Tutorial: Custom Paintings in Sims 3 - Revision history

Kiwi tea at 20:43, 17 September 2012

2012-09-17T20:43:29Z

FordGT90Concept: /* Put the new files together in a package, with multiple language versions of the STBL */

2010-09-10T00:53:26Z

‎Put the new files together in a package, with multiple language versions of the STBL

Srikandi at 22:31, 29 July 2009

2009-07-29T22:31:45Z

Srikandi at 22:31, 29 July 2009

2009-07-29T22:31:21Z

Srikandi at 22:51, 18 July 2009

2009-07-18T22:51:45Z

Srikandi at 21:04, 17 July 2009

2009-07-17T21:04:16Z

Srikandi at 06:42, 17 July 2009

2009-07-17T06:42:31Z

Srikandi at 04:11, 17 July 2009

2009-07-17T04:11:24Z

Srikandi at 04:10, 17 July 2009

2009-07-17T04:10:05Z

Srikandi at 04:01, 17 July 2009

2009-07-17T04:01:17Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:43, 17 September 2012
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	# Close S3PE, copy the .package file to your mods folder, and test in-game. It should be in the Paintings catalog sorted correctly by the price you set. Make sure the title and description are correct as well.		# Close S3PE, copy the .package file to your mods folder, and test in-game. It should be in the Paintings catalog sorted correctly by the price you set. Make sure the title and description are correct as well.
	# Congratulations! You just made a Sims 3 object mod :D		# Congratulations! You just made a Sims 3 object mod :D
		+
		+	[[Category:Obsolete Tutorials]]

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 # Now, back to S3PE. Click File|New.
 # Choose File|Import, and select the .dds file, the .object file and the .stbl file you worked on.
-# Now you're going to import the .stbl file 16 more times, replacing the first two characters of the ID every time. Each new copy of the string table corresponds to a different language. The string tables are all going to be in English (or whatever language you wrote your text in), but at least the text will display properly in other language editions of the game. The two-digit language identifiers are 00, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0A, 0B, 0E, 0F, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 (you can see what languages those correspond to here: [[Sims 3:STBL Languages]]).
+# Now you're going to import the .stbl file 16 more times, replacing the first two characters of the ID every time. Each new copy of the string table corresponds to a different language. The string tables are all going to be in English (or whatever language you wrote your text in), but at least the text will display properly in other language editions of the game. The two-digit language identifiers are 00, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0A, 0B, 0E, 0F, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 (you can see what languages those correspond to here: [[Sims 3:Locales]]).
 # So: Click File|Import, choose the .stbl file you already imported again, click OK, and then you'll see a dialog called "Resource Details". Here you can change the language identifier of your string table. In the "instance" field, replace the third and fourth characters of the ID (after the 0x) with O3. Click OK. Then repeat, importing the same file 15 more times, and putting a different language identifier from the list above at the beginning of the instance ID each time.
 #* [[Image:StblImport.jpg]]

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 by Snaitf & Srikandi
-The method described in this tutorial has been largely superceded by the development of Inge and [http://www.simlogical.com/Sims3ToolsForum/index.php?board=20.0 Peter Jones's Object Cloner], which makes the process far easier. We'd suggest modders use [http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=359314 Xanathon's tutorial] on making paintings with the cloner. This tut is being retained for advanced modders.
+The method described in this tutorial has been largely superceded by the development of Inge and [http://www.simlogical.com/Sims3ToolsForum/index.php?board=20.0 Peter Jones's Object Cloner], which makes the process far easier. '''We'd suggest modders use [http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=359314 Xanathon's tutorial] on making paintings with the cloner.''' This tut is being retained for advanced modders.
 This tut is for catalog paintings; if you want to customize the paintings your sim paints, Tiger has just added that feature to [http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=350770 his Neighborhood tool].

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 by Snaitf & Srikandi
-Making custom paintings in Sims 3 is challenging at the moment, and very likely somebody will be along with a tool to make it easier, but it is perfectly doable with a little concentration. You're going to need a variety of tools and techniques here, so if the very idea of hex editing or package unpacking scares you, you might want to wait till somebody codes a tool that automates all this ;) As of today (July 15 09), we may have an object cloning tool available very soon which will significantly simplify the process, so if the procedure here intimidates you, you can await developments with that.
+The method described in this tutorial has been largely superceded by the development of Inge and [http://www.simlogical.com/Sims3ToolsForum/index.php?board=20.0 Peter Jones's Object Cloner], which makes the process far easier. We'd suggest modders use [http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=359314 Xanathon's tutorial] on making paintings with the cloner. This tut is being retained for advanced modders.
 This tut is for catalog paintings; if you want to customize the paintings your sim paints, Tiger has just added that feature to [http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=350770 his Neighborhood tool].

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 # Start your hex editor, and open the object file.
 # You are now going to replace every mention of the original texture file with the new texture file. The trick is, the numbers are in the hex file BACKWARDS... and each digit in a hex string is written with two characters... so you have to reverse the order of each pair of characters, keeping the order the same within the pair. Luckily, Snaitf's FNV generator has a function that will reverse the numbers for you.
-# So, in our case, we want to replace C1ECA4110BC90E09 (old instance ID) with 8AAFF83C1BB5A6E6 (new instance ID). In WinHex, click Search|Replace Hex Values. In Search For, I put 090EC90B11A4ECC1 (the reverse of the old ID). In Replace With, I put E6A6B51B3CF8AF8A (the reverse of the new ID). Select Replace All Occurrences, and click OK. It should make several replacements. Click File|Save. You can leave your hex editor open; we'll be back.
+# So, in our case, we want to replace C1ECA4110BC90E09 (old instance ID) with 8AAFF83C1BB5A6E6 (new instance ID). In WinHex, click Search|Replace Hex Values. In Search For, I put 090EC90B11A4ECC1 (the reverse of the old ID). In Replace With, I put E6A6B51B3CF8AF8A (the reverse of the new ID). Select Replace All Occurrences, and click OK. It should make several replacements. Click File|Save and close the hex editor.
 #* [[Image:HexIDReplace.jpg]]
 # Now we need a second new instance ID for our modified object file. We pull out the hash generator again. This time I put in Sri_Giraffe_Painting_Object_070709_22:50, and I get out 3EF918961F858995. In Windows, I rename the .object file I just hex edited, replacing the old id part of the filename with the one I just generated.
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 == Make your object file point to the new STBL, and set a price ==
-# Go back to your Object file in your hex editor. Scroll almost to the bottom, where the catalog entry is. In the text pane, you'll see something like "CatalogObjects/Name", with dots in between the letters.
+# With your hex editor, open your renamed Object file. Scroll almost to the bottom, where the catalog entry is. In the text pane, you'll see something like "CatalogObjects/Name", with dots in between the letters.
 # Put the cursor on the C in Catalog, and hit left arrow 18 times, to move the cursor back 18 bytes in the file. As you move the cursor in the text pane, you should see it moving in the hex pane as well, a pair of characters (one byte) for every text character you move it back. When you're on the right character in the text pane, click the first character of the highlighted hex byte to start typing. (The start of the highlighted area in the picture below shows the position; the characters in your file may differ).
 # You are going to type the reverse of the ID of your object's title from the STBL you made (omitting the 0x you saw at the beginning of that line), and immediately after it, the reverse of the catalog description ID (again omitting the 0x). You can use Snaitf's FNV tool to reverse the IDs.

@@ Line 92: / Line 92: @@
 == Put the new files together in a package, with multiple language versions of the STBL ==
-# Almost there! First, we're going to rename the string table (.stbl) file with an ID which includes a language identifier. Change the first two characters of the ID part of the filename (the part right before the file extension and after the third underscore) to 00 (the language identifier for English). So my STBL file is now named S3_220557da_00000000_007706233A6CAEAF.stbl .
+# Almost there! First, we're going to rename the string table (.stbl) file with an ID which includes a language identifier. Use the hash generator to generate a new FNV64 hash, and then change the first two characters of the ID part of the filename (the part right before the file extension and after the third underscore) to 00 (the language identifier for English).
 # Now, back to S3PE. Click File|New.
 # Choose File|Import, and select the .dds file, the .object file and the .stbl file you worked on.

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 # Open the .dds files in your image editor of choice. It should be readily apparent which one has the painting's image in it; close the others.
 # Make a note of the part of the painting's filename between underscores right before the world "painting". For paintingAnimalGiraf, it's C1ECA4110BC90E09. This is the instance ID; you'll need it later. (You can use the Paste Bin in Snaitf's FNV generator to save it temporarily, or Notepad if you want a permanent record.)
-# Modify the painting image with your art, flatten the file, and save it. We used DXT5 compression, but DXT1 gives a smaller filesize and is probably fine for most images.
+# Modify the painting image with your art (an inner glow around the picture will give the frame some depth).
 #* [[Image:PaintingOriginal.jpg]] [[Image:PaintingResult.jpg]]
 # Now you need a new instance ID for your modified painting. Generate one using the hash generator. Using Snaitf's generator, you can just click on Input Text, and then on Generate... that generates a hash based on your name and the date/time. Select the hash under FNV64/Normal.

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 Making custom paintings in Sims 3 is challenging at the moment, and very likely somebody will be along with a tool to make it easier, but it is perfectly doable with a little concentration. You're going to need a variety of tools and techniques here, so if the very idea of hex editing or package unpacking scares you, you might want to wait till somebody codes a tool that automates all this ;) As of today (July 15 09), we may have an object cloning tool available very soon which will significantly simplify the process, so if the procedure here intimidates you, you can await developments with that.
 Snaitf deserves all the credit for discovering the method documented here; I've just fleshed out the steps.
 Note: the three-part music "triptych" can't be recolored using this method; there may also be other problematic paintings, please comment if you find any.
-Please post questions and comments about this tut here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=2707877&posted=1#post2707877
+Please post questions and comments about this tut [http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=2707877&posted=1#post2707877 here].
 == What you will need before starting ==