Finally got the custom paintings tutorial that Snaitf and I have been working on up. Please post questions and comments about it here.

Should note that there may be a far easier method to do this soon, when Peter Jones completes his object cloner. So if this tut (which is not at all simple) scares you, wait a bit.

http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?...tings_in_Sims_3

Thanks for the tutorial Srikandi. The link to Snaitf's hash generator, however, returns an access error. "This server is usable by MTS2 staff members only."

>< So sorry, fixed

Link to Snaitf's tool still not working for me but I found a hash generator online that did FNV64 and... Success! I now have a custom painting in game. (The frame is white because I just jammed something in and didn't bother with editing properly.)

The only hiccup I had following your tutorial was with Postal, because I had an older version. Updating to the current one fixed that. And the price came up as $0 so I must just have put that in the wrong place because the catalog title and descriptiuon were fine.

Thanks again. Just wanted to let you know the tutorial was very effective, even for someone like me to whom hexes and hashes etc are gobbledygook.

The HASH generator can be found in this thread:
http://linna.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=355292

Ah. I should have searched for FNV Generator instead of Hash Generator. Thanks so much martijnakema.

Thanks again. I still can't get the damn catalogue descriptions to work, though. Is there a way to try again without starting from scratch? I guess just pick up from then on, but all the file info has been altered so I assume I need all fresh files again. . . The paintings show up great though!

Coltraz, are your frames recolorable? That is the only thing I can't seem to get working.

Also, re: the catalog descriptions... Could it be something as simple as you accidentally typing in the sidebar (where catalog is) instead of in the main section where the hex values are? I know the cursor caught me out a couple of times.

My frames were colourable originally, when I did a batch using the draft tutorial, but the one I did following the newer steps I haven't tested yet. Will do.

I think the problem was that I didn't save the hex values and stuff. I saved it and tried to re-put-together the .package, but now Sim3pe won't allow them to be imported. No idea why. I think I just need to start again. -sigh-

ETA: Has anyone tried working with the Pop Star Poster with success?

ETA (again): Finally, I got the catalogue stuff working. Sweet success.
Valencay, Yeah, my frames are colourable. I have no idea as to why yours wouldn't be, if we're doing the same thing. Perhaps it's to do with the compression or format you're saving your .dds in.

Also when your Sims view a custom painting, the image of the painting shows up in their thought bubble. Which is cool.

Thanks for testing the tut if you have any suggestions for how to make it clearer, let me know.

Are we certain the catalogue-title/description method works on other paintings aside from the giraffe? I used it on that one with success, but when I tried using it with the Lips painting, all I get for the title and description are things like, ***8273043928282937*** ... when I used the fairytale painting, the custom pricing worked but the description and title was again just a series of numbers. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I've tried it three times and can't get my descriptions to show unless I use the giraffe as a base. Maybe one needs to click the "Left" arrow more or fewer times depending on the painting??

As for making the tutorial clearer, here are some little things I noticed:

In "Make your object file point to the new STBL, and set a price" you should end step 7 with the note to save what you've done in the hex editor.

Also where it says "I put the cursor on the "e" in the second "Giraffe" in the text pane, and move over one byte;", you might want to explicitly mention to move over right. The first time I did it I moved left because I was used to moving left from the step where I needed to move left 18 bytes.

It works for the giraffe, the social bunny, and the painting Snaitf used for his download (forget what the original is called). There may be some paintings that are set up differently; will look into that.

Thanks for the tut tips, will make those edits

As we work through it, I guess adding a list of paintings known to be work with this method would be handy. I'm going to try the Lips and the Modern pink painting now, as they use the same frames. Re: The colourable issue... That must just be me not editing correctly then, because I'm just learning GIMP and modding.

OK, I have no luck with catalogue descriptions. I've redone them numerous times. I've even went back to the tutorial and followed step-by-step explicitly in case I was missing something crucial (I wasn't.) I can't get anything other than ***1901839249229*** stuff. The pricing works absolutely fine, though.

I really don't know what's wrong with what I'm doing.

That happens when the game can't find the string table refrence to use on the object. I would guess, either the hashes in the objd file are not matching those in the new stbl, or you used an incorrect language code in your stbl's instance id. If you attach your .package file, i could look at it and see what's going on.

I can't attach a .package here. But here it is on drop.io. http://drop.io/xpzevgk#

That site is asking me to log in or something? Post it somewhere I don't need to register. Or better yet, attach it here, just make sure you reply by either hiting quote or 'go advanced' at the bottom, then scroll down to 'manage attachments'

Or heck, you can just e-mail it to me if you want [email protected], just let me know if you do, i don't check my email all that often

Consider it in your Inbox, Snaitf. Thanks a TON! =)

Ok, yea, the hash numbers you put into your .object file were incorrect. They didn't match the hash numbers in your .stbl file.

This is what you have in your object file:

7FD4F533DA75A470 1DF4F533DA75A4EE

This is what you should have:

7F1DF4F533DA75A4 701DF4F533DA75A4

The first one is the title, the second is the description. And if you look in you .stbl file, those hashes will match.

Screenshot of your working painting and the new .package file I made attached so you can see.

In my Lips edit, my catalog description and title showed up, but desc as title and title as desc, so I must have put the numbers in the wrong order. Everything else was fine except for the price, which remained the Lips price.

In the .object file, the title comes first then the description, so put them in that order

Sorry, I don't quite understand... if you don't mind explaining, which step in the tutorial is it that I messed up and how did you go about fixing it?

If I understand: I copy the string info from the title/description out of Postal, reverse it, and stick that in the object file. All I do is copy/paste the string info from Postal, so I don't know how I'm getting an incorrect hash or where to get the correct one. Sorry I'm dense - obviously, I am not experienced in this sort of thing.

You don't copy the string info, you copy the hash itself. When viewing the stbl in postal it will be:

"0x................" - "description"
"0x................" - "title"

the "................" is what you need to reverse and then put into your .object file.

But that's what I've been copying. Those are the numbers I had wrong? :\ All I do - and have done every time - is create the description and title, copy those hashes for them, (by ctrl + copy) I leave out the 0x as the tutorial says. I reverse them, and then manually type them into the object file 18 clicks away from the "c" in catalogue, title first, and then description. So I don't understand how it can be wrong.

How did you fix it? How can I find out what the stbl hashes are if I've already closed postal? Can I just open it up in Postal again? Is that all you've done?

Yes, open postal, select file|new, then workspace|add resource and choose your stbl. then d-click the stbl and give it a type number of 0x220557DA then commit. Postal will then know that it's a stbl, and you will be able to view your title/description again.

When I looked at your stbl, I saw the hashes were different from the ones in your .object file. So I just changed the .object file to match the .stbl.

Also, if you are reversing manually it's every 2 characters that's reversed, for example "abcd" reversed would be "cdab" not "dcba", don't know if that's what you did or not, but I could see someone doing that.