Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 1st Oct 2018 at 1:36 PM
Default Extracting some userpreset.package files and converting them to packages
Hi guys,
I moved my thread from “Modding Discussion/Patterns,” hope this is the right place.

Modding: researching, studying, trying things out, and working off my stress with a punching bag. This is one hell of a ride for a newbie compared to building houses. It's very time consuming and frustrating but it definitely pays off cuz by the end of the day, your brain’s cooking.

My goal is to extract some in game CASt files I used in my builds (wall/floor patterns, furniture, rugs) from userpreset.package and re-package them for download to those who prefer the items only. Is this possible without going nuts?

What i did so far:
First trial - Edited userpreset.package with Sims3PackageExplorer. There were no PNG image files present (just Hex) so I extracted a file (saved as *.dat) and viewed with a notepad. I knew roughly the contents from the material section (same as S3pe). There are online tools to convert dat files to xml but I didn’t find any to convert it back to package files. Is this the right direction?

Second trial - Edited userpreset.package with S3pe and exported a preset (tagged UPST, group 0x00000000) as *.package, size 74 KB. I converted the package file to Sims3pack with "Sims3Pack File Generate Tool by Sakura4 ” and installed it via launcher to see if there is any conflict/error message. Got an error message saying “Please make sure your game has the latest Software Updates and try again.” What? I have the latest updates (1.69.43.024017) from Origin so what am I doing wrong?

Third trial — Cloned an object (round rug 2x2) in TSRW, assigned a unique identifier, and used the same CASt patterns (every other settings left untouched). I was able to replicate the patterns but the preview window was still showing geometric patterns (straight lines) on the rug instead of my chosen fabric patterns. I'm definitely missing something here but what?

Fourth trial — Still learning how to mesh in the hope of replicating the objects I needed from userpreset.package.

Is any of these trials an option? I need help from the experts or anyone to get me in the right direction, thank you for your time.
Advertisement
Scholar
#2 Old 4th Oct 2018 at 11:19 AM
I'm not sure why you had gotten a disagree when you're just asking a question. I'm not an expert on this kind of stuff but I have to say that I don't quite understand what you're trying to accomplish here.
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#3 Old 5th Oct 2018 at 9:43 PM
Hiya @toolowforzeros !

If i'm right I already replied to your question on tumblr, so hopefully it's okay for me to repeat myself! It could help other peeps to do it themselves! Though patterns are actually not exactly hidden or 'saved' in a specific folder. You really want to dig into the 'fullbuild/deltabuild' packages and preferably search for the mask. The mask is this texture that could look either entirely red, or consists out of: Red, yellow, purple, green. (Meaning, the pattern has 4 channels, if it's 2 or 3 colours then that means they have 2 or 3 channels.)

Now, some patterns, when it comes to the 'diffuse map' (Which is this grayscaled map) either link to this entirely gray texture, which means it's... well, useless. That's why you want to look for the mask instead. However, some patterns do have this thing where they have a slightly darker bits added to them on the diffuse map so it's always worth to check out!

But what to do if you found the mask version of the pattern? Basically, you wanna change the colours! Beacuse that's what we do in-game, so therefore we can in photoshop or GIMP too! Whether it's bucketfill or using the 'hue/saturation' tool or whatever, this should give you the ability to at least recreate the pattern you made.

IF You really want to go deep and extract the exact texture with the pattern applied, I would recommend using ninjaripper or something like that. I know for CASParts the game does save a coloured version of the textures with the patterns applied but I honestly have no idea if this is the same for objects too...

Quote:
Second trial - Edited userpreset.package with S3PE and exported a preset (tagged UPST, group 0x00000000) as *.package, size 74 KB. I converted the package file to Sims3pack with "Sims3Pack File Generate Tool by Sakura4 ” and installed it via launcher to see if there is any conflict/error message. Got an error message saying “Please make sure your game has the latest Software Updates and try again.” What? I have the latest updates (1.69.43.024017) from Origin so what am I doing wrong?


Another note, Don't convert game packages to sims3packs... (same for caches and such) basically what you're doing there is Zipping a package into the sims3's own 'zip' or 'rar' file so to speak. This will cause for the game to get super confused and maybe give you some problematic stuff in-game.

Quote:
First trial - Edited userpreset.package with Sims3PackageExplorer. There were no PNG image files present (just Hex) so I extracted a file (saved as *.dat) and viewed with a notepad. I knew roughly the contents from the material section (same as S3pe). There are online tools to convert dat files to xml but I didn’t find any to convert it back to package files. Is this the right direction?


XML files are fun to play around with but they don't actually hold the visual settings (Except for the colour choices, but then again I don't think they hold your own pattern's colour choices from in-game) Dat files... I don't think i've ever seen those in the packages itself. So therefore I wouldn't actually bother looking at those. I would recommend however only using s3pe. S3PE has an in-built image exporter. however, keep in mind that the game (As do most to all games ever made) Work with a whole different image extention. Ts3 therefore works only with dds files. There's quite a lot on that too on the internet so it's worth a google

Regarding TSRW... they never fixed the pattern issue, so it displays fine in-game but uh... it's glitchy as hell despite it being such an awesome tool
Test Subject
Original Poster
#4 Old 7th Oct 2018 at 4:38 AM Last edited by toolowforzeros : 7th Oct 2018 at 7:23 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Squidconqueror
I'm not sure why you had gotten a disagree when you're just asking a question. I'm not an expert on this kind of stuff but I have to say that I don't quite understand what you're trying to accomplish here.


I moved the original thread from "Modding discussion/patterns."

My goal: I made a lot of patterns (used CASt, no CAP/CC) in my builds such as on rugs, furniture, decor, walls, rooftops, ceiling and floor tiles. I couldn't just share/export them in Sims3pack format as I normally do with lots so I had to find another way to replicate these patterns (some with the items included) for easy access to those who needed them.

I thought it would be easier to extract some object files created in CASt from the userpreset.package file found in the Sims3 root directory and convert/re-package them for download or replicate these patterns using TSRW (both proved not to be the solution). Being new in modding and searching for weeks, I was exposed to lots of information at different sites but didn't really know where to start. Big thanks to Lyralei for the detailed explanation because now i know where and what to look for. Hope that helps
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 7th Oct 2018 at 5:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Lyralei
Hiya @toolowforzeros !

If i'm right I already replied to your question on tumblr, so hopefully it's okay for me to repeat myself! It could help other peeps to do it themselves! Though patterns are actually not exactly hidden or 'saved' in a specific folder. You really want to dig into the 'fullbuild/deltabuild' packages and preferably search for the mask. The mask is this texture that could look either entirely red, or consists out of: Red, yellow, purple, green. (Meaning, the pattern has 4 channels, if it's 2 or 3 colours then that means they have 2 or 3 channels.)

Now, some patterns, when it comes to the 'diffuse map' (Which is this grayscaled map) either link to this entirely gray texture, which means it's... well, useless. That's why you want to look for the mask instead. However, some patterns do have this thing where they have a slightly darker bits added to them on the diffuse map so it's always worth to check out!

But what to do if you found the mask version of the pattern? Basically, you wanna change the colours! Beacuse that's what we do in-game, so therefore we can in photoshop or GIMP too! Whether it's bucketfill or using the 'hue/saturation' tool or whatever, this should give you the ability to at least recreate the pattern you made.

IF You really want to go deep and extract the exact texture with the pattern applied, I would recommend using ninjaripper or something like that. I know for CASParts the game does save a coloured version of the textures with the patterns applied but I honestly have no idea if this is the same for objects too...



Another note, Don't convert game packages to sims3packs... (same for caches and such) basically what you're doing there is Zipping a package into the sims3's own 'zip' or 'rar' file so to speak. This will cause for the game to get super confused and maybe give you some problematic stuff in-game.



XML files are fun to play around with but they don't actually hold the visual settings (Except for the colour choices, but then again I don't think they hold your own pattern's colour choices from in-game) Dat files... I don't think i've ever seen those in the packages itself. So therefore I wouldn't actually bother looking at those. I would recommend however only using s3pe. S3PE has an in-built image exporter. however, keep in mind that the game (As do most to all games ever made) Work with a whole different image extention. Ts3 therefore works only with dds files. There's quite a lot on that too on the internet so it's worth a google

Regarding TSRW... they never fixed the pattern issue, so it displays fine in-game but uh... it's glitchy as hell despite it being such an awesome tool


Sorry for the delayed response on tumblr; life was throwing stuffs at me, threw them back.
Wow! this is a very helpful and detailed information because now I understand a great deal about these files. It's amazing, wonderful, first class... you name it and I couldn't thank you enough for taking your time to explain iin such details that anyone would know where to start. Biggest thanks ever
Virtual gardener
staff: administrator
#6 Old 9th Oct 2018 at 7:31 AM
You’re very welcome! do tell me if you have any questions
Test Subject
Original Poster
#7 Old 9th Oct 2018 at 4:03 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Lyralei
You’re very welcome! do tell me if you have any questions


Will definitely do, have a wonderful rest of the week
Test Subject
Original Poster
#8 Old 20th Oct 2018 at 6:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by toolowforzeros
Will definitely do, have a wonderful rest of the week


EDIT: I finally figured out why I couldn't share/export in game patterns/items; I was supposed to "save" before exporting them (look before you leap!), my bad. I raised a hell of a thread on this forum when the solution was a single click away (aaah, silly mistake!). But all that aside, the detailed explanation from Lyralei on extracting a mask from fullbuild/defaultbuild files and modifying it via Gimp/photoshop really got me thinking about modding and now I'm working on my first mod ever. It will also help anyone with similar issues and those are the positive sides of this thread. No one's perfect, we all learn from our mistakes.
Back to top