I've looked through the forums and seen a lot of clothing and object tutorials, but nothing for accessories... I get the impression it's different somehow, as I followed a clothing tutorial (Sims2 Basic Clothing Mesh Tutorial by NeptuneSuzy) and my new accessory isn't showing up in Body Shop. I had to edit a bit of it as I'm using 3ds max 7 and a .3ds importer/converter thing for SimPE, but I got the mesh into SimPE, and I can preview it and move it around and it looks fine, but it won't show up in Body Shop. D:

It's probably showing already, I'm not very good with computers and technical things, but I like the creative/art aspect of the sims, and would love to know how to do this. I apologize if I'm horrible naiive, hopefully the use of proper English is making up for it, as that's really all I can offer.

So, I THINK what happened is that somewhere along the line my texture got lost. Unfortunately, the tutorial (as most tutorials) says WHAT to do but not WHY so I really don't know. I clicked here, here, and here, but I STILL don't have the slightest idea what all these acronyms (GUID????) mean, or why I kept having to "fix integrity" and things.

SO!!! Is there an accessory-making thread SOMEWHERE anyone can point me to, or even just a dictionary of terms? Of course, helping here would be completely awesome if you've got the time and patience. Oh, and if this is in the wrong spot, I am SO SORRY. I've never posted before and I was hoping I wouldn't have to. >_> This forum was my best guess.

Apologies again, especially for being so wordy. And thanks!

Hey Luminance,

I faced the same problems as you. Writing tutorials costs time which people don't really have. There are some good tutorials regarding accessory making, but not on MTS ;-(

For me, two tutorials were outstanding the one by Meche at
http://www.spicysims.com/index.cfm, see link to tutorial in the left column, and Dr. Pixel's, at
http://drpixel.noneto.com/Al_tut.htm, about attaching shoe meshes to a body mesh.

My advice: read them in this order and then start experimenting again.

I found a particular step quite tricky, so I'll try to explain that step to you.

In general, you need to select some glasses in Bodyshop, this gives you a file in SavedSims, which holds the texture. This file also provides you with the name of the original mesh. With this name you collect the parts for your new mesh from Sims3d06, 5, 4 and 3 files in Program files.
With these components (Resource node, GMDC, GMND and Shape) you make a new mesh package and place it in Downloads. Make a copy of this file, so you won't have to grab it together again and again.

The file in Savedsims, with the texture, has some sort of vector (so to speak), pointing toward a mesh in the original program files. You need to point this vector to your new meshfile, this is what the tutorial-authors call 'linking'.

I like to work with the Harry Potter-like glasses, as you will see they contain quite a lot 3d referencing files. These files point to the Mesh overlay files. There are so many files because glasses contain 2 parts: lens and frame. These parts are available for all ages (child, teen etc). You can tell them apart by the codes, the 3d referencing files that contain a pointer to a Mesh overlay file have a line called: "Mesh Overlay XML:", the last series of numbers tells you for which age group it is, 4 = teen, 8 = adult, 40 = young adult etc. More on this:
http://modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=48634 (scroll down).

Figure out for which ages you want your new mesh to be available and link your mesh to the relevant 3d referencing files, see tutorials, it's the part where you add your resource node and shape to these files. This way the vector now points to your mesh for the chosen ages.

Now here comes the tricky part, at least for me:
when finished with the linking, you delete your Resource node and Shape from the resources window and save.
Most of us started as object makers, using "Fix Integrity" without hesitation. BUT DO NOT FIX INTEGRITY HERE !!
Just save it, no more. I've tried it: same process, same files, same meshes, but when I use fix integrity the mesh never shows up in Bodyshop, and without fix integrity it does show up.

OTHER READERS: please let me know if you experienced the same problem ?!

So Luminance, don't use fix integrity here and follow the tutorials of Meche (or NeptuneSuzy) for the rest of it.

Then Milkshape: I hate it. I like 3dsm, as you have. But no problem, you can create any accessory you want in 3dsm.
For example: earrings, a lot of people make them, but most of them based on only 2 meshes: 1 of Dr. Pixel, 1 of Crechebaby. Download a pair of earrings, open it up in SimPE and extract the mesh as an .obj-file. Use Milkshape to convert it in .3ds and import it in 3dsm.

You see, someone has already figured out how to position the accessorymesh the right way. You can do it all over, or just build on. Position and scale your creation in 3dsm so that it matches with the downloaded mesh. Then export only your creation to .3ds and use Milkshape to convert it back to .obj.

When you've opened your .obj-file in Milkshape, use the plugins by Wes_H to import the original Gmdc from your meshfile, let's say the one with the Harry Potterlike glasses. Now you still need 1 or 2 rotations but then your creation is in the right place, use the glasses for reference. When ready, delete the frame vertices and regroup, the name of the new group should off course be "frame". Do not forget to copy the comments, as the plugins need them. The vertices of the lens can be collapsed to a single point and moved inside the head of the sim, do not delete the lens completely. The tutorial by Dr. Pixel for attaching shoe meshes covers this in great detail.

Save your work in Milkshape, step by step, each save create a new file, so you can fall back on it. Export it with the plugin, use SimPE to replace the Gmdc in your meshfile (of which you made a copy on beforehand). With the meshfile you can use "Fix Integrity" freely, NOT with the texturefile in SavedSims.
Pay attention: BEFORE replacing your Gmdc, copy its filename. Then replace it, mention that its filename has changed and paste the original filename over it. If you miss this point, it won't work. (Thanx Dr. Pixel).

Test it. If it works, OK, go finetuning. Problems ? Fall back on your last mesh, use the copied, clean meshfile, replace and try again.

When it comes to texturing: be careful. When you've imported a new texture, use the Commit button and save it. Again: Do not use Fix Integrity.

I wish you luck with this. A lengthy question, a lengthy answer. Most of it came right out of the tutorials, credits to the mentioned authors for that. But some tricky parts were new to me, hope they help you.

Kind regards,

Phracto of Holland

Thank you! I haven't tried yet, but wow, thanks! I don't really know any other sites (still new at this) so that's a huge help, thank you!

You should never use "Fix Integrety" on a body, hair, or body accessory mesh after the first time, when you first create the new MESH_ .package file.

Here is why - "Fix Integrety" renumbers all of the internal reference numbers in your .package file. It won't hurt an object, because the .package is "self contained", all the references are to other files inside the same .package so they will all still link together properly.

But body parts are different - the mesh is in a separate .package, and the BodyShop .package links to it by the numbers in the BodyShop .package.

That is why you have to manually link the BodyShop .package to the mesh .package

But if you "Fix Integrety" after doing that, you have now changed all these reference numbers and you will have to re-do the linking to the BodyShop .package again.

Now, here is what I don't understand - since I make primarily body parts, when I make an object I do the same thing - I only use "Fix Integrety" when I first create the .package, never after that. My objects all work without problems doing it that way. So, my question is, why do people say to use "fix integrety" again later?

Oh, thanks. It's nice to have these things explained, I'm a little slow with computers and technology. X3 I'm a traditional artist only... all I can do well is draw, but er, I'm trying. >_>

I'm going to go google the GUID now because I still haven't a clue what that one is.

Now I have to redo the thing, bah. Thank yo9u guys for letting me know what I was doing wrong.

There is no GUID in body parts, those are only found in object .packages.

Sorry, I mean, what does it stand for? It's a bit offtopic, but I haven't been able to find out, and it's not really worth making another thread over "wuts GUID hur hur" :x Does it even mean anything?

I don't know exactly what the letters stand for, but it's a *unique* number assigned to your object that is the way the game really refers to your object. When it stores things like the layout of a house, those small unique numbers can be used instead of the long elaborate filenames that we humans use to identify the files.

GUID means Globally Unique IDentifier, a number that should be unique on earth. Off course it isn't really, but in the world of Sims2 object making it is. The term GUID itself is not unique to the Sims world, it is a common term in the technical world, Google may confuse you here.

The Sims 2 has a good graphical look, but down in your computer it is more like a huge database management system. Names are not important for the PC, only for us humans who cannot read hexadecimal numbers like we can read text.

Maxis gave all its objects unique numbers, like the serial number on your TV or PC or whatever. Although Maxis has not given us any tools for it, they expected us to be creative and planned a few updates themselves.

The great creators of programs like SimPE, understood that any new object with the same number (or GUID as I will call it from now) as an original Maxis object, would cause problems. Either it won't show up or it would replace the original Maxis object it was cloned from.

For two cloned objects to live peacefully together on one computer, it is absolutely neccessary for them to have different GUIDs. Thats why SimPE offers you the option of retrieving a GUID from a database. This way it is ensured that all users of SimPE use really unique numbers. You could use a fantasy number, but no one can guarantee that not someone on the other side of the world decided to use exactly that same number. And since we share all sorts of things via the web, problems are never far away.

So with the GUID-database this problem is solved. May be there are some other tools (like DatGen, don't know much about it) that allow you to make objects for the Sims2. Users of this program should also see to it that they use unique numbers, otherwise they'll interfere with SimPE users.

Off course Maxis has kept a range of numbers apart for their own updates. The makers of SimPE have chosen another range. The Sims2 'knows' the Maxis numbers and this way it can tell apart original and custom content (marked with the asterix of star).

I don't know if you're familiar with the internet IP-adresses, but the same problems and solutions are involved. An IP-adress should also be worldwide unique.

So far for objects. For accessories and body(parts) things are a little bit different. The principle is found in bodyshop. I'm not quite sure about this, but bodyshop requires you to give your project a name. The resulting hexadecimal codenumbers may be (partly) based on your project name. Anyway bodyshop releases also some sort of unique numbers, in SavedSims there's always a hexadecimal prefix to the filenames. This system leaves space for errors to occur however. Therefore you see people at MTS2 and elsewere making suggestions (in tutorials) for naming your objects.

Example: a mesh file should be named like
MESH_yourname_date_version. This should provide a reasonably unique name for your file. The uniqueness of yourname is partly secured by registering at MTS2, which requires you to use a unique name.

So with accessories and body(parts), you rely on the uniqueness generated by Bodyshop in combination with the uniqueness of the name you give your file. These files do not contain a part like the Object Data in objects, so you cannot manually assign a GUID to them anyway.
But as you understand, chosing the right name and using the unofficial conventions, may be well enough to avoid problems.

Now you know what a GUID and its meaning is, I hope.
Otherwise: ask ;-)

Greetz,

Phracto

Thanx Dr.Pixel, for your explanation about Fix Integrity. I have always read Fix Integrity as: fix FILE integrity. When you delete, replace etc. things, the binary file structure may get corrupted, so I thought the meaning of fix integrity was to fix the file.

But as I understand now, file integrity is managed well by SimPE itself, in an automatic way. So Fix Integrity really means: fax DATABASE integrity, as it fixes the internal reference numbers, that is what I understand from your explanation.

This misunderstanding made me use Fix Integrity after all file operations when making objects. In some tutorials people tell you to use it again. But that is not really neccessary, as I learned from you.

Thank you very much !!

Greetz,

Phracto