I have spent some time recently tracking through the Pets EP to learn how to add a new Dog Collar (not a replacement for an original item) to CAS, complete with it's own icon (and of course, be able to play it in the game).
I managed to do this, and a demo and tutorial are posted on MTS2 for anyone interested (
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=208775). I'll not repeat all of the details here unless asked for clarification of something. Interestingly enough, items added this way can be sorted to any position in the icon panel (head, tail or in-between) and, despite being installed into downloads or collections, does not have a custom content star (maybe this can be specified in some way, but I haven't looked for it yet).
Now, what I wanted to add in this forum is that the linkage mechanism I used should be applicable to ADDING nearly all types of CAS items for Sims and Pets, whether or not there is a custom content mechanism and without the custom content star. I started on this a Pets project, but I think the linkage methodology has been present since the beginning, as these examples can be found in the original Sims 2 game files. However, I have never seen it used or described before. If so, I spent a lot of time rediscovering someone else's hard work, and will apologize for being redundant.
Bodyshop items like clothes use a GZPS, BINX and 3IDR with the same group and instance values to be recognized and linked to a texture. They also appear with an icon (thumbnail) and a custom content star.
Other CAS items use a method I'll call three-pair to provide this link, and may be linked to texture overlays and meshes overlays. The three pairs each have a shared instance between two files, but different from each other pair.
Using the terms on the CAS debug-mode tooltip text they are:
FragKey: BINX/3IDR pair (points to BinKey and ObjKey) [find examples in globalcatbin.bundle.package]
BinKey: COLL/3IDR pair (points to STR#) [find examples in globalcatbin.bundle.package]
ObjKey: XMOL/3IDR pair (may be XTOL, points to TXMT or CRES) [find examples in skins.package]
The STR# contains the collection name and item name, which are for listing purposes and are not related to how the game recognizes the package (as opposed to objects, where there is a link between the STR# name and the CRES name).
Additionally, there is a family= field in the XMOL that has a GUID as its parameter. A file will link to a different texture or scenegraph when a GUID is duplicated here from an already defined game object, although there will still be a new icon in the panel. Also, the GMND has to be
tsDesignModeEnabled and have the TXMT base name in it for the subset (like the MMAT recolor method uses).
While I as yet only have a working demo of a Pet Collar completed, I believe coat color, markings, Body and Face templates for animals are similarly constructed. It also looks like the Change Head, choose hair color and style and change face as well as built-in clothes for Sims all use this same linking method. While some I have listed (like clothes and hair) have an additional linkage method for custom content additions, many do not.
There has been some recent activity rediscovering editing the SIM face template meshes (using a replacement GMDC). I think using this linkage with new scenegraph elements (including the new meshes) will add to the CAS choices instead of replacing them.
Some of the items have meshes which contain data items called Vertex IDs and Region Masks, which seem to be a new Pets GMDC addition. The construction of these meshes is still being researched here at Rancho Como, so while editing them is not yet on the table (at least from me), cloning them or referencing the originals appears to work well.
<* Wes *>
Edit: I have confirmed this works for Coat Colors, although it appears there is more than a single texture needed to complete it (the head is in a different texture file than the rest of the body).
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