what you're making.

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**EDIT: What you get out of the Skin Workshop is not going to work for ingame use. You really do need to go through Bodyshop and make a recolor. You can pull textures with that method if you want, but there are other ways (I tend to search for the LIFO files with the Finder, if I need the originals for a project - they've got the 512x512 and 1024x1024 size if you can't find those as TXTR resources).

For the mesh, it's technically a bit faster to do it via the PJSE tool, because you only get those files that way. For the Skin Workshop you have to delete the extra files (you only keep the GMDC, GMND, SHPE and CRES). It also seems to handle the mesh renaming a bit different in the Fix Integrity part (you get the time/date stamp with the Skin Workshop, but not if you do it after PJSE extraction).

I'd think you'd benefit from reading the Unimesh tutorials, if you haven't already. They go through a lot of what you need to know:
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...arter_Tutorials
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti...New_Mesh_Basics
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti..._and_UV_Mapping
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?ti..._-_wiki_version

For hairs and accessories, if you want them multi-age, you can make the mesh files separate, link them, and then combine the mesh files into one file after (same with multi-gender accessories).

Thank you for your helpful reply, simmer22. Clothing has a steep learning curve. I've followed the beginning of the New Mesh Tutorial and successfully extracted it. I didn't think I needed Body Shop for this, and didn't use it before.