Sorry, should have clarified, the problem I was originally posting about and we discussed was that mine was too old to update with the program (made it back early in 2020).
Wait, so this would allow converting Sims 3 VFX? What about The Sims Medieval? That's awesome though, I can't wait! I meant to follow up with you on that as well and that no progress had been made on the conversion tool as my friend's been too busy.

I haven't had time to test anything yet, but you should be able to import effects from TS3 and TSM into the tool and save them as TS4 effects, but only the effects, referenced resources like images, sounds, object models and shaders used will need to be migrated manually.

How would we export the TS3/TSM ones? Are you making a TS3 VFX Tool?

Yes, I made a TS3 prototype a long time ago for the old _SWB format, it just needs a little more work on a proper user interface, I am a little unsure about TSM, I think this is an older version but it should be possible to have the TS3 tool read it.

So excited, and tysm! If you need anything from TSM to make sure it's compatible, please let me know! Just checking so I can potentially plan around it, but is there an estimated release date for the TS3 prototype and JSON converter?

I have uploaded the TS3 tool if you want to take a closer look, but it is not finished yet and has the following issues I am still working on:

- TSM support not added yet.
- Cloning effects that call other effects is not working properly.
- When cloning MetaparticleEffects you will need to manually clone and merge the BaseEffects.
- Effects exported to TS4 are not working, however I think the problem is on the TS4 tool side.

My main focus is getting the import/export to work, I don't have any timeframe for that at the moment, sorry.

Hi,
I know this is for Sims3 but when I tried to open it I got an error saying


So I created the txt file and put it in the same folder of the TS3 Tool

But I still get the error, my Sims3 is on Origin

You just need the path to the installation directory, not the path to the exe file, so in your case it is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3

I finally managed to get an imported Sims 3 effect to work, just have a few more things to do then the tools are ready for testing.

The effect is "ep3effectsmachinebubblesconstant", you can use Andrew's VFX player to test it, please note you can only have one custom effect package installed at a time.

I have uploaded new versions of both the TS4 and TS3 tool, the TS3 tool now also supports TSM, cloning complex effects still needs more work.

I am having trouble uploading to the main post so the files are attached to this post.

• Version 2.0.11
  • Added options to serialize/deserialize effects to export/import between different versions including Sims 3 and Sims Medieval.
  • Added function to calculate new rotation.
  • Fixed a lot of bugs and mapping errors.

Fixed some merge bugs in the TS3 tool.

Tysm, I am so excited to test this! When you say complex, could you give an example of what would fall under that? I'm about to install everything and will run some tests today when I can.
Edit 1: Oh, maybe starting a thread for the Sims 3 version, like the S3 Sound Tool, so Sims 3 users can see it and give feedback on their end as well?
Edit 2: For my situation with the outdated VFX, I can't open the package at all to Export/Import as JSON as it just gives an error. Is there another way I could update it then? Here is the error (and file) in case it's related to something else:


Edit 3: I hit a bit of a snag with one of the TS3 VFX. It's name is ep7trainsetballoon_main and the IID is 00000000003F3F32, but I can't find the IID or even figure out what it is. Do you know what this is and where? Also can't find 4A065D01E0CD6CFB for VFX ep7trainlightsmoke_main either...I wish TS3 had a tool that could search all packages at once, this is painful, lol.
Also I noticed for TS3 I can't use the "Edit" button on the original VFX, only "Clone" then I can edit.

With complex effects I mean effects that call other effects that call other effects etc., at the moment the tool can only resolved calls one level deep, like ep7simfairywings1_main that calls ep7simfairywings1 that calls ep7simfairywingsfill, the tool can only resolved the first reference but I am working on that.

0x00000000003F3F32 is an object model found in base game DeltaBuild0.package.

0x4A065D01E0CD6CFB is an image resource found in base game DeltaBuild2.package.

When you click Edit in the TS4 tool it creates an override of the effect group the selected effect belongs to, TS3 doesn't have groups so you need to clone it before you can Edit.

I will see if I can make the TS4 tool more backwards compatible.

Ah, I discovered a bug with S3PE then as I looked through all the BG Delta and Full packages and Supernatural's packages (and delta), nothing would appear. It seems keeping the search filter active when opening another file doesn't entirely work. But closing the program, re-opening, and setting the search filter again worked. Thank you, sorry about that!

Does that mean we can't override TS3 VFX?

And thank you! I hope it's not too much work, but if it is and becomes too complicated I'll just remake it.

If you clone an effect and give it the same name I assume you will be creating an override, but it is not something I have tested. TS4 is slightly different because you must clone the whole group of effects and maintain the resource IID and the effect names/IIDs in it, otherwise the game wont be able to locate the overrides.

I think I need to add the group concept to the TS3 tool to get the advanced cloning of effects that reference each other to work.

I have uploaded a new version of the TS3 tool which will now group all related effects when cloning.

I have uploaded a new version that can read MizoreYukii_RemovedCarVFX.package and upgrade it to the latest version.

Thank you sooo much for doing that! I was able to open the VFX and it saved, but haven't tested in-game yet and will try to do that tonight.

Also sorry for disappearing, had to focus on a mod project as I was running behind.

1. Is there a specific way to import a VFX JSON into the program? It's been a while so I can't remember the exact steps, but I had to try a few different things to get the first VFX to finally work, but my second one isn't working, so I wanted to see if we must do something specific or if it's being weird. Do we clone, then import? Or just hit import after opening the program, and do we rename it or can it keep the original name from TS3, etc?

2. Could the merging of custom VFX also bring along the images, etc.? Right now after merging you have to re-import the textures etc. as it ignores them. If not that's fine, just wanted to see if it was possible.

Hello,

I'm trying to change the color of the sims stink (s40_sim_stink) but when I export, I get a 1kb package that just disables the stink in game. Can anyone help?

Thanks.

The Merge function will now copy all resources, I have also made a small tutorial on migrating effects from TS3 to TS4 (in the main post).

The TS3 VFX Tool now has its own thread:
https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=664394

These are the steps:

1. Start the tool and click Main.
2. Select s40_sim_stink and click Edit.
3. Select the first ParticleEffect and click Edit, in the ColorCurve box enter 1 in Red/Green/Blue for the color white, click Return.
4. Repeat step 3 for the second ParticleEffect.
5. Click Return, click Save and after the Package Saved message copy s40_sim_stink.package to your mods folder.

Thank you for adjusting the merge function and for the tutorial, I finally got this second one to work! Though I had to shrink the VFX player to see it, so it could have been working in one of my first tests before I remembered to do that. Are we able to rename it if we choose to, or is it best to keep the name the same?

Also all the VFX I've updated so far is working perfectly in my game, ty again!

You can just rename it, if you have MetaParticleEffects you need to rename the references manually, the Merge function will check for name conflicts.

Hi

Very useful tool. I want to change the color of the notes in musical instruments. Unfortunately, the page where is the ColorCurve is so big that I cannot click on the Return button. There is not scroll bar to scroll down. I am using a laptop with a maximum screen resolution of 1366 X 768. Do I need to change the resolution? Would it be possible to add a scroll bar to scroll down, up left and right? Thank you

The ParticleEffect form is indeed very large, I have tried setting the property below, could you please check the new version attached to this post and see if you get scrollbars.