Step-by-Step Custom Career How-To Guide v0.05

[Psion]

**** PLEASE NOTE: This document will no longer work as of the the most recent release of SimPE (OFB compatible;0.56) due to the removal of the classic GUI, which this was based on using some tools that are not present in the new GUI. Unfortunately, without some major retooling which MIGHT be done one day, this doc is now only good as a reference. ****

Here you will find the Custom Career step-by-step How-To document. It is rather long, but hopefully simple enough for beginners, as it is designed as a true step-by-step guide. The document does not use any career editor plugins or programs, other than SimPE and an optional graphics package.

This was originally developed, then moved from http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=25474, and some useful resources are still located there.

Any feed back will be appreciated (please be gentle :D )

To give people a better idea of the content of the document, I have changed the format of this post to include only the latest changes, and added the table of contents.

The guide is in both MS Word 2000 (DOC) and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) formats. They are the same document. Word format is recommended as it has active hyperlinks for the document's bookmarks, making navigation easier.

I have now released v0.05. A lot of changes in this one.

There are currently 15 main sections to this document:
01) Introduction
A short introduction to this document. Going over the conventions, programs and limitations of this guide.
02) New Career Worksheets
Useful for planning and referencing your career
03) University (EP1) pack compatibility warning!!
Warning to career modders
04) Language translations
Adding extra language support to your career
05) Steps to Create a New Adult Career (Standard non-Graduate)
06) Steps to Create a New Teen / Elder Career
07) Steps to Create a New Graduate Career
08) Creating Custom Icons
A small guide, based on the GIMP, to making custom icons for your career
09) Steps to Upgrade a Pre-EP1 career
10) Testing your career
A quick run through on testing your new career
11) Posting your career for Beta / Release
A small guide on how to go about posting your career for beta testing or final release on MTS2.
12) Useful Tables
Tables that have information on how to find various settings etc
13) Resource Materials
Stuff used as reference for this document (will be removed a bit later)
14) TestingCheats
Raw Information. You are better off using the “Testing your career” topic
15) Changelog
Log of changes made to this document.


Version Changes
0.05
Added chance balance reminder
Expanded on filtering instructions (pointed out by Airelda)
Added career worksheet templates
Re-did reward instructions for updated SimPE (pointed out by athenegw)
Changed reward packaging recommendations.
Added “EP1 only” labels to relevant steps.
Expanded on Chance Card text entry.
Expanded on TS2 root location values.
Added posting guidelines (Thanks CynicalChick)
Added further explanations to some values
Corrected value for Chance Card presence indication (pointed out by jmk4422)
Added reward award level instructions
Added translation optional suggestions
Added short explanation of Hexadecimal
Updated TS2 / EP1 compatibility warning
Improved requirements description for unique GUID and GroupID

Added custom icon creation instructions

[p00jkins]

Nicee one Psion! Its so nice to see something as comprehensive as this :D

[Grapholina]

Extremely detailed. I can see where grammar and such can be cleaned up, but those spots are minor, and overshadowed by the great job you did in describing.

Pat yourself on the back!

[Burn2ash]

Is it possible to just edit the careers that are already in the game or will I need to makle a copy of it and just edit that?

[Psion]

Is it possible to just edit the careers that are already in the game or will I need to makle a copy of it and just edit that?

You always clone an existing career first. If you don't change it's GUID, it will replace a Maxis base career when installed. Likewise, when it is removed, the base career comes back.

It is considered better to make a separate career, rather than to overwrite one anyway.

You must state in your object post whether a career replaces a base career when publishing it.

[CrazyChip]

Thanks psion hopefully this will help! :banned:

[Burn2ash]

Thank you.

[CrazyChip]

How come psion can put tutorials here and I can't??

[p00jkins]

How come psion can put tutorials here and I can't??
eh? what kind of tutorial are you trying to put up?

[CrazyChip]

Well p00jkins it is in microsft word format, and a zip file. but I will not tell you what kind of tutorial it is. But it says you do not have the options to post here!

[Psion]

I had to post elsewhere and Loverat moved it for me. You will need to speak to an admin about it.

[CrazyChip]

I had to post elsewhere and Loverat moved it for me. You will need to speak to an admin about it.
Well how can I reach an ADMIN?

[CrazyChip]

What the heck?

[Jetdude14]

you need to go to the quick links at the top and go to private messaging, then go to send, then put in Loverat, then ask him about it :)

[Psion]

you need to go to the quick links at the top and go to private messaging, then go to send, then put in Loverat, then ask him about it :)
Try HER . . . :D

[CrazyChip]

Thanks all.

[Psion]

Please also check out this thread: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=52699

It is a proposed 'standard' for posting careers.

The results will be in a future release of the document, so all comments appreciated.

[Gilder]

What is the way the game identifies career package to be career? What settings are different in for example carrier package and cloned table package?
Or it depends on the whole set of resources
For examle only carrer's consist of :
- 86 Behaviour constants
- 2 Behaviour Functions
- 1 catalogue description
- 1 global data
- 5 image files
- 1 Null Reference
- 1 Object Data
- 1 Object Functions
- 1 Slot File
- 5 Text Files
and if i'll make table with
- 86 Behaviour constants
- 2 Behaviour Functions
- 1 catalogue description
- 1 global data
- 5 image files
- 1 Null Reference
- 1 Object Data
- 1 Object Functions
- 1 Slot File
- 5 Text Files
the game would treat it as career object
???
Thanks

[Psion]

What is the way the game identifies career package to be career?

No-one has tried to identify the career marker to my knowledge. It is likely a value in either the Object Data file or a BHAV, though.

We normally just clone an existing one, and change the settings we want to change.

[Airelda]

Hi and thanks for taking the time to write this tutorial! I have been wanting to make my own careers for a long time, so I was excited to see your tutorial.

I hope it is okay for a complete novice modder like me to test it out? Or does it assume prior knowledge? The reason I ask is that I'm already stuck at step two :lol I was trying to make a new Graduate career, but unfortunately could get no further than step 2 which is "Filter for GroupID 0x7F2CA2DE (Artist Career) "

I don't really understand what is meant by this. I see at the top of Simpe is a box to type in a filter number but when I try to type in the number you specified it comes up with a completely blank file. I also tried going through the files one by one to find the right file but soon realised there are thousands of files listed and it would take forever to find the file you mentioned like that.

Please let me know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks!

[Psion]

Hi and thanks for taking the time to write this tutorial!

Thank-you for the thank-you :)


I hope it is okay for a complete novice modder like me to test it out? Or does it assume prior knowledge?
The document was designed precisely for people who want to make a career without much, if any, prior knowledge of the tools involved. So in effect, it was aimed at yourself and other novices, although obviously it is usable by anyone. I did the somewhat easy part of documenting it. The hard part is coming up with the ideas required to complete a good career. THAT is up to you . . .

The reason I ask is that I'm already stuck at step two :lol I was trying to make a new Graduate career, but unfortunately could get no further than step 2 which is "Filter for GroupID 0x7F2CA2DE (Artist Career) "

Thank-you for bringing this to my attention. I have not used the required detail for a SimPE novice (which is what I should have done), like I did in the other steps. I will amend the document with the following entries (v0.05 onwards):

2. Filter for GroupID 0x7F2CA2DE (Artist Career)
a. Select the box marked “Group Filter”.
b. Type in “0x7F2CA2DE”.


Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask any further questions. That is how documents like this are refined.

[athenegw]

Hello
Brilliant tutorial, ive been wanting to make my own careers for ages.

Just a couple o' question question.
Is it possible to change the career outfit to a custom outfit?

The Reward object. Do you open the object file in simPE?
I tried this but i couldn't find 0x0090.

Please help oh great and knowledgeable one.

[Psion]

Brilliant tutorial, ive been wanting to make my own careers for ages.
Thank-you, and good luck.

Is it possible to change the career outfit to a custom outfit?
You can change the outfits to custom outfits, yes, as long as they have GUIDs. As for making custom outfits, that is beyond the scope of this guide.

The Reward object. Do you open the object file in simPE?
I tried this but i couldn't find 0x0090.
Sorry about that. This part of the guide was made for SimPE 0.17. Quaxi has since changed the way the values are displayed / accessed for the section you need. Please find below updated instructions that will be present in v0.05.

Thank-you for your input into this, and again, good luck.

--->>>
1. Flag object as a reward type object
a. Load the object you wish to make the reward (clone it if not a custom object).
b. Select “Object Data” from “Filetypes”.
c. Select instance “0x000041A7” (Object Data) from “Packed Files”.
d. Select the “Packed File” tab.
e. Click “Byte Editor”.
f. In the “Byte Editor” window, change the “Display Mode” at the bottom left to “Hexadecimal”.
g. In the “Offset” box at the top left, type “0x90”.
h. Click the “go” next to the “Offset” box.
i. In the “Word” box, change the value to “0x0800” (tells TS2 this is a reward object only).
j. Click “Commit”, which will close the editor.
k. Confirm the change has occurred correctly.
i. Select “Name Reference” from “Filetypes”.
ii. Select “Object Data” from “Filetypes”.
iii. Select instance “0x000041A7” (Object Data) from “Packed Files”.
iv. Select the “Uncompressed Data” tab.
v. Select the box that is immediately to the right of “0x00000090”.
vi. Note on the right that “Word” should have 3 values: “0x800”, “2048” and “2048”.
l. Select the “Plugin View” tab.
m. Note the GUID of the object.
n. Select “Save” from the file menu.
2. Bind Reward to Career
a. Select “Object Data” from “Filetypes”.
b. Select instance “0x000041A7” (Object Data) from “Packed Files”.
c. Select the “Packed File” tab.
d. Click “Byte Editor”.
e. In the “Byte Editor” window, change the “Display Mode” at the bottom left to “Hexadecimal”.
f. In the “Offset” box at the top left, type “0xA8”.
g. Click the “go” next to the “Offset” box.
h. In the “Dword” box, change the value to the GUID of your career object. Note, if you do not already have a public GUID assigned, you will need to repeat this step later to update the GUID when it is assigned.
i. Click “Commit”, which will close the editor.
j. Confirm the change has occurred correctly.
i. Select “Name Reference” from “Filetypes”.
ii. Select “Object Data” from “Filetypes”.
iii. Select instance “0x000041A7” (Object Data) from “Packed Files”.
iv. Select the “Uncompressed Data” tab.
v. Select the box on the far right, next to the “GoTo” button.
vi. Enter “0xab”.
vii. Click the “GoTo” button.
viii. Starting with the highlighted box in the middle, reading right to left, your GUID for your career should now be listed in reverse. For example, if your GUID was “0x12345678”, it would be listed (right to left) as “12”, ”34”, “56", “78”.
k. Select the “Plugin View” tab
l. Note the GUID of the object
m. Select “Save” from the file menu

[SIMSpeare]

Great job on the tutorial - I was having the very same problem myself. One question, though - do you still need to bind the career to the reward (aka the same as step two in reverse)?
Thanks for your help - you guys are awesome.
SimSpeare

[SIMSpeare]

One more quick question - how do you set the job level at which your sim will recieve the career reward? I apologize if this is an obvious question, but I can't seem to find it in SimPe (I'm working on a pretty cool career that I'll post here soon).
Thanks!

[Psion]

One more quick question - how do you set the job level at which your sim will recieve the career reward?
The tuning constant 0x1019;0x05 controls the level the reward is awarded. I did not put a step into the guide for that as it was designed as a "clone a Maxis base" which already has that value set, usually around Lv6-8. If you have a look in the tuning constant reference table, you will see this listed there.

I am considering adding this as an option in the next document version.

do you still need to bind the career to the reward (aka the same as step two in reverse)?

Yes, the double binding is required for the reward to display the correct icon and for the career to trigger the reward.

Thanks for you questions on this. Good Luck.

[Airelda]

Not only do you write great tutorials, but I am very impressed with your communication and response as well. Thanks for being there for those who will need to ask a lot of questions - like me!

Thanks for rewording the step I was stuck on (no 2). Unfortuantely I still seem to be stuck! I wrote in the code you specified in the Group Filter box but when I do nothing comes up except a completely blank page. Is this right? I tried saving it anyway but the program froze.

I'm sorry I'm so clueless!

[Psion]

Thanks for being there for those who will need to ask a lot of questions - like me!
Thank-you for continuing to ask questions. My aim is make this document as self-explanatory as possible. If you are having problems, then I need to identify where and try to make sure no-one else encounters them.

Unfortuantely I still seem to be stuck! I wrote in the code you specified in the Group Filter box but when I do nothing comes up except a completely blank page. Is this right?
No, this is not right. You should be seeing a list of data types for the base career. From looking at your previous post, the only 2 things I can think of that match this (besides faulty software), are either you have opened the "objects.package" file in the original Sims2 directory (not EP1 University), or you do not have EP1 (University) installed.

The Graduate careers require EP1, but even with it installed, the original Sims2 "object.package" file does not contain the enhanced careers present in EP1.

This is what was meant by the information in the introduction:
"Throughout this document there are references made to the installation root of The Sims 2. This changes when EP1 (University) is installed. Make sure you select the relevant installation directory when accessing files."

Typically the original and EP1 directories are found in the following locations:

Original:
"C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2"

EP1 (University):
"C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 University"

Whether this is what has occurred or not, I will alter the next version to point this out more clearly.

Again, please do not hesitate to ask any further questions.

[jmk4422]

Psion--

I've been playing around with this tutorial, and have read through this thread, but I still might repeat a question others have asked. If so, I'm sorry!

Q1: What are the "motive deltas"? I don't understand this part. In your guide you say: "The values are in hundredths(?), so to represent 1 point, you would enter 100, to represent 3¾ points, use 375, and so on.". But in Athletic career I'm basing mine off of (per your tutorial) only negative numbers appear as entries here. Should they be negative?

Q2: It would be awesome if you could put together a better step-by-step guide for the chance cards and uniforms. Everything up until this point was so easy to follow for a beginner like me, but then... poof! I had no idea what to do so I stopped. I mean, your instructions don't seem to follow what I see in the program at this point anymore. Shrugs...

Well, thanks for putting together such a kickass tutorial, though. I d/l it mostly out of curiosity, but I actually learned a *lot* from it!

jmk

[jmk4422]

...opps, I forgot to mention Q3!

Q3: In your tutorial, for the chance cards for creating an adult sim career, you say that to alter the chance card occurrence rate you should go to instance “0x0000101B” (Chance - Random). Then you say to alter the levels that have chance cards you should go to instnace 0x0000101B” (Chance Card Levels). These are both the same instance, and I can't finid the one for the "selecting which levels" one (101B is for the randomness).

Help! Thanks!

jmk

[Psion]

Q1: What are the "motive deltas"? | Should they be negative?
Motive Deltas are the changes to a sim caused by going to work, such as increased hunger, boredom etc, so generally are negative. Depending on the job, sometimes fun or social levels may rise. The next version of this document makes this, and other values more clear as to their purpose.

Q2: It would be awesome if you could put together a better step-by-step guide for the chance cards and uniforms. Everything up until this point was so easy to follow for a beginner like me, but then... poof! I had no idea what to do so I stopped. I mean, your instructions don't seem to follow what I see in the program at this point anymore. Shrugs...
I'm sorry you appear to be having trouble with this. I will review the given section (some changes are already planned for the next version anyway), but this will take a bit of time. Being more specific in what difficulties you are having would be helpful in this.

Q3: In your tutorial, for the chance cards . . . [Alteration of cards] . . . [Presence indicators] . . . These are both the same instance
Sorry, my bad. It should read 0x1057 for the level indicators. Thanks for pointing this out.

Thank-you for your questions and comments. Such things help immensely.

Just a note though, when posting an alteration / addition to a post immediately before, as you have done here (2 posts in a row, minutes apart), please remember to use the edit button found in the top right right of a post, rather than making additional posts. Aside from this being a site guideline, it helps to keep the forums tidier and more readable. :)

[jmk4422]

Sorry, my bad. It should read 0x1057 for the level indicators. Thanks for pointing this out.


I still couldn't find instance 0x1057, but then I realized why: at the very beginning when I was creating the template, I did not open the objects package from the SimPE folder-- I opened it from the Sims2 folder. You might want to clear this up for newbies like me: "1. Open the main objects package in SimPE (“<Sims2 root>\TSData\Res\Objects\objects.package”). Maybe it should read "<The Sims2 University root>\TSData\etc"?

I started giving the chance cards another whack, and I think I understand it better, now. One of the confusing things was the difference between male and female. With the other sections they don't "stack" them like this, making it easier to follow.

Thanks again for your hard work. I'll see how far I can get now and take notes on things that confuse me...!

jmk

p.s. Thanks for the head's up about the double-posting!

[colwraith]

Very thoughtful of you to make this tutorial. Thank you!! However when creating level descriptions i noticed that it has the strings 0-A through 0-F. What are these for or did I miss something in the how to??

Please feel free to yell at me if you think I'm an idiot cause I probably am one.

[Psion]

when creating level descriptions i noticed that it has the strings 0-A through 0-F. What are these for or did I miss something in the how to??
No, you didn't miss anything per se, but I think you probably have not worked with hexadecimal before.

Normal numbers use the decimal system (base 10), meaning that for the first column of numbers (the 1's column if you like) the numbers 0 to 9 are used, so the next number after 09 is 10.

Hexadecimal numbers (base 16; usually denoted by a leading "0x") use 16 numbers for each column. As we don't have an extra 6 number characters available, we use the letters A - F instead. So the progression of numbers becomes 0x09, 0x0A, 0x0B, 0x0C, 0x0D, 0x0E, 0x0F, and finally 0x10.

Most of the values listed in my guide are in hex, as that is what a data set is represented as.

Please feel free to yell at me if you think I'm an idiot cause I probably am one.
No, you are not an idiot, as this is not obvious if you haven't worked with hex numbers before.

To me it is obvious, as I work with PCs this way all the time, so it did not occur to me that it would be confusing for someone new to this, like yourself. Sorry, my bad. As a result of your comment, I will be adding an appropriate "hex primer" to my guide, so this should not be a problem for someone else in the future.

Thank-you for your comments. (If I have misinterpreted your question, don't hesitate to tell me).

[jmk4422]

Psion:

I'm making a lot of progress, thanks to your document. It's confusing at first, but once I got into the habit of actually looking in SimPE after reading what you wrote, things began to make more sense! Anyway, I was wondering a couple of things.

1.) Any progress on figuring out how to change the career image?
2.) For the career outfits, if you put in "0" for the value they'll wear their everyday clothes. I was wondering: is there a way to get them to wear their formal clothes instead?
3.) How do I make sure that a custom career won't overwrite the base Sim career? Per your tutorial, I'm basing my new career off of "Athletics", and I want to make sure that Athletics still exists after I copy the package over to downloads.

Clarification would be a great help. Thanks!

-jmk

[colwraith]

Thanks Psion, that explains alot. I've never incountered hexadecimals, I've never really played around with this kinda stuff.

[Psion]

1.) Any progress on figuring out how to change the career image?
2.) For the career outfits . . . is there a way to get them to wear their formal clothes instead?01) I am working on a guide for changing the icon as we speak.
02) I don't know the answer to that . . . yet. I plan on looking into that soon.

3.) How do I make sure that a custom career won't overwrite the base Sim career?This has been clarified in the v0.05 guide (coming very soon):
As with any object in TS2, each career will require its own GUID and GroupID, or it will replace the original object your new career is based on. If you plan to have it replace a Maxis career, you do not need to worry about this. GUIDs can be obtained from the “Get GUID” function inside SimPe or from http://sims.ambertation.de. See http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=32228 for more assistance in this. GroupIDs are generated from the GUID.

[jmk4422]

As with any object in TS2, each career will require its own GUID and GroupID, or it will replace the original object your new career is based on. If you plan to have it replace a Maxis career, you do not need to worry about this.

Okay, here's the situation. I've begun testing my new career in my game. I got a new GUID for it based on your tutuorial instructions (and changed the group ID, too), because I want to make sure it doesn't replace Athletics (the career I based mine on, per your tutorial). Maybe I've been successful and maybe I haven't-- I'm not sure. The best way for me to find out would be:

Q1million: Is there a way to let a Sim see I]all[/I] available careers? What I mean is, is there a cheat or a hack available that would allow me to see a complete list, in game, of the careers available? Using the computer and the newspaper everyday totally limits you, and from a testing standpoint, this can be frustrating. For example, since I began testing my new career I had a Sim take the new one (it showed up as an option on the very first try; yay!), but now I want that same Sim to see if Athletics is still around. So far I've played three whole days, and though I see Military and Law Enforcement a lot (those always seem to show up!) I still haven't seen Athletics.

So... basically I'm just not sure.

Another question, along the same lines. Do you know of a cheat or hack that can force Chance Cards to come up? I upped the chance percentage for my custom career to 95% (for some reason I'm reluctant to go up to 100%), but after three game-days no chance card has yet occurred. This seems odd with a 95% chance of one occuring. I want to test the chance cards in gmae, so having a cheat or hack to force them would be a great help.

I bet these questions have arisen before. Maybe you could add something to the next version of the tutorial about how to test your new career in-game? I mean, for those of us unwilling to distribute a severely flawed item for Beta...!

Another thing you might consider doing (which, from my layman's view, would be a great help) is giving a list of all the uniforms available, and perhaps links to what they look like. Since custom uniforms aren't allowed, knowing what can be used could be a big help (and visuals would be SO awesome).

One final question, along the same lines. Are only the "Outfit_Career" files availble for job uniforms, or will the NPC outfits work, too? For example, say I wanted to use the maid uniform-- will that work, or does it have to be a career uniform only?

jmk

p.s. Sorry for asking so much; like I said a while ago, I'm really new at doing this sort of thing.

jmk

[Psion]

OK, it is here at last, v0.05!

[Psion]

Is there a way to let a Sim see I]all[/I] available careers? . . . . Do you know of a cheat or hack that can force Chance Cards to come up?This has been added to the new version v0.05.

I upped the chance percentage for my custom career to 95% (for some reason I'm reluctant to go up to 100%), but after three game-days no chance card has yet occurred. This seems odd with a 95% chance of one occuring.The "chance percentage" has not been proven to my knowledge, so may be inaccurate. The jury is still out. I would recommend setting the value to the Maxis standard.

Another thing . . . is giving a list of all the uniforms available . . . Are only the "Outfit_Career" files availble for job uniformsI will likely add a list in the v0.06 version. I have avoided using images to keep the file size down, but may revise that in the future.

In theory any outfit can be used, NPC or otherwise. I have not personally tested it, but I have seen people claiming it works.

Have a look through the new version and see if you have any more questions.

[jmk4422]

The "chance percentage" has not been proven to my knowledge, so may be inaccurate. The jury is still out. I would recommend setting the value to the Maxis standard.

Psion:

Your new version of the tutoiral (v5) kicks ass. It totally rocks that you take the comments/feedback posted here to heart-- it makes those of us who feel we're asking stupid questions less embarrassed (and ever more grateful)!

Having said this, let me ask you your opinion on something. I've been trying to use the chance card cheat (per your new tutorial), and I am "forcing" a chance card every time. It seems that I always get the same result, right now (the bad one for option B, level one of the career). Do you think this is just a coincidence, or is there something wrong with my career? I'm going to try a few more times but I've tried four times already, and I always get the "bad" result... hmm...

Thanks again!

-jmk

[Psion]

(v5) kicks ass. It totally rocks that you take the comments/feedback posted here to heartThanks. Remember the whole idea of this document is to allow someone with little knowledge of the tools or process to be able to generate a consistent and working career object. If something in the process is not understood well enough by the reader to be useful, the guide does not accomplish its task.

I've been trying to use the chance card cheat . . . "forcing" a chance card every time . . . I always get . . .the "bad" resultI would recommend you check the pass conditions for that card, especially the gardening values. Gardening could never be satisfied if set to non-zero.

One test you could do is to set all the pass conditions to zero. If it still fails, you are likely the victim of a bug or some corruption in your system / downloads. At that point you would be best off testing in a "vanilla" environment (ie remove all downloads during testing, and maybe even reset the neighbourhood for testing as well, after backing up of course).

[jmk4422]

Psion:

Actually, I just got done testing something and maybe I could get your thoughts on it. For the Tuning Chance Random: Behavior Constant (instance x...101B), I had had level 1 set to 85. Now, it was set like this the whole time I was testing my chance card in game, where I kept getting the bad result for choosing option B and the good result for choosing option A.

Anyway, I changed the value there from 85 to 15, and now it's the opposite: I'm always getting the good result for B and the bad result for A. Strange, huh?

Is it possible that the values for this instance help determine the possibility of a good result depending on whether A or B is chosen? Let me know what you think, thanks!

jmk

[Psion]

Is it possible that the values for this instance help determine the possibility of a good result depending on whether A or B is chosen?
That is definitely possible, but by itself is not consistent. As you know, there are minimum pass values for the chance cards. This theory would have to tie into them somehow. Did you have any of your minimum values set above 0?

This certainly warrants more investigation.

[jmk4422]

Now that the weekend is (finally) here I'm going to test this out some more. I'll let you know what I end up finding out. As for your second question, about the pass values-- no, I set them all the 0 when I began working on chance cards.


jmk

[p00jkins]

jmk4422, the boolprop testingcheatsenabledtrue cheat will allow you to spawn a chance card tester to force chance cards to come up. (That is, if you just want to see them in game)

[Maniac]

Cool, but I did not read your tut to make my careers. I learned on my own!

[spootcookie]

Partly just wanted to say "thanks!" for making this impressive guide. :beer:
For the motive deltas, do you know what the numbers are roughly equivalent to? That is, would entering "-100" on a six-hour day leave a Sim with half their motive remaining, for example?
This is really dumb, but if not using a custom object for the reward, where do I find the object to clone it?
Thanks so much!

[Psion]

For the motive deltas . . . would entering "-100" on a six-hour day leave a Sim with half their motive remaining, for example?Off the top of my head, I don't know. If in doubt, I would recommend looking at the effect of a Maxis base career versus its settings, or just try it and see. You can always change it. I will look into this a bit further and add it as a reference later on.

This is really dumb, but if not using a custom object for the reward, where do I find the object to clone it?In SimPE, under the Plugins menu, you will find the Object Workshop. You can clone any object through here. All the Maxis reward objects are listed under Career rewards.

[jmk4422]

Does anybody know of a good resource for learning how to create custom career rewards? I don't want to create something too fancy-- I want to take an exisiting object and make it a career reward (modified enough so it will be cooler than the thing it's based on). I looked through the tutuorial section of this forum but didn't really see anything. Suggestions? Thanks!

Psion: I have another question for you, actually. For the chance card money rewards, I've found that entering any value over 30,000 isn't accepted. For instance, I wanted the Chance A Good Money reward for level 10 to be 50,000. I enter that amount (50000-- 0x1388), commit file, and click somewhere else. When I go back, though, it's been changed to 5,000, with the same value (0x1388). Is this a problem with SimPE not recognizing numbers over a certain size? I opened up the Maxis Criminal career, which rewards 60,000 for a good chance B at level 10, and saw that SimPE was seeing it as 6,000. I know from experience that you do in fact receive 60,000 for choosing this in game.

Any thoughts? Is it actually recognizing my amounts without me being able to see? Am I just paranoid? Should I stop bugging you and test this?

Thanks!

jmk

[juliek75]

:nana: Ok here's aquestion and I hope it doesn't sound stupid, probably the answer is right in front of me, but bear with me I've never attempted to make anything for the sims before and this is my first career attempt. Where are the GUIDs for the outfits and cars?? It says in the tutorial about puting them in to change the career outfits and cars but I can't figure out how I am supposed to know the GUID for each outfit and car. Please help, I am very technically challenged.......lol.

[Psion]

For the chance card money rewards . . any value over 30,000 isn't accepted.I'm sorry, but you have been caught by the "didn't read the manual" bug. :)

As it says in my guide:

• For values 0x1 to 0x6, the values are in single whole numbers, so to represent 1 simolean / dollar, you would enter 1, to represent 20000 simoleans / dollars, use 20000, and so on.
• For values 0x7 to 0xA, the values are in single whole numbers multiplied by 1000, so to represent 1000 simoleans / dollars, you would enter 1, to represent 20000 simoleans / dollars, use 20, and so on.

Meaning that the bigger values beyond level 7 are entered as divided by 1000. For example your criminal career has a value of 60 at L10 to represent 60000.

It is likely that the upper value is actually 32768 for any one value in this set, but what it represents changes from L7 onwards, being multiplied by 1000.

Where are the GUIDs for the outfits and cars??No, you are not blind. :) This information is not yet included in the guide. I am planning on putting a reference list in the next version of the guide, if I can.

In the meantime, the easiest way to find the GUIDs for the clothes, is to use the "Object Workshop", under the Plugins menu. In here you can find an outfit subtree that lists all the oufit templates, including NPCs. Simply "clone" the one you want, and look at its GUID, then use it as described in the guide.

The best way to do this is to run multiple copies of SimPE, one copy for your project, others for reference.

Vehicles are the same, except you get multiple Object Data files. The one you want is always instance 41A7. This is the "root" object file.

Hope this helps. If you need further assistance, please post again.

[SIMSpeare]

Psion:

Your dedication to helping people is astounding. Thank you, on behalf of all of us, for taking the time.

Just out of curiosity, I've noticed that the Maxis careers denote the skill requirment needed to get a "good" chance card result in single digits, not in 100's. In addition, they seem to only have one skill marked with said 1, mostly logic and charisma. You explanation seems much more precise. Why does Maxis use these single digits?

I'm thinking of writing a mini-tutorial on making custom vehicle carpools, but I don't want to cover something that you might be including in your next update. If this is something you're not going to cover in the next version, let me know! :)

Thanks, and again, kick A$s tutorial.

[random_c]

This is a fantastic tutorial - a quick question though - when I go to set the GUID, it still says athletic career there. Have I done something wrong?

[SIMSpeare]

random_c - no, it should be okay. The "athletics" name you're seeing is only the filename; it is the GUID that sets it apart from its clone. You can change the filename if you want, but it doesn't effect your custom career.

[random_c]

Thanks for that. I'll be giving it another go tonight, but I'm drawing up my own reference table first. I had a beer with my lunch so there's not much chance of me getting it right without having it all written down. :)

[random_c]

Oh also, something else confusing me but which I forgot to ask about before:

The work days. I get the whole hex bit, I worked with hex a few years ago (long enough that I could double-it-and-add-one in my head in hex faster than I could in decimal) but why is it only from 0x1 to 0x3? At what stages do the days worked change, if not every step?

[Sims2Star]

Thanks for this! :D

[DrMulder32]

I've never made anything for the sims2 and i was wondering if that link will help me start creating things. Sorry new at all this let me know please.

[random_c]

Which link, Dr Mulder? This thread is about a tutorial on making new careers for your sims.

[Psion]

Sorry for the delay in answering people, been busy the last few days with other stuff.
Maxis careers denote the skill requirment needed to get a "good" chance card result in single digits . . . they seem to only have one skill marked with said 1 . . . Why does Maxis use these single digits?As much as I hate this sounding like a "passing the buck" sort of thing, I had not actually noticed that myself, being that this part is based on Bidou's work. It is likely one of 2 things:
01) Maxis use "weak" values, only requiring minimum "whole" points of the given skill
02) It is a boolean value, and the game automatically sets the required value for the level, so at L7 it needs at least 700 points of whatever skill is active.

I don't know if it has been proven one way ot the other.

I'm thinking of writing a mini-tutorial on making custom vehicle carpools, but I don't want to cover something that you might be including in your next update. If this is something you're not going to cover in the next version, let me know! :)Most of the content of this tutorial has been adapted from other peoples work, hence the thank-yous at the beginning. Other than laying it out as a step-by-step with explanations, I have only contributed a few things, like the binding of the career reward, so as to get the right icon, posting standards, getting around changes in SimPE etc.

So that said, other than a list of GUIDs for standard vehicles and possibly a way to look them up, I wasn't planning on adding anything special for that in the next version. I would be more than happy to list a link or, with your permission, adapt your tutorial to be part of this guide, with appropriate credit of course.
The work days . . . why is it only from 0x1 to 0x3? At what stages do the days worked change, if not every step?Forgive me if I misinterpret what you are asking, but it sounds like you are reading from the Teen/Elder section. The days worked are set per level of the career. So in your example 0x1 - 0x3 represent level's 1 to 3. As Maxis have basically made the teen careers as copies of the adult careers, you will also see listed 0x4 - 0xA, even though they are not used in the teen versions.

Also to address your earlier comment, previously answered by SIMSpeare, the athletic name (or other base career name) will still appear in your code as part of the process. I have yet to come up with an easy way to change this quickly and efficiently in all the places needed, and also at this point, don't know if the career will even function if such a change is made. It is nothing to worry about, as long as the base name does not show up in the game for the end user, which it should not, if the procedure has been done correctly.

[IrreverentMalevolence]

New here, with delusions of grandeur. Many, many thanks for Psion.

Second Correction: Worked now. I have some reading ahead of me.

[spootcookie]

Hi Psion,
finally almost finished (whew), but I'm having trouble making the custom icon. When I extract the files, and go to the directory, they show up as something like "00000000-7FC82329-00000002." I know your guide says to rename it as a .tga file, but nothing I'm doing seems to be working. Neither GIMP nor my other program (paint shop pro) will open the files.
Thanks so much!

[Psion]

I'm having trouble making the custom icon. When I extract the files, and go to the directory, they show up as something like "00000000-7FC82329-00000002." I know your guide says to rename it as a .tga file, but nothing I'm doing seems to be working. Neither GIMP nor my other program (paint shop pro) will open the files.There are two likely reasons for your problems:

01) Your computer is not set to allow you to see the file extension (ie ".jpg") and so won't allow you to change it successfully

and / or

02) You are attempting to open the icon files by double-clicking them

In the case of #01 (for WinXP), you need to open up "My Computer", select "Tools \ Folder Options", select the "View" tab, uncheck "Hide extensions for known filetypes", click "Apply", then "Apply to All Folders".

In the case of #02, I am not sure about Paint Shop, but the GIMP does not register tga as a file type associated with itself. The easiest way to open such a file in the GIMP is to follow the instructions in the document and open the file(s) from inside the program.

I hope this helps. :)

[jmk4422]

spoot---

I had the same problem as you, and nothing I tried (including what Psion just suggested) worked for me. I got around it by manually renaming the file in DOS mode, like so:

1.) Copy the file somewhere easy to locate (like right under the C: drive, for example).
2.) Go to "Start", "Run", then type in "cmd" (to bring up the command prompt).
3.) Type "cd\" to get to the root drive (C).
4.) Type "dir" to get a directory list. Your file should be listed here if you followed step 1; if not, you're going to have to know how to navigate in DOS (which few people do anymore!).
5.) Type "ren <filename.tga> <filename.jpg>" to rename the file. You have to type this exact, which is a pain in the ass since the file names are so long, but oh well...
6.) Done!

Now just go back into windows and the file is a .jpg file which will open by GIMP or any other program, for that matter. After you're done editing everything, change the file back to a .tga by following the same steps.

I know this may seem like a long and complicated way to fix the problem, but it worked for me so I thought I'd share. I had meant to figure out a better way but I'm still working on that same career, so...!

jmk

[spootcookie]

Thanks so much, Psion and jmk! I got it to work using your first suggestion, Psion. Strangely enough, the colors seem a bit off--the icon background is purple, and some of the details are funny--but I haven't tried to fiddle with it yet. Should probably be able to get it to work fine. Maybe because I'm using Paint Shop Pro? Oh well.
Again, thanks. :beer:

[Psion]

Strangely enough, the colors seem a bit off--the icon background is purple, and some of the details are funny . . . Maybe because I'm using Paint Shop Pro?I have seen this in a couple of other programs as well. I don't know if it will affect the icons or not, but I know it works in the GIMP correctly.

[Maniac]

Yeah I see it perfect in GIMP but in photoshop no.

[flutter123]

thank you

[jmk4422]

Psion--

To your knowledge has there been any progress regarding providing custom uniforms for a new career? I've been under the impression for a while that only the standard outfits in the game can be used (i.e. the Maxis uniforms). Is this true? Thanks!

jmk

[deneric]

Thanks a lot. for some reason when ever i do the stuff to name the career(career name/ranks/desctritions) it doesn't show up in the game,can ya help me?

[Psion]

has there been any progress regarding providing custom uniforms . . . only the standard outfits in the game can be used . . . Is this true?I have not heard of anyone making custom outfits as yet, but this doesn't mean no-one has. This is as opposed to normal clothes made in bodyshop. These do not have a GUID and so cannot be used in that way.

when ever i do the stuff to name the career(career name/ranks/desctritions) it doesn't show up in the gameAssuming you have completed all the steps, it should work correctly. Have you tried testing using the testing section of the document? The careers will not show up immediately in the paper or on the the computer unless replacing a Maxis career.

[lalagirl]

Can anyone give me the link to downloading SimPE?

[quilker]

Can anyone give me the link to downloading SimPE?
You can find it here (http://sims.ambertation.de).

But that's not the main point of my post.

In the 'creating custom icons' section. I seemed to have bumped up a problem. It's probably me though. Still, i'd like to make sure.

Extract the images from your career
This part guides you through getting the template images out of the career package so you can work with them in the GIMP.
1. Select “jpg/tga/png Image” from the “FileTypes“ list.
2. Select “Extract All” from the File menu.
3. Save the files in a new empty directory (remember where this is).
4. In Windows Explorer, goto the new directory and delete all the XML type files.
5. In the same directory, rename the extracted files from “.jpg” to “.tga”.
My problem is, when the files get extracted (and the xml documents appear), i can't seem to open them with GIMP.
I delete the xml files first like above, then...
the result... (http://www.maj.com/gallery/quilker/screenshots/gimp.screeny.bmp)

So I don't really understand how am I supposed to edit the pictures if gimp doesn't work... :confused:

help...

EDIT: Sorry, I just saw spootcookie's post...

[Psion]

when the files get extracted . . . i can't seem to open them with GIMP . . . Sorry, I just saw spootcookie's post...That's what I would have suggested trying :)

[~Jessica~]

anyone no any good sight to download good sims objects eg fridges, beds

For one, this has nothing to do with the thread you posted on. Two, hello? That's what this entire website is all about--creating stuff for the game. Three, you're probably not coming back to read this so I wont continue to let you know how wee-tah-ded your post was :Slap:

Anyways...I havent been able to figure out how to make my own careers yet...It's taken so much effort trying to make the "creative side" of the career and actually make it good and realistic that I was thinking it would be too much work after doing all that to try and learn how to do the "technical side" on my own...thats why I'm glad I found somebody willing to do it for me (p00jkins) but I'm going to take a look at your tutorial and see if it's as difficult as I figured it would be. Thanks for posting it and for being so helpful :D

[jmk4422]

Anyways...I havent been able to figure out how to make my own careers yet...thats why I'm glad I found somebody willing to do it for me (p00jkins)

This is actually a cool idea. What about adding a space to the tutorial offering a "how to post a text-only career (and how-to ask for someone to make it work)? Something that would lay out a step by step, what to provide if you don't want to learn the techie part? For insatnce, it could list all the job levels/descriptions, but also what is needed to know for chance cards (choice A and B; bad and good for each)? Psion, is this something you'd be interested in doing, because I wouldn't mind writing it up...

You know, on second thought, that's probably a bad idea.

One more thing, and this may have been discovered by someone else. For the custom career icons you list the ....02 file as being "unknown" for what it does in game. I just discovered that it handles the graphics for teens with jobs; that's why there are several colors for it (blue means "school" is highlighted; green means that the work-tab is highlighted).

jmk

[Psion]

What about adding a space to the tutorial offering a "how to post a text-only career (and how-to ask for someone to make it work)?No, not a bad idea as such, but a bit out of place in the guide. It is something that should be added to the FAQ or the relevant suggestion thread though. Hmmm . . .

For the custom career icons you list the ....02 file as being "unknown" for what it does in game. I just discovered that it handles the graphics for teens with jobs; that's why there are several colors for it (blue means "school" is highlighted; green means that the work-tab is highlighted)Excellent! Thanks for that. :) I will put that in the next version as well. :beer:

[spootcookie]

last question, really.
so i finally finished all my testing and shtuff. my only problem comes to making it a nice neat little usable file. i keep forgetting what i do to get it into my game ( :sorry: ), and anyway, i don't think what i'm doing would work to upload it here for others. is there a sort of standard procedure for that bit of the custom career process?
thanks!

[Psion]

last question . . . making it a nice neat little usable file . . . standard procedure . . . ?The actual career,and any reward object (if custom), will both be .package files.

All you need to do is to name them appropriately, compress them using WinRAR (preferred) OR WinZip, then upload them to the careers forum here. Make sure you read the FAQ in that section (and possibly some of the other threads there), before uploading, to get some idea of what you should put in your first post.

Also have a look at the posting section of the current guide, which will assist in this as well.

[jmk4422]

Excellent! Thanks for that. :) I will put that in the next version as well. :beer:

Glad to be of service, as always. Hey, is there some sort of place I'm not aware of where people discuss these things? I have so many questions and guesses that I'd love a thread where I could suggest them...!

jmk

p.s. Anyone visiting this guide for the first time should know-- it kicks all kinds of a_$. Psion rocks for creating it... and this isn't me kissing up. After all, what kind of motive would I have to do so?

[Psion]

is there some sort of place I'm not aware of where people discuss these things?Anything pertaining directly to this guide is, of course, welcome to be posted here.

As for airing general ideas about the modding aspects of the game etc, the best place is the the "General Modding" forum. If it relates to this guide, post a link and a short explanation of the thread.

[Yanal]

For my custom career the sims are still bringing home friends from the base career. Is there any way to change this? Did I miss something in the guide?

[jmk4422]

Yanal-- Wow. Great question! I have not seen this occur in my own game... which is surprising... because I've not seen any Sims brought home from my custom careers at all. I had completely forgotten that this happens, in fact!

Psion would know more. My question to you would be this: What Maxis-career did you base your custom career off of? And are the friends being brought home employed in that career? If so, are the job-skill requirements of the template career similar at all to the job-skill requirements of your custom one?

Just curious!

jmk

[labine730]

make a non-rar. version will ya? I can't open this!

[sodiumlight]

*edits last post* Think I've got the GUID figured out, or so I hope. *fingers crossed* But my next question is, what would I input if I wanted my Sim to wear their everyday clothes to work?

[Psion]

make a non-rar. version will ya? I can't open this!RAR is one of the 2 main file formats used on this site and gives a smaller file size in most cases.

We generally use one or the other, not both. For instruction on how to use a RAR file, click the link next to the download.

Also, READ THE SITE RULES. Spamming in threads is not allowed. You have been warned.

[Psion]

For my custom career the sims are still bringing home friends from the base career. Is there any way to change this? Did I miss something in the guide?This question has never been raised before.

I am sorry, but that is likely controlled randomly in-game. I have seen the same NPC in different career roles before so I believe that there is some sort of random factor involved.

The only way to change NPC job roles would involve hacking the sims themselves, and I don't know of an automated way to do that. Another possibility is using custom NPCs that are assigned to the career themselves. This is untested, and quite frankly, probably not many people would want actual sims in a career kit.

*edits last post* Think I've got the GUID figured out, or so I hope. *fingers crossed* But my next question is, what would I input if I wanted my Sim to wear their everyday clothes to work?As jmk4422 posted earlier in this thread (Please read the rest of the thread before posting), a value of 0 in both fields will give you the everyday clothes.

[Psion]

As pointed out by Psychoslayer10987, there is a hole in the GroupID section. It has been amended as follows:

Change object Group ID
1. Select all types (first entry / “------------“) from “Filetypes”
2. Select the “Packed File” tab.
3. Type in the new template group in the Group field. I recommend “0xFFxxxxxx”, where the xxxxxx is replaced with the last six digits of your objects GUID. This should ensure you have a unique public Group ID. For example, if your GUID is 0xAE537C32 your Group ID would be 0xFF537C32.
• You cannot use the same Group ID for an Adult and Teen career set, they must be different, as they are different objects.
4. Select “Change all listed”

[nancyw41]

I have been looking for the update on the vehicles. I am completely computer-illiterate, but this tutorial was easy to understand. Just can't figure out the rides! Sorry if I missed it. Thank you for wtining something even I can now do.

[Psion]

I have been looking for the update on the vehiclesSorry, I have been busy with other things recently, so the v0.06 has been somewhat neglected.

I should be getting back to that shortly.

[emiejemy]

(Posting in here due to the fact majors are linked with careers, sorry if it's in the wrong place)

Okay, had a look through the tutorials but can't seem to find any on making custom Majors - I want to try and make my own now I have summer ahead of me.

Where can I find a tutorial for making new majors on here? Or are they elsewhere?

[jmk4422]

Okay, had a look through the tutorials but can't seem to find any on making custom Majors - I want to try and make my own now I have summer ahead of me. Where can I find a tutorial for making new majors on here? Or are they elsewhere?

Try this thread:

http://ambertation.de/simpeforum/viewtopic.php?t=234

jmk

[emiejemy]

:beer:

thanks jmk4422 :D :D

[p00jkins]

As pointed out by Psychoslayer10987, there is a hole in the GroupID section. It has been amended as follows:

Change object Group ID
1. Select all types (first entry / “------------“) from “Filetypes”
2. Select the “Packed File” tab.
3. Type in the new template group in the Group field. I recommend “0xFFxxxxxx”, where the xxxxxx is replaced with the last six digits of your objects GUID. This should ensure you have a unique public Group ID. For example, if your GUID is 0xAE537C32 your Group ID would be 0xFF537C32.
• You cannot use the same Group ID for an Adult and Teen career set, they must be different, as they are different objects.
4. Select “Change all listed”

Psion,why not just use 0xFFFFFFFF for all the group IDs? That's what i have done with all my careers. Or else, sometimes, the career shows as red in Sims2pack clean installer.

[lamba99]

Psion,why not just use 0xFFFFFFFF for all the group IDs? That's what i have done with all my careers. Or else, sometimes, the career shows as red in Sims2pack clean installer.Good questions p00jkins. I'm pretty sure I followed Psion's instructions (trying to make a teen career to match an existing Adult career). But the problem for me is that my unique GUID (from the SimpPE site) doesn't appear to work, but I found if I just incremented the original GUID ID of the Adult career I'm matching it does. I guess that's ok to do during my private testing.

What does having a unique the Group ID allow one to do or not do? If Group IDs within careers need to be unqiue as Psion says, why does 0xFFFFFFFF appear to work for you p00jkins? Is it because the object is first addressed by the game using an objects GUID, then the Group ID. Then the Group ID wouldn't need to be unique surely, unless we are talking about global functions being accessed within the career by the game?

Thanks by the way Psion, the tutorial was excellent, since I modded a complementry teen career is less than half a day thanks to the tutorial and MTS2 :-)

[xXCateXx]

Thanks Psion, this toturial is truely amazing :D!

EDIT: but for some weird reason my career wont show in the game.. :S
do you have any idea why??

[p00jkins]

Good questions p00jkins. I'm pretty sure I followed Psion's instructions (trying to make a teen career to match an existing Adult career). But the problem for me is that my unique GUID (from the SimpPE site) doesn't appear to work, but I found if I just incremented the original GUID ID of the Adult career I'm matching it does. I guess that's ok to do during my private testing.

What does having a unique the Group ID allow one to do or not do? If Group IDs within careers need to be unqiue as Psion says, why does 0xFFFFFFFF appear to work for you p00jkins? Is it because the object is first addressed by the game using an objects GUID, then the Group ID. Then the Group ID wouldn't need to be unique surely, unless we are talking about global functions being accessed within the career by the game?

Thanks by the way Psion, the tutorial was excellent, since I modded a complementry teen career is less than half a day thanks to the tutorial and MTS2 :-)

Okay, what i ALWAYS do in like 10++ of my careers are i use the GUID from the SimPE website, separate guids for teen/elder and adult. but the GROUP IDs are always left to 0xFFFFFFFF. And it works perfectly fine, doesnt replace any career and the Sims2pack clean installer doesnt show it as RED in color. So i guess no, if you use 0xFFFFFFFF for the GROUP ID,you can use it for every career since 0xFFFFFFFF recognizes that it is custom content.

[p00jkins]

Thanks Psion, this toturial is truely amazing :D!

EDIT: but for some weird reason my career wont show in the game.. :S
do you have any idea why?? Have you changed both the group IDs and Guids? If yes, maybe you'd like me to take a look at it for you? You could email the files to me, i could tell you whats the problem/fix it and send it back to you.

[caitdawg137]

okkk i downloaded it but now im soo clueless wat do i do next how do i get the procedure to pop up!? help plzz!

[Tooyakoi]

Create the initial package template
c. Select “File \ Open”.
d. Change the file type to “Package Description”.
e. Browse to and open the “package.xml” file.


I see where you can change filetypes but "package description' is not there!? where do I do this?

[applesauceman11]

thank you so much i need this for my new Cirque DE Freak career

[mingtmerciless]

I just found this document and I am sure impressed with it.
Congrats, this is great!
I'd like to do a NASCAR career before the end of the summer.

One question, though.

Your master career worksheet has a box for "# of levels"
to be set in Behavior Constant instance 1019.

What are the limits to this constant, and how does it affect the
numbering scheme for strings in the text lists, etc?

Do you simply expand them to accomodate?
Could you make a 12-level teen career?

Just curious,
Ming

[mingtmerciless]

For example, strings 0x13-0x14 apply to Hall of Famer (male) in the athletics career.
I designate the tuning variable for 11 levels in my athletics based career.
Now, does level 11 occupy string 0x15-0x16? Do the female strings move to accomodate?

Thanks,
Ming

[Psion]

Sorry I have been away from this thread so long everyone, been very busy elsewhere. Thanks to everyone who helped answer the questions here in the meantime. :)

Now . . .

Psion,why not just use 0xFFFFFFFF for all the group IDs? That's what i have done with all my careers. Or else, sometimes, the career shows as red in Sims2pack clean installer.Yes, 0xFFFFFFFF is what is normally used for custom content, however, if you combine 2 or more custom content type files into one large object file, such as what objects.package is, you will get GroupID conflicts.

As at the time of v0.05, there were no GroupIDs starting with 0xFF, which when combined with the GUID system, makes for a unique set of GroupIDs, which are required if multiple objects are packaged together (most likely a career pack"). That is the reasoning behind it. If in a singular file it doesn't matter, but the option to package it with others later is lost unless it is changed.

As far as getting a red listing in CI, I am not sure why that would occur. It should only happen if it detects something that will overwrite a Maxis core object, which should not occur with a unique GUID/GroupID set. It may be a hard coded thing in the program.

okkk i downloaded it but now im soo clueless wat do i do next how do i get the procedure to pop up!? help plzz!Depending on which version of the file you downloaded, doc or pdf, you will need either MS Word 2000 or higher for doc, or Adobe Acrobat for pdf to be able to view them. If you are asking how to extract those files from their .rar types, please click the link next to the files in the first post.[/QUOTE]

I see where you can change filetypes but "package description' is not there!? where do I do this?There is normally a down arrow next to this box. If for some reason the "Package Description" option is not available, you can also use the "All Files" option.

Your master career worksheet has a box for "# of levels" to be set in Behavior Constant instance 1019.

What are the limits to this constant, and how does it affect the numbering scheme for strings in the text lists, etc?

Do you simply expand them to accomodate?
Could you make a 12-level teen career?The short answer is the fields numbers should expand, so that if you define a 24 level career, the first 24 value sets should be for male, and the following 24 for female, but I am unsure, as I haven't tested it myself. My hard drive crashed a little while ago and I haven't got around to installing the game again, so cannot easily test this at the moment. :(

As to the limits, again not tested, but likely around 127 :blink:

There should be no artificial limit between a full blown adult career and a teen career.

[jtiger333]

Psion,

First of all, thanks for the terrific tutorial. It's been very helpful. I've used it primarily to "tune" certain careers. One thing I've been disappointed in is the 10k limit on salary. So I've been tuning certain careers to reflect more "real life," i.e., athletes and entertainers make quite a bit more money than the average joe or jane. Anyway, one thing I cannot seem to find in your tutorial is how to change the "bonus" pay. You know how every time a sim is promoted he/she gets a bonus? Is there a way to change that? If so, where and how?

[Psion]

one thing I cannot seem to find in your tutorial is how to change the "bonus" pay . . . Is there a way to change that?The bonus is a hard coded value as of EP1 and is always a one off bonus equal to twice the daily wage for the new career level just attained.

What this means is that if a sim is promoted to LevelX in their career which pays 1000 simoleans a day, the bonus will be 2000 simoleans.

This may change in a future EP.

[jtiger333]

Ah, thanks for the info.

[sasha7617]

I have read this whole formum before I posted this... so if I repeat a question it is out of sheer stupidity.

First I think it is kinda cool that jmk asked a 1000 ?'s considering I love his career and I think it pure genius it almost gives me hope.
Then I realize that I can not figure out how to even start to make a career.
I printed out the whole 63 page tutorial... I am stuck on step on create a template. I can not even figure out how to open the main objects package.
Which I have the SimPE for the tech challenged printed also but it does not tell how to go about this. I have not found a simpe tutorial on the careers other than this one... so I'm really crying help!!!

The thing that confuses me most is the career editor on SIMPE it just seems to me that you could use that and it would be so much simpler since the whole thing is laid out for you. Which I haven't touched b/c of course I'm totally clueless and I don't wanna screw anything up.

So if anyone can point me to a good tutorial on how to even use SIMP# other than the one I have... or just point me in the right direction I'm sure I can complete step one and come back for step two.

By the way you tutorial is really great all the numbers really throw me off...b/c all I know about puters is how to type on them so I'm pretty sure I shouldn't even be trying to do this... but I got time guess I'll give it a shot.

[Psion]

. . . I can not figure out how to even start to make a career . . . I am stuck on step on create a template. I can not even figure out how to open the main objects package . . . the career editor on SIMPE . . . it just seems to me that you could use that and it would be so much simpler since the whole thing is laid out for you.

The Career Editor that now comes with SimPE could probably do the majority of what is listed here, but I have not really looked at it since pre-ep days, so not sure.

What precisely are you having problems understanding? My aim is to make this guide as clear as possible, but it does assume at least a passing knowledge of how to use Windows.

[m_evergreen]

I'm trying to create my career but can't seem to get very far. I've followed these steps:

Change object Group ID
a. Select “Object Data” from “Filetypes”.
b. Select instance “0x000041A7”.
c. Select the “Packed File” view tab.

Now I don't have a "Packed File" tab but I do have one that says package and thought it would be right. When I click on it however there is nothing like the next step:

d. Select all types (first entry / “------------“) from “Filetypes”.

All I see is:

Identifier DBPF, IndexType ptLongFileIndex, MajorVersion 1, MinorVersion 1, Version 4294967297

in a chart on one side and:

Hole Index:
Offset, Size

on the other side. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you!

[moog]

I'm suffering from the same here. It seems the latest SimPE doesn't match half of what the tutorial says to do.

[sasha7617]

I'm suffering from the same here. It seems the latest SimPE doesn't match half of what the tutorial says to do.

I am wondering if this might be where my confusion comes from too...? I do have a decent knowledge of windows.

The career editor can be used to do some of this but you (Psion) stated that you haven't really looked at it since ep came out. That might be something to venture for you newest update b/c it seems really simple to use. I am just not had any luck finding anything to tell me how to use it.

Which I am very sure that a tutorial like this is very time consuming especially since you are trying to make a tutorial on an alpha product. So it is constantly changing and trying to imporove.

I thank you for what you have tried to do and the time you have spent doing it.

What precisely are you having problems understanding? My aim is to make this guide as clear as possible, but it does assume at least a passing knowledge of how to use Windows.I do not know how to open the objects... there is an objects workshop and another object thing so I am not for sure which one to use to start the template.

[m_evergreen]

I wasn't able to create a template either because when I followed the instructions I found they were different from what I was seeing, extracting was done with a right click then select extract. Next when I tried to open the .xml file simpe errored out.

I downloaded a template instead from:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=49038

I then got stuck as stated above in my last post. I have been able to go on by not completing that step but I know that step is important, so I'll have to find out how to do it before considering the project complete. So far I've been okay, but I'm using a lot of my time to create job descriptions and I'm still on that step. I've also been working on the text for my chance cards while waiting for an answer. ;)

I can tell a lot of work went into this and very much appreciate it. I can't wait to try out my new career. I'm sure we'll get the answers we need with patience!

:D
-M

[Psion]

Okay, thanks to my hdd crashing, I hadn't even seen the new SimPE until about an hour ago. Big changes. As stated in the beginning of the doc, it was designed for a previous version of SimPE. Time for another major overhaul of my guide it seems. :smash:

Anyways, for those that don't want to wait, you can run SimPE in the original mode that my guide was designed for by executing the "SimPE (Classic GUI)" program in your SimPE folder in your startmenu. Not as flashy as the new interface, but should get you going with these docs.

I haven't tested this as yet, so any feedback is appreciated. (Hope it works!!) :P

[sasha7617]

Yes I will wait...b/c don't think i wanna do the changing stuff. Thanks for looking into that. I will check back for ur latest update.

I really do commend you... all of the creators and makers here. You guys all have lives and yet you do all of this others stuff. There are way more people who use stuff then makes stuff. I have been floathing this forum for lil bit now and I doesn't seem like yall get the appreciate you deserve. So much apprciation.

[Psion]

I have had a further look at the new version of SimPE, and it looks like some of the functions that make life easier, like making a mass GroupID change may no longer be possible in the enhanced GUI (the pretty version). These functions are still available in the Classic GUI edition.

I will keep you posted on my progress with the docs conversion, but unless I am wrong about these things, it may actually be a much more time consuming process to use the newer "improved" interface in SimPE than the original.

[thesims2masta]

okay, i know i'm gonna get flamed for this ten times over, and be mistaken for a noob, but oh well. please, don't hurt me after i ask this question.
could any experienced programmers out there please please make a



simplified career making program? DON'T HURT ME!!
as in specifically for careers: edits ONLY career files, simplified. as in, code all hidden from user, but it automatically edits it to your whims? NO! NO! DON'T HURT ME!
well, i don't know much about programming, but it seems relatively easy for someone who is experienced (and if i'm wrong, no stones please, just a small correction) and this idea seems absurd even to ME, but if it would be possible, i say PLEASE do it. oh and if there already is one, just direct me to a link.
thanks. (im sorry, im sorry!)

[mod_bv]

As in Bidou's Career Editor?

[shewhoguards]

Hiya

I'm using the SimPe Classic GUI but having problems at step:

d. Select “Object Data” from “Filetypes”.

My only Filetype options are:-

Behaviour Content
Behaviour Function
Function
Slot file
Text Lists

Help?

[Love4Drums]

Hi! :howdy: first of all, thank you very much for this beautiful tutorial! it helped me a lot!
i created a custom adult standard career EP1 ready and it works fine, but i have a problem with the custom reward! I have cloned a picture and i followed all the steps of the tutorial and the object appears in the rewards list.
when my sim reaches the level to obtain it ( i set it on the 10th) i can't take it from the list... :blink:
what's the problem, in your opinion? can someone help me, please?
thanx in advance!

[thesims2masta]

As in Bidou's Career Editor?
huh? never heard of it. WOW ill search it then thanks.
EDIT: oh nm. i meant as separate editor not part of simpe. like simplified. instead of code it just asks for what you would like to put for "career, lv 1, lv 2,"etc. instead of coding stuff. i mean, for dunces like me and some others. thanks for trying to help, though.

because i'm a :dunce:

[m_evergreen]

http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=34183

[phat_man55]

thanks!

[SuperFly]

I'm creating a teen career, and I can't find the instructions describing how you set what career level a teen progresses to when they become an adult. Is this possibly to modify, or have just failed to find it in teh instructions?

Also, is there a fast way to 'enable all languages' a career's descriptions/chance cards?

[Psion]

. . . teen career . . . instructions describing how you set what career level a teen progresses to when they become an adult.As far as I am aware, this is hard coded to go to the 4th level when they grow up. Obviously this does not apply if they go to uni.

fast wayto 'enable all languages'?The only way at the moment is to do the change all option, per field, as is in my guide.

[Tainted Angel]

Ok. installed SFM2. Works great...problem is it wont extract non ts2 files... which this is.

Can SOMEBODY please post this (with permission) as a doc or zip?

[Psion]

Ok. installed SFM2. Works great...problem is it wont extract non ts2 files... which this is.

Can SOMEBODY please post this (with permission) as a doc or zip?Not to sound callous, but no. The rar format file is much smaller than the zip version would be, and smaller again than just a plain doc file. If I ever finish it, this will be more important than ever in the next update of this doc. Click on the link next to the file for instructions on how to download and unpack that file.

As for SFM2, this is not a TS2 file type, so is not really suitable for use with that utility.

[volleyballgrl25]

Awsome Tutorial! I've always been wanting to make a career. When i have the time im gonna make a few and maybe post them up for others to use! Thanks again!

[Simsam]

I'm not so good with codes.
Is there a way to make careers without copying text in the game?

[hazard04]

Wow i always wanted a tutorial. Thank you so much!

[bigkiller3]

Well it just downloaded the guide but i havent read yet i first got 1 simple question:
Does this work for Sims 2 University too???

[funkyzafara]

This is a very great tutorial and I used it side-by-side with Bidou's Career editor, and it works great so far.

A thing that I would like to know (and I don't know if this question has been asked yet, even though I read through this post) does somebody have a list with the looks of all the outfits and Vehicles that can be used. I know how to see some of them in the "Object Workshop", but I have yet to discover the rest of them.

Help much appreciated!

P.S. Sorry if I have bad Grammar!

[lizzyman92]

PTO is Payed Time Off, not Payed Days Off lol. but means the same thing. Ur tut really helps thank u.

[Madguy1]

I'm trying to make a new aldult career but i can't get past step 2. Can anyone help?

[SuperFly]

I'm trying to make a new aldult career but i can't get past step 2. Can anyone help?

What seems to be the propblem?

[Madguy1]

i go into the objects workshop,click on thing in the top right hand corner called filter with a Magnifying glass, enter the box marked group filter, type in 0x7FC82329 click set and i dont know what to do next. Can you help me?

[SuperFly]

What version of SimPE are you using?

[Madguy1]

Version 0.46

[funkyzafara]

I can tell you, you have to select the button in the left side under, "File Types" called "All Resources" or in the (Classic GUI) "-------------" then after tha use the group filter

P.S. Still no-one with the outfit/vehicle thingy?

[Madguy1]

Could you upload a picture if possible?

[blaze_rusty]

um, how do i get the tuturiol? i know that must sound pretty dumb but i dont have the 'rar' program and unfortunately i am unable to get it (im on my mums mac and there is no way in hell she'll let me download a program file of any sort!). so can u put it on a pdf or something like that? thanks a heap if u can!

[jmk4422]

um, how do i get the tuturiol? i know that must sound pretty dumb but i dont have the 'rar' program and unfortunately i am unable to get it (im on my mums mac and there is no way in hell she'll let me download a program file of any sort!). so can u put it on a pdf or something like that? thanks a heap if u can!

Hm, I'm afraid you're probably out of luck on that score. Why not just explain to your mother that WinRAR is a compression utility like WinZIP and that it's free, it's available on Download.com (hosted by CNet-- "Safe, Trusted, and Spyware Free"), and that it doesn't take up much disk space? Other than that, save your nickles and dimes and pray for the day you can buy your own real computer (a PC, not a Mac).

jmk

[funkyzafara]

I've attached a picture of what button to press for ya!

[Madguy1]

thank you :D

[jmk4422]

Hey Psion, any thoughts yet on how NL is going to affect this tutorial? --edit-- I just read through the many pages of this post I had missed since last visit. Seems you're working on a new version to this document! Must be very time-consuming. Good luck on that, especially if you do plan on mentioning anything that has to do with Night Life (who knows what kind of can of worms that will open?).

Well it just downloaded the guide but i havent read yet i first got 1 simple question:
Does this work for Sims 2 University too???

Yes, it works for Uni. That's what "EP1" refers to (Expansion Pack 1). Basically you can create a career that can be used only by University (such as a graduate career), or one that's backwards compatable.

jmk

[Psion]

Hey Psion, any thoughts yet on how NL is going to affect this tutorial? . . . you're working on a new version to this document! Must be very time-consuming.The new version has been on hold for the last 2 months, partly due to EP2 and also due to my moving house, which I have only just done, and I am still getting the house together. In fact I have been off MTS2 for the better part of that time and only started back again 2 days ago, and am still catching up. :)

On top of all that, my motherboard died and I have only just got a replacement for it. :(

Anyways, from what I can tell, based mainly on conversations people have had with various Maxoids, the one thing unlikely to be affected by EP2 are EP1 compatible careers. A little ironic isn't it?

So based on that, there may be very little change due to EP2 at all.

I will be resuming work on the new guide version shortly.

[Scorpy_CFS]

I'd love to see tutorials on creating new carpools and uniforms. I know this has been brought up a few times now but I'm too eager to get it all going. Still have a beta career which I'm not even interested in finishing until I can get these two issues finalised. I'm also waiting to add a corporate car as a career reward but I gotta wait for a car recolour tutorial as well :S Lucky I'm patient eh?

[Gck2702]

How do you create a custom career in SimPE 0.48?
CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME?!

[SuperFly]

How do you create a custom career in SimPE 0.48?
CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME?!

Have you read this document? It's a top notch guide and I have and still use it to help create my careers. If you still need help click on the last line of my signature.

[ewTaK]

I Cant Do It!!!

[labine730]

i don't have tsdata!

[SuperFly]

OK, ewTaK, what's the problem? If you specify what the problem is people can help you out.

labine730- you must have tsdata, otherwise the game wouldn’t run. You can find it in your EA GAMES folder- the folder where all the core information about the game is stored- its most likely location is in your C drive, in program files.

[idtaminger]

I'm having a problem w/ a custom career of mine, and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it. I changed the daily salary for my career, and all is fine and dandy - *except* when sims get a raise. It's not as noticeable for the lower levels, but once my sims reach the top of the career, they get a negative bonus. I've had a sim lose $5,000 when reaching the top of the career. And yet another sim still made money, but still much less than he should have. It proceeds normally after that, but this is really bothering me. Does anyone know what might be wrong, & how to fix it?

[SuperFly]

idtaminger, post your career here and I'll take a look at it.

[idtaminger]

Okie...here.

[SuperFly]

I spotted the error immediately- your final pay for the career is $20,100- SimPE cannot handle this figure. The maximum amount of money you can be paid is $10,000. That’s why the game is messing you about- it's an allergic reaction, so to speak. Changing the value ought to fix the problem :)

[idtaminger]

I spotted the error immediately- your final pay for the career is $20,100- SimPE cannot handle this figure. The maximum amount of money you can be paid is $10,000. That’s why the game is messing you about- it's an allergic reaction, so to speak. Changing the value ought to fix the problem :)

Really? That sucks. $10,000 is just so measly a figure for a business tycoon.

I have a question though...when you say 10,000, does that mean the cap is 10,000, or is it 10,999? Cuz I know the Eco Guru career in NL makes more than just 10,000 as a daily salary...

[RuairidhJ]

what programme do you open the file with. please help

[SuperFly]

idtaminger, the maximum, absolute maximum SimPE can handle is 10,000- if you try to alter it the game either screws up, or SimPe automatically fixes the error. If I want a career to have a high ending salary, just lower the wages of the careers below it to give the impression of extreme wealth ;)

RuairidhJ- what file are you talking about?

[Ambular]

*Raises hand timidly* I've got a couple of custom careers just about finished, I think, but I do have a few questions I'm hoping to get answered before I try posting them. (Please forgive if these have already been addressed elsewhere--I *have* tried to do my homework and look for answers first, but it's a big site and sometimes the info I find is confusing or outdated!)

1. The MTS2 posting guidelines for finished careers specify that all careers should include either translations for all languages, or the default language text copied to all other languages. I loaded one up in SimPE (version 0.48.208735611, Classic GUI) and had a look, and that's something like 900 separate copy-and-paste operations for the level descriptions and titles alone, never mind chance cards! Is there a simple way to just tell the program "Copy all my default language text to all languages across the board"? (I found a check box that said "Default language only" or something similar; is that what it does, or does it make the career just not work with other languages at all?)

2. Does anyone know whether there are any plans for an update to Bidou's Career Editor? I mostly did these two careers the "long" way following Psion's tutorial, but the career editor was so convenient once I found it...

3. Just to verify, if you follow the instructions in the Upgrading Pre-EP Careers thread (http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=49038) does the career remain compatible with the base game? I have no way to test.

4. This one's for SuperFly in particular: Is there a specific reason why you recommend putting 3-4 Chance Cards in each career (apart from just avoiding the appearance of laziness?) :) I ask because the two I've made (Angel and Demon) don't seem to lend themselves well to a lot of random good outcome/bad outcome scenarios, so I've only come up with 2 per career.

5. And finally, will setting the Chance Card probability for a given card to zero reliably prevent that card from appearing, or is there a preferred way to disable the ones you don't plan to use?

Thanks very much in advance!

[SuperFly]

OK...

1) If you create your career with bidou's career editor, languages are automatically put into all languages.

2) I don't know what's happening about bidou's career editor. I hope there is an update coming soon, because there are a couple of things that I think need addressing.

3) If you've followed the instructions correctly, the career will be compatible with all EP's. :)

4) Chance cards- I recommend at least 3-4 cards out of 10, purely because it makes a career more interesting. However, I do sympathise with you- it is difficult to think up chance cards, and it does get very boring after a while. (I'm almost forcing myself to do complete my chance cards for my current career in the works) :)

5) Setting a chance cards appearance rate to 0% is the only way to disable a card from coming up. I think there's a way you can alter a behaviour file to do the same thing, but I find that way less safe.

Hope this helps you out- if not, just ask me again to clarify :)

SuperFly

[BrokenWiccan]

um the files wont open

[Ambular]

OK...

1) If you create your career with bidou's career editor, languages are automatically put into all languages.

Hope this helps you out- if not, just ask me again to clarify :)



It does help very much, and I thank you! :) However, re. my first question, I did create the careers mostly without the editor, and when I checked out the text fields for the other languages there was nothing there. Does that mean anything?

Anyway, thank you again!

[SuperFly]

AmberDiceless, if there are no files there, then they've been commited. However, I would heavily reccomend using bidou's career editor in future- most of my careers were done manually (without the editor)- I always ran into errors with them, mainly through incorrect typing. bidou's editor reduces that error enourmously. :)

BrokenWican, which files won't open?

[Ambular]

AmberDiceless, if there are no files there, then they've been commited. However, I would heavily reccomend using bido u's career editor in future- most of my careers were done manually (without the editor)- I always ran into errors with them, mainly through incorrect typing. bidou's editor reduces that error enourmously. :)

I certainly shall, provided a version comes out that works with the current SimPE. (I didn't find out about the Career Editor until I was mostly done with these careers, I was going just by the tutorial.) :)

I think I can now post my careers. Thanks again for your kind assistance!

[idtaminger]

Another question, this time about the career outfits. From what I've heard, it's not possible at the present time to make custom outfits for custom careers.

But is it possible to just replace a default Maxis career outfit? As usual, Maxis has no fashion sense whatsoever, and alot of the outfits are really annoying the heck out of me.

[SuperFly]

Another question, this time about the career outfits. From what I've heard, it's not possible at the present time to make custom outfits for custom careers.

But is it possible to just replace a default Maxis career outfit? As usual, Maxis has no fashion sense whatsoever, and alot of the outfits are really annoying the heck out of me.

If you're taking about switching around what maxis uniform your sim wears to work- that's possible. In bidou's career editor, you can change the uniform using this box:

C:\Documents and Settings\Mr Pope\My Documents\I tried to be nice\careeruniforms.jpg

If you're talking about other maxis clothing that aren't uniforms- that can't be done. The link between clothing and careers is probably hidden deep within the Sim 3D files (although I can't be sure- I'm not a game coder)

Hope this helps,

SuperFly

[idtaminger]

Well, what I mean is, is it possible to override the data in the Maxis work-outfit files and thereby make your sim wear a custom outfit?

[SuperFly]

Well, what I mean is, is it possible to override the data in the Maxis work-outfit files and thereby make your sim wear a custom outfit?

If only... No-one has yet found how to put custom uniforms into careers. I recently tried altering the textures the uniforms used, but that didn't work- no suprise there... All I can hope for is that someone infinetly more talented than myself discovers the link...

[WackoMagnifico]

I haven't really found my way on this forum yet so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but I have a problem making custom careers
I downloaded this tutorial maid for SimPE 0.33
But I have simPE 5.somethingsomething alpha
and a lot of the stuff in the tutorial just isn't there
and some things just don't work
for example; I tried to open a package.xml from a set of extracted files and the system just crashed
this hasn't anything to do with my computer being crappy cause I'm a .net programmer and that requires a lot of strenght at some times.
is there a way to get simPE 0.33 so I could just follow the tutorial or are there existing tutorials for my version, or better versions
I don't know
All I want is to make a custom carreer, any help on that is appreciated
greets
WackoMagnifico

PS : please respond using PM so I'll notice it directly
thanks

[WackoMagnifico]

I succeeded in making a career, I'm working on the chance cards now, but I still have a question
Is it posible to be picked up by a schoolbus in an adult career?
If it is, how??

[idtaminger]

Ahh. Another question. W/Bijou's Career Editor, all that's shown is the name of each career outfit. So how do I find out which is which? Is there a list floating somewhere on the internet? And where exactly are the original career files located btw? In which package?

[harpiesbro69]

I'm having some problems opening up the tortorial after I download it, I dont know what to use, help me!

[SuperFly]

itaminger, the only way to find out which uniform is which is to test them in the game. Some of the suits are pretty self explanitory anyway, i.e. astronaut. The original career files... I'm not sure, but I'll look into it- I remember you clone them, but where from I cannot remember.

harpiesbro69, you need to unzip the file then read the information inside- http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=62053

[Tschutschu]

Well, Im not quite sure, if this is the right place to ask them, but...:

1. When I create the chancecards there are all the abilitys on the right site besides the two possible answers. What happens, if I fill in there something else than zero? Maxis carriers have zero everywhere.

2. How can I influence the chance, an answer to be good or bad?

3. How can I influence the bonus when a sim gets a better job?

I hope you can help me.

(Please use simple words, because my English is not sooo extremly good! Thanx)

[SuperFly]

Well, Im not quite sure, if this is the right place to ask them, but...:

1. When I create the chancecards there are all the abilitys on the right site besides the two possible answers. What happens, if I fill in there something else than zero? Maxis carriers have zero everywhere.

2. How can I influence the chance, an answer to be good or bad?

3. How can I influence the bonus when a sim gets a better job?

I hope you can help me.

(Please use simple words, because my English is not sooo extremly good! Thanx)

1. I'll have to answer this one tommorow- it's late in the UK, and I think it will help if I provide some pictures to make my info clearer ;)

2+3. Unfortunately, you cannot alter the chance of an event being good or bad- it's a 50:50 chance. the same goes with the bonus- a bonus is double the amount of money a sim gets paid at that job level.

Hope this helps,

SuperFly

[Karmasinc]

Career Editor isn't active in my SimPE. I downloaded all the plugins and whatnot and put them in my plugins folder and nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

[Tschutschu]

1. I'll have to answer this one tommorow- it's late in the UK, and I think it will help if I provide some pictures to make my info clearer ;)

2+3. Unfortunately, you cannot alter the chance of an event being good or bad- it's a 50:50 chance. the same goes with the bonus- a bonus is double the amount of money a sim gets paid at that job level.

Hope this helps,

SuperFly

Thanx!
I'm waiting impatiently for your explanations about number one...
The other things do help, yeah. If it's impossible, I do not longer have to wonder, how I can do. And I never realized before, that the bonus is twice the daily pays...

Thank you again,
Tschutschu

[Tschutschu]

Career Editor isn't active in my SimPE. I downloaded all the plugins and whatnot and put them in my plugins folder and nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?

Did you download Bidous Carrier Editor? It should be selectable in tools.

[SuperFly]

Does this picture help? If not, just ask me to explain properly :)-

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/Superfly2005/Chancecards.jpg

[Karmasinc]

Did you download Bidous Carrier Editor? It should be selectable in tools. I've tried that TWICE.......it's listed on my tool menu but it's always greyed out and i can't select it. Where does the plug-in go? Maybe I'm putting it in the wrong place.

[Tschutschu]

@ Superfly:
No, unfortunately that doesn't help, because I already know, how the effects work. In the same screen is a second skill point list. You cut this part off. Its below you can choose the propability the card will be shown. In Maxis carrers there is always "0", but you can alter this to positive numbers. And I wanted to know, what happens, if I do so.
But I do have a second question on the part of the screen you showed above: Can there be problems if I trie to remove a skillpoint and the sim doesn't have one?

@ Karmasinc:
I only downloaded Simpe 0.50.something and the carrier editor, extracted both and installed simpe. Then it worked already (Using the orange sign). I didn't have to put the carrier editor anywhere else. I don't know, if that helps you, but maybe someone else has an idea for you.

Tschutschu

[SuperFly]

Oh sorry, I didn't realise which part you were talking about :) Those points I believe are the skills you need for a card to come up, i.e 3 cooking and 2 mechanical. I always leave it blank.

The skill points- if you minus a point forom a sim who has no points in that area, nothing happens- there's no "negative skills" so to speak.

[Tschutschu]

Okay, Thanx again.

[Karmasinc]

I'm not sure what I did.......just started opening files and moving things around.......and somehow Career Editor opened. I have no idea what I did and I really don't care. It works now and that's all that matters. Now I can get started on me series of Careers. Thank you Tschutschu for trying to help.

[fatman200]

I haven't really found my way on this forum yet so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but I have a problem making custom careers
I downloaded this tutorial maid for SimPE 0.33
But I have simPE 5.somethingsomething alpha
and a lot of the stuff in the tutorial just isn't there
and some things just don't work
for example; I tried to open a package.xml from a set of extracted files and the system just crashed
this hasn't anything to do with my computer being crappy cause I'm a .net programmer and that requires a lot of strenght at some times.
is there a way to get simPE 0.33 so I could just follow the tutorial or are there existing tutorials for my version, or better versions
I don't know
All I want is to make a custom carreer, any help on that is appreciated
greets
WackoMagnifico

PS : please respond using PM so I'll notice it directly
thanks

I have the same problem, should I just go get .33? I'd like to see an updated verion of this thing cuz my random messings around are bound to get me in huge trouble.

[Tschutschu]

Try not to open the file with the orange S but the classic version. That seems to be more similar to older versions. You find it normally at programs/simpe/the second one in the list.

Hope that helps
Tschutschu

[Sita]

Does this work safely with NightLife please? I would like to make some careers but dare not screw up my game?

[SuperFly]

Hey, don't wory about making mistakes- we all make them. If something goes wrong, just remove the career from your downloads and try again. This tutorial works fine with NL, and is a good all round guide.

If you need any assistance with careers, just drop me a PM :)

SuperFly

[Kadde2505]

Hey,

Is this Tuturial compatible to Nightlife?

Greets,
Kadde

Ps.: I'm from Germany, but I can read this tuturial very well. Good Job! :)

EDIT: Oh, I should read a bit better! I didn't see, that the answer of my question is one message before mine! ^.^ And sorry for my bad english.

[SuperFly]

Yes, this tutorial is compatible with Nightlife, although bidou's editor makes career creation a lot easier. I'm hoping *fingers crossed* that psion will post a new tutorial that covers the new SimPE gui, making it more relevant than this one (which still works well for me)

[diplacesims]

question....i downloaded the base files did the changes i needed to do using bidou's plugin, changed the guid, changed the group id but it is over writing the athletics career in game and also another career i made. what am i doing wrong? I followed the extensive tutorial "Generate initial Career Package" and Used Bidou's plugin for the details, and then went to "GUID and Group ID" (followed exactly). Help!!!!

[SuperFly]

question....i downloaded the base files did the changes i needed to do using bidou's plugin, changed the guid, changed the group id but it is over writing the athletics career in game and also another career i made. what am i doing wrong? I followed the extensive tutorial "Generate initial Career Package" and Used Bidou's plugin for the details, and then went to "GUID and Group ID" (followed exactly). Help!!!!

Post your career here or in my own thread, and I'll take a peek at it for you :)

[diplacesims]

ok the two are in the rar file. I really appreciate you looking at it. It is not my career. I tried fixing the original that i got from a download somewhere. I'm the download queen. I am not trying to take credit for the career....i just want it to work in my game. it will not be posted anywhere. anyway i tried using the fix pre-ep tutorial and it did the same thing then i did what i said in the earlier post.


update: the original package .... the group ID was "0xFFFFFFFF" it finally works now with the "update original career" tutorial. but why is the ones i did not working.

[SuperFly]

I've had a look at the two files- both files have a lot of junk in them (stuff you don't want.) The group ID for each one varies, and this is causing the problem. I don't think I can work with these files. If you can, link me to the files you want converted, and I’ll have a look for you :)

[diplacesims]

this is the base file that i downloaded from here. and then i extracted the text lists from the original one.

am i doing something wrong or is this base file filled with stuff i dont need

[diplacesims]

by the way....thank you so much for your help, i really appreciate it. :)

[SuperFly]

Hi

The career you have is by p00jkins, correct? (http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=49247&highlight=hair+care)

I think you may have the old version of it, that isn't EP compatible. Follow the link, download the files and try them out (removing the old files you ahve posted here.) I think that should sort the problem :)

[diplacesims]

ok thanks, wasnt sure where i got them.

[diplacesims]

next question? when i change the guid and the ID and commit to all ...... is all of the group id's throughout suppose to change or just that one?

[SuperFly]

Ok, I think I'll answer this question using a definition.

guids are a unique sequence of letters and numbers that set an object aside from everything else in the game. If the guid is not changed, then a career (or any otehr object) will overwrite the object it was based on.

Group ID- You know, I've never fully got what the group ID is. All I know is that if it's a maxis ID, the career will still overwrite.

First, you register a new guid for your object, then you have to fix the group ID by pressing the "Fix Intergrity" button on the SimPE menu.

Has this answered your question? Or have I just waffled on a bit too much?

[diplacesims]

you answered it perfectly. I understand now. Thank you very, very much. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

[Karmasinc]

how much of this tutorial do i have to do if i use the career editor?

[SuperFly]

how much of this tutorial do i have to do if i use the career editor?

bidou's career editor makes life a lot easier when inputting data, but doens't cover everything. Things that need to be done manually-

Linking careers to teen/elder careers (Behaviour function)
Linking careers to reward objects (Behaviour function)
Adding in icons (jpg/tga/png Image)
Changing the guid and group ID (Object Data)

Hope this helps,

SuperFly

[Karmasinc]

Thank you Superfly......that helps a lot. I'm almost finished with my first custom career and wanted to make sure I got everything done correctly before I started testing. Anyone on here willing to do custom icons?

[Wondon]

okay, this is my first time at making a career. Im using the tutorial in this thread: http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?threadid=10697

okay, so far, its going good... untill i get to step 16, can someone please help me out???

[SuperFly]

There's a much easier way to get a base career- downlaod one of the careers found on this page- http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=49038. Keep it in a safe place and use it as a base career. Every time you want to make a new career, take a copy of the file and modify it :)

[Wondon]

thanks i appreciate it

[veitnaiilo]

How is it that you get the file. It's .rar format. How do I open it? Thanks

[the_sims_freak]

OK, i think this tutorial needs to be more specific or i'm just stupid. In step 5, part 6, what file do we browse to? what to we choose if we cannot distinguish descriptive file from the rest? i have a file in the place where i save my athletic re-make copy (like you suggest) and it is on its on along with other folders, but my simPE says 'exception of type System.OutOfMemoryException was thrown'. What does this mean. The file is called package so i assume this is the file that you want opened. PLease help! I want to create a career so bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[the_sims_freak]

Oh, send the help to my account on MTS2, cos i'll definitely get it. Do not send to my e-mail address as it will go into my junk-mail. If you wish, send it on this forum for others with my problem in the future.
Thanks

[SuperFly]

OK- well, this tutorial is a bit out of date, mainly because career are becoming less popular, and there's a better tool for creating new careers. bidou's career editor. Download teh latest version of SimPE, and run it (it's found in the top left corner of the screen). It's very user friendly and easy to work out :)

SuperFly

[the_sims_freak]

I have the latest edition of simPE that the site would give, and how long ago was bidou's guide created? Is there a new one or updated version?

[radiophonic]

Agreed, this seems grosly out of date.

Is there a newer document somewhere? MTS2 shouldn't be linking to articles that contain out of date information, IMO.

[Silbermond]

Hi, I've got some questions: Can you make teen careers with bidou's career editor and if yes, how do this (so there are only 3 career steps instead of 10?)
And do I still have to change the group ID in the newer versions of SimPE (I have 0.52)if I want to make a career and use the career editor?
(Sorry if I made some mistakes, I'm from Germany and still learning but I hope you're still able to understand my questions)

[SuperFly]

Hi, I've got some questions: Can you make teen careers with bidou's career editor and if yes, how do this (so there are only 3 career steps instead of 10?)
And do I still have to change the group ID in the newer versions of SimPE (I have 0.52)if I want to make a career and use the career editor?
(Sorry if I made some mistakes, I'm from Germany and still learning but I hope you're still able to understand my questions)

1) Teen careers are created in exactly the same way as adult career- the base teen careers can be found here- http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=49038

2) You still need to update the group ID, regardless of what version of SimPE you're using. It's a simple button click this time around (version .52)- Fix Integrity (sse here (http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=85728))

radiophonic, I'm afraid that this is the best tutorial there is. With fewer people creating careers, the need isn't that great :lonely: Still, if you have the newest version of SimPE, bidou's editor is quite self explanitory.

SuperFly

[Silbermond]

Thank you so much, I could never find the fix integrity button but that pictured tutorial is great =)

[MahioPie]

When I try to make careers, the creator tool in SimPE is grayed out and I can't access it. How do I make it useable?

[Silbermond]

How do I link a teen/elder career to an adult career in the newer versions of SimPe?

[SuperFly]

MahioPie, have you a career loaded in SimPE when trying to click the editor?

Silbermond- have a look here- http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=114163

[kelleybo]

Hello! I frequent MTS2 often and have found lots of useful stuff, but I am just STUMPED when it comes to making a custom career. For the past 2-3 months I've searched this forum almost religiously, looking for a tutorial that will speak to me like I'm 3. And I seriously mean that!

I've read through the 4 tutorials offered at the Tutorial section. All seem well written, but I just can't seem to get anything out of them. I DL'd the 64 page tutorial and get stuck right away. I have Bidou's base career (or whatever it's called...apologies) and have successfully typed a career, but I've no idea how to save it, make sure it doesn't overwrite the Maxis base career, etc. I'm kind of going at this blind, hoping I don't screw something up in the process.

Is there a tutorial based on Bidou's base career that is absolutely remedial? I mean, starting with:

Open Sim PE
-Double click on Sim PE icon

I'm talking treat me like I'm 3...you probably can't over-simplify this enough. I have what I think are some great career ideas to contribute, but thus far can't seem to pull my head out of my butt long enough to figure this sucker out.

I'm not sure if I'll ever find this thread again (as one who doesn't normally use message boards, I find the site useful but kind of hard to navigate), perhaps a private message would work great for me?

Help me and I'll be your best friend! :baloons:

[SuperFly]

kelleybo, I'll be happy to help out, but at the moment I have a lot of important exams I need to concentrate on. My last exam, Physics (I can't wait...) is next Tuesday, so I'll try to get back to you after that. If I have time between Phyics and Geology (I should have some free time) I'll start my "Careers for three year olds" course :)

[kelleybo]

kelleybo, I'll be happy to help out, but at the moment I have a lot of important exams I need to concentrate on. My last exam, Physics (I can't wait...) is next Tuesday, so I'll try to get back to you after that. If I have time between Phyics and Geology (I should have some free time) I'll start my "Careers for three year olds" course :)

You are a god! Good luck on your final...I think me learning how to make a career is a tiny bit less important than a college education! :giggler:

BTW, I just bookmarked this thread so I can find it again!

[MahioPie]

MahioPie, have you a career loaded in SimPE when trying to click the editor?
I'm pretty sure I do. You put the base careers in the data folder, right? Mine is non-existant, so I just placed them in the main SimPE folder.

[NikeySunfire]

Does it work with Nightlife expansion?

[[email protected]]

02) You are attempting to open the icon files by double-clicking them

In the case of #01 (for WinXP), you need to open up "My Computer", select "Tools \ Folder Options", select the "View" tab, uncheck "Hide extensions for known filetypes", click "Apply", then "Apply to All Folders".

I had the same problem . This worked for me. Thanks a lot for the help and the tutorial Psion. I'm glad I didn't have to read this hole form to find the answer to my question.. :moose:

[Brewsky]

I'm sorry not to be critical of your work but your not clear enough of what should be a semi-easy task. And this document must be outdated because this is really difficult. For instance step 3. "select "File...Extract all" and extract all isn't listed in the file menu on my version of simpe. and I'm unclear on what I need Object functions, object data, or Name reference. Well if you can help me understand your guide great.

[Sita]

This is great, and the support you are giving is incredible!

I'm afraid I need to ask for some. I'm trying to make a simple Sims 2 career, no EP installed currently.

So far I got as far as open the object (couldn't find any box marked "Group Filter"

"1.Filter for GroupID 0x7FC82329 (Athletics Career)
a.Select the box marked “Group Filter”.
b.Type in “0x7FC82329”."

but I found the object the hard way and opened it.
Now I can't find anything to extract it with?

There is nothing to tell me what the T G and I boxes are but I found it by clicking on the G - well G is for Group? and scrolling looong way down.

But where do I go from here? As a relative newbie who has tried and failed to work through many SimPE tutorials, I would be deeply grateful for any help you can give me. (I find it never looks the same in the tut as my onscreen version - I guess because it's updated so often, and I learn visually so it's very hard....)

[SuperFly]

Ohh, this is old... This tutorial is way outdated I'm afraid. If you need a career base, you can download one from here- http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=49038. Just pick one, download it and edit it. :)

SuperFly

[Sita]

Well fine, I can do that, but is there an up to date tutorial for careers anywhere? having waded through all the pages of this and found nothing to suggest anything later has been written?

[staciew1]

the download links don't seem to be working...

[Trek]

Thanks for this nice tutorial. :D

[blade1446]

I am creating followiong your tutorial, very useful, thanks.
Doubts:
- Does instance “0x00001056” from Behaviour Constant set to 0 makes a graduate career or is the other way round?
- Is the number of levels fixed? Can I leave black entries till get to value 0x15 where begins the female entries? If I can, then will it arrive for sure at the top of the career when arrived at the last no empty value or will it crash the game?

Hope you can help me :)
Thanx!!

[SuperFly]

blade, I'm afraid I cannot answer your first question (as I never use that BCON file), but I can answer your second.

If you have the latest version of SimPE, you can use bidou's career editor to remove and add levels. This is better than simply leaving levels blank.

SuperFly

[blade1446]

I'm afraid I don't knoe what's bidou's career editor even if I do have the last version of SimPE.
So then I can remove levels, doing so first value of female's values will not start in the 0X15 as it used to do, doesn't it crash the game? Or the game manages it dinamicaly, I mean, it doesn't look for the value 0x15 but for the one which is the same as the 0X1?

Thanxxx very much

[SuperFly]

I would advise the use of bidou's editor. If you have the latest version of SimPE, it can be found under Tools...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/Superfly2005/Bidous.jpg

Then use these buttons to add and remove levels...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a230/Superfly2005/Smallfile.jpg

I'm afraid I only work with the latest versions of SimPE because they are much easier than old methods. They are also less buggy, so I'd advise you use them.

SuperFly

[blade1446]

That has been very nice of you.
And clever way to do it
lol :)

thanx u very much (again)

[lucasmk]

Thx a l0t

[Sneebs]

I'll be starting right away!!! :smash:

Here you will find the Custom Career step-by-step How-To document. It is rather long, but hopefully simple enough for beginners, as it is designed as a true step-by-step guide. The document does not use any career editor plugins or programs, other than SimPE and an optional graphics package.

This was originally developed, then moved from http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=25474, and some useful resources are still located there.

Any feed back will be appreciated (please be gentle :D )

To give people a better idea of the content of the document, I have changed the format of this post to include only the latest changes, and added the table of contents.

The guide is in both MS Word 2000 (DOC) and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) formats. They are the same document. Word format is recommended as it has active hyperlinks for the document's bookmarks, making navigation easier.

I have now released v0.05. A lot of changes in this one.

There are currently 15 main sections to this document:
01) Introduction
A short introduction to this document. Going over the conventions, programs and limitations of this guide.
02) New Career Worksheets
Useful for planning and referencing your career
03) University (EP1) pack compatibility warning!!
Warning to career modders
04) Language translations
Adding extra language support to your career
05) Steps to Create a New Adult Career (Standard non-Graduate)
06) Steps to Create a New Teen / Elder Career
07) Steps to Create a New Graduate Career
08) Creating Custom Icons
A small guide, based on the GIMP, to making custom icons for your career
09) Steps to Upgrade a Pre-EP1 career
10) Testing your career
A quick run through on testing your new career
11) Posting your career for Beta / Release
A small guide on how to go about posting your career for beta testing or final release on MTS2.
12) Useful Tables
Tables that have information on how to find various settings etc
13) Resource Materials
Stuff used as reference for this document (will be removed a bit later)
14) TestingCheats
Raw Information. You are better off using the “Testing your career” topic
15) Changelog
Log of changes made to this document.


Version Changes
0.05
Added chance balance reminder
Expanded on filtering instructions (pointed out by Airelda)
Added career worksheet templates
Re-did reward instructions for updated SimPE (pointed out by athenegw)
Changed reward packaging recommendations.
Added “EP1 only” labels to relevant steps.
Expanded on Chance Card text entry.
Expanded on TS2 root location values.
Added posting guidelines (Thanks CynicalChick)
Added further explanations to some values
Corrected value for Chance Card presence indication (pointed out by jmk4422)
Added reward award level instructions
Added translation optional suggestions
Added short explanation of Hexadecimal
Updated TS2 / EP1 compatibility warning
Improved requirements description for unique GUID and GroupID

Added custom icon creation instructions

[davo32]

This has really opend my eyes! Thank You!

[chratt1]

can some1 PLEASE tell me how to change the wardrobe of a particular career. I have some careers that really need a wardrobe change. Thanks Please reply

[alicia55427]

i can't download the guide ... help?!?!??

[SuperFly]

chratt- I don't understand your question- can you please elaborate a little?

alicia- have a read of this (http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=134830)

[FuriousPanda]

i think i'll leave this to the professionals untill new versions of simpe stop coming out... Most of the stuff you say to do does not seem to exist on simpe version whatever i have. Its probably realy simple, but shh.... :insane:

[khalid]

help how do you make a careers or edit

[IgnorantBliss]

help how do you make a careers or edit

You're in the career making tutorials section right now, have you looked at the tutorials and tried to follow them?

[gameluke8]

Hey, can anybody tell me how to download the file? When i click open it just pops up again.

[babylou]

sorry if my english is not good but I am french and not practice this language since 20 years. is this possible to have a translation for making carreer in french .I want to make a carreer ,but I want to be sure of wat to do and no make mistake. thanks to anyone who make a response. I hope my massege is clear for you.

[hrussio]

So does this mean that we can not create custom careers with OFB? I just printed this out because I had downloaded the career workshop, but before I start...does it mean that previous careers won't work? And does it mean that I can't create a custom career because it wont work? Thanks