I have downloaded several eyeshadow, eyelash, and lipstick default replacements but have not been able to find blush default replacements anywhere. So, I thought that it was as good a time as any to learn how to make my own. Unfortunately, all the tutorials on default replacements that I have found either involve having an existing template from which to work or appear to be for old versions of SimPE. Can anyone direct me to a simple, easy to understand tutorial that would allow me to create default replacement blushes from scratch that will work with a recent SimPE? Any help is greatly appreciated.

This will work with anything, not just blush - pretty much any texture you can find in the game can be replaced the same way.

Before you begin: You will need to download, install, and set up the Legacy nVidia DDS Utilities, which can be found here: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/...ies_legacy.html (download link at the bottom of the page). Once downloaded, install them, and then in SimPE you have to tell it where you installed them to. Extra menu - Preferences. Then in the first tab, System Folders, down at the bottom it will say "Nvidia DDS Tool Folder" - if you installed the nVidia DDS utilities to the default folder, this should read "C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\DDS Utilities" - this utility will allow you to properly import your textures and if you don't already have it, you need to get it and set it up properly before you start. Doesn't matter what sort of graphics card you have, by the way, the utility is just made by nVidia.

Now then...

1. Make a Recolour File: Make a recolour of the Maxis texture you want to default-replace in Body Shop - make a new project of it and import it. You don't need to make any changes to it - you just need a copy of the original so you can see what it's called.

2. Open that File: Once you have it imported, close Body Shop, open your SavedSims folder, and open the file you just created.

3. Find the Name: Open the first Material Definition (TXMT) resource and look at it in Plugin View. You will see a list of values. in the list is a line that will read "stdMatBaseTextureName" - click on that.

5. Copy the Name: Over on the right in the blanks, you'll see them change so that Value reads the same as the part after the = ... select that name, but ONLY the part after the very last exclamation point (!) - so if it reads "##0x5fcf239e!##0x5f67868c!uuface-lip-mocha" you will JUST select the "uuface-lip-mocha" part. Copy that part using the ctrl-c keyboard shortcut.

6. Search for the Name: Now, bring up SimPE's Resource Finder (Window menu, Resource Finder). Find should be set to "in Namemaps" and Match should be set to "contains" (they should be set this way by default but just in case). Then paste the value you copied from the Material Definition into that blank below Match (ctrl-v). SimPE will chew on this for a while, searching the game files for what you put in.

7. Open the TXTR: Once it's done, you should have a number of results: hopefully, one TXTR resource, and two LIFO resources (the end of the names will say _txtr or _lifo0/_lifo1). Double-click on the TXTR resource. This is the resource that we will actually be default-replacing.

8. Export the TXTR: It will take a minute or so to open the game file with the TXTR in it. It will also automatically select the one you chose in the Resource List (top right pane). Right-click on the selected TXTR resource in the top right pane and choose 'Extract'. Save the file to somewhere you can find it again - you don't need to worry about naming it anything descriptive. We're extracting a copy of it without making any changes to its name or identifying characteristics, so we can just replace its textures, and then the game will think it's the same file, basically.

* If you want to default-replace multiple files in your set, like to replace all the default Maxis eyeliners, for instance, go ahead and repeat the above steps for all of them you want to replace - that way you can put them all together in a single .package at once. Just extract all of the TXTR files you want to replace to the same folder - again, you don't have to worry about naming them anything special, just get them extracted.

9. Open the File You Want to Make Default: Now, you need to get the textures that you want to use as your defaults. You should already have a finished recolour file of whatever you want to use as the default - your creation or someone else's. Open that file in SimPE.

10. Export the Textures You Want As Defaults: Open the Texture Image (TXTR) resource in the file you just opened, and look at it in SimPe's Plugin View. You should see the proper textures there, with some grey and white checker pattern in the areas that are transparent/semi-transparent. Right-click on the image and choose Export. Export the image as a .png file type - this will maintain the transparency and the image exactly as-is, which is what you want.

* If you are doing multiple texture replacements in your set, -do- name your extracted .png images something descriptive so you know which is which.

* If for some reason you just want to slightly edit the Maxis texture, rather than using a totally different finished recolour file, you can get the originals from the _lifo0 resource that you found with the Resource Finder. Open the lifo0 file, right-click on the image in Plugin View, and export as a .png, same as you would do if you were using a custom recolour. You can then edit that .png in any graphics editing program and it will be better quality than if you made a new project and imported it in SimPE.

11. Create Your Default File: File - New in SimPE, to create a new file. Go ahead and save this file as a .package somewhere and name it something descriptive - this will be your finished file that you can put in your Downloads folder or distribute to others as your default replacement.

12. Import the TXTR Resource: Right-click in the Resource List (top right pane) and choose Add. Find the file that you extracted in step 8 and select it to add to the file. You will see it added to the list, in italic.

* If you are default-replacing multiple textures in your set, you can select all of the TXTR resources you extracted at once to add all of them to the same .package file.

13. Save - Simply File - Save to save your file with the added resource(s). You'll see the name(s) go from italic to regular text indicating they have been saved and no changes have been made since the last save.

14. Import your Texture: Select the TXTR resource you added in step 12. If you have multiples, select the first one. The name of the TXTR should tell you which one you have. Make sure you're in Plugin View. You'll see a rather small image of the original texture there. Right-click on the image and choose "Build DXT". Click "Open" from within the DDS Builder window that pops up, and choose the .png file that you want to replace this TXTR with. Levels should be set to 1, Format set to DXT3, and Sharpen to Smoothen. Don't check anything else. Then click Build. You'll see a little black window pop up for a second, then disappear. And then you should see your texture that you want to default-replace with showing in Plugin View now, in full size. Over on the left MipMap Level should read 1, and there should only be one thing listed in the list down at the bottom (under the text that says "Blocks

* If your Build DXT option is greyed out then you either haven't gotten the nVidia DDS Utilities as instructed above, or haven't set them up properly in SimPE. Go back and do that, then return to this step.

15. Commit and Save: Click Commit. The resource name in the Resource List will go italic, indicating it has unsaved changes. File - Save to save your changes. The name will go back to regular.

* Repeat this for any other TXTRs in the file, committing and saving after each one until you have replaced all of the textures.

16. Test Your File: Put your finished .package file in your Downloads folder and load the game or Body Shop and make sure everything's working properly. With any luck, you should have a nice shiny new default-replaced texture.


Again, this should work for any texture in the game - not just makeup.

If you get stuck on a certain part, please let me know - I went ahead and did this step by step as I was writing this, but if you're unfamiliar with SimPE this may be a little tricky. I can provide screenshots for certain steps if you run into trouble.

Thank you so very, very much, HP! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help!

HP, do you think you could re-post that as a full-blown tutorial thread for easier searching and finding? It looks enormously helpful.

No problem Lily. Glad it'll be of help.

Daisie - I'd been wanting to do a tutorial on this for a while - just never got around to it. I may take some screenshots of key steps and go ahead and do that.

HP, thanks so much for the tutorial! It was easy to follow and I now have a nice set of default replacement blushes, using a set of Helaene's blushes! Thank you!!! :D

Thank you HP, this is excellent. For the first time ever today I actually DID something with SimPE, rather than just starting up the program and staring stupidly at the screen for a few minutes before giving up.

Thank you. You have no idea how I've been searching for something like this. I just made myself a new set of deafult lashes with this tutorial. Yay!

and soon comes hundreds of base game gothic clothing replacements! this is so perfect! thank you thank you THANK YOU ! ! !

Thanks for the tutorial Hysterical. I've been looking everywhere for something like this! I wanna ask you though : does it only work for textures? What I mean is how can I also replace meshes (I'm thinking about replacing some of the base game outfits, and I'd like to replace them with shiny new meshes). Thanks for the help anyway

Meshes are easier. Extract the original GMDC, make a new file, add the extracted GMDC to it, change that GMDC to whatever you like, plop into Downloads.

Thanks HP, I'll see if I can work it out.
For now I'm trying to default replace the default maxis undies by your very own FanseeFem undies. And of course, it's not working as it should... It actually does replace the file, but when I click on it in BodyShop and in game, the body of the sim is super light while the head and the arms are normal. Do you know what's happening? I'm so disappointed!
If you want I can attach a pictur
Thanks so much for your help anyway.

Biarritz - That's usually an issue with the bump map - if you replace a bump map in SimPE you have to make sure to change the format back to the original - I think this is Raw8Bit.

Thank you so much Hysterical. It works! You're my hero

Edit : Okay, so now I'm trying to default replace the basegame Capris Sneaks bottoms with the H&M Jeans that came with the H&M Stuffpack (I'm thinking of uninstalling this pack because my computer doesn't have enough memory, and I really like the first 3 female jeans that came with that pack).
So I default replaced the textures perfectly, but I'm having trouble with the mesh. I extracted the 2 originals GMDC and then I replaced them with the H&M Jeans' 2 GMDC. And Simpe's preview shows that the mesh has actually been replaced. BUT when I launch BodyShop, it's obvious that it's the original mesh with the new textures pasted on... Any idea of what I did wong?

OK, so I'm attempting to replace a skirt mesh. I got the GMDC, and imported the new GMDC into it [is that correct?], but there's a crack between the top and replacement bottom. I've fiddled around with it for a few weeks, but I must be missing something. Does anyone have any sort of hints or solutions? I haven't been including the LOD15 GMDC; should I? Any help is much appreciated.

palette - You don't need to do the LOD15 mesh unless you want your mesh to work when someone has their game's graphics settings on Low for "sim/object detail." I have -never- bothered with the LOD15 settings as I figure if someone's playing their game like that, they've got such a crappy graphics card they shouldn't really be downloading much anyway.

Regarding the crack/seam, don't touch the seam around the waist at all when doing your editing. Don't move those vertices, don't change the normals, nothing. You can edit the other parts as you like, but don't touch that seam at -all- and you shouldn't get a crack.

HP, I tried to follow this, but for some reason it won't work?

I'm trying to use cloudlessnights' hogwarts uniform with robes for the Private School Uniform. So I went into bodyshop and followed your steps. When I get to the part where I have to get the name after the exclamation, they all say "body~stdMatBaseTextureName". Every one. What am I doing wrong? I'm so confused...

Does this work for terrain paint?

I think SimPE has changed since she wrote the tutorial. Click on the first TXMT, like in the tutorial, but then click the tab File List below the Blocklist and Filename part in the Plugin View. The filename you want will be there, and probably with a bump that will most likely need to be replaced as well.

Also, in the next step, Finder is already on a bottom tab when I start up simPe, so all following that step does is take it away, so you may need to do it twice.

What about the mesh?
I wanted to change that awful pajamas, but it looks like it's only pasted on the original mesh :/ I mean:
http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pajamahf2.jpg
sorry for the quality

Jeanne1337 - Mesh replacements are different and require a rather different skillset. Refer yourself to the Body Shop Meshing area for that.

This should work for creating deafult skin templates, right? Or have I completely misunderstood?

I've have tried already (just in case i did understand right) but it didn't really work; In step 3. there are 30 different files to chose from see (every single texture for every age), and none of them seem to have the same name that you then get in step 5.
And then in the search in step 7. there is no result at all.

So yeah, that's how it is.
Could you help please?

Gaiia - Don't bother with this for skintones. Just use an existing skintone default replacement set and use whichever textures you want in place of the ones that are there. No sense in reinventing the wheel when what you need is already out there a hundred times over.

HP - thanks so much for writing this up, I've been meaning to as well, but never quite got to it, I'll keep an eye out for your tute and see if I have any useful comments about it

Thank you so much, HP - I've now made my first set of default clothing (begone OFB summer dress!! Mwahaha!).