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TS4 Skin Converter V2.3, enable CC skintones in CAS

by CmarNYC Posted 9th Dec 2020 at 10:12 PM - Updated 20th Dec 2020 at 3:15 PM by CmarNYC
 
151 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 111 Feedback Posts, 39 Thanks Posts
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Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#2 Old 9th Dec 2020 at 10:58 PM
I love you, have since Sims 3 days. <3
Instructor
THANKS POST
#3 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 1:10 AM
Thank you so much! Just tried it and it was so easy to use
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#4 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 1:39 AM
Does this work?? I have so many custom skins in my game
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#5 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 1:39 AM
Thank you! I was contemplating updating everything by hand before I stumbled upon this. Such a big help!
Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#6 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 1:46 AM
Oh my gosh, I was waiting to see this! You make the best tools! Thank you so much.
Test Subject
#7 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 2:23 AM
Quick question: What does "add mermaid tag" do?
Instructor
#8 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 3:11 AM
This is wonderful, and I am pleased by both the ability to make light-dark sliders work and the fact that I can mostly tell *how* that works by looking at the resources that were updated -- looks like how much lighter and darker to get, and what increment to change by when dragging the slider?

(Frustratingly, however, while the game is perfectly happy to operate the light-dark slider on a purely custom skin color using RLE2 resources, they don't seem to work on player-converted LRLE resources -- I couldn't get them to work on a default replacement skin color, and the only theory I could come up with was that the game was able to correctly apply the slider mechanics to a DDS image in an RLE2 resource because it knows an RLE2 resource can contain a DDS image, but since all the LRLE resources natively in the game are some other (unknown? do we know what it is yet?) image type, it doesn't understand that it needs to use the DDS algorithm for applying those mechanics to an LRLE resource that contains a DDS? And when I switched all the RLE2 resouces for a particular custom skin color to LRLE, the light-dark slider stopped working, which seems to at least confirm that the DDS/LRLE combination is the issue. I did eventually manage to get an old RLE2-using default replacement for alien skin colors to show in CAS by way of your tool, and that gets a working light-dark slider, but we HATES the CC wrench on our defaultses, WE HATES IT.)
Field Researcher
THANKS POST
#9 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 3:41 AM
Bless your heart Cmar! You just saved me so much stress. I'm retail so I probably won't update and look into this till AFTER the holidays, but just knowing this exists saves me so much anxiety. This patch was really stressing me out. I wouldn't mind loosing the custom skins so much since it sounds like the new system will be flexible, that is if it weren't for all the old saved sims that use custom skintones -twitch-
Mad Poster
THANKS POST
#10 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 4:26 AM
A pure lifesaver. Thank you.
Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#11 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 4:39 AM
Thank you for getting this out so quickly!
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#12 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 5:07 AM
Thanks for all of your hard work! I have a stupid question. Do we keep the old skins in a separate folder, or remove them completely? Do I have to reapply the skins? Thanks.
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
Original Poster
#13 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 5:10 AM Last edited by CmarNYC : 10th Dec 2020 at 5:48 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by puppypaint
Quick question: What does "add mermaid tag" do?


It enables the skin for mermaids, mostly for older skins made before mermaids were added to the game.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
Original Poster
#14 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 5:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Cidira
This is wonderful, and I am pleased by both the ability to make light-dark sliders work and the fact that I can mostly tell *how* that works by looking at the resources that were updated -- looks like how much lighter and darker to get, and what increment to change by when dragging the slider?

(Frustratingly, however, while the game is perfectly happy to operate the light-dark slider on a purely custom skin color using RLE2 resources, they don't seem to work on player-converted LRLE resources -- I couldn't get them to work on a default replacement skin color, and the only theory I could come up with was that the game was able to correctly apply the slider mechanics to a DDS image in an RLE2 resource because it knows an RLE2 resource can contain a DDS image, but since all the LRLE resources natively in the game are some other (unknown? do we know what it is yet?) image type, it doesn't understand that it needs to use the DDS algorithm for applying those mechanics to an LRLE resource that contains a DDS? And when I switched all the RLE2 resouces for a particular custom skin color to LRLE, the light-dark slider stopped working, which seems to at least confirm that the DDS/LRLE combination is the issue. I did eventually manage to get an old RLE2-using default replacement for alien skin colors to show in CAS by way of your tool, and that gets a working light-dark slider, but we HATES the CC wrench on our defaultses, WE HATES IT.)


I haven't experimented with the defaults that trick the game by disguising RLE2 as LRLE, so I'll have to take a look. It makes sense that the slider may not work with them. LRLE is an entirely different compression format that doesn't use DDS, and so far no one has figured out how to read and write it. I'd think it extracts the raw image and applies the slider either way, but who knows? I'll play around with it.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Test Subject
#15 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 5:51 AM
heya! just cuz i have a lil trouble understanding, should i not delete the old skin and put the patched one in its place? i don't want to break anything again...
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
Original Poster
#16 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 5:54 AM
Quote: Originally posted by faeries
Thanks for all of your hard work! I have a stupid question. Do we keep the old skins in a separate folder, or remove them completely? Do I have to reapply the skins? Thanks.


This is all new so I'm not 100% sure, but - you should remove the old, unconverted skintone packages and replace them with converted ones. I don't think it matters which folder in Mods they're in. And you shouldn't have to reapply them.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
Original Poster
#17 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 5:58 AM
Quote: Originally posted by purdywaldo943
heya! just cuz i have a lil trouble understanding, should i not delete the old skin and put the patched one in its place? i don't want to break anything again...


Yes, you should remove the old skintone package and replace it with the converted one.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Instructor
#18 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 7:30 AM
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
I haven't experimented with the defaults that trick the game by disguising RLE2 as LRLE, so I'll have to take a look. It makes sense that the slider may not work with them. LRLE is an entirely different compression format that doesn't use DDS, and so far no one has figured out how to read and write it. I'd think it extracts the raw image and applies the slider either way, but who knows? I'll play around with it.


Yeah, I'm operating on pure inability to resist a puzzle and MacGuyvering here, but I'd decided after a previous round of experimenting with some stuff related to LRLE that there must not be a DDS inside the "real" ones, so I'm glad to see I'd reached a correct conclusion.

Thanks for taking a look! I at least know I'll still be able to make an alien default that works, but I really prefer to be able to distinguish between default replacements and true CC.
Field Researcher
THANKS POST
#19 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 8:30 AM
Thank you for your incredibly fast work! Brilliant, and easy enough for even a silly person like me to use.
Test Subject
THANKS POST
#20 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 8:54 AM
Thank you so much for this tool! Though I am happy about the effort by Maxis to give better skintones, I cannot live without my cc skintones.
Lab Assistant
THANKS POST
#21 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 9:48 AM
Thank you so much Cmar!
Lab Assistant
#22 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 9:53 AM
A quick question, does it work with far older skin tones that were made even before tan lines? If yes, which package would be better for converting, the oldest one (initial) or the one that already has been converted with version 1.2 for tan lines?
Ms. Byte (Deceased)
Original Poster
#23 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 11:58 AM
Quote: Originally posted by wild_guy
A quick question, does it work with far older skin tones that were made even before tan lines? If yes, which package would be better for converting, the oldest one (initial) or the one that already has been converted with version 1.2 for tan lines?


Yes, it works with all old versions. Just manually changing the version number doesn't work for the pre-tanning skins but this tool converts the old single texture to the normal/tan/burn format. At this point I don't know which is better or if it makes no difference - V1.2 did some modification of overlays to reduce splotchiness in the darker tones especially when burned but EA says they've improved their blending or rendering or whatever so those changes may or may not be an improvement now. I left them out of this version, at least until there's time for experimenting.

Please do not PM me with mod, tutorial, or general modding questions or problems; post them in the thread for the mod or tutorial or post them in the appropriate forum.

Visit my blogs for other Sims content:
Online Sims - general mods for Sims 3
Offline Sims - adult mods for Sims 3 and Sims 4
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 12:14 PM Last edited by wild_guy : 10th Dec 2020 at 5:28 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by CmarNYC
Yes, it works with all old versions. Just manually changing the version number doesn't work for the pre-tanning skins but this tool converts the old single texture to the normal/tan/burn format. At this point I don't know which is better or if it makes no difference - V1.2 did some modification of overlays to reduce splotchiness in the darker tones especially when burned but EA says they've improved their blending or rendering or whatever so those changes may or may not be an improvement now. I left them out of this version, at least until there's time for experimenting.
Alright, I'll try to convert both skin tone versions then to see which one gives better result. Thank you.
Field Researcher
THANKS POST
#25 Old 10th Dec 2020 at 1:14 PM
Queen of this freaking game, thank you so much! Patiently waiting for the Sim extraction tool to be updated <3
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