First, I want to thank you guys for doing what you're doing. When I first installed Pets I was really upset about there being no body shop for pets, and near homicidal when I realized I couldn't add coat patterns. I wanted to make a Serval and a Civet and that ain't gonna happen without new patterns.

I wish I could be of some help, but this sims hacking thing is just ridiculously difficult to understand, and I'm a programer by trade. I feel fairly confident that one or all of you will figure it out, it's just a matter of time.

In the interim, I'm going to indulge in fantasies about torturing Maxis developers.

One question: Did anyone notice any disabled stuff in any of these bins? Like maybe that skunk pattern, or the glowing eyes for dogs? I kinda suspect the eyes effect is a script, but what do I know.

wchilde, the skunk "pattern" is not a pattern at all, but seems to be an entirely new mesh, much like an accessory. But it also appears that if the skunk mesh is in fact an accessory, it is quite different than the normal pet accessories, as several resources it uses are different.

Wow....and here i've been thinking I'm an idiot because I cant make a custom coat...then i read this thread, not understanding a THING, and now I KNOW i'm an idiot!!! My dog has a mostly white coat with a distinctive heart-shaped black patch...I thought it would be so easy to make a custom coat...lol....

Echo...I won't mind at all though if you start making animal BHAV hacks!!!

will any of this research perhaps make headway into adding fur accessories? There are so few that came with the game. Besides I want accessories like horns and wings and other interesting additions so hopefully along with patterns this will get figured out soon. Plus I really want a bald fur texture for making a proper sp[hynx cat so press on everyone! I am utterly confused but happy to see that this area is being worked on.

I was hoping to make a few custom coats also. my lab had a white patch on her chest, but noting in Create a pet even comes close. I even updated SimPE in the hopes to recolor, but I am a N00b when it comes to custom coloring.I havent had a chance to goof around with the updated SimPE yet, but i'm not sure if pet coats can be recolored. Even though SimPE is an AWESOME program, certain items in the game appear to be "untouchable"

Is anyone still making efforts in this area? I had an idea that might help people to be able to have new patterns. What if instead of making new alphas one was to make new base coats with the patterns directly on them, which was the way we made Unleashed pets, instead? Like for example if one wanted to make a white dog with a heart shaped patch instead of making a heart shaped patch alpha one was just to make a white coat with the patch already on it. Would someone that has experience with hacking be able to look into it? I have no clue how to work with things like MATD and TXTR so I would not be able to do it.

I think the problem with that is the fact that markings are supposed to be layerable - instead of having 500 different types of skins/markings, by having the different coat colours and then being able to layer them however is actually a rather nifty feature and I think that's why starting with the alphas (which are altogether MUCH simpler than making a completely new coat colour due as they have much fewer textures to deal with) is the way to go. However, getting them to actually work reliably, uniquely, and easily is the tricky part, and I don't think many people are still investigating this, if any. I lost interest when I saw how boring pets were in the game, and I think a lot of other modders might have done the same. If someone were to take interest and figure it out, that would be cool though.

I didn't really pursue this, even though I have Wes's initial pet coat package, because once Wes and I did the collars (that everyone was screaming about) and posted them, no one did anything with them. I am glad that I tackled that project, I learned a lot. However, it seemed that once it was done and collars could be easily made, no one bothered. I foresee the exact same thing happening with the coats.

HystericalParoxysm - I can see what you mean about the alphas but new base coat "colors" might still be useful for other reasons. I don't think things like plaid or other multi color patterns could be handled with alphas. I think the new coat colors might even work with the alphas to lead to things like plaid spots.

Paleoanth - I think your collars might not have garnered much attention for 2 reasons. Seasons came out very soon after and many probably were distracted by it. The other reason is maybe they were waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. Yeah new collars are awesome and all but maybe people want new meshes like bandanas and wings more.

The lack of customizations available for Pets pets is making me miss Unleashed. At least I could have fae cats and devil dogs in UL.

Well, it is figured out, but since there is no tool like Object Workshop to do it with, no one is interested. Besides collars, this method will work for [non-replacement] coat colors, face templates and some other CAS-only stuff.

And, as you pointed out, few seem very much interested in Pets anyways.

<* Wes *>

^That could be another reason. A lot of people either can't or won't do things if they aren't as easy as it is to make objects. Maybe someone would be interested in developing a tool for that? I see plenty of people showing off their pets or uploading pets and these are just made with the existing create a pet tool. Interest in Pets might not be as high as it is for other things but there are still simmers that are interested in pets. There is even someone out there making new critters from the womrat and bird so it is not completely dead.

I just had another idea. If one was to make a totally or partially (like the back half of the body transparent and the front half visible for example) transparent coat and custom accessory meshes were possible then maybe things other than qadrupedal animals could be developed. Of course as I have mentioned before I lack the skill to do things like that and those that do have such skill seem to prefer to do other things so I am probably wasting my time but at least I tried.

I had a request to make a transparent dog. I don't know how to make pet coats transparent. I have to give it up. I have to wait for somebody to make pet coats successfully.

Speaking of non default stuff, would anyone be able to make these not overwrite the weird color base coats anymore? It sucks not being able to have both "tabby fur" and the funky colors at the same time. And don't even get me started on the "default repacement" eyes. If I want to use 2 different sets it is just tough cookies until someone fixes them.

I honestly believe that much of the reason people seem to lose interest in pets is not just that having one turns boring in the game once you play them a few times, but also because there are so many limits in game play as well as in CAS.
If we had more options such as hooves and tails and types and patterns of fur, it would make building and playing pets so much more interesting. If we could make our pets moo or roar or chatter, it would really make it exciting!
I wish I had the knowledge to help anyone who might still be interested in cracking the secret of creating custom pet skins, but I would not even begin to understand.
If everyone ever involved in this project gives up forever, I would understand totally.
Just don't want any of you to think no one out there would care if you ever were successful. I believe there are a lot of people out there who would be totally excited! I know I would be! Thanks to all of you who ever tried!

I agree with shannahlight.. I am definatly not smart enough to mess with files or anything, but I was messing around trying to make different animals, and the options are sooo limited, I can't even make a animal have long fur if I want.. So if anyone does figure this out, please let me know..

Im agreeing with other posters that alot (most) of us dont have the technical know-how to make a template without a thorough tutorial (if its been thought out completed). As far as the collars go and interest, those are great but I never use collars on my pets, even in real life, they are house kittys. I tried making a default cat fur pattern (face pattern) like you would with sim skin defaults and it was unsuccessful. (hey I tried hehe). I think alot of us are waiting for someone to make a definitive user friendly guide to create our own pet furs pattern templates, or anything really, for the modding challenged. (points at self). I am waiting patiently for the day someone shares this info, but seriously it would make my year. Id be very happy.

If someone wants to become world famous as a modder, and revered by kitty and others, Peter Jones (as in PJSE) has made a SimPE plugin that will help you to extract all the files for a pet collar, an alpha layer and other mesh or texture overlay based items.

It is in testing, and is available on Peter's site at www.simlogical.com/

While this still doesn't make it as easy as cloning objects with Object Workshop, it makes locating all the parts for an overlay easy. Mostly, it just needs someone to adopt it, amke an overlay, and then write a tutorial on how to do it.

Were I not in over my head in projects already (such as my animation exporter tools), I would work on it myself.

<* Wes *>

Is anyone still working on this in any capacity, and is Peter's plugin still available? A quick check at simlogical.com does not yield any immediate sign of it.

I've taken Echo's zebra package and given it a different GUID so it doesn't conflict with her original one, and I've been able to add the CC star and get the tooltip and coat name to show up, but the texture no longer works (I swirled her texture so I can tell when mine is working and when it is just pulling hers).

I figured out this was because I did a Fix Integrity to make the TMXT and TXTR custom and only part of this package, but that breaks it. The package is still somehow referencing the original group number for those two bits and I don't know what else to try to fix the linkage. I know that's what it is doing because when my package is in game by itself the texture is broken, but when I include Echo's original one at the same time, they both use her textures.

I think that's the last piece to make this package a true custom coat. I'm thinking after this last bit is sorted out, it should be pretty easy to make more coat patterns off of this one simply by changing the GUID and editing the TXTR and text list string.

I've also been trying to make the tooltip text different from the coat name, but I haven't had any luck with that either. That, however, isn't all that important to me though.