Creating default skin replacement - simplified method.

[angelyne]

Maybe you were just a tad too ambitious with your beginner's project   Too many things to learn at the same time.


There are a lot of already made default pollination technician that you can download.  No need to make your own until you are more comfortable with sims customization.

The defaultpollinationtechnician file I was refering to, is the one you can download from laverwinkle.  If you put it in your download folder it will replace the ugly Maxis PT.  You won't see it in SimPE, that's normal.  You wil still see the Maxis bug-eye PT.  But your babies wil inherit the traits from the PT you downloaded. 

Now, if you want a default alien skin as well, you can download that too.  The one at laverwinkles is purple, but a search in the bodyshop/genetics section of MTS2 will come up with many more.  Enayla has a nice green one here : http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=126880.

Maybe start with that.

[Tgdrysix]

Maybe you were just a tad too ambitious with your beginner's project   Too many things to learn at the same time.


There are a lot of already made default pollination technician that you can download.  No need to make your own until you are more comfortable with sims customization.

The defaultpollinationtechnician file I was refering to, is the one you can download from laverwinkle.  If you put it in your download folder it will replace the ugly Maxis PT.  You won't see it in SimPE, that's normal.  You wil still see the Maxis bug-eye PT.  But your babies wil inherit the traits from the PT you downloaded. 

Now, if you want a default alien skin as well, you can download that too.  The one at laverwinkles is purple, but a search in the bodyshop/genetics section of MTS2 will come up with many more.  Enayla has a nice green one here : http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=126880.

Maybe start with that.

Yep I think this was a bit too ambitious to start off with so I did as you suggested....got the default pt and a default skintone and now all I have to do is wait for some babies... .....I really appreciate your help thanks so much for putting up with my endless questions....tgdrysix

[TreyNutz]

Thanks for your tutorial, angelyne.  I used it to create default skins for someone at MTS2.  I had 2 questions maybe you or someone else can answer:

1.  The default skin files I got from MTS2 and used had inconsistent mipmap levels for the skin textures.  All the mipmap levels in the S1 skin were set at 1, and in the other 3 tones the male bodies were set at 4 while every other 1024x1024 texture was set at 11.  Should I have corrected this?  Does it not matter?  Or is it set that way for a reason?

2.  I adjusted the skin tones on some of the textures to match the faces, and when I imported those png files into the default skin package file with the Build DTX command I had some cases where the image was altered.  Some colors were replaced with others and there were blocks of incorrect color over the image.  Is this a bug in Nvidia's DDS utilites?  I found that if I imported the altered images into the game with BodyShop and then exported them back out as a project and then used those bmp files (converted into pngs) the images would look ok. 

However I'm seeing the same issue again with the S1 Maxis defaults for some of the male body textures.  (I'm trying to create a default skin template package file using the Maxis default skintones).  I was wondering if anybody else had seen this and if there is a work around.  I could export the problematic pics and correct them, but I don't know why some colors don't 'stick' and are replaced with others.  I could probably be careful and recolor the offending blocks with colors already in the exported image, but that seems like a lot of work.

[angelyne]

Whoah, you are way ahead of me.  I think you mis-taked me for someone awesome   I don't think I can answer your question, I'm sorry

[Sleepycat]

I'm clueless why that happened also   

...the only time I've had trouble with simpe was "importing" the skintones texture files (the compression thing would screw up higher detailed skintones and they would then look like crap) finding out about the build dtx took care of that...did you maybe hit "import" instead of "build dxt"?


and I must admit I don't recall ever noticeing the mipmap levels...

[TreyNutz]

Well, thanks for answering.  Build Dxt is pretty low on the menu, and Import is at the top.  I don't think that's it.  I could re-import the image and it wouldn't make a difference.  Ah well. 

I saw the mipmap thing once before when I was trying to make a default alien skin.  So I was wondering if that was standard or something.

edit:  I found a solution to the importing.  After I click on Build DXT and select the image, I've found that switching the format to DXT5Format seems to solve the problem.  The pics look a bit better too once they are imported.

[Sleepycat]

edit:  I found a solution to the importing.  After I click on Build DXT and select the image, I've found that switching the format to DXT5Format seems to solve the problem.  The pics look a bit better too once they are imported.

well thats cool    I'll have to remember to try that the next time I do a new default skintone replacement. Which I don't think will be anytime soon unless I get tired of my default alien skintone again *laughs*

I ended up switching back to using Allan Akbars default replacements and doing the gene fix for all his others I have plus all the tattooed skintones I did based on his files. So now I have 34 skintones (35 if you count the alien skintone) that my sims can randomly get (depending on their parents and whatnot of course) and they all have the same "look" or maybe "coloring style" fits better. Either way my sims look good (and some get to have tan lines) and my male sims get to have chest hair again instead of the girly bald look they had with Enayla's 

[bluecool]

Hope I'm allowed to contribute my 2 simoleons worth pls......For those who are looking for a batch converter that is freeware, you can use Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/

[TreyNutz]

I'll have to remember to try that the next time I do a new default skintone replacement.

I was going to edit my reply, because I wrote that after doing one problematic image.  So I did them all (33 images) in DXT5 and the file size doubled from 15MB to 30MB.  So there's a trade off.  I probably should have only gone to DXT5 if necessary, but I didn't notice the file size increase until all was said and done.  Sometimes using DTX5 produced very dramatic improvements and other times it produced only subtle changes that might not have been worth the extra file size.

I used FastStone Image Viewer to batch convert the bmps to pngs.  It's free, too.

[nectere]

o o just to tack on - hmmm I know where I need to put this...anyway

I found a really nice little utility last night that is also free called xnview, its feature rich (effects,web/html, editing, renaming, batch conversions, etc in 44 languages), and supports 400 -> 50 conversion types, is fairly thin and super fast. I really like it, try it today!

/end commercial

[bluecool]

looks good. can it do batch conversions as well?

[vermilienne]

I'm taking my first stab at creating a default skin, but I'm a little stuck.  In the third step, when you're supposed to right-click and select Build DXT, that option is grayed out and I can't select it.  I've done everything else up until this point just fine.  I'm hoping someone is still watching this thread and can help!

[TreyNutz]

My guess is that you either don't have Nvidia DDS Utilities installed, or haven't configured SimPE to point to where there are.

You can download the DDS Utilities here:  http://developer.nvidia.com/object/dds_utilities.html

After installing them, launch SimPE and go to Extra\Preferences.  In the Preferences window, make sure System Folders is selected on the left, and in the line for Nvidia DDS Tools Folder click on Browse and navigate to the correct folder.  On my computer it's:

C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA DDS Utilities

[vermilienne]

I had it installed, but didn't know to point SimPE to it.  It's working now!  Thanks so much for your help, and for such a speedy reply!

[vermilienne]

I finished the project and it worked out perfectly!  Thank you for the tutorial!

[Ambular]

Just wanted to add here, you can get the finished file down to a MUCH more reasonable size with no apparent impact on quality if, after importing all your skin textures, you switch to the Resources tab at the bottom and set compression for each texture to "Yes".

[TreyNutz]

Oh, I'll have to try that.  Thanks for the tip.  My default skins are 30 MB each!

[vermilienne]

I used this tutorial to make a default vampire skin (using an existing default vampire skin and overriding the images, applying alpha layers, etc).  Everything worked fine, except that the graphic quality of the vampire skin is horrendous. 
[img=http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/decemberine/vamp1.jpg]
How normal skin looks on my Sims.

[img=http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b10/decemberine/vamp1.jpg]
How the vampire skin looks on my Sims.

The decrease in graphic quality is over the entire body, not just the face.  Any idea why this would happen or how I can fix it?

[liegenschonheit]

I used this tutorial to make a default zombie skin, and it worked flawlessly. I know we are not supposed to say thank you, but nah . Thank you for writing such an easy to understand tutorial. It really was rediculously easy to do, if a bit tedious ^_^

Vermilienne, did you use the "import" button, or did you use "build dxt"? Using the import button will give you lower quality recolours.

[southernmom]

I'm attempting do this tonight, and I keep running into an error when I try to open the folder with SimPE.  I get this:

[error]Message:
Exception of type System.OutOfMemoryException was thrown.

SimPE Version:
Default (0.58.1.29278).

Exception Stack:
System.OutOfMemoryException: Exception of type System.OutOfMemoryException was thrown.[/error]

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong...I am supposed to be opening the PNG file, right?

[southernmom]

Nevermind, I found the folder...Hubby interpreted for me.  The skins I'm using are Helaene's, and arent named anything like what I expected.  How do I know if I'm using the right one, do I just go by what looks right?

[dragon_tfm]

well im new at making defaults and i think i basically understand everything but im not quite sure how to do this for a plant sim  since your first step is
Step one : Extracting the textures from your skin.
Launch Bodyshop, Create Parts, Start New Project, Create Genetics, Skin Tone.  Select the skin tone you want to turn into a default replacement.   Click on export selected textures.  Wait till the export process is done.  You can now cancel the project as it's no longer required.  Close Body Shop. 


and im sure im just having a brain fart but how do i get the plant sim skin tone so i can make a new default...also come to think of it i see everyone else talking about zombie skins and vamps..how do i get them as well..im sure there is just a body shop code or cas  code that lets you choos ethem but for the life of me i cant think of one
any help would be much appreciated =]

ps...if this was all covered somewhere else please place a link ive done a search but may have still missed it

[Ambular]

and im sure im just having a brain fart but how do i get the plant sim skin tone so i can make a new default...also come to think of it i see everyone else talking about zombie skins and vamps..how do i get them as well..im sure there is just a body shop code or cas  code that lets you choos ethem but for the life of me i cant think of one
any help would be much appreciated =]

ps...if this was all covered somewhere else please place a link ive done a search but may have still missed it

To make one from scratch, you have to find the original skins in the game files, but the easiest way to do it is to download a default replacement someone else has already made and replace its textures with your own.

[dragon_tfm]

like i said i was having a brain fart..it seem si didnt have enough coffee yet...i reread the tutorial and i skipped by a large part of it the first time i read the darn thing...first couple times actually it seems
remind me no to attempt anything with the sims before at least 3 cups of coffee  things are much clearer now....i think in my mind i muddled it up thinking the skintone in step one had to be   the actual maxis skins i planned to replace not the ones i wish to alter to eventually replace the plantsims one..lol thanks for the help your response woke me up to realize my error =]

[angelyne]

Amber is correct of course.  If you want to do your own plant sim replacement, you'd be better off simply using an existing replacement and replacing those textures with your own.  Here is a default skin replacement for plantsims :  http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=222329.  They might even suit you as is.