Digital Angels

Reposting this here since apparently Livejournal doesn't allow anonymous comments anymore and could be that the site will soon disappear for good anyway. This was originally posted to tumblr and then to livejournal and now finally here too.

( Click to read the tutorial )

Update 2022: please note that while this method still works there are easier ways to extract Sims 4 files nowadays, for example S4Studio but I'm too lazy to rewrite this so it is what it is. 

It's tutorial time again! This time we'll take a look at converting accessories, basically the methods I'll go through should theoretically work also for converting stuff from other games but of course each game has it's own ways for extracting the files etc so there's no way I could cover it all so I'll stick with Sims 3 and Sims 4. This tutorial is split in parts, first we'll go through how to extract files from Sims 3, then go through how to extract files from Sims 4 (custom objects only for both) and then how to create the new mesh file and texture for Sims 2. As an extra I will also show how you can make morphing accessories (morphing in this case meaning that it will move with the face instead of being stuck in one height) To prepare you're going to need few things:

Sims 3 stuff (if converting from Sims 3):

• S3pe
  
• These milkshape plugins by WesHowe to be able to import Sims 3 files to Milkshape
• Delphy's Sims 3 Pack Multi-Extracter if your accessory is in Sims3pack format

Sims 4 stuff (if converting from Sims 4):

• S4pe
• These milkshape plugins by WesHowe to be able to import Sims 3 files to Milkshape (yes you'll need these for Sims 4 files too since they don't have their own plugins (yet?))
• S4CASTools by CmarNYC

Sims 2 stuff:

• WesHowe's UniMesh plugins for MilkShape (pretty sure most already have them but if you don't now at least install them)
• SimPE - Bodyshop (Ships with the game)
• Sims 2 base meshes, these aren't necessary but help some (Serenity-Fall has them extracted around half way down the page here, search for line; "you can download TS2 body bases here.")

Other required tools:

• Milkshape obviously and a registeration key for it
• Image editing software, you need one that can handle DDS files as well as the DDS plugins (but if you've installed SimPE and used it for any kind of texture editing you likely already have those installed). I'll be using Photoshop CS3. (You can grab *cough* free CS5 or CS6 version here*cough*)
• Something to extract rar/zip files but I believe most people have those by default

And just because I like reading and comparing methods myself here are some other accessory tutorials I've found useful:

• Theraven's accessory tutorial
• Scorpicus' tutorial
• XenoriaRose's 3t2 conversion tutorial (and there are many more tutorials hosted on Mod the sims if you just search their forums)

( EXTRACTING SIMS 3 FILE FOR CONVERTING: )( EXTRACTING SIMS 4 FILE FOR CONVERTING: )( CREATING THE TEXTURE AND MESH BASE IN SIMS 2: ) ( CHANGING THE SIMS 2 MESH TO THE ONE YOU EXTRACTED ) ( EXTRA: MAKING ACCESSORY MORPH WITH THE FACE )Phew, 110 pictures later it's finally done. Ask and comment if some part is confusing and I'll try to clarify.

2022 edit: Please note there are now better tutorials for this, for example BlueHeavenSims posing tutorial (search for 'Comprehensive Posing Tutorial')

I've been meaning to write this for pretty much months now but I couldn't bring myself up to doing it sooner. Anyway this is heavily based on Jasumi's Tutorial at Sim Oasis so a lot of credit for this goes to Jasumi. My main goal was to write this tutorial as simple as it just is possible so for those who are more familiar with the tools etc. this might feel like I'm thinking you're stupid. I simply wanted to give my best shot at making this so simple that everyone should be able to get a working box made on their first try.

Tools Needed:

• Milkshape v1.8.0 or higher: Here (You can find Keygen here and I believe this serial should also work, it's the one I used back when I installed it pretty sure you can also find more of those if you google a little)
• SimPE (newest version): Here
• AniMesh Exporter: Here
• Sim Body with Skeleton: Here

I'm not going to go over how to install those above since in all fairness, if you can't do that without help just step back and try something easier first, this tutorial will be too hard for you. Basically you should at least have some experience with SimPE, the rest you can learn as we go, for example I had no idea how to operate Milkshape when I started but the best way to learn using that is to just try things out yourself. I'll try to give out all the neat tricks I've figured out as we go. Anyway this tutorial is divided in three parts:

1. making the poses in Milkshape
2. Putting the pose file together in SimPE and
3. Making the actual posebox.

We'll go over the pose making first since it's basically the simplest thing in this. (Honestly though it CAN also be the hardest part depending on what kind of pose you're trying to do) Also I've written this tutorial between making couple of different poseboxes so you might notice that for example the pose I made in milkshape is not the same pose as what I used in the example for the pose-file building and to complicate things further they also aren't the same poses in the posebox building part. (oops) but so without further ado...

( PART 1: MAKING YOUR POSES IN MILKSHAPE ) ( 2. Putting the pose file together in SimPE )And there it is, like hundred years late but at least it's finally done. I'll try to answer questions if somebody has them although I'm not sure how well I'd actually do at that, pretty much everything I know about this topic is already written in this tutorial and I tried being as thorough as possible. (well except the couple/group poses and using furniture/accessories in the poses part but I'm working on writing a tutorial about those too.) I'd also be happy to hear if somebody actually succeeds at making a posebox with this tutorial because then I'd know I didn't waste all those hours writing it out. ^^U