Customized Neighborhood Image
 

Does anyone here knows how to change the Neighborhood Image of a Customized neighborhood? Coz I made my own custom neighborhood and it's image is a sloped land...

This is using the XP system:

Go into My Documents > EA Games > Sims 2 > Neighborhoods > [Neighborhood Number; for this example I'm using my Pleasantview neighbourhood, which is N001]

You should see a PNG file named N001_Neighborhood (or whatever your neighbourhood number is) sized 400x300.

That needs to get overwritten with your desired PNG file (it needs to be the same size - height and width -, or the game won't read it).

Thank you..I will try that one..and lets see if it works

I tried it last night as I was writing the intructions - I'm not sure if that'll change the main thumbnail on a custom hood (the one on the Explorer Menu or w/e it's called), because my Pleasantview still has its old flyby video, but the one that shows in the popup when you click the neighbourhood to enter does change.

I was using the steps for replacing those 'sloped land' custom terrain images with pictures of the map in-game (you know how you get a preview of the map when you select a terrain?) except substituting Neighborhoods for SC4. Figured it was probably the same principle.

yea I think so.. coz im currently workin on my new custom neighborhood and just changed my thumbnail image on the selections of neighborhood and It worked out for me... and I am so happy to be helped ... thanks again ... the only problem is... i dunno how to change the storymode images like those maxis default images in pleasant view, strangetown etc....I wonder how maxis did it coz to me they seem to look like they were Photoshopped.

I`d hazzard a guess that it doesn`t affect the neighborhoods with the fly-by view simply because they HAVE a fly-by view, and the game uses them by preference when available.

As for having to be the same size as the original image, my custom image is not the same size at all, and it works fine.

As for the Story Mode images, they clearly WERE edited outside the game. I see no reason why you cannot find the images on your computer and edit them yourself, if you wish.

I think I'm going to snoop around in my game files, see if I can locate the file for that flyby - Pleasantview looks nothing like that now, and it annoys me that the main menu is living in the past.

G.O.D.: Thanks for the info! Maybe the game doesn't care for thumbnails for the neighbourhood. It wasn't working for the terrain maps for me - I distinctly remember having to edit the image sizes (I actually have the thumbnail size written down on my notes).

EDIT:

Okay, so I finally figured out (after much site searching) that in the prebuilt n-hoods, the flybys are controlled something called a REIA file. Nobody seems to have ever figured out how to crack it so that you can create your own flyby (but the archives I read only stop at about 2008). REIA appears to be a programming language of some kind - the all-powerful Wikipedia and resources lost me after "programming language"... But the MTS archives threads all seem to think it was specific to TS2 and EAxis was guarding its secrets like the crown jewels.

So if you take out the REIA file in the neighbourhood folder... the flyby goes away and the neighbourhood thumbnail replaces it!

Yay! Now the Bella Goth Memorial Statue will be Pleasantview's temporary thumbnail (possibly permanently).

Yeah, I could have told you that the flyby was in the .REIA file, but you learned something finding it for yourself. I figured that .REIA was an animated-image format; if you`d care to post a link to the Wikipedia article, I`d be interested in reading it. Regarding the size of the image, I`m pretty sure that I read in the game`s own documentation files [the readme file, most likely] how to replace it and that the size didn`t matter much.

Here you go!: Wikipedia: Reia (programming language)

Yeah, basically I got bored and lost after the title. I am sooooo not a computer tecchy person. I'm the tecchy-est in my family, because I know how to operate Microsoft Office and Photoshop to a certain degree of proficiency. Oh, and I can sync a variety of mP3 players. Go me!

And yes, I love learning things for myself. It boosts my self-esteem.

*increases awesomeness* *adds bacon*

And true enough, I don't generally read the Read Mes from games themselves - I prefer trial and error, it's more fun that way! I do however RTFMs for mods.

Well, *that* article was interesting, short, and utterly useless --except that it contains a link to the official REIA site. THAT, in turn, is now book-marked for future reference. Thank you! Thank you very much indeed.

This post is for Forever Camp and Vintage Eve. I know that you have had no replies for 12 months, but, I was sent your way, by someone, who thought you might be able to help me. I am in the middle of creating my own neighborhood, but I want to replace the green ground template for a neighborhood picture. That way, when I first go into my game, and select my neighborhood, I will see a picture of it, instead of seeing the green template. Can you please tell me how I can change the image of the template with an image from my neighborhood? I am working with a computer that has windows 7 programing on it. I also have a graphics video card installed, and loads of memory, so I know there would be no problem with making any changes in the game. I just need to know how to do it. I would appreciate any help that you can send my way. Thanks. Sincerely, Shahannah

I assume it'd be the way ForeverCamp explained in post 2, shahannah. I've never tried it myself, but it sounds fairly simple.

The location of the neighbourhood folder may be different as you're using Windows 7, but I expect there's something in the Game Help section of Mod The Sims that will tell you where you can find it. I play on Windows Vista, so I have no clue, I'm afraid!

Neighborhood picture
 

Dear Laura: thank you for your help. I will take a look in the game help section. I did try to follow Forevercamp's way, but it was kind of confusing. I guess, like you said, because I have windows 7, it is different. If you come across any other info that may help me, please send them my way. Thanks. Shahannah

shahannah: I would think that if you were to adapt my original instructions to another platform (my game is on XP), the idea would be to -

1. Find your User Files. This is the Sims 2 folder that contains all the folders for the game: Terrains, Storytelling, SavedSims, Downloads, Neighbourhood, etc. *THIS IS NOT THE PROGRAM FILES ON YOUR HARD DRIVE* It should be inside a folder labeled EA Games in your My Documents.

2. Locate the neighbourhood whose image you want to change. It won't have the neighbourhood name on it, but the number code. If you don't know what the number code for your neighbourhood is, they also go in a specific order: the custom neighbourhood is going to start with an N. If you still have the original Maxis hoods there, it would go N001 (Pleasantview), N002 (Strangetown), N003 (Veronaville) - and then if your custom neighbourhood is the ONLY other neighbourhood, it should be labeled N004.

3. Inside that folder labelled N004, you should see a file labeled N004_Neighborhood.png. This is the file that the game reads as the thumbnail for your neighbourhood.

4. The image that you want to use as your thumbnail needs to be labeled the EXACT same way (N004_Neighborhood.png). As far as I know, it can't be a .jpeg, or any other image extensions - just a .png.

5. Copy the image you want to use into that folder (the one named N004). It should pop up with a warning that there's already another file with the same name, and do you want to overwrite the original? Select 'yes' and then you're done!

neighborhood image
 

Dear Forevercamp: Thank you so much for the info and for responding to my question. I am going to look into this right now. I will let you know what I find. Shahannah

I have a pdf guide with pics for how to change the hood screenshot, and at the end the creator writes "My 3rd tutorial in the Neighborhood series will cover placing a video (like Pleasantville, Strangeville & Veronaville) into your Neighborhood screen." I haven't been able to find where I got this, but the creator of the guide is Cerulean Talon. They have an account here on MTS but no activity since 2006. Being as the guide is dated 2008, it may well be that this person doesn't exist anymore, but it might be worth looking into it if you really want a video/flyby.

Neighborhood Picture
 

Thanks Bellasaurus: I will check into it. It may help me a lot. Sincerely, Shahannah

Neighborhood Picture
 

Hi Forevercamp. I finally got a chance to follow your instructions, but I ran into a problem. I went into the folder, and, found my neighborhood. It is N004. I went into that, but the only folders in it are, characters, lots, storytelling, and, thumbnails. Storytelling has snapshots in it, but I am not sure if that is where I need to be. Can you please tell me where else the folder titled Neighborhood png might be? Thanks. Shahannah

The .png files aren't folders, they're separate files. You need to set up Explorer, or whatever you're using, to give you a side-by-side view of the main tree, with the Neighborhood folder open, on one side of your screen and only the contents of that folder on the other.

Since this is my default view on every PC I've ever used I couldn't tell you how to change from your current layout, but I generally find that poking around the top of the screen trying out all the drop-down menus will eventually get me what I want, and you'll learn ever so much about your computer in the process.

Be bold! (After you do your backups.) You're not going to break anything. If you play this game long you'll need to be familiar with the way your computer's organized, anyway, so you can organize your downloads, dump your cache, etc.

Shahannah:

You're not looking for a folder. You're looking for a file inside N004. I've attached a screenshot of what it looks like on MY computer. It should look similar on yours.



If you click on the thumbnail, then click on it again when it loads in Flickr, you should get a large enough picture to see what the file names look like.

Neighborhood Picture
 

Dear Forevercamp: Thank you so much for the help. I followed your instructions, and, was able to change the screenshot. Thanks so much. Shahannah