Reading the contents of a package file

[Claeric]

I'm a bit confused. I thought TSR merlin could do this, but it doesnt. As well as TSR Workshop (it does, but it requires going through a bunch of menus just ot see one item.)

I have my downloads compressed into individual packages. I also have the original files backed up as they are when you download them. I want to get rid of things I no longer want but some of the names are not very descriptive, and I don't know what package contains what.

Is there a program out there that shows what is inside a package without having to do a bunch of stuff, like importing it into TSRW or finding an IMG file in S3PE? I found one, Sims 3 Package Explorer, but it doesn't...show me anything, on pretty much any package. Plus I still have to open them one by one...

Am I looking for something that doesnt exist?

I basically am hoping for a program that loads all my CC and lets me see thumbnails of it.

[wes_h]

Inside the .package files, all the contents are cataloged only with the TGI₆₄ values. Names, if available, are buried in a chunk, usually encoded as 16-byte characters. Not so user friendly, but a good, lean-and-mean format for loading into a game quickly.

There are/were some rudimentary catalog dump and search tools around (command-line based), but hardly what I think you are asking for. I generally opened them and looked at the image files to guess what they were.

[Claeric]

so basically "no"

[BastDawn]

Do you have only one package file per item, or are they multiple items in one package?  I use Echo's Postal Viewer when I need to sort through improperly labeled files, but it will only be useful to you if you don't use merged packages.  It will let you see the png file so you can ID it by thumbnail; if the png isn't included, you can still view the dds files.  The item name might be in the string tables, or check the xml file if one is included.

Sure, you have to load one package file at a time to use it, but it shouldn't take too long unless you have several dozen files to sort through.

[Claeric]

I am looking to identify individual packages so I can remove those I dont want/use before re-merging.

[wes_h]

Yeah, what you want is sort of like looking through a dictionary by reading the definitions and trying to guess what the word is.
I have a tool that would look through all .package files in a single directory and print out which ones contain any particular TGI₆₄, including a simple pattern matching capability. But that won't help you much for what you are seeking to do.
The Postal idea is probably the best alternative idea.